Free Web Site Hosting & Tools from Microsoft.com
Microsoft has recently announced a new promotion offering customers free web hosting and web development tools as long as they use the Microsoft web platform.
Nothing New
While this may sound appealing to some, its nothing really new as almost every other web hosting company has also been offering free hosting offers which are ineveitably tied to some other form of conditions. In fact, if you go to Microsoft’s Office Live Small Business website, you’ll see that they also offer you a free domain name.
Wow, a free website, free domain and free web hosting, on top of that, you get the Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 (express Edition) and the Microsoft Expression Web for free. Although it’s really much of the same thing again, this move has had effects on the web hosting industry as many of the small free web hosting providers are trying to get out of the game.
What’s in the Offer?
If you’re considering the option of creating your website with these free services from Microsoft, here are a few points which you may want to bear in mind:
- Free Web Hosting- you only get 500MB free! After that, it’s US$4.95/mth for 1GB up to $14.95/mth for 5GB. If you do your research, you’ll find that the free space is small and the subsequent charges are not the cheapest in the market.
- Free Domain Name- it’s only free for the first year and after that it’s US$14.95 per year! On top of being over $5 more expensive than many other domain name registrars, you may want to be careful with their backend system regarding transfers and any other conditions, especially if you are a domainer. A lot of people found out the hard way when they tried to grab free or heavily discounted domain names at Yahoo last year.
- Premium Email- now this is the real shocker, it costs US$19.95 per year for you to use an email account with this free domain name, without advertisements in it.
In summary, it’s nothing new for the web development community but it may be an attractive choice for small businesses and cash strapped internet entrepreneurs during this economic recession who will be sucked in by the free, free, free.
Available Options
Before signing up with any free website provider, take a look at some of the available options for free websites and free web hosting.
