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Startup Visas EB-5 makeover...a 2010 reality? |
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Written by Jeffrey Neu
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As a "hired brain" for a lot of technology companies, and also one that works with a fair number of startups, we regularly run into issues dealing with visas and bringing foreign workers to the U.S. I am not going to go on a tirade of whether it is good to have a visa process for foreign workers or not, but, especially in startups, I think there are several compelling reasons to do startup visas (especially with forming companies in the U.S./job creation etc.). One thing that is for sure, of any startup I have worked with, the most important thing is the synergy between the founding team.
For those of you not aware, there is a bit of a movement to reform the immigration process, and more specifically a movement to change the EB-5 visa requirements to allow not only independently wealthy/job creators to get visas, but also those supported by wealthy parties/investors.
Currently, EB-5 visas enable investors from other countries to get a visa in exchange for starting a business in the US with $1M in investment capital and creating 10 US jobs (or $500K for economically targeted areas). There is a push, as indicated at (www.startupvisa.com) which would allow an individual to be sponsored by a Qualified Venture Capitalist or a Qualified Super Angel investor who is investing at least $100,000 (Super Angel) or at least $250,000 (VC) in an equity financing of at least $500,000.
It's an interesting topic, and from my perspective, it would allow a lot of companies to migrate or form in the U.S. a lot easier. And in my humble opinion (which most would argue isn't so humble), it is tough to find a more educated, dedicated, and skilled populace than in the U.S. Adding a few more highly educated, dedicated, and skilled individuals is just going to add more talent, which is definitely what we want. More talent, more brains, more skill, equals better products, services, and more inovation.
Thoughts? |
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Microsoft banned from selling Word |
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Written by Jeffrey Neu
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I4i, a small Toronto based software company sued Microsoft for patent infringement, won an injunction and $290 million USD, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington upheld the ruling on December 22, 2009.
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Google's Open Source Operating Systems |
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Written by Jennifer Yoon
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For the past few years Google has been expanding its reach in the realm of operating systems, quickly attracting users and developers alike by releasing the source code under open source. It started in
2007, with the unveiling of Android, a mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel. Android has been available as open source since October 21, 2008 (Google opened the entire source code under an Apache License, which allows vendors to freely add proprietary extensions without submitting those back to the open source community). Now, Google is gearing up to directly compete with Microsoft's Windows OS with Google's Chrome OS.
On November 19, 2009, Google demonstrated an early version of its Chrome OS, an open source operating system designed to work exclusively with web applications. For consumers who primarily use
their computers for accessing the Internet, Chrome OS's minimalist interface could prove to be an attractive alternative to Microsoft's Windows. Google also released Chrome OS's source code under open source licensing as Chromium OS.
A quick review on open source: Open Source licensing is a response to today's Copyright Laws. The distribution terms of open source software must allow free redistribution, the production of derivative
works, free distribution of the license with the derivative works, and the license must not place restrictions on the software that is being distributed (unlike copyleft, which gives every person who receives a
copy of a work permission to reproduce, adapt, or distribute the work as long as any resulting copies or adaptations are also bound by the same copyleft licensing scheme).
Google plans to release a publicly available stable release of Chrome OS during the second half of 2010.
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/technology/companies/20chrome.html?_r=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Chrome_OS
http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd |
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Slight Ciesta from the blog and why |
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Written by Jeffrey Neu
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Well, as the readers probably have noticed, the blog has been a bit slow lately, and so I wanted to give a little update as to why.
1. We have been busy completing several larger than normal projects for a few clients...it seems that at the end of this given year, everyone waited til about November to decide they wanted to do something in December, and well, for me that means crunch time.
2. There have been a few additions to the team, as I am sure many of you that work with us have noticed, but that always adds to a bit of time to reorganize.
3. For those of you that missed it, I spoke at Web 2.0 Expo in New York in November on social media and the risks and liabilities around that. Info about that session is located here.
4. I also spoke at the "Girlfriend's Guide to Blogging" conference in December, which was completely virtual. Info about that session is located here.
5. Aaron attended the FTC Roundtable on Privacy....there are a bunch of posts on it...the first one being here.
6. I'm lazy! For some reason, I couldn't muster up the strength to blog at 7 or 8am after going to bed at 2am. However, some others in the firm picked up the slack.
7. There are many posts in the works, in particular about some recent changes in the FTC rules and regulations, as well as some hot topics floating around.
8. If you have any questions, you know where to reach us, and if you don't....try this. |
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