11 ms·

Austria - There are startups in them there mountains

6 points by pmjordan 17y ago

davidw 17y ago
Austria, in some ways, strikes me as being more on the 'Oregon' side of things (as per this comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=664710 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=664710 ) - it's a very pleasant, livable place, where things generally work pretty well, and people mostly lead quiet, happy lives. On the other hand, since things are 'pretty good', I also got a bit of a feeling of "don't rock the boat". In any case, I always find it difficult to comment on Austria as I never learned the language or felt very connected to things the way I do in Italy. Oh ,and if you want pictures, here's a nice (live) one of the town I used to do some work in: http://www1.tirol.gv.at/luft/downloads/KOGLMOOS.JPG http://www1.tirol.gv.at/luft/downloads/KOGLMOOS.JPG
- mallipeddi 17y ago
  How's Italy in terms of internet startups, geek culture, etc? Never really come across Italian tech startups in the news.
  - dantheman 17y ago
    I believe Balsamiq is from Italy: http://www.balsamiq.com/ http://www.balsamiq.com/
    - davidw 17y ago
      Another couple that come to mind: http://www.funambol.com/ http://www.funambol.com/ http://www.sourcesense.com/en/home http://www.sourcesense.com/en/home Basically, though, "Italy" is not a great place for startups, do to the poor business environment. On the other hand, both historically, and currently, Italy has produced smart people way out of proportion to its size. Unfortunately, many of them have had to go elsewhere to really do their best work, like this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Faggin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Faggin He went to the University of Padova. Another famous guy who spent a lot of time here was Galileo, who said he spent the happiest years of his life here. I know plenty of geeks here, too. When I came here in 2000, I really didn't miss San Francisco in terms of having people to talk geek with. On the other hand, I did enjoy the fact that there were plenty of actual girls, that not everyone worked for a tech company, and that there were children and old people, rather than just 20-somethings. I like it here, but I will repeat that Italy is a terrible place to do business because of the bureaucracy.

6 points by pmjordan 17y ago

Austria, in some ways, strikes me as being more on the 'Oregon' side of things (as per this comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=664710 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=664710 ) - it's a very pleasant, livable place, where things generally work pretty well, and people mostly lead quiet, happy lives. On the other hand, since things are 'pretty good', I also got a bit of a feeling of "don't rock the boat". In any case, I always find it difficult to comment on Austria as I never learned the language or felt very connected to things the way I do in Italy. Oh ,and if you want pictures, here's a nice (live) one of the town I used to do some work in: http://www1.tirol.gv.at/luft/downloads/KOGLMOOS.JPG http://www1.tirol.gv.at/luft/downloads/KOGLMOOS.JPG

mallipeddi 17y ago
How's Italy in terms of internet startups, geek culture, etc? Never really come across Italian tech startups in the news.
- dantheman 17y ago
  I believe Balsamiq is from Italy: http://www.balsamiq.com/ http://www.balsamiq.com/
  - davidw 17y ago
    Another couple that come to mind: http://www.funambol.com/ http://www.funambol.com/ http://www.sourcesense.com/en/home http://www.sourcesense.com/en/home Basically, though, "Italy" is not a great place for startups, do to the poor business environment. On the other hand, both historically, and currently, Italy has produced smart people way out of proportion to its size. Unfortunately, many of them have had to go elsewhere to really do their best work, like this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Faggin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federico_Faggin He went to the University of Padova. Another famous guy who spent a lot of time here was Galileo, who said he spent the happiest years of his life here. I know plenty of geeks here, too. When I came here in 2000, I really didn't miss San Francisco in terms of having people to talk geek with. On the other hand, I did enjoy the fact that there were plenty of actual girls, that not everyone worked for a tech company, and that there were children and old people, rather than just 20-somethings. I like it here, but I will repeat that Italy is a terrible place to do business because of the bureaucracy.