I think the phrase re-inventing the wheel is being misused here. Back to aki:s example: What the PZ guys are doing is not re-inventing the wheel. They take an existing invention and add a new invention to it. But if someone would come up to me and say I got this really good idea - let's create a round object and use it to ease transportation - it would be mean not to show the person an existing wheel. And to the IT world: DukaPress is an excellent example of taking something existing and adding something new to it. Creating a webmail service and not adding any new function to it but just host it in Kenya ... re-inventing the wheel. Sometimes building on existing solutions is not enough if you want to increase performance radically or (again) add something truly unique to something existing as in the case of 3D software. If the hours and the cash is there why not. But one has to be realistic; it would take far too much time and money to even recreate the main feature of GMail: the Google search built into it. It is rare that it is this easy to say that something doesn't make sense so we will continue trying and sometimes succeed and sometimes fail. If I share an idea with someone (maybe on a mailing list) to see if it would work I would be very disappointed if someone did not tell me that this is re-inventing the wheel if it was. Another (complete!) project "re-inventing the wheel": The .kenya domain ... 2012 top level domains will be available to the public. How would it be different from the existing .ke? 1. Pricing would have to be closer to .com. When telling a client that a .co.ke domain would be 150% more expensive the client's choice is usually .com 2. Fully automated system for registration. Tucows would probably be able to handle this via http://www.opensrs.com/ 3. Easier to say than .co.ke or .or.ke. It is sad that Kenya has adopted the UK domain structure..ke would have been more than enough. Am not even sure it would be possible legally to obtain a country name tld and the initial investment is high but it is an idea. Free! Don't re-invent the wheel - add something new to the wheel instead :) On 11/04/2010 03:17 PM, Rad! wrote:
Well said!
Although small correction. It was not Colombus that discovered America.
On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 2:33 PM, Steve Obbayi <steve@sobbayi.com <mailto:steve@sobbayi.com>> wrote:
You wanna know why some of us find it necessary to reinvent the wheel? well its because some of us are not satisfied with the status. Just coz something works doesn't mean its okay for me.
I am heavy involved in 3D graphics Software development and from what I have been able to learn from the industry is that a lot of these animation studios build their own renderers from scratch in house... an later end up being licensed outside the companies when interest builds.
Am sure you enjoy and marvel at Pixars movies... guess what they use a tool called renderman to render their movies. It was built from scratch even though the studio spends a fortune on Maya and other software which could have done the same job.
But why is pixar on top? Because they needed to achieve some effects that puts them ahead of the competition and the Maya renderer or any other was not acceptable acceptable. It was Steve Jobs (one of my mentors by the way) who said "Never Settle (He was referring to jobs or projects you are working on), keep looking, keep searching and keep working at your dream".
The same thing happened with Weta Workshop (guys of Lord of the rings etc) They built their software (Massive) from scratch because what existed was not good enough. Look at the results. They are now the most sought after studio when it come to special effects coz they reinvented the wheel.
If steve Jobs didnt reinvent the wheel they would be no Pixar today. If apple didnt reinvent the wheel they would be no iphone. Same case with google and Android.
Now Nokia has to reinvent the wheel to stay relevant. Microsoft thought reinventing the wheel was nonsense look whats happening to them.
New technology is based on reinventing the wheel which is necessary when you find that the existing tools are not there yet.
Nasa's core business is reinventing the wheel.. am sure you thought it was just flying to space.
When Google was started there were no less that six search engines on the internet and every body thought another one was not needed. Look where google is now. Where are the other six? when Gmail was started there were already enough email services out there. You think Google cares? No way.
Google has made a Career of reinventing the wheel.
Christopher Colombus dared to reinvent the wheel (route to India) where all the sailors of his time dreaded sailing off into the Atlantic. What happened, He discovered America. Hat if he thought like KE devs and decided to use the existing route?
The point is if you want to be stuck in the status quo that the idea I have already exists so i shouldnt run with it is just messed up.
Personally I am not interested in free skunk mails but what if the idea is run with and who knows in three years it evolves into the next big thing...who knows?
I think what Aki is saying is that Ke devs fear treading into new territory and come up with all sorts of excuses why the wheel cannot be invented.
Forget about the crowd and follow you dreams and ideas. No one said it will be easy. Its gonna be hell on earth following and implementing your idea. Bugs are part of software development. If you are a Dev and you fear Bugs then you are in the wrong profession.
Steve Obbayi Software Developer
----- Original Message ----- From: "Dennis Kioko" <dmbuvi@gmail.com <mailto:dmbuvi@gmail.com>> To: "Skunkworks Mailing List" <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke <mailto:skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke>> Sent: Thursday, November 4, 2010 4:27:52 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [Skunkworks] To Re-Invent the wheel? Why is it important for us to keep re-inventing, re-evolving. I also give you a project..
Also remember that new software comes with bugs which have to be discovered, patched and exploited. Building on a software that has already been patched is better