We have lost almost half – almost 3 billion hectares – of the forests that once blanketed the earth. Every year at least 16 million additional hectares fall to the axe, torch, bulldozer, and chain saw.

5 million hectares of forests cover vanishes every year just to meet our everyday need for paper. A need we fulfill in a very careless and wasteful manner.

So can we meet this basic need and yet take the responsibility of saving the forest? One of the answer is Minus One, a one step, easy-to-do initiative to save our forests.

By doing something as simple as reducing the font size of a document by 1 before printing, we can reduce the paper consumption for printouts considerably, almost up to 50%.

And that means lesser number of trees need to go under the axe. Just few seconds of effort will add years to forests.

Do your bit. Reduce the font size by 1. Save paper. Help the forests.

Around 2004 while having the hostdime account I did try out some of the other companies like Godaddy, 1&1 and Aplus.net, etc where I ran in to disasters with. I had dedicated servers with Godaddy at one time and it became a nightmare. I could not get them to do anything unless I pay their ‘extra charges’ they had coming up with. The servers did not boot and they still would not do anything about it; sure enough they wanted me to get their ‘manages servers‘ priced probably three times of unmanaged back then. With 1&1, I ended up talking to customer services they in Philippines and was kept on hold for hours and hours. Aplus.net probably had one of the worse customer services as well.

All these times I always had Hostdime accounts and it very surprisingly they had been changing their systems, adding employees, improving customer support every day and night. Around 2007 I looked back of everything they had done and I really was surprised! A lot of hosting companies have both managed and unmanaged hosting models and I started to think what the difference is. With hostdime, I felt like everything was managed, customer support was very impressive and it still is. They were all about serving clients than making another sale.

I surely learnt a lot all the years just by looking at what changes Manny has made to Hostdime. He has certainly made Hostdime the Zappos of hosting in this decade. We too resell a lot of their hosting services to our clients and they have been a great partner in our business processes.

If Manny writes a book on Business Development, I would buy it in a heart beat!

PS: By the way, do not believe what some of these hosting reviews sites will tell you.

Download Here

‘We support any nation that is FOR humanity and AGAINST terrorism!’

-Start Mail

Hi Sesiri,

Thank you for the update and explaining where you are in the evaluation process with Zoho and Salesforce. I understand that it seems as though you have chosen Zoho based on the costs difference. I did want to be sure to send you this email which I have developed five reasons to choose salesforce.com over Zoho CRM. This information serves only to ensure that you are 100 percent confident in choosing your CRM applicaiton. Please let me know if it makes sense to discuss further, otherwise I will close your file.

I personally don’t believe in such a thing called ‘Closing a file..’ If that is the case, most likely, it would be your loss; lot of other people have been successful WITHOUT SF I guess.

If you have any questions, please contact me at your convenience.

Best regards,

Mxxxx Mcxxxxxx
(415) xxx-xxxx

1. Market Leadership
With more than 25 releases of our application, Salesforce is the most functionally rich on-demand application in the world. Salesforce.com continues to receive considerable recognition for our CRM vision, including:

- Winner, Small Business Suite CRM — CRM Magazine 2007, 2009
- Winner, Sales Force Automation — CRM Magazine 2007, 2008, 2009
- Gold Award, “Products of the Year” –  SearchCRM.com 2008
- Editors’ Choice Award — PC Magazine 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007
- Innovation Award, Salesforce CRM Call Center & Customer Portal — TMC Labs 2008
- Technology of the Year — InfoWorld 2004, 2005, 2006
- CRM Excellence Award — Customer Interaction Solutions 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
- Top 100 Innovators Award — BusinessWeek 2006
- Best CRM Solution Award — CODIE 2002 to 2009

It is great that you have reached all these achievements; that is one of the reasons I had narrowed you down to last 3 or 5.

2. Commitment to CRM Success

Salesforce.com is the market leader in on-demand CRM, and our subscription-based pricing forces us to create more innovative programs to foster customer success. According to salesforce.com customer surveys, 94% of current customers would recommend our on-demand service to a colleague.

Zoho CRM is one of many applications offered by Zoho. Zoho’s parent company AdventNet, a provider of software development services, has also has invested in another CRM offering. How much innovation and focus on CRM success can be expected from such a diverse company with limited resources?

I think it is VERY unfair for you to make this statement. They have been a great business for years now. What is wrong with investing in another product? There are many businesses out there who have done it. May be that is what some of these major players should try to do too.

3. Search Engine Marketing

Salesforce for Google AdWords helps businesses grow by generating new leads and turning those leads into new customers. This allows companies to manage their search engine marketing campaigns and measure their impact on revenue at a keyword level directly from Salesforce.

This does not impress me. Google Adwords is just one and plays a very limited effect in my business.

Zoho CRM does not offer search engine marketing integration, leaving customers with limited visibility into the effectiveness of their search marketing programs.

4. Best of Breed Email Integration

Salesforce.com offers complete Microsoft Outlook integration at no additional charge. Outlook users can add incoming or outgoing emails to the appropriate record in Salesforce with a single click, and synchronize contacts and calendars with Salesforce automatically. Integration with Apple Mail, Entourage, Gmail, Google Calendar are also available with Salesforce.  Salesforce.com also allows customers to track when an email sent from the application is opened and how many times it’s read, providing immediate feedback into the impact of your messages.

Zoho CRM offers limited Outlook integration at an additional charge, but lacks the ability to create contacts from emails, link emails to opportunities, or schedule automatic calendar synchronization.  Zoho CRM forces customers to use its Zoho Mail product at an additional cost in order to integrate to more popular email applications like Gmail.  Finally, Zoho CRM does not offer the ability to track when email messages are read, leaving users wondering if their emails are received at all.

Considering the price, I think Zoho still beats in several hundreds, or may be more than a grand.

5. Document Management and Integration

Salesforce increases productivity by providing access to essential documents and content directly from the application, including Google Docs. Comprehensive Microsoft Office integration populates Word mail merge templates and Excel reports with data directly from Salesforce.

Zoho CRM does not offer a central repository for vital documents directly in the application. Further, Zoho CRM cannot generate a mail merge document into its own Zoho Writer product.

Technology-wise, Salesforce is light years ahead of its competitors. Beyond that, we offer a community of shared success to help you get ahead — and stay there. Check it out here: http://www.salesforce.com/community/

Please let me know if you have any questions. I’m happy to help out in any way I can.

How about a free working demo for 30 days? Or may be a light-version of  the application instead of being forced to pay over a grand at the very first step..

-End Mail

I truly, honestly, do not mean to be harsh, but this had to be said! I am sorry if I disappointed anyone.

Update: 4/23/2011

Though I did not mean to get any attention for this post from Zoho, they have anyway went ahead and published a great blog post about explaining their view point to SF’s email. Thank you Sridhar and Team for making things even clearer. SF very harshly talked about Sridhar funding Vtiger. Then I was thinking to myself, why on earth would Marc Benioff offered to buy-out Zoho back in 2007 or 2008? Here’s a better post from Sridhar himself.

Zotero is an easy-to-use yet powerful research tool that helps you gather, organize, and analyze sources (citations, full texts, web pages, images, and other objects), and lets you share the results of your research in a variety of ways. An extension to the popular open-source web browser Firefox, Zotero includes the best parts of older reference manager software (like EndNote) — the ability to store author, title, and publication fields and to export that information as formatted references—and the best parts of modern software and web applications (like iTunes and del.icio.us), such as the ability to interact, tag, and search in advanced ways.

Zotero integrates tightly with online resources; it can sense when users are viewing a book, article, or other object on the web, and—on many major research and library sites—find and automatically save the full reference information for the item in the correct fields. Since it lives in the web browser, it can effortlessly transmit information to, and receive information from, other web services and applications; since it runs on one’s personal computer, it can also communicate with software running there (such as Microsoft Word). And it can be used offline as well (e.g., on a plane, in an archive without WiFi).

For Web users and advertisers, this deal will accelerate the pace and breadth of innovation by combining both companies’ complementary strengths and search platforms into a market competitor with the scale to fuel sustained development in search and search advertising. Users will find what they care about faster and with more personal relevance. Microsoft’s competitive search platforms will lead to more value for advertisers, better results for web publishers, and increased innovation and efficiency across the Internet.

Under this agreement, Yahoo! will focus on its core business of providing consumers with great experiences with the world’s favorite online destinations and Web products.

“This agreement comes with boatloads of value for Yahoo!, our users, and the industry. And I believe it establishes the foundation for a new era of Internet innovation and development,” said Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz. “Users will continue to experience search as a vital part of their Yahoo! experiences and will enjoy increased innovation thanks to the scale and resources this deal provides. Advertisers will also benefit from scale and enjoy greater ease of use and efficiencies working with a single platform and sales team for premium advertisers. Finally, this deal will help us increase our investments in priority areas in winning audience properties, display advertising capabilities, and mobile experiences.”

Providing a viable alternative to advertisers, this deal will combine Yahoo! and Microsoft search marketplaces so that advertisers no longer have to rely on one company that dominates more than 70 percent of all search. With the addition of Yahoo!’s search volume, Microsoft will achieve the size and scale required to unleash competition and innovation in the market, for consumers as well as advertisers.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the agreement will provide Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, the scale necessary to more effectively compete, attracting more users and advertisers, which in turn will lead to more relevant ads and search results.

“Through this agreement with Yahoo!, we will create more innovation in search, better value for advertisers, and real consumer choice in a market currently dominated by a single company,” said Ballmer. “Success in search requires both innovation and scale. With our new Bing search platform, we’ve created breakthrough innovation and features. This agreement with Yahoo! will provide the scale we need to deliver even more rapid advances in relevancy and usefulness. Microsoft and Yahoo! know there’s so much more that search could be. This agreement gives us the scale and resources to create the future of search.”

“This deal fits the long-term strategic direction of Yahoo! to remain the world’s leading online media company and Carol Bartz has the full and unanimous support of the Yahoo! Board behind this deal,” said Roy Bostock, chairman, Yahoo! Inc. “This is a significant opportunity for us. Microsoft is an industry innovator in search, and it is a great opportunity for us to focus our investments in other areas critical to our future.”

The key terms of the agreement are as follows:

• The term of the agreement is 10 years;
• Microsoft will acquire an exclusive 10 year license to Yahoo!’s core search technologies, and Microsoft will have the ability to integrate Yahoo! search technologies into its existing web search platforms;
• Microsoft’s Bing will be the exclusive algorithmic search and paid search platform for Yahoo! sites. Yahoo! will continue to use its technology and data in other areas of its business such as enhancing display advertising technology.
• Yahoo! will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers. Self-serve advertising for both companies will be fulfilled by Microsoft’s AdCenter platform, and prices for all search ads will continue to be set by AdCenter’s automated auction process.
• Each company will maintain its own separate display advertising business and sales force.
• Yahoo! will innovate and “own” the user experience on Yahoo! properties, including the user experience for search, even though it will be powered by Microsoft technology.
• Microsoft will compensate Yahoo! through a revenue sharing agreement on traffic generated on Yahoo!’s network of both owned and operated (O&O) and affiliate sites.
  • Microsoft will pay traffic acquisition costs (TAC) to Yahoo! at an initial rate of 88% of search revenue generated on Yahoo!’s O&O sites during the first 5 years of the agreement.
  • Yahoo! will continue to syndicate its existing search affiliate partnerships.
• Microsoft will guarantee Yahoo!’s O&O revenue per search (RPS) in each country for the first 18 months following initial implementation in that country.
• At full implementation (expected to occur within 24 months following regulatory approval), Yahoo! estimates, based on current levels of revenue and current operating expenses, that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual GAAP operating income of approximately $500 million and capital expenditure savings of approximately $200 million. Yahoo! also estimates that this agreement will provide a benefit to annual operating cash flow of approximately $275 million.
• The agreement protects consumer privacy by limiting the data shared between the companies to the minimum necessary to operate and improve the combined search platform, and restricts the use of search data shared between the companies. The agreement maintains the industry-leading privacy practices that each company follows today.

The agreement does not cover each company’s web properties and products, email, instant messaging, display advertising, or any other aspect of the companies’ businesses. In those areas, the companies will continue to compete vigorously.

The transaction will be subject to regulatory review. The agreement entered into today anticipates that the parties will enter into more detailed definitive agreements prior to closing. Microsoft and Yahoo! expect the agreement to be closely reviewed by the industry and government regulators, and welcome questions. The companies are hopeful that closing can occur in early 2010.

The companies have established a website at http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com to provide consumers, advertisers and publishers with additional information about the benefits of the agreement.

Conference Call – 5:30 a.m. PDT, Wednesday, July 29

Yahoo! and Microsoft will host a conference call with Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to discuss the agreement at 5:30 a.m. Pacific/8:30 a.m. Eastern Time today. To listen to the call, please dial 1-866-515-2908 in the U.S. and Canada; +1-617-399-5122 international, reservation number: 47968026. A live webcast of the call can be accessed through Yahoo!’s Investor Relations website at http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/results.cfm. The companies have also established a website at http://www.choicevalueinnovation.com to provide consumers, advertisers and publishers with additional information about the benefits of the agreement. In addition, an archive of the webcast will be available through the same link. An audio replay of the call will be available for two weeks following the conference call by calling 1-888-286-8010 in the U.S. and Canada; +1-617-801-6888 international, reservation number: 91217610.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

This release refers to operating cash flow (operating income before depreciation, amortization of intangible assets, and stock-based compensation expense, or OCF), which is a non-GAAP financial measure. The most comparable GAAP measure is income from operations. The estimated annual OCF benefit of $275 million included in this press release is the estimated annual benefit in income from operations of $500 million less approximately $225 million of estimated annual savings in depreciation, amortization and stock-based compensation expense.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global consumer brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! is where millions of people go every day to see what is happening with the people and things that matter to them most. Yahoo! helps marketers reach that audience with its unique and compelling advertiser proposition. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit http://pressroom.yahoo.com or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal at http://yodel.yahoo.com.

“Owned and Operated sites” refers to Yahoo!’s owned and operated online properties and services.
“Affiliate sites” refers to Yahoo!’s distribution network of third-party entities who have integrated Yahoo!’s advertising offerings into their websites or their other offerings.

This press release and its attachments contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning Yahoo!’s expected financial performance (including without limitation the quotations from management in this press release), as well as Yahoo!’s strategic and operational plans. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the expected financial and other benefits of the agreement with Microsoft may not be realized, including as a result of actions taken by United States or foreign regulatory authorities and the response or acceptance of the agreement by publishers, advertisers, users, and employees and Yahoo!’s strategic and business partners; the impact of management and organizational changes; the implementation and results of Yahoo!’s ongoing strategic and cost initiatives; Yahoo!’s ability to compete with new or existing competitors; reduction in spending by, or loss of, marketing services customers; the demand by customers for Yahoo!’s premium services; acceptance by users of new products and services; risks related to joint ventures and the integration of acquisitions; risks related to Yahoo!’s international operations; failure to manage growth and diversification; adverse results in litigation, including intellectual property infringement claims; Yahoo!’s ability to protect its intellectual property and the value of its brands; dependence on key personnel; dependence on third parties for technology, services, content, and distribution; and general economic conditions and changes in economic conditions; All information set forth in this press release and its attachments is as of July 29, 2009. Yahoo! does not intend, and undertakes no duty, to update this information to reflect future events or circumstances. More information about potential factors that could affect the Company’s business and financial results is included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, which are on file with the SEC and available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Additional information will also be set forth in those sections in Yahoo!’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2009, which will be filed with the SEC in the third quarter of 2009.

This press release and it attachments also contain financial projections are necessarily based upon a variety of estimates and assumptions which may not be realized and are inherently subject, in addition to the risks identified in the forward-looking statement disclaimer, to business, economic, competitive, industry, regulatory, market and financial uncertainties, many of which are beyond Yahoo!’s control. There can be no assurance that the assumptions made in preparing the projected financial impact will prove accurate. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from the projected financial impact. In addition, all projections exclude anticipated reinvestment by Yahoo! in its non-search business.

Yahoo! and the Yahoo! logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Yahoo! Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.

Microsoft Media Relations Contact:
Rapid Response Team, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide, +1 (503) 443-7070
Microsoft Investor Relations Contact:
Bill Koefoed, general manager, Investor Relations, +1 (425) 706-3703
Yahoo! Media Relations Contact:
Yahoo! Press and Industry Analyst hotline, +1 (408) 349-4040
Yahoo! Investor Relations Contact:
Cathy LaRocca, senior manager, Investor Relations, +1 (408) 349-5188

Yahoo! Inc.
Supplemental Information Regarding Projected Incremental Impact of Microsoft Search Agreement (in thousands)

¹Gross profit impact consists of increased revenue net of Microsoft’s share of Yahoo!’s search revenue. The increased revenue is attributable to the scale resulting from the combination of the Yahoo! and Microsoft search marketplaces.

²Operating expenses impact represents savings from reductions in spending on Yahoo!’s search technology.
Note: All estimates represent the projected annual financial impact of the agreement following its full implementation, which is expected to occur within 24 months of regulatory approval, and are based on Yahoo!’s current levels of revenues and operating expenses. In addition, all projections exclude anticipated reinvestment by Yahoo! in its non-search business. The projections are necessarily based upon a variety of estimates and assumptions which may not be realized and are inherently subject, in addition to the risks identified in the forward-looking statement disclaimer, to business, economic, competitive, industry, regulatory, market and financial uncertainties, many of which are beyond Yahoo!’s control. There can be no assurance that the assumptions made in preparing the projected financial impact will prove accurate. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from the projected financial impact.

More Information on the Deal

Cloud Computing in general terms mean that you are able to operate in a scalable and visualized platform over the internet. There are 3 main focuses on cloud computing where you combine the infrastructure, the platform and the software as services (IaaS, PaaS and Saas).

I was able to come across a real-world application of a Cloud Computing model for a friend of mine. Just like always, the best way to explain something is through an example, which has always been easy for me.

Ex: Moodle Operation on a Could Computing Model
The moodle service they had needed was a scalable platform from time to time as far as the performance of the computers and the bandwidth were concerned. A regular dedicated server or a shared hosting would not be any help since at times it needed to operate at 8 times of its normal performance. 8 times of the performance was very expensive to have. Through an scalable, cloud computing model through VPS.NET, we were able to set up the infrastructure, the platform and the software. The services were able to be enhanced by 18 times when needed.

VPS.NET
They has been in business for years and very reliable when it comes to customer support and service up time. Enter the code ‘rick‘ to receive extra 10% off through this link.

Go to VPS.NET

“The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate.
If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China.
If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs.
If we buy a computer, it will go to India.
If we purchase fruits and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.
If we purchase a good car, it will go to Germany.
If we purchase useless crap, it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy.

The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in the US.

I’ve been doing my part…..”

‘Have you been doing your part?’ May be a something to think about!

Merchant Circle
As the internet gains popularity, the traditional advertising systems like Newspapers or cable have become very costly and ineffective. Merchant Circle provides you with a class platform to list your services with the company information and contract details. Its local business social networking website will build connections with other businesses in your area or a region you specify (this does not restrict marketing your services to any place else) and grow your network based on the activity and the popularity of the business. Again, it’s strictly up to you to become active on the website and work on the things you need to do become active. Your business profile on Merchant Circle helps you to enhance the band awareness. It also works great for SEO too.

Fast Pitch Professional Networking
Searching professionals and businesses has made easy with Fast Pitch Networking. It gives you more control on how you network with people and it even allows you to communicate with people on your network, real-time. You can network with professionals on the internet based on experiences, shared educational types, location, affiliations, etc. Fat Pitch allows you to distribute content directly to the members using blogs, press releases, video, email marketing and event announcements. Check it out for yourself here.

Linked-in Professional Networking
Linked-in is may be by far the most popular professional networking platform out there. Linked in has over 43 million members so far covering over 200 countries. According to Linked-in almost all the fortune 500 company executives are on Linked-in. ‘Relationships Matter!’ they say and yes, it has many features embedded to the platform to build the relationship between you as a professional with your potential client or the vendor.

These there websites too have paid subscriptions, but try it out for yourself with the free memberships these websites have.