Once you’re connected to the internet, you have access across the network; one of the principles it was built on is that traffic can travel freely through any one of myriad pathways. The World Wide Web has been free since CERN made it freely available to all in 1993.
Historically, web browsers have been given away for free; Netscape’s browser was freely available for noncommercial use, while Netscape made their money from selling server-side software. Internet Explorer was given away for free with the Windows operating system, it’s development being funded by other parts of Microsoft’s business. Firefox is a free, open source web browser that is steadily increasing it’s market share (”Open-source” means that the source code is also freely available; so that anyone with sufficient programming knowledge can modify the browser to work the way they want it to, or offer improvements to be included in future releases.)
It’s not a surprise then, that there is something of an expectation that content on the internet will be free; you don’t expect to have to pay to visit a website, or to read an article. The news is free, weather forecasts are free, and reading about other people’s thoughts is free. Where websites do charge money for access, it’s usually for some sort of premium service with a free alternative, such as a free trial for 30 days, or a free but restricted membership with a paid-for but unrestricted or advert-free alternative.
However, websites aren’t free to run; apart from the time taken to put a website together, the site also needs a computer to act as a server (which needs to be kept running and it’s software up to date), a connection to the internet (which needs to be paid for), and of course power to keep the whole thing going. The way website owners cover their costs depends on the nature of the site; perhaps the site is an integral part of an online business, such as an online shopping company where the website would be a part of the operational costs, or possibly a part of a branding or advertising project funded by a marketing budget. Where there is no obvious revenue source, website owners often cover their costs (and sometimes make a profit) by selling advertising space.
There has been some fuss recently about a website that’s appeared, encouraging website owners to block users of the Firefox browser; http://whyfirefoxisblocked.com. The site includes an explanation as to why users have been redirected to their site, along with instructions for website owners explaining how to block visitors using the Firefox browser and redirect them to the WhyFirefoxIsBlocked.com site. (more…)
August 24th, 2007 | Other Media, WWW, Web Content | No comments