Comments for Ed Bott

Comment on Why are you using an email address you don’t own? by Nargg

Nargg — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:34:29 +0000

I have my own domain, but it’s a heck of a lot easier to give out a known domain for an e-mail address rather than trying to spell out something that someone has not heard of before, or explain what it is when you get a question about it. I’ll stick to large company services for e-mail. Had my e-mail address for almost 18 years, and I’ll probably go away before that well known domain does.

Comment on “Ask your parents for an Xbox or try books” by Nargg

Nargg — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:12:03 +0000

I love it when folks do like these guys and get really down to Earth on their terms. Makes life so much easier for everyone.

Comment on Get a great deal on a Logitech T400 Touch Mouse by dalestockdale

dalestockdale — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:14:26 +0000

Devices like this are what make W8 a lot more usable on older systems. I’m still using a Dell Dimension C521 that I bought in 2004 or 2005. It’s a little sluggish occasionally, but all I need for web surfing and general use. I don’t have this mouse, but something similar and it completely changed my opinion of W8 on a system without touch.

Comment on Get a great deal on a Logitech T400 Touch Mouse by Jeannine

Jeannine — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:24:23 +0000

Just snagged one with my Prime membership. I’ve been lusting over this mouse and got an offer from Logitech, but this was the much better deal. Thank you!

Comment on Why are you using an email address you don’t own? by GP

GP — Sat, 18 May 2013 13:06:13 +0000

I have both actually. Important correspondence, and the like, are on the proprietary domain. Open and non-essential are on a big name domain. Anonymity and security are the reasons for having both.

Comment on No more ads, no more trackers by Ed Bott

Ed Bott — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:36:14 +0000

Casey, I use a free RSS-to-email service called FeedBlitz that is ad-supported. You’re one of about 320 people using that service. I don’t make a dime from those ads and I don’t like them myself.

I’d like to change that, but I am also sensitive to the fact that I don’t want to inconvenience those 320 users. Meanwhile, please cancel your Feedblitz subscription (link is in the email you received) and use the Subscribe box on the right side of this page instead.

Comment on No more ads, no more trackers by Neil T.

Neil T. — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:28:30 +0000

I saw how little my ads were bringing in and wondered the same.

Comment on No more ads, no more trackers by casey

casey — Fri, 17 May 2013 11:58:45 +0000

Ed: So the Date Women over 50+ that just popped up with this email doesn’t count as an ad? Are you personally screening them? The women and the ads?

Comment on No more ads, no more trackers by billbennettnz

billbennettnz — Fri, 17 May 2013 06:36:44 +0000

I was going to say I’ve done the same, but I’m on hosted WordPress and ads are ‘sometimes’ inserted into my posts. After weeks of putting it off, I’m heading over to the control panel to pay for the non-ad version.

A bargain at $30.

Comment on No more ads, no more trackers by Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:50:17 +0000

Thank you.

Comment on No more ads, no more trackers by Ed Bott

Ed Bott — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:12:22 +0000

I appreciate the thought, Kent, but book publishers don’t generally advertise. O’Reilly, which produces my books under the Microsoft Press imprint, has its own website. I can set up an affiliate agreement with them, but that would be separate of online advertising. Something tells me they’re not interested in paying me to write here.

Comment on No more ads, no more trackers by Kent England

Kent England — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:18:46 +0000

I commend your decision, but I wonder how much money you are leaving on the table. Isn’t your publisher interested in a sponsorship of their author’s web site? Even if it was only an affiliate arrangement, it would be the same or better than Federated.

Comment on No more ads, no more trackers by TanMan

TanMan — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:14:20 +0000

Ed, you continually show yourself to be a man of honor and integrity. You make me proud that I own several of your Inside Out books.

Comment on No more ads, no more trackers by mikegalos

mikegalos — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:55:30 +0000

And the real problem is bigger than just the ad-revenue model. We’ve got to get some way of paying people who create for a living. The “I want it so I should be able to get it for free” model is not sustainable.

From software (“release it as open source or at most charge 99 cents”)

to music performance (“give away the recording and make a living by going on tour and selling t-shirts”)

to graphic arts (“donate your design for that band’s t-shirt and make it up in the publicity”)

to photography (“prove that we stole your photo in court or it’s ours now”)

to music composition (“don’t think of our sampling your recording as theft, think of it as an honor”)

we don’t have any way for creative content people to make a living and the costs of that are starting to damage our society in ways that go beyond tracking beacons and spyware disguised as add-ons.

Comment on No more ads, no more trackers by newtronic

newtronic — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:47:38 +0000

Thank you. I went and bought Windows 8 Essentials, even though I am not yet using Windows 8.