Flutterby™! : unordered list of thoughts

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unordered list of thoughts

2007-10-08 17:03:40.615709+00 by Dan Lyke 10 comments

An unordered list of thoughts I had during a conference call with a potential client today:

- Uh... Four million active users means minimum 20,000 concurrent users at any given moment, and you want to do all of this on ONE co-located virtual server in India? On .Net and MS SQL Server? Honestly? You really, really think that's how it will go? In that case, can I punch you? Please? I mean, I only ask because you seem like the type of person who'd ponder the question and then just blurt out "Yes," and I've been dying to hit something since I pressed "1" to join your conference.

But it's worth reading them all. Via Medley.

[ related topics: Law Conferences Databases ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2007-10-08 17:38:36.955669+00 by: JT

Are you sure meuon didn't write this? I swear I've heard some of those exact sentences come out of his mouth after conference calls were over.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-10-08 17:46:40.688029+00 by: Dan Lyke

Yeah, I only know you through what you've posted here and one or two things Meuon has said, but I figured that both of you would find lots of common sentiment in that list.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-10-08 18:09:47.499391+00 by: JT

It seems the hardest part of working in IT for the most part is dealing with marketing people, and these quotes really sum up what a lot of people think while on these calls. Recently, talking to one of the higher-ups in the company, I was asked if we needed a web designer to give us all the files for a site, or just write a "CSS thing" and use that on our current site. This came across sounding like there was complete confidence that this was what needed to be done.

Overall it's easy when someone asks your opinion on something and you feel comfortable to offer advice and correct their mistakes, but when it comes to marketing people, it seems that they have to sound confident about everything they say... which makes them seem like morons when talking "shop" to people who are IT savvy. This confidence that normally gives confidence to other marketing people makes any tech guy smirk and smile politely before recommending that we "not go with this company" because they apparently have no clue what they're talking about.

Thankfully, the company I work for usually puts geeks in touch with geeks when it gets to that level, however the painful statements in this odd collection hit way too close to home when it comes to talking to the marketing guys from another organization or even listening to our marketing guys talk to others. It's not that they don't know what they're talking about, it's that they make common mistakes... but instead of sounding like they're slightly unsure and this may not be the right terminology.. their overwhelming confidence makes them appear loony.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-10-08 18:18:07.427863+00 by: ebradway

Just a couple weeks ago, I counseled a potential angel-investor on a company that was shooting for:

- Uh... You really... Um... Okay, I guess you DO think that Microsoft will buy you next year. Can I get paid, like, all in advance on this gig? With a cashier's check?

Too bad the company had a decent product and a steady customer-base. But their projected expenses were on the order of 100x for sales over R&D despite the fact that they were solvent at their current expense ratio.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-10-08 19:54:02.28127+00 by: meuon [edit history]

First, I was afraid this was from that guy in Nashville I tried to get to talk to Dan and Flushy, but I think he got smarter before he talked to more geeks, and realized Nashville was not going to create the next iTunes, for country music, unless the player hardware looked like a Bud can and made Nascar sounds when you pushed the buttons and dispensed cold beer.

So here is Mike's latest take on conference calls and rants like that:

Can I get paid, a lot, by these guys, up front or in real-time?
if YES:

if NO: - [click]

'Cause you see, if BuyItLocal.biz just got grant funding from the local foundations (Lyndhurst,McClellen, etc..) to do a 'buy it downtown Chattanooga' website (and they just DID, with new offices in the Republic Centre) Then I figure we are about to see a wave of stupid "dot.com" money at least as big as the last one.

I want some of that stupid money and like Joe the Peacock: I take cash, cashiers checks, local checks, and I need 50% down in advance.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-10-08 20:22:27.058755+00 by: Dan Lyke

Oh, good, it's nice to see that a "buy it local" web site is buying their design services from... a bunch of west coast Canadians.

Snicker.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-10-08 23:12:17.030961+00 by: meuon

The locals demand a budget, and to get paid.. and know Amy Walker Cherry's history and political connections. I think they are planning to rebuild using local college students, but she's already burned some of those bridges as well.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-10-10 20:01:51.167517+00 by: ebradway

My impression of this BuyItLocal.biz hit a wall when I clicked on the "Powered by CityMax.com" link at the bottom and was greeted by:

Create Your Own Website, In Less Than 5 Minutes

Hmmm.... And looking at their front-page shot:

The perspective means that it was taken from a camera about a hundred feet above the Walnut Street Bridge. That's lower than Ron Lowery's shots and on the order of what I usually take with my balloon. The presence of the big oak tree means it was taken when I still lived in Chattanooga. I'll have to check my portfolio when I get home...

#Comment Re: made: 2007-10-12 09:47:39.687024+00 by: TheSHAD0W [edit history]

This article from Wired seems to dovetail into the discussion...

TD: You know you're a bullshit company when your core technology is Ajax. If the business is every widget under the sun conglomerated into this giant application, there's no real technology there. There's no noteworthy computer-science problem being solved. The Ajax stuff is pre-written. You just have to go to the libraries and put it all together.

#Comment Re: made: 2007-10-12 11:59:24.978946+00 by: meuon

Eric, the park pic may have been taken by http://www.warrenmclelland.com.