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Message: 8
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:33:03 +0100
From: “Michael Regen”
Subject: Re: [erlang-questions] Lets build a stock exchange!
To: erlang-questions@erlang.org
Message-ID:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

What an interesting topic!

Just my humble two cents:

On Nov 11, 2007 2:58 AM, Joel Reymont wrote:
> I want to build the biggest Erlang cluster in the world and push
> Erlang to its limits.
>
> I want to build a stock exchange and show you how to do it.

This means either a lot of money and/or people are needed. So, how do
we motivate people to spend money or time?
I guess it will be easier to make people spend time than money.
Choosing the right project will affect very much how many people will
join and whether they need to spend money or time.

Building a stock exchange is an incredibly interesting aim from the
technical point of view and could certainly push Erlang to its limits
- if they exist :).
But if you want to build the biggest Erlang cluster than you need
something which is actually useable in real life for at least some
time. That would also be a much bigger benefit for the people to join
compared to just build a showcase example.
And here I’m not sure how big financial and legal hurdles will be to
actually operate a stock exchange. Does anybody have some insight in
this topic?

Just a half-baked idea and my empty brain was not able to figure out a
practical application so far. Anyway, maybe just think about it for a
short while and forget it soon if it leads to nothing: What about some
kind of socially desirable project. E.g. something one or better more
NGOs can use. Something that motivates people to join because they can
feel good if they contribute? Feel better than if they just
contributed code to the public.
Sometimes consulting companies compete hard for poor paid contracts
with NGOs just because it will be great PR for them. So there might
also be a bigger chance to push Erlang.
But I have to agree, this idea is not worth much without an
application. And of course, building something which is usable also
means responsibility…

So I hope this mail only drives people away from the stock exchange
idea if someone finds a good application soon.

Cheers,
Michael

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