Next week I’ll be in Boston attending my first LinuxWorld conference. were I’ll be giving to presentation/demonstrations a day, plus plenty of public and vendor meet and greet. It should be insane. I’m pretty excited about doing a good job, but as usual I’m still not quite prepared. I’ve got to go through my slides and demonstrations a few times. Plus on Monday we have to install Linux on some loaner machines and test some tricks I have planned.

• The One Laptop Per Child project
• The OSDL’s recently announced Fellowship program
• Building consumer products with open source communities — the Maemo and 770 experiences
• And there is going to be a Mono booth as well, sweet!

A long time friend of SNAP and Puerto Rico, Peter Quinn rips the open source community a new one. In this article “» Open source community needs a haircut and to dress for success | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com” he is quoted as saying that “If you want to get traction in commercial environments, lose the sandals and ponytails.” A pointed quip indeed! He goes on to say “Open source has an unprofessional appearance, and the community needs to be more business-savvy in order to start to make inroads in areas traditionally dominated by commercial software vendors. (Having) a face on a project or agenda makes it attractive for politicians (to consider open source),”

I can relate to his perspective. However, it brings up something that I address a couple of times in the upcoming issue of TUX. For me, one of the biggest challenges open source software faces today is the dilemma of whether it is for engineers, open for business, or a wide spectrum in between.

What Peter is trying to bring out is that if we want more companies to choose FOSS, then we need to join the corporate world. I’m not suggesting IBM Blue suits and white shirts. I guess it’s the old saying “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. There are certain expectations corporate America expects. Variance is acceptable, outright contempt and challenge will limit our success. Is that selling out, conforming to authority, or however you want to characterize it, I call it pragmatic.

I believe in computers, so when I heard about the One Laptop Per Child project, I got really excited. Then after reading the background of the project, I got even more excited. While these laptops are computers, the first intended use for them is not as a computer, but as an e-book reader. In the initially targeted countries they have a problem in acquiring textbooks, keeping up to date, especially in their native tongue.

This article by the highly respected Robin Miller, “Commentary: Gates wants poor to spend $600+, not $100 or $200, for computers” is disappointing. While properly skewering Bill Gates and his recent comments about the OLPC project, he throws in some FUD of his own. The bottom line is this: something close to 1 out of every 6 people in the world have never even seen a computer. The first one they do see, I want to run Linux and be full of other FOSS (Free and Open Source Software). Any deeper analysis than that, frankly, I don’t care to hear about. I believe in this project in my soul. I know it is the right thing to do. This is not a zero sum game. If this project wants to try and put a computer into the hands of millions of people, it doesn’t mean instead of providing people sustainable water and food. Who know? Maybe providing computers to more people will help us find out how to provide water and food; by none other than the people that receive these computers and most need it.

For anyone considering a jump into starting their own company, forming or joining a startup, the next few posts will offer a few quick words of advice. As I share them, I’ll also give a brief description of my work efforts.

1. It is said that planning for any project is indispensable, while the plan you create for that project is disposable.

If you’re going to make the jump, make sure you take a parachute along with you. A parachute in this sense is a fall back position that can carry you through the extended “project initiation” phase. It is going to take way more time than you ever believe to get rolling. Whether that means landing the first contract or making the first sale. You’re going to need some insurance. Your insurance could be an existing client. Like quitting your job and being able to contract yourself back to them and continue to provide services.

This is proof that no matter how smart someone might seem, or claim to be, reality is quite often more brutal. I know this rule, but yet I wasn’t actually able accomplish creating a fall back position. While I have a proposal pending with my ex-client, I’m still waiting for feedback. Therefore, I didn’t plan ahead successfully. Many excuses what I didn’t incorporate sooner, build the web site sooner, create a capabilities statement early, for I need them now; and they’re not ready.

Although I did pick up a great sideline gig by becoming the new Editor in Chief of TUX Magazine, it’s not directly on my path to create a startup or software and services company. I’m working on my third issue and it is a lot of fun. It is very helpful in bringing closer to reality my life long dream of authoring a technical book. And in a weird sort of Moebius strip, infinite loop, sort of a way it takes me back some 25 years to when I started Journalism school at Ball State University.

Creating passionate users as I launch my software and services company

I was having another lively conversation with my friend Marcos Polanco this evening. At one point I reminded him that I was through with accepting and dealing with the seven rings of bullshit that surround most business conversations here in Puerto Rico. It seems that every conversation I witness is an endless stream of exaggerations, mis-representations, and even flat out lies.

There is one special version of this business exchange that I find incredibly vile. I call it building castles in the air. It involves in stating that something will be done. However, the conditions necessary to make that thing possible don’t exist. Let me illustrate my favorite, I want to build a company to make widgets. When asked if I will out-source the making of those widgets to China. I respond by saying, I’d prefer to get Puerto Ricans to make my widget. Yep that’s right if any body makes my widgets they’re going to be Puerto Ricans. A very patriotic and noble ideal. But then you ask me, are there a lot of people in Puerto Rico that know how to make widgets? Looking at the floor, I respond in a low voice. I can’t find any qualified widget makers. You press me farther and ask, are the universities actively producing knowledgeable widget makers? I respond proudly, yes. UPR-Mayaguez produces some of the most talented and sought after widget makers. So you ask, so you’ll be able to hire some of those recently graduated widget makers, right? Once again I look at the floor and say, barely audible, no. They’ve all accepted jobs to go make widgets in China for 3 times what I can pay them. And just in case your going to ask, no I’m not actually doing anything to produce more people capable of making widgets.

As I thought about writing this, I recalled what Larry Bossidy admonishes in his book “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” that the first rule in successful execution is eliminating all confusion and grasping the truth about a situation. When are the business leaders of Puerto Rico going to grasp the reality of the complex set of lies that they use to build more castles in the air? However, as I was was googling for a nice link about execution, I found a link about Methods of Execution.

Ha, LOL, the same word that we use to exult companies that operate efficiently is the same word we use to kill people. After reading the source, wouldn’t you know it from all places. The third highest ranked link about execution is from Indiana (my birth place, my home state). And people say God doesn’t have a sense of humor.

In this article Gartner Presents 10 Year Scenario for Information Technology, Business and Society | Tekrati Research News there is a quote which I believe is the clearest description of what is wrong with nearly all businesses:

“The challenge to established companies comes not from other established players, but from start-up entrepreneurs who will use technology to upset the status quo.”

Think about it…