Astromart Charges for access!

[orly_andico]

croys.. it's not the bandwidth. i'm actually using EC2 for work purposes, not for hosting.

consider: you get the EC2 "large" instance at $0.35/instance-hour. $0.35 x 24 x 30 = $252. I used to have OpenVZ hosting before for $10/month.

That's not even counting bandwidth; my bandwidth costs have been very minimal (I only use EC2 for training people.. instead of provisioning 50 separate Oracle Database instances, I just fire up 50 EC2 instances and use an existing AMI).

[Airconvent]

Astromart shut down due to "maintenance" the past few days and when it came back, they are now requiring payment to access their website including existing users, not just new registrations as was the previous policy.
The charge is US$12. Its not indicated if its a one-time charge or annual fee.

err...how come I wasn't ask to pay?

I still can access leh

let me drop a mail to them then..
But seriously, probably because they are testing waters with the less active members,. If no one starts paying, they revert to free. if everyone pays, they move up to the more active users like you. That way any screw up they will not lose their "core" members...that's what i belivee anyway.

[superiorstream]

Hi,All
Internet getting more and more useless these days.Fees etc ask for everywhere.Program expensive.Get some crap /claim excuse saying we use their program/game and sue us for money.Someday will have resort to the old ways--penpal,write letters and post by stamps,put posters at busstops,listen to analog music only;etc.That 2012.

[orly_andico]

There's always craigslist.. but it's so hard to search for anything there because you have to filter by location.

[orly_andico]

croys.. i think the "sue us for money" is w.r.t. the RIAA's scams where they claim you do P2P download and.. sue you for money.

since hiring a lawyer is more expensive (most of the RIAA/MPAA claims get settled for $2k or less) then the poor end-user mostly pays up.

of course the solution is never, ever download via P2P. but then again, there's a lot of legitimate content on the P2P networks. but if you get accused (even falsely) there's a big $$ ticket to pay at the end.

[superiorstream]

Yes,sue us for money--its still fresh in my mind how those pure and innocent kids get lure by pop ups to play some on-line game and then parents through some thread by some telco company who prove their kids play those game --some parents even pay some $3-5000 to avoid their love ones fulture destroyed by the threatened lawsuit and "prison record" of their child.Well that child abuse of the first degree on the internet as I can see it.
Science and technology progress should work for mankind and hence enhance further and faster progress but with some social system that fail to support such; we user should be aware of the pitfall.Anyway we should be aware of the trend of the pay pay stuff;and one day we may have to pay for having our email address--Thats the time we have to go back to using stamps,paper and letters.Alway stay alert.Thanks.

[orly_andico]

this reminds me of the kid who ended up spending 1000 UKP ( = 2000+ SGD) on farmville paid content...