Web Hosting Show Interviews HostSearch Web Editor

July 11, 2007; 02:29 AM
“International web hosting media rock star” Mitch Keeler interviewed John Hughes, the Web Editor of HostSearch.com (http://www.hostsearch.com) recently. The Web Hosting Show offers a platform for a lively and highly entertaining presentation of Mitch Keeler’s unique perspective on the web hosting industry. The site features insights on current web hosting affairs and offers a regular audio ‘podcast’ with interviews, gossip, news and views. According to Mr. Keeler, HostSearch.com was interviewed because he regards it as being “one of the cornerstones of the web hosting industry”.

“HostSearch is one of the most established, most influential and most widely respected web hosting directories on the web,” said Mr. Keeler. “Just by viewing their front page you can see they tackle everything from hosting interviews, to news and discussions. There is a lot of good quality content there for you to comb through no matter if you are a web hosting guru or just a guy that got his first web site. I like Host Search because it is a resource everybody can get something out of,” suggested Mr. Keeler in his interview preamble.

During the interview, Mr. Keeler asked Mr. Hughes a number of questions about HostSearch.com, its role, and its unique features. The interview did though consider some of the broader issues related to the web hosting industry at large. Asked whether the hosting industry is lacking innovation, or is filled with it if you know where to look, Mr. Hughes expressed his confidence in the individuals in the hosting industry, but had some words of caution about the direction the industry is taking.

“There are a lot of very talented people in web hosting, there’s no doubt about that,” suggested Mr. Hughes. “But my concern with the web hosting industry is this increasing perception that web hosting is merely a commodity, and I think with this perception, it really does devalue the importance of the industry. I think it undermines what the industry is all about. If I think of a commodity, I think of something which has an abundance and something which I can’t really contribute to in terms of its development or its production.”

Mr. Hughes went on to suggest that the survival of the web hosting industry as we currently know it may depend on people inside the industry taking charge of its direction. “I think as this perception of web hosting as a commodity increases,” continued Mr. Hughes, “I think that web hosts see themselves merely as purveyors of current technologies, so whether its open source or technologies developed by bigger players, web hosts are merely people who provide what’s currently available. I believe that’s quite dangerous for web hosting, because unless people inject some innovation into it, unless people take some responsibility for the future of the industry, the industry will be entirely dependent on bigger players who produce those technologies, and as a result the consolidation that we have seen over the last couple of years will continue. And my concern is that a thriving industry will fall into the hands of maybe one or two major players.”

A full recording of the interview is available on The Web Hosting Show under the title “Interview With a Host Searcher - Episode 113” (http://www.webhostingshow.com/2007/07/09/interview-with-a-host-searcher-episode-113/).

A live recording of the interview can be heard on Mr. Keeler’s “The Web Hosting Show” (http://www.webhostingshow.com) website.