My computer packed up again, thanks to continous fluctuation of my PC. Windows OS can not take so many restarts it seems. 

With two UPS’s back-to-back, I only wonder how people without UPS’s can think of doing business online; yes, UPS was and is a requirement, a cost that must be incurred. Still, I got to the stage of fluctuations taking out my main PC. 

But one thing very interesting happened:

I have been using Google Apps for most of my documentation work, most of my pictures were either uploaded to Picasa, Facebook, Flickr. A blue-screened PC sets me back a few weeks at least, but it seems, not this time around. 

Thanks to putting a lot more online, using dependable companies like Google and Mosso to manage my data, the transition has been less painful. 

Yes, there is this bitch problem of installing a total of 23 programs or so that I have a list for (note, I have had to install them quite a few times in the last couple of months!). Being clever, I installed Adobe apps like Photoshop on a separate partition.

Not so clever after all.

When I reinstalled WinXP SP3, I saw the data along with the Program Files folder lying calmly in the other partition. Happy I was. Only to find out that Photoshop is not running; it opens but is not entertaining my requests to open a single file even. 

I tried to re-install Adobe Creative suite, but got the following error:

The application failed to initialize properly - (0xc0000006)

I am getting fond of sqaure one, it is so empty and cold and nice. Akkhh. :@

Why would you want to learn Linux?

What is Linux anyways? I am not going to get into a history lesson here, but Linux is an operating system, just like Windows is an operating system.

Windows is the world’s most popular operating system, ensuring that Microsoft and Bill Gates remain wealthy. Nothing wrong with that, of course. Linux on the other hand, is the eternal underdog. It is the fastest growing operating sytem in the world, and there is a reason for that; there are not many OS’s around to begin with.

But Linux has definitely come a long, hard way. And as I start to get comfortable in a call center that employs an opensource (I am a die-hard fan of opensource) solution that is invariably based on a Linux server, I have reconsidered some of my decisions. One of that was to ‘go easy on the tech bit’ for a while.

On Linux’s main website, it is stated that,

…Linux opens up a whole new world of computing. This means that a Linux user is not just a passive subject reacting to what the OS allows him/her to do but he/she is an active “developer” with complete control over the operating system.

I did not and do not want control when it comes to computers, I want consistency. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a business demand. But I will let myself loose so-to-speak, and explore. It is still not ‘control’ that I am interested in, it is more to do with, ‘what is so different about linux anyways?’ that I want an answer to. For myself.

It will be a sight to behold, I am told.

I already pay through my nose for the Mosso master hosting account (USD 100 per month) that I use as a part of package deals for my website and blogging clients. I decided to check out Bluehost not because I wanted to change my host, but in an effort to get more information so I can present more options to my clients (current and prospective). I was looking to sign up for their affiliate program (I eventually did).

One oddity that I found while signing up for the affiliate program was that although the account will be sold for USD 6.95 per month, the affiliate on making a sale would get somewhere in the range of 8 to 9 times more. What the? And then I read that they have one of the best affiliate programs on the web! No shit! You pay 6.95 to Bluehost through me, and I get 9 times more than that? I was obviously missing something here, so I opened up thier live sales chat window, and the conversation went something like this:

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All marketers are liars.

Well not really. Even an average marketer will never lie. Why? Because it is bad for business, that is why. So what do they do? They bend the truth. Put another way, they present the truth in digestible forms. I also believe that is the best way forward; to present the truth and nothing but, in a way that helps you sell your client’s (or your own) stuff.

The below-average marketer

The below average marketer will bend the truth in a way that borders towards a lie. That is easily catch-able.

Somewhere in the middle are these folks:

List of top blog hosts, really? (click to enlarge)

Now, they have a list of top blog hosts, with the number one offering everything unlimited for USD 3.88 per month. That not just cheap, that’s cheap cheap, three times over. So the best blog host will set you back a measly 3.88 per month. Nice, right? Well, in the text of the above screenshot-ed table, they say, and I quote:

Note from the Editor: The Blog Hosting plans displayed are rated by the best value for the price. Overall value is determined by price, uptime reliability, quality of customer service, and user feedback found on forums.

I have bold-ed the ‘overall value’ bit, because that is where the straight out lie (of the list being the Top Blog Hosts) becomes a bended truth (only if you are considering the price).

The point where truth doesn’t bend but breaks into a lie

Now, anyone who has a pusle will tell you that the one offering the lowest price in many cases, is not the best option. I have been in web hosting and design for almost a decade (I actually feel old in this), and I can say without flexing a muscle, that in web hosting specially, cheap means bad. If you are a techie or a web developer, you can get raw storage for as low as USD 0.5 per month, thanks to cloud computing/hosting services from the likes of Amazon and Mosso. But that is not what web hosting is, it is not raw space. It involves highly crucial variables like:

• Bandwidth
• Uptime
• The all-too-important after-sales customer service
• the features on offer as compared to your requirements

And that is just for starters. A good host will not necessarily cost you that much (anywhere between USD 6 to USD 35 per month flat), but any list of good hosts has to take into account at leas tthe above four variables. If someone says, ‘here is the list of the cheapest blog hosts’, then that is fine. But it does not have the same punch as ‘list of the best blog hosts’, now does it?

How many of us bend the truth that actually gets broken into a lie? Not only in business but in daily life? Something to watch out for, for sure.

Blogging for a living is nothing new and a lot of people are doing it full time to support themselves and their families. Some bloggers do make it big. And It is nothing different than writing for a living. Whosoever have tried to make a living as a writer will vouch for the fact that it is not at all easy. Same goes for blogging.

The media for writing and blogging are sometimes worlds apart. But they are essentially connected being the creative expression that they both use. If one can find success in, say, writing for print, then that person has a higher chance of finding glory (and money) in blogging as well. Why? Well, because whosoever is proactive enough to make writing work for him or her, can do the same for blogging as well.

This brings me to the point that being proactive is essential. Taking action is what separates the ones that made it from the ones that ‘had a good run’. Take action, step back and evaluate, adjust and take action again. Rinse and repeat. Heck, just repeat.

Some resources (read: inspiration) from the bloggers who made it (read: are loaded! )

• Rich Bloggers - a cool post by Darren of Problogger
• Can Bloggers strike it rich? A simple look at the money in blogging by Wired Magazine

Are you a person who would like to earn money with blogging? Do you blog at all? Let me know in the comments section

As I write this, a small focused company is being born that caters to the blogging needs of to-be-bloggers and writers. Offering highly robust and reliable hosting combined with some nifty design services, the service will be officially launched on the first of December, God willing. For the unravelling of Levi’s of the Blogging gold-rush, subscribe.

Given my recent project on call centers, I was keen on learning more about the offerings of different bandwidth and data providers in Pakistan, especially in Lahore.

The experience is turning out to be both refreshing and saddening.

First the sad bit.

Wateen, the ‘data provider’ sister concern of Warid Telecom was the first to hold my attention. Long story short, they are the only one, it seems, that provide hosted dialer services for call centers in Pakistan. They suggested to get a solution that costed a sizeable 1.8 Million rupees or so. After gagging for a while and almost dropping my cup of tea, the provider was changed from Wateen to Cyber Net, with a total cost reduced from 1.8 Million, to oh say, 80 thousand rupees. Well, what about the remaining 1.72 Million rupees that Wateen suggested we spend on just getting hosted dialer services up and running? Well, the major cost was laying fibre optic cable for an odd 3 kms or so. Undergound laying of cable is surely a major cost. Wateen and their over-enthusiastic sales personal were not keen on letting my client/friend know that there are other options. That is the sad bit.

The refreshing part is in the above paragraph of course, that had I not been on the project, an expenditure of 1.7 million rupees would have made, purely because the decision maker does not know IT at all, and he is in a hurry. Who says that consultants are paid too much, just look at the cost savings. It suddenly doesn’t seem like rocket science, now does it?

An inspiration for sure. A not-so-regular guy, still a teenager, is making more than you - you being anyone working for someone else. All of it through writing about what he likes. Welcome to blogging, friends. 

Check out the exceptionally simple, hence successful blog at http://sizlopedia.com/ 

If you are even remotely interested in the world of tech and the Internet, you will find the blog very useful.

This post relates to one of my enterprises that offers getting-online solutions for  Small businesses worldwide.

Google is a remarkable company. When I decided to include Google Apps setup in the small business email package that I am in the process of selling, I had a few things in mind:

• remarkable companies do not only make great products. They also keep improving them.
• the improvements of remarkable products is based largly on user feedback. In fact, it is this user-centeredness that makes any product (or company) truly remarkable.
• the reason the product is put out in the marketplace is to make money, no doubt, but truly remarkable companies (and their products) tend to focus more on servicing their customers to the best of their understanding and ability. The profits are rightly considered to be a function of their service. The company does not service them to make a profit, it seems, but it makes a profit because it serves the market so bloody well.

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Google Apps happen to be one of the two main products that I intend to wrap into one online account, God be willing.

Here is a great primer for the Google Apps and a very brief introduction to the flexibility and convenience of using Google Apps, including the all-too-famous Gmail (on your domain name e.g. user@youdomain.com rather than user@gmail.com etc).

An Intro to Google Apps