I have a few friends along with my self who are always viewing this forum, preparing for after college and stuff, dreaming of being a webhoster.

But, I just thought, in 5 years will a new host even be able to get into the market and make profit, since it is already difficult in this day in age.

Help :stickout:

I would think nothing is impossible.
As long as you have a mind to upgrade and know very well what the trend is going. Make sure a good business plan is made and enough market survey to be done before putting in the first investment.

Don't do things out of impulsion. Think thrice before starting. No one can tell how a computer is going to be like in even a year time but will there not be more computer manufacturing companies opening up? NO.

So just keep yourself updated and you will find your edge.

Many Hosts sell off due to family commitments and so they have more time with friends.

Excessive use of the computer may force you too ware glasses 5 years down the line.

Originally posted by 3en
Many Hosts sell off due to family commitments and so they have more time with friends.

Excessive use of the computer may force you too ware glasses 5 years down the line.

Sadly I already have glasses :bawling:
Contacts here we come :D

Also, how did you guys get your like "knowledge" and "experience" with handling server problems?

I agree with acidbase... nothing is impossible. Let it be known though, the web hosting market is already a tough market to get into, and succeed. In order to be truly successful, a lot of money needs to be pumped into advertising, you need to have sweet support, uptime and packages. I'm sure in 5 years the market will be just as hard, if not harder... so keep this in mind when/if you start. Also, the profit may decrease in the future, due to all of these people lowering prices just to get more customers, while ignoring the profit factor. If you do chose to start a business up, best of luck to you! If your profit isn't incredible... it's one heck of a learning experience anyways. Take care.

Web host would come and go and as long as you offer what your target clients need and want and at the price level which is both beneficial to both you and them, I am sure you can make it.

The general market might get saturated with standard offerings so you need to be unique and reinvent yourself to meet the changing needs of your clients.

Originally posted by Cyndaquil7
Sadly I already have glasses :bawling:
Contacts here we come :D

Also, how did you guys get your like "knowledge" and "experience" with handling server problems?

Setup a linux server at home and play with it. Learn as much as possible, get some books, etc. This will help you on the road to managing a box.

heh I have glasses anyway so in 5 year ill be blind maybe. But im gana be hosting as long as I can

Umm... Do you have a background playing the game "Pokemon", by chance?

But that's besides the point; learn to administer servers and you should be able to get into the business at any point in the future.

I have a friend with a webhosting company, and within 6 months he had over 1,000 customers and he'd barely invested $1,000 into it. So I'd say, if their mind was set on it, they could do it, but mind you, 5 years from now, hosting would be an entirely different ball game :/

In 5 years see the Adidas ad 'Impossible Is Nothing' :)

If you have the perfect plan, the money to target and exploit the niche, the will and vision along with the targets to achieve, i think you will have success no matter 5 years or 10, the world population keeps increasing so does that hinder the growth of hospitals? no right, the same way as more people come online to do business companies will keep increasing.

Thanks, Yaser.

Originally posted by Yaser
If you have the perfect plan, the money to target and exploit the niche, the will and vision along with the targets to achieve, i think you will have success no matter 5 years or 10, the world population keeps increasing so does that hinder the growth of hospitals? no right, the same way as more people come online to do business companies will keep increasing.


Definately, it seems to be the way hosting is headed.

Well, 4 years ago people were talking about it would be impossible for new webhosting companies to startup in 2 years.

It's never impossible but it requires alot more now than 5 years ago, and it will probably be even harder in 5 years from now!

Cheers

Originally posted by TechSolution
Umm... Do you have a background playing the game "Pokemon", by chance?

Yes, sadly I've used this name since I was 10 playing those little pokemon games. I've passed that stage, but thats how I came to be interested in webhosting. ;)

So, I basically decided I'm gonna be up for the challenge. I'll hang around here for the remaining years, then maybe startup :cool:

Well. If you work hard you'll definitely succeed to get into the market. Everybody offers Perl, PHP, FrontPage and etc... The most important thing is to build your own business identity and find the way you serve your customers.

Regards
D.

The web hosting industry I am certain will change in 5 years time but there will still be a need for niche market hosting. So learn all you can now and stay on top of the latest trends like you are doing and you should be fine.

I started hosting on Windows back in early 1996 and have seen many changes over the past 8+ years. Back then there were not many real hosting companies since most of the hosting was done by dial up ISPs on a local level. That is the way I got started as well. Two years later I sold the regional ISP dial up business and kept the hosting business.

People in the industry even back then were saying the hosting industry wouldn’t last the next 5 years and all of the big host would assimilate the smaller host with consolidation. I have yet to see this happen and continue to be amazed out the number of new hosts started each month.

Best Wishes for a Net Success!

While the industry may be a bit different in 5 years, there will most likely still be a need for a quality product at a fair price.

In 5 years everyone will have PDA cell phones that have internet access.

Not sure how much the ISP would be willing to provide their cell phone, internet users with disc space for websites, but it would seem likely there will be competition for clients.

Perhaps our role will change to one of providing more program packages for specialized customer needs rather than the main stream clients.

I would not give up hope, corporate America seems somewhat greedy when it comes to setting their prices. I doubt that will change much.

Have you seen the Fash Communication program from macromedia.com (http://macromedia.com) ?

It is a very cool progam for video conferencing and instant messaging. Especially cool is the LIVE interaction that users can experience with the Panel Presentation rooms.

As more cell phone users switch over to PDAs, I would say there will be a need for customized versions of Flash communication.

With most browsers capable of viewing flash, the future stage is very much set for macromedia.com

_Andy