Brian Linzy

Open Source Business Model?

Brian — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:49:19 +0000

Is this a good idea?

A programmer writes a bit of software and offers it for sale for $5. When they reach 5,000 sales they release the source code under a GPL-like license and the product becomes free.

The programmer makes $25,000 for their effort, early adopters pay a small premium, everyone benefits from the new free software. The community decides as a group if they want to buy the source code.

Does anything like this already exist?

Dev Cycle

Brian — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:14:56 +0000

I’m no expert on the subject, but I was just thinking about the development cycles of cars, and I don’t think it really makes sense. Why do new car models come out every year? Why are the engineers beholden to the calendar? We only have to have new car models every year because that’s the established way of doing it. I don’t think there’s really any other reason, other than tradition. New models should be released when they are ready.

This idea that a company is expected to release a model of their product each year is almost unique to the car industry. What else do we expect to be refreshed each January? Other products, like the laptop I’m typing this on, don’t get released on a certain month – they are released when they are done.

I think a 5 year development cycle for cars would result in better, safer, cheaper cars. Just the money saved in retooling factories alone would account for a significant drop in car prices.

Intel follows a two year development cycle at their chip foundries. Maybe the car industry should take a look at the microprocessor industry.

Ordering the Nexus One

Brian — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:58:38 +0000

You only need to take a quick look at the simplicity of google.com or the elegance of the gmail inbox to know Google is pretty good at managing user experience. The engineers at Google eat their own dog food (although that backfired with the recent release of Buzz.)

But I’m pretty sure nobody at Google had to order a Nexus One through their site. Right now that’s the only way to get one. If you go to a T-Mo store or the T-Mo website they will pretend they’ve never heard of the Nexus One.

First of all I could only get the order form to work in Google’s own web browser, Chrome. I tried FireFox and IE from 3 different computers, 3 different networks, 2 different operating systems, on two days a week apart.

That alone is enough to label the ordering process a FAIL. But there were other issues. They didn’t seem to recognize Virginia as a state, even though I selected it from their dropdown box. Maybe it’s because we’re a Commonwealth. That error blanked out a bunch of fields, so I ended up entering my SSN, driver license number, and a few other things several times before it decided Virginia was in fact a state.

After you complete that form and check out with Google Checkout… well, it’s not clear what happens after that. It says I’ve been accepted, but they mean they are able to port my number. Why wouldn’t they be able to port my number? Doesn’t T-mobile do a credit check and approve or deny the account? It’s all unclear. There’s only one plan from T-Mobile, and they don’t tell you much about it. Having completed the order form and agreeing to a couple of pages of Terms and Conditions, I’m done. I guess.

And this wasn’t just a one time thing – this was the process for all THREE Nexus Ones I ordered.

Nexus One Scores

Brian — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:01:02 +0000

Another quicky on the Nexus One. I’m rating a few aspects of my initial experience with the N1 on a scale that doesn’t make a great deal of sense:

Ordering Process – D
Order Fulfillment / Shipping – A+
Packaging – A
USB Charger – FAIL
Docking Station – Wow.

Details on each forthcoming…

Blogging from the Nexus One

Brian — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:59:15 +0000

Just a quick check in from the Nexus One, because I can. I’ll have a few entries coming up soon talking about the N1 ordering process, the transition from a blackberry, and the general awesomeness of this hardware and the Android OS.

Buzz

Brian — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:40:57 +0000

The people I follow on Google Buzz are quiet today. Is that Facebook connection coming soon? I like this interface, but until it ties into Facebook it’s just another stream of data. It’s not a solution, it’s a new problem.

I already have more inboxes than I can count, and this is another one. Just with Google I have what amounts to an inbox for Gmail, Voice, Wave, Docs, Reader, Orkut, YouTube, AdWords, AdSense, Analytics, Calendar, and now Buzz. I could spend the first half of each day managing google inboxes.

Now, where’s that FedEx truck? I want my Nexus One!

The Wal-Mart Effect

Brian — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:00:39 +0000

I was recently at a BBQ and stood by the grill for a while watching a football game on a flat panel TV. It was tucked under the roof of a sort of gazebo which also housed the grill, a counter, and a sink. I asked the owner of the house if he was concerned about the elements getting to the TV. He said, “It’s like $200 and it’s been there for a few months already. Maybe I only get one season out of it. An outdoor TV costs like 3 grand.”

This is classic Wal-Mart Effect.

If you know nothing about maintaining a mower, Wal-Mart has helped make that ignorance irrelevant: At $99.96, $122.00, or even $138.00, the lawn mowers at Wal-Mart are cheap enough to be disposable. Use one for a season, store it, and if you can’t start it the next spring (Wal-Mart won’t help you out with that), put it at the curb and go buy another one. That kind of pricing changes not he just the economics at the low end of the lawn-mower market, it changes expectations of customers throughout the market. Why would you buy a walk-behind mower from Snapper that costs $519.00?

State Line GC Video

Brian — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 12:00:20 +0000

Here’s a short video (just over 2 minutes) from the State Line Grappling Championships in Bristol, TN.

Firefox Plugins

Brian — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:50:55 +0000

I often hear that the success of the Firefox web browser is largely due to its open plug in architecture. I also hear that you should limit the number of plug ins you use, since they slow down FF and cause it to crash. I’m currently using 4 plug ins – AdBlock Plus, AVG Safe Search, Firebug, and Xmarks.

I don’t really know what AdBlock does, other than what I can gather from the name.

I’ll probably be removing AVG soon because I’m thinking of switching to Microsoft Security Essentials on my Windows machines.

I used Firebug once.

I like the Xmarks password syncing, but I’m not a big bookmarker. I don’t think anyone really uses bookmarks.

I don’t seem to need plug ins at all.

The Italian Diet Problem

Brian — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:08:35 +0000

I’m pretty sure the genetic cards have been stacked against me when it comes to diet. Okay, maybe not genetic, exactly, but close enough.

Any real, useful, lasting diet I’ve ever heard of requires a certain amount of boredom. Dr. John Berardi says if you examine the diets of the world’s top performing athletes you’ll find over and over that they eat the same thing all the time. They keep just a few boring, but balanced and nutritional, meals in rotation. And they eat to live, they don’t live to eat.

Well that would just be a smack in the face to my heritage. In an Italian family when you’re sad, you eat. Happy? Eat. Birthday? Eat. Football game on TV? EAT! Columbus Day? Parade, then eat. Death in the family? Pray, then eat. New Baby? Feed it! It’s Tuesday? How ’bout a nice lasagna?

This is a losing battle. And I have chocolate.