Re: [cobalt-users] What to do? and what I have

[Jeff Lasman <blists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wednesday 05 May 2004 08:40 am, Zeffie wrote:

> When I woke up yesterday for some reason I couldn't help but feel it
> was time to just "throw in the towel" on the idea of there ever being
> a "cobalt users group" of people that work together to build a better
> server...  and instead to just be commercial like almost everyone
> here...

Zeffie, we've had this discussion before.  There's no shame in earning a 
living.  Let's presume for a moment that your customers are selling 
webhosting.  You're selling support to your customers.  Surely they can 
use some of that money they can get to buy products and support from 
you.

I've been using that model for years, and yes, it works.

Give away whatever you want to give away.

Sell whatever you want to sell.

And don't apologize for needing to make a living; we're almost all in 
that boat with you.

> My Programmer (That kid from aol which many of you laughed at) is
> working on a family.

Good for him.

> I have current apache, 'apache-ssl', mod-ssl, imap, (replaces qpopper
> too) bind 9, /usr/bin/perl (5.8)...  an updated glibc...  I have
> hundreds of rpms for raq2, raq3 (raq3 sucks) raq4, xtr, qube3, 550
> and even some really old stuff...  I've been building it all for
> years and I have been planning on doing something...

Either sell it or give it away, or a combination of both.

Perhaps a combination?

> I have the following domains...
>
> I was thinking this would be the main home
> http://www.cobaltupdates.com/
> I was thinking this could be a Bluelinq for 550 and maybe the XTR and
> QUBE3 http://www.cobaltbluelinq.com/
> and for the user group to go with it
> http://www.cobaltuserslist.com/

I've already seen three versions of "cobalt" and "user", none of which 
registered by me, so you're in good company <smile>.

> and I have a server and bandwidth ready to go with good speed....

But according to traceroute, it's cogent bandwidth, so some people would 
argue with how good it is or will be.

For example, when I do a traceroute to your ecio.net domain as long as 
the path stays on sbc (my local DSL provider at my home office) the 
round-trip times are in the well under 50 ms area, but the first hope 
to cogent (before it even starts crossing the cogent network, still in 
Los Angeles), all of a sudden it's at 235 ms <frown>.

> I honestly I get the feeling that if I don't build it nobody will. 

The community will always get what it's willing to work for.

> with the other work I have seen over the years it will do a better
> job of removing the money from your pocket then giving you a good
> product.  I was planning on making this free but at this time I don't
> know...  The last build was hard on the Zeffie body... and my
> employee needs a good job he can raise a family on...

If you have no other business than this, then you need to create a 
cashflow from this business.  There's no other choice.  Except welfare, 
and even California doesn't do that much anymore.

> This is pushing my decissions here and so Comments are Welcome...

Turn your business into a business.  If you want some ideas contact me 
offlist.  Really.  I do believe in helping the community.

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman, nobaloney.net, P. O. Box 52672, Riverside, CA  92517 US
Professional Internet Services & Support / Consulting / Colocation
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