Jay McGavren's Journal

People ARE decent...

Was over at the used bookstore getting Putt-Putt PC games for Lenny (his current obsession). Some random lady, seeing the stack of boxes on my arm, stops me and hands me a 15% off coupon.

I’ve been spurned, ignored, or looked at funny enough times that I don’t stop and try to help people anymore, and I’m sure most others living in big cities are the same. It’s really too bad, because the desire to aid others is surely part of how we survived this long as a species.

Among today’s purchases: Innovate Like Edison: The Success System of America’s Greatest Inventor. I had intended to do this homework myself, but it looks like I get to mooch off someone else’s crib sheet.

BYOB (Build Your Own Business)...

Listened to the Ben Curtis interview on the Rails podcast, and it just made the whole entrepeneur thing seem a lot less painful than I had imagined it. I am very tired of spending my time making other people famous and rich, so I paid close attention.

My favorite bit was the suggestion that you didn’t have to trade time to get money - develop a good enough product and you don’t have to spend tons of time supporting it. I’d kill for more time to spend on my own software projects (maybe even be paid for developing them).

I already have the ideas - not one but two software frameworks. Now I just have to come up with a business model to support them, but I can’t do that without a better understanding of the issues. I need to actually read that Micro ISV (Internet Software Vendor) book that’s been on my shelf the last 2 years. Then I need to talk to my dad and/or Brian about the administrative side - learn where they have to spend the most effort. From there, I’m hoping the lightbulb will come on by itself.

:)

(3:41:54 PM) Gary: sql file has been updated (3:42:13 PM) jay: Rawk. Will that just be copy/pasted for production, then? (3:42:26 PM) Gary: yes (3:42:34 PM) jay: Double rawk. Thanks! (3:42:47 PM) Gary: what the hell is "Rawk" (3:43:02 PM) jay: Rock, only more l33t. :) (3:43:12 PM) Gary: I am out it! (3:43:17 PM) Gary: out of it (3:43:32 PM) jay: No, I'm making this crap up as I go. :)

I asked Diana a couple nights ago if content access permissions for the media server (and by extension, as a general rule) should default to open or closed. Her answer was a resounding “closed”. I suspect most people, when the problem is explained to them, will answer the same. Hell, I think I might do so myself.

But unlike most people, I can envision the incredible possibilities for data mining projects (both selfish and altruistic) that would be possible with a system that defaults to open… In fact, I have to question whether it’s even worth the effort to make the interfaces to all this content uniform if the stuff that should be publicly accessible isn’t…

Zyps presentation...

Here’s the presentation I gave at Code Camp, uploaded to Google Docs…