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I searched for INRIA success stories. I found the MLdonkey peer-to-peer client written in OCaml. (I do remember using it many years ago. It was odd.) Where are
by tpmx 6y ago
I searched for INRIA success stories. I found the MLdonkey peer-to-peer client written in OCaml. (I do remember using it many years ago. It was odd.)
Where are the successful, world-changing company spinoffs?
- andrewflnr 6y agoOk, that's the wrong measure. But didn't they sponsor basically the whole OCaml compiler, which has gone on to be hugely influential?
- tpmx 6y ago> Ok, that's the wrong measure. Is it though? I guess that's the difference between Europe and US in CS. In the US they find a way to make money on the innovations.
- andrewflnr 6y agoYes, it is wrong. Financial success is only one proxy for impact, and not an especially good one in my view. Lots of things that really maybe the world better will make no money, and in fact reduce a lot of companies' incomes by making purchases unnecessary. Open source software is a prime example.
- themacguffinman 6y agoThe biggest and most useful open source projects are often either funded or created by financially successful corporations. The rest of open source is generally rife with useless junk that benefits almost no one (except maybe the author) precisely because there is no pressure to validate ideas and outcomes with money. This isn't an argument or discouragement against open source, but any financially successful product is a billion times more likely to be impactful and useful than sampling by almost any other factor like open source.
- periheli0n 6y agoWhereas in Europe university driven innovations are often placed in the public domain, especially in France. What is better for society? Depends on the viewpoint I guess.
- tpmx 6y agoNow pause to think about how e.g. France has made the EU spend many, many billions to create a search engine that can replace Google? (Unlikely.)
- periheli0n 6y agoGoogle earns money with advertising. They also do some kick-ass CS research, but that’s not what makes the money. In fact, ad sales fund Google’s research.
- tpmx 6y ago> They also do some kick-ass CS research, but that’s not what makes the money. Yeah, that's kind of known.
- periheli0n 6y agoExactly. Google churns out awesome innovation, but hardly any of that makes any money. Proving the point that money making is not what measures research success.