Trip Like I Do

Cool Freebies

February 14, 2007

I came across a couple of cool freebies and thought I would pass them along.

First, Google is offering free web hosting in conjunction with Blogger. So, as long as you have a domain name, you can switch it to Google/Blogger and get free web hosting. Then you can also sign up for free Google Apps for your domain and get email service for your domain through Gmail! I was thinking about switching web hosts because, heck, it’s free! But I was a little wary because I didn’t want to lose my email address and BAM! – this would solve that problem.

But, I am still thinking about it because I was browsing the Blogger publishing sections and couldn’t find a way to import previous blog posts from another service. Hmmm. I know WordPress allows you to backup your blog and you can import blog posts from other services, but I didn’t see anything allowing me to do that with Blogger. So, if anyone is reading this and knows of a way, please leave a comment or use that handy contact section at the top of the page and tell me! PLEASE!

Then, I checked my Hotmail account – just to keep it active and this was in my inbox -

A FREE Microsoft® Office Live Basics account can help add wings to your business by providing you with the tools you need to quickly establish a powerful Web presence and reach new customers.

With Microsoft Office Live Basics, you get:

• FREE domain name and Web hosting
• FREE easy-to-use Web site design tools
• 25 FREE company-branded e-mail account

Okay, so basically Microsoft is also now offering free web hosting and domain email as well. Yahoo! are you listening?

Now, I like having things centralized so I don’t have to go to all kinds of different web pages to check the domain, check email, etc – but my wallet enjoys a bargain and nothing says bargain more than free. I haven’t done a lot of research into the Microsoft thing since I just found out about it and well, I am a little busy these days, but more on that later.

I guess I could also say that I am pretty brand loyal to Yahoo! I’ve been using them for over 10 years now, but I am having some trouble with a lot of the changes they are making trying to make themselves more relevant/more able to compete against Google. I signed up for web hosting through them because one of the features mentioned was that they would do an automatic update for WordPress if one became available.

I’ve since learned by contacting Yahoo and reading some stuff on the WordPress message boards that this is really not the case at all. According to the information I have, Yahoo! has no intention of updating WordPress at all because they feel that the current software meets its users needs – even though the updates that have since come out include numerous bug and security fixes. Heck, WordPress just came out with a version 2.1 and Yahoo is still using 2.02.

Grrr, it’s frustrating. I should switch especially since I can get hosting for free, but I have grown fond of my layout and while I find nothing wrong with Blogger, I just don’t know if I want to go back to it. Grrr – especially if I can’t import my posts from WordPress. I should research the Microsoft one more, but first hurdle is having to use IE in order to access that stuff. Blech.

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