1,136 karma · joined March 25, 2007
jsjenkins168 at google's email
A more realistic statement would be RIP Palm/Access. I dont know how they can expect to build their own Linux platform to compete with Andriod... I hope they embrace the open handset alliance rather than try to define their own standard.
RIP JavaME.
Had I walked in totally chill and hang loose I feel I would have at least done better. The more you can convince yourself that you really dont care the more relaxed you will likely be. At least that is my $.02.
In retrospect, I'm so thankful YC gave us an opportunity to interview though. The lessons learned on pitching to an investor were so valuable, as was the advice. Even not being funded by YC it is a win-win in one way or another.
The problem is paravirtualization still isnt supported in the x64 kernel. So its still too slow to do heavy tasks in. And you still need lots of ram and cores if you want to do lots of simultaneous work.
The co-founder relationship will form naturally when/if both of you are ready to start a company. You are in a great place to meet good hackers. Who knows, maybe some of the friends you are meeting now will become future business partners.
One of my co-founders was just a friend in school who I worked together with on projects. After school, we began working at the same company before starting to talk about leaving to do a startup. But if I would have asked him in school I'm sure he would have said "are you crazy".. Some people just need some convincing :)
Another co-founder is a cousin but we've been talking about this stuff for over 10 years so that choice was obvious.
The reality though is that applets are significantly faster now, and they are very powerful. But I doubt this will change the impression most people have of them. Flash does most of what you would need, and now there is AIR if you need access to the file system or other low level functionality.
I think a mistake Sun is making is with all the branding they do with applets. Showing a Java logo each time an applet launches is a shameless plug and leaves an impression that a lot of crap is loading. The bootstrap process should be more seamless, in my opinion. They still have not changed this as far as I know.
This could also be big with young college sports fans. Have you guys thought about targeting this audience via a facebook app? I'm sure there are already plenty fantasy sports fantasy sports fb apps out there though..
Seriously though, I hope no one was hurt.
Bad move Apple.
Its never as simple as saying "if the client doesnt have whats necessary to view my site, then tough luck"
Re-word your request as you will turn off good hackers if you restrict based on the place they went to school. Most elite hacking skills are acquired outside of a classroom anyway.
Interesting about your experiences outsourcing to India. I've met a few startup founders locally who have done that. I'd never thought about it before, but I guess it could be beneficial to those who need certain tasks completed and are strapped for resources/time. We have too much pride in writing our code but I'm sure for some it works.
You should try posting on craigslist too. You might find a software developer that way.
They must realize that the only way they will gain acceptance amongst hackers is to convince them that Silverlight is not a traditional MSFT product. A few months ago they were kissing ass to Arrington and a few others trying leave positive impressions about the platform and convince everyone of its openness.
But they may already be in trouble because AIR seems to have an edge in early adoption so far. Pownce is written in AIR for example.
It'll be interesting to see how things play out. There is a huge need for certain features of Silverlight and AIR (like local file system access and a network API), but I dont know if those will be compelling enough to drive either of these to "critical mass".
The key word here is could.
You can always offer your software outside of the carriers official services, but they usually have it setup so that if a user installs unapproved 3rd party software it can void the user's contract. Plus the average person doesn't really install 3rd party software on their phones yet (I hope the iPhone changes this after the SDK release).
An easy solution is to offer your service off-deck, as a WAP site or a Flash Lite site. But obviously services like Loopt are not possible because you dont have access to specific phone hardware such as the GPS unit.
This is a very insightful article. Anyone down on a YC rejection or similar should give it a read.
You have to be very organized with your builds if you need to utilize many optional libraries b/c phone support can be splotchy at best. Fortunately many of the important libraries such as MMAPI and PDA are commonplace with new phones.
Although I understand many of the reasons are probably due to simply not being compelled by the founders, which is much more difficult to tell someone than simply that "there are too many competitors".
The truth can hurt, but sometimes that is what someone really needs to hear.
You wont be referred to Sequoia right away, but the point is you meet people through people. It is a gradual process.
As my mother used to tell me: "Thin threads". Sometimes a random introduction can turn into something significant.
Its a non-profit organization of UT profs and apparently has deep ties in the industry.
The problem is being accepted is even more difficult than YC... They only accept a few, but the ones they do have a high success rate.
But as several reports have indicated, Apple may use iTunes to maintain control over app approval, distribution, and purchases. I really hope this doesn't end up being the case.