I've had a Web hosting provider for about ten years, maybe longer. They hosted my personal site, sites for my friends, my business site, my discussion forum and my online running database. Now they just host my business site, which probably averages zero-to-one hits per month.
My personal site has become my blog (does anyone actually _do_ personal Web sites anymore??), which is hosted by a different provider. I no longer use my Web host for e-mail, as it was unreliable. I now have a separate e-mail host.
Web hosting runs me $23/month, which isn't a large amount, but I'm just not using it. I've resisted bailing because of the historical 'geek factor' of having a hosting provider, but I can no longer justify it. It's time to kick it to the curb. I'll keep my domains, of course, all too many of them. :-)
I'm a little sad about it. Personal Web sites used to be considered kinda cool, but somewhere along the way too many of them sunk into the realm of the pitiful. I manage the DNS entries for my domains, so I can redirect them anywhere I like. Cable Internet has become a LOT more reliable than it was during the early days, with the big, heavy metal routers. I never experience downtime now, not that my 0-1 viewers per month would notice. I figure I can host on my home server.
I know some folks who still hang onto their world.std.com shell accounts (you know who you are). It's hard to let go of things which have served us so well for so long. I gave up my shell account years ago, along with my CompuServe account and a bunch of other geek merit badge subscriptions which had reached their useful limit. I think I'm ready to move on. Perhaps ten years from now we'll be fondly reminiscing about oldstyle cable Internet. :-)
Mark, I am glad to have shared the news article with you. I have written about your blog on the Hitchhikers Guide http://hgttb.blogspot.com/2006/07/mark-mischkes-blog.html
Keep up the good writing!
Posted by: Steve Sherlock | Wednesday, July 26, 2006 at 08:27 PM
Hi Ken,
You're right. Hosting prices have dropped quite a bit in the past few years. I'm still inclined to run my sites from my home server since it isn't doing much else these days and my cable service is rock solid. Plus, it will allow me a level of customization that I wouldn't have using a Web host, unless I paid for a dedicated server. If I ever get any actual traffic, I'll have to rethink it, but that's a good problem to have. :-)
Posted by: Mark Mischke | Wednesday, July 26, 2006 at 03:39 PM
Web hosting prices have come down significantly over the years. I now use LunarPages at www.lunerpages.com, I believe. I'm paying something like $6.95 per month for 5 Gig after I ditched my $9.95 per month for 100 Meg. Several years ago that would have been 10.00 and even 20 or 30 per month.
Ken B.
Ashland (formely Natick)
Posted by: Ken Barrett | Wednesday, July 26, 2006 at 03:09 PM