I have about 4-5 ideas for turning into corporate ventures. Some are brazen, one is shady, and 1 is just common sense ... nuts and bolts.
None of them have yet launched. If I were to remain the sole owner/proprietor, they would probably never launch. I am an ideas person with a very active imagination, but probably lack something to take the final step.
So what needs to happen to get my ideas up and running?
1. Get my elevator pitch sorted. (written about this before)
2. Hook up with someone that complements me. Someone that is good at what I'm not and vice versa.
3. Look closely at myself to discover what it is in my own failings that I can change.
4. Launch before the concept is 100%. Near enough is good enough to decide if it needs more effort. So many people around me spew out great ideas, but don't launch because it isn't nailed to the final detail.
Are they good ideas? Dunno
Will they see the light of day? maybe
Will I be gutted if someone else gets there first? Certainly
Monday, August 25, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Linux Video Calling
It has been nearly a year since I purchased my home PC. It came from Dell with Micro$oft Vista installed. I hate windows, and hence installed openSuse 10.3. All good.... everything works.... except video calling. Skype Beta 2 for linux says it can do video calling, but hasn't worked til now.
To get it working:
1. lsusb to get the ID of the device.
2. Look up the device here
3. Look here for the required driver (and if it is supported)
4. (this is the bit that took me a year to work out) Add the opensuse webcam repo to the update repositories list
5. install the driver suggested above
6. unplug the webcam and plug it in again. check dmesg to ensure it was picked up
To get it working:
1. lsusb to get the ID of the device.
2. Look up the device here
3. Look here for the required driver (and if it is supported)
4. (this is the bit that took me a year to work out) Add the opensuse webcam repo to the update repositories list
5. install the driver suggested above
6. unplug the webcam and plug it in again. check dmesg to ensure it was picked up
The Elevator Pitch
Last Saturday night was a Stag-Do, and on Sunday morning, as I review (and regret) the night before through the pall of a drunken haze, I recall talking to a buddy about a (nother) business idea of mine. He is clever and self made, but I still couldn't grab him with the idea. I can therefore eliminate the possibility that he is just too dumb, and I have every confidence that the idea is a flier; so the audience is good, and the idea is good, but nonetheless, in the two or three sentences at my disposal I couldn't sell it.
This reinforces my growing belief that to be successful you not only need to be clever and hard working, but need to be able to communicate your message effectively. The cornerstone of my success will not, therefore, be the quality of my idea, but will in fact be the quality of my communication to investors/users/partners. The vision should be delivered in the time you have at your disposal while sharing an elevator journey with someone. At the end of the elevator trip, your audience should understand and believe what it is you are trying to achieve.
This reinforces my growing belief that to be successful you not only need to be clever and hard working, but need to be able to communicate your message effectively. The cornerstone of my success will not, therefore, be the quality of my idea, but will in fact be the quality of my communication to investors/users/partners. The vision should be delivered in the time you have at your disposal while sharing an elevator journey with someone. At the end of the elevator trip, your audience should understand and believe what it is you are trying to achieve.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
SharePoint and B2E
The girls are away for the week, and a buddy referred to me on his blog. Now I have to write something or we all just look lame.
Been really struggling at work trying to get Microsoft Sharepoint working responsibly.
The major challenge here is that it seems fairly visually stunning to users (including the crowd that decided to buy it, and presumably pay for it), yet those of us empowered to make it work are in a bit of a bind. I try not to deal with M$ products in general as it is never a happy seamless experience. It is my job to ensure that when our directory of users is updated to show that you no longer work for Business Unit A, but in fact now work for BU = B, you no longer have access to documents and distribution lists that are inappropriate to your new role.
Herein lies the problem. Sharepoint works off Active Directory (it has it's own store of users as well, but I'll gloss over that bit in the name of clarity), but requires group membership to define access rights. You work for the Retail BU, you end up in the Retail group. You change to work for anther BU, for sharepoint to work, you have to be removed from Retail and put in the new group. Real software would do this dynamically and just "know" when you changed role.
As we scratched our head and wondered how we would deliver, along came BitKoo. In a completely unrelated conf call, they mentioned an abstraction layer for Sharepoint. Install the small BitKoo dll, and you don't need Active Dir, you don't need groups, in fact you can point Sharepoint to any directory you like and it just works. We are in the throes of testing and news will be forthcoming (if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is)
Been really struggling at work trying to get Microsoft Sharepoint working responsibly.
The major challenge here is that it seems fairly visually stunning to users (including the crowd that decided to buy it, and presumably pay for it), yet those of us empowered to make it work are in a bit of a bind. I try not to deal with M$ products in general as it is never a happy seamless experience. It is my job to ensure that when our directory of users is updated to show that you no longer work for Business Unit A, but in fact now work for BU = B, you no longer have access to documents and distribution lists that are inappropriate to your new role.
Herein lies the problem. Sharepoint works off Active Directory (it has it's own store of users as well, but I'll gloss over that bit in the name of clarity), but requires group membership to define access rights. You work for the Retail BU, you end up in the Retail group. You change to work for anther BU, for sharepoint to work, you have to be removed from Retail and put in the new group. Real software would do this dynamically and just "know" when you changed role.
As we scratched our head and wondered how we would deliver, along came BitKoo. In a completely unrelated conf call, they mentioned an abstraction layer for Sharepoint. Install the small BitKoo dll, and you don't need Active Dir, you don't need groups, in fact you can point Sharepoint to any directory you like and it just works. We are in the throes of testing and news will be forthcoming (if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is)
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