ML> Heh. I'm one of those guys who still runs Opus on a 486dx/33 with Wfw.

 ML> I still have my 286/20 with 2mb ram and plan on 
 ML> powering it up one day, maybe put another Maximus node on it :) 

Cool!  I kept my old 386 that used to run the BBS. It still has a copy on it.

 ML> I would never start a company :) Crappy reward:effort 
 ML> ratio. I'm the type that knows a business that will 
 ML> work when I see it. I'm a venture capitalist. Let the 
 ML> directors do the work. 

Yeah I think you're right there. I don't know what I'd do with myself when
retired.  Start a software company? :)

 ML> sell to win them. I hope they don't compensate you with 
 ML> share schemes because Nasqdaq:SUNW went +60.00->9.00 in 
 ML> 5 years :)

True, and that's why they went open everything. New CEO, they've turned the
company uside down, layed off thousands, restructured their business.  I
like what they are doing.  I own SUNW shares which don't really go up or
down, but obviosuly I'm hoping they go up some day.  I bought in after
their price went down.



 ML> When I suggested avoid becoming trapped, I meant avoid 
 ML> becoming locked-in to your current career role, 
 ML> position, or work and/or career altogether in general. 
 ML> Put your focus into creating wealth and financial 
 ML> freedom and break out of the rat race.

Good advice, thanks. I've realized that many of the companies we work with
no longer have programmers. They only keep business system analysts and
software architechts.  The programmers are off-shore.  Many programmers
have told me to build strong system analyst skills meaning be able to
gather and document requirements in a certain way etc... That's part of my
focus now. 

As for building wealth,  I got a head start on building my wealth and am
doing pretty good so far.  I'm still quite young though and have a lot to
learn.  It sounds like you're quite the seasoned professional when it comes
to contracts and finances.


 ML> Well basically it's a complex process to run doors 
 ML> under DOS EMU. Sycnrhonet uses a mod to make the 
 ML> process easier.

Oh it's easy, you can do it :)


 ML> Yeah. $4k. I ain't got $4k for a PC :)

 ML> Let me see how much $4k is worth to me ... $4000 / $300 
 ML> margin requirement = 13 contracts on the ASX200. 13 
 ML> contracts, for 6000 pts at $5/pt = $400,000.

 ML> See, you spend $4k on a PC. I control almost half a 
 ML> million dollars with it. That's how much $4k is really 
 ML> worth to me - not to be spent on easily 
 ML> obsolete/redundant stuff. 

I didn't say I would buy it for myself at home, I meant for businesses.
Don't buy Dell, HP, IBM. Buy Sun SPARC. Faster, uses less electricity and
you need fewer servers.  It can be more affordable. 

I have no idea what your calculations meant, but you obviously know your
stuff.  I put more money into my retirement savings and extra payments on
my mortgage every year than I spend on computer gadgets, clothing and
entertainment.  I too hope to retire by 40. I'm quite the penny pincher.


For some reason the full screen editor won't show me the last few lines to
quote them.  You asked me to look around the room and see how much black I
see.  Then you asked how much blue I see.  I don't get it?  What's kind of
funny is that I'm in a blue room.

So how many years have you been working as a programmer? 


Thanks,
Ryan


--- Maximus 3.01