On the dark side of the moon is not less space for startups

Reading articles on the Internet, and the same Habrahabr, it seems that all startups and new IT projects are associated only with the latest innovations, website creation and programming for cell phones and gadgets. It seems that most developers use php, while others use the latest libraries and development tools.

The situation is quite in the spirit: "A survey among Internet users showed that 100% of them have Internet." But a huge part of the tasks associated with the development of programs remains unlighted here, although not less money is invested in them and not less tools are created for them. And naturally, this is no less a field for startups. To call them just innovative language does not turn. However, less valuable, useful and profitable projects on the dark side of the moon do not become so.


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From the view of readers who are interested in events in the world of program development, there is a huge part of the forces and means that go into maintaining and developing projects that have been around for many years or even decades. Nobody talks about them.

You can write about the release of the new version of the library Boost 1.42 . But no one will write about the release of the new version of the library ACIS 20.0, in which there are much more innovations, and which simply cannot be described as such. And it is strange to describe this largest library, familiar to all developers of CAD-systems, and developed for 21 years now. There is no innovation in this and, as a result, noise, but there is money.

You can write and read about the development and promotion of the game for the iPhone with a very short life cycle. But I can’t imagine how interesting it is to describe how an old Fortran program was reassembled using the Intel Fortran Compiler 11 and it became good. I hear someone say that Fortran is dead? This is just the hype of innovators promoting new languages ​​and tools. They create a lot of noise, but do not occupy the whole world around, as it seems. Think for yourself if Fortran is dead, then why does Intel invest in a well optimizing compiler for it. If Cobol is dead, then for whom are courses like " COBOL .NET using Microsoft Visual Studio " intended? There is no innovation in this and, as a result, noise, but there is money.

With my opinion on the difficulty of supporting large and old projects, they disagree and say that such projects need to be rewritten. Of course it would be great to rewrite everything. Especially around discuss new programming languages ​​that are well suited for this or refactoring tools. It is fashionable, everyone talks about it. But in practice, people make money on other things, because only enthusiasts usually declare rewriting the code. There is a company that lives because it virtualizes and thereby prolongs the life of programs, written, for example, for PDP11 and other not very innovative systems. This is strange? Not. Just a few people here discuss what to do with the program, at the time it took 10 person-years to create. There is no innovation in this and, as a result, noise, but there is money.

Why am I all this? To the fact that perhaps you should not chase the writing of the next page for the latest gadget, which everyone is talking about now. Those who are looking for a topic for a new startup - look back! There are many areas where people quietly and calmly do their work, create and support projects without in any way advertising their activities. They just don't need it. Those who support the programs for PDP11 do not need to hang banners and participate in competitions of innovative projects. Their clients will find them themselves, as they are forced to seek a solution to their problems. The fact that there is no noise about this topic does not mean at all that it doesn’t interest anyone or, especially, customers have no money.

Good luck in non-innovative startups. :)