Whenever we run into a hiccup relating to exmsft.com mail delivery, spam filtering, quotas, or just about anything, I’m often the recipient of several well meaning “suggestions” about how exmsft.com should be handled. These are some of the most common, and the current status of each.
For the discussion below realize that exmsft.com hosts just shy of 1,000 email accounts.
Why not just host on Microsoft/Office 365?
Cost. At a minimum of $4 per account per month this would total $48,000 per year. (Retail pricing for equivalent services out there is about the same.)
I have no contact inside Microsoft to make us a deal. If you have one, or even a contact at an equivalent service, and they have the ability to make a significant difference (i.e. bringing the cost closer to zero), please make an introduction. This really does need to be someone you know and can introduce me to. My experience is that cold calling some random name or email address simply doesn’t work.
Why not host at <service with an ex-Microsoft CEO/board member/employee>?
Been there, done that, at least once. A major hosting company’s CEO (that I’d actually worked with at MS some years ago) actually responded to me, put me in contact with someone on his team, and then after describing what we are and do my further attempts at contact went unanswered.
I’m happy to try again. If you have a contact at such a company and they have the ability to influence or make decisions, please make an introduction. Once again, this really does need to be someone you know and can introduce me to as cold calling doesn’t work.
Why not have Microsoft Alumni Association host it?
This would actually be my preferred solution since they used to provide a very similar service. It seems to have disappeared in their most recent update. That might explain why, after making contact and explaining what we are and do my further attempts at contact went unanswered.
Same deal: I’m happy to try again, if you have a contact there and they have the ability to influence or make decisions. Make an introduction.
Why not charge for exmsft?
The current expense is minimal. Honestly, it’s more about my time right now than anything else.
Charging so that we can have a better spam solution is on the table, but there are several reasons I resist:
- Most people won’t pay.
- It’s unclear I could charge enough. (Microsoft’s $4/mo is a good working number.)
- Unless we move to being hosted by a service charging would set higher expectations that, honestly, I’m not willing to sign up for.
- It’s yet another layer of administrivia and time suck as payments (and accounts) are processed, declined, recovered, added, deleted, and whatnot.
Other ideas?
I’m honestly always open to other ideas, but almost every idea I’ve heard fails the test of practicality, particularly for a volunteer effort. “It would be nice if…” doesn’t help.
But if you have an idea you seriously consider to be a practical and cost-effective one at this scale, I’m all ears. leon<at>exmsft.com 🙂
Leo