I continue to be amazed that Network Solutions is still in business and trying to sell domain names. Here is the latest from them:

Take advantage of the Network Solutions® Winter Sale today – it won’t last long!* Saving big is easy with this special offer to register 3 or more domain names for any term at the low price of *just $15 each* per year!*

Well that’s not a sale when most of the world sells single name, no promo, domain names for less than that. The only thing I can figure must keep them in the business is the renewal of names they had in their trust long before prices started to reflect the automation of the process.

Granted, that many cut rate domain name providers have questionable ownership provisions written into their policies. And, Godaddy.com (my personal favorite) is long on promos and ads themselves (sure would be nice if there was a way to turn that off once and for all). While I am not all that keen on the skimpy girl advertising bent followed by apparent horny guy Bob over at GoDaddy, they were the first to give names fast and cheap with no doubt you own your own name. I soon learned to not give a client’s email address in the registration because they were soon suggesting that you could host with them (I have that business thank you) and they could use godaddy software to bang a page together quickly (that’s what I’m doing thank you). But once I learned not to hand over that information, life became good.

Would I consider some other equally easy registrar with less advertising? Of course. I have even considered taking out my own reseller account through GoDaddy’s affiliate company as I have something between 50-100 names a year I am doing. But I have always decided that the hastle just isn’t worth it.

So what am I missing? Are people too bothered by GoDaddy’s ads and hence over at Network Solutions? Is that the issue?

Earlier this year I waffled on about a Windows Update utility for Firefox, called WindizUpdate. I was pretty impressed at the time and used the utility for a few months, but I was left wanting due to a lag between Microsoft releasing updates and finding that they were available for WindizUpdate. Now I’ve found something I like even more.

IE Tab is an extension for Firefox which embeds Internet Explorer in a Firefox tab. Unlike the IE View extension which simply opens selected pages in a separate Internet Explorer window, IE Tab displays selected pages using the IE engine but contained wholly within a Firefox tab.

So, why might this be useful? I currently use Internet Explorer exclusively for two reasons:

1. To run Microsoft Update / Windows Update, which won’t otherwise work in any other browser.
2. To check web pages as I develop them, to ensure that my pages look consistent between browsers.

Now with IE Tab I can do both of these things from within Firefox, simply by right-clicking and selecting “View Page in IE Tab”. And to mark the happy occasion of first running Microsoft Update within Firefox I snapped this celebratory picture for you:

Yes, I realise that using IE Tab really means that I’m using IE. But if nothing else I’m enjoying the convenience of doing it all from within a Firefox window.

NetGear is running a contest that would be great to win because:

* Free flight to (and from) Vegas
* Free hotel room
* Daily per diem
* $2000 in cash (paid after completion of the work)
* I’ve never been to the Consumer Electronic Show — and it would be neat to go

Unfortunately however, the contest rules say this:

… Winner’s Obligations. In order to receive the prize listed in Section 5, the Winner must produce up to three daily postings about NETGEAR at the 2007 CES and about CES in general. The postings must be created by certain set times each day, which times will be communicated in advance to Winner by NETGEAR. The content of such postings will be subject to review by and final approval of NETGEAR prior to posting. …

That turns the lucky winner from a guest blogger into an employee under the control of NetGear. The whole point of this medium is that speech is free and can be used to express yourself. You can be honest … unless they don’t like what you say in this case. That’s not worth it to me, even for a trip. Now if it said they had an opportunity to review and suggest revisions/enhancements/etc. that would be fine.

I always reserve the right to say what I think, and for a couple of thousand dollars and a really cool trip, I’m not willing to trade. Good luck in the competition to those of you who are. If someone from NetGear is willing to meet me half way on this as suggested above, then let me know so I can get my contest entry in.

The part I love about the contest is the criteria for picking the winner. The rule says, there is no rules: “NETGEAR will select, in its sole discretion and based on any criteria it deems appropriate, one winning blogger”. Seriously, I like that. I wish I could enter.