[CS-FSLUG] Just got hit with a cluestick

[Norbert Bollow]

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Tim Young <Tim.Young at LightSys.org> wrote:

> Ok, you got me curious.  I do a lot with free software (and even
> help develop some) but I know I am not the guy you are looking for.
> But I am quite curious about your thoughts for a Free Software
> Business.

Actually I think what I need right now is people who will listen to
my ideas, share their thoughts, and pray with me.  If you are willing
to "walk with me for a stretch of road on my journey", simply as a
brother who has no interest in ever getting directly involved in my
business, that'll be of immense value to me!

> Do you already have a package you are thinking of starting, or will
> you snag an existing package and work with that?

My personal interests which I will like to bring into this business
are:

(1) Technical applications (in Free Software) of the study of moral
    economics.  With "moral economics" I mean the study of how the
    economy works from the perspective of someone who believes that
    greed is a very real temptation, but giving in to greed is morally
    wrong.  Potential technical applications of such theories include
    business directories as well as solutions to the spam problem.

(2) The SXDF / QQP / QRPC suite of webservice protocols which I'm
    designing as better replacements for the XML / HTTP / SOAP suite
    of protocols.  This is potentially useful for every kind of task
    which involves data transfer over a network.  If someone here is
    interested in the details, they can be found e.g. at:
    http://www.rfc-editor.org/internet-drafts/draft-bollow-sxdf-00.txt
    http://www.rfc-editor.org/internet-drafts/draft-bollow-qqp-00.txt
    http://www.rfc-editor.org/internet-drafts/draft-bollow-qrpc-00.txt

(3) The DotGNU project in general.  See http://dotgnu.org/ ... this is
    currently primarily of commercial interest in the context of
    embedded systems.  For example this time next year you'll be able
    to buy industrial lasers for cutting and welding which will have
    penguin stickers on them and DotGNU inside - yay! :-)  (If you can
    afford them, that is - those laser systems are quite pricy - I
    don't think that I'll be able to buy myself one, even though I'd
    love to.)

> I looked at the freestrategy.info site that you had posted a link to
> a while back, and I had some thoughts.  Now, please be patient with
> me.  I am not a business man at all and so I reserve the right to
> gracefully find out that I do not know anything of what I am talking
> about.  ;)
> 
> I think that there are a few areas that a Christian Free Software
> business can do that a secular one would not.

I agree... I'm confident that on the basis of brotherly love, it
should be possible to create an international "virtual company" in
which skilled people from all over the world can work together in a
productive manner, while trying to do the same without Christian
foundation is likely to have huge problems with the inevitable
misunderstandings, injustices, greed and similar problems which are
very hard to resolve if you're geographically so far from each other
that meeting face-to-face is prohibitively expensive both in terms of
monetary cost and travel time.

> The Christian community has a few extra sides to it that are missing
> in the secular world.  For example, there is a funding model where,
> instead of getting grants from a few large organizations, funding
> comes from many committed individuals who are interested in
> providing a service for a particular end-user.  (This is the typical
> missions model.  Each missionary is supported by two to three
> hundred supporters, so the missionary can provide some service).

Hmmm... that sounds like ministry to me.  I believe in keeping a clear
distinction between business and ministry.  Here is what I view as
the key distinctions:

  * In business, it is legitimately a major objective to get your
    own needs met, and it is legimately a major objective to earn
    more than what you need for just your basic needs, so that you
    have the resources for doing good works.  These objectives are
    pursued by means of business activities with measurable results
    from which others will benefit ("doing something useful" -
    Eph 4:28).  Note that while spiritual matters (e.g. treating
    people with genine, godly love) are just as important in business
    as they are in every other area of life, it's in the very nature
    of a business that it needs to focus on "useful" things and
    services, the value of which can be measured in terms of money.    

  * In ministry, the only legitimate major objective is to connect
    people with the love of God.  Of course there are so many 
    different aspects of God's love that there's no limit to the
    diversity of possible, legitimate ministries.  However it's
    impossible to have a genuine ministry (one from which God
    doesn't immediately withdraw the support of the Holy Spirit)
    if getting your own needs met is (consciously or unconsciously)
    a major objective of the ministry activities.  So far I have not
    seen a single genuine ministry where the people involved weren't
    making a personal sacrifice.  If you don't want your ministry to
    get corrupted through the inevitably-corruptable nature of your
    own heart, you need to apply Mt 6:33 and God will meet your
    needs in some way which is not directly part to the ministry
    work that you do.  (For many people the way in which God fulfils
    the Mt 6:33 promise is through blessing them in secular
    employment, while others are led differently.)

I think that every Christian should be in some way involved in
ministry, and most should in addition be involved in business
(either through secular employment or in some other way).

> Then, as a Christian Free Software business, one has the ability to
> expand the target audience for the project.

Yes... however it's important to keep in mind that it is legitimate
and even necessary for a business to carefully and unashamedly
consider all possible activities with respect to how they affect "the 
bottom line".  Well-run businesses understand the long-term business
benefits of investing a _small_ percentage of the yearly budget into
pro-bono activities, and they act accordingly.  But if you're really
primarily interested in getting the needs of a specific target
audience met, what you want is a ministry, not a mere business with
some pro-bono activities.  If you have such a ministry, or a vision
for one, and you see that significant financial resources are
required, it's time to turn to God with a request to provide what is
needed.  If the ministry vision is from God, He will also provide the
needed resources.  One way how this could happen would be if God calls
you to create, in additon to the ministry, a Christian business, which
would be set up in such a way that either the profits or a revenue
percentage of the business go to the ministry.  (I think the best
approach is to make a commitment that a specific percentage of the
company's revenue goes to the ministry, and re-invest into the business
all profits which go beyond that and what is needed for reasonable
reserves.)

> Right now there is a huge move towards getting hardware to the third
> world, but there is very little software (that they can afford) for
> them to use.

I agree that this is an important concern, and I believe that the
DotGNU platform has the potential of being a big help in this area.

When an application program is written for the DotGNU platform, the
compiled binary executable program can be used on just about any
computer, regardless of its CPU and operating system.

The reasons why I don't jump on this as a business opportunity are
that (1) writing application programs is not what I want to be doing
with my working hours, and (2) there are other areas where I expect it
to be much easier to create a profitable Free Software business, and
since I don't consider myself as being particular good at business
stuff I don't want to make things more difficult for myself than I
have to. :-)

> Not that I can do much about it than pray for you...  :)

If that's an offer to pray for me and the business venture for which
I'm preparing, I'll be very eager to "close" this deal if I can.  What
kind of commitment would you be willing to make?  What would you expect
from me?  (Maybe an email "prayer newsletter" at least once per
month?)

Greetings, Norbert.

- -- 
Founder & Steering Committee member of DotGNU, see http://dotgnu.org/
Free Software Business Strategy Guide   --->  http://FreeStrategy.info
Norbert Bollow, Weidlistr.18, CH-8624 Gruet (near Zurich, Switzerland)
Tel +41 1 972 20 59        Fax +41 1 972 20 69       http://norbert.ch
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