FreeLists / openbeos / [openbeos] Re: yourname@haiku-os.org

[Czeslaw Czapla <czapla@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>> On 2004-07-02 at 18:50:41 [-0400], m.madia wrote:
>> i mentioned this on the GE list as well as #haiku on freenode, sorry if you
>> heard it 3 times :)
>> 
>> what's the possibility of Haiku-os.org selling email addresses?   ( perhaps
>> as an invite only / BeOS users for now? )
>> 
>> I'm sure that some of us at least me, would pay for one.
>> 
>> and it's another great way to spread word about the OS :-)


on 07.03.04 8:50 am, Michael Phipps at mphipps1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

> Sort of like an imac.com thing? :-D
> 
> My inclination would be that if there were haiku-os.org addresses, that they
> would be for team members. In much the same way that Apple doesn't sell
> apple.com email addresses. ;) OTOH, there are other addresses out there that
> might make sense. ihaiku.com or something. :-D But this isn't something that
> we 
> are actively planning.
> 
> Michael


Hi, Michael. I can appreciate your desire to reserve haiku-os.org email
addresses for team members, but I want to second the ... secondary motion to
make some kind of Haiku-related email service more generally available to
the nerd public, for a modest fee. This would have at least four benefits:

1. It would establish a steady, if smallish, revenue stream for the Haiku
project;

2. It would help to consolidate "mindshare" among self-subscribers to the
email service, since subscribers would come to identify more strongly with
the Haiku "brand" (i.e., they would become "members" of a sort);

3. It would serve as a useful propaganda mechanism, since Haiku-related
email addresses would soon be circulating "in the wild"; I imagine that I'm
not alone when I say that my curiousity *regularly* leads me to replace all
characters up to and including the "@" symbol in an email address with
"www." in my browser address box, and then see where it takes me; so
"www.ihaiku.org" (or whatever) would need to point to "www.haiku-os.org";

4. It would allow me, personally (!), to enjoy all these benefits: I could
make a cash contribution to the project, count myself with confidence a
"member" or "supporter", and effectively evangelize every time I use my new
(geek-prestigious) email address... :-)  These are all things that I would
like to do, and again I imagine that I'm not alone.

All this is not to argue that development resources should be diverted from
writing the OS itself to creating and administering a new email service, but
on the other hand if somebody has the time, skills, and inclination ...
well, it's a nice idea.

But rather than using:
somebody@xxxxxxxxxx
which is reminiscent of the current Apple service, I would suggest using:
somebody@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
since that is reminiscent of the now-moribund BeMail service that many of us
missed out on by virtue of our late arrival on the scene...

Best wishes,

Czeslaw