Several years ago I did exactly what you are doing. I worked for several companies as a freelance web designer/developer. Here is what I learned:
1. Overestimate time demands. Use the 2x, 3x principle. For new projects figure out what you will need in terms of material resources. Break down projects into subparts and estimate the time it will take. For technology and projects you are familiar with double your time estimate. For new technology you are less familiar with triple the time estimate. If the learning curve is very steep use 4x estimate (avoid this).
2. Use a contract with your client based on 1 third up front, 2 thirds midway, and final payment on shipment of product. Specify this in writing and get it signed by their billing department. If they won't agree then consider another project to work on.
3. Consider your billing and internal planning such as flow charts for projects just as important as doing the actual work. A lot of new freelancers fail to do this and get burned.
4. If you use artists work or do your own graphics use sign off contracts to get your client's approval that the final design is acceptable. Most clients will at this point say, "It needs to be approved by marketing...," or something similar to this. This step can save you from redoing this endlessly for free.
5. Be assertive about following the above suggestions. Part of running your own business is sticking up for your rights. If you don't others will take advantage of you.
That is funny you went out and bought the new version. I did a similar thing with the eee 701. It was too small to view and type on. The eee 1000 was just right. Nice battery life too.
It is not the bizarre distros. It is the UI and applications. Take me, for example, I have the eee 1000 and I kept Windows XP on it even though I knew I was going to put on Ubuntu netbook remix. I'm glad I preserved the dual boot since I needed the Borland SQL database and I had the Windows installer. Without XP I would have been in trouble. A family member wanted to get me Rosettastone software since I wanted to learn a new language. It might work under Wine but it is doubtful since it is heavy in multimedia. I try to do most of my work in Linux but there are always these Windows specific applications I need. The same goes for people returning the netbooks with Linux. They are confused that they cannot buy TurboTax and install it easily. TurboTax sort of works under Wine but it has networking issues with filing electronically. It always comes back to the applications for consumers. They want what they want without having to relearn a new way to do it. Windows becomes the easy route for casual users.
I used to use Fedora 9 with Flash 9 and it crashed all the time. I tried several fixes including the beta 10 Flash plugin but Firefox crashes about 50% playing youtube video. Interestingly, I have another box with Ubuntu 8.04 and Flash plays perfectly on it with video. I did some research on Flash and Pulseaudio and saw that Ubuntu was directing sound from the Flash plugin to Alsa instead of pulseaudio server. There are different configurations which make the Flash plugin more stable. Disabling pulseaudio and routing audio through Alsa should improve the Flash plugin stability.
I always remember Windows NT4 transitioning into Windows 2K. This was the first time I felt like a version of Windows actually worked. I only had to reinstall it once a year to clean up the crud. It most of the time shut down when I asked it to. It for the most part let me run my programs without blue screening. I think others would agree with me it was a high point Windows 2K. I would also bet a lot of people are still using it over XP.
I work in a hospital as a mental health counselor and these studies are kind of old news. I usually suggest to the psychiatrist and client that if the depression is mild or moderate that they instead consider individual therapy plus an exercise regimen. For severely depressed clients though there can be a benefit when two antidepressants are combined, such as Celexa with Remeron. If that doesn't work then the hospital pulls out the heavy guns and electroconvulsive therapy (shock) is suggested. ECT has a success rate of 80% but it has the side effect of temporary memory loss.
Here's what I do with it. I lug it with me to a hospital I have an internship with since they won't give me a PC. I then bring it to school and connect to the campus wifi at UMass Boston so I can finish research projects. I plug in a wireless mouse and do a lot of typing on it. When I get home I plug in a 19 inch monitor to the VGA output and connect to the home wireless network. It is amazed me it first powered all my USB external drives, printer, scanner, etc. You have to get used to typing with your hands very close since the keyboard is very small. For lots of typing I plug in a USB keyboard at home.
I also did a little hacking on the system and altered the tabbed UI and placed my favorite applications on the favorites tab. I debated whether to install Xubuntu but since the tabbed UI mostly does want I want I kept it. I took a screenshot of this small mod: http://markbokil.org/images/eee/eee-favorites.png
I don't see the hate for Vista either. I helped set my father's PC up with Vista. He couldn't get his old HP scanner to work and he had a drafting inkjet printer that wouldn't work either. We contacted the manufacturer via email and their tech support said no Vista drivers were available for the devices. That right there is the main problem for a lot of people using Vista. Things that used to work are now broken. It is a frustrating upgrade that feels like a downgrade, except for the cool Aero eye candy. But, eye candy alone is not worth it for the money we shelled out.
I dislike that walled garden also. I bought the Asus eee pc instead and use Skype on it, surf the web via wifi, edit photos using the gimp, and install new applications using apt-get. What more could you ask for but maybe a bigger 7 inch screen? That is why people love the eee so much. It is fun to hack. You can edit the GUI, add any Linux application you want. I always remember Apple and their one button stance - placing form above function at the disservice of their users. They truly are a boutique hardware/software dealer selling pricey little closed model tools.
I like the fact that Fedora is an upgrade treadmill. If you want new applications like pulseaudio and the latest Gnome then you know you will get this with Fedora. You can't have both time tested stability plus the latest and greatest since stability takes time. But, Fedora with version 8 did a lot of good testing and fixed major bugs users reported before releasing it. Version 8 works great for me. The sound server is excellent and yum is fast and easy to use now. The GUI work they did with themes makes Fedora 8 look better than Ubuntu. There is a reason Fedora 8 is getting a lot of press: it is an excellent release.
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Several years ago I did exactly what you are doing. I worked for several companies as a freelance web designer/developer. Here is what I learned: 1. Overestimate time demands. Use the 2x, 3x principle. For new projects figure out what you will need in terms of material resources. Break down projects into subparts and estimate the time it will take. For technology and projects you are familiar with double your time estimate. For new technology you are less familiar with triple the time estimate. If the learning curve is very steep use 4x estimate (avoid this). 2. Use a contract with your client based on 1 third up front, 2 thirds midway, and final payment on shipment of product. Specify this in writing and get it signed by their billing department. If they won't agree then consider another project to work on. 3. Consider your billing and internal planning such as flow charts for projects just as important as doing the actual work. A lot of new freelancers fail to do this and get burned. 4. If you use artists work or do your own graphics use sign off contracts to get your client's approval that the final design is acceptable. Most clients will at this point say, "It needs to be approved by marketing...," or something similar to this. This step can save you from redoing this endlessly for free. 5. Be assertive about following the above suggestions. Part of running your own business is sticking up for your rights. If you don't others will take advantage of you.
That is funny you went out and bought the new version. I did a similar thing with the eee 701. It was too small to view and type on. The eee 1000 was just right. Nice battery life too.
It is not the bizarre distros. It is the UI and applications. Take me, for example, I have the eee 1000 and I kept Windows XP on it even though I knew I was going to put on Ubuntu netbook remix. I'm glad I preserved the dual boot since I needed the Borland SQL database and I had the Windows installer. Without XP I would have been in trouble. A family member wanted to get me Rosettastone software since I wanted to learn a new language. It might work under Wine but it is doubtful since it is heavy in multimedia. I try to do most of my work in Linux but there are always these Windows specific applications I need. The same goes for people returning the netbooks with Linux. They are confused that they cannot buy TurboTax and install it easily. TurboTax sort of works under Wine but it has networking issues with filing electronically. It always comes back to the applications for consumers. They want what they want without having to relearn a new way to do it. Windows becomes the easy route for casual users.
I used to use Fedora 9 with Flash 9 and it crashed all the time. I tried several fixes including the beta 10 Flash plugin but Firefox crashes about 50% playing youtube video. Interestingly, I have another box with Ubuntu 8.04 and Flash plays perfectly on it with video. I did some research on Flash and Pulseaudio and saw that Ubuntu was directing sound from the Flash plugin to Alsa instead of pulseaudio server. There are different configurations which make the Flash plugin more stable. Disabling pulseaudio and routing audio through Alsa should improve the Flash plugin stability.
I always remember Windows NT4 transitioning into Windows 2K. This was the first time I felt like a version of Windows actually worked. I only had to reinstall it once a year to clean up the crud. It most of the time shut down when I asked it to. It for the most part let me run my programs without blue screening. I think others would agree with me it was a high point Windows 2K. I would also bet a lot of people are still using it over XP.
I work in a hospital as a mental health counselor and these studies are kind of old news. I usually suggest to the psychiatrist and client that if the depression is mild or moderate that they instead consider individual therapy plus an exercise regimen. For severely depressed clients though there can be a benefit when two antidepressants are combined, such as Celexa with Remeron. If that doesn't work then the hospital pulls out the heavy guns and electroconvulsive therapy (shock) is suggested. ECT has a success rate of 80% but it has the side effect of temporary memory loss.
Here's what I do with it. I lug it with me to a hospital I have an internship with since they won't give me a PC. I then bring it to school and connect to the campus wifi at UMass Boston so I can finish research projects. I plug in a wireless mouse and do a lot of typing on it. When I get home I plug in a 19 inch monitor to the VGA output and connect to the home wireless network. It is amazed me it first powered all my USB external drives, printer, scanner, etc. You have to get used to typing with your hands very close since the keyboard is very small. For lots of typing I plug in a USB keyboard at home.
I also did a little hacking on the system and altered the tabbed UI and placed my favorite applications on the favorites tab. I debated whether to install Xubuntu but since the tabbed UI mostly does want I want I kept it. I took a screenshot of this small mod: http://markbokil.org/images/eee/eee-favorites.png
I don't see the hate for Vista either. I helped set my father's PC up with Vista. He couldn't get his old HP scanner to work and he had a drafting inkjet printer that wouldn't work either. We contacted the manufacturer via email and their tech support said no Vista drivers were available for the devices. That right there is the main problem for a lot of people using Vista. Things that used to work are now broken. It is a frustrating upgrade that feels like a downgrade, except for the cool Aero eye candy. But, eye candy alone is not worth it for the money we shelled out.
I dislike that walled garden also. I bought the Asus eee pc instead and use Skype on it, surf the web via wifi, edit photos using the gimp, and install new applications using apt-get. What more could you ask for but maybe a bigger 7 inch screen? That is why people love the eee so much. It is fun to hack. You can edit the GUI, add any Linux application you want. I always remember Apple and their one button stance - placing form above function at the disservice of their users. They truly are a boutique hardware/software dealer selling pricey little closed model tools.
The new 3D effects cause reliability problems and do only a little bit more than nothing for usability. Damn, having a bad hair day today? ;-)
I like the fact that Fedora is an upgrade treadmill. If you want new applications like pulseaudio and the latest Gnome then you know you will get this with Fedora. You can't have both time tested stability plus the latest and greatest since stability takes time. But, Fedora with version 8 did a lot of good testing and fixed major bugs users reported before releasing it. Version 8 works great for me. The sound server is excellent and yum is fast and easy to use now. The GUI work they did with themes makes Fedora 8 look better than Ubuntu. There is a reason Fedora 8 is getting a lot of press: it is an excellent release.