That pricing sounds about right (meaning: exorbitant); from the budget person/buyers perspective, the recurring fees and charges for per-user, per-mailing etc. are to be feared, but the poison is sweetened with promotional specials or a well-advertised low cost start-up. Just business, I guess. I hadn't thought about LISTSERV as a file server for photos or other media... it certainly accommodates photos and other objects in the archives. I tested one release (16.0a?) by creating a single post with complex HTML, many links, 5 PDF files, several MS Office files including spreadsheet and Word document and a 10 MB Windows high-def movie --- it was swallowed whole by LISTSERV without complaint and that post and each attachment continue to be accessible today. (btw if you try this you'll need to be sure to get your ISP or network mail support, then disable LISTSERV's SITE mail template, the name of which escapes me, that limits size... one or more site configuration variables had to be temporarily suspended, too.) Your last point about "secure" file sharing I can't address. To me, " secure" means to prevent access but you want to share the photos, right? We have SSL enforced browsing (https:) and password login, so that may be what you're referring to. We have taken other steps to harden our server that have been successful. Greg ________________________________________ From: LISTSERV Site Administrators' Forum [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Ronald Beatteay [[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2015 4:31 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Interface Issues I've been exploring other solutions too with an eye on a forums/listserv combination. I'm a photographer and videographer also, so I appreciate being able to share other kinds of media,, photos, video, etc. I'd like to evolve beyond plain text but still have posts sent out and archived on a listserv for those who just feel comfortable with email. http://socious.com/ offers that for $6,500 start-up and you need a minimum of 500 users,, for a monthly fee of $2.50 per user per month. ( I'm in the wrong business ) Does the latest version of L-Soft offer more secure file sharing,, for photos and such,,? Ron ________________________________ From: Greg Dietrich <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thursday, February 5, 2015 4:16 PM Subject: Re: Interface Issues Ron, Think about taking up a collection or some sort of creative future financing. LISTSERV 15 is a kluge in comparison to the current version. I remember that I didn't even like the LISTSERV web interface until 15.5 - - and 16.0 release was a tremendous improvement in functionally and ease of use for everybody -- first time subscribers and site maintainers, as well. I think the hosting solutions (I don't mean just L-Soft's) are overpriced. Just my 2.5 cents. Greg Greg Dietrich SCO ListServ Administrator Office of the California State Controller Email: GDietrich @ sco.ca.gov ############################ To unsubscribe from the LSTSRV-L list: write to: mailto:[log in to unmask] or click the following link: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-PEACH.exe?SUBED1=LSTSRV-L&A=1