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I'm going to repost my original post to the idea. It seems that before you focus on people and processes, a little system architecture design and a look into existing tools (including payment services like PayPal) might be of help to answer some foundational questions.
I finally wandered over to this forum and noticed your post. I think it's a great idea, but if you can't get people to work well together within one company and physically next to each other, how in the world are you going to succeed in a virtual environment?
I'm not trying to throw a wet blanket on your idea, it's just that I've been wondering about this problem for 20 years now. I've had varied success with working long distance with my clients (more success than failure), but I've found it much more difficult to work remotely with other programmers.
Maybe money is a motivator to get people to work, but I typically find that quality is nearly impossible to maintain in long distance programmer to programmer relationships. This is primarily due to a much narrower communication bitrate and reduced bandwidth. It's easy for me to walk over to the next guy and ask "how's it going?", and check out his/her code remotely as it's being developed. It's a lot harder to do that in a virtual company. That, coupled with the lack of perceived project leadership (which is addressed primarily by the physical proximity effect, ie, the big stick), makes for some difficult times.
However, if there were some technical solutions available, such as www.gotomypc.com and the like, to facilitate monitoring, communication, and decision making, then I think a virtual company would have a better chance of success. Identifying what tools exist, how to use them, and what tools are needed might be the first step.
I also think that people need to "buy in" to the company, (yes, with $$$), sort of like a co-op. Initial membership fees, different levels of membership coupled to different voting rights on company direction, "stock options", etc.
Marc
Marc
Every line of code is a liability - Taka Muraoka A doable project is one that is small enough to be done quickly and big enough to be interesting - Ken Orr
CPP Script Framework Design Page
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As you have stated, collaboration, quality control and numerous other points are key to success. I was trying to get a macro vision in place before trying to break it apart into smaller and more critcal pieces.
I'm grateful you reposted this so others who didn't see it in the previous topic have a chance to read it.
Regards,
The Boolean Operator aka Boo
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BooleanOperator wrote:
I was trying to get a macro vision in place
I think that really needs to come from the people who originate the idea. Getting other people's vision sounds great but what works better in my experience is giving people a vision that they can buy into. Otherwise people get the wrong expectations, squabble about pointless things, etc. There's enough people in the world and on CP that YOUR vision can be sustained by people interested in it. As I posted to jhaga also:
I tend to think that it is more effective to put some work into a plan (for example, a drawing of how the business works is an excellent start) and high level ideas. This gives people something to chew on rather than an abstract idea. Even if you end up throwing out the original plan because people have made better or different suggestions, it provides some much needed focus.
For example, I wouldn't go about presenting a virtual company idea this way. I'd put together a couple web pages on the Internet, do some research first, show people that it's possible, think of some of the problems and propose some solutions. The "vote on this idea" concept seems quite popular.
Once you have clearly stated YOUR vision, then yes, by all means, this is a springboard for input from other people. Just my 2c though.
Marc
Every line of code is a liability - Taka Muraoka A doable project is one that is small enough to be done quickly and big enough to be interesting - Ken Orr
CPP Script Framework Design Page
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I agree with you, but we have to focus on people that are interested in building up the organization first. Once we have 4-5 dedicated people, then we can start doing the things you suggest.
I am prepared to spend some time on (boring?)organizational issues and so is BooleanOperator but we still need some more people.
jhaga
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I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Conclusion, 1854
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jhaga wrote:
but we have to focus on people that are interested in building up the organization first.
I tend to think that it is more effective to put some work into a plan (for example, a drawing of how the business works is an excellent start) and high level ideas. This gives people something to chew on rather than an abstract idea. Even if you end up throwing out the original plan because people have made better or different suggestions, it provides some much needed focus.
For example, I wouldn't go about presenting a virtual company idea this way. I'd put together a couple web pages on the Internet, do some research first, show people that it's possible, think of some of the problems and propose some solutions. The "vote on this idea" concept seems quite popular.
Just my 2c though.
Marc
Every line of code is a liability - Taka Muraoka A doable project is one that is small enough to be done quickly and big enough to be interesting - Ken Orr
CPP Script Framework Design Page
Latest AAL Article
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You are absolutely right, Marc. Why don't you join me and BooleanOperator and we draw up a business plan together?
jhaga
---------------------------------
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Conclusion, 1854
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jhaga wrote:
Why don't you join me and BooleanOperator and we draw up a business plan together?
Sadly, I have WAY too much on my plate right now to be able to invest the time to work on this cool idea.
Marc
Every line of code is a liability - Taka Muraoka A doable project is one that is small enough to be done quickly and big enough to be interesting - Ken Orr
CPP Script Framework Design Page
Latest AAL Article
AAL blog
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And I have WAY WAY too much on my plate, and will pursue this project only if there is enough interest in it.
Anyhow thanks for your ideas.
jhaga
---------------------------------
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Conclusion, 1854
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jhaga wrote:
And I have WAY WAY too much on my plate, and will pursue this project only if there is enough interest in it.
Touche. I guess it's sort of a catch-22 eh? Well, that leaves BooleanOperator.
Marc
Every line of code is a liability - Taka Muraoka A doable project is one that is small enough to be done quickly and big enough to be interesting - Ken Orr
CPP Script Framework Design Page
Latest AAL Article
AAL blog
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Marc Clifton wrote:
that leaves BooleanOperator
Yes, true or false
jhaga
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I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Conclusion, 1854
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jhaga wrote:
Yes, true or false
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This sounds good. I am a freelance developer and I can see the value of this quite clearly.
I have lost projects because the technologies they wanted to use were not familiar to me.
In this setup - I could still take the project and pass it to the co-op.
What I have to offer today:
* A dedicated server (NT, IIS, MySQL, Cold FUsion, PHP) http://www.bj-consulting.com
* Cisco technical writing and classes
* Novell technical writing and classes
* MFC/C++
* Cold Fusion development
* SQL Admin
* Graphics tools - 3D-Studio Max 5, Poser 5, TrueSpace32, Photoshop 7, Macromedia Studio MX
What needs to happen is for 1 person to own the marketing side of this.
Keep me in the loop!
tlnolley@bj-consulting.com
I'm going to live forever or die trying!
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We've put together a new digital photo management application. Our web site is still under construction, but you can get the gist of it here:
http://brilliantlabs.com/[^]
If you have a digital camera and you're interested in helping me test the software, please reply to this e-mail with your current contact information, a brief summary of your operating environment (hardware, OS, etc.) and the type of digital camera(s) you use.
Jim Lamb
Brilliant Labs, Inc.
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It would be better if you can post what are the system requirements for your application to run on the client side.
Ex:
OS required :
RAM required :
IE required :
Video Card :
What Digital cameras it supports:
"If a jug falls upon a stone, woe to the jug. If a stone falls upon a jug, woe to the jug. Always woe to the jug"." - KaЯl This signature was created by "Code Project Quoter".
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KaЯl,
The application runs on Windows 98 and up. Thumbnails are loaded into memory one screen at a time, so nominal memory usage running full screen is around 20MB. You'll get better performance if you have 20MB free physical RAM to work with. The install includes the redistributables to update SHFolder.dll and ComCtl32.dll, so it doesn't require any particular version of IE other than the OS requirement already mentioned.
Alpha blending effects are used and, it is a photo management app, so the faster your video card, the snappier it will be. It does require a color depth of at least 16-bits (256 color modes not supported for working with 24-bit JPEG images).
It support pretty much any digital camera, but you'll get best results if your camera supports some version of EXIF and importing is easiest if your camera connects via USB (serial and TWAIN connections are not directly supported).
I'll update the web site to include this information. Thanks for your feedback.
Jim Lamb
Brilliant Labs, Inc.
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Jim Lamb wrote:
KaЯl,
I'm Kant..
Anyway sounds interesting. I can lend my hand to test ur app in my spare time.
My system : Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop, 1GHz with 256 MB, Windows XP Pro SP1, Canon Powershot S30 Digital camera
"If a jug falls upon a stone, woe to the jug. If a stone falls upon a jug, woe to the jug. Always woe to the jug"." - KaЯl This signature was created by "Code Project Quoter".
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I would be happy to beta test. I am getting ready to kick of a photo session of my kids using my HP 812 digital camera. My camera has 256 megs of memory, connects via USB and totally rules.
My two main computers are Windows 2000 running on PII-650 with 512 Megs Ram and 15 gig hard drive.
Windows XP running on 2.53 Gig Toshiba Satellite with 1 gig memory and 60 gig hard-drive using USB 2.0. Optionally I can use my kids computer as well it is on Windows ME, PII-200 with 164 megs ram and a 10 gig hard drive.
I can bring in other testers and equipment if you would like. Please let me know how many testers you are after. I have some very close friends that would be willing to help and they fall in every category you described.
Thanks!!!
"Back to school, back to school; to prove to dad I'm not a fool." - Billy Madison (Adam Sandler)
Rex Winn
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I'm willing to test.
Windows 98, AMD Athlon XP 1500+ 1GHZ CPU, 256MB RAM, 40GB HD, Kaser 32MB AGP graphics card, SiPix SC2300 and another SiPix cam (I'll get the model when I can).
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." - Jesus
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
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Hi,
I'm willing to test.
I have a Minolta Dimage X camera and an IBM laptop Pentium III, 256 Mb RAM running Windows 2000 professional.
Arnaud
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I would love to test.
I still need to find an application that can handle edge to edge prints on my Canon 900, the only one that can do it properly is the crappy one that came with the printer...
System:
Dual XEON 2.8, 1GB Ram, WinXP
Camera:
Sony Cybershot DSC-S85
- Anders
Money talks, but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!"
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It may update ComCtl32.dll (requires v5.8 or higher) and ShFolder.dll (requires v5.5 or higher). It does not update or replace any drivers.
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If I click on your site's "contact us" link, I get:
"You have sent a message to the mailing list 'Beta' which is not a discussion forum.
The message will not be sent to the list members."
What does that mean???
The content of my message was:
Hi,
I noticed your post on The Code Project and am interested in beta testing your product. I’m actually developing a photo-album organizer myself (a project for The Code Project and my Application Automation Layer) because I have yet to come across a photo album organizer that lets me do certain things.
I have 3151 digital photos at this point, so let’s see if your software rocks.
Marc
Every line of code is a liability - Taka Muraoka A doable project is one that is small enough to be done quickly and big enough to be interesting - Ken Orr
CPP Script Framework Design Page
Latest AAL Article
AAL blog
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Marc,
I've responded directly to you via e-mail. The beta@brilliantlabs.com address, linked to from the web site, has been converted to a mailing list for current beta testers. I've updated the link to mailto: info@brilliantlabs.com. I've also sent you the download instructions and release notes for the first external test build.
Cheers,
Jim Lamb
Brilliant Labs, Inc.
http://brilliantlabs.com/[^]
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I am posting Roger J's idea here to see how many are interested in this:
The virtual company could consist of single developers and small companies.
the purpose of the 'company' would be to allow developers to take on larger projects that would be to big for a single person/small company to complete.
Members could either share parts of their projects with other members of the group , or , sell the project to others in the group.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even if this don't become a reality , it could still be a good way increase your network of people that might be good to know.
jhaga
CodeProject House, Paul Watson wrote:
...and the roar of John Simmons own personal Nascar in the garage. Meg flitting about taking photos.Chris having an heated arguement with Colin Davies and .S.Rod. over egian values. Nish manically typing *censur*. Duncan racing around after his pet *c.* Michael Martin and Bryce loudly yelling *c.* C.G. having a fit as Roger Wright loads up *c.* . Anna waving her *c.* and Deb scoffing chocolates in the corner.
...Good heavens!
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The idea is very good, but it would be really difficult to organize. We would have to set up a set of well defined rules to handle all aspects of our business.
But let's talk about, maybe we succeed ...
Greetings,
heinz r. vahlbruch c++ & c# programmer from germany
If IntelliSense doesn't have it, it ain't worth calling - Anonymous
My compiler compiled yours - Seen on a VC++.Net T-Shirt
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