DrakeSnow

So after my last company, an internet publishing firm, known as "System Sorcery Papercrafts Co.", failed, and my current plans for a BBS services corporation, known as "IRF-BBS" are not coming to fruition (still have not received the approval letter from State of MI. Neither have I received the rejection letter), I figure if I go small first and then build my business up, I can get a better business going.My idea I want to pass in front of more experienced entrepreneurial folks like you, is for me to start a writing circle, and get a 1-800 number, so that I can receive orders from people looking to have their memoirs or autobiographies written, published, and printed. They pay the price for the service (a single fee, no exceptions and no hidden charges), and they get the final copy of the book plus all editorial control. Another company (perhaps an Ebay distributor) does the selling and marketing.I thought of this because I read in a book on diary-keeping that people in Japan call in their diaries. I figure we don't have that many type of services here in the USA, and I can make one to fill that void (or you can, if you steal this from me. But then I'll enter the business just to run you out of business (laughing evilly)).So the business is simple. I want people to call a 1-800 number (no words in the number), and leave a message no longer than 15 minutes. They also leave a Paypal or Alertpay email address which we can use to pay them once we sell their book.Then I assign the work to two or three writers in the writing circle, and we work on this in rotation until we finish, and then email them to get their input on design and editorial details. Finally, when they agree, we ask for a small per-title payment so we can go to the printshop and print 100 copies. We mail the copies to our distro who then sells them on Ebay. Then we take out our own commission and Operating Expenses and then the rest goes to the caller.I wonder if there are any laws I need to be aware of, any pitfalls I might make, and any other resources that would be available for this?I am thinking of getting an LLC status for the biz and a Kall8 800 number.Thanks for the swift and thoughtful replies. Your experience and advice is priceless!Blessed be.

Indeed, I have thought about making a game. I've always thought about making games. I also happen to write interactive fiction, and I've even uploaded one to the internet (although now I can't find it at this moment since my other webhost is "removing a server cluster XYZ").Recently, using a software called "GBP" or "Game Book Player", using editor mode running it on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Netbook on my other netbook (the Asus one), run under Wine, I created a text-style game called "No Such Business". I made this game because I like film noir and decided to make a noir interactive fiction about con artists, forensic accountants, unscrupulous attorneys, and you, the player, get to be scrunched in the middle of it all, in a massive sandwich bear hug type whodunit plot.Of course, it had its flaws, but I liked my creation after all.That may have been why no one whom played it clicked my ad links, thus I did not make anything off it, but, it's cool. I made a game and I got it published, and now I am having a good time....A tip for those of you whom want to play a game:Figure out your plot, be able to write a one-line or one-sentence synopsis, and fully develop your characters before you ever begin developing game rules and desgining your GUI. Creating games is like writing a novel, especially for whodunits and mystery/catch-the-spy/noir games. You need to know what you want before you get it. What you want is what you get.You also have to know what kind of people you want playing your game. Good luck with it all!Blessed be.

In my opinion, Linux is far better, but that is my own thought. I vehemently refuse to impose my beliefs on another member of my own species. Only my cat deserves that kind of treatment.Then again the only thing my cat cares about in terms of computers in the mouse, either that which used to be sitting next to the system before I switched over to using touchpads or the Xfce mouse that appears on the screen... but he can't see that one!Mouse yummy.But I digress.Computer OS is one thing. I don't really care what OS the new computers I buy (every few years or when I break one) come with, I always find ways to go commando on my OS maker (which usually turns out to be Microsoft) and over-boot and over-write the OS to either Linux or some other UNIX derivative.Personally, I think OS softwares are all just plain fine. I think that MS will head in a more open direction one day. It might take eternity, but infinity does have varying sizes and eventually MS will open source windows. Even if I have to live a million lifetimes to see the day. I'm patient enough to wait.Change is constant (Peter Drucker and a few others).Anyone who does not like change, I hope they are our grandparents. After all, they fought and won the two great wars, they brought our parents and now us into existence. Why should we force change on them? Except no one forces change on another. Change happens. It's constant. And it always will happen. Adaptation and resilience are traits which natural selection (and any creator gods out there) would always favor and approve of.Regardless of whether you believe in evolution, revolution, creationism, or government overthrow, I think change will happen eventually. This world is headed in a direction of global convergence. Let's all set sail for earth united. It's our penultimate destiny.Well, that's my opinion. Like to hear yours.Blessed be.

I've tried using Dex4u OS, which fits on a floppy too, booting in via Unetbootin, from Win Vista, but somehow it didn't quite boot up correctly (ketp getting "Kernel Panic" notices which I thought were limited to Linux and BSD).I figure there has to be tons of this Under 2 Megs OS out there. Like the old athletic shoe maker ad says, "Impossible is nothing". Why is everyone saying it can't be done? I sure hope someone proves us all wrong!Even more interesting, I know several companies (which I have read about and not all of them are defense contractors) which are trying to make quantum netbooks with non-nuclear CPU's that run small OS's, have 1 to 1.5 terabytes of hard drive via advanced SSD, and are much more awesome goodness with their computers. Oh, and they're thinking of releasing them in 15 years. By the way, the companies were in an article I read back in 1999, which means we can have these totally sweet PC's in 2014 or 2015 CE. I'd really want one!But like I said, a small OS is just another possibility in a capitalist world. And since this world pretty much is, competition and the need to present a product to a small niche of the consumer base that wants said product, will eventually give us an OS that is under 2 Megs and has a killer awesome GUI.How about it? Dare to imagine?Blessed be.

Personally, I believe Win7 is great, but I only used it for half a week's worth of computing time before I booted over it a copy of Jolicloud (which is based on Ubuntu). Then I found out Jolicloud was a tad "out of order", so I booted the current system, Fedora 13 LXDE, over that.I like LXDE FC 13 for its ease of use, but I think I would have rather stuck with a cloud netbook OS like MeeGo, Moblin, or DSL. On the other hand, I think PC Operating Systems need startup software to properly function. Everyday those of us that monitor military and national-security blogs (including travel writers, since we need to know which part of the world not to explore today) hear of the impending crash and hacker-downing of the global internet, and we're scared, since if everyone goes cloud, and the internet dies in a massive hacker war, then what will happen to the rest of humanity?We're only surviving on this planet because we have PC's that have OS's that don't need internet access to do every single thing. If we lost that capability, we'd either go back to pre-1975 computer technology (in terms of telecommunications capabilities) or we'd be thrust back to the stone age (in terms of global financial communications capabilities).So I think OS makers have to wake up to the fact that if we head down this road, this road leads to species suicide and total perdition.We have to avoid that gruesome future error. I think we'd be better off sticking with an OS, any OS, that has good software on it.Regardless of whether we need to pay for it or what-not.Personally, I am a Linux fan, but that is my opining.Nice to hear from you folks too.Blessed be.

I want to overwrite my Fedora 13 OS installation with a DragonFly BSD OS installation, but I am using a Tord Boontje (no clue how to translate: it's a name apparently) HP Mini 110 - 1100 TU netbook with no CD or other optical drives, no peripheral CD/DVD rom drive (I guess to install by CD USB drive), and all my USB/SD stick/cards are either lost, too small to hold the OS live system, or simply have broken filesystems.I am in a quandary since I need to change OS but don't want to upgrade the system (Fedora is a tad stinky on certain issues, like no MP3 support and little, if any, video support for DVD Out Of The Box - I am an indie filmmaker on the weekends and my projects require these codecs. Upgrading a system is always a hassle because I need to reinstall the RPM Fusion and Livna RPM repository files which takes time out of actually making movies).Does anyone have any advice on how to get the DragonFly BSD system on my netbook? If so, then thanks!PS - the computer cannot netboot. I have not yet found an OS that netboots without hanging due to missing Broadcom wlan drivers...PS - I am traditionally a travel writer, so most of the time not having codecs is no big issue, but I'd still rather have themPS - I am trying not to use camelcase, but the DragonFly BSD is just so named that way. Not my intention to spell it, that's the way it is spelled by the developers.Final PS - If you can't be of assistance, thanks anyway. Have a nice day and blessed be.