cyman's comments

Four Hour Work Week. Take it with a grain of salt, since it takes a lot longer than the author suggests to create a business. (I'd say a year of hard work at least to finally hit a product that sells easily enough in high enough quantities rather than a matter of months.) But it's possible. It's a great read with direct, practical advice. Ex: It says exact what services to use and how much they cost, rather than the more typical theoretical "think this way" of other business books.

The only reason FTP is insecure is because system admins still allow unencrypted FTP connections. POP3 and HTTP is also insecure- it's up to the system admin to block insecure connections.

With most FTP server software I know (such as ServU or FileZilla Server) once you force SSL connections, the server will disconnect users on the USER command (before sending the password) if they are connected insecurely. So only if your system administrator wants to allow insecure connections, will you be allowed to transmit the password insecurely.

Why do people still connect using the old insecure FTP standard? It's the software.

I personally think FileZilla should connect using SSL Explicit by default. IQBox defaults to SSL, and prompts the user for a fallback. So again I think it's a software issue, not a protocol issue.

dragonwriter, first, I want to say, you are correct that FTP/FTPS is not the World's Best Protocol. In fact, maybe it is the worst protocol in the world.

What I'm saying is, that doesn't matter. It's still the most common and easiest to set up for a novice user. Trust me, I don't enjoy reading obscure RFCs on FTP's UTF8 encoding.

I'm using FTP/FTP-SSL because it's the easiest and most common for the end user. FileZilla Server does not support SFTP.

The goal of the project is simple: Let the average tech-savvy person use their own private server to sync. So it needs to be simple and free: FileZilla Server backend (runs on Windows or Linux) and IQBox front-end. I'm open to ideas but I think that's the easiest option.

Even a QNAP will support FTP out-of-the-box.

HTTP-1.0 was a mess. POP3 was a mess. All these protocols were insecure and evolved because software makers put up with their madness and made great software.

@mooism2 Ideally MLSD should be used, not LIST. That solves the formatting issue.

I think all this makes it clear that it is a software issue and not a protocol issue. That is my point here. People hate FTP (or SFTP/FTP-SSL/WebDav) because the software is implemented poorly. (NOTE: I know SFTP and FTP-SSL are different protocols.)

It's the only standard for file transfer we have, and it can be secure. Why does it have to die? (NOTE: WebDav has even more issues but that's the only other standard.)

This is it. I think I am converting to a Mac. The last reason I didn't was because there's a common perception that they're priced too high. Unless this is a misprint, that time is over.

"It makes sense to equally split to equally motivate though."

Yes, otherwise you have one founder with all the weight on her/his shoulders and the others can end up like employees. It's not worth it: Result= Everyone's equity will be worth less in the end because they don't perform with the motivation of an equal team.

Also, being in that majority equity role really stinks. It's harder to take time off, people hesitate to make decisions without you...

I DONT expect work to be evenly divided tho. Just like in marriage, it is rare for a perfect 50/50 split of work. Some people are motivated to work until 4 AM each nite, and others are not. I think accepting that is important for a happy, successful partnership.

Canadian schools all post their tuition on their websites. Actually, Canadian schools are still cheaper than private, even if you are foreign. Waterloo Engineering Coop: $28,527.94/year Waterloo Math/Science Coop: About $20,000/year NOTE: You will for sure make most of that back with Waterloo's coop program. My friend worked at Google, VMware and others. Other top Canadian schools with lower international student tuition:

- UBC

- McGill

- McMaster

- Queens *(<- Heard this school is really, really tough)

Don't go here:

- U of Toronto: This is a very UN-entrepreneurial school. Good reputation but trust me, you don't want to go there. It is just too theoretical and math based. I don't mean like studying RSA. I mean like solving the proofs behind every mathematical element of RSA, and proofs are sometimes multiple choice. Really, really only for those with a serious love of theoretical mathematics.

Keep in mind there is always overhead. There's no such thing as a cash machine that requires no maintenance.

I'd look at high dividend yield stock that pays out monthly (6% yield or more). This will give you monthly income with minor hassles, since the companies are large. Unless you are a fantastic investor, don't look for capital gains (making money off stock price increases) because there's lots of speculation: http://simoniqe.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/how-to-not-lose-mon...

Domestic oil pipeline companies are a good bet because they pay high dividends and are stable in price since they get paid no matter what. Investing in oil is an ethical dilemma but there are domestic oil companies that are better. PIF.UN is an example of a domestic Canadian one that pays about 10% monthly dividends with no hassles, but if in the US you must never trade in other currencies. Preferred stock also provides a stable price and in this economy you can easily get 10% or more monthly div's. Investigate DDR.PR.G or other Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) if you like the real estate angel. Be careful if the yield is above 12% because it could be that the stock's price is falling, which inflates the yield %. I AM NOT A CERTIFIED INVESTOR. I AM A STUPID PROGRAMMER WHO FOUND THESE STOCKS IN IDLE TIME. DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH BEFORE BUYING!

A great resource is Stock Chase: http://www.stockchase.com/ It's like a Twitter but only from professional investors.

Both real estate and web acquisitions have little daily work but are very interruptive. You have leaks, storms, tenants causing problems and for the web, downtime events or security updates that often the need attention of an owner at 3 AM at night.

"I could imagine for example buying existing web sites that have proven ad revenue" I've gotten burned bad on small website acquisitions. There is full time work involved for many months in terms of at least ensuring the acquisition is worthwhile, and often without dedicating workers full time to deal with it, things go south. Owners claim they do little work to maintain it and this is generally false.

You can also look into Canadian universities. U of Waterloo is a very entrepreneurial place: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Waterloo#Spin-off...

If interested, you should also check out VeloCity, a dorm for entrepreneurs: http://velocity.uwaterloo.ca/

They also have an MBET master's program that lets you incubate an idea over 11 months and you get student volunteers. It's right in their technology park next to the RIM (Blackberry) global HQ, OpenText, Google Canada, etc.

O and should mention McMaster's MEEI program which also is a master's program/incubator combo.

DISCLAIMER: Once you get it going, you are better off finding round 1 financing in the Valley than anywhere else, as far as I am told.

The trick is using university/college off-campus housing listing pages. You'll find great deals. Here's the one from SFSU: http://sfstate.och101.com/ "Spacious Studio in Nagley Mansion" $850.00 Also check UofSF, UCSF.

I wouldn't be discouraged by that offer. Like in business, some landlords prefer to wait for that A+ tenant and take a premium, whereas other deals in bulk or have cashflow problems so they need to fill the place sooner. There are HUGE price differences. In Toronto, my friends once rented a whole house in an upper class area (the Annex) for the price of a 1-bedroom apartment.