Advice for starting a new project?

[Kareem Shehata]

Doh.  Forgot to turn off HTML emails.  Sorry about that.

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Hey everyone,

I’ve had an idea in my head (and on paper, er
 notepad) for about a year now
for what could turn into an open source project.  Truth be told, I know the
shape of what I want to make, but I have no idea how to actually do it:
FOSS, start a small company and build it proprietary, design the
architecture and then license it, or look at academic forums.  I’m leaning
towards FOSS because I think it’ll fit the project as well as my personal
beliefs and values, but I have no idea what it takes to go down that road.
 So I thought I’d check here and see if anyone has tried this road and can
give any advice, or know of someone I should talk with.  I’m thinking of
heading to Waterloo to chat with Roger Dingledine, since the project has
similarities to his.  Anyone in the Toronto area who has started or is
running a FOSS project?

BTW: I’d love nothing better than to put out all of the details on the idea,
but at this point the idea of “intellectual property” scares the crap out of
me.  What if some unscrupulous company takes the idea, makes a prototype,
and patents it?  So, for the moment I won’t talk details (and in return I’m
not asking for any kind of commitments from anyone), but any and all advice
would be appreciated.

Thanks!

-kms


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