Inspired by several that I have noticed around the web, being cheap as I am, being a UNIX nerd, and having just drooled over the new 20” iMac, I have decided to start a switcher fund. However, this is a different repetition of the motif.

I’m not begging for donations from the general public, as most other Swither Funds tend to do, but offering a service: honest work for honest goals. It’s a free market fun fest for all!

Here’s what I ask: why not consider using Halfass Hosting for your weblog, business site, non-profit organization or whatever? If you do, you’ll be helping me to attain my goal of earning an Apple Macintosh computer on which to do all my, well, computing. You’ll be gaining a decent, mellow web host and helping to rid the world of one more Wintel box. You’ll also be supporting blogs, as I donate a portion of my profits to various sites that request donations via Paypal.

Halfass Hosting is a joint “venture” between me and my buddy “Tim”. Our goal is to provide really cheap, high quality, low-key hosting for people like us and businesses. We have many clients already, and all seem to be quite happy with the service.

Here are the general guidelines:

• Speedy links and blazing boxes with bells and whistles: all Linux/PHP4/perl/mysql, etc.
• Administrative control panel with mysql administration features, logs, security, file managers, etc.
• It’s really, really cheap.
• Works perfectly with Movable Type (mysql option) and other weblogging applications. Movable Type’s licensing agreement does not allow us to support installations of the software, so you must install it yourself, but so far, nobody has had any problems.
• Handles eCommerce sites and shopping carts
• Blah blah usual stuff
• 30 day money-back guarantee
• Tiered pricing for various applications: from simple “home pages” to full-on shopping cart madness!
• You can pay monthly or annually (with a big discount). All payments are handled through Paypal, so you can pay with your personal funds, credit cards or all that loot you made peddling Paris Hilton videos on eBay.

Caveat Emptor:

• Technical support is provided via e-mail, AIM and Yahoo Messenger only. Generally, we’re very responsive and very few problems surface, but on occasion, special requests and setup configurations require our intervention. For these reasons, we offer technical support, but you’ll rarely need it, if ever.
• We reserve the right to boot assholes. If you are too high maintenance, we will kick you off and refund your money. Don’t worry, we’re happy to have our customers and it would take A LOT for us to boot somebody, but this is for fun and we won’t be threatened or bullied.
• No porno, warez, spammers or other illegal activity, including copyright violations, are allowed. We check, so don’t test it.

Our clients range from weblogs, such as this one and many you probably already read, to full-fledged eCommerce operations. Your sites won’t validate any easier and Javascript will still suck on Halfass Hosting. We have no real competitive advantage over any other host other than the fact that you’ll be dealing with mellow, ethical people and you’ll pay less. We are good and cheap precisely because we adhere to these general guidelines outlined above. Our uptime is up there, and the hassles are way down there where they should be.

Give it a shot! Many others have and are perfectly happy. We even have legitimate businesses using our services, so you know that we’re solid! My share of the tiny profit will go to the following: donations to blogs I read and that request support (which was always part of my plan), my iMac fund and only occasional Ponce crack hookers or any combination of Ponce, crack and hookers.

It’s pretty good!