imroot.com

Today we shutdown the service that launch our company 9 years ago, Dialup. In 2003 and Shane (my brother) and myself decided dial up was dying and we needed to move away from being a connection provider to become a software technology company.

Now with two products, Safe Eyes and EtherShield, we have completed that transition. As revenue from the ISP continued to dwindle, and our aging infrastructure (our mail server is 7 years old! Go Qmail!) was in need of an overhaul, we decided that it just wasn’t worth continuing on. So two months ago we began letting our customers know that the end was in sight.

Today at 5:00PM with “Taps” blaring from Shane’s office, Ron shutdown 9 years of hard work in about 15 minutes.

I could sit here an rattle off the names of some of our first customers, who over the years have turned into friends. But this is progress, and progress is good!

I have started my first clinical observation of a new neurological disorder that is currently termed CDPS. I am so concerned about its impact on our future generations that I have designated an entire category of of my blog to CDPS. Some may laugh at this post, saying “what harm is there in buying a few domain names”. Here are a few impacts just to name a few:

1. Financial ruin $8 at a time, all those domains have to be renewed you know!
2. Lost time with friends and family registering and maintaining their “domain portfolio”.
3. Exhaustion of .com resources for future generations, what if all the domains get registered, what will your children register?

I will dive in and examine these important issues and the impact on the lives of those who live and work with those suffering from CDPS. Stay tuned there is more to come.

This weekend I listed a lawn tractor I had on craigslist. After quickly searching craigslist and determining my competition I posted it for $650 when I originally paid $1300 3 years ago. Within 3 hours my phone started ringing of the hook. Over a two day period of time 21 people emailed or called about the mower. The mower is gone already and I have money in the bank.

So is craigslist better than ebay? I think for some things it definitely is. It is way simpler both to buy and sell. For people that aren’t 100% comfortable dealing online I think the local aspect is really what they are looking for. I think there are certain items that people just prefer to buy locally also, like: furniture, cars, household appliances, bikes, etc. It is just easier if you can go locally, take a look, and buy in cash.

The guy that was my first caller and ultimately the buyer had never used craigslist before. Someone had mentioned it to him that morning and he went on for the first time. It was easy for him to use, no username and password to remember, no complicated bidding rules to understand, no fending off bid snipers (like me), no figuring out how to use paypal. In the end he got a good mower and a good price.

Do you like craigslist or ebay better?