Is free email the next thing to die?

Free email, the orignal "killer app" of the internet, might soon be dying. Before you run out and spread the rumour, be aware this is only my opinion. Service providers, hungry for new revenue sources, are slowly removing the free services that attracted users. It's the old "make them dependent - then raise prices" philosophy. Illicit drugs are marketed in this way, and soon, I believe all internet services will be paid.

It's not necessarily a bad thing, having paid services. It could be argued that without a steady source of revenue, the providers you have come to depend on will go out of business. It can also be said that anything you receive for no charge is not highly valued. Would you be willing to pay a penny to be able to mail an electronic letter? It would be a good bet compared to snail mail, and would probably cut down on the number of unsolicited emails. People who send out or respond to chain letters would think twice about wasting their money. If charges for emails were automatically added to your cable bill, or phone bill, you wouldn't need to worry about managing additional numbers of bills (just higher costs). I can foresee a time when internet rates become even more multi-tiered, perhaps varying based on the number of emails you send per month.

With MSN's announcement that they will be phasing out free hosting for photographs, many people will be inconvenienced by having to find other sources of storage for their pictures. I can't imagine the day is far off when Hotmail will be an MSN-member only service. And once that happens, it won't be long before Yahoo and other email providers figure they can get away with charging a fee, because their biggest competitor is doing so.

Enjoy free email while it lasts.


Updated to add...
I just noticed that this post from Saturday had not been published. My cable service is so slow, the connection times out before I can get the message published