Creeping Success of Web Services

Posted 13 June 2007

If my personal behavior is any indication, things are looking up for subscription web services.

When I went out on my own last fall, I decided to give various hosted services a try. I used mostly the free trial accounts. For the services I have stuck with, I have gradually hit the limits of the free plans, and in some cases, of the low-cost plans. I’m spending far more on these services than I ever thought.

Basecamp for to-do lists, notes, and reference documents

I’m now paying $49/month for Basecamp, and using it to coordinate all my projects. If you had asked me six months ago if I would pay $600 a year for a service like this, I would have said “no way.” But as I came to depend on the service more and more, I needed the capabilities of the next tier, and while I still find the price a little painful, I don’t want to do without it.