Ksplice wins $100,000 in MIT start-up contest

A group of MIT graduates has shown that life after college can be rewarding.

Ksplice, a start-up venture run by a team of MIT alumni, has taken home the $100,000 grand prize in the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition. The award was handed on at a ceremony held Wednesday night at MIT's campus in Cambridge, Mass.

Ksplice beat out five other technology start-ups in its category to win the competition with its own innovative product. The company's technology lets computer users install software updates while other programs are running, eliminating the need for the dreaded reboot.

"You know those annoying pop-ups that read, 'you must reboot to install new updates?' We are making them obsolete," said Waseem Daher, Ksplice's chief operating officer. Daher, who got his master's degree in engineering from MIT last year, said Ksplice plans to license its technology directly to software vendors.

MIT hands out a $100,000 check.

Now in its 20th year, the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition is open to MIT student entrepreneurs. Contestants submit business plans, which are then reviewed by a panel of judges who evaluate the plans based on their innovation, creativity, and business smarts. Students can enter in one of six different tracks, such as Life Sciences or Development. Ksplice took top honors in the Web/IT track.

Over the years, MIT has awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and business services to student start-up ventures. The competition has led to the birth of more than 120 different companies, according to MIT, many of which have become highly successful.

A Webcast of the awards show is available at the MIT100K Web site.

[calmor15014]

This would be a great relief on Vista systems, as I can't stand the nagging reboot messages, only to find that upon reboot, the system boots to some non-functional state to continue installing updates, and then reboots (again).

In contrast, the only time Linux systems need a reboot is following a kernel upgrade, otherwise it the upgrades simply restart the affected services or modules.

[reyes89]

thats it im buying linux

[rapier1]

Well, that's not the only time you need a reboot in linux but close enough for government work.

[rljohnsn]

Wow. I am utterly unimpressed that this is considered an award winning idea. What was the runner up? A new kind of dust pan? I expect more from a respected university.

[Mindstrike]

I agree! ...on the other hand, how come it hasn't already been done?

[rapier1]

You two aren't software or systems developers are you?

[CtotheJ]

I'm a software developer, and I agree this is a pretty weak idea. I mean really, how many times a week do you install an update that requires you to reboot? If you so desperately need those 2-3 mins of your life back, you've got bigger problems.

Personally, all my updates are downloaded and installed at like 3am so I never even have to mess with them.

[rrod182]

Wow, that's the best MIT grads could come up with?

[Tod Smith]

Wow, that's the best MIT grads could come up with?

I wonder If it will work with Vista. I know that it won't work for GPU updates.

That's funny!

[Spanwite]

They should charge MS $5 for each copy of the OS from the last 2years!

Oh boy, at least this annoying rebooting is not more needed so often.
To bad, it will take 2more years until it is in the "main street"!

Yes, I ***** at MS, because I do not use anything else ;-)

[ribatejoluso]

@ all complaints..this is not about how dumb you are..this is about making life easier for millions of people by inventing something....yes, we know that Linux is "better" ..I use linux all the time..quit using windows a few years back and one of the reasons was the reboots ;) ..now I might use it again but of course not the vista fiasco