Will It Be FREE Tomorrow?

The Internet was first conceived as a "Galactic Network" in a series
of memos, written by J.C.R. Licklider of MIT in August 1962.

Licklider envisioned a globally interconnected series of
computers through which anyone could quickly access
data and programs from any site.

This was the "seed" which allowed the beginning of a long
process of experimentation and development that has evolved
and matured the Internet concepts and technology we take for
granted today.

By 1985, the Internet was already well established as a "new"
technology that could support a broad community of researchers
and developers.

This was made greatly possible by the military that fundamentally
wanted a "communications" system that could operate even in
a wartime environment. Other government agencies also recognized the
potential of the Internet.

And, that communication ability, was beginning to be used by other
groups for simple daily computer communications - Electronic Mail,
better known to all of us as email.

Our federal agencies shared the cost of common infrastructure,
such as the all important transoceanic circuits which
allowed the "network" to be truly global. They also jointly
supported "managed interconnection points" through which
networks connect to other networks and pass on info from
one to another.

Perhaps this helped to foster the Internet Spirit of the FREE
exchange of information and ideas.

This concept of FREE is as fundamental to the Internet as
air is for us to breathe. And for a good many years you
were able to get just about anything Internet related for free.

However, with the recent demise of so many dot.com players,
the pendulum is attempting to swing in the other direction.

This week another major player has announced that their once
free service will no longer be free as of August 6th. If you have
a list hosted on ListBot, http://www.listbot.com/, you will either
need to make new arrangements to get it hosted by someone
else or get ready to hand over around $150 per year.

What was once free yesterday may no longer be free tomorrow.

Considering the need to become profitable online, the trend
is understandable. However, these dot.coms that are charging
fees must keep in mind the free nature of the Internet and not
ignore the fundamental nature of that concept.

Yahoo, http://www.yahoo.com/, is an excellent example
of a dot.com that began to charge fees but not for it's core
service of search engine directory use.

Yes, if you want preferential treatment in getting listed on Yahoo
you need to hand them almost two hundred dollars for the
privilege.

And, yes, they are "selling" you something on every web
page that comes up with the results of your online search.

It pays the bills and still allows them to keep their
original service free.

A compromise must be reached otherwise those faltering dot.com's
and any Johnny come lately will find that in order to keep the good
will of their customers and potential customers, they must be given
an incentive merely to visit the web site.

Otherwise they will look elsewhere to still find it free.