OK, I am not 'getting' it. Are you saying that Tucows shouldn't enable other registrars to be able to offer email services because now those registrars can offer something you offer already?
Sorry, I don't understand how anyone could have an objection to this. Our company offers hosting and email services in addition to web design and of course the domain registrations. I am not at all 'worried' about other resellers offering email services that didn't used to. Our customers come to us for our CUSTOMER SERVICE. Tucows could offer hosting and web design too for all we care. We would have to start doing something terribly wrong for this to have any impact on our sales. We are not a tucows mirror so perhaps I do not fully understand your point of view. However, wouldn't it be more prudent to wait and see how Tucows handles this rather than to make assumptions that they are going to start advertising and take your business away? Or at the very least pose the question of how this will impact the mirrors before making statements like the one about not being proud and not wanting to be associated with them in the future? Seems extremely harsh statements in light of the fact that you do not know their intentions. These guys have always been extremely receptive to what their resellers have to say and I expect they will continue to be. This doesn't mean everyone will always get their way...they have a business to run and they are trying to offer products that are in demand by their resellers. Heather ~~-----Original Message----- ~~From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Abel Wisman ~~Sent: Wednesday, November 27, 2002 9:47 PM ~~To: 'elliot noss'; 'Ross Wm. Rader' ~~Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Scott Swedorski ~~Subject: RE: email question... ~~ ~~ ~~In the early days Tucows, starting up with openSRS assured all her ~~mirrors, participating in the early days of openSRS, never to go in to ~~business in direct competition with her mirros (the word resellers came ~~later), hosting was the last on their list(sic). ~~ ~~What you are now offering is in direct competition with that what ~~several of the now resellers offer. ~~ ~~It differentiates those from the other resellers, by having more to ~~offer, for which we did considerable inverstments and still pay heavy ~~for the bandwidth depending on which part of the world we are. ~~ ~~Out of sheer experience I could point out at least 4 snags in your ~~proposed pricing scheme and the least being the introduction rates. ~~ ~~However whatever I might think about the plan, it remains a fact that ~~those resellers that did not invest, can now, at the hand of our ~~supplier, sell the goods and whatever way you look upon it, we have ~~another competitor that has large resources we all helped build, to ~~market that service. ~~ ~~Next I will see is once it goes public, advertisements for these ~~services on the mirrors I host. And pls don't say it won't happen, the ~~rewards for mirrors (discount on registrations) the "we will not ~~advertise registration on mirros that register" et cetera, I have heard ~~it all before. ~~ ~~I would like to know how many mirrors have stopped mirroring tucows over ~~the past years, from the lists I see on a search it must be many, and ~~most likely many will have done so for reason stipulated above, but then ~~again, they made tucows what it is today, now tucows can pay her own ~~bandwidth and they lost their importance. ~~ ~~I have obligations that I intend to keep, therefore I can at this moment ~~in time only continue to upgrade my mirror machines, and run them for ~~another set period. ~~ ~~However I will as of now, make sure that if those mirrors do not make me ~~money, they are out. ~~ ~~There was a time when I was proud to be a member of a group called ~~tucows mirrors, now I am not so sure whether I want to be associated ~~with them in the future. ~~ ~~Regards ~~ ~~Abel ~~ ~~ ~~-----Original Message----- ~~From: elliot noss [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] ~~Sent: 28 November 2002 02:32 ~~To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Ross Wm. Rader' ~~Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~Subject: Re: email question... ~~ ~~ ~~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 ~~> ~~> ~~ ~~
