I'd have posted this on Online's weblog, www.onlineblog.com, but since Blogger
isn't publishing at the moment, and it's long past bedtime at the Guardian in
the UK...

It's the beginning of the end of free at Blogger. I've just been interviewing
Evan Williams, brains behind Blogger.com, in his local cafe in San Francisco.
I'd dragged him away from development of Blogger's first premium service:
fast-responding servers.
Blogger has been under great strain since October, when the US terrorist attacks
prompted a surge in people wanting to create their own weblogs. Now Evan plans
to start building up a premium service: in the next few hours, he'll launch a
$30-a-year membership scheme, which will offer faster and more reliable service.
The free Blogger will remain, but other - quite compelling - premium services
will be rolled out quick-fire after that.
Watch out for the full interview in Online soon.

Cheers,

Neil Mc

Neil McIntosh
The Guardian, London