[om-list] Re: How to make an expert system

[Mark Butler]

Tom,

I think a structured knowledge management package would be an excellent product.  The current competition is primarily document based.  Linking to documents is a great idea, but the core knowledge is much more useful if captured into a model, especially when you get into the field of design automation and verification in any engineering related field.

There is a saying in engineering that goes like this:

   Good, Fast, Cheap: Pick Two

You can switch the attributes around, but in general the idea is that engineering is all about tradeoffs.  You can make a niche product relatively quickly, but anything truly comprehensive tends to take years to develop, for example.  Ideally, one chooses a framework that allows a focused solution to evolve into something of general utility over time.

I suggest you find the narrowest possible market to start with - general purpose databases and natural language translation are *much* too broad to begin with.

- Mark