:: MIS Insights ::

A recent article from CNN talks about uber-rich people buying submarines:

In a world of $100-million mega yachts, luxury submarines attract the ultra rich for one of two reasons. Some buyers are just looking for another realm they can conquer with their checkbooks. But many are genuine undersea enthusiasts.

If I had a billion dollars, I’d probably get a private submarine too. After setting up schools, hospitals and buying a region of the Philippines, I’d go diving in the Marianas Trench and look for the fabled 80-foot squids and other sea monsters! People might have conquered Mt Everest and outer space, so I’ll just be the first person to touchdown at the deepest part of the world.

What about you? How would you spend your billion dollars?

Thank you very much for the wonderful offer.

Unfortunately, complications with my other commitments have forced me to pass up on it. While I could try to do everything by working 18 hours per day, I don’t think that would be good for my health, the people I want to be with and the quality of work that I will be delivering.

As one results-oriented person talking to another, such setup is unacceptable. The risk of lackluster performance from a time-strapped person is something that must be avoided - not solved or worked around.

There are two Fernando Mendizabals in the world of IT, but there is only one Jr. I don’t want to break the tradition and ruin the name game.

As my father told me:

The IT community is such a small world. You’ll keep meeting the same people again and again here and there, sooner or later.

So, don’t burn bridges.

Otherwise, you better be a damn good swimmer.

Hopefully, things turn out for the good and we can get to talk about other opportunities six months down the road.

Thanks for being very supportive, I know I can do this because all of you believe in me.

This is probably the most challenging decision I have ever faced in my life since I was made to choose between Rocky Road and Cookies and Cream when I was in grade school.

More details after the one-week non-disclosure agreement expires.

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is God’s plan that prevails.”

it’s been 11 days and PLDT still hasn’t fixed the telephone post outside our house.

we’ve been calling them every day and they keep saying that they’ll fix it the next day.

it’s been 11 days.

i hate monopolies.

no.

hate would be an understatement.

“detest, abhor, pissed at”

i think those are better terms.

First, the One Laptop Per Child project was conceived last year. This initiative aims to revolutionize how we educate the world’s children by providing kids in developing countries with computer technology.

Now, we see movements in US pushing for A Laptop at Every Desk in the Classroom!

It seems that laptop computers are having a more appreciated role in the classroom. For the computer industry, this is very good news! The hardware sector for producing educational laptops offers a promising market if hardware makers can craft an affordable and robust solution. Really, how many years do you expect a laptop to last under the care of children? Once this pushes through, this could trigger a demand in Computer-Based Training / Training Supplements in the software sector. Both of which will be poised to take advantage of the good telecommunications infrastructure that we have. More jobs for everyone!

However, parents are not that excited about it:

For one, students sitting in front of a computer screen all day are presented with more tools of distraction, such as electronic games, music, and social networking. In addition, some say the initiatives force computers into classrooms where teachers don’t have a good grasp on how to integrate them into their lesson planning. -BusinessWeek

I’d say there’s nothing much you can do about the distractions that a computer brings- other than restrict access to the internet or applications. However, kids will be kids and they will be distracted - computer or no computer.

Regarding the second part, teachers who don’t have a good grasp on how to integrate them into their lesson planning, this is where solutions planning comes into play.

Consumers no longer want incomplete technology answers, they want integrated business solutions. To illustrate, one company that’s been good at creating solutions is Apple: iPod + iTunes + Store = $$$!

Now, if we could port the same business model towards the educational system - of having one company integrate solutions, rather than wait for the markets to realize such opportunities, then we could reduce future integration costs of non-standard services and hasten development in the IT+Education sector.

I got back Trailblazer’s motherboard back. MSI tech support from suppliers in the Philippines upgraded my BIOS, but didn’t check or fix the problem - my busted CPU temperature probe. What should actually be an idle 30-35 degrees Celsius reading still shows up as an insane 55 degrees Celsius. PCX conveniently had no spare boards at the time and offered to pull it out again for another 3 weeks!

I declined, since I needed a desktop NOW for the projects that I’m working at.

Computer tech support in the Philippines suck. I wish there were an option to trim down the warranty period from 12 months to 1 month. It’s just useless insurance. For the past twelve years of my life, I have never had a wonderful tech support experience. Either they’d just rip you a RAM stick from your computer [VILLMAN] or they’d just be plain powerless to do something about the situation [PCX].

Where, oh where, is the fabled manager that can always make the situation right for the customer? The manager that can DECIDE AND ACT, rather than push blame back to the customer [VILLMAN - no, we’re no longer sure if you swapped the RAM stick outside the store so we can’t replace that] or the supplier [PCX - MSI should have fixed it. Maybe we can send it to them again for another check?].

Freedom is not just about making choices. It’s about having the right choices.

The next computer I get, I’ll be getting it from abroad. Where the inventory is fresh and prices aren’t cranked up.

Adapted from the Matrix:

Boy: Do not try to bend the tech support; that’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Boy: There is no tech support.
Neo: There is no tech support?
Boy: Then you will see, it is not the tech supportthat bends, it is only yourself.

free software can be very profitable. it doesn’t matter whether it’s free legally or illegally. if we take a look at the business models that software has gone through, we can see that there’s no such thing as a free lunch.

BBS ~ Shareware and Freeware

in the golden age of Bulletin Board Systems, people used these systems to share files - most of which were freeware, shareware and drivers. eleven summers ago, i could still remember getting all the freeware and shareware games that i could lay my hands on. i could still remember the popular DOS games such as Commander Keen, Duke Nuke’m and yes, Doom 1!

For those that didn’t experience shareware and made the evolutionary leap towards Captain Hook’s software, shareware were fully working programs whose functions were limited to a certain extent. For instance, Doom 1 had three episodes. The shareware version only had the first episode. If you wanted the other two episodes, you could buy the full and registered version. As another example, some mp3 rippers wouldn’t allow you to rip faster than 2x from CDs or some picture viewers had a nasty text in the middle of the page “Please Register!” (hex-edit, anyone?)

Freeware is free. Fully functional programs that didn’t require royalties. Just a reminder once in a while how you could help the college student who wrote the program get by with his measly weekly allowance. What do these “college students” get out of writing free software? Nothing much but experience, exposure and a chance to start your own company.

Internet ~ Registered and Activated Programs

As the internet became more available, shareware as a product took on a different light. Shareware now became a service. For products that could use updating, the registration scheme was the profitable way to go. If you want updates to the your anti-virus, you’ll have to register to receive critical updates. Think Norton, Symantec or McAfee. Register and you’ll get X years worth of critical updates from our server.

Well, of course these programs were functional. They just weren’t as useful with old antivirus definition files. However, another program i know is pushing the envelope even further. Grisoft. They provide functional software and free updates without extra features that could enhance your sysad life. Of course, for those bells and whistles, you have to … register and pay up.

From a free simple AV software, such business tactic has allowed grisoft to come up with a rich and feature-packed software. What did they get by providing free software? Testing. Testing is one of the most important and expensive steps in a software’s development life cycle. Grisoft was able to skip this by letting the users use the program themselves - and there is no better testing method than that.

With the evolution of technology, particularly the internet, software once again took a different path. Several applications and operating systems needed activation for them to run properly and indefinitely.

*nix ~ Free and Open Source Software

Now, when there’s a fully capable software alternative, why would you bother with software that you have to pay for?

Well, for one, it’s because people don’t like to read manuals. People aren’t really paying for the updates, they are paying for that button in the software that says “Click Here to Get Updates.” Yeah, i know, FOSS also has those functional buttons that say “Click Here to Get Updates.” It wouldn’t be right to pit FOSS and Paid Software against each other by virtue of capabilities.

This brings us to the other point. The profitability of hardware is determined by paid software. Microsoft invests millions in R&D to make sure that their OSes and applications will work in every popular harware out there - wherein part of those R&D funding goes to the hardware manufacturer themselves too. People just wouldn’t buy an OS or application which won’t run on their hardware out of the box. While most people might be at home with tweaking their configuration files to make the hardware and software run, not everyone is.

So, if there’s *no* money involved in FOSS, why do people bother? Don’t FOSS developers need to earn and feed themselves? Actually, there is a lot of money in FOSS. Where Original OSes, Licensed DBMSs and Registered Applications on Production servers can easily cost thousands of dollars, such FOSS alternatives can cost but a fraction of it. This is where FOSS developers come in with their technical support fees. Many large companies are willing to pay a lot for developers and sysads who can make FOSS run because it will be cheaper for them in the long run.

The internet would grind to a halt if an anti-FOSS meteor hit the earth and exterminated all FOSS. Most web apps run with Linux, PHP, Python, Perl or Java - to name a few. Extinction of such technologies wouldn’t be a good proposition for many people concerned.

Captain Hook’s Software ~ Cracked and Downloads

Lastly, we come across the kind of software that you have to pay for to use, but you don’t pay for it and still use it. Yes, we’re talking about Captain Hook’s Software.

Most people might get away with using pirated software at their homes. Most of which are available for download using peer-to-peer file sharing networks. But what does this mean for software companies who lose a lot of money from these pirates? If people use cracked versions of their programs that don’t make them pay for it, what do software companies get?

Familiarity.

If people don’t know how to use any other kind of software besides the pirated version they have at home, business employers will most probably use the original version at the work place to save on time and tutorial expenses. In the end, these companies still get the $moolah$. In this world of high-speed internet that we are now living in, familiarity is a small price that software companies are learning to live with.

In Conclusion

I thought about this as i came across MMORPGs that were free to play but whose enjoyment level would only increase if you bought the premium items available in the real world. It’s a good business model and profitable one by theory and actual results.

Think about it as we venture deeper into Web2.0 where web apps are getting richer and more functional by the day. I’m sure you’ll find a way to earn a buck or two.

[this is not a glorification of any company or software, i did not receive anything for writing this ~ focus on the business model, please]