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Add to the conversation - what's the issue for US companies using OpenERP?

Are you looking to hire anyone to assist with the implementation? I work in the manufacturing / logistics / WH arena and am very keen on ERP work

Exactly. Before a company invests in moving all their processes into a system like this, there needs to be some kind of legal statement that says 'should we ever get acquired / close down, we'll release the code to paying customers'.

Surely this should be a lesson that maybe free isn't always the best option...

Have you never stood on a piece of lego? :)

Needs support for PO number

50% off is not the same as buy one, get one free. Let's say each Ebook costs $10. On a "buy one, get one free" deal, I have spent $10. On a 50% off deal, I have spent $5

It was not cold-selling no. I had worked with them before in a different role so I was a known quantity. I also combined it with a meeting with another client I was cold-selling to - albeit through a recommendation from a friend and had already submitted a proposal.

In total it cost me about $2000 but am expecting work to come from it.

I've been freelancing / consulting for just over a year myself and am discovering more of the process myself. Here's what I've done so far..

- Reach out to your existing network - if you have friends who have done freelancing / consulting, find out what companies they did freelancing / consulting for - chances are those companies still need it.

- Offer to meet for coffee / lunch / dinner. I'm based in the UK and was trying via e-mail to speak to a potential client. It just wasn't happening. They are based in the US. So I called them up and offered to meet for dinner there at a time convenient for them - they accepted and I had the dinner last week. It is very easy for someone to decline a phone call / conference call. It's much harder for someone to do that when they know you have made an effort to turn up in person - they also have to eat so meal times work good.

- I find being honest is the best route to go. They expect you to know what you're doing! I think it's fine to say - I've just stepped out of employment and now I'm looking to build a business myself in what I've been doing - people respect you for trying to start a business!

- Don't offer to do something for free too early on. The person you're pitching to is not working for free and they won't be expecting you to work for frre either? Yes, you may need to offer something for free to land a client initially - but do not do it with open-ended development!! Instead suggest you do an analysis of their system etc and write up a report and how you'd improve things - at least that has a fixed scope. Or ask for a dataset and show simply how you can use that data to give them some new numbers they don't yet have.

Have you seen office365.com? $6 a month per user for cloud Exchange, web e-mail, full Outlook integration if you want, plus online storage, view and editing of Word, Excel & Powerpoint. It's a lot to compete with for $6 a month.

Except you subconsciously have. All display sizes are sold in inches. The trip computer on your car will tell you miles per gallon. Even if you ignore speed limits, your speedometer gives you your speed in MPH :). If you've ever flown on a plane, altitude has been given as feet and distance in miles. So you do use both.

Ouch, a big miss / oversight as googling "holden clothing" gives holdenoutwear as number 1

Not to mention, in a lot of factories, although the labour is broken down into operations, operators will be trained in every operation and switch between them.

kernelmag.com for the UK

Yes I know there's plenty of work in the UK but you don't find many .NET devs based in the UK on here.

Well, I can't move to Bristol and I don't want to work full time for anyone - are you hiring remote freelances and do you pay decent rates?

You can run Linux VMs on Azure.... http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/pricing/calculator/?scenar...

There is a big difference between outsourcing a logo v outsourcing software. For one, you can see everything you're paying for on one screen and there's no timeline issues etc. You get a finished product and it has a fixed scope.

Now, the logos may not be as good as done by a true design company, BUT, unless you are a big B2C brand, nobody cares what your logo is like.

However, if you're having a critical piece of software written for your business, then clearly you need to care about that - outsourcing may or may not be the best option, just as using 99designs for a logo may or may not be the best option.

Go to your local newspaper about the fact the police won't do their job. That should move them into action

Can you e-mail me where you work - I'd just be interested to see what you're doing...

A UK .NET developer? A rarity on here... are you looking to hire anyone?

This looks really interesting.

Just because developers, musicians, artists etc aren't suffering doesn't mean that it's right or should be encouraged.

"It's like robin hood taking from the rich and giving to the poor"

No, really, it's not. For the most part it is encouraging people to consume something for free they should have paid for.

I really don't get the love for TPB and copyright infringement in general on HN when most are dreaming of starting businesses where you need people to hand over money.

You could imagine a few startups putting these into their offices :)

We already have those in the UK

I love this kind of stuff - if you fancy an extra pair of hands then contact details are in my profile

Not really - PG will see it eventually

There's plenty of software required to track / audit what's happening in a business in order to comply with plenty of legislation

Set market prices and it will sell

IP issues will go away when IPv6 catches on and things like this will only increase adoption.