Subj : Maximus on Solaris 10 To : Ryan de Laplante From : Mvan Le Date : Fri Apr 13 2007 10:05 am RdL> My dream since I was 12 years old has been to run a software company. RdL> With the company I'm at now, I've almost reached that goal but my real RdL> goal is to start one from scratch and grow it. Since RdL> I don't have a real plan, it hasn't happened yet. I RdL> don't think I'll ever be completely happy with my life RdL> until I at least try. Even if it crashes and burns. To me work isn't RdL> such a horrible thing like it is for you. I love work. Somehow I get the feeling you're in your early 20s, because only someone in their 20s would adopt a naive "love work" attitude because they haven't quite grasped the idea that time is finite. (btw These types of people are different to those that believe in the "duty" of work ... which is equally absurd to me). What isn't finite is the infinite miracles in the universe, to explore, experience, ponder, reflect on, and somehow I don't think work ranks anwhere close :) Work-driven people are insane. The typical pattern I see in society are people headed into a midlife crisis. These people spend a lot of energy on the wrong things and later wonder why they're old and wretched, and why their kids don't like them. They'll make good Dr. Phill cases :) I have 1 valuable human life, and spending two thirds plus of it working is unjust. RdL> I used to program a lot before I worked RdL> professionally. Now I do it at work for money, and RdL> come home and study things related to programming that I'm interested in RdL> and that I can use at work. It's a hobby. If I had RdL> enough money to retire at 40, meaning house paid off, RdL> nice car paid off, lots of money in the bank, AND I RdL> had not yet tried to start a software company than I When you have enough passive / residual income to finance your 1) house, 2) car, 3) company without getting out of bed you are free to do what you want. Otherwise you're still shackled in the status quo. RdL> would consider doing it. I enjoy it. I'm fully aware RdL> of the stresses involved, I live them every day. It's RdL> not so stressful when you are organized. Something Hmm. ... being aware of something doesn't automatically make it a functional part of who you are. Awareness doesn't necessarily make it a belief or part of your identity. It's not the type of stress you're familiar with as an employee. If you've run a business before let me know :) It's easy to say do it whether it 'crashes and burns' I assure you it is no emotional, psychological or spiritual trivial matter. It can deplete and wreck your life. Change your core beliefs and scar and fill you with permanent msitrust, hatred and dispair. Brother against brother. All gone. Thriving off stress is a good business characteristic :) I think aspiring money-makers fall in 4 types of categeories (1) The employee (2) The small business owner (3) The big business owners (4) The investors Everybody aims for #4 which ultimately leads to financial freedom. But of all those 4, the ones I feel most sorry for are the small business owners :) RdL> else I'd love to do is travel all over the world. RdL> Live in different countries for 6 months at a time. Now that's what I'm talking about :) ML> Were they awarded as part of an employee plan ? or did ML> you actually buy those shares -- good grief if the ML> latter. RdL> Wow you really don't like Sun. I paid for their RdL> stocks because I love their software, their hardware, RdL> and what they are doing. I got no beef with Sun. Except when running on x86 :) ML> Yeah. The whole vertical scaling thing. Until your big ML> server dies and there's no failover ... Sorry. I'm a ML> big cynic. RdL> Ok you so don't like Sun. You can have failover with RdL> IBM serverS or Sun serverS, except I prefer Sun RdL> servers. Not everyone is an idiot like you may think. I know that Sun can failover. I was involved in the change management process. I was instead implying the cost of vertical scaling. I prefer distributed stuff. When I think about vertical scaling, I think about how over zealous and misguided businesses cut costs by overloading those things to the hilt, and when the failover doesn't happen smoothly BANG. someone gets fired. or some massive reprimand :) And worst of all i get called in. ML> Man. You mean that 401k ponzi scam your government runs ? ML> You need to be more active than that. RdL> No, I live in Canada. We have something called Registered Retirement RdL> Savings Plan. Any money you put into it, you get 100% RdL> of your income tax paid on those dollars back. The RdL> money inside of the RRSP can be stocks, mutual funds, RdL> bonds, etc... Money you make inside of your RRSP is RdL> tax free, and you can reinvest it over and over. You RdL> pay tax on the money as you withdraw it so you only RdL> take out a bit every month when you retire. I own a RdL> number of mutual funds and stocks inside of my RRSP RdL> and they are doing quite well. Over 20% gains last RdL> year. Hmm. 20%. Retirement plans/funds are a bit too passive for me. I'm a bit more greedy than that :) I don't care how much incentive a government offers in tax deductions etc., the reason they provide the incentive is so they can lure you into a trap and lock your money away preventing you from using -your- money while they theivingly freeload off it. You can't access your money until your "eligible" age. I ain't waiting 20 friggin years more to get my money (if I quit at 35). I'm an active trader and I average 100% pa portfolio growth. When I trade sometimes I make 20% per -week-. They think they can rip me off. In Australia we have a mandatory 9% employer contribution (which really is just another /tax/) and I think it's the world's biggest scam. --- Maximus 3.01 * Origin: < - Adelaide, Australia +61-8-8351-7637 (3:800/432) .