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Free lunch?
Part of the appeal of the Internet is the ability to aparently get something for nothing.
However, on closer examination you will see that everything is paid for in some way - usually by
advertising.
Unfortunately, there are some people who will try almost anything to literally get something for
nothing - they avoid making a payment of any kind, even if it doesn't involve money.
This type of attitude can only harm the growth and potential of this worldwide community.
To be fair, many of these people aren't malicious, they just don't think about the
expenses involved in running any type of service.
If you're here, then you're making use of a free service - Spaceports. Even if you don't
have a site here yet, this one is hosted for free by them, which allows me to place all this
information here for you to read for free.
Please take time to read through this entire section so that you can understand some of the
process involved.
The costs
To provide any service on the Internet, the following costs are unavoidable:-
- The server
- Software
- Maintenance
- Support
- Content
- Staff wages
- Bandwidth
Each of those areas also has many other costs involved within it.
If the service is small enough to be contained on a single Web site, then most of those costs
will be taken care of by the host. But, they still have to be paid for somehow.
A little detail
Let's look a little closer at those items:-
- The server
- The faster the better, multi-processor for preference, lots of memory and drive space.
The software- A multi-user operating system with server capabilities is a must. Windows NT Server (not
Workstation) or UNIX are common. Windows 95 and 98 just won't cut it.
Maintenance- This must be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by technically minded (and expensive) staff.
Support- Users always have questions, no matter how much documentation is available. This must
also be 24/7.
Content- Documentation must be provided, plus contact details, help forms etc.
Staff wages- Everyone will want paying!
Bandwidth- This is the most expensive part. The connection must be able to handle muliple users at
the same time without slowing down. The more visitors a server receives per day, the more
money the connection will cost.
And those are just the costs I could think of off the top of my head!
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