I'm developing a web listing service at http://www.individuals.com. The listing directs the user to an individual's web site the may have a domain name (1), or a free site (myspace) (2), or to a dynamic IP address that gets updated when ever they go on-line (3)
I believe this third option is the future for personal web sites and small business activity. Personal web servers offer more options, better security, unlimited storage, and no restrictions on content. Not only can you keep track of activity on your site, you can tell "where in the world" visitors come from.
Anyway...I could use some help beyond my philosophy of the future of the Internet. I'm an armature coder and designer, so any feedback about my site is golden.
Please take a look and try a password enabled listing.
Thanks in advance,
David Jordan

Small businesses need a direct address that they can issue on their stationery and advertising as well as use within email.

Linking in with some kind of social network would hurt the image of a small business trying to appear professional.

Personal web servers offer more options, better security, unlimited storage, and no restrictions on content.

assuming the user knows how to set it up and maintain it - and content is usually restricted via the ISP's aup. The connection is also likely to be slower than those hosted with a decent web server company.

Not only can you keep track of activity on your site, you can tell "where in the world" visitors come from.

That should already be included in any decent hosting package or can be added with a couple of lines of code via a remote hosted tracking service.

There has been talk about domain names being replaced by "keywords" of various sorts or other such things for a long time. Nothing meaningful came from any of the efforts to promote domains alternatives so far.

Hosting a serious business on myspace or any third party is not a practical option, and never will be. You want a unique address; a website that uses a third party domain just looks stupid.

Where you host - on your home computer, ISP's shared webserver, or ISP's co-location does not matter from the domain standpoint. You still need to use a unique domain name. Hosting at home will probably never be a mainstream practical option; mainly because of security reasons and because hosting through ISPs is much easier and cheaper.

For most businesses...of course use the domain/host model. I'm developing individuals.com for the soho and vanity market.
A listing service like individuals.com will point you to a Dynamic IP: port where you can do whatever you want. And it's free.
How else do you share an entire photo album with only family and friends? What could be easier than saving files on your computer than uploading? Is cyberspace more secure than your own hard drive?
There's no sign up. I'm not even collecting e-mail addresses. I think this is a valid third option to what's out there.
Your input is highly valuable to me. Thanks in advance to anyone.