Head Guru

follow up IM - 3:13:52 PM *****: Hey, Bill. Available? 3:13:58 PM Bill Kish: 4 3:14:01 PM Bill Kish: sure 3:14:24 PM ****: Sorry if I seem like a pain, but was curious how we were doing on the prize. 3:14:38 PM *****: 3:14:51 PM Bill Kish: what did you win? 3:14:57 PM Bill Kish: some prizes went out today 3:15:08 PM *****: We discussed the iPod 3:15:27 PM Bill Kish: you won the grand prize and wanted to get the ipon instead 3:15:30 PM Bill Kish: right 3:15:35 PM ******: yes 3:15:51 PM Bill Kish: ok im just waiting to here back from the attorney who set all this up 3:15:59 PM ****: gotcha 3:16:57 PM ****: If I need to sign a waiver, it's no problem 3:17:12 PM Bill Kish: i should know today or monday 3:21:23 PM *****: Ok, great. Let me know when you aren't busy running that great business.

The orginal IM with him - where he says "I promised him an Ipod" 11:48:42 AM *****n am I too late for the contest? 11:48:54 AM Bill Kish: brb in a meeting 11:48:57 AM *****: ok 11:48:59 AM Bill Kish: just send me a email with details 11:49:03 AM Bill Kish: bill@totalchoicehosting.com 11:49:11 AM Bill Kish: and i will get your prize out 11:49:12 AM Bill Kish: ok bro? 11:49:16 AM ****: ok 11:49:22 AM ***: thanks 12:00:15 PM Bill Kish: np 12:00:21 PM Bill Kish: sorry for the delayed reply 12:00:30 PM Bill Kish: just busier than a one armed wall paper hanger 12:00:37 PM *******: Understood. You have a business to run 12:00:49 PM ***** I've worked in a tech office. meetings are paqr for the course 12:00:51 PM Bill Kish: what did you win ? 12:00:59 PM ****: Grand Prize, it says 12:01:04 PM Bill Kish: the server? 12:01:23 PM *****: Yes 12:01:37 PM *****: Although if you have an extra iPod...haha 12:03:56 PM Bill Kish: ha 12:04:13 PM Bill Kish: if you have no use for the server, i could prolly pull that off for you 12:05:08 PM ******: That would be AMAZING! See, the hosting excites me, yes, but I still have 1 1/2 years on a contract with my current host. That and the iPod would be a great gift for my nephew who is graduating this year 12:05:22 PM Bill Kish: kk 12:05:27 PM Bill Kish: just note that in your email 12:05:32 PM Bill Kish: ill see what i can do for you 12:05:41 PM ****: ok, I will send another email then because I already sent one off 12:08:56 PM *****: Thanks again, Bill.

My final response to his ticket.... Ticket Closed. Thank you, Bill Kish General Manager TotalChoice Hosting, L.L.C

His response Bill, So now you are telling me you won't even follow through with your statement that I have 48 hours in which to collect? A statement I have on record?

My response... Posted on 26 Feb 2008 01:21 AM Please contact the Michigan State Attorney and place your complaint with his department. Consider our offer withdrawn at this point. Ticket CLOSED. Thank you, Bill Kish General Manager TotalChoice Hosting, L.L.C

His reponse... Bill, Thank you very much for getting back to me. I'd like to go over a few details before I accept and finalize on any prize. Feel free to verify my research. According to Michigan State Law 750.372a, a contest or "Game Promotion" must contain the following: 1. Description 2. Amount 3. Location (geographic area) 4. Number of prizes The first 3 are covered in your original post dated September 26th, 2007. Unfortunately, the final requirement was not met. There is no number of prizes stated. One could assume this to mean any number, since it was not made clear per Michigan Law. I quote (from Michigan State Law 750.372a - section d): "Any person who shall conduct a game promotion within this state shall disclose to participants as to such game promotion, on a prominent poster in case such game promotion is conducted by a retail outlet, or on any card, game piece, entry blank or any other paraphernalia required for participation in a game promotion in case such game promotion is not conducted in a retail outlet, the geographic area or number of outlets in which the game promotion is proposed to be conducted, an accurate description of each type of prize to be made available, the minimum number and minimum amount of cash prizes to be made available and the minimum number of each other type of prize to be made available." (relevant area in bold) It also states: "The rules should be clearly stated along with the conditions of the contest." The rules and/or conditions of the contest were not met. I quote from your post: "Prizes will be sent to the winners within 2 weeks from end of contest. Contest entry deadline is December 31, 2007. Winners will be announced on January 1, 2008 via the TCH forums only." According to the Law, the contest announcements should have been made on the 1st, as stated. This was not the case. It was not until January 30th, 2008 that you made a post announcing the winners of the prizes. Following that, you stated in your most recent reply (below) that I asked you for the prize. This is also not the case. I give you our conversation on February 7th, 2008: 12:00:51 PM tchgurubill: what did you win ? 12:00:59 PM *****: Grand Prize, it says 12:01:04 PM tchgurubill: the server? 12:01:23 PM ****: Yes 12:01:36 PM *****: Although if you have an extra iPod...haha 12:03:56 PM tchgurubill: ha 12:04:13 PM tchgurubill: if you have no use for the server, i could prolly pull that off for you Please read my response carefully. Under the letter of the law, I did not ask a question. I made a joking remark, clearly followed by typical internet jargon for a 'laugh'. Your next replies, to my jesting remark, are key. You followed my 'laugh' with your own, using internet jargon again (since the medium leaves much to be desired in the form of real emoting) and then stated to me that if I had no use for the server you could 'prolly' pull that off. Then, on February 15th, 2008 your tone changed from open-minded to the following: 3:15:51 PM tchgurubill: ok im just waiting to here back from the attorney who set all this up This was my first notification that any lawyer was needed, let alone approached. During our initial AIM conversation we were both cordial, understanding, and open to other options. Some time between that initial conversation and the following week (not a few days) your tone changed dramatically. It was as if you suddenly did not have the power to make such decisions. I believe your title is Manager, and I know you have been with the company for years, so I find it hard to believe you were unable to follow through. You also stated, during that conversation, that some prizes went out that day. This leads me to wonder if the substitute I was offered would ever be granted or if was ever seriously considered. Sadly, until today, that was our last one-on-one conversation as all my future requests to speak to you, either through AIM or the forums, were ignored. Given at least one of the above items, one would assume they have rights under the law and an ability to collect. That leaves us with your letter to me this evening... I have not belittled you, I stated the facts as I have them in front of me. I have copies of the forum pages, our AIM conversations, and my correspondence with both you and Dick on the TCH forums. I have been very careful in choosing my words, very thorough in my research, and saved everything relating to this Contest. Also, the Grand Prize is stated to be $3150, not almost $4000. Before all the 'Lawyer Speak' that suddenly reared its ugly head and impersonalized the whole situation, I was comfortable speaking to you in a normal tone and without all this interlude. To be honest, I respect you. I appreciate your affinity for Macs and Linux, and was very pleased when you helped me understand the apps you ran on your personal desktop. I am deeply sorry (and a bit concerned) that this has had to evolve into this...whatever it is. I had hoped you guys would do the right thing. Those 48 hours are still valid so I will give your business time to consider the possibilities while I consider my own. Thanks again for taking the time. Please feel free to contact me at any of the links in my signature. I look forward to hearing fro you.

My Response..... Posted on 25 Feb 2008 11:29 PM Hello, I have taken the time to read your inquiry into the Prize for the TCh forums. I would like to clarify a few things before finalizing this prize award. I did not request that any prize be changed. You state in your correspondence that I approached you for this change in venue. This is inaccurate and simply not true. You asked me in a IM conversation if we had and spare iPods you would prefer that prize instead of the Grand Prize. I told you in very simple terms that I may be able to do that for you and I would see what I could do. A few days later we spoke again and I told you I was awaiting feedback from our legal team. It then was brought to my attention that we can not substitute prizes unless there was delivery issue. Meaning the promised prize was not available due to manufacture recall or what not. As you may not be aware every contest that we hold on the TCH forums are bound by the laws of the State Of Michigan and the United States of America. We simply stated in our terms that our Grand Prize was a Server Lease for 12 months. We DID not offer any substitutes for prizes. The bottom line is this. If you would like the server prize, I would be more than glad to award you this prize. I am not able to substitute any prizes for this contest. If you want the server please claim it, otherwise we will withdraw our offer to you after 48 hours of this notice. I am sorry you feel you were mislead, however I do not see it that way at all. After all, we are giving you nearly 4 thousand dollars worth of service for free. If you do not want the server that is fine, but I will not be belittled over something so trivial. I await your response on wether or not you want the Grand Prize. Thank you, Bill Kish General Manager TotalChoice Hosting, L.L.C

Here we go.... Ticket's from This dude.... Posted on 25 Feb 2008 11:09 PM Good evening, As requested, I am emailing this address regarding my winning the contest at the TCH forums (as ******). Enclosed you will find my recent correspondence related to this matter. I ask, as a human being, not some number or lawyers toy, for your understanding and patience in this matter. Thank you for your time, ****** Attached (dated Feb 20th, 2008 to Dick DeVance): I appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to talk to me about this. That stated, I understand that's what he did (speaking to a lawyer). However, since Bill initiated it, I don't see the problem. I mean, there also is not any rule in the contest post which states that the winnings cannot be substituted. I'm not arguing for the sake of arguing here, I am just trying to do what's best for both parties. Also, I do not understand why a lawyer had to step in. I have done nothing wrong and, as stated, the offer was made to me, not the other way around. Had I initiated the transfer of product I would concede with apologies. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Honestly, I hate seeming like the ungrateful bad guy here, but I feel like I was led on. It took weeks for you guys to get back to me and in that time I was never told (until the 15th) that Bill was 'just waiting to here back from the attorney ', let alone that it would be a problem. I even purchased accessories for it, never thinking everyone would pull a full circle and let lawyers do the talking. I had high hopes of giving this to my nephew for a graduation gift because I cannot afford that kind of expense, normally. Sorry, I just feel a bit led on. Can you understand that? I must state again I am not trying to be an unbearable jerk here. We're all human here. Can't we just figure this out? Thanks, ****** P.S. My other concern is that the other winners are able to have a product they can carry with them, for as long as they want, even past the 12 months stated in my winnings. They own a tangible item. They now possess an actual piece of merchandise, whereas mine is a virtual item which I will never touch and has a time limit attached. I suppose since there are now lawyers involved I should state this for the record: This letter, and all it contains, is not an admission of wrong doing, nor is it my way of forfeiting my winnings.

Some more follow up. The original contest thread where this grand prize winner was announced has been hidden from public view. I chose to do this to protect the identity of the person. Today the contestant decided to post in the forums in a guise of "defending himself". Bruce hid the post from this person, as he has told us that he had taken this matter to the Michigan Attorney General. So Bruce simply was protecting both sides. However, I am contemplating on wether I should let this contestant post his side of the story. I feel this could lead to some rather enlightening conversation. As I have saved every IM , email and help desk ticket concerning this issue. Just wondering if this is really worth all this effort. Bill

We are going to redo the contest for the grand prize. Stay tuned for details. I feel a server give away this week.

Hey, We do offer colocation in our Troy. Michigan facility. Feel free to use this IP for trace and ping's. 208.76.83.49 We offer KVM for rental periods of 4, 8 and 24 hour periods. When you kill your box just contact us and we can get you KVM hooked up. However, if you simply need us to correct small issues, our onsite tech's can help you in short order. We DO have cogent in our mix of bandwidth providers, however it accounts for less then 5% of our traffic. I think that cogent has really got their act together. In the early days Cogent was not something I would We have XO and Level3 as our main providers, and have been VERY pleased with our mix. I live in Oxford which is about 45 minutes from the DC. I am on Charter and ATT DSL connections at home and I see 30ms and 19ms pings respectively. If you would like to arrange a DC tour, please just call my office or cell phone, both listed in my forum signature. I would be more than happy to personally give you the grand tour. Good luck with your search for a colo provider.

National Cyber Alert System Cyber Security Alert SA08-079A Apple Updates for Multiple Vulnerabilities Original release date: March 19, 2008 Last revised: -- Source: US-CERT Systems Affected * Apple Mac OS X * Apple Safari for Mac and Windows Overview Apple Mac OS X and Apple Safari are affected by multiple vulnerabilities. Apple has released Security Update 2008-002 and Safari 3.1 to address these vulnerabilities, the most serious of which may allow a remote attacker to take control of your computer. Solution Install an Update Use Software Update to install Apple Security Update 2008-002 or Safari 3.1. Description Apple Mac OS X is affected by multiple vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to run malicious programs on your computer, crash your computer, or access your data without your approval. For more technical information, see US-CERT Technical Alert TA08-079A. References * US-CERT Technical Cyber Security Alert TA08-079A -

Now that would have taken smarts......

Thank you Bob. You have been a long time, loyal client and for that I am thankful. The winner of the grand prize was not a customer of TCH. Well, used to be a customer but left due to unknown reasons. Anyways, thanks for the kind words.

Maybe we could do a run off sort of contest, to give away the server that was never given away. Hmm...... What do you guys think?

I wanted to relay a story to the TCH family. As most of you know TCH has been conducting Forum contest since the early days. We have given away thousands of dollars in prizes and I have had a lot of fun doing so. We have given away Cellular Phones, Xbox 360's, Laptops, Ipod's, Custom Built Gaming Computers, DVD Burners and other great items. We have had very fun contests, the latest contest drew many contestants from all over the world. We drew over 19,000 thread views on our latest contest and the entries were all very entertaining. We offered several nice prices one being a free server rental for 12 months and a ipod touch. Man, what a great contest it was going to be. After letting the tension build we picked the winners and made the announcements. Each of the winners contacted us and we made shipping arrangements with the second and third place winners. Things were looking good. The first place winner did not seem happy enough to win the first place prize and contacted us. During a informal chat he suggested that if we could swap prizes for him it would make him very happy. I informed him, I would see what I could do for him. After talking to my attorney and thinking about the reason we wanted to give away a free server (to promote our dedicated server offerings) it was concluded that we would not be willing to swap out the grand prize for the winning contestant. This decision took a few days to decide as we could have given the winner a $300 iPod and saved several thousand dollars, however we stuck to our original prize and informed the winner. This is where things started to go south. After informing the person of our decision we were informed by the winner of how we broke our promise to him. Now remember this person was never promised a prize change at all. During this entire ordeal we kept offering the winner the server prize as he was the winner. Then the legal threats started. I waisted several days of my life with this person over a grand prize that he would not accept. The legal threats, the constant harassment over Instant Messenger, the multiple tickets into our help desk, the multiple emails all stating the same thing over and over. Over what? All because he did not want to accept our grand prize and wanted a free iPod instead.... This was like a dream gone bad! Long story short, I simply had enough of this persons threats and constant harassment and so I finally informed this person that I was revoking his prize and that I would be happy to let the Michigan Attorney General sort this issue out. I am just amazed at what our world has turned out to be. We are a society of people that expect things to be given to them. A welfare state it sure seems like we have turned out to be. Even if we can not get things just given to us or we can not get our way, we turn to our screwed up legal system to “bend the rules” to achieve what we want. What happened to the days when people were pleased to receive what people gifted them. I remember when I was just a young boy, my father always told me. It is not about getting a gift, that is not what matters, it is about giving a gift and making a person happy. This issue is much bigger than the latest TCH forums contestant, although I think he should be the poster child for a welfare state. This issue is about how we have turned in a society of cry babies. People that expect instead of achieve. Anyways, I felt the need to rant. I know some of you will be asking, is this going to stop future TCH forum contests. The short answer is a resounding “hell no”. Just ask the iPod and laptop winner how it felt to win their prizes. As much as they loved winning, we like giving. So the contests will go on until some one in the courts tells me I can not give. /me rant over.

My family, We are working on rebranding the TCH website and corporate image. I am working hard on keeping the things that you love about our web site in the new design and removing the things you dont like. So with that said. Tell me how you feel.... What say you about the current web site? What do you hate, what do you love? Any feedback would be great. Thanks

http://www.osx86project.org/ Run mac os x on your pc hardware. lol

Like alex said. Something about imageshack url is causing our mod_security rules to trip. I will have Ryan take a peak at this and he will respond directly to this thread. Bill

Most likely your ftp client is hiding files that it deems to be system files. For example, I run CyberDuck for Mac OS X. In the preference pane there is a tick button to "display hidden files". Check your FTP client for such a setting, I think this is the issue your facing. Bill

I would suggest taking a look at the "other side". I was a big Microsoft user for many years. In fact I am a certified MCSE and previous to TotalChoice I was an IT Manager for a major plastics supplier that had a 1000+ Windows base. I dropped my laptop in December 2007 and it suffered a fatal hard drive event. I bought a new laptop with Vista installed. I was excited to use the latest product from my longtime friends from Redmond. However, my experience with Vista left me feeling like Microsoft broke up with me after a long term relationship. I returned the laptop and started looking for a laptop woth XP installed. I then ran into a friend that was using a Macbook Pro laptop. My life has not been the same since. I am now a full time Mac user. I have replaced every variant of Windows in my home and in my office. Mac OS X leopard is a fresh breath of air. Mac just work! Now before you blast me and tell me how costly Mac's can be. Let me point you to the Mac Mini. She can use all your existing PC stuff. Like your keyboard, mouse and even DVI monitor. $599.00 is all it takes to get into the Mac world. Now the best part, is running Windows XP on my mac in a Virtual Machine. Once you go Mac, you will never go back. At least give them a look at. You might be surprised. They are Intel Based, they are built on Free BSD, they are fast, safe and fun to use! Bill

Cindy, Yep this is the one. It is a perfect step up for a reseller. You should go for it, it will really open new doors to your reseller business. Bill

/moved from TCH reviews to Pre-Sales questions.....

Thank you for the kind words.... We are doing our jobs and what you pay us to do. /note to self add the following to forum signature Bill's wish list. Apple TV Macbook Air Ford Mustang Rolex Sub Mariner

Once you go Mac you never go BACK! I am a Apple convert and am not looking back!