Time to pivot (again)
In January of 2023 I received word that my position was being eliminated, I was getting shitcanned. Fortunately, the division this corporation was shitcanning had subscribers, upwards of 2500 businesses; this led the corporation to keep us around to keep the “lights on” while these people transitioned off. This triggered an opportunity for me to pivot from technology to café owner, to allow my wife to chase her dream. One year later, she has two locations and a third opening next month in downtown Boise, ID.
I also created a technology consulting business at the beginning of this year; I specialize in desktop as a service automation. My customers are Independent Software Vendors (ISV) that would like to sell their products in a managed environment and Managed Service Provider (MSP) which manage cloud environments for multiple businesses. I’ve had some success… But…
I see the writing on the wall, we are headed for dark times as it is ordained by the people with the strings. Search where I suggest that most of this craziness is deliberate, from the fentanyl crises to the genital confusion to the wars and the vaccine. It’s all ordained, I think hard times will happen.
So, I’m considering pivoting once again to market independence in technology. I want to assist businesses that want to get out of the cloud, reduce or eliminate the eavesdropping that big tech does on your data, own their data once again. Since this is a new untapped segment as I don’t know anyone anymore promoting on-premises private clouds solutions besides maybe Hillery Clinton and her e-mail server. This is the portfolio I’m thinking about:
-- Virtualization technology solutions besides cloud provides and VMware/Citrix/Microsoft.
-- Desktop operating system alternatives besides Microsoft Windows and Office.
-- Data storage solutions besides cloud providers and NetApp.
-- Firewall solutions not utilizing expensive Cisco products.
-- Enterprise software solutions for data, e-mail and web not utilizing big tech.
-- Cell phones not using Google Android or Apple IOS.
-- And finally, automation of these platforms.
All the above is accomplished with open-source software, most of it is freely available.
My target market will be business owners who themselves are preppers or at least wish they had the time themselves to prep and want to help protect their business from the pending tyranny.
I’m using this a quasi-market research, the question to the fellow Galt’s Gulch members that have business, is this something on your mind? Have you considered regaining control of your business data?
Jack
I also created a technology consulting business at the beginning of this year; I specialize in desktop as a service automation. My customers are Independent Software Vendors (ISV) that would like to sell their products in a managed environment and Managed Service Provider (MSP) which manage cloud environments for multiple businesses. I’ve had some success… But…
I see the writing on the wall, we are headed for dark times as it is ordained by the people with the strings. Search where I suggest that most of this craziness is deliberate, from the fentanyl crises to the genital confusion to the wars and the vaccine. It’s all ordained, I think hard times will happen.
So, I’m considering pivoting once again to market independence in technology. I want to assist businesses that want to get out of the cloud, reduce or eliminate the eavesdropping that big tech does on your data, own their data once again. Since this is a new untapped segment as I don’t know anyone anymore promoting on-premises private clouds solutions besides maybe Hillery Clinton and her e-mail server. This is the portfolio I’m thinking about:
-- Virtualization technology solutions besides cloud provides and VMware/Citrix/Microsoft.
-- Desktop operating system alternatives besides Microsoft Windows and Office.
-- Data storage solutions besides cloud providers and NetApp.
-- Firewall solutions not utilizing expensive Cisco products.
-- Enterprise software solutions for data, e-mail and web not utilizing big tech.
-- Cell phones not using Google Android or Apple IOS.
-- And finally, automation of these platforms.
All the above is accomplished with open-source software, most of it is freely available.
My target market will be business owners who themselves are preppers or at least wish they had the time themselves to prep and want to help protect their business from the pending tyranny.
I’m using this a quasi-market research, the question to the fellow Galt’s Gulch members that have business, is this something on your mind? Have you considered regaining control of your business data?
Jack
A depression with big shortages would result in havoc because people are so dependent on each other to maintain our current lifestyle.
This is NOT like 1930's where you basically could live on your farm and have basic needs met. Today, you cant live in your apartment and get food and even water if there is an electrical interruption of more than a few hours.
The other aspect to this that has gone 100% unreported is the weakening of our magnetic fields due to the higher rate of moment of our magnetic poles. It protects us from these solar mass ejections and even though this was a stronger CME, we still shouldn’t have seen aurora in Arizona. This was due to our weak magnetic fields.
in the past, people could take care of themselves, outside of the cities
that is no longer the case.....
I absolutely love it. Would invest.
Now the programs won't work on the new machines (> OSX 10.11.6).
Available as cloud based only service at many $100's/per month.
That is not the worst of it.
Having all you designs and work on their servers means your work can and will be stolen, with no way of you knowing or being able to trace the thieves to hold them to account.
This is so wrong.
The only recourse she has, is if I can keep her legacy computers up and running.
I can and will to the best of my ability. But after a time, lack of parts availability and software incompatibly issues will eventually encircle us.
Back when I was doing military IT, they wanted their legacy systems up and running. Forever.
That meant keeping hardware like IBM PC's from the early 1980's functional.
While totally impractical, it was not impossible.
New hardware was designed and built to run the Legacy software, in some cases we used a Raspberry PI.
Being air-gaped from the outside world negated any comparability issues.
I think this is where folks like us will eventually end up.
Isolated from outside threats, only limited, dedicated machines to do simple searches and mailing functions.
All our real work will necessarily have to be air-gapped from prying eyes.
This may not be the answer you were hoping for Jack, but I see little practical alternatives once AI is fully on-line.
Thanks, tutor! 👍
yup, i know....eBay
i just finished remaking a Windows 98 box and a VM. old games won't run on the new Windows crap
Selling has become an expensive nightmare for electronics unless you list them as "parts only".
eBay protects buyers at the expense of individual sellers.
Unscrupulous buyers take advantage, by returning things at the seller's expense after they
change their minds about the purchase (and sometimes intentionally cause damages to do so.)
that allows you to build Virtual Machines on newer hardware.
i have Windows 10 as the host, i just built a VM of Windows 98, works fine. they only issue is that games run too fast as they were designed for older, slower processors. my host has dual Xeon 2.67ghz processors
you can get a cheap VM Host (on eBay)
HP Workstations, Z600, Z800, Z640, Z840, HP Z6 G4, all can run VM-Ware and and would have enough drive space and power for multiple VMs
https://www.amazon.com/DL380-Gen9-Rac...
https://www.amazon.com/HP-High-End-Vi...
Norton Uninstall Delux
on Windows, it allows you to remove applications, making a copy of the uninstall as a new install
it was forced off the market years ago for obvious reason (no longer allowed to make backup copies)
you might want to use a drive cloning app to make a copy of the hard drive in that computer, that way you can try and find the same hardware from eBay is that one dies
Hard Drives are dirt cheap these days.
Additionally, I don't see 'preppers' being terribly business oriented. Going Galt, as I understand it, is withholding your productivity from the looters. So, they would be abandoning their businesses. However, there may be some demand among the Galts for setting the stuff up for themselves in their gulches.
I myself have tried to avoid SaaS apps and 'the cloud' by default since those things appeared. I have a small business in which I try to use only the self-hosted software. Self-hosting hardware is a lot more difficult and expensive though.
There are plenty of solutions available for on-premises private clouds and such:
https://www.synology.com/
https://unraid.net/
https://www.truenas.com/
Here is a good list of OSS:
https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted...
One of the advantages of going GALT is that you free yourself from a lot of the current disadvantages of engaging in public businesses.
The other aspect to this is to discuss the reoccurring license model, paying monthly for the privilege to use is horrible. Switching all or part of their licensed software could save money, now that it’s a monthly fee. Switching to a hosted AD infrastructure with Linux Mint clients joined to a AD domain on Samba with remote access through a RDP connection is zero cost for software. Throw LibreOffice in for a desktop office suite and the business could save a considerable chunk of money.
The technology stack I’m using for this solution in XCP-NG, TrueNAS, pfSense, and Docker, among other automation tools.
Thanks for your input…
months ago, a Microsoft Service went down, people could not get their jobs done
the reason, they think it saves money to turn more and more control over to Microsoft.
wait till there is an issue and they are back to using paper, too much stuff now exists outside the walls of the company, bad idea
I've been on a similar path as you and am in the progress of pulling things back onto my premise.
Would love to compare notes. If inclined, let's trade emails. -Andrew