I would like to deal with this one. I want to address this in two parts. The first part, below, will deal with email. The second part, which I will try and draft over the next day or two, will deal with the issue more generally of our relationship with our resellers. This is one message that I want to both get clear and be clear on.
Our view of the domain registration business is, and has always been, that it is the first in a number of Internet services that we intend(ed) to offer (second if you consider the software libraries an Internet service). In trying to decide what new services to offer we look at places where we feel we can add value that would be difficult for many/most of our customers to do in a best-of-breed way. In our view email as a service is at an inflection point. Most ISPs and many web hosting companies offer email with access and/or hosting accounts. These tend to be bundled and are more often than not at a domain not owned by the email user. They also tend to be vanilla sendmail pop3 service. Certainly many of you (because you guys are good at what you do) offer something more than that. Most do not. Many do not offer email at all. We know, because we have asked. We have been talking to you guys about email in broad surveys, small groups and individually for over two years. We are offering a hosted email service with the following features either included or available (not all of the below immediately): - pop3 - webmail - anti-virus - spam filters - archiving - IMAP - extra storage and as always this will evolve and get better as we go forward. We look at a number of these elements of messaging as non-trivial, rules-based and repetitive but requiring lots of time and resources. In short exactly where we think we can most add value. Managing data and simplifying business processes. We think end-users needs around email are now much more complex than they were 2 or 3 years ago. We think that what Yahoo and Hotmail are doing in limiting their free services provides a great opportunity for you. If you offer your customers a great email service then you have no need for this. If you don't then you do. This is the furthest thing from an ATTACK on any customers. We see it as enabling our customers to do what they do best, provide great customer service for their end-users and attracting more of them. Not every Tom, Dick or Harry can offer great customer service, in fact most companies cannot even offer good customer service. I would strongly suggest that building a great Internet service organization need not, in fact should not be about running a mailserver or running spam filters. These are repetitive business processes, like payroll, that can, and often should be outsourced. Customer service is not. It is about care and love and solving peoples problems. We are providing tools. Our customers are breathing life into them. As noted, I will come at this issue again in a more generalized way in the next couple days. As always, please comment away. I look forward to your thoughts. Regards Elliot Noss ----- Original Message ----- From: "Abel Wisman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Ross Wm. Rader'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 6:41 PM Subject: RE: email question... > Blah! > > Per Nov. 27th Tucows moved on to even thinner ice, they (pre-launched) > an additional service to re-sellers: sell email! > "in demand services" > > As I see it now, Tucows will be running out of mirrors in the not to > distant future. > > Yes this is a direct attack on those of you re-sellers and mirrors that > sell these services already in a mature and professional way, since > Tucows is allowing every tom dick an harry to sell her email solutions. > And some hosting. > > I wish you luck, but I will seriously reconsider a lot of things Tucows. > > Abel > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Ross Wm. Rader > Sent: 27 November 2002 20:14 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: email question... > > > ...let's see if Darryl is paying attention. > > What does this mean? > > "Tucows outsourced e-mail solution is available in limited release only > to our resellers. The service will be publicly announced in early > February 2003. The service includes in-demand features such as POP and > WebMail access, 10MB of storage and virus blocking." > > The first Darryl to respond with a reasonable answer gets free network > installation and router configuration consulting discounts. > > -rwr > > > > > "There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore like an > idiot." > - Steven Wright > > Got Blog? http://www.byte.org/blog > >
