Oh, it's fun trying to work in one of those.

Trying to concentrate on problem, a state that should be instantly obvious to anyone seeing me.

Interrupted by cheerful voice. "Hi! Do you know anything about Linux routing?" Well, yes, I do. Look up at smiling young stranger. Start to reply "Uh...". This was apparently too positive as he goes on, "I just had one question."

Well, if that is all, okay, let's get rid of him the friendly way - "Yes?" Big mistake. "I've set up this linux system and I know I've done everything but I can't ping out from inside the network."

Sorry, that isn't a question... and his laptop is plugged in across the room, he wants me to get up and walk over to it and analyze his whole freaking Linux setup. "I'm sorry, I'm in kind of a hurry, I don't think I can help with that." Gracious answer: "Well, you you just could have said so in the first place."

Nope, not the working atmosphere I'm looking for.

SwiftFox: Nope, not the working atmosphere I'm looking for.

Sounds like the kind of shiat I put up with every day at my work. I'd kill to have better coffee, though.

we run ours out of an IHOP.

right. "coffeehouses"

Interesting, since coffeehouses is where capitalism and concept of a stock market started in the first place. It was either Venice or Florence, wasn't it?

Coffee. Is there anything it can't do?

Coffee. Is there anything it can't do?

Lower my taxes.

Weaver95: of course it can lower your taxes. If you have to drink coffee to be able to work in the coffeehouse it's a business expense that can be deducted from taxes.

Shocktopus

And London...

Wow, the never ending article..

/cool though

FtFA "At a startup, you're always on the go, plowing ahead, with some higher cause driving you."

San Francisco's bedouins see themselves changing the nature of the workplace, if not the world at large.


Is there nothing so ordinary or mudane that to these arrogant dorks that they wont try to make it sound big and clever and heroic?

I'll bet they consider taking a morning dump to be an epic struggle of monumental importance to mankind.

Mm. 'Bedouin'. 'Let's give an artificial, cool and hip buzzname to our new height of cheapness!'

Everyone knows those damn things have to be two syllables. Nomad would have worked just as well, and you wouldn't have to explain to everyone why you're calling yourself a funny name.

San Francisco has never had a shortage of people willing to hype ordinary activity into something they believe -- and want desperately for you to believe too -- is paradigm shifting, infinite energy creating, mondo 2000 achievement.

Most of the time little vials of powder and mania fueled by needing to cover next month's rent is really all thats going on.

That, and some pretty impressive swindles of investor cash.

Why can't they just work out of their homes?

San Francisco, struggling to maintain tech relevancy since 2001...

LOL, youngsters with their Apple glamor.

Smart move.

By the time you rent an office, buy furniture and hire a girl to answer the phone, you are out $3,000 a month--minimum, probably closer to $5k.

You could cram the whole office into a car, keep all your records on the internet, and run batteries with inverters in your trunk to provide you with 110 AC, and even if you drank a lot of expensive coffee, you'd still be miles ahead.

It would be a good bet for a business to combine an office with a snack bar, and rent out cubicles by the day or the hour. You could set up a chain of them, people would always have office space, and if worst came to worst, all you would have to do is remodel it as a restaurant, you wouldn't be risking much money.

Interesting, since coffeehouses is where capitalism and concept of a stock market started in the first place. It was either Venice or Florence, wasn't it?

Not quite. Try the Copenhagen animal auctions two hundred years earlier.

"shocktopus", you are thinking of Lloyd's of London, which started in a coffee house.

At the time, idle British gentlemen were not supposed to work, but they could gamble all day long.

Some guys started taking bets on whether a specific ship would sink, an that's how the insurance industry started.

Coffee. Is there anything it can't do?
Not taste like shiat stew

I have to fix computer issues all the time like that at my work, fix email issues, change user accounts(high ofice turnover) oH ,,, what IT dept do i work in? I'm a carpenter

Die in a fire, Macromedia Flash!

olddinosaur: It would be a good bet for a business to combine an office with a snack bar, and rent out cubicles by the day or the hour.

There have been various attempts at setups like that. Not the snack bar stuff but hourly workspace rentals and such. They've been slow to catch on, most workers just don't like that kind of work environment. That might start to change with the younger generation but who knows.

cthu1hu

And what, pray tell is wrong with [Adobe] Flash?

Doomed
Everyone knows those damn things have to be two syllables. Nomad would have worked just as well, and you wouldn't have to explain to everyone why you're calling yourself a funny name.

No, I'm afraid they can't do that. It says right here in the by laws of the hot rodders bible, "thou shalt not use the Name of the Coolest Wagon Ever on the Dweebs or their works"

It isnt just a good idea, it's the law.

Generation_D

San Francisco has never had a shortage of people willing to hype ordinary activity into something they believe -- and want desperately for you to believe too -- is paradigm shifting, infinite energy creating, mondo 2000 achievement.

I wish it was a San Francisco thing only but I think it is just a mentality of the present generation trying to relive the 60s and as a consequence migrating to the Bay Area.

cthu1hu: Die in a fire, Macromedia Adobe Flash!

FTFY.

El_Bastard: And what, pray tell is wrong with [Adobe] Flash?

I don't like waiting around for the shiat to load, is my biggest gripe, but I have many more.

cthu1hu: I don't like waiting around for the shiat to load, is my biggest gripe, but I have many more.

So, if someone makes a jpg that is 1M that is the fault of the person making the jpg.

If someone makes a swf that is 1M that is the fault of the tool.

Got it.

feepness

Whether it's the fault of the application, poor coding or uncompressed graphics/sound, and even if it's optimized correctly and small, for that matter, the fact remains: I farking hate flash.

Ah, what's old is new again.

Businesses being run out of coffeehouses? OLD!

As already noted, it's how Lloyd's of London got its start. Among other businesses. Go read "Around The World in Six Glasses", a history of western culture as reflected in its drinks.

(the six are, if you were wondering,
beer, wine, hard liquor, coffee, tea, and Coca Cola.)

DrewCurtisJr: Why can't they just work out of their homes?

Because it can get boring. I work for myself, live alone, and can go all day without seeing another soul... that gets old.

I work out a nearby coffee shop about two days a week, and visit during the evening sometimes as well. I live next to a major college as well so there are tons of people there with laptops for business, fun and school.

/buy not buying nearly enough coffee to pay my way

techbuzz: /buy not buying nearly enough coffee to pay my way

As long as you're not taking up a seat of a someone who wants to buy coffee I don't think its a big deal. But if the place is full and you are sitting there not buying anything if I were the owner I'd tell you tell get the hell out, and thank you come again.

Any "bedouin" stressing their importance in "Web 2.0 ideology" just has to be an unbelievable prick.

I got yur code right here, Scooter....

reply = "DIAF"
continue "OMFG"
on return, pass "Argo Fugyerself"
end return
end>

You should see what I coded for GWB.

I got filtered. Dang!

Yawn, wifi in coffeehouses is soooo early turn-of-the-millenium.

(LOL, I guess Ric Romero is now ghost-writing for teh Chronic.)

so... what the hell are these jackasses selling anyways?
sounds like a bunch of trustafarians trolling for free internet access and calling themselves "progressive"
even the writing of the article made me gag on all the smug.

but I will say.. I have about five guys who are at my pub everyday running businesses.. of course these guys are all painters, drywall guys, hardware installers, tree men, and what have you.
of course.. after they line up the work. they actually go out and do it, and then when their work day is done.. they come back to the pub.. buy more of my beer and make more deals to do more work and make more money..

besides.. in my opinion.. if you want to loosen up a clients wallet.. don't take them to a coffee shop, get them drunk.

Cafes are the new corner bars. Of course we can do our side business at home - 99% of entrepreneurs are filling time between jobs, building a resume or just rebelling against the corporate grind, futilely at that. But the true business people, the ones who make actual money and make actual paying jobs? It's all about connecting.
And it's all about the sort of people you try to connect with, that decides whether you network at a cafe or bar or strip club or library.
PS Starbucks sucks. I live in the NYC tristate and it's sad how the big chains proliferate while real cafes get pushed to the side. Of course the obscurity is part of the appeal.

Something wrong with your apartment?

I guess it's just not as cool.

And what, pray tell is wrong with [Adobe] Flash?

It forces an arbitray and unfamiliar interface onto what already exists as a familiar and user-friendly interface called HTML.

Just start with non-scroll-wheel scroll boxes for one.

It's best used when it's just a segment of a page. Entire flash sites SUCK. EVERY ONE OF THEM. YEAH, YOURS TOO.

.retteb s'ti kniht I esuaceb tsuj ,sdrawkcab txet ym daer dluohs uoy taht dediced I fi sa s'tI