Switching Costs

Anyone even remotely familiar with economics, competition, or even what's made Microsoft so successful is familiar with the concept of switching costs. Essentially, switching costs are incurred when a particular tool or technology becomes so entrenched that the cost to the customer to switch (in learning time, productivity, compatibility, etc) to a new tool or technology outweighs the benefit of switching. This is a technology company's dream.

Unfortunately for MSN Spaces, that was not the case for me. I've posted 1 blog there (my First!) but have to admit I was less than thrilled with the total appearance, and even less so with the fact that I kept experiencing a "catastrophic error" (Microsoft's words, not mine) when I would try to log back into the page.

So, Blogger, here I am. I have to admit, I almost didn't switch when I couldn't get my traditional user name. Unbelievably, charpopp was already taken. So was charpopp72 (is there another one of me out there??). That's okay - at least I could still use it for my blog address - and my user only matters to me.

Hopefully my first day experiences at Blogger will be better than MSN. And hopefully I can now escape the ridicule (or good natured ribbing) of my more experienced blogging friends.

Am I officially a blogger now?