Great job. It would be a lot more addictive if it was in a hot-or-not format -- random sequence of pictures and you get to vote on each one. Each vote shows you the next one.
The obvious answer to this might be to create a startup around your passion. You still have the problem of finding a way to fund the initial phase before you start making money. But that seems like a smaller problem than the original one. Maybe recursively reduce the problem in this way until it has been solved.
The ideas are not very good. I can't see what "problem" they are trying to solve. The innovation that we see here is very superficial.
Microsoft's real problem is its top-down hierarchy and performance-ranking driven DNA, which fouls up whatever they step into. Superficial solutions like a garage or an officelabs are irrelevant to their bottom line. These are mostly costmetic and PR efforts.
One of the arguments I hear against Python is that while initially things happen fast, the effect does not scale for large applications. Or that Java/C#'s static type checking makes it more scalable.
I'm curious if you have seen any scalability effects. For example, did the Python teams productivity stay consistent or did it taper off the further into the project you got? Did the C# team's productivity go up over time? Stay constant? Drop?
I'd be really curious to see the time series on the productivity.
"Customer metrics are not the same as customer interaction."
This is a good insight. Sometimes startups assume customer development means gathering a lot of metrics. There is something about a face-to-face interaction which trumps metrics.
I was in the same situation recently. I asked the person to send me his resume. I forwarded it to the HR recruiter so I could honestly tell this person I had forwarded his resume. At the same time I added a caveat to the recruiter that I was not familiar with this person or his work and that based on the resume he did not look particularly impressive.
Although I don't know Farsi one of the instructors at my college said it was one of the easiest languages to learn. She said many of her students were writing Farsi poetry by the end of the semester.
"This shouldn't be surprising to anyone with any experience of Freenode. Freenode is a perfect example of how open source projects tend to acquire the personality of their founder. In the case of Freenode, that founder was Rob Levin, famous for his online begging over wallops and for being completely incompetent in general. Levin's incompetence, begging and dictatorial style where he branded everyone who disagreed with him a "troll" gradually alienated all the sensible and technically skilled people from the network staff until the only people left were his equally incompetent sycophantic underlings.
"When Levin died several years ago as a result of his own stupidity (riding a bike without a helmet), they took over. I haven't heard of mquin before but it looks like the cycle continues.
"Your best option is to close the Freenode channel and move to OFTC, the staff of which consist mostly of the sensible and technically skilled people who left Freenode."
It sounds like you are asking for permission to quit. Money is a promise of future enjoyment. Are you willing to get chewed out for a future payoff? I am in a similar situation except without much equity in the company and I am about to give notice as soon as I get a contract lined up.