Date: Fri, 3 Jan 1997 18:29:14 -0500 (EST) From: Brian Tao <taob@vex.net> To: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> Cc: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu>, Amancio Hasty <hasty@rah.star-gate.com>, Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD into larget corp. environment? Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.94.970103182055.22788N-100000@vex.net> In-Reply-To: <22430.852285183@time.cdrom.com>
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On Fri, 3 Jan 1997, Jordan K. Hubbard wrote:
>
> At this point, the only thing really stopping us from going for such
> an arrangement is startup capital.
Would it not be possible to retain a dozen or so consultants in
varying geographical locations, and have the customer call in a
request to page their assigned "software engineer", who would then
call the customer back. I know it isn't as nice as talking to someone
live on the phone when you need them, but it should eliminate most of
your office and full-time employee costs.
My previous employer had earmarked in the neighbourhood of $25,000
a year for vendor support contracts alone, and another $100,000 for
project consulting fees. They need a corporate entity to do business
with, not just a list of names of FreeBSD hackers and their home phone
numbers. I know of a few UNIX consulting groups in Toronto whose
members operate out of home offices and have no problems winning large
contracts with telcos, insurance companies and the federal government
(heck, even governments of other countries!). A client generally does
not know or care whether your office is in your unfinished basement
den, or on the 75th floor of a downtown skyscraper. Most of the work
can be done remotely, so they won't even care how you dress. ;-)
--
Brian Tao (BT300, taob@risc.org)
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't"
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