Benefits of owning a domain (was Re: Cross Yahoo off the list of free e-mail services!)

[plussier at mindspring.com (Paul Lussier)]

In a message dated: 21 Mar 2002 13:19:17 EST
"Kenneth E. Lussier" said:

>Domains are cheap these days, so anyone can afford it. Setting up the
>servers really only requires a few old PC's, a Linux distro, and some
>documentation. 

You forgot one important thing:

	Affordable, high speed, always-on internet access.

I could easily afford to register my own domain, but without xDSL or 
cable modem access to the net, what good is it?  A dial-up connection 
just isn't a feasible means of running a domain.  Can it be done?  
Absolutely.  Is it worth the trouble?  No, not really.  Especially if 
the only reason is to gain POP3 e-mail access.

My $21/month for an ISP gets me upto 8 POP3 mailboxes if I really 
need them.  If I *really* want to run a website, I get 10MB or so of 
space.  

Running my own domain, as I'm sure is true for most internet users, 
is actually *more* trouble than it's worth, especially considering 
I'm restricted to dial-up access, as is the majority of the U.S.!

The fact that Yahoo is restricting free e-mail access to it's web 
interface just means that I'll occasionally (once every couple of 
months) check that mail box.  I'll access that address just often 
enough to keep it active, while leaving the mail on their systems
indefinitely costing them even more money!

POP3 access actually *saves* them money, because people like me who 
use them basically provide free advertising services through the use 
of their name in our e-mail addresses, *and* cost them little in 
terms of IT costs (use of storage, backups, tapes, etc.).

Sure, we cost them in terms of bandwidth usage, but I'm willing to 
bet the average POP3 user places far fewer demands upon their 
infrastructure than a web interface user does!

Oh, well, I'll just continue using my mindspring account (now 
Earthlink), which has provided me Linux-friendly, POP3 access without 
complaint or problem for over 5 years now!
-- 

Seeya,
Paul