Robert,
I don't understand your statement below, "if I am a small
ISP, how can I expect to retain my customer when they MUST
go to a major competitor to enjoy domain registration . . ."
Your customer is not required to go through NSI. At the
present time, you as the ISP need to go through NSI, but
your customer does not.
In NSI's Affiliate program, the affiliate's customers use
the NSI interface, but it is not necessary for your
customer's to use our interface. The Affiliate program was
set up to make it especially easy and cost effective for the
small to medium sized ISP to register names and offer other
services without having to set up their own customer
interface. You are perfectly free to set up your own
customer interface. Hundreds of ISPs and web-hosting firms
have been doing this for months and years. Their customers
do not have to use our interface. In fact most of the ISPs
or web-hosting firms do not use our web interface either;
they simply send us email agreements directly. That
capability did not change with the introduction of the
consolidated web site.
Chuck Gomes
-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Raisch [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 1999 8:48 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: Esther Dyson; Mike Roberts; Dave Farber; Saul Hansell;
Einar
Stefferud; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: [IFWP] Re: the news...
I am deeply saddened to see no mention of the issue of
anti-competitive
service bundling raised in the various news articles with
regards Network
Solutions recent highjacking of the Internic.
Am I the only one who sees how damaging this has been and
will continue to be
to those providing mail and web services to clients?
Simply put, if I am a small ISP, how can I expect to retain
my customer when
they MUST go to a major competitor to enjoy domain
registration, a requirement
for any Internet-connected business, when that registrar
competes DIRECTLY
with me?
Furthermore, the Internic represents a valuable and trusted
brand identity
which has become completely absorbed by Network Solutions,
the "dot-com
people."
I explained these issues very carefully when interviewed by
InternetNews, only
to have them ignore the very real anti-competitive effect
they cause.
--
Robert Raisch, Internet Hired Gun <http://www.raisch.com>
First snow, then silence-This thousand dollar screen-dies so
beautifully.
