Yes, they've both been sunk to the depths of the ocean -- but that might be a very good thing.

As someone who operates a number of US-hosted websites (including this one), I've become acutely aware that the cost of that hosting is now becoming an increasingly irritating pain in the wallet.

The declining NZ$ has meant that each month I'm forking out an increasing amount of my hard-earned cash to keep this site running and the viability of hosting a small non-commercial operation off-shore is becoming borderline.

Readers Say No Comments Yet Have Your Say

But hey -- every cloud has a silver lining!

If the Kiwi dollar stays down NZ hosting companies could be sitting on a veritable goldmine when the Southern Cross Cable comes online later this year. Local operators such as 4  2Day.com who provide a very cost-effective hosting solution for small to medium-sized sites -- and many of NZ's ISPs who provide similar services might find the USA to become a lucrative market.

2Day.com offers hosting packages from NZ$10 per month -- which is currently just US$4.20. That's cheap -- even undercutting those budget US web farms that seem to charge about US$7-10/month.

Let's see what happens come November.

Why The Dollar Is Done-For
Our politicians keep trying to shirk responsibility for the plummeting dollar by blaming it on a strong US currency -- and I dare say that some of the more naive and gullible out there might believe this claim.

However, after you've read 4 this article you might see that claim for the untruth it is.

Yes, the US dollar is strong -- but why?

Because, as verified by that country's ascent to become the world's most productive, the USA has harnessed the power of those technologies driving the new economy in a way that has significantly boosted the wealth of the entire nation.

We are now left with two scenarios to describe this country's appalling situation:

1. Our politicians are so naive and ill-informed that they remain totally unaware of the correlation between the fostering of a new economy and the strength of the economy.

2. They are aware of the obvious -- but choose, for reasons which at this point remain unknown, to deliberately keep NZ near the bottom of the rankings of productivity, growth and economic performance by maintaining policies that drive our key people off-shore and penalise those investing in critical R&D.

What do you think? Stupidity or arrogance? Have your say!

More NZ IT Industry News Online
Well known and highly regarded industry writer Keith Newman has been busy beavering away on the NZ-centric part of the Internet.com website of late and if you don't already know about it then I suggest you drop in and check out his work.

Keith's excellent reporting on the local scene can be found at 4 www.nz.internet.com, a site which is claims to be "New Zealand's Internet Industry Portal."

I think maybe the site needs more links to 3rd-party sites (like this one Keith?) before it can lay claim to being a "portal" in the traditional sense of the word -- however it appears that it's the Internet.com people, not Keith, who have decided to use that rather inappropriate label.

I've added the site to the list of links along the right-hand side of this page just in case you forget to bookmark it.

As always, your feedback is welcomed.