by Scott on December 01, 2006
In 1978, Harvard Business School and MIT graduate Dan Bricklin joined Bob Frankston to create the world’s first computer spreadsheet program. I was looking through old magazines the other day and came across my July, 1989 issue of Inc. magazine featuring Mr. Bricklin on the cover with an interview inside in which Mr. Bricklin discussed his “prototypical host company of the 80’s” and “reflections on staying small”.
Dan Bricklin’s story has always been one of my favorites, even as a kid in college. And his work and writings (see his site) remain exceptionally relevant today.
With VisiCalc, Mr. Bricklin was able to identify a need, write software to solve the need, and build a company around that software. Bricklin’s story is well known and Visicalc, his creation, is sometimes credited with sparking the personal computer revolution. He really was, I think, the first MicroISV. Even the downside of VisiCalc (being beaten by large rivals on IBM-PCs in the form of Lotus 1-2-3) provides an interesting study in the software business.
But that was over a quarter century ago. Even if it was an early small software company, could his experience then still be relevant to new small software companies today? I think so and VisiCalc, plus dozens of other companies and products, formed the basis for my research into Best Practices for a New Small Software Company.
Read more...
[3]
comments
by Scott on November 21, 2006
Update: I received an ‘A’ on my Capstone Paper. (My final GPA then is a perfect 4.0).
Just a celebratory post! I turned in my final research paper which marks the end of my work toward my Masters’ Degree at University of Denver. Whew…now all there is to do is wait for the final grade.
Thanks to my wife, Karen, and everyone that supported me through this effort.
My final project was an analysis of business and technology best-practices for new, small software companies. I will be posting portions of it here from time to time so stay tuned for details.
Posted in Productivity, Personal
[0]
comments
by Scott on November 18, 2006
I’m here at The Rails Edge Conference in Denver and will summarize some of the talks. Let me take a moment to put in a personal recommendation for this group of speakers and the Pragmatic Studio conferences. They are a professional group who put on a well run conference. Highly recommended.
Building UI Frameworks – Bruce Williams
Bruce talked about the pain that views impose on developers and how to help yourself in the Rails environment avoid some of the pain. Bruce noted that this is not a Rails problem or an MVC problem, it is just a fact that views are hard to deal with. They mix a developer and designer’s frame of mind in a single place which makes for frustrations and challenges.
Read more...
Posted in Programming
[1]
comments
by Scott on November 18, 2006
I’m here at The Rails Edge Conference in Denver and will summarize some of the talks. This topic is of interest only to those interested in Ruby or Rails, so if that is you – read on. If not, please disregard.
Active Record Demystified by Marcel Molina Jr.
Rails Core Team member Marcel Molina Jr. presented a walkthrough of ActiveRecord::Base#Save ActiveRecord::Base.find as part of the “Active Record Demystified” talk.
Read more...
Posted in Programming
[1]
comments
by Scott on November 17, 2006
I’m here at The Rails Edge Conference in Denver and will summarize some of the talks throughout the conference. This topic is of interest only to those interested in Ruby or Rails, so if that is you – read on. If not, please disregard.
Dave Thomas – Buried Treasure
Dave gave a great talk on a ton of little things that all add up to make Ruby and Rails a great environment in which to be working. He covered things such as using svn, the console, handing Strings, Arrays, libraries, blocks, TextMate, and irb. Too much good stuff to mention here!
Scott’s Take
If you are a Ruby on Rails developer, get yourself to the next The Rails Edge.
Posted in Programming
[2]
comments
