Message-ID: <3EF7248D.3040409@coyotegulch.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 12:02:21 -0400
From: Scott Robert Ladd <coyote@coyotegulch.com>
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To: Larry McVoy <lm@bitmover.com>
CC: David Woodhouse <dwmw2@infradead.org>,
       Stephan von Krawczynski <skraw@ithnet.com>, jgarzik@pobox.com,
       lawrence@the-penguin.otak.com, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [OT] Re: Troll Tech [was Re: Sco vs. IBM]
References: <20030620001217.G6248@almesberger.net> <20030620120910.3f2cb001.skraw@ithnet.com> <20030620142436.GB14404@work.bitmover.com> <20030620143012.GC14404@work.bitmover.com> <20030620163349.GG17563@work.bitmover.com> <20030621142048.2ae63afa.skraw@ithnet.com> <20030621133831.GA10089@work.bitmover.com> <1056358467.29264.41.camel@passion.cambridge.redhat.com> <20030623132231.GC6715@work.bitmover.com> <3EF70EF8.3050107@coyotegulch.com> <20030623150616.GA20103@work.bitmover.com>
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Larry McVoy wrote:
> I think I'm going to give up soon (much to relief of the list) because I
> keep getting the same sorts of answers which make sense from a small
> custom shop point of view but are simply broken from a company point of
> view.

What's wrong with small business? Just because a model doesn't work for 
large companies doesn't invalidate the model. And I'm not convinced that 
the model fails on a larger scale.

> Your model is fine, there is nothing wrong with it but there isn't a lot
> right with it either.  You can't really grow your business under that 
> model. Why?  Because you are essentially a consulting shop and that 
> isn't going to generate the revenue you need to hire more people, build
> more things, get more consulting.  You can keep yourself going but not
> make enough to get more people going.

My business is growing; I've doubled revenues in the last year, and am 
building alliances with other small shops to handle larger tasks. The 
key, for me at least, is creating a baseline product that provides a 
foundation on which I build applications for clients. I'm working on two 
more baselines at the moment, while building a coalition to tackle 
larger jobs.

> Instead of coming back at me with the premise of "well, I'm eating so my
> model is OK" how about coming back with a plan that says "Here's how we
> make an open source based business put Microsoft out of business".  That's
> reality.  You are just playing around on the edges, there is nothing 
> wrong with that, but until you have a viable plan that competes with the
> big boys let's stop kidding ourselves, ok?

I'm not interested in playing with "the big boys", nor do I have a 
desire to "put Microsoft out of business.".

I much prefer to play in the spaces that the big boys have no interest 
in. I can employ several people, have a very comfortable life, and work 
on projects that are far more interesting and important than replacing 
Microsoft. It is possible to build a quality life (and perhaps a 
society) from an economic model that is not founded on corporate 
megalomania.

-- 
Scott Robert Ladd
Coyote Gulch Productions (http://www.coyotegulch.com)
Professional programming for science and engineering;
Interesting and unusual bits of very free code.

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