Re: Itching and scratching (Re: source mgt. requirements solicitation)

Re: Itching and scratching (Re: source mgt. requirements solicitation)

[Robert Dewar]

> Speaking more generally, the folks that get paid to do free software
> are the ones who are solving the problems of people with the money.
> It's up to us to be clever enough to figure out to solve the specific
> problems in a way that improves architecture and infrastructure.
> That was a key but underappreciated aspect of Cygnus' development
> contracts; we would always try to go after projects that included
> infrastructure improvement, but if necessary we would do something
> that was random but lucrative and use the profits to pay for
> generic work.

For the record, this is very similar to ACT's approach to development
contracts.

Re: Itching and scratching (Re: source mgt. requirements solicitation)

[Tom Lord]

       > And, btw, surprise!: In the free software world, corporate
       > GCC hackers are the relative fat cats.  Go figure.

       That's because GCC hackers are doing things that are worth
       serious amounts of money to people that have it to spend.

I didn't mean that it is wrong for you to be well paid.  I meant that
you have a lot of clout.

	Speaking more generally, the folks that get paid to do free
	software are the ones who are solving the problems of people
	with the money.  It's up to us to be clever enough to figure
	out to solve the specific problems in a way that improves
	architecture and infrastructure.  That was a key but
	underappreciated aspect of Cygnus' development contracts; we
	would always try to go after projects that included
	infrastructure improvement, but if necessary we would do
	something that was random but lucrative and use the profits to
	pay for generic work.

Was it customers who underappreciated that?  or was that a selling
point?

	To put it more simply, find a rich person with an itch, and
	offer to scratch it for them. :-)

Ah, well, "The Cabots speak only to Lodges and the Lodges speak only
to God."

-t

Re: Itching and scratching (Re: source mgt. requirements solicitation)

[Stan Shebs]

Tom Lord wrote:

>
>	Speaking more generally, the folks that get paid to do free
>	software are the ones who are solving the problems of people
>	with the money.  It's up to us to be clever enough to figure
>	out to solve the specific problems in a way that improves
>	architecture and infrastructure.  That was a key but
>	underappreciated aspect of Cygnus' development contracts; we
>	would always try to go after projects that included
>	infrastructure improvement, but if necessary we would do
>	something that was random but lucrative and use the profits to
>	pay for generic work.
>
>Was it customers who underappreciated that?  or was that a selling
>point?
>
Sometimes it was a selling point, sometimes the concept was too subtle
for the customer to grasp.  In the mid-90s, a good percentage of time
still had to be spent explaining free software, reassuring people that
GCC didn't cause its output to be GPLed, etc.  It was interesting to see
how much variation there was among customers, and also how important it
was to have actual sales people in the process - engineers left to
themselves would rathole on side issues and never get around to the
actual dealmaking.

Stan

Itching and scratching (Re: source mgt. requirements solicitation)

[Stan Shebs]

Tom Lord wrote:

>
>And, btw, surprise!: In the free software world, corporate GCC hackers
>are the relative fat cats.  Go figure.
>
That's because GCC hackers are doing things that are worth serious
amounts of money to people that have it to spend.  Apple has signed
up with GCC because it solves more of Apple's problems more cheaply
than the several proprietary possibilities, and having made it part
of Mac OS X, Apple's overall corporate health is now partly dependent
on GCC continuing to be a good compiler, and on fixing remaining
problems, such as slowness.

If you were able to convince Apple mgmt that you could make GCC
10x faster not using precompiled headers, I think you could name
your price and get hired the same day; that's how important the
problem is to Apple.  (You're going to have to be really convincing
though; our mgmt has listened to a hundred pitches already.)

Speaking more generally, the folks that get paid to do free software
are the ones who are solving the problems of people with the money.
It's up to us to be clever enough to figure out to solve the specific
problems in a way that improves architecture and infrastructure.
That was a key but underappreciated aspect of Cygnus' development
contracts; we would always try to go after projects that included
infrastructure improvement, but if necessary we would do something
that was random but lucrative and use the profits to pay for
generic work.

To put it more simply, find a rich person with an itch, and offer
to scratch it for them. :-)

Stan