March 2011

Dear Client,

The new server we mentioned last month finally came together. The power supply we had did in fact have a problem. Replaced that and still nothing. Traced it down to an installation error on my part. Once I fixed that, it came up and we are testing it now. If all goes well, then sometime this month I’ll take down the mail server in the wee hours of a weekend and move that over to the new box. Finally I’ll move two main servers (one web server and one database server) and it will be a wrap.

For the last week or two, we’ve been using a trial product that identifies sources of spam faster than normal. As a result, you should be seeing a decrease in spam at least for the last week. If you see something different, drop us a line at ben@webworldinc.com.

The dispute between a backbone provider, Level 3, and Comcast continues to drag on. Comcast wants to charge Level 3 for what they consider to be an ‘unreasonable’ amount of traffic coming from their network. Level 3 as it turns out hosts Netflix and there are a lot of cable clients who download on-demand movies. Of course, it’s just fine if these same clients use Comcast’s pay download service for their own movies.

The real question boils down to this: can a company sell a service they can’t really provide and get away with it? Comcast can’t (or won’t) provide adequate capacity to connect their clients to the Internet, or at least parts of it. And here’s the rub on something like this: Comcast believes they have a right to influence the experience (ie, sluggishness) of sites outside their network at their own discretion. Good luck with that.

Wow. Can you believe what’s happening in the Middle east? It is tough for a military to gun down their own people, especially when it is your friends and (often) your relatives you are aiming at. The key thing though is that none of this would have been possible without the Internet. The ongoing events and images were posted to Facebook during the Egyptian upheaval and the same is happening with other countries. And predictably, the first thing these governments do is cut Internet and cell phone access. Doesn’t work though. There are ways around it.

When I started Web World 16 years ago, one of the motivating factors was the belief that wide adoption would give us the tools to better govern ourselves. I believed strongly then, and still do, that a well-informed population keeping tabs on their government will fare better in the long run. At that time I had no idea this would become true in other countries as well, much less dictatorships. It is with great admiration that I watch the events unfolding now.

Best wishes!

Sincerely,

Ben Conner