I’d like to start with an announcement:

oDesk is going to end support for Internet Explorer 6 some time in September 2008.

I thought I had better put that out there just in case we have some readers who still use IE6 and don’t check the oDesk Community often enough.  If you’re in that group I really recommend going out and getting Firefox 3, or either upgrading to Internet Explorer 7 or Opera 9, or even Safari if you’re a Mac user.  Internet Explorer 8 is already in beta, so there’s no reason to be two generations behind the curve.

My own preference is for Firefox 3, although I use other browsers when I have to.  (I admit it, I’m a browser junkie and have four installed on this machine.)

Now that we’ve finished that important public service message, we now return you to your regularly scheduled posting.

In a previous post, I discussed some of the pros and cons of Google Documents and other forms of ‘Cloud Storage.’  While I do think Google Documents make a great collaborative tool I still have serious issues with storing client data on someone else’s machine.

Luckily, I have found an alternative.

Before I go into it further, I recommend you brace yourself, as I won’t be surprised if Nelson fires off a full broadside at this one (I expect him to look at it with his blind eye due to the source.)

Windows Live FolderShare

The idea is simple.  It’s a peer to peer (P2P) application that lets you mirror folders or directories on multiple computers.  It has built in security settings that also allow you to either restrict access to yourself or share the folder with someone else.

Currently I have it set up so that my main writing directory (which has sub-folders for my personal and business work) is mirrored between my desktop and my laptop.  This lets me open a work file on either computer and have it automatically update on the second so long as I have an internet connection.

What I like is that it meets two of my needs simultaneously.  It gives me an automatic real-time backup for any work I do as all my files are mirrored on the other machine, and also gives me automatic synchronization so I can work whenever I need to or wherever I am without worrying about having the right version of the document.

Now for my second trick:

It also allows me to share folders with someone else.  This means that if I’m doing collaborative work with one or more other people we can share a folder and use it as a document repository.   We can each mirror the folder and then any time I update a file my client can have access to it immediately.

This works very well on oDesk with the payment guarantee which means I don’t need to worry about whether I’ll be paid for what I have done.

It’s a very useful tool, especially for people like myself who work on multiple computers.  In fact I’m thinking of putting the application on one or two of our other computers just to be sure I have backups when I need them.

Nothing beats a backup you don’t have to think about.

It’s really two bills right now, one in the US House and one in the Senate. You can read the bills here:

• Senate
• House

Although titled differently by each legislative body, I’ll just collectively refer to the OWA (orphan works act).

Each covers essentially the same ground; they modify existing copyright law to address the problem of ‘orphan works’. Orphan works are materials that fall under copyright statute (they are created works) where a copyright holder is assumed to exist, but cannot be located. You might think of them as abandoned (or thought to be abandoned) pictures, text, or designs.

How did it come about?

The hubbub and attempt at legislation goes back to 2005, when the Copyright Office completed a study on orphan works. They found that the vast majority of artistic works either weren’t being copyrighted in the first place, or weren’t being renewed (the renewal rate was on the order of 15%).

This was seen as a burden for users of existing materials, especially libraries, museums and other non-profits. An example might help here.

Suppose you find a great little haiku on the Internet. It illustrates just what you want for your chapter on alliteration. Can you use it? Sure. But you open yourself up to lawsuit if the copyright holder sues. Being aware of this, you diligently search online (with Copyscape or another provider). You can’t find an owner. You check with the Copyright Office, but unfortunately, without a copyright date or name (which doesn’t appear on the work as you found it) there’s nothing really to search with. Can you use it? How about a picture of a cat for the cover of your book? Maybe an old picture torn out of newspaper…

There’s the problem. And it’s a big problem in the book publishing industry where other works are cited often and sometimes at length. As it stands now, all old works must be assumed protected and can’t be used without significant risk of lawsuit. The OWA attempts a fix to this problem. Their solution is to have approved private companies register materials digitally. Documents and other works could be searched to see who the copyright holder is.

Why is it causing panic?

The panic mirrors other hyped Internet causes. You can see an example here (and sign a petition if you like): Say no to the Orphan Works Act (viewed- when I looked- about 17,000 times and signed about 7,000 times).

When you read about the OWA (and it is likely you will see it: it’s going viral) you will see a lot of exclamation points and horrible scenarios. Most revolve around how much it will cost to register your creative work with a private company and how you will be harmed if you don’t.

The harm most mentioned is that you won’t be able to sue if you catch someone using your work without permission. There are two cases the OWA addresses:

1) You registered your work and catch someone using it. Your recourse would be the same as it is now for copyrighted material. You sue for infringement and damages. Nothing changes.

2) You don’t register your work and catch someone using it. The damages you can collect are reduced if the user did a due diligence search to find the copyright holder (you). If they followed industry standards and Copyright Office recommendations (yet to actually be determined) for the search, they are largely off the hook. They still might have to pay for the use of your work, but won’t have to pay the often extraordinary damages.

On another front, the visual artists have a bigger problem and maybe a reason to panic. My text can easily be saved in a searchable database at very little cost. I expect whatever services emerge to store my contact info without much of a charge. However, graphic artists and photographers aren’t quite so lucky. It’s simply harder to store and search visuals. Consider the difference between this blog post getting stored and the contents of a photographer’s digital camera.

Other, less well known copyright holders also have a legitimate concern. Suppose I design wallpaper. Under existing law, I own the copyright to the design (providing it is unique) and no one else can use it. Under the OWA, if someone does a search and cannot find me, they can use my design (even commercially) with reduced legal exposure. So, for the visual arts, the fear is that lower potential penalties will give their competition easy access to their previous commercial work without fear of serious lawsuit.

What’s the upside for me?

The upside for me is that digital registration for a small fee (fees have not been set yet) means I might actually start using copyright. As it stands now, I am loath to pay the $17 to get my small efforts officially copyrighted (small but highly significant and an indispensable read).

There’s no guarantee that private registry companies won’t charge as much to register with them as the Copyright Office does now. We will have to wait and see. But, if the rates are large, I’ll simply keep doing what I am doing now- not much at all.

Most freelancers online do ghost writing or work for hire. That means I don’t have any rights going in. If and when I do complete my ebook (it would be unethical to tout it here), I’ll make sure I copyright it properly and pay the going rate to do so.

So, with the exception of visual artists, this might be another tempest in a teapot. But stay tuned to see if the acts get passed or not. As a creative artist, you ought to pay attention and come to your own conclusion on whether the OWA is a problem.

You can keep up with legislative progress here: Orphan Works resource page 

I know some of you are probably thinking something like “Dave, you’re a writer, why did you go to a Microsoft event?” I could say I went because I could, but that would only be a small part of it. Part of it’s because I have worked as a system administrator and it’s always good to keep up with what’s happening; and since Microsoft is the eight million pound gorilla of the software industry I have a vested interest in keeping up with them in particular.

Still that may not be enough of a reason to go to such an event, and while the swag is good– the biggest giveaway was Vista Ultimate and I already have that.

So, what was the point?

Part of it was networking. I made a few contacts and also managed to get both my name out and connect with others. A lot of the writing jobs you can find on oDesk are technical in nature, and if you’re going to write about technology it pays to know what’s going on in the field.

Most of those companies need writers, and by being aware of what they’re doing (because there were a lot of other companies represented there too) I got a better idea of the industry as a whole. It also helps with the background knowledge I need for various technical writing jobs I might be applying for.

Child care issues meant I didn’t get as much done as I wanted to, but there were some very interesting things I learned at the event.

One big thing, from my perspective, is that Microsoft is taking a lesson from Linux and looking to compete directly. That’s not as strange a statement as it sounds. Server 2008 is bringing in ideas like Server Core, which allows you to install a basic server OS with no GUI for simple server tasks. It’s something people have been doing on Linux for years, but Microsoft hasn’t really had a product to compete in the same space.

Another change has to do with what they’re calling the PowerShell which is a new command line environment.  They’re moving back to the idea that the command line should be more powerful than the GUI, and that the GUI should be a layer that sits on top of the actual commandlet.  I’m impressed.

A lot of the other changes have to do with security. Server 2008 is both much more secure and more granular in that security than previous versions. I was very impressed with how tightly they can lock it down,while at the same time the part that I love as an administrator would terrify me as a user.

I found the event worthwhile, and I think many of you would too.

The oDesk Insider book will dig into what makes a great profile that gets you hired, but in the meantime, I thought it would be interesting to review profiles here on the blog. It will give you an “inside the buyer’s head” view of profiles and hopefully help all of the readers make small improvements.

If you’re interested, submit your profile for review (it’s also worth noting that there’s a forum with a similar purpose on oDesk; feel free to submit to both and get even more suggestions).

What’s the oConomy? It’s a collection of statistics (nicely presented in graphs and maps) that give details on how people are doing business on oDesk.

Many of the graphs are fun to look at, but I encourage you to dig deeper and figure out what the numbers might imply for your oDesk success. For instance, one pair of graphs that interested me are shown below (see the original graphs on oConomy):

The first graph shows the rates of all providers (I cut both graphs off at $45/hour, as that’s where the most interesting info was). The second graph shows the rates agreed upon for jobs. (In other words, the first graph is what providers hope for, and the second is reality).

As you can see, they generally follow the same trends (which makes sense, since jobs are going to be performed by the providers listed in the first graph). But I find it very interesting that providers at both $5/hour and $15/hour seem to be a little over-available, with a somewhat disproportionate number of assignments going for $10/hour.

Of course, like all statistics, the hard numbers are open to soft interpretation. Does this imply that many providers could up their rates from $5/hour to $10/hour? Or does it mean that the “average” provider at $5/hour don’t present himself as well as the “average” provider at $10/hour?

Obviously, I don’t know the answer to those questions. But if you’re a provider, it might be a sign that it’s time for you to do an informal survey of your competition and see if there’s anything you could add to your profile to justify a little rate hike. If you’re on the higher end already, what are you doing to prove your value?

And that’s just from the rate charts. Be sure to check out the other data, too! You never know what insights you might gain.