Are Free Tools Better For Web Publishers?

An e-mail arrives from the inestimable Mr Rodgers, directing me to a post by Howards Owens about using free web tools to improve your website:

And that’s a really neat little trick for getting those handy little “related articles” links on the bottom of your posts. Now, doing this sort of thing on a commercial sitre is not without its risks. Relying on free web services can come back to bite you if those free services suddenly close up or change massively. And, as a non-paying customer, you get exactly the customer service you paid for.

Big publishing companies tend to seek big publishing solutions. The problem is that the web favours small, agile solutions. Squaring that circle is a huge challenge, and one that’s as much a social one as a technical one.