Moving forward with work on the D language and foundation

[Russel Winder via Digitalmars-d-announce]

On Fri, 2015-08-28 at 13:08 +0000, Chris via Digitalmars-d-announce wrote:
> 
[…]
> I agree (I think it's the first time I agree with you!). Age is a 
> state of mind. I've seen people in their 20ies who only think 
> about a pension plan and watch TV every evening until they fall 
> asleep.

Maybe we should get back to disagreeing, but only after this bit of this
thread. :-)

> The thing is that in Europe people are not "lazier", it's just 
> harder to get going. You are fighting against structures that 
> have been there since the Middle Ages (or longer). I don't know 
> about the US, but in the "New World" (we stole from the 
> inhabitants for whom it was an old world) there are indeed more 
> possibilities. In Europe they regulate the ordinary citizen to 
> death, often it's not worth the hassle.

There no doubt that there is a difference in society and business USA
compared to Europe: at least in Western Europe there is a fundamental
commonality in the extant business culture. Yes, the European way is a
consequence of the history, as indeed is the USA culture.

There is no doubt that (at least until Big Money took over most, if not
all, startup funding in "The Valley") there was a much more vibrant startup
culture in the USA than in the UK (I cannot speak for the rest of Europe).

Although the tax system hinders startups in the UK, there is an increasing
startup culture in the IT industry, at least in London, as people continue
to find the various little pots of money (which have been around for years
and funded most of my 2000-2004 venture). The problem is that the big
corporates see activity and then move to stiffle it. In Shoreditch, the
corporates moved into startup area, the rents shot up and so you either use
the Google incubator or go elsewhere. Effectively Shoreditch startup
activity has been killed off. I am hopeful Elephant & Castle or Borough
become the new Shorditch.

Startup still happen, but it is now really to create the technology to be
bought by a corporate before sales, so for small value. Serial
entrepreneurism is the thing now. I suspect "The Valley" is now like this:
the opportunities for a new Microsoft or Google are much smaller, at least
until there is a new disruptive technology a la Facebook.

-- 
Russel.
=============================================================================
Dr Russel Winder     t:+44 20 7585 2200   voip:sip:
russel.winder at ekiga.net
41 Buckmaster Road   m:+44 7770 465 077   xmpp:russel at winder.org.uk
London SW11 1EN, UK  w: www.russel.org.uk skype:russel_winder

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