Zen and the Art of Taking Risks

Ready. Fire. Aim. Repeat.

That’s right — I said “Ready. Fire” — and then aim.  Then start over.

For those of you who’ve read a business management book in the past decade or so, this might not be a new concept. But for those who are just getting their sea-legs as a small business, it’s the kind of advice that can save your business, too.

What “Ready. Fire. Aim.” really signifies is the growing prominence of beta culture within many tech companies. Whether it’s marketing, sales, or development, our beta culture — and the risks we take with each new release — speed up things like research and development while ultimately making a release better.

If you’re developing a product or service, getting something together that people can see and try as soon as possible is the best thing you can do. If your product sucks, tell them not to bet their business on it yet. Be truthful and set expectations properly — but for goodness sake show them something!

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Supporting Open Source One Download at a Time

We’ve always been vocal about our support for open source software and the communities surrounding the movement. After all, we wouldn’t be around without Linux and the myriad of open source components that help us run our business. This isn’t a simple reaffirmation of the obvious here, we are true believers and we want to show it. Below are a couple of the open source initiatives we’ve been involved in the past few weeks, with even more to come!

In April, we decided to double down and become Silver members of the Linux Foundation. We did it for two key reasons.

First, our entire product line is is based on Linux, so we felt compelled to help ensure that the platform is sufficiently protected and represented in the growing tech world. Secondly, we believe that real innovation comes from a level playing field.

There is no fairer platform than Linux.

A little while later, we also became official sponsors of the CentOS.org. Our VPS, SuperVPS, and Solo Series all leverage the power, and flexibility of CentOS Linux and we’re proud to put our money where our mouth is. We’re also hosting a CentOS mirror on one of ServInt’s Solo Series Dedicated servers, so those interested can download our favorite distro!

Finally, ServInt’s COO, Christian Dawson, will be visiting LinuxCon 2010 in Boston this coming August. If you’re in town, don’t forget to say hi!

In the near future, we’ll be announcing even more open source initiatives so stay tuned!

Questions? Comments? Let us know below, on Facebook, or on Twitter!

Follow Eric Morales on Twitter.

Photo by sidereal.

The 5 Worst Products In Webhosting

I was talking to a colleague yesterday, and he used the word ‘bulletproof’ to describe the robustness of our services. I responded with “That word doesn’t mean what you think it means.” It got me thinking about buzzwords we use for hosting that sound good but aren’t. I’ve tried to crack the code on a few of those phrases below.

1) Bulletproof hosting

What the customer is meant to assume: “I don’t want my sites to go down no matter what happens. So I want them to be bulletproof, right?”

Cracking the code: The host is a haven for criminals. Are you one?

Want to SPAM, distribute warez, pirate Avatar, or stream child porn on your servers? Go nuts!

You can be as illegal as you want and they won’t pull the plug. They’ll hide from the authorities so you don’t have to!

The bottom line: A respectable business doesn’t want “bulletproof” hosting. Period.

2) Unlimited hosting

What the customer is meant to assume: ” I don’t want limits on my hosting! Who wants limits on their hosting? Of course I want my hosting to be unlimited!!111″

Cracking the code: I’ve made my feelings on Unlimited Hosting well known.

In the context of these providers, “Unlimited” really means “We’re not  going to tell you how well your systems are going to be able to scale, so good luck growing!” These providers bet on the majority of their users simply not using that many resources to compensate for those that do. But believe me, there’s a limit, a responsible provider will simply boot any abuser off their network if they start taking the term “unlimited” literally.

Contrast this with a provider like us who tells you precisely what you’re getting for your hard earn money and I think you’ll agree we have the better business model.

It’s a lazy, lying marketing game to call a hosting product unlimited and I am still disgusted that otherwise respectable hosts use it.

The bottom line: If you want to set yourself up for surprise failure, buy into the hype – go unlimited.

3) Cheap hosting

What the customer is meant to assume: “These guys are amazing! I’ve never heard of them but they say they can host my whole business and give me 100% uptime and rock solid support for a few bucks a month. Of course I want to save the money and get me some cheap hosting!”

Cracking the code: If it’s too good to be true, it is. We’ve been around for over 15 years, and we’ve seen more dead, failed, shuttered hosts than you can imagine.

Many of them were hot for a while before they up and died. Most lie about their infrastructure and experience to get you to pull the trigger.

Experience matters. Transparency matters too.

Learn about who you are trusting your business to, and figure out what you’re giving up when hunting for a bargain.

The bottom line: Going out of business is not cheap. Stay away from cheap hosting.

4) Free hosting

What the customer is meant to assume: “I get to put up anything I want and you won’t charge me anything? Where do I sign up? Of course I want free hosting!”

Cracking the code: Somebody else gets to make money off of the efforts you put in. Somebody else gets to exert control over you if they want to, whether you are doing something illegal or not. Somebody else is deciding what resources you need to grow. And they are getting a big cut of the fruits of your labor, which isn’t very ‘free’ at the end of the day.

Whether they are selling ads based on your content, or whether they are simply taking a cut of your revenue or of the traffic that you attract, that’s money you’re not getting. With a provider like ServInt, you know exactly what you’re getting.

The bottom line: TANSTAAFL. There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Know what you’re giving up to get a free resource. If you are popular in the least, I’ll bet it’s far more than what you could gain by taking control yourself.

5) Windows hosting

What the customer is meant to assume: “I’ll get the same level of usability, security, performance, and reliability that I get on my Windows desktop! Of course I want Windows hosting!”

Cracking the code: You’ll get the same level of usability, security, performance, and reliability that you get on your Windows desktop! Yikes!

The bottom line: Ok ok, that was mostly a joke. Windows hosting does indeed do some things really well.

But as a general rule, the infrastructure that supports the bulk of the Internet is Open Source and the vast majority of server related applications, and the innovation guiding them, is based on free and open software.

In general, steer clear of Windows hosting unless you absolutely need it for a specific technological reason.

Cracking the code,

Christian

Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments, on Twitter, or on our Facebook page!

Photo credits: amayu, Erica Marshall, ecastro, Lori Spindler, Justin Marty.

Simple Station, Mediacore, and the Engine Behind Indie Music for Haiti

We at Simple Station are really excited to have partnered with ServInt and Asparagus Media on the Indie Music for Haiti (IMFH) project. It was an great opportunity for us to help the cause in a way that fit a core principle of our business: design for social impact.

In the first team meeting, it was clear we wanted to be able to start dialog around music and videos. Not only was it important to us to be able to post music and allow users to comment, but users should also be able to submit their own music for consideration. In order for the best content to float to the top, users need to be able to rate content, and the number times each song was played had to be tracked as well. To manage all this data would require a robust administrative back-end that was still simple and painless to use, so Fritz and his team at Asparagus Media could manage the whole operation without any trouble..

We chose to base the whole project around the MediaCore Open Source Audio/Video CMS. We built MediaCore over the last year, and have been using it in production for a number of different client projects. It’s got a really sleek and very configurable presentation to the user and, for administrators, it is pretty much a dream management tool. It is built on top of Python and uses the TurboGears2 and Pylons frameworks for the heavy lifting. We deployed it on a CentOS, Apache and MySQL stack in just an hour. We did have to spend some time in customizing the platform to allow Youtube and Vimeo URL’s to be submitted, but that was something that we had been wanting to do for a while, so it fit right in with our development schedule. The really fun part was customizing the whole thing to fit the visual theme our team wanted to promote.

From a design perspective we wanted to keep things pretty simple and minimal, while allowing the words and the music to do the talking. We chose a raw, hand-drawn typeface for the official logo, and selected a palette based on earth-tones to convey the grassroots feeling we were looking for. You’ll notice photos from the kind folks at Voice for Haiti in the background, which we posterized and worked in gently. One thing we really wanted to avoid was screaming at users, or conveying really graphical pictures of the gravity of the situation in Haiti. While we didn’t want to make light of the situation, we also didn’t want to twist any arms in forcing donations by putting people in desperate need on display. The mission of the site should speak to the need for donations, people know what happened in Haiti, and we hope that the design conveys a sense of peace and unity in a way other sites perhaps are missing. Imagine the concept of a site for Indie artists whose music is inspiring people to donate to people in need. Innovative concepts like this one should inspire and illumine thought, not depress it.

The whole project was officially launched last week. ServInt generously has provided the hosting, their team has been great to work with, and I can’t say enough good things about Fritz and his team over at Asparagus Media. Fritz single-handedly worked his way through a lot of the content issues on the site, and when we caught a few legal issues, he reached out to a few of his contacts and managed to get some great legal advice pulled together for the Terms of Service for free at the last moment. Great job all round and a resounding applause for the Indie Music for Haiti team.

Interested in using MediaCore for your project?

MediaCore is free and open source under the GPLv3 license! Try the demo and download the complete source.

We are planning a major release (0.8) with a vastly improved frontend, more flexible file management and improved accessibility for disabled users. The release is planned for mid-April, and if you’re interested you can sign up for email release notifications.

If you are a developer or designer feel free to get in touch with us, and we’d be happy to work with you in getting MediaCore rolling for you.

We’re also looking for volunteers to contribute to the MediaCore Open Source project. We are looking for help with marketing, promotion, and development. If you are interested please email jobs@simplestation.com.

Stuart Bowness is the Founder, Creative Director, and Lead Interface Designer for Simple Station.

Part 5. Be Open

This is the final entry in a 5 part series: Big Picture Ideas for Small Businesses.

My previous post was on buzzwords, those groan-inducing terms that often do little more than spread hype without actually describing substance. The argument I tried to make was that buzzwords were, in some limited cases and when taken with extreme grains of salt, could actually be utilized as thermometers for how to craft a marketing message.

However, I know that doesn’t make them any less annoying. The irony of ending this series with a post on “openness” is not lost on me because as far as technology goes the concept is almost as cliché as the term “multimedia” was in the 90′s.

With that being said, being open truly is an incredible asset to any organization, and while it may not make sense in the literal concept for every business out there, it’s principles are universal and should be installed where possible.

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Open Source and Private Stewardship

On September 25th, CNet’s Matt Assay wrote a terrific post on his blog The Open Road entitled “Free software is dead. Long live open source.”

The crux of the post was that the particular brand of free software or FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) that is much-lauded by software partisans like Richard Stallman and Cory Doctorow is now irrelevant. Assay makes a distinction between FLOSS, meaning software that is free as in freedom and which incorporates no proprietary standards of any kind by default, and open source, meaning software that is usually free (as in beer) and that allows users to contribute to and derive from it, up to and including proprietary standards.

With open source, there is no reason to worry about standards strangling innovation because the community will simply code it’s way out of a corner. Information and software can be shared, and you can still make money.

The free software movement was born from a climate dominated by belligerent and aggressive software giants. Standards and software patents were created or acquired to hold developers hostage in exchange for exorbitant royalties.

Suing over patents became a business model in and of itself. It’s completely understandable why free software rose to prominence so quickly.

But a lot has changed in the past 15 years in the open source world. IBM, once Microsoft’s closest ally and creator of the OS/2 operating system, began an open embrace of…well…openness. Sun Microsystems open-sourced Solaris, laid the foundation for OpenOffice.org, and open-sourced Java.

Apple’s contributions to the Webkit project were immense in its adoption as the defacto mobile web browsing platform. Webkit powers MobileSafari on the iPhone and Google’s Android browser, cementing it as the platform to beat on mobile devices. On the desktop it powers Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome and is thus a key component of Google’s upcoming ChromeOS, a linux-based operating system that uses the Webkit browser as it’s main navigational tool.

The backbone of ServInt’s network was created using open source software and the vast majority of our server’s run CentOS, a Linux distribution derived from Red Hat Enterprise. We have included well over 50,000 lines of unique code that has better optimized and secured our products…a task that would have been considerably more difficult in a closed development environment.

Even Microsoft has approached the open source community with a level of engagement that would have seemed absurd just a few years ago. The famously closed source company even released Windows 7 as an incredibly generous open beta for nearly two years…unheard of even in most open source circles.

The point of Assay’s article, and I suppose the point of this one, is that these projects are open, but they are all stewarded by forward thinking tech companies, organizations, and individuals who seek to make a living. Revenue and profit are not the enemy of innovation, they are the reward for innovation.

Today, the biggest competitor in the software world is not Microsoft or Adobe or Google, it’s free software. The fact that we are competing with terrific no-cost solutions has forced everyone to be more creative and take productive risks.

So allow me…’Free software is dead. Long live open source!’

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Freeing Information Can Save Business On the Web

Most businesses have prices dictated by their resources. It’s the cornerstone of capitalism after all, turning raw materials into products to sell for a profit.

High value items, like gold and oil, have a relatively high cost in their raw form, so it complicates the final product and causes either thin margins or high prices in increasingly niche market segments. Either way, it makes running a business harder.

In hosting, general technology, and the web, we are primarily dealing with the trade of information, the value of which is entirely dictated by the ease of access to that information and the medium by which it’s delivered. An article in the New York Times is generally considered more valuable than a post on Myspace.

What happens when the source of information, the raw material of the web, is controlled or even throttled by a select few outlets? How does that affect your site or your product? How does it change your business model and marketing strategy?

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Friendly Competition – Thanks from ServInt

The past 24 hours have been really fascinating for us at ServInt, both as a hosting provider and as a citizen of the internet.

When Reed decided he wanted to comment on the recent outages at Rackspace, we were initially taken aback. Why would we say anything about a competitor at all? After all, Ford doesn’t ‘stand by’ GM. Apple doesn’t ‘stand by’ Microsoft.

Right?

We disagree.

Fundamentally, we wanted to get the point across that we supported Rackspace/Slicehost as colleagues and friendly competitors.  To use Reed’s great analogy, we were appalled by the sudden rush of opportunistic “vultures” smelling blood. They are bad for our business and for our industry.

Reed got a few paragraphs together, posted it on our blog, and things exploded. We saw a lot of support from Rackspace employees and Rackspace customers alike, and plenty of support from the twitterverse who understand how complex this technology can be. Like us at ServInt, many were impressed with the transparency and communication Rackspace displayed.

What this ordeal shows, however, is that a larger conversation has to happen about the industry as a whole.  Companies like ServInt and Rackspace who have been around for a while know how great it is to be surrounded by competitors that challenge you to be better.  To innovate.  To collaborate.  To create a marketplace that is, like many of our products, Open Source.

Now I don’t mean to sound coy, Rackspace is still a competitor and we feel that ServInt’s VPS and Dedicated Servers are the best, but they are friends and colleagues who have given a lot to our industry.

So, thank you to everyone who has stood with us in support of Rackspace, thanks to those of you who have learned about ServInt and visited our sites, and thanks to Rackspace for being one of the handful of companies out there with the guts to own their problem and prove they are one of the best.

Photo used and altered under Creative Commons license courtesy of Flickr user photofarmer.