Summersault Weblog

Just today, we’ve received two reports of our clients getting mailings from organizations claiming that payment is needed in order to maintain or renew services related their hosting account or domain, and in both cases, the mailing was just a scam. These mailings often come in the format of an official order form that appears to be important and time-sensitive, and so it scares the unsuspecting domain owner into sending a check rather than risk losing their website.

We’ve written here before about the horrors of domain management on the Internet, but this is a particularly troublesome practice, and adds a whole other layer of complexity and hassle to an already difficult and complex system. In another recent case, one of our customers did have their website go offline briefly because they’d sent payment to the wrong organization and ignored the notices from the real domain authority - yikes! Here are a few tips to avoid being swindled by these notices:
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I’ve been waiting for a while now to see what Google was going to do with their acquisition of JotSpot, the collaborative wiki site that a number of non-profit organizations I’m involved in has used to organize our internal information. In my opinion, the long wait was a big risk to take on Google’s part…I used to send people to JotSpot all the time. when Google acquired it and stopped accepting new accounts, I still sent people there, saying “I’m sure it will reopen soon, it’s worth it.” Eventually I stopped sending people there at all, and encouraged them to use other tools or to go to the trouble to set up their own intranet with software like Mediawiki, the tool that powers Wikipedia.

Well, as of today, I’m pretty sure I know where to send people for creating free, powerful internal websites: Google Sites, the new incarnation of what was JotSpot.
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No matter whether you have a huge advertising budget or you’re a one-person marketing department, viral marketing can play a significant role in helping you get the word out about your company or organization.

Viral marketing…
1. Gives away products or services
2. Provides for effortless transfer to others
3. Scales easily from small to very large
4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors
5. Utilizes existing communication networks
6. Takes advantage of others’ resources

What are some examples of viral marketing? Blogs, e-newsletters, files that can be downloaded and YouTube videos are just a few examples of current viral marketing vehicles. Be creative, be useful and be interesting and your message will be shared - free of charge.

As the Internet continues to grow and change at a rapid pace, new and innovative website design possibilities become a reality everyday. For our company that means keeping up with the newest innovations in website design and programming, and for our customers it means a broader spectrum of opportunities to reach their target audience.

But more than that, this is a crucial time to understand and support Net Neutrality. Without the guiding principals of Net Neutrality to protect us and our customers from crippling restrictions imposed by large telecoms and Internet Service Providers (ISPs), today’s innovations in web technology may soon be out of reach for companies and individuals without industry connections or deep pockets.
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When Mac OS X Leopard was released in October 2007, there was significant outcry about a number of changes made to the built-in firewall. One security consultant even went so far as to call the firewall “a mess…so simple as to be nearly useless”. Apple soon released a few security updates that fixed a number of complaints about the firewall, but for me, a general sense of brokenness and distrust prevailed. Now we’ve upgraded some of our Macs in the office to Leopard, and recently my negative perception of the new firewall has changed.
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We received a bit of mail today from the organization “StoresOnline.com”, which is hosting two marketing events in Richmond, Indiana on December 11th at the Holiday Inn. Their pitch is that if you attend their 90-minute “conference” presentation about how to make money on the Internet, you’ll get a free meal, a free personal organizer, and priceless knowledge. It seems that the reality behind the free offers is a bait and switch scheme, which has been documented extensively on sites like TheRipOffReport.com. The reports include some heart-wrenching stories from people who invested quite a bit in StoresOnline.com (Aka Imergent Inc Aka Inetseminars.com) thinking they were going into a legitimate business, only to find that the promises made to them were empty ones, and that when they asked for a refund, they were referred to lawyers or not even called back at all. Yikes!

In general, even though the popular narrative about the Internet boom is that lots of people are making money overnight, remember that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and so on. Never hand over your money to anyone promising you big bucks through Internet commerce just because they’ve got a flashy presentation and give you free food. Using the technologies of the Internet to build your business takes good planning, solid partnerships, and technical expertise - there’s no substitute, and especially not in the form of a 90-minute sales pitch.

As we’ve built Summersault’s web hosting infrastructure over the years, I’ve had a great time learning all about the security and privacy issues that come with managing a complex network of computer servers connected to the Internet. Of course, it didn’t begin there - part of being a good geek has always meant showing curiosity in how things work and what’s going on behind the scenes, and I can’t remember a time I haven’t enjoyed testing the boundaries of how secure various systems are. Perhaps that’s why I very much enjoyed Bruce Schneier’s book Secrets & Lies, a formalized (but accessible) look at of a lot of the security concepts and practices I’ve encountered over the years.
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The IMail Server from Ipswitch software is a business-oriented e-mail management system that runs on the Windows operating system. A few years ago, we were hired by a local Internet Service Provider, Parallax Systems, to help migrate their IMail Server system to a new mail server using qmail and vpopmail on a Unix-based operating system, one of the most popular mail management system setups on the Internet.

As a part of that process, we created a Perl script to assist with the migration of all the virtual domain data, individual user mailboxes and preferences, forwards, aliases, address book files, etc. It uses the Windows registry key maintained by the IMail software and creates equivalent configuration settings under the qmail/vpopmail setup.
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As a software engineer, one of the genres of programs that you’re always on the lookout for is the “killer app,” the tool or utility that immediately becomes the “best in class” for a given problem space and technology. One problem space where I’ve been hoping for just such a tool to come along is answering that age old question, “how can we quickly schedule a meeting between a bunch of people with separately maintained and very busy calendars?” In the past, it meant lots of back and forth conversations, disjointed calendar checking, and that sense that you were spending time on “administrivia” when you could be out enjoying the world.

Enter the free web tool Doodle.ch.
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Microsoft Exchange is a common choice for organizations looking to share contacts and calendar events internally. It also works as a central mail server, allowing emails with large attachments to be sent around internally as well.

There are two major problems with Microsoft Exchange as a solution.
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