While researching competitors online recently, I noticed something. A lot of places are offering “free consultations”, whether they’re 20, 30 or 60 minutes. Well, here’s my take on that – they’re in the door just long enough to see what’s broke or what you need, then the sales pitch starts. If they get you hooked, they throw in a line “we can do it in x minutes/hours”, then later, the sinker comes in with “we went over our planned time…” or “well, we didn’t anticipate this extra cost”.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that we don’t always get estimates right, but we give discounts for going over the estimate amount. We also don’t charge for every single minute that we’re on a customer site, unlike other companies. Lastly, if you need something done on site, that can be done at the shop to save you money, we’ll recommend that instead. If it can be avoided, you won’t see a $1000 bill from Protocol16 for something like a hard drive recovery, just because the call was for on-site service, when the fee should have probably been half that (something we’ve seen a local business do). We really shine when it comes to saving our own customers money.

But, there is something that you need to know about Protocol16, something a recent customer found out. Protocol16 takes new customers seriously. While I’d love to talk about how much time we just spent consulting for a new customer, I’m afraid to even publish it as I don’t want Protocol16 flooded with requests of people expecting massive amounts of free help.

A real consultation report for a Protocol16 customer.

If you call Protocol16 for a consultation, we’ll talk things out about your specific situation, dig around a little to see what type of hardware and software you’re working with, and more, before turning around to talk business. If this takes a few hours, so be it. With that, I’ll say that Protocol16 will offer a 1 hour consultation for any business, but we do reserve the right to take longer to learn about your situation. If you have a complicated situation, Protocol16 may spend many hours just learning about the issue, doing research, then you get one of these pretty reports.

The above technical report, is a real report done by Protocol16 for a mid-sized business having specific problems. The details have been blurred because Protocol16 takes privacy very seriously. We will not publish names of companies or individuals that we’ve helped. It is the decision of the company or individaul to make that information public. While we love saying “We helped xx and yy”, that’s just something we won’t do.

There are a lot of people in Portland that have asked about alternatives to Microsoft Office. While I personally like Office, I know it can be a burden to those that can’t afford the licensing costs. Even businesses have problems meeting the licensing costs.

Alternatives
Well, there’s the Open Source alternative called OpenOffice and then there’s Google Apps. Some companies report decent success using both OpenOffice and Google Apps. Personally, I would move to OpenOffice out of the two. I would rather have the documents on my computer than on the web. Perhaps I’m paranoid about security, due to my training and what I’ve seen.

Office Web Apps
Well, now there is another option for you all: Microsoft’s Office Web Apps. You can test drive them, in limited form, at Skydrive.live.com (you’ll need a Windows Live account though.)

I played with it on Sunday evening while I had some downtime at home and liked the little bit that I was able to play with. Excel, looked just like Excel, even though I’m on a Mac using Firefox… If you create a new file, after you log in, you can play around in said file, just like the real program. While playing around, I noticed that Word isn’t working, but Excel is. I didn’t attempt anything else.

According to Microsoft and other news reports, Office Web Apps will be free to users of Windows Live. So, when it’s fully released, it might be a viable alternative to the Office Applications that you install.

This release of free Web Applications may also drive the price of Office down, but only time will tell.
Justin

A lot of people out in the Portland Metro area need computers recycled. In fact, even my father-in-law needed some computers recycled since he just didn’t want to throw the machines away – not to mention that it’s practicably illegal now (or is it?)… But, it can be very hard to get rid of these machines and some places even charge you for the removal of them. Not Protocol16.

Well, with that said, Protocol16 is offering Free PC recycling in the Portland Metro areas. This means that if you have a PC, or even 3, that you need to get rid of, give us a call and we’ll be more than happy to stop by and pick it up.

Why We Do It
Protocol16 recycles computers in Portland due to the fact that it helps the environment. Secondly, it’s because we can actually recycle the parts into repairs that we do on computers (we offer lower pricing for re-used parts, in specific situations). Third, helps a lot of people out with the problem of recycling their computer. Forth, some computers be worked into a donation program for various non-profits around the Portland Metro areas. These would be non-profits that need computers or hard drives (for storage space) in a very severe manner. We are still working on a list of possible candidates – we’ll publish a list when we set it in stone.

Like we’ve always said, we hope to leave every single customer with a smile on their face and this is something that helps everyone.

What We Take
First and foremost, we use computer parts. That being said, we primarily collect the computer towers and laptops – working or not. We will, however, accept Monitors and LCD screens, as long as they’re in working condition. We don’t mind scratches, chips, etc.

So, if you’d like your computer recycled, give us a call and let us know that you have a PC for pickup. We’ll make an appointment to collect them for you, at your convenience, no strings attached.

Requirements
If you wish to recycle your computer, just let us know and setup an appointment. Our only requirement is that you sign a slip stating that Protocol16 has taken the computer from you. We’ll write down a quick description and serial number, if we can find one, and just ask for your signature. It’s that simple!

Due to space requirements, we do have a maximum amount of computers that we can take: 3 full computers at once.

Contact Us
If you have a few computers that need to go away in Beaverton, Portland or even Woodburn, give us a call and we’ll make your appointment!
Justin