If you are just starting out, the way to go would be to get a dedicated server with hosting management software such as cPanel/WHM, preferrably from a company that will provide some management for you as well. There is also the 'reseller account' approach but for a variety of reasons I don't really recommend it (e.g. there are more potential and real problems which are outside of your control, and it becomes harder to do your support, among other things). If you aren't really prepared to make the $160-500/month investment for a decent server with some management, you might be better off pursuing a different opportunity.
Warning: You need to differentiate yourself somehow. This is a highly competitive market.
<plug type="shameless">We provide managed servers for a number of hosting companies. You worry about the billing and supporting your customers, we'll worry about your server and supporting you.</plug>
We have several customers who have dedicated servers with us where one of their deciding factors in choosing us was that we can offer them service out of our Vancouver data centre.
In some cases this is not just a 'nice to have' feature. For some customers, putting their data in the US would be illegal - the patriot act is not compatible with our privacy laws.
Is your failure rate high enough that a 30% premium is really worth it? It seems like it would be cheaper just to buy extra computers. Don't have to wait for the spare parts to come in either, they are just sitting there ready to go.
Many of the same ISPs which are complaining about the high costs of bandwidth are the same ISPs that balk at settlement free peering. Can't have it both ways. Either have an open peering policy or expect bandwidth costs to rise.
I _greatly_ prefer doing web apps. Great things about web apps:
No mucking around with ugly GUI code
Easy to use: the interface limitations can be a good thing sometimes
Easy to deploy
Cross platform support, if you are careful, comes for free
Security: less data stored on often compromised desktop systems
Perhaps it has to do with familiarity, but from my perspective, doing desktop applications (especially by the time you deal with all the extra support & deployment issues) is a real pain.
However, I will say that many people I work with do not share my enthusiasm for web apps. There is a huge technology stack to learn when you need to deal with the chain of technologies involved from the server to the desktop. All the quirks of different browsers take some getting used to, and it requires a different mindset. It also requires you hold the belief that a website can be an application, which, amazingly, many still do not have.
With all that said, there are still some things which are more suitably done as desktop applications. I think as things advance that list gets shorter and shorter.
Get in touch with us at http://www.omegasphere.net/. We'd be happy to find something suitable to your needs and budget. In your case we could get you set up with colocation or give you root on hardware that we deal with for you.
We have extremely low client churn -- we make a point of treating every customer well and providing them with excellent support.
My company (OmegaSphere Inc.) and many others do this kind of thing on a regular basis, and will help you do so for you for a reasonable fee.
There are lots of tricks on either side to negotiating the best possible price, and having a third party involved can be helpful in many circumstances. In addition it can be helpful so that an escrow process can happen if the parties involved do not have an existing and trusting relationship.
Furthermore, you get to take advantage of your broker's real world experience. There are the official registry processes and then there is what actually happens. Some registrars are much easier to work with than others. If you get a broker that either is a registrar or has a solid relationship with one then they can work out all the fiddly details of the transfer itself on your behalf.
I too have been evaluating issue tracking systems recently. I'm wondering if people know of a system that supports replication between two different sites. Consider the use case of an ISP's customer support system for an ISP that has more than one site. If the site that hosts the tracking system is down, customers should still be able to file tickets. When the a site comes back online, changes should be synchronized. Anyone seen a system that does this?
Ideally it would also be integrable with other CRM type stuff.
I see no advantage. Even if you have a perfectly valid copy of windows, there are really two possible outcomes: 1. System works fine, and your copy of windows keeps working just as before. No added benefits. 2. System stops working due to problem with WGA.
Given that there is no benefit and the possibility of a downside, I fail to see why you would choose to install or use such a technology if you know about it. It is a move with only a negative expected value.
Which makes calling a cellphone very expensive. Its a lot harder to get competitive pressure bringing prices down when the only negotiation happening is at the carrier interchange level.
Try and see how much the problem can be broken down. Chances are, it is possible for you to release more functionality over time, and get something out the door soon. There is probably something you could do that would get you ROI pretty much tomorrow.
Fortunately you are almost 40 and won't have to be wondering in suspense for too long, but you can start saying your goodbyes to your friends and neighbours. Just tell them your going on a trip and you don't know exactly when you'll be back. We don't want to attract too much attention to our operations. At the stroke of midnight, we'll be dropping by. You can bring a couple boxes with you if you like, though you'll be well provided for even if you don't.
First they "lose" their employees (what, you can't find them?). Then they "let them go" (as if they wanted to). Now they "release" them (from what, a prison cell?). The euphemisms just keep getting better!
While I realize that the machines are supposedly low-output, to me it just seems like one more source of ionizing radition that is really about the last thing people need these days...
I suspect the biggest concern publishers would have is that by doing this, Google is making the public domain far more accessible on a wider scale. People will start to see why it is useful.
Furthermore, some publishers depend on selling public domain works as a large portion of their product line.
*Some* CAs. Please don't paint us all with the same brush - the certificates our company issues include legal corporate name and physical address, in addition to CN.
Slashdot Mirror
If you are just starting out, the way to go would be to get a dedicated server with hosting management software such as cPanel/WHM, preferrably from a company that will provide some management for you as well. There is also the 'reseller account' approach but for a variety of reasons I don't really recommend it (e.g. there are more potential and real problems which are outside of your control, and it becomes harder to do your support, among other things). If you aren't really prepared to make the $160-500/month investment for a decent server with some management, you might be better off pursuing a different opportunity.
Warning: You need to differentiate yourself somehow. This is a highly competitive market.
<plug type="shameless">We provide managed servers for a number of hosting companies. You worry about the billing and supporting your customers, we'll worry about your server and supporting you.</plug>
First hand experience this is true:
We have several customers who have dedicated servers with us where one of their deciding factors in choosing us was that we can offer them service out of our Vancouver data centre.
In some cases this is not just a 'nice to have' feature. For some customers, putting their data in the US would be illegal - the patriot act is not compatible with our privacy laws.
There is actually an option to change that in your profile settings. I think they were forced to add it by the card associations.
Is your failure rate high enough that a 30% premium is really worth it? It seems like it would be cheaper just to buy extra computers. Don't have to wait for the spare parts to come in either, they are just sitting there ready to go.
Many of the same ISPs which are complaining about the high costs of bandwidth are the same ISPs that balk at settlement free peering. Can't have it both ways. Either have an open peering policy or expect bandwidth costs to rise.
Perhaps it has to do with familiarity, but from my perspective, doing desktop applications (especially by the time you deal with all the extra support & deployment issues) is a real pain.
However, I will say that many people I work with do not share my enthusiasm for web apps. There is a huge technology stack to learn when you need to deal with the chain of technologies involved from the server to the desktop. All the quirks of different browsers take some getting used to, and it requires a different mindset. It also requires you hold the belief that a website can be an application, which, amazingly, many still do not have.
With all that said, there are still some things which are more suitably done as desktop applications. I think as things advance that list gets shorter and shorter.
Get in touch with us at http://www.omegasphere.net/. We'd be happy to find something suitable to your needs and budget. In your case we could get you set up with colocation or give you root on hardware that we deal with for you.
We have extremely low client churn -- we make a point of treating every customer well and providing them with excellent support.
"but isn't this a tad close to starting a harmful rumor? People are stupid, and nVidia is a publicly traded company."
So a better plan would be to start a harmful rumour against a small private company that is struggling?
My company (OmegaSphere Inc.) and many others do this kind of thing on a regular basis, and will help you do so for you for a reasonable fee.
There are lots of tricks on either side to negotiating the best possible price, and having a third party involved can be helpful in many circumstances. In addition it can be helpful so that an escrow process can happen if the parties involved do not have an existing and trusting relationship.
Furthermore, you get to take advantage of your broker's real world experience. There are the official registry processes and then there is what actually happens. Some registrars are much easier to work with than others. If you get a broker that either is a registrar or has a solid relationship with one then they can work out all the fiddly details of the transfer itself on your behalf.
I too have been evaluating issue tracking systems recently. I'm wondering if people know of a system that supports replication between two different sites. Consider the use case of an ISP's customer support system for an ISP that has more than one site. If the site that hosts the tracking system is down, customers should still be able to file tickets. When the a site comes back online, changes should be synchronized. Anyone seen a system that does this?
Ideally it would also be integrable with other CRM type stuff.
This is satire, right? Right? Please say its satire.
I see no advantage. Even if you have a perfectly valid copy of windows, there are really two possible outcomes:
1. System works fine, and your copy of windows keeps working just as before. No added benefits.
2. System stops working due to problem with WGA.
Given that there is no benefit and the possibility of a downside, I fail to see why you would choose to install or use such a technology if you know about it. It is a move with only a negative expected value.
Which makes calling a cellphone very expensive. Its a lot harder to get competitive pressure bringing prices down when the only negotiation happening is at the carrier interchange level.
Try and see how much the problem can be broken down. Chances are, it is possible for you to release more functionality over time, and get something out the door soon. There is probably something you could do that would get you ROI pretty much tomorrow.
Fortunately you are almost 40 and won't have to be wondering in suspense for too long, but you can start saying your goodbyes to your friends and neighbours. Just tell them your going on a trip and you don't know exactly when you'll be back. We don't want to attract too much attention to our operations. At the stroke of midnight, we'll be dropping by. You can bring a couple boxes with you if you like, though you'll be well provided for even if you don't.
First they "lose" their employees (what, you can't find them?). Then they "let them go" (as if they wanted to). Now they "release" them (from what, a prison cell?). The euphemisms just keep getting better!
The point of the number on the back of the card is that it is not on the magstripe, and thus does not get automatically captured as easily.
Incidentally, I believe it is in fact merely some kind of transform of the card number and perhaps also the expiration date.
While I realize that the machines are supposedly low-output, to me it just seems like one more source of ionizing radition that is really about the last thing people need these days...
I suspect the biggest concern publishers would have is that by doing this, Google is making the public domain far more accessible on a wider scale. People will start to see why it is useful.
Furthermore, some publishers depend on selling public domain works as a large portion of their product line.
They fixed their opera support. It works now.
I'm not in any way associated with them other than as a satisfied customer, but check out Overnight Prints. Great prices and phenomenal quality.
Even simpler: "I did not print it from a web page".
1) Bandwidth is cheap in bulk. Really really cheap. So even if it uses 300% the current offering, it may not matter.
2) A 10% revenue premium could quite easily lead to double the profits in many businesses...
Yeah really. Its the only city I've been to where I had to close the curtains to sleep because night had come, and the city had gotten brighter.
*Some* CAs. Please don't paint us all with the same brush - the certificates our company issues include legal corporate name and physical address, in addition to CN.