What do you guys think?

[nmeyers at javalinux.net (Nathan Meyers)]

On Sat, Aug 03, 2002 at 07:44:07PM -0400, mlw wrote:
> Nathan Meyers wrote:
> > 
> > On Sat, Aug 03, 2002 at 05:57:42PM -0400, mlw wrote:
> > > I have written a search engine system, similar to something like Google and
> > > altavista...
> > >
> > > Anyone have any ideas on how to package the system or to whom to sell it?
> > >
> > > Would I be a fool to open source all of it. (A good part of it is already open
> > > sourced.)
> > 
> > If you're really asking questions like this, you might as well open it up
> > and see what others have to contribute or how others may use it...
> 
> Actually, I think I didn't describe it correctly...
> 
> The idea would be to sell it as a product to companies with large amounts of
> fairly static data to aid their data search systems.

Forgive the confusion - my response wasn't about your technology. My
point is that it's a long road from a technology to a business. It
doesn't matter whether you've built the best (and most original) thing
since sliced bread. These companies you're talking about don't have
talent scouts scouring the Internet for cool stuff - you've got to
sell, customize, and support it, which means you've got to invest in
and build a business, which means, basically, that you've got to be an
entrepreneur. Your questions lead me to believe that you have no idea
how hard that is.

Nathan Meyers
nmeyers at javalinux.net