NowStream

Language Wars

2006-09-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

Joel, a software designer that I highly respect, has an interesting essay on which programming language to use for building enterprise level software. There's some good points in there, but the most important one is:

How do you decide between C#, Java, PHP, and Python? The only real difference is which one you know better. If you have a serious Java guru on your team who has build several large systems successfully with Java, you're going to be a hell of a lot more successful with Java than with C#, not because Java is a better language (it's not, but the differences are too minor to matter) but because he knows it better. Etc.

I personally believe in being as much of a guru in as many languages as possible so you can choose the right tool for the right job, but then again I'm a freak like that. I love Python for its clean coding requirements, first-class functions, etc. I like Perl for its string handling and wealth of modules. C# and Visual Basic.Net for rapid (and solid!) Windows development.
Of course it takes a lot of time to become proficient in all these languages, but I believe that should be the goal of every computer programmer/software designer. Programming is an art and a skill that must be honed. The more you practice the less you have to ask the question: "Which language should I use?"

The Death of Kiko

2006-08-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

Rich White, a fellow programmer geek and new found friend I met at Scoble's "Off The Grid", has a good write-up about the death of Kiko, an online calendar.
Is this the start of the Web 2.0 bust like everyone is saying? Well, I'm certainly not an expert, but I see some pretty significant differences between "Bust 1.0" and "Bust 2.0"

"Bust 1.0" was about a lot of people, VC's and individuals, losing A LOT of money. We're talking about billions of dollars.
"Bust 2.0" doesn't have the same level of personal financial investment so a bust won't have a snowballs chance in hell of affecting the economy. The VC's can still get screwed, but no one really cares about them :-)

"Bust 1.0" caused a significant number of employees to lose their jobs. Unemployment in the the Mecca of Tech skyrocketed.
"Bust 2.0" will cause people who are running their sites mostly as a second job or a hobby to become unemployed. There will not be 10's of thousands of people laid off because there aren't 10's of thousands of people actually working on Web 2.0 sites. Sure there are many, many people contributing to Web 2.0 sites, but the number of people behind the scenes is nowhere near the same ratio as it was in Web 1.0.

Those points aside, is "Bust 2.0" a bad thing or a good thing? It doesn't matter. Content is the only thing that matters ;-)

So what in the heck will NowStream.com be doing?

2006-08-16T20:17:00.000-07:00

Back in the good old days, April of 2003 to be exact, we started a company called NowStream.com. The idea was simple: broadcast live video and audio of events from anywhere in the world straight to your desktop. We were all pretty excited about it, everyone we talked to was pretty excited about it, most everyone who used the site was excited about it. Things should have gone smashingly. Well, things did get smashed.

We did just about everything wrong when it comes to a startup company. We didn't release early and often. We had very poor management (me). Guy pretty much sums it up. We did everything on that list wrong. And I take full credit for all of it.

That which doesn't kill us only makes us stronger. We survived the failing of NowStream.com with a lot of useful code and ideas which we've since rolled into other products. One of those ideas/pieces of code that survived is called CoffeeTalk. Based on OPML and inspired by the Instant Outlining feature of Dave's OPML Editor (It's in Radio Userland too!), CoffeeTalk is a (buzzword warning) scalable, reliable, and flexible framework for simplifying the development of network applications.

NowStream.com will be using CoffeeTalk to build exciting network applications. That sounds so 90's doesn't it? Everyone is developing network applications. They just call them Web Applications. We'll be doing Web Applications, but the real power comes from the applications that run on the network behind the scenes. Google has taught us all that.

We have a handful of ideas already, but the first step is to polish up CoffeeTalk (or grind CoffeeTalk if I may) and make sure we have a solid foundation to build our company anew before we start dumping money into it. We're looking at some colloboration software, some system monitoring software, and of course, the ever-elusive artificially intelligent software. Might take us a while on that last one tho ;-)

So that's that. Have any questions? Drop me a line at 702-810-1337, or email me at nowstream@gmail.com

(Posting my cell phone and email on my blog blatantly stolen from Robert Scoble)

On the Blog again...

2006-08-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

I just can't wait to get on the Blog again!
Hillary and I just returned from Off The Grid with Robert Scoble. We had an incredible time (except for Hillary's allergies.)
Now it is time to get back to work. Off The Grid gave us some very useful feedback on our 'new' company. Two big points:

Your Name Is Important - We knew this already, but we were, *ahem*, I was, a little cocky. Guy's Trademark post as well as Robert's latest musings on a name really helped drive the point home. NowStream.com is not only a very descriptive name for our technology, but it is short and sweet too.
Our Technology Makes Sense - Being able to share the basis of our technology with other geeks and having them react in a positive, "I could sure use that" way was incredibly reassuring. The problems we want to solve with our software actually exist! *phew*

We have a lot of work ahead of us. There is code to write, projects to plan, web pages to craft, and caffeine to be consumed!