Small Linux tech support startup

Grell

Grell

Hello, I am thinking of a starting a very small (i.e. just myself) tech support company in which I will make house calls to people having problems with their Linux/UNIX operating systems and getting them to work and up and running. This service will be mainly aimed at newer *nix users at their homes as opposed to offering services to actual companies. This is just a small side project that I want to experiment with. I am wondering though what kind of legal advisement I need for this? For instance I do not want to be held responsible if someone loses data on their hard drive (not that it is likely to happen, but in case it does). Do you guys have any ideas as to how to get started doing this and how to develop some kind of legal contract where I will not be responsible for lost data? Are there any books out their that you suggest? Thanks in advance.
 
Based on your avatar I am guessing you are U.S. based. You need to register Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) or Incorporated (Inc). You need to talk to your lawyer and your tax accountant to see which one is more suitable for your situation. My guess would be that LLC would be OK for most beginners in U.S. Once you register LLC you will to develop contract forms. At first you probably can buy some standard contract forms from on-line or local law firms. I am not sure where you are located but with exception of few cities in U.S. the safe bet is that *nix home market is non-existing. If you are doing this as an exercise in running your own business it is OK. If you are doing this to make some money you will probably better off asking your neighbor to mow his lawn.

Business market does exist if you are willing to consider but it is very competitive.
 
gpatrick said:
If you owned a food catering business and someone got hospitalized from food poisoning, they could sue you. Your personal assets are protected in an LLC.
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As a restaurant owner and a chapter S corporation, I can tell you from personal experience this isn't the case and lawyers can think up all kinds of ways to come at you personally and you have no protection in too many situations. Somehow your company will cause someone some grief, real or almost always imagined, and they will hold you personally liable only because you own the place and no other reason, even if you weren't there and it wasn't your product.

So protection is based more on contracts, in this case, and not corporate organization.

Note: I have never lost a case, never went to court, and I've seen a few judges and lawyers roll their eyes at the other side, but it still cost me thousands.
 
I have thought about it and I think a better idea for me would be to hold free Linux (or BSD for that matter) tutoring sessions at a conference room in the local library to members of the general public. There would be no money involved (I am not doing this for the money but rather the experience). There are a surprising number of older people that want to learn Linux (or BSD) but do not know where to begin. This way I don't run the risk of destroying data and I will be in charge of the topics covered so I will not be outside of my skill set as I may be on a paid house call.

These are just random ideas floating in my head but maybe I will carry it out at some point. Dunno, that's my two cents.
 
In my opinion new user should not use *BSD Even how capable installation, they will be asking here about Xorg, Ports, Packages, WM, mounting, using of console etc. *BSD should be still configuring using Console, Is powerfull, efficient, but not user frendly OS therefore huge of them will be use it for while, and back to Windows, or increasingly Android (Therefore M$ "allow" update for everyone). (PC-BSD is better idea) For study best is Mint, huge package of driver, no problem with compatibility, .deb software package, problems solution working from Debian and Ubuntu community. But is unsecured. (Best Linux for LiveCD) Better idea is Google Searching Course xD. Or reading course with understanding, logic think. But tried, perhaps you'll be successful ;)

Or base console course, basic commands, basic program: cp mv mkdir, dd, chmod - lots of time I do not understanding this ;p, ls, how to use manual, Unix philosophy because is forgetten, that things.
 
An introductory class at a library might be good, especially if you can supply pre installed USB sticks. Probably Mint or Ubuntu would be the best choice, but even there, you will wind up with some hardware issues. Do they work with Dell laptops with Broadcom cards out of the box? If so, offering to teach such a class, even for free, might be worthwhile. A lot of small libraries would probably love such an idea.
 
I used to run the Linux club back at my old university and one thing we made frequent use of was Virtualbox. It enabled us to try out all different distros with no permanent effect on the OS being run. This course, assuming I go through with it, will be for absolute beginners and maybe those with a little experience with GNU/Linux. Topics covered would probably be along the lines of OS installation, basic command line tools, Xorg installation and configuration, directory hierarchy, etc... I just want to do it because I think it would be fun.
 
Choose Mint. Srysly, Ubuntu is wired lately - problem with install any packages on current LiveCD version for example.

Probably yes. On Debian non-free philosophy not(There are kicked out eaven FireFox, and create IceWasel), but Debian is stablest Linux distribution (FreeBSD rules here) ;) Burn to memstick, or DVD and check it.

Post Scriptum: Debian have distribution with kFreeBSD kernel and kHurd kernel. I do not tried install it, but, I read some article and there was write if Debian with kFreeBSD kernel is generally slowest, by Debian with Linux kernel. Test looked like professional. Some "operation" and the same computer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoeba_(operating_system) - this is interessing for parallel calculations, or platform for emulating Another OS I was thinking about game using Web, on "terminal" without HiEnd hardware. Pule of processor is possible to separate beetween users, but Graphic Card is too hard. Fiber now have speed higher then 600 Mbps, or adapting PCI-e or eaven DDR3 slot :D http://www.vikingtechnology.com/satadimm-ssd
 
Grell said:
I have thought about it and I think a better idea for me would be to hold free Linux (or BSD for that matter) tutoring sessions at a conference room in the local library to members of the general public. There would be no money involved (I am not doing this for the money but rather the experience). There are a surprising number of older people that want to learn Linux (or BSD) but do not know where to begin.
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You can always check Meetup to see if there are any interest groups for this in your area. If there is a Makerspace / Hackerspace nearby that could be a place to start. Or start your own Meetup group.
 
drhowarddrfine said:
As a restaurant owner and a chapter S corporation, I can tell you from personal experience this isn't the case and lawyers can think up all kinds of ways to come at you personally and you have no protection in too many situations. Somehow your company will cause someone some grief, real or almost always imagined, and they will hold you personally liable only because you own the place and no other reason, even if you weren't there and it wasn't your product.

So protection is based more on contracts, in this case, and not corporate organization.

Note: I have never lost a case, never went to court, and I've seen a few judges and lawyers roll their eyes at the other side, but it still cost me thousands.
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I went with the Chapter S form of corporation because my state of residence didn't have the LLC yet. One difference I know about in my state is that the "Chapter S" corp cost $25 to file papers, and the LLC costs $200. But, if the purpose is for more than lawn mowing revenue, the $200 is no great shakes. Ain't a lawyer, so this isn't advice.
 
gpatrick said:
You also never know how things will go. I used to work with a guy who was a good programmer, and someone he knew wanted to open a computer store. They opened it and sold retail computers and other hardware. Became a Microsoft approved vendor and even changed the bios to boot their own logo. After a few years of being very successful and the go to store in town, they sold to an out of town computer retailer that wanted to get into that market.
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Ah - the good ole days. Except that back in '91 the OEM prices for Microsoft approved vendors (my corp was one of those) - were sometimes higher than Walmart retail. Of couse it didn't matter because of software and hardware "added value" - which eclipsed all of that.

I went so far as to get an FCC account for certifying the less custom boxes I was assembling and selling. What a paperwork nightmare!

Never did the logo though. I think retail PC back then had the sky as the limit, but today it's not even up to the trees.
 
My suggestion: find a tech support company, try to roll in and perform remote tech support through VOIP and the Internet and let them worry about the legal aspects.

No offense intended but if you need to ask on a public forum and base yourself on the opinions of strangers then I don't see much good coming out of this. First off: this is an international forum. Which means that the laws which apply to us and which we know don't have to correlate. Even in the "united states of Europe" do you see that several countries apply their own laws and regulations, especially with law enforcement.

Second... Being right isn't the same as having that right acknowledged. Basically you can cover your bases by starting your session with a disclaimer. Or, when you work on a subscription based level make sure that the invoice which people get clearly states that you can't be fully held accountable

Should work great, until someone challenges it in court. No matter how well you prepared yourself: if someone is going to challenge your services there is going to be trouble.

As said: being right isn't the same as being proven right. If it was then we didn't see plenty of cases which failed in family court (I believe that's the term) yet which results got squashed when they got challenged in higher ranked court rooms.

And that's not even worrying about recognition and all. As such: I'd try to roll into an already established company and work your way from there.
 
It was good demilitarized zone... But understood it and I have hope if somebody stared asking, and thinking, what are exactly doing.

Greetings, Max.
 
Used to be that shoestring ops could do OK, but with today's legal and litigation environment, the shoestring operation has a problem. IT is slowly becoming like medical malpractice. Did you know the average doctor has already paid $3.5 million in claims?

Anyway, if you're worried about it, just get "errors and ommissions" coverage. The insurance that gpatrick mentioned is probably for sidewalk trip-and-falls, and won't cover your script errors (but hey - maybe you don't make them!) I think E&O can be had for about $4k/yr (at least used to be). So much for the shoestring ...

Some people just take their chances and stay lucky. Everyone has a different risk tolerance. BTW, none of this is advice.
 
different risk tolerance
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Ok. I have exam for two weeks for this. Should I be afraid? Its nice Answer now, if You can. Man, I will published everything, about it. did You U N D E R S T O O D ?! I knowing true, going to US geting someone for own law, and win proces instantly. You tok from wrong person man.

I cant belive. Securie Risk. https://i.imgur.com/YgOtW16.jpg

Nice, try harder. Or find the f. Exit.
 
I do not understand the post after my last post. Perhaps a language barrier?

But, I think I should emphasize that my last post was directed to the OP.
 
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