What do I charge for my services?
(C) Sun Apr 26 09:59:49 EDT 1998 Explorer Post 369
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Flower SaleJames D. CorderExplorer Post 369 sold bedding flowers for their spring fund raiser. 50% of this money will go to fund the floor project and 50% to help the members pay their way to Summer Camp. I am proud of the Explorers for the work that they have done. I look forward to next year's Flower Sale. Explorer Post 369's Garage SaleJames D. CorderExplorer Post 369 is going to have a Garage Sale on Saturday June 6th 8:00am to 4:00pm. The youth members will be arriving at 6:30am to set up. We need your old stuff. So, as you do your spring cleaning: Don't through out your old stuff! Bring it to the Post Garage Sale or arrange for it to be picked up! The funds from the Flower Sale and the Garage Sale will be utilized to pay for the Post's new classroom:-) 50% of the profits go to the youth that earned them to pay for their uniform and/or Summer Camp. The other 50% will go to the floor fund. Your help and generous donations will be deeply appreciated! |
Duplication is the Greatest form of flattery!James D. CorderRecently several other Explorer Posts have been visiting our Web Site. Their comments about our pages where both positive and negative. All of their comments where in relationship to the designing of their page. I must admit that I was flattered when I found out that other Posts where using our site as their standard. This is a good thing:-) Both the Scouting The Web Award and the Lord Baden-Powell Award are designed to create standards of excellence. Post 369 has achieved the highest level of both of these awards. Therefore, our peers have voted us the best. To be renowned in one's industry is a remarkable statement. We can not allow the negative comments of our competition to anger us. We must accept the praise of our peers! When the competition copies the leader of the pack it is much easier to go from zero to the best. They don't have to invent anything. Therefore, we must work extra hard to keep in first place! My hats off to Explorer Post 369! |
Why I want to be Toadie PageChris Gauger
I am a Page. What is a Page? A Page is the Patrol Leader for the Toadies. I'm a Life Scout and an Assistant Senior Patrol Leader. So, I've had some experience in leading, but I'm still prepared to learn more from the Explorers or even the other Toadies. My reason for wanting to be a Page can be summed up in two words: fun & more fun. I had so much fun when I was just a regular Toadie I can't imagine how it will improve now that I'm Page. I think that moving up to Page has improved my self esteem greatly and also helped me on the road to Eagle Scout. |
Web Page design prices.John SchlegelI need a little financial advice from anyone willing. Here is my situation: A business owner is seeking my services to create a professional looking web page for their company. I feel my abilities are well sufficient, however, I have never done this for anyone other than myself or close friends, moreover I have never charged for creating a web page. Is there any standard? Do I bill hourly? Do I charge a flat fee? A combination? What are some fair rates? I know there are companies devoted to this kind of thing that charge thousands, but they also maintain the companies servers, and continue to update the pages. I'm worried that I will either charge far too little and my work will not be appreciated, and be taken for granted. Or that I will charge too much and lose the opportunity to be hired. Thanks for any help, and please no jokes about this vs. the fact that I haven't done a page for myself on the 369 page yet. Web Page design prices.S. Potter"Is there any standard?" No. There is no such thing as a standard pricing for web design. Much as there is no real standard on salaries, software prices, car prices, etc. "Do I bill hourly? Do I charge a flat fee? A combination?" That will depend on what you think it will entail. The company I work for, has done both. As an SA consultant and as a perl trainer, I've done both. The longer the job, the better hourly is (as a general rule). If you think it will be fairly short, you are probably better off going flat fee. "What are some fair rates?" A fair rate is what you value your time at and what he values the page at. Consider factors such as your age, your experience, your willingness to do the project, other intangibles. If it is really something you want to do (you think it'll be fun or exciting, for example), you may want to lower your rate a little to make sure you get it. If this is something you want to do as a sideline business, you may want to lower your rates some more just for the experience. If this is going to be a one-shot deal, and you probably don't ever want to do it again, you may want to ratchet the rate up. If you want to appear to be even more professional that you are, you may want to up the rate. Is this a small business owner, or the president of a multi-national corporation? That will determine which way you want to take your rates. Is he going to want ongoing maintenance and updates? If so, you may want to keep your rate down for the repeat business. "I'm worried that I will either charge far too little and my work will not be appreciated, and be taken for granted. Or that I will charge too much and lose the opportunity to be hired." Considering your situation, I'd err on the side of being a little low. Just because you charge him a certain rate doesn't mean that is the only rate you'll ever be able to charge. You can always up the rate for the next person if you think you're charging too little. A good intern can make $8-12/hr, part time working for a web design firm. An entry level person, $12-16/hr. You may want to start out around there. If you are too far above what he expected, he'll probably just try to end the conversation. At that point, ask him what he thinks is reasonable and be prepared to offer somewhere between 1/3 more and half way between his offer and yours (for example, if you said 20/hr and he said 10/hr, you'd want to go no more than 13/hr. However, if you said 15 and he said 10, you'd go to 12.50) |
Web Page design prices.Gus FrezoulisThe best way to price yourself is against the competition. Do you know what firms are charging? Well why don't you find out what they typically charge for something you are about to do. One large company I know of in Columbus that does these types of things is called E=mc2. I have seen their adds on campus but don't know their numbers. Then manage to make yourself cheaper. That is how you force them to come to you. And when you make it cheaper make it significantly cheaper because larger companies have much more to offer than you can currently. Once you come up with a price then step back and take a look at the picture. Is the money your going to make worth the headache? By headache I mean long hours of work. Can you manage to make decent hourly money based on the price you are going to give him. If you don't see a good hourly wage from this judgement then its probably not worth your time. If you plan on charging him an hourly wage then make sure that you are significantly cheaper and that you are still working for a decent wage. That is my experience with business practice in general. Web Page design prices.James D. CorderThere is only one question: "What do you want?" It is not important what the others are charging. It is important what the client is willing to pay! It is important what you think you are worth! Ok, I have a friend that was charged a flat rate of $25,000.00 to build his page. It is 5 months later and it is still not on line. When you are competent in what you do and how long it will take you, flat rate is best!!! Can you deliver it in the time you state you can and are you comfortable in the amount you will receive for that time. If it takes more time than you estimated you can't go back for more! When I am not required to go on site to do work, I charge a flat rate by the project. When I am required to be on site I charge an hourly rate. Why? The customer tends to want me to do a 60 hour week, and most of that is out of hours. By the nature of what I do, it can't be done during normal business hours, and they want me at their beckon call. Therefore, I charge a premium for out-of-hours work.
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Pay Rate
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M-F S&S Holidays
6:00a-8:00a 1.5x 2x 3.5x
8:00a-7:00p 1x 1.5x 3x
7:00p-11:000p 1.5x 2x 3.5x
11:00p-6:00a 2x 3x 4x
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If this is a big site with many pages charge hourly. If the customer is going to ask for many revisions, charge hourly. If this is a small project, few pages, charge a flat rate. If you do the work and then walk away charge a flat rate. Ok, I charge hourly when I think the client is going to eak into my "fun time" non-Mon through Fri 8:00am to 7:00pm... I charge flat rate when they think it will take more time than I think it will... I like to charge a flat rate when I am paying for the services of others under a 1099 and therefore I don't have to pay overtime. Jon, forget about the money, do it for the fun. Hay, what would an extra $500.00 in your pocket do for you? What if the customer can recommend you. I love it when I have a bunch of little projects with no due dates that I can fit into my time table:-) What if you could do a site a month and get an extra $500.00 a month??? Do it for however much you want and don't tell anyone how much you charged. It is none of their business. Remember that nothing is work until you would rather be doing something else. If you are getting paid to play, GREAT!!! |
Why is a PC not a Workstation? Because it is VISTM-ually impaired.Sun Micrsystems: This is the third of a three-part series comparing and contrasting workstations and PCs. Parts one and two discussed graphics and operating systems. In part three, we show that the central processor plays a critical role in delivering the kind of performance technical and creative professionals demand and how the Sun UltraSPARCTM processor with the built-in VISTM instruction set widens the difference between a workstation and a PC even further. Why a PC is not a Workstation? Because it is VIS-ually impaired ! Sun workstations are a product of Sun's constant effort to achieve a singular vision: to satisfy the high expectations and deliver the high performance demanded by today's technical and creative professionals. All efforts in innovation at Sun are aimed at enhancing system performance and optimizing efficiency in highly demanding multimedia applications. One capability that differentiates Sun's workstations from all others is the UltraSPARCTM processor with VISTM instruction set. The UltraSPARC line of processors places Sun workstation among the frontrunners in RISC performance. UltraSPARC processor has the horsepower to handle the computational challenge of the more than 2000 scientific/technical applications that run on the Sun platform. In addition, it differentiates itself from the crowd by offering high-bandwidth access to memory and peripherals by another of Sun's innovations, the UPA interconnect technology. Further, unlike the competition, UltraSPARC processors have multimedia processing capabilities provided by the VIS instruction set that bring to the desktop multimedia capabilities that previously required dedicated hardware. What is VIS? VIS is a comprehensive set of multimedia instructions dedicated to accelerating 3D/2D graphics, video and audio operations, significantly enhancing the performance of a multimedia application on a Sun workstation. Besides being the first such instruction set in the industry, VIS was and still is the most complete set of graphics instructions ever integrated into a general-purpose microprocessor. VIS is part of the SPARC V9 specification and is implemented in UltraSPARC I, II and II-i series of microprocessors from Sun. What Can VIS Do? VIS enables the UltraSPARC processor to process a set of picture elements (pixels) simultaneously -- up to eight pixels at once -- accomplishing in one instruction what would take other processors at least eight instructions or more. The superior design of the UltraSPARC processor with 4-scalar instruction throughput (which enables it to execute four instructions in one clock cycle) enables linear scalability for multiprocessing systems, providing an additional VIS engine with each processor. VIS also leverages UltraSPARC's nine-stage pipeline and 64-bit integer processing capabilities to further streamline graphical processes. Integer registers within the CPU address data computations, while the floating-point registers manipulate information. This division of responsibilities increases data throughput. UltraSPARC processors have multiple floating-point, integer and graphics units on the chip to allow an application to use the UltraSPARC processing horsepower to its fullest. For example, animation applications that use the VIS technology perform essential operations such as image manipulation or real-time video decompression without needing external dedicated media processors. One disadvantage of having external media processors is the huge hit that the application performance takes while waiting for the data to arrive from memory over the local bus. UltraSPARC with VIS has on-chip data and instruction caches and a large external cache, thereby eliminating the most serious bottleneck in computing today -- memory access time. Motion Commotion VIS also includes special instructions for motion estimation, a technique used to code real-time video for compression. Motion estimation takes advantage of the minimal changes in the position of images from one frame to the next. This allows the UltraSPARC to perform hundreds of comparisons within a specific region of the image. Where the motion compensation process for eight pixels would require 48 instructions and even higher clock cycles in most other processors, the UltraSPARC processor with VIS technology reduces this compute-intensive operation for eight pixels into just one clock cycle. Many processors have since followed Sun's lead by offering graphics extensions to their microprocessors. However, nobody comes close to VIS in offering a comprehensive instruction set, high-performance number crunching, high-bandwidth to memory AND all of this across a processor line that power the low-end Ultra-5 to high-end enterprise servers. PCs Not There The graphical extensions to microprocessors found in the typical PC have yet to overcome the technological(that is, performance) edge that Sun's workstations hold. Instructions for 3-D graphics operations and video compression, for example, are still only in the planning stages for Intel's MMX2. Furthermore, although MMX began shipping in early 1997, the majority of users will not derive any benefit from the capabilities of its current offerings. There would have to be a new generation of infrastructure for MMX support, including new operating systems (such as Windows 98 or Windows NT 5.0), new compilers, run-time libraries and developer tools in order to see even half of the multimedia capabilites in MMX that Sun customers already have. Bottom Line Sun workstation users enjoy the cutting-edge advances in multimedia and graphics that users of other workstations and PC workstations only dream about and will have to wait a long while before they see it on their computers. |
Look Before You Leap, What influences your IT buying decision?Sun Micrsystems: Compaq Computer Corp.'s latest advertising (see the April 6 issue of Business Week, for example) boasts that "The future of enterprise computing lies not just in scalability, manageability and reliability, but also in dramatically lower cost of ownership. A reality no one understands better than Compaq and Microsoft." At Sun, we view this as a pretty weak argument. Prices can change as quickly as the weather, but building true RAS -- Reliability, Availability, Serviceability -- into an enterprise server operating system like Solaris takes years. In an executive viewpoint titled "Microsoft: The Joker of Enterprise IS Computing," (1) the Aberdeen Group said that Microsoft has NOT delivered the production-quality, enterprise-level products that organizations can use. What it has delivered are versions of products that embody what it has learned to date and demonstrate the directions it is going. The Aberdeen Group points out that scalability, security, stability and maintainability problems continue to be reported by experienced production users of NT 4.0. The research firm concludes that Microsoft is headed in the right direction for delivering a trusted enterprise-computing operating environment - it is just not there yet. The bottom line is this, if your server can't scale as your business grows, or if its reliability is questionable, or if it costs you more in payroll overhead than a system with built-in management software, what's the true cost of the system? If a system isn't scalable, the money you save now will be small change compared to the cost of changing platforms down the road. For anyone who cares to check, the press has lambasted Microsoft for the past year for its ridiculous claims that NT is scalable. And industry analysts have made similar, albeit more polite comparisons of UNIX to NT. Both groups of influencers expect that NT will be truly enterprise-worthy sometime down the road. Perhaps in the next two to five years. The Aberdeen Group report pointed out that Microsoft's marketing messages have gotten ahead of its products capabilities for enterprise-level, production computing. Your business is going to grow. But is your business prepared to wait for Microsoft technology to catch up with Microsoft technobabble? That's the question you need to ask yourself. In the meantime, we invite you to read some recent opinions from industry analysts: In SolarisTM Outpaces NT for Enterprice Intranets (2), industry research firm D.H. Brown says:
In an executive whitepaper, Interoperability: Possibility or Elusive Dream? (3) the Aberdeen Group made the following conclusions:
So. Here's the Reality Check: What are you going to believe? A paid advertisement in Business Week, or the assessment of independent industry analysts? |
On behalf of the Lord Baden-Powell Awards Team, I am honored to inform you that your site at: http://www.venturingbsa.com/ has qualified for the QUALITY UNIT WEBSITE AWARD, our highest recognition for a Scouting (or Exploring!) Unit / organization-based Website. To learn more about the Quality Unit Award, please visit us: Your very-high-quality effort has satisfied our stringent evaluation criteria in a satisfactory manner. It is our hope that other Scouting webmasters world-wide, will utilize award-winning Scout-sites like Explorer Post 369's as an example when initiating their organization's WWW publishing efforts. Our warmest congratulations for all of your hard work. Just a personal note to say that when we first visited Post 369's pages, we were impressed! Our more recent visits to your `new-and-improved' site left us amazed! Your site is content rich, and very well written. You've done a GREAT job! Award Requirements >To meet the Quality Unit Web-site criteria, candidate Scouting and/or Guiding Web-sites must satisfy the following criteria: 1. Scout - Guide Group Identification (required) - Identify your organization completely, and indicate local Unit interrelationships by including:
2. Your Website Must Be Team-Based (required) - Your site must involve all elements of your Organization in the planning, implementation and upkeep of the site or page. In other words, this should NOT be a "one person show." The identification of the Web management team responsible for the site is required. The purpose of which is to facilitate communications with visitors to the Web-site. 3. Camping and Outdoor Activities (required) - Tell about a recent (within the last few months) campout or outdoor activity that at least 50 percent of the youth's membership participated in. This should include where the campout or outdoor activity was held, the purpose of the activity or campout, and the results gained from the event (increased advancement, fun, personal growth, etc.). For District or Council-level camp or outdoor activities, stats showing majority participation in these events should be shown. 4. Unit Training Programs - Provide public access to a summary all scheduled training classes and orientation programs that are available to Unit members and leaders. This should include session descriptions, dates, locations, prerequisites, and contact names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers. 5. Community Service - Tell the visitor about a recent (within the last year) Service Project undertaken by the Unit or Organization. The idea here is to share how the project was organized, implemented, coordinated... and completed. The service must be rendered to a group or organization external to Scouting or Guiding. 6. Advancement - Tell the visitor about the Unit or Organization's recent Scout (and/or Scouter) advancements and recognitions (within the last six months). 7. Organizational Communication - Have transcripts or summaries of Unit management or Committee meetings, or Council Executive Board meetings (if applicable) available for downloading. 8. Resources - Include hyper-linked references to on-line Scouting program resources. This should include Scout and Scouter `helps' in the areas of advancement requirements, special program requirements, and / or other on-line resources of use to your local Unit Scouting programs. Links to National Scouting or Guiding resources (such as Boys' Life and Scouter magazine (USA) or other program `helps') is a plus here. Important Notes 1. Organizations that meet at least six of the eight goals above (including the first three which are required), qualify as "Quality Unit Websites" for 1998. As such, qualifying Websites have earned the right to display the "Quality Unit Website" Award during the year for which it is awarded. 2. To maintain this Award status during subsequent years, the Unit Website must exhibit continuous improvement over time. This will be expressed via inclusion of new and constantly updated informational content. 3. During the month of December 1998, our Team will visit all Websites that have earned this award for 1998. We will use this opportunity to re-affirm the above criteria, and if warranted, grant the "1999 Quality Unit Website" award. There is no need to re-up! |
Pluggable Authentication ModulesHo-Sheng HsiaoTraditionally, authentication of the users have been within the responsibility of system software. The login, remote shell, and recently, ssh have all defended the operating system from attack. However, despite advances in encryption, integration of these encryption technology with authentication has lagged behind. System designers are stuck with the default security and authentic ation packages with little flexibility to customize for a specific situation or need. Pluggable Authentication Modules, or PAM, provide the flexibility needed today. PAM seperates the authentication from the actual software. The software may request authentication service. However, the method of authentication is com pletely up to the system administrat or. Because the PAM system dynamically loads the authentication modules, one can use less well-supported authentication methods without rewriting all the software requiring its use. In addition, a system administrator can stack PAM modules, thus providing combined authentication services. For example, a hardware vendor provided a device that scans the retinal. To use this device with traditional authentication modules requires a rewrite of the login, remote shell, and any other application that requires a retinal scan. This requires the source-code, time, effort, and pain. However, with PAM-enabled login, remote shell, or whatever, the hardware vendor -- or you -- need only to write an authentication module that interfaces with the retinal scan device. Next, change a few lines in the configuration files, and now users must also pass a retinal scan in addition to the usual user-name and password. One can apply this kind of a support to other authentication devices, such as fingerprints, voice-prints, hand-writing recognition, and face recognition. Although a retinal-scan is a bit far-fetched for current seucrity needs, what is available provides scaliability. Currently available authentication modules include (but isn't limited to) time-of-day (login only durring certain time periods, like office hours), cracklib (verify a crack-resistant password), Kerberos 4, Kerberos 5, and shadow passwords. PAM-enabled login, rsh , xdm, and xlock are all available. Some implementations of PAM works with NIS services. There is rumour of an PAM-enabled ssh in development. Futhermore, one could stack modules marginally related with traditional authentication. Access accounting, for example, requires only the addition of an accounting module. Another example is the chroot module for the truly paranoid. Chroot maps the user's access of "/" to some other directory, forcing the user to a restricted branch of the filesystem tree. Or, the module might be informative. A mail module notifies the user of new mail. PAM has great potential. Due to the explosion of the internet, there are numerous web-sites that uses a login-password authentication. However, the password usually requires a seperate, sometimes weaker, password database. By writing a PAM-enabled CGI interface, the web site can take advantage of a system-wide authentication, or use the flexibility of PAM to create tailored-made authentication. Other applications include POP-client authentication, extranet and intranet access to sensitive corporate databases, or just an extra layer of authentication for the remote climate control system. Sounds interesting? An implementation of the PAM framework, and suite of PAM-enabled software is available for Linux (Redhat 5.0) and Solaris 2.6. |
Wozniak Joins Exploring DepartmentThe Scouter
Alicia Wozniak started with the Exploring Department in March and has not slowed down. Currently she is working on the Recognition Dinner. Career Interest Surveys, popcorn and just getting to know all the Posts in Franklin county. Alicia is exited about her job and looks forward to the Mohican Wilderness Canoe trip in July. Alicia graduated from OSU in December with a degree in Communications. Alicia is from Westlake, Ohio (suburb of Cleveland) and has an older brother and sister. When she is not busy starting a new Exploring Post, Alicia likes to draw, dance and rock climb. Quote of the MonthEdmun Burke No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear. He who fears being conqured is sure of defeat. Napoleon I
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