[geeks] @home has finally done it...

[Kurt Huhn]

> Whatever you do, don't expect a company that has millions of customers to
> allow them to run any kind of servers. It opens them up to all sorts of
> liability, DoS, and security concerns. No one has the capability to
properly
> police millions of mostly novice users trying to set up servers...
> especially for $40 a month. Starting to see a pattern here?
>

It is exactly this that causes problems.  @home depended on the "clued"
users in order to get their business off the ground - now they're abandoning
them in favor of "Joe Websurfer".  I suppose he who giveth can also taketh
away - but that doesn't make it easier to swallow.

Not everyone can offord to colocate servers - talk about prohibitive costs!
It's not like I'm trying to provide managed web hosting for a customer base
of hundreds.  The only user on my systems is me and my wife, and we operate
one lowly Apache instance to serve pics of the kids for our family to see.

Don't get me wrong - I don't mind paying for what I get.  This is exactly
why I'm moving to Speakeasy - even thought it will quadruple the monthly
charges for internet access.  See my previous emails about what was promised
to me from @home.  At minimum, I should have gotten an alert that changes
were being made to the network.  I get regular emails from Exodus (where my
employers servers are colocated) even if the changes don't directly impact
that datacenter.  It's simply good customer service.

I'm not bitching about losing the access - I'm bitching about the poor
customer service and lack of communication.  It makes me wonder if they
start with the customer service reps and the people responsible for customer
relationships when @home lays people off (200 on this past Friday).

Kurt