[ghshephard]

Any time I can transition a service that is important to me to one in which I am the customer, I grab that opportunity quickly.

I'd happily pay gmail $10/month for mail in which I was the customer, and not the advertisers. $4/month for a user supported twitter environment sounds like a bargain - particularly as all the people I suspect I want to "follow" (or whatever the join.app.net terminology will be) - have already pledged their support for app.net.

[jbigelow76]

I agree with your sentiment overall but when it comes to app.net I'm conflicted because at least half of the people I follow on Twitter are social/civic connections vs technical. As a result I can't transition to a service where I am the customer because unless at least some of those follow me the service becomes entirely different from what I am switching from. The "functionlity" of Twitter isn't the entirety of the service.

I'd join app.net if when I joined I got a few free invites to pass along to friends/family/whatever that don't really get (or care about) the "you are the product not the user" problem with Twitter/FB, or at least not in a way that they value the price to join. Something to help evangelize with. If app.net is going to be just techies that get it and will pay the premium I think it will languish a lot like google+ seems to languish among the techie crowd.

[spindritf]

> I'd happily pay gmail $10/month for mail in which I was the customer

It's only $5/user/month and they offer a free trial. No ads, of course, and a SLA.

http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/pricing.html

[ghshephard]

Yup - [e-mail] has been going to Google Apps for at least 4+ years @$50/year - My break point is about $10/month (or $120/year) - particularly as I get the fairly awesome 2-factor auth from Google.