Pounces on banking passwords
One of the world's nastiest password-stealing trojans evades detection by the majority PCs running anti-virus programs, according to a study that examined 10,000 machines.…
"Friday, September 18, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
Adventures in Forming My LLC
When I started Sublime Computer Services in 2008 I wanted to be an LLC but I had no idea how to form the company. So I contacted a lawyer that I know who forms corporations for a living. I asked him if I needed his services to form the corporation. (Shame on me) He told me to come by the office and we could discuss what needed to be done. I did. In the back of mind I wondered how much this was costing me. We had a 30 minute meeting 15 minutes about kids and life and 15 minutes about the corporation. He told me that he would write up the paperwork but he would not file the paperwork for me and that would run me $1400 plus the filing fees. I told him “Wow.” I would have to get back to him. A couple of days later I was doing some more research on the topic and I wanted to make sure that my personal finances were separated from my business finances. I emailed the lawyer that I spoke to earlier and asked him should I wait to open a checking account until we have filed the LLC paperwork. I also told him I was not ready to file yet. (still didn’t have the $1400) He did not just reply back with a yes or no. He replied back with a “no” and an entire paragraph of legal jargon……. I knew it was coming……. The Bill.
I received a bill for $359 of legal services. I “assumed” one didn’t have to pay for services until they were rendered. Talking about working together really means billable hours for lawyers. I promptly paid the lawyer (what choice did I have) and told him that we are no longer doing business in any form or fashion he was out of my price range.
I didn’t give up there. I continued my research. I found http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/osbr/ You can go to the website and create your company and file your paperwork all for $300.
Now I was very confused. Why in the world would it cost $300 to file the paperwork that was going to cost me $1400+ from the corporate lawyer? In my experience when things are too good to be true they usually are. I marched myself downtown to hear it from the Secretary of State. They told me fill out my paperwork and write them a check for $300. In the afternoon I had my paperwork. They told me that I could have filled out the site online and formed the LLC. I have since checked out Tennessee Anytime and it is great.
Unfortunately that wasn’t the only thing I did wrong with the LLC. I filed the paperwork in November. I “assumed” that it would last for a year. It does. But that year is from January to December, period. I got to pay another $300 in January for my LLC paperwork. I should have waited until January to file.
The lessons I learned from the LLC process:
- Take your time and do your research.
- Don’t “assume”.
- Don’t try to take it on alone. (Take pride in your service, don’t be too proud to ask for help)
- Talk to other business owners. As long as they are not competitors they are happy to talk with you about getting started.
- Get a good accountant.
- Use caution before seeking legal advice. (it will cost you)
- Make lawyers and everyone else clarify their billing process.
- When filing online call your Secretary of State and confirm that the website you are about to use is legitimate. I found some sites that take advantage of ignorance.
- Tennessee has good resources for starting a business
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Sublime Computer Service - Bio's
We have posted our Bio's to the website. I have tried to state our qualifications without sounding like a blowhard. You can see the pretty version by clicking here.
Adam Bell
Owner of
Sublime Computer Services, LLC
Adam Bell is the founder of Sublime Computer Services. Adam has been a professional in the field of Information Technology since 1997. He was formerly the Senior Systems/Network Engineer with Avondale Partners for Six years. Prior to Avondale He worked with HCA as a Systems Engineer and JC Bradford before that. Adam received his Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer certification in 2003. He received his BS in Geographic Information Systems from Austin Peay in 1997.
Robin Bell
Operations Manager of
Sublime Computer Services, LLC
Robin Bell is the Operations Manager for Sublime Computer Services. Prior to joining Sublime, she was an Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Manager for the State of Tennessee and large industries such as Mattel, Home Depot and RR Donnelley Printers. She has been in a management role since 1990. She received a BS degree in Geology from Austin Peay State University in 1990 and a MS degree in Industrial Management Technology from Murray State University in 2002.
Jason Cannon
Systems Administrator of
Sublime Computer Services, LLC
Jason Cannon is a Systems Administrator for Sublime Computer Services. Jason is also a fellow entrepreneur. He has been an Information Technology professional since 1996. Prior to joining Sublime Jason has been an Independent Consultant, Telecommunications Engineer for HCA, a Systems Engineer II for Cisco Systems and a Network Operations Analyst II for St. Thomas Hospital. Jason holds a CCNA. He received his Associates of Engineering from Nashville State Technical Institute in 1988.
Adam Bell
Owner of
Sublime Computer Services, LLC
Adam Bell is the founder of Sublime Computer Services. Adam has been a professional in the field of Information Technology since 1997. He was formerly the Senior Systems/Network Engineer with Avondale Partners for Six years. Prior to Avondale He worked with HCA as a Systems Engineer and JC Bradford before that. Adam received his Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer certification in 2003. He received his BS in Geographic Information Systems from Austin Peay in 1997.
Robin Bell
Operations Manager of
Sublime Computer Services, LLC
Robin Bell is the Operations Manager for Sublime Computer Services. Prior to joining Sublime, she was an Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Manager for the State of Tennessee and large industries such as Mattel, Home Depot and RR Donnelley Printers. She has been in a management role since 1990. She received a BS degree in Geology from Austin Peay State University in 1990 and a MS degree in Industrial Management Technology from Murray State University in 2002.
Jason Cannon
Systems Administrator of
Sublime Computer Services, LLC
Jason Cannon is a Systems Administrator for Sublime Computer Services. Jason is also a fellow entrepreneur. He has been an Information Technology professional since 1996. Prior to joining Sublime Jason has been an Independent Consultant, Telecommunications Engineer for HCA, a Systems Engineer II for Cisco Systems and a Network Operations Analyst II for St. Thomas Hospital. Jason holds a CCNA. He received his Associates of Engineering from Nashville State Technical Institute in 1988.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
What is Software Piracy?
I was doing some reading on Dice and I noticed a link about being a whistle blower for illegal software being used by companies. The reward can be up to 1 million dollars. I agree that software piracy is wrong. I really dislike the premise of whistle blowing. Companies and individuals need to purchase the software that they are going to use or they need to support the Open Source community by donating money, time or development. I don’t like the idea of IT Consultants or employees preying on companies for software compliance.
Most of the time that I encounter a client who is not software compliant is usually a result of client not understanding the software licensing. The software companies could really help themselves out by stating their licensing in plain English. Pay attention when you install software if it asks for license keys or if the disclaimer says “This software is for home use only”. If the software usage policy is unclear, talk to your IT staff or consultant. If they don’t know, contact a software vendor such as Dell, Insight or CDW. They have software consultants who can tell you for free if you are compliant in the way you are using the software. You may have to pony up some cash for some software but at least you can do it on your terms rather than on some lawyer’s terms.
We must have integrity as business owners and IT consultants. Our clients will notice and our businesses will show the results in profits.
If you need solutions or assistance with your software compliance we would love to help. Here at Sublime Computer Services we make your technology work!
Adam Bell
Owner of Sublime Computer Services
adam@sublimecomp.com
615-942-0850
www.sublimecomp.com
Here is the definition of Software Piracy from www.bsa.org:
Software piracy is the unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted software. This can be done by copying, downloading, sharing, selling, or installing multiple copies onto personal or work computers. What a lot of people don’t realize or don’t think about is that when you purchase software, you are actually purchasing a license to use it, not the actual software. That license is what tells you how many times you can install the software, so it’s important to read it. If you make more copies of the software than the license permits, you are pirating.
Simply put, making or downloading unauthorized copies of software is breaking the law, no matter how many copies or people are involved.
Whether you are casually making a few copies for friends, loaning disks, distributing or downloading pirated software from the Internet, or buying a single software program and then installing it on multiple computers (including personal), you are committing copyright infringement—also known as software piracy.
It doesn’t matter if you are doing it to make money or not — if you or your company is caught copying software, you may be held liable under both civil and criminal law. Civil penalties can be as high as $150,000 per software program infringed. In addition, introducing pirated software into your computing environment can open you up to the risk of damage to your network through defective software or malicious code.
Most of the time that I encounter a client who is not software compliant is usually a result of client not understanding the software licensing. The software companies could really help themselves out by stating their licensing in plain English. Pay attention when you install software if it asks for license keys or if the disclaimer says “This software is for home use only”. If the software usage policy is unclear, talk to your IT staff or consultant. If they don’t know, contact a software vendor such as Dell, Insight or CDW. They have software consultants who can tell you for free if you are compliant in the way you are using the software. You may have to pony up some cash for some software but at least you can do it on your terms rather than on some lawyer’s terms.
We must have integrity as business owners and IT consultants. Our clients will notice and our businesses will show the results in profits.
If you need solutions or assistance with your software compliance we would love to help. Here at Sublime Computer Services we make your technology work!
Adam Bell
Owner of Sublime Computer Services
adam@sublimecomp.com
615-942-0850
www.sublimecomp.com
Here is the definition of Software Piracy from www.bsa.org:
Software piracy is the unauthorized copying or distribution of copyrighted software. This can be done by copying, downloading, sharing, selling, or installing multiple copies onto personal or work computers. What a lot of people don’t realize or don’t think about is that when you purchase software, you are actually purchasing a license to use it, not the actual software. That license is what tells you how many times you can install the software, so it’s important to read it. If you make more copies of the software than the license permits, you are pirating.
Simply put, making or downloading unauthorized copies of software is breaking the law, no matter how many copies or people are involved.
Whether you are casually making a few copies for friends, loaning disks, distributing or downloading pirated software from the Internet, or buying a single software program and then installing it on multiple computers (including personal), you are committing copyright infringement—also known as software piracy.
It doesn’t matter if you are doing it to make money or not — if you or your company is caught copying software, you may be held liable under both civil and criminal law. Civil penalties can be as high as $150,000 per software program infringed. In addition, introducing pirated software into your computing environment can open you up to the risk of damage to your network through defective software or malicious code.