One of my hosting clients has signed up to beta test "Gmail for your domain" and will be moving their e-mail accounts to this service.  I think I read rumors about this service a while back, but didn't know it existed yet.

Pros:

• Google provides the same Gmail Web client for your domain -- for Free
  
• 2GB of space for every account you create for your domain
• Control panel to administer accounts, and even a bulk upload tool to add many accounts at once
  
• Free POP access, in case you want to download all your e-mail to Outlook or some other client so that you have your e-mail offline
• Use your domain accounts with Google Talk instant messaging service
• Customized logo for your domain
  
• Free.  Did I mention 2GB of storage for each account, free?
  

Cons:

• No tools (yet) to transfer your existing e-mail
• Does not work with the Gmail Notify service
• Not integrated with Google Calendar (yet)
  
• In Beta, so you have to apply and hope you're selected to use the service
  
• In Beta, 'nuff said
  

I'm tempted to apply for the beta, at least for one of my domains.  I love the Gmail interface.  If for nothing else, Gmail does a pretty good job of filtering spam.

What do you think?  Is this a great idea, or scary to think about Google having all the e-mail for your domain?

Why would someone offer a free service and not be getting something out of it, right? 

Truth is, I do get something out of it.  A lot, actually.  I get the pleasure of knowing that some of the web sites I host are touching lives in their church, community, and all over the world.  I get the pleasure of knowing that some are using this hosting to learn a trade that will provide income for their family.  I get the pleasure of knowing that some web sites are helping to connect friends and families around the world, including those who are missionaries.

This site also gets peoples' attention.  As a result, I've been connected to some of the greatest minds in the .NET community, both Christian and non-Christian alike.  I love it when people send me an e-mail just to let me know they visited my site, or to ask questions about ASP.NET, SQL Server, or, most importantly, faith in Christ.

My return on investment so far has been enormous, only it can't be measured in dollars ;)

Unfortunately, I'm afraid many visitors to this site might be turning away because 1) they think it's too good to be true, or 2) you get what you pay for.  I don't blame them.  I'd be skeptical, too.  If you were to ask any of my existing "customers," I think they'd say... hmm... what would they say?  I'd hope they say something to the effect of, "aw... he's all right.  Give 'em a try!"

I've mentioned before about forwarding e-mail to Google GMail.  Here's a summary of the benefits and features.

• Backup of all e-mail
• Online, accessible from any computer with an Internet connection
• Simple, easy-to-use interface
• Searching for old e-mail is a snap
• Spam filtering
• POP3 access, so you can use any e-mail client (Outlook, Thunderbird, Eudora, etc.)
• You can customize the Reply-To address so that other people never have to know you're using GMail.  Replies will still be sent to your regular address instead of GMail.
• Over 2,600 MB of storage (as of today) and growing

I know there are many of my customers who could benefit from using GMail just for the spam filtering alone.  I used to provide spam filtering with my hosting, but it became too much of a hassle.  It only takes about 5 seconds for me to modify an account to start forwarding all e-mail to another address.

If you're one of the few people on the planet who doesn't already have a GMail account, let me know and I'll send you an invitation.

Seth Godin (the bald marketing guru that writes about purple cows) has posted his take on Google Analytics, which is supposed to be a free web site tracking/analysis tool hosted by Google.  The site is currently undergoing some kind of "maintenance" so I haven't been able to check it out for myself yet.  More info here.  Very interesting... 

Time flies when you're having fun.  I just realized that it has been more than two years since I started offering free web hosting here at ChristianASP.NET.  What an awesome privilege it has been to see how God has blessed this service.   Thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement!

News spread today of Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005 being released to manufacturing (RTM) and being made available to MSDN subscribers.  MSDN Subscriber Downloads quickly melted and I wonder if anyone is able to get any downloads started, let alone successfully finish a download.

However, Microsoft Downloads has the RTM versions of the .NET Framework 2.0 redistributable and SDK.  I've downloaded these and have upgraded ChristianASP.NET shared hosting.

Let the good times roll...