New Innovation

After working in the R&D department of a small security company developing and installing security products (IP cameras, RFID, Access control etc.) I decided to go it alone in 2007 and New Development Technologies was born. Until 2011, I had various contracts developing software.

Unlike other engineering fields, Software Engineering has the added benefit of almost no manufacturing cost and lends itself to an endless range of applications. In a certain sense the design is the product. This means that a software solution can be found for problems that was not even conceived of just a few years ago. Unfortunately, little came of the original idea for New Development Technologies to act as an external R&D arm for other companies.

I still recommend Open Source Software [1] for most solutions, because of its long-term advantages, but also write and use closed source software when it is the better solution for the problem at hand. Open Source Software in general share many the advantages of Linux, but some of the greatest advantages are that you can customize existing software for your specific needs (saving money and time in the process) and that you do not run the risk of vendor lock-in [2].

In 2011 I decided to return to my great love of nature and farming and joined the Cape Leopard Trust as Coordinator for their Namaqualand Project. When the CLT withdrew from Namaqualand in January 2012, I decided to expand the research to a PhD at the University of Stellenbosch. Read more about the Farming with Predators Research Project

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Footnotes

[1] Generally, "Open Source Software" is the same as what the FSF term "Free Software". However, it is not the same as "Freeware", which is software that you can use without paying, but that doesn't come with any source code and can not be changed nor carry any guarantee of future support.

[2] Vendor lock-in occurs when all the data and or information processes of a company are provided by only one or a few vendors such that it is only accessible through their software (or hardware). This places the client totally at the mercy of the vendor(s) in more ways than one. It can have bad consequences when the vendor stops supporting their product, forcing a software upgrade of an otherwise adequate system. The company is totally dependent on the vendor(s) for any bug fixes and nobody else can fix any problems with the software. Because the data is only available through the vendor software, these vendors can effectivly prevent the migration of the data to any newer or beter software that might become available.

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