Peter Vessenes

• Personal home page: http://www.ybos.net

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Static Page Comments

• July 30, 1999, on Software Pricing:

  This theory (free software), much more in vogue now, than when the page was written in '96 or so has some good sides, in fact Phil is using this model for his software, (ACS, etc.), and as far as I can tell, building a business by means of service contracts. Note that a free software world implies different goals for software developers -- the money must now be made in service and support. Developers walk a fine line -- the software must be good enough to encourage people to use it, but not so good that they obsolete themselves. The ACS walks this line, in my opinion -- it's not a turnkey solution. It's not even that easy to determine the download site for the software. (http://software.arsdigita.com) Once installed, it does everything, and the kitchen sink, and it does it fairly quickly. I really like it, by the way. But, Ars Digita does not have the same constraints that a commercial software company does: they code toward two principles: 1) Makes sen...

• August 16, 1999, on Tuition-free MIT:

  Ray, What you would have gotten at a "top tier" school is the following: 1) Instant Credit! Private Loans can cover any amount of tuition you need. No worries. (Slightly higher rates than the government ones, of course, but still better than a platinum card...) 2) Excellent placement programs. Your academic credibility will allow you, if you choose, to repay your tuition loans in a reasonable amount of time. (That is, if you want to go into finance, or a technical field.) 3) A set of wealthy friends and connections, places to stay all over the world, and generally an inability to return to Kansas. (Most likely.) For the majority of undergraduate institutions, the "quality" of education seems to be not so different. For example, I took classes at the University of Minnesota for a number of years, and finally went to Brown for my undergraduate degree. The differences I could tell were largely in the attitudes, and socio-economic classes of the students. I left B...