But Wait! There's MORE!!

I have been doing a lot of research on the company Zonbu since the last Post. It turns out that Zonbu is (or was) a company with very few people in it. The Person presented as the face of Zonbu has started several companies in the past. But he has't been very sucessful at it if you think of success as being a long term event for the company. All of his companies have ultimately failed in five years or less. Even the one he sold during the DOT.COM boom. This is not a very good track record. I don't think that he should expect a call from Warren Buffett anytime soon. Buffett doesn't invest into companies that don't have a long track record of time and experience.

I have been around the block a few times in my life. I consider myself an average guy. And like many people, I'm certainly not dumb, but, also like many people, I have had to work hard at things in my life. That's why I have been known to say --- I may be stupid, but I ain't dumb. Well, Zonbu took people to be dummies. Don't you hate that?

I hate it when companies do that (don't you?). Let me explain:
Zonbu was set up to be a company which employed very few people. Their whole purpose in life was to sell a computer as a service (see my previous post). A sort of "CLOUD COMPUTING EXPERIENCE"!

Well, if you read my previous posts, you can tell that I think that this is JUST STUPID. And I truly believe that people may be dumb! but they are NOT STUPID! They just need to be pointed in the best way to consume goods, materials, and services. They'll figure out the rest.

Zonbu was trying to sell a cloud computing system. They offered a cheap computer and tried to sell a service of online storage. This is something I know a little bit about. It really doesn't take much to set up a server system these days. It takes, say Three People. These folks obviously have to know about the right software to use for the server system. You also have to have a physical place for the servers to sit. Say an office closet which can be rented for about $200US per month depending on where you live (obviously). Now, I haven't looked into Zonbu that closely, as of yet, but I have a sneaking suspicion that that is EXACTLY what they did. I did a little sluthing (very little) and found out that they have a place of business listed BUT NO ADDRESS.

After the servers are set up and running, customer service was set up via an Online Forum. They Probably had some people be forum monitors from home to answer any technical questions. This is just a guess on my part, but that is normal nowdays. This is known as an ONLINE Shell company. And the owners thought that they could make millions on it. Problem is that these types of companies almost always fail because the people running them are cheap, greedy little bastards!

Let me repeat that --- These types of companies ALMOST ALWAYS FAIL! IN my collage days these types of companies would have been known as FBN for Fly By NIGHT because they almost ALWAYS go under in a short period of time --- Overnight perhaps?

There is a reason a guy like Warren Buffett invests with people who have built up a company over a LONG! period of time. Because that company already has INVESTMENT in it by the owners. It has investment in it of TIME AND MONEY by people who care about sucess! Zonbu owners are missing these elements!

Let me state at this point that I don't know any of the people who established and ran Zonbu. Not personally or otherwise. They may be very nice people and, in fact, I hope that they are for their sake. However, experience tells me that these people tried to do this Zonbu Cloud Computing Business on the CHEAP! This is not against the law. It's not even immoral! But in terms of success it almost never succeeds.

You see, my measure of success, like that of Warren Bufett, is a long term profitable business which pays people (not just the owner) WELL! Enough for people to make a REAL LIVING ON AND PROVIDE FOR THEIR FAMILY! This is not Zonbu.

If you've read my previous entires you have figured out that I don't think very highly of these types of business ventures. Why on earth would someone pay a fee for something that they could OWN? Like their own DATA! I have never understood this way of thinking. And this is why I think that cloud computing is not going anywhere fast! Just ask Zonbu!

Here is an example of a growing market of the internet which allows people to re-take control of their lives: VOIP! (Voice Over Internet Phoning)

Why is VOIP so successful? There are many reasons, but I believe that there is one overriding reason. Because VOIP allows a household to better control its own internal cost. This is why the telephone company's (you know them, AT&T, Qwest, Verizon, etc.,...) land-line subscriptions have declined by OVER thirty three percent in the last year alone. Let me restate that folks --- the telephone companyies LOST over 33% of their land-line business last year! It's that simple folks. You pay less and get more with VOIP!

But even VOIP is over priced! YES! You read that right! VOIP is overpriced! In my last blog I wrote about many trends in the computer industry. Now it's time to put these trends to work for US! Yes, YOU and ME! To better control your household's expenses (who doesn't like saving money in this economy?) take your old Zonbu and make it into --- Drumroll please --- A Skype telephone server! Look, its something you ALREADY OWN! You paid for it! It's YOURS! Instead of letting it be a big paperweight let it do something for you like reduce your monthly telephone bill from $35/month (Land-Line), or $25/month (VOIP) to just over $6 plus change. YES! You read that right. Let me state that again --- $6 plus change per month for UNLIMITED telephone service in North America. And you thought that your Zonbu machine was worthless!

They'll be more to come, so keep reading.
Haggis!