everytime VASMIR is mentioned - one should read up Franklin Chang-Diaz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Chang-Diaz) who invented this.

His life story is amazing and should be inspirational for many people in which education and hard work can enable you to succeed in life.

I think you need to consider the audience that the WJS sells to. Business people do not mind paying for business-oriented content. Look at The Economist, FT, etc for examples along with WSJ.

Meanwhile for general news, NY Times tried the walled garden and it failed.

no one is gonna care.

Here's a list of countries by Human Development Index http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index#High

Not on that scale but still a hefty chunk of change nevertheless.

The cost and complexity of moving the entire payroll and finance system over to peoplesoft was so much that it lead to the resignation of the CFO of the university because he spent more without the authorization of the board - never mind that the board and the president pushed for this improvement knowing the budget will go over from $25 mil to $40 mil or so.

http://www.vermontnewsguy.com/tag/daniel-fogel/

Bottom line is that these type of projects are incredibly complex and no one really knows the long term costs when they get into it initially. But due diligence and oversight would be critical and helpful no doubt.

and go wtih djbdns

"This time has come, execute Order 77"

I got their mailer and here what it says :

Yahoo!, AOL and MSN or Other Third-Party Portal Users

On Jan 31, 2009, you'll still have access to Yahoo!, AOL, and MSN content, but you'll no longer be able to access your email directly through the third-party portal. Instead, you'll now have access to the new MyFairPoint.net portal.

Beginning January 1, 2009, we'll start the migration of all Verizon-Yahoo! emails and settings to your new FairPoint WebMail account. You'll be able to access your FairPoint WebMail on this date, but your Verizon-Yahoo! messages may not be transferred until later in the month. Please check your new inbox periodically to find out when your messages are moved. The migration is expected to be complete by January 31, 2009.