Monday, May 01, 2000
“I know, let's make the same mistake!”
One of the mailing lists I'm on mentioned that the company that makes the Web Surfer made the same mistake as the Netpliance and neglected to make the purchase of the device conditional on the purchase of Internet service.
It's cheaper than the IOpener, but it lacks the LCD display that made the IOpener such a deal, but at US$50 it wasn't a bad deal.
So Mark, Kelly (who had taken the day off) and I (who consults so I don't have an office to go to per say) headed off to CompUSA to see if we could procure some WebSurfers.
The CompUSA near had no units left. We asked at the customer desk to check some other stores and we found another store that had eight units left. Half an hour and 20 miles later we arrived at the other CompUSA.
I wish I had checked Slashdot first, because it seems that the Internet service may or may not be enforced and it depends upon the store. The store we went to I think might have enforced the service. So we are WebSurfless.
“I've got the code. You've got the server. Let's make lots of money.”
Hanging out with Mark and Kelly we started discussing ways to make money on the web, or more specifically, with www.conman.org.
Mark and I are both programmers but with the upswell of the Open Source movement, it's getting hard to actually sell software. The only way to really make money in Open Source is service. Both Mark and I write software, and even make it available. But since we give the software away, how to we make money from it? Well, hire us to install, or adapt the code for your particular project. Sure, if you have the time or the expertise you don't have to hire us, but with a shortage of time or expertise, we're available.
Or by making this available I can become a well known webcelebrity and get asked for talks and seminars (yea, right).
But making money off a website isn't straightforward, nor easy. And I'm not expecting to make money (at least, directly) off this site. Indirectly, yes. But not directly.
