It's like anything (hosting I mean.) I don't care what you THINK you're selling, you're not. You're selling customer service. Lets look at my favorite bar.

It's like anything (hosting I mean.) I don't care what you THINK you're selling, you're not. You're selling customer service. Lets look at my favorite bar. I go there ALL the time. It isn't even remotely close to my house (anymore), and the beer is silly expensive (because it's really good). OF COURSE I could run to the local liquor store and buy it, OF COURSE that would be cheaper, OF COURSE I could then enjoy as much of it as I want in the comfort of my living room without having to worry about driving home (meaning I usually only get to have 1 or maybe 2 beers). So why do I keep going? Because all of the bartenders know me by name, they all know what sorts of beer I like (they have over 500 beers here, so them knowing what I want helps if they're making suggestions) and my glass is NEVER empty (If I'm having a friend drive). On multiple occasions, the bartenders have said "Hey, I just put 20 free credits in the jukebox, you should go over and pick some songs". One time, I had ridden my bike there and it started raining...I was about to head home when the bartender set a beer down in front of me and said "Why don't you wait it out, this one's on me". It's the exact same thing with hosting, or bananas, or toilet seats, car alarms, computers, lightbulbs, EVERYTHING. OF COURSE I could set up a box on my own, OF COURSE I could find a bandwidth provider and pay them, OF COURSE I could round up enough of my friends to make the cost of running the server less than what I spend a day on coffee, OF COURSE I could keep spare hardware on hand for when it goes down, but you know what? I don't! I don't do it because to ME, it is worth buying the customer service from slicehost to have them do it for me. THAT is what I'm buying. I'm not buying server space, or bandwidth, or anything like that, I'm buying SERVICE. Some companies are have figured this out (the one I work for is one of them), and those that have are thriving right now. (if anyone here is curious, the bar I'm talking about is called 'Papago Brewery' and it is in Phoenix, AZ...if you're in Phoenix, stopping here is worth it, trust me).