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viandanteon Ask HN: OLAP and Reporting that feels like 2012

Yes, an RDF format looks like a good solution. It appears that RDF is quite supported in python and that it also abstracts away persistance (http://readthedocs.org/docs/rdflib/en/latest/persistence.htm...) in a way. I ll look into that, thanks.

If you like the basecamp idea for analytics, I am kfk on github, I am doing some demos to get an idea.

viandanteon We are in a Bubble

From a business perspective (and believe it, it hurts me saying that), this discussion makes no sense. It's like saying: 'are we in a PMIs bubble'? Or, 'are we in a multinationals bubble?'. The point is that we tend to group things together in categories. But does it make sense to put, say, Facebook and, say, MakeLeaps (start up that manages invoices for small businesses) in the same category? It think it does not, as much as it does not make sense to put Apple and Mc Donald in the same pot. Would you say Apple and Mc Donald are in a multinationals bubble?

However, those discussions do show something, that there is an underlying need to understand the market and the businesses out there. More start ups focused on BtoB I think are needed. Corporate and business software sucks and costs a lot in terms of actual cost and lost efficiency, when are people going to realize that and work on that too?

viandanteon Spain Is Doomed

Well, let's say that now that he saves 25k for the maid, he hires a gardner. GDP 225 again? So basically the GDP depends on the number of transactions? Is that so?

viandanteon Ask HN: OLAP and Reporting that feels like 2012

Agree. But usually business rules and exceptions boil down to filters and look ups on the dataset. It is difficult to keep up with that mess from outside, but if you deliver a way to make look ups and filters efficiently, maybe you got a solution.

viandanteon Ask HN: OLAP and Reporting that feels like 2012

Well, at work I use Cognos. But it is clumsy and it forces you in its paradigms. Instead, when I dream or code (I am learning to code, I am a finance guy), I am making demos for things that should provide a better way to explore your data: http://andemo.ep.io/.

Basically, my issue with corporate analytics is that there are no apis. Everything has to be accessed from its software. SAP data stays in SAP or goes in some 90' data warehause system.

Another issue is that data is stored in multiple versions in different files across many users locations (Excel files madness). This drives people nuts and I can't understand why don't we already have a BaseCamp for finance and analytics.

A third issue is that people are mixing data and views. This makes usually data in, i.e. in spreadsheets, completelly unuseful for other analysis, you basically have to copy and paste data from the fancy templates to a clean file to use it. Views should be web based too, not to enter the 'update this file periodically manually' hell.

Once you have apis, it's a matter of building apps to consume them and eventually to make snapshots of your data (you don't want to recalculate monthly billings at every page request). Your specific need, for example, could be solved with a fancy web based pivot table (the sort you have in spreadsheets) that accesses json data...

So, finally, if you find or start an interesing project of this type, let me know as I am interested to join!

viandanteon Spain Is Doomed

Again, in the first case the man is simply spending the 25k on the maid. In the second case he will spend the 25k in something else. That something else will then spend the 25k as the maid would have done. No change.

viandanteon Spain Is Doomed

Let's say the man invests all his money in a socks business. In the first case his socks business will demand 25k less. The maid will demand 25k more. I still see effect 0. I think the problem is people are not considering savings in the equation...

viandanteon Spain Is Doomed

You are assuming that investments don't bring spending. But that is wrong. If the maid does not get the 25, a company, a bank, a fund, will get it (as savings=investments). This means the 25 will flow in the economy in both cases.

viandanteon Spain Is Doomed

Please, don't just downvote. Do tell me where the +25 are coming from in the first case instead. It would something more productive to do.

viandanteon Spain Is Doomed

The equation is Y=C+I+G.

In the first case he has 175 of investments (I) and 25 of consume (C).

In the second case he has 200 of investments.

If some of the downvoters can please explain in those terms where I am wrong, it would be nice. Please, show me where the +25 come from in the 1st case.

viandanteon Spain Is Doomed

Are you sure of this example? It does look like GDP is 200k in both cases. The first case looks wrong, if he pulls 25k from his savings, there will be -25k in savings (or investments as they are the same) and +25k in spendings. Effect is 0...

viandanteon Is There a Y Combinator Valuation Bubble or Not?

To me your arguments seems to be sound. What is 'scary' is seeing some prices out there. They are very low. I was looking at mixpanel pricing (https://mixpanel.com/pricing/) lately. A game changer should be able to provide more than those fees per month. Especially in the analytics sector that needs solutions like crazy. I mean, a decent consultant makes 1 k per day at least, why? Are start ups asking themselves about the value they provide or they want just to hit it big: become valuable only because serving millions of people?

viandanteon Rickshaw: A JS interactive charting library based on D3

A link to some of those hacks?

viandanteon Rickshaw: A JS interactive charting library based on D3

Graphs is for business

Agree on this. Especially the shiny and good looking ones. For a technical crowd you can stick with a black line. For business the format is as important as the substance. Therefore, I can't see lots of applications for graphs libraries that don't support that piece of work that is IE.

viandanteon Rickshaw: A JS interactive charting library based on D3

This looks good, what about the non standard browsers (IE<9, what did you think?)? I have been looking into d3 a lot lately, but if there is no good support for IE, then no way this can be used for business apps.

viandanteon From idea to replacing full-time salary in 4 months

What's the problem then? Having management? 'Stealing' profit from the workers?

You can't seem to understand that 1000 workers doing 'their' job may be hundrends of times less productive than doing the same job under the same company. Lots of things (machinery, know how, etc.) need a company and a capital.

Finally, I also don't understand discussing capitalism. Here we are discussing freedom for individuals to work and to create a start up. What would you rather do? Force everybody down the same principles? Not sure it's right.

viandanteon From idea to replacing full-time salary in 4 months

Workers are not pointed a gun to do the job. Given the opportunities they have, they are choosing this specific opportunity. This means that this service is increasing their expected value from the job. I don't see how this can be bad.

viandanteon From Business Guy to Programmer

The main challenge is that start ups, as it is normal, seems to look for top people or with lots of experience. The second challenge is that even if they would consider an unexperienced person, they would not do it remote. I am pretty sure if I lived in the right 'hot' places I could find something, but I don't.

It has to be remote as I live in a small city in Germany. I can't move out as I need my job. I don't live my job as I have no idea if start ups would be for me (that's why a remote work would be nice too, to get to know what the job is...). But I noticed I get programming fast, so that's why I always look for a chance to prove myself in there, maybe finance is not for me after all, who knows.

viandanteon From Business Guy to Programmer

For us business guys (and the term is broad, there can be also quite technical/numerical business guys...) is really a struggle convincing anybody that we can code. Yes, we have small tiny demos laying in there (<shameless plug>http://andemo.ep.io </shameless plug>), or we hack some scripts for fun, but we are not professionals! And it takes ages to become one alone.

Point is, it would be cool to have more chances. Even unpaid gigs or below decency pay could help. But nothing of this around. Especially because it should be remote. Hope somebody fixes this, if there is really a shortage of programmers I mean.

viandanteon Skype Hits 40 Million Simultaneous Users

Could you be more specific on why this will not happen? As you say, in-web calls should be possible, why people don't compete against skype with decent web apps?

viandanteon German Pirate Party overtakes Greens on latest poll

I am not from US, but indeed I do see as socialist any State that collects taxes. Socialism is a broad definition, I just like to use it like this because it shows that the problem is the continuum and not the extremes. And for me the main continuums to look at are spending and taxes on GDP. Those should be lower than 50% (arbitrary number from my side, but it makes sense).

viandanteon German Pirate Party overtakes Greens on latest poll

As much as definitions are concerned, also US has only socialist parties. The first problem begins when your parties only discuss about further spending and never about expense reductions (as in US too). The other problem begins when the State thinks it has the right to decide on things that should be left to the individual, for example, it makes absolutely no sense that in Germany shops are mandated to be closed on Saturdays (less of this in Us?).

Finally, as there is no pure socialism/capitalism, I believe we should look at few simple things. For example, effective taxation (together with mandatory helthcare and pension) on the individual should not be 50% of his income (and it is in Italy, for example); public spending should not be 50% of GDP either. Let's start from here...

viandanteon German Pirate Party overtakes Greens on latest poll

This is good news. But I am not sure yet if I would vote for them (usually I do not vote). Their economic policy seems not mature enough or too much towards an even more socialist State. This is what is now failing us in most of the western Europe.

I would really like to see some groups against copyright/patent madness AND against public spending/over taxation madness we have been struggling with for the last decades. Unfortunately, it seems that in Europe those ideas tend to polarize between 2 'very' different groups such as left (and not even all) for the copyright thing and right (and not even all) for the taxes thing. And that's why I do not vote.

viandanteon Danish Startup Community Unified Against The Entrepreneur Tax

Yes, but for 1 DTU there are plenty of other Universities aiming only at big numbers of students. Also, degrees are so inflated that companies keep asking for a Master even after 2 or 3 years of experience.

I am not sure Danish are happy. Are they? And also, will they be? Jobs in Copenhagen are extremely few and hard to get (especially if you are a foreigner...). I know Danish people easily find jobs now, but what about in 10 years? or 20? or 30?

I just can't see the sustainability of this system. Taxes are way too high and the State wants way too much control over things.

viandanteon Danish Startup Community Unified Against The Entrepreneur Tax

When I was in Denmark I found really irritating the pay Danish students get for University (600 euros net). You can put it any way you want, but that creates all sort of bad incentives and crappy education (which I did see. VIA, anybody?).

Most of those "free" things are not really free also. You will pay them with extremely "unfair" taxes (180% of tax on the value of a new car, anybody?) and a State that believes is fine to dictate the proper way of doing things.

No thanks.

viandanteon "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

I hear you and nice web app too, but basically you are telling me that Excel and SP are more cost effective than a good app made for the specifics of your needs.

I don't know, in finance at my company with put huge ammounts of man hours in crafting, correcting, dealing, with tons of excel files. There are analysts that spend most of the time putting data in Excel sheets from the data warehouse system and shipping in outlook or uploading on SP. Is this cost effective? I doubt it. It is also an horrible way of working, you have no programmatic/easy way of comparing data: start trying to understand where a certain variation from the forecast, from a certain account, came from out of 30+ entities. It just drives people mad.

I think that some way in the middle is the solution...

viandanteon "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

What features of excel? I work with Excel everyday (I'm a finance, not a hacker) and I can't really see what features, besides filters and pivots, you may want to implement in an app. The best piece of software I worked with is "Hyperion", which great just because limits the "Excel power" so that nobody feels entitled to creativity every time there is report to do.

Didn't know of the web apps in SP, would like to see some examples although, don't trust it just yet...

viandanteon "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

Never had this problems on linux. Actually I was pleased to have a decent csv support in libreOffice.

viandanteon "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

SharePoint is what happens when you force a paradigm (the idea of files) to the limit of good sense. Why do we need Excel sheets lying around in SharePoint? Why not just a decent web interface connected with the databases (external and internal)?

I just today discussed with my boss a proposal from some finance guys of a "dashboard" in power point that will take half day to be manually updated every month. Come on... nobody sees this is plain wrong?

viandanteon "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

Frankly, I would say just the opposite. If your needs are minimal, go with windows. If you need more, linux is a good choice. You will never get a decent terminal in windows or good support for some programming languages (such as python).

You are right with Excel although. However, much of the "power" of Excel is really just needed because people are overusing it. Stop making "databases" out of Excel sheets and implement good data analytics system on the server and you'll see that libreoffice is more than enough.