This is a great idea. I can't tell much from the image you provided about how the code samples are distinguished from the rest of the text. Usually you want code samples in a slightly different font - say a monospaced font - from the rest of your text. And then there's the problem of line wrapping in code samples - in an indentation-sensitive language like Python, that could be more of a problem but even in cases where it doesn't mislead the reader about the way the language works, it could be unsightly. Perhaps you haven't gotten that far yet or someone else will improve upon it and contribute the patches back to you. Great start, though. I was resolute about not getting an iPad but this is the first really good argument I've seen in its favor.
Look again. There is a code sample in that screenshot and it is in a monospaced font. There is an example of line wrapping and it seems to be distinguishable from a newline.
"Lastly, and probably the biggest problem is that there's no support. You can resort to posting messages to the forum but if you've got a customer who is pissed off because they just got double charged we call tell you from personal experience that they don't really care if you've posted something to a Google forum."
The kinds of people who work in startups are probably living in cheaper neighborhoods and finding creative ways to make their dollars go further. As pg has commented, nerds tend to be rather frugal. Also, salaries are high equivalent to the higher rents, so it all evens out in the end. Calling NY expensive is misleading. It can be expensive. But it can also be inexpensive if that's your goal.
Are salaries actually commensurately higher? As far as I can tell, typical engineering pay in NYC is about the same as typical engineering pay in California.
For a minute there I thought they removed their 1GB file size limit. Should have known better. I've been waiting for Google to do a better job of competing with Windows SkyDrive (25GB) but perhaps that won't happen.
I'm not sure this is the best example for young startup founders: Paul English started out with a shitload of cash to burn on hiring and his cofounder was one of the former heads of Orbitz. Makes me wonder how I can compete with that on my shoestring budget. Maybe this is the level that Gabriel Weinberg is starting from given that he has already launched and sold a company before. But I'm not there yet so this feels a little discouraging.
I found this post disappointingly short on administrative details, unlike Max Klein's earlier Rentacoder-related post, which is surely the definitive reference on this subject:
I've found that the administrative details are pretty minimal when you do your filtering well- people on Elance are often looking for long-term gigs, 10 hours a week, 5 hours a week, that kind of thing. That incentivizes them to work with you with an eye to the future, so there aren't as many details to the day to day.
The trick really is in getting rid of 99% of the applicants, and then paying well and being nice to the person you choose.
You may be onto something here: IT is under constant pressure to squeeze ever more performance out of its workers. Optimizing for performance means taking a common task, standardizing it to make sure that it can be easily repeated without much effort.
What do you mean by "not having IT organizations"? What is the alternative?
I'm not sure eliminating IT or 'killing the patient' as you so eloquently phrase it, is a viable solution for many companies. What can be done to increase the metabolic activity of creativity in said patient instead of killing him?
