The e-home of Adam Saunders - Business

Patent Trolls

Adam Saunders — 2012-02-09T09:53:29.2578Z

I was reading an article today about a very serious patent claim currently being made in Texas. You can read the whole things here, but to summarise a patent troll called Eolas is trying to sue all the major internet players in claim over a patent that essentially covers the internet and how it works.

I had to post about it because one part of my work is to come up with new ideas and better ways for people to run their businesses. These types of patent trolls are a massive threat to the way everyone has come to rely on technology in their lives.

The problem is that software patents are vague, open to interpretation and can be completely misused. In theory, every innovator has to check through all patent offices around to world to see if their idea has already been though it. This simply isn't realistic and patent trolls know this.

Surely it would be better if the patent holder has to prove that their idea was actually stolen rather than someone else just thinking of the same idea. This is the weakness. Just because you patent an idea, doesn't mean someone hasn't already thought of it, used it, or may think of it on their own later. Even the biggest companies can't check everything they do.. it would overbear the patent office, stifle new ideas, plus some of these companies buy in from smaller firms that simply couldn't afford this process. This idea would be something like the well known legal term of "innocent until proven guilty".

I don't want you to get me wrong about patents themselves. I think patents do have their place. Western worlds can't manufacture any more, not like the East can, so innovate and license has become a massive contribution to the overall GDP. But if these people were really serious about just protecting their ideas, they wouldn't have waited years for the fish to fatten on it before coming in to destroy it for everyone, which is precisely what patent trolls are doing, and the Eolas case is no exception. There is absolutely no way that they wouldn't have known these companies had innovations covered in their patents.

Perhaps then this alternative idea would be fair. If someone has been publicly producing products or services that have innovations that could be argued are covered by a patent, then if no infringements have been claimed within X years, then they can't sue. That should stop the trolls and get patent holders to actually check what they own, not everyone else trying to see what everyone else might have, and it would therefore still allow people to protect their ideas. That is the purpose after all, not to allow people to mince millions for their own means and "sod the rest of the world".

Been naughty again. Not posted in a while..

Adam Saunders — 2010-07-12T13:39:32.333Z

What can I say... Been very naughty and not written a blog post in a while. It's probably more for good reasons than bad as Neetrix is starting to take off and the feedback has been brilliant. Still loads to do, but have a number of small businesses using Neetrix to run their businesses. We're are currently going through the second phase where the interface is having an overhaul now that the core is stable. The recent completion of the Trial Balance report for Neetrix Accounting has been a significant milestone that has proven the accuracy and stability of the system. These new enhancements will provide a far faster administration area, reduce our code-base for quicker implementations of new features, and hugely improve the ease of use of the system. In every respect, its very exciting.

I've also been trying to get the 2nd and 3rd piano pieces down on paper. That's been on the back burner for ages, but has recently had a bit of a burst of progress. I'm looking forward to publishing them up on this site as soon as they are done so I can put them to the side and work on my next stuff with the piano. (my reading speed has taken a small blow because of the focus on writing theory).

One thing I have managed to do recently is sort out a twitter background for my personal twitter account.. It's been long overdue! Check it out http://www.twitter.com/_AdamSaunders.

Spam and viruses indirectly from confused.com

Adam Saunders — 2009-10-13T09:11:39.326Z

Whenever you sign up to a website to buy goods or set up an account for one reason or another, I can't think of a single example that have not asked for an email address. Most of the time email addresses are required to be provided for the service. Many people don't think about what happens to that information once they press the submit button, especially after they have ticked all those boxes to request the company to not provide their details to any other third parties and partners, we all would presume that this information is now safe and secure.

Unfortunately these things are not perfect. So my trick is to create an email address or use plus addressing* to ensure that each time I provide an email address to a website, it is unique and therefore traceable.

In this instance I have been receiving a number of spam and viruses from an address that I had setup to only use on the confused.com website. The problem with such a company is that it is the core of their business to forward your information onto other systems that store and use your data. This makes it very hard to work out where a leak of the addresses would have occurred, but none-the-less it would have originally started at confused.com.

I strongly believe that the measure of a good company is not by the problems they will inevitably face. Every single business will experience problems like this at some point, and no matter how much planning is put into place, something will inevitably get missed. It's just the nature of tech, and an element of sods law. What makes a good company is the way they deal with the problems and I have to say I am impressed/surprised with confused.com.

I think is only fair to let a company know of problems that they may be unaware of. I'd expect the same for my business, So I proceeded to let confused know via an email address they issued on their website regarding any reports of problems regarding privacy. I even attached the original spam/virus (cleaned) emails, but to find that their own messagelabs spam filter bounced the email back. Out of a little frustration (I was only trying to help) I placed a message on twitter last night, mentioning that the spam was coming from the confused.com email address. To my shock, within THREE minutes a polite Kelly from confused.com PR messages me asking if they could help. So a few messages back and forth and I send details about what had happened. This morning I get an email from the CEO of confused.com (Carlton Hood) acknowledging the information I sent with a promise to try and track down any leaks they can find.

I dare say, that would be a difficult task to undertake. I know that the email hadn't come directly from confused.com, but likely a bot net that had already obtained the email address lists either from a compromised address book, badly issued mail list (everyone in the To or CC lists), or a compromised system on a partners network.

I do know that the last emails came from machines on the BT network through the BT SMTP services. BT should REALLY do something about tracking spam and letting their customers know that they could have been subjected to a virus or trogen that is using their machines to send unsolicited email. But that is a different story.

It is unfortunately common for some businesses to just play the naive game when it comes to issues like this. I was surprised to find confused.com so active around the report. Meanwhile I'll continue using unique email addresses for websites in order to track where my spam originated from, and would recommend the same with others if you can.

* Plus addressing is supported by a number of email services and when enabled will allow you to add additional address information on to your email address in order to differentiate where the email is from or what the email is for. You do not need to set up individual email addresses which makes this an ideal solution for problems as discussed above.

For example if I was to use adam@mydomain.com, with plus addressing I can have adam+confused@mydomain.com or adam+anything@mydomain.com that will all still be delivered to the inbox of adam@mydomain.com automatically.

My Site is now Powered By Neetrix SiteFront!

Adam Saunders — 2008-11-08T17:41:08.7356425Z

Finally, finally, finally.. After spending so much time getting other people's sites on to the new Neetrix platform, I've finally moved over this site too. Same blog, however, new engine, new possibilities.

Whilst I've moved it over, I'll most likely create a new skin for my site as its due one around now. I've been using this look and feel for at least 2-3 years now.

Now I can look foward to the next product! Neetrix is getting a pretty amasing response considering we haven't even got the website content online yet. A lot of clients are eagerly awaiting the new StoreFront applications after already moving to SiteFront. Good early starts like this, indicate a promising future. Exciting times!

I love technology..

Adam Saunders — 2008-11-08T17:21:27.5Z

I'm just on my way back from meetings in London, sitting on a train heading to Bristol. The amazing thing is that I don't have to stop working (unless I choose too). Travelling is a time sucker for business people, so being able to make the most of that time is really important.

On this trip I happen to have a couple of key items.. A laptop and a Windows mobile phone. I have a business tarrif with O2 which means that I get unlimited internet data, so thought that I would see if there was ways to use it than the tiny web browser and basic email you get on the phone. So I plug in the laptop to the plug socket that is available on every train table, and then the USB cable between the two devices and start the "Internet Sharing" application on the Windows mobile phone. Next thing you know my laptop springs into glorious 3G life with broadband speeds on the move. It's SO easy!

So now I'm able to write this blog entry along my journey, whilst having a video conference with a friend over Skype. I get wide-eyed looks from people around me as, although this technology has been available for a little while now, its not something you see very often.. esspecially as rich as this. I can imagine to many, it might seem something from a sci-fi movie..

No More WHA Team..

Adam Saunders — 2008-11-08T17:21:27.5Z

A sad day for everyone at WebHost Automation today, as it is the last day that we will all be working together on the Helm project. I'm still carrying on, but those that have poured so much into the product are all moving on to new things.

So this goes out to Mark Neil, Chris Beer, Martyn Norman, Denny Wong, Matthew Rowley, Rob Kershaw, Nadeem Khan, Jonathan Caines, Lucy Weeks and James Pomphrey.... thank you guys for all your hard work, I wish you all the best for the future which I'm sure everyone will do very well with.

WebHost Automation Ltd sold to SWSoft (Parallels)

Adam Saunders — 2008-11-08T17:21:27.5Z

Well, that is my second business sold.. and it was very hard to let it go. Helm has been dominating my life for the last five and half years, but chosing to sell to SWSoft (Parallels) was actually quite a simple choice.

The reason for the sale was straight forward. WHA is too small to take Helm to the next levels that we want it to go. Now that Helm 4 has the stability, and a proven architecture, we know that it needs even more energy and resources in order to push the platform to meet the demands of not only hosts, but of enterprises as well. There are SO MANY things that the Helm platform can do; directions it can take, and complex environments that it could ultimately manage, but WHA wouldn't have been able to conquer any significant slice of this action within the timescales we wanted to see.

The fact is that Helm needs a much larger established firm to push it out quickly, and the choice is taken very carefully too. So this just leaves us with a final question.. Why SWSoft (Parallels)?

Again, the answer to this is simple. The owners of both WHA and SWSoft have known each other for a long time. We both understand each other, and importantly, know what are visions are. The reason the ownership falls on SWSoft rather than any other large corporation, is because our goals are similar. I know that with Helm being in SWSofts hands, that it will go in the directions I have wanted it to go.

Unfortunately I'm not retired on some sandy beach on my own island, sipping cocktails.. Instead I'm still working on Helm 4, but now it has a bigger sales force and access to a much larger QA, support and development team too.

OpenHosting (the first business sold) is doing VERY well after the sale. It's getting close to being one of the biggest independant hosts in the UK at the moment! That's a long way on since Mark and I let it go :)

I've no doubt that Helm will gain the same sort of immense growth with SwSoft (Parallels). Viva Helm!!

Helm 4 Goes Hyper Popular

Adam Saunders — 2008-11-08T17:21:27.483Z

Well, I for one was expecting Helm 4 to be pretty popular, esspecially this year with all the things that are going on at WHA at the moment, but I wasn't expecting the first week of 2007 to have so many Helm 4 installs in just a day.

It's great to see more hosts now getting to understand what some of Helm 4 is about. I'm really looking forward to showing off the stuff they haven't seen yet :-D