DynDNS.com Acquires EveryDNS

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Posted by kdawson on Tuesday January 12, 2010 @07:32AM from the keep-it-free dept.

funfail writes in with the news that, five days ago, EveryDNS was sold to DynDNS.com. From the announcement and e-mail from EveryDNS's founder, David Ulevitch: "Since starting EveryDNS in June of 2001 while a freshman in college, my goal has always been to provide simple, reliable and secure DNS services to the Internet community. I'm proud to say that we've lived up to that mission and delivered robust DNS services to over 400,000 domains. Nearly 9 years later, it's now time to put the service in more capable hands and I'm happy to announce that I've found a great home for EveryDNS. I have sold the EveryDNS service to Dyn Inc., the operators of the immensely popular DynDNS.com service." EveryDNS has been one of the most popular free (or one-time donation) DNS suppliers. From the FAQ at the link above: "Will the service remain free? While we don't 100% have the answer to that yet, we will not be making any changes to the service you are currently receiving for the foreseeable future. We will be discontinuing signups in the near future but existing accounts will remain active and fully functional."

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Easy answer by flibuste · 2010-01-12 07:36 · Score: 2, Informative

"Will the service remain free? "
As a former DynDNS user, I can assure everyone that the answer will be NO in the not-so-distant future. They've already done it. DynDNS has stopped offering services for free and became overly expensive...suddenly...overnight...or so.
This is actually not good news. Something that used to be nice (aka "cool") and free (aka "beer") is now sold to people who stopped caring about services to go for....oh...PROFIT...I forgot that...
1. Re:Easy answer by radtea · 2010-01-12 07:42 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  we will not be making any changes to the service you are currently receiving for the foreseeable future.
  Yeah, and I bet they are telling the soon-to-be-former employees of EveryDNS that they don't have any staffing changes planned "for the forseeable future" either, the "forseeable future" for the average PHB being about 4 seconds.
  
  --
  Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
2. Re:Easy answer by bakawolf · 2010-01-12 07:43 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  uhm, i'm pretty sure they still do...as I use it and http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/ says they still do
3. Re:Easy answer by Idbar · 2010-01-12 07:51 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I've had a DynDNS account for more than 5 years now and they haven't charge me for their dynamic dns service yet. Where did you learn that, and how did you arrive to that conclusion?
4. Re:Easy answer by Dahamma · 2010-01-12 07:52 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  I have had a great experience as a dyndns user. I paid $30 for each of 2 customdns domains when they were still flat rate, and now I am grandfathered into them forever... can't beat that :)
5. Re:Easy answer by plague3106 · 2010-01-12 07:58 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  DDNS is still available for free, and you can sign up. I don't recall them ever offering anything else for free.
  Why you feel they should offer a free service is beyond me; its not like offering the service is free for them, and I suspect the easydns guy sold to make back the money he's invested (and them some).
  There's nothing wrong with profit.
6. Re:Easy answer by TooMuchToDo · 2010-01-12 08:18 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Yea, god forbid someone actually needs to bring in some cash to pay for the hardware, colo costs, etc. to provide that service. Since when is being financially sound selling out to the man?
7. Re:Easy answer by chrisgeleven · 2010-01-12 08:21 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  I work for DynDNS. Our basic Dynamic DNS service has always been free when using one of our hostnames (such as example.dyndns.org). DynDNS has never stopped offering our free Dynamic DNS service and will not stop offering it.
  I recommend reading our CEO's welcome letter for information on our plans for EveryDNS. http://dyn.com/dd-welcome-everydns
8. Re:Easy answer by Mad+Merlin · 2010-01-12 08:44 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  Same here, except starting 2-3 years ago they started emailing me once a month saying I have 5 days to confirm that the account is still active or they'll drop the DNS entry. Annoying, but not annoying enough to switch away or fork over some cash.
  It might be different if you use an updater client thingie, but my IP never changes so I don't bother.
  
  --
  Game! - Where the stick is mightier than the sword!
9. Re:Easy answer by chrisgeleven · 2010-01-12 08:57 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  If you have an update client that sends us at least one IP address update every 30 days, that will also prevent the account from expiring. Otherwise, it will require a login every 30 days onto our web site.
  Chris Gonyea
  DynDNS Support http://www.dyndns.com/support/
10. Re:Easy answer by Gordonjcp · 2010-01-12 11:13 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  if really wanted the pay service, I'd definitely drop the cash for it
  I'd *love* to drop the cash for DynDNS's paid service, but I can't because - like many USian companies - they insist on taking only credit cards. Outside the US, *everyone* has a debit card so comparatively few people bother with credit cards. If you want to do business outside the US, not taking debit cards is economic suicide.
Re:As a current free DynDNS user... by athakur999 · 2010-01-12 07:41 · Score: 4, Informative

EveryDNS is more like the "custom DNS" feature in DynDNS which uses their servers to provide nameservers for your own domain. DynDNS's custom DNS service is $30/year if you aren't hosting with them, while EveryDNS is/was free.

--
"People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
DynDNS honours their own one time donatations by Rix · 2010-01-12 07:46 · Score: 5, Interesting

Even though (I think) they no longer take them. I gave them $10 some time in the early naughties, and they still provide what they said they would then. It's hard to complain about that.
1. Re:DynDNS honours their own one time donatations by chrisgeleven · 2010-01-12 08:56 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Those who have lifetime service on DynDNS will not lose it. We take providing that service very seriously, since some of our biggest fans are our longtime customers.
  Chris Gonyea
  DynDNS Support
2. Re:DynDNS honours their own one time donatations by chrisgeleven · 2010-01-12 09:58 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Our CEO Jeremy Hitchcock wrote a welcome letter to EveryDNS customers here http://dyn.com/dd-welcome-everydns that explains a little bit more about our plans for EveryDNS.
  I honestly do not have an answer for your specific question, but as of right now there will be no changes to the EveryDNS service in the short term as our welcome letter states.
nerd fail by jollyreaper · 2010-01-12 07:48 · Score: 5, Funny

I used to smugly think I caught people being redundant saying DNS server. Comic book guy voice: "Do you say Persional Information Number Number? Do you say Automatic Teller Machine Machine? Fools." And then I found out that DNS is Domain Name System or Domain Name Service, never Domain Name Server. Domain Name Service Server is perfectly acceptable usage. Haven't felt so n00b since I called Wine an emulator.

--
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
blah @ DynDNS by TypoNAM · 2010-01-12 07:59 · Score: 4, Interesting

I originally started using DynDNS.org back over a decade ago when it started out as a service running off of a dedicated dial-up modem with a static IP address. Over the years I had just a few .dyndns.org addresses which were basically setup as static. About two years ago I decided to log in after ages of not touching it to change IPs on one of the addresses cause my ISP was making everybody on a specific subnet switch over to another. Well little did I know that free users must log in every three weeks or so, else the account will be dropped. By logging in I triggered their timeout service to begin.
I was checking my email one morning and found a notice that I should log into DynDNS else my account will be dropped within 4 hours. That email was sent three days ago by the time I read it. So, after having an account after so many years it just gets dropped like that without any warning what so ever except an email to alert me that I have a four hours notice. Since then I have avoided DynDNS and recommended others to go else where when asked about it since I thought that was just absolutely wrong.

--
This space is not for rent.
1. Re:blah @ DynDNS by Hurricane78 · 2010-01-12 08:27 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Question: Did you read the terms when you started using it?
  
  --
  Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
2. Re:blah @ DynDNS by johncandale · 2010-01-12 08:44 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  About two years ago I decided to log in after ages of not touching it ... little did I know that free users must log in every three weeks or so, else the account will be dropped. By logging in I triggered their timeout service to begin.
  I was checking my email one morning and found a notice that I should log into DynDNS else my account will be dropped
  'BAAWWWWWW, my free service should be perfect in everyway in perpetuate.' Sounds like to me if it was important to you you would have been paying a little more attention to it in the first place. I bet you also think you should be able to use any web site for free without ads, and should be able to download free movies and TV and music. It's normal to drop inactive accounts, with a free service 90% users sign up, use it for 3 months then never touch it again. Don't be so entitled.
3. Re:blah @ DynDNS by thetoadwarrior · 2010-01-12 08:57 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  No one does that. It's easier to bitch after the fact.
4. Re:blah @ DynDNS by chrisgeleven · 2010-01-12 09:02 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  I work for DynDNS Support, so I can clarify what happened here. Our free accounts (ie: no paying services) will expire every 30 days unless you either 1) login to your DynDNS.com account on our site or 2) send an IP address update for one of your hostnames using an update client. Each login or IP address update thus resets the 30 day expiration date on the account. We send out a warning 5 days before the expiration date of the account, giving you time to login to the account to save it. If you do not do that, the account and hostname will be deleted but you can simply sign up again if you lost the account by accident.
  For most customers, #2 above will keep their free account active since most ISP's do change their customer's IP addresses often.
5. Re:blah @ DynDNS by clone53421 · 2010-01-12 09:12 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  It’s worth mentioning that some update clients will automatically force an update in time to avoid the account expiration even if your IP hasn’t changed in that time.
  
  --
  Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
I like 'em. by hideouspenguinboy · 2010-01-12 08:14 · Score: 4, Informative

I've paid for DynDNS service for the last few years - I fell I've received good service at a fair price. I'm happy to see them expanding their business, and I hope they profit enough to continue making me happy.
Re:DynDNS is very reliable by chrisgeleven · 2010-01-12 08:25 · Score: 2, Interesting

Thanks for the nice comments! I work for DynDNS and we take great pride in our reliability.
- Chris Gonyea
DynDNS Support
Possible Replacement by dlgeek · 2010-01-12 08:44 · Score: 4, Informative

Since there were several people asking about possible replacements for hosting a DNS zone for free, I thought I'd give a shoutout to zoneedit.com. They do managed DNS, but your first 5 zones are free. I know the website looks like a relic from the 90s, but I've been using them for years and years (hosting 2 domains) and have never had a single issue.

Oblig Disclosure: No relation to the company other than being a satisfied user.
nerd fail nerd fail (and that's not redundant) by Zero__Kelvin · 2010-01-12 09:28 · Score: 2, Funny

"Not sure about that. A server is something that serves. A service is something served."
Right, which is why it would be wrong to talk about the IRS as having a server, and why when the IRS invades your business and takes all your servers, they tell you that it was a pleasure servicing you ...

"It's sort of like saying that a waiter in a restaurant will now wait on you."
You really haven't thought your effort to be pedantic through very well at all, have you. I suppose the hostess could say "The waiter will now do that thing he does" but that would be problematic if for example you just saw a certain movie produced by Tom Hanks and consequently expected him to break out in song, or if for example you were about to order a white drink of creamy consistency, since you might be afraid that he might do that thing he does in your drink. So as you can see it makes perfect sense to be specific about what the waiter is about to do.

Of course, these days you usually can't find a waiter, since they usually refer to themselves as servers now! Maybe the next time your out to dinner you should request your server to resolve a Domain Name to an IP address. I expect that you'll be the "waiter" for an infinite period in that scenario, though ;-)

--
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
Re:As a current free DynDNS user... by raju1kabir · 2010-01-12 09:30 · Score: 3, Insightful

I've found ZoneEdit to be frustratingly quirky. Getting new domains working is a PITA and always takes an extraordinary amount of time. The interface is clunky and weird. The name servers seem to work, but EveryDNS was such a pleasure to use by contrast that I'd long ago moved everything off ZoneEdit.

--
"Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it." -- GBS
EveryDNS has left the building... by InakaBoyJoe · 2010-01-12 09:48 · Score: 2, Insightful

Have you tried to contact EveryDNS lately? No one is there.
Well, I donated to EveryDNS at year-end, but my account wasn't updated to "donator" status. Repeated attempts to contact them over the last 3 weeks have gone completely unanswered.
The conclusion? DynDNS bought EveryDNS, sent everybody home, and we're just a server failure away from having to scramble to find another DNS. Maybe some of us will sign up for DynDNS's paid service? Wouldn't that be nice for the new owners...
Re:Thanks... by chrisgeleven · 2010-01-12 10:00 · Score: 2, Interesting

You're welcome. We take pride in being very transparent with our customers. You can see that on our company site (dyn.com) and on our twitter pages (http://twitter.com/dyninc and http://twitter.com/dyndns).
The question on everyone's mind by initialE · 2010-01-12 12:42 · Score: 2, Interesting

What's in it for Dyndns? Why buy over a competitor fielding free services? And what can we expect in the medium to long term?

--
Starbucks, Harbuckle of Breath.