About a year ago, when I was making plans to rent a vps for my personal sites and projects, Slicehost and Linode were the only real contenders. Slicehost had backups at the time, Linode didn't, but Linode had a slightly better offer overall. In addition to that, a review from uggedal.com favored Linode. Later, they doubled the memory, introduced backups, so in my mind, I made the right choice.
I must say, Slicehost articles are great though. They are exceptionally well written. Not that Linode's articles are bad, but Slicehost articles are really good guides.
Did anyone read cost-effective manpower as cheap? :(
I'm from Serbia, and still living here. The local market is small and extremely undeveloped. Telecommunication infrastructure is sub-standard, no non-ISP/corporate data centers and no multiple backbone links. While the cloud/grid hosting solves that particular problem, there are others.
Running a company here costs you around 300€/month, whether you have profit or not. That doesn't include office space or bills, taxes only. Note that it is the average net monthly salary, but you can't live of it really.
Corruption. Shitty infrastructure. No Paypal and no widely available (and inexpensive) card-processing options. I'm not sure about getting a proper, signed SSL certificate either.
All of the above can be circumvented, yes. The problem is that when you are so far behind everyone else society wise, ideas and visions that are popping in your head are being sold as a commodity in the rest of the world, and even if you have a nice, modern, innovative idea, unless you are wealthy, you wont be able to implement it because of so many bureaucratic obstacles.
So, what do we have here? A bunch of IT service and programming sweatshops, outsourced of course. Because of relatively cheap labor.
It is my opinion that having an inspiring and motivating, if not competing environment helps innovation.
I'm from Europe too. There are some specifics, but you can look at Wikipedia and find calculators online that explain what is deducted from gross income.
You have social security, medicare, state and federal income tax.
You should take into account that some parts of the US are more expensive than others, and that state income tax is not the same for every state. Also, 401k (pension plans) and some other types of savings, investments are deductible from the taxes.
It all depends on who you live with, do you have children, etc.
Thanks for the information, one of the most interesting thing for me is if in most states in US you can deduct taxes if you buy normal things, like a car, a computer, and so forth. In Italy everybody cites the US as example of how taxes should be payed (at least about the general model: everybody pays but less, if you don't pay: huge troubles). One if this dogma about the US system is that you can deduce everything you spend more or less.
This is inaccurate. The things you list (car, computer, other consumer purchases) are not personal deductions under the US tax system.
Relatively few personal purchases are deductible. The most heavily used personal deduction is mortgage interest (interest, not principal). Otherwise most personal deductions are things like tuition, major healthcare expenses, tax paid elsewhere (sales, property), and alimony payments.
And for a majority of Americans, none of these things actually appear on their tax return. Only 41% of American taxpayers file a return listing the deductions above ("itemize"), usually because they carry a mortgage.
Finally, if someone found legitimate ways to deduct the things you listed (for example, they were unreimbursed business expenses), they would run into the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). AMT is a floor on the percent of income which must be paid as tax. In calculating AMT, most deductions get ignored (and it ignores one's effective tax rate in other years).
The American Opportunity/Hope and Lifetime Learning Credits can be applied when using the standard deduction. Also, many cars have significant tax credits though it seems the bar has been raised.
I feel your pain. I live in south-eastern Europe, and it is pretty much the same system here as in Italy, with an exception of that is isn't working as advertised :).
I don't have much real world experience with card processing, but the last time I looked, RBS worldpay offered a nice subscription models. I was planing to delve into that, but the project I was involved in fell apart, and there was no need for me to pursue more info.
I believe that since they would handle everything transaction wise, you don't have to worry about being PCIDSS compliant.
While not being a programmer, I did work as a sysadmin for a hosting company. Since I quit around 2 years ago, I was asked by my ex-colleagues on several occasions would I consider returning there. Now, these questions were raised by my coworkers and not my boss, but nevertheless, my answer was the same. Yeah, sure, if they double my salary from 2 years ago, assign me to a higher tier support level so I don't have to deal with customers in any way.
Simple reason for this was that knowing my peers salary, both those of lower, equal and higher position, I knew how much I was worth to them, and how much others were slacking.
So, with public salaries, you get that. With them being private, I would probably ask for a small raise based on economic situation. I'm not saying I wouldn't work for the same money as before, It's just that I'd feel like a jerk toward my self in that case.
hehe, same here. I actually managed to answer a phone call from a colleague trying to wake me up, tell him that i'm on a bus heading there and go back to sleep. Fast forward a couple of hours, I woke up not remembering that at all.
He was mad, as he pulled a double shift because of that, but hey...beauty sleep :D
_Conscious Loving_ ( http://amzn.to/cAzbRM ) and _Undefended Love_ ( http://amzn.to/c45k4L ) have by far had the biggest impact on me. Personal relationships are definitely my biggest challenge. Already one divorce. :(
Both books essentially have the same premise but explore it in different ways. The theory that intimacy is born out of telling what CL calls "the microscopic truth" where _all_ details are revealed.
"If you want a long-term relationship that's both close and creatively vital, you have to become emotionally transparent. To go all the way to ultimate closeness and full creative expression, you must eliminate all barriers to speaking and hearing the truth about everything." -- Gay Hendricks
But the truth is not accusing. You state what is going on within you. You describe your thoughts, feelings, your tensions, because that is what you own and that is what you can accurately describe. Everything else is probably just opinion or projection. Stating your feelings within is unarguable, it's your truth.
But it goes so much deeper. They talk about exploring reoccuring patterns where there is tension. I've noticed that everytime someone haltingly raises their voice, my shoulders automatically tense up. I think this is a pattern I learned very early on in my childhood from my dad screaming for no apparent reason. I am only now beginning to see it unfold.
Facing and telling the truth takes courage.
I've told my girlfriend that I find other women attractive. I told my girlfriend that I slept with someone else when we first started dating. In the end I believe she respects me more for telling her. At least the emotional "memory leak" has been cleaned up and I no longer have to suppress those thoughts or conjure up lies surrounding those circumstances.
