
Failed Startup code graveyard - frazras
http://codebituary.com/
======
codingdave
This is fine for what it is... but at its core, it is a categorized list of
github repositories, and the category happens to be failed startups.

I would drop the whole "graveyard" theme, and expand the categorization
concept... then this could be less of a novelty, and more of a new wrapper
around github for discovery of relevant codebases to whatever your current
project may be.

~~~
DougMerritt
I disagree, I think that this is precisely targeted at _encouraging_ failed
startups to open source their software for others, which has been rare in the
past.

People can then tell their (former) CEO, "See this site, everyone is using the
graveyard".

Encouraging that behavior is utterly different than just indexing the few that
did so in the past.

I see no particular point whatsoever in insisting that it would be better as a
vague indistinct generic gitub wrapper -- although if you have an idea for
improving search of such, go for it.

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ajdlinux
Site's not loading very well for me.

I definitely like the idea of preserving the source code of abandoned projects
though. Ultimately, I'd like some equivalent of the "legal deposit" principle
that applies to books and other printed works - some kind of scheme where
source code, not just object code, for proprietary products eventually makes
its way into the public domain. I'm not sure how this scheme would work, but
I'd like it to happen.

~~~
IgorPartola
I worked for a company where one of the clients required that all the source
code be periodically archived and shipped to them so that if we went out of
business they could potentially run it themselves. Practically, they wouldn't
be able to because of the sheer complexity of all the different services. It
was a minor pain to do this for them but the contract was worth it.

Having said that, I am a big fan of open sourcing projects of they fail. Why
not? What do you have to lose?

~~~
bigtunacan
I've never worked for a company where we shipped the code directly to the
client; that seems a bit risky for the company producing the code.

I did work for a startup though where all of the code was backed up and sent
offsite to an escrow service. It was part of our standard contract that if the
company ceased operations all clients would have received copies of the code.
This was a pretty big deal to quite a few clients as one of the biggest risks
for a larger client investing in using software from a small company is lost
sunk costs if the startup fails. If the client has this type of agreement in
place it is much less risky. If the startup fails then a heavily entrenched
client would request to receive the code and more often than not hire one or
more of the now unemployed software developers either as employees or
consultants to either maintain the software or train someone else to.

@frazras actually from this context since I believe it is a fairly common
problem, the closed casket paid service makes a lot of sense. What would be
ideal is if it could essentially be turned into a GitHub/BitBucket (private)
style service that is dead simple to use, but also acted as an escrow service.
You would need a means of tracking clients, but not allowing them access
unless terms of contract were met that allows access. Then it would also need
to lock down the codebase in some manner; don't allow repo deletes, do backup
snapshots, something like this so you can guarantee the startup doesn't breach
contract.

~~~
IgorPartola
I think you are actually right, it was done via Iron Mountain. I wasn't
directly involved with the process, only was aware of it.

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frazras
Founder here: I fixed the server issues, I really never expected to make it to
frontpage literally overnight. The aim was not necessarily to get someone to
use the entire codebase. there are features that may be interesting to the
user. The user may just me interested in the structure of the code and to
familiarize themself with how code is written in a startup.

------
vishalzone2002
great idea

maybe you should have some projects that can be bought and maybe the founder
of the failed startup can make some money out of it. If there is no buyer for
the code for certain number of days, it would be open sourced?

I am a proponent of open source but graveyard, obituary, failed.. sounded too
much negativity..

~~~
sideproject
I run a site like what you mentioned where people can sell off their side
projects [http://sideprojectors.com](http://sideprojectors.com) \- check it
out when you can! :)

~~~
magicmu
Wow this is a great idea!! I may very well use this to make a bit of money on
the side. How long have you been running this service?

~~~
sideproject
Thanks! The site's been running for almost 2 years now. Going steady! :)

~~~
vishalzone2002
ya i am aware of your site.. pretty cool.. have been involved in few projects
as well :) .. it can definitely take in a lot of improvements too :)

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jrjr
Sounds like a minefield.

frazras later indicates that he has reservations on the release....

It might be gpl, but it may pull along enough other baggage as to be pretty
stupid to use the code.

maybe codebutuary might be renamed to submarinebituary. There could even be
unpaid vendors, issues as to the true owner's actual intent and it's release
to gpl, possibly a spiteful act. This needs much better definition and stated
ownership, by codebituary.com

jr

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Ratelman
Looks pretty awesome. If I have to criticize the "Add a Startup" button
bothers me a bit, its placement is a bit off. It feels like it should be a bit
lower and more in line with the rest of the page.

~~~
frazras
yeah, fixed that

------
ilurk
Relevant: Autopsy: Lessons from Failed Startups (autopsy.io) [1]

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9666013](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9666013)

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swalsh
The potentially most valuable part of this site is the "reason for death". In
fact, i'd find that useful even if the site source code was not open source.
Simply open sourcing your lessons learned is valuable.

There is a category of start-ups that are like that "American Ninja
Challenge". There's a line of obstacles that are visible, and seem easy
enough... but are hard to swing across. It would be nice to see the ways
people fell in the pit. So when you try to swing across, maybe you can make it
:D

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dswalter
I think there may be a date issue. From this website, Zillabyte appears to be
still about 5 months from going belly-up.

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bsaul
This may lead to show that code actually have some value, even if the business
didn't work out.

If some failed projects go open source, while others manage to sell the code,
then it may create a market and then makes it easier to borrow money, with
code being the collateral.

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NKCSS
Hmm, it seems to be able to predict the future:

[http://codebituary.com/node/1](http://codebituary.com/node/1)

Date of Death: Monday, December 14, 2015

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aaronem
It's a great idea. I can't wait for someone to build one.

~~~
frazras
it is already built at [http://codebituary.com](http://codebituary.com)

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chris_wot
Date of death for Zillabyte: Monday, December 14, 2015

When asked for a comment, Zillabyte said "News of my death is premature."

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lassecausen
site is not responding

~~~
frazras
fixed the loading issues

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mandela
Looks pretty awesome, but logo could use some improvements. e.g lose the cross
or replace with stone or something else. Religion sign might put some people
off.

