Today we made the decision to restructure our business, which reduced our number of employees by roughly 15%. I have just finished an all-hands meeting where I talked about today’s events with our people.

Our thoughts today are with the people who left us. They were our friends and colleagues, each made meaningful contributions to our business and were liked. We offer them our sincere thanks for their hard work and efforts and good wishes for them as they go forward.

We decided to take this step because of the uncertainty of overall economic conditions and the fact that our performance has been impacted by a number of unanticipated challenges during the first nine months of the year, including advertising revenues being dampened by the weakness in the economy and by reduced payouts to the domain channel by Google and Yahoo, which is in turn impacting domain portfolio advertising revenues and especially bulk domain portfolio sales.

I have also never seen a macro economic environment like we are seeing now. I am old enough to have lived through a number of down cycles but there are elements of this one that make it unique and that will take time to work through.

I am immensely proud of the great work our team has done together this year. The product launches of Butterscotch, Hover and Storefront. The brand launches of OpenSRS and YummyNames, and the smooth email migration to our new platform.

We are luckier than most in that what we sell, domain names and email, is more like milk and bread than like cars and refrigerators. We are also luckier than most in that we generate cash and will continue to.

As we look forward to 2009, I believe we have a strong team who will continue to innovate, to work efficiently and maintain our positive momentum. I fundamentally believe that our strength comes from our people and I look forward to working hard together over the coming weeks and months to exceed even our own expectations.

And again, today, our thoughts are with the people who have left.

TORONTO, November 10, 2008 – Tucows Inc., (AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC) a global provider of domain names, email and other Internet services, today reported its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2008. All figures are in U.S. dollars.

“Despite a difficult environment, our third quarter revenue growth was driven by the strong performance of our OpenSRS Wholesale Services, primarily domain registration,” said Elliot Noss, President and CEO of Tucows. “A number of factors, including weakness in our email business and the general economy putting downward pressure on advertising has dampened our cash flow in 2008. In addition, the significant strengthening of the Canadian dollar during the quarter negatively impacted net income by over $1 million compared to the third quarter last year. As a result, while we still expect 2008 revenue and net income to grow compared to last year, we now expect cash flow from operations for 2008 to be lower than last year.”

Mr. Noss continued, “In 2008 we completed numerous initiatives that will result in growth across our business. These accomplishments, combined with a business model composed predominantly of high-volume, low-cost transactions for services essential to establishing and maintaining a presence on the Internet, position us well to weather challenging economic conditions.”

“Our business will continue to generate strong cash flow from operations,” said Noss. “This, combined with proceeds from the sale of our equity position in Afilias and the recent divestiture of non-core hosting assets will support our share buyback program, as we focus on realizing value for our shareholders.”

Summary Financial Results (Numbers in Thousands of US Dollars, Except Per Share Data)
	Three Months Ended Sept. 30, 2008	Three Months Ended Sept. 30, 2007	Nine Months Ended Sept. 30, 2008	Nine Months Ended Sept. 30, 2007
Net Revenue	20,147	17,812	59,309	56,398
EBITDA	1,293	1,378	5,487	7,922
Adjusted Net Income	(93)	1,130	2,639	8,258
Net (Loss) Income	(71)	(311)	1,056	3,610
Net (Loss) Income/Share	-	-	0.01	0.05
Cash Flow from Operations	(107)	2,264	2,590	5,788

Summary of Revenue and Cost of Revenue (Numbers in Thousands of US Dollars)
	Revenue		Cost of Revenue
	Three Months Ended Sept. 30, 2008	Three Months Ended Sept. 30, 2007	Three Months Ended Sept. 30, 2008	Three Months Ended Sept. 30, 2007
Traditional Domain Registration Services	13,688	12,332	11,016	9,159
Domain Portfolio	1,265	538	183	161
Email Services	1,517	1,771	162	153
Retail Services	2,071	1,462	558	441
Other Services	1,606	1,709	408	417
Total	20,147	17,812	12,327	10,331

Net revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 increased 13.1% to $20.1 million from $17.8 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2007. The increase was the result of the growth in both traditional domain registration services and domain portfolio services.

Adjusted net income for the third quarter of 2008 was a loss of $93,000 compared with adjusted net income of $1.1 million for the third quarter of 2007. Net loss was $71,000, or $0.00 per share, compared with a net loss of $311,000, or $0.00 per share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2007.

Deferred revenue at the end the third quarter of fiscal 2008 was $54.4 million, an increase of 9% from $49.8 million at the end of the third quarter of 2007 and unchanged from $54.4 million at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2008.

Cash and restricted cash at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2008 was $2.7 million compared with $6.2 million at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2007 and $2.9 million at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2008. This decrease compared to the second quarter of 2008 is primarily the result of cash used in operations of $107,000, additions to property, plant and equipment of $627,000 and the repayment of $479,000 of the Company’s bank loan, which was partially offset by $921,000 generated through the sale of the Company’s remaining hosting accounts.

EBITDA and Adjusted Net Income

To assist financial statement users in an assessment of the Company’s historical performance and to project its future earnings and cash flows, the Company has included earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). EBITDA is presented because it is an important supplemental measure of performance frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of companies. Other companies may calculate EBITDA differently. EBITDA is not a measurement of financial performance under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and should not be considered as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities or as a measure of liquidity or an alternative to Net Income as indicators of operating performance or any other measures of performance derived in accordance with (GAAP). Because EBITDA is calculated before recurring cash charges, including interest expense and taxes, and is not adjusted for capital expenditures or other recurring cash requirements of the business, it should not be considered as a measure of discretionary cash available to invest in the growth of the business. See the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows included in the attached financial statements. As a non-GAAP performance measure, EBITDA, has certain material limitations as follows:

• It does not include interest expense. Because the Company has borrowed money to finance some of its operations, interest is a necessary part of the Company’s costs and ability to generate revenue. Therefore, any measure that excludes interest has material limitations;
• It does not include depreciation and amortization expense. Because the Company must utilize capital assets in order to generate revenues, depreciation and amortization expense is a necessary and ongoing part of the Company’s costs. Therefore, any measure that excludes depreciation and amortization expense has material limitations; and,
• It does not include taxes. Because the payment of taxes is a necessary and ongoing part of the Company’s operations, any measure that excludes taxes has material limitations.

Management compensates for these limitations by considering the economic effect of the excluded expense items independently as well as in connection with its analysis of net earnings.

Adjusted Net Income represents EBITDA plus the additional adjustments described in the table below. The adjustments reflect the material amount of cash collected by the Company for domain registrations and other Internet services paid for the full term at the time of activation, with the revenue deferred, net of prepaid fees. In addition, adjusted Net Income reflects earnings and expenses considered as non-representative of ongoing business for the reasons specified below. Each of the items being adjusted for may create certain material limitations in the use of Adjusted Net Income as a non-GAAP financial measure. Adjusted Net Income is one of the primary measures the Company uses for planning and budgeting purposes, incentive compensation and to monitor and evaluate Tucows’ financial and operating results. Adjusted Net Income is not a measurement of financial performance under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities or as a measure of liquidity or an alternative to net income as indicators of operating performance or any other measures of performance derived in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. See the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows included in the attached financial statements.

Conference Call

Tucows will host a conference call today, Monday, November 10, at 5:00 p.m. ET to discuss the Company’s third quarter results. To access the conference call via the Internet go to http://tucowsinc.com/investors and click on “Financials.”

For those unable to participate in the conference call at the scheduled time, it will be archived for replay both by telephone and via the Internet beginning approximately one hour following completion of the call. To access the archived conference call by telephone, dial 416-640-1917 or 1-877-289-8525 and enter the pass code 21286921 followed by the pound key. The telephone replay will be available until Monday, November 17, 2008 at midnight. To access the archived conference call as an MP3 via the Internet, go to http://tucowsinc.com/investors.

About Tucows

Tucows is a global Internet services company.

OpenSRS manages over 8 million domain names and millions of email boxes through a reseller network of over 9,000 web hosts and ISPs. Our Retail group sells services directly to consumers and small businesses through Domain Direct, It’s Your Domain and NetIdentity. YummyNames owns premium domain names that generate revenue through advertising or resale. Butterscotch.com is an online video network building on the foundation of Tucows.com.

More information can be found at http://tucowsinc.com.

This release may contain forward-looking statements, relating to the Company’s operations or to the environment in which it operates, which are based on Tucows Inc.’s operations, estimates, forecasts and projections. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to important risks, uncertainties and assumptions concerning future conditions that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate or differ materially from actual future events or results. A number of important factors could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Consequently, investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based on Tucows Inc.’s current expectations, estimates, projections, beliefs and assumptions. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation and are based upon the information available to Tucows Inc. at this time. Tucows Inc. disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

New video website offers consumers entertaining video to demystify technology and the Internet

Toronto, November 3, 2008 - Tucows Inc., (AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC) a global Internet services company, announced today the launch of butterscotch.com, a new online video network that offers educational and user-friendly instructional shows designed to demystify technology for the average technology consumer. The website’s Fall lineup features a range of handy tutorials and TV-like shows aimed at making technology fun and easy to understand. Hosted by tech veterans Amber MacArthur, Andy Walker, Sean Carruthers, and Molly MacDonald, butterscotch.com aims to be the HGTV of the technology industry.

Butterscotch.com’s technology video content helps consumers understand and use products, services and software they may otherwise find too techie. The site launches with 35 video tutorials, with plans to reach 500 clips by next spring, featuring tech tips, tricks and “how-to’s” for the non-sophisticated technology consumer. It will also publish mutli-episode tutorial specials that will examine a range of topics such as “Facebook for Grownups,” and “Flickr for the Frightened.” Visitors can also view a news show that features the Internet’s best viral videos, called the “A-List,” “Miss-Download,” a show that highlights the best file downloads on the Internet, and “Lab Rats,” a wacky, tech advice show that already enjoys 150,000 weekly downloads.

Butterscotch.com adds a new dimension to Tucows.com, one of the oldest and most respected software download sites on the web. It further illustrates the company’s goal to provide simple, useful services that help people unlock the power of the Internet.
In addition to consumers, marketers at technology companies and retail outlets can use butterscotch.com content to help their own customers better understand the products they are offering, ultimately providing an overall improved customer experience.

Butterscotch.com offers unique opportunities for marketers including in-video advertising, private-labeled shows, syndication and product placement. More information is available at http://www.butterscotch.com/advertise.html.

“We’re proud of butterscotch.com’s Fall lineup of technology shows and look forward to adding more content that will wow and educate viewers about technology, ” said Andy Walker, General Manager, butterscotch.com. “We’ve expanded on what Tucows.com is all about and continue to provide fantastic content to help consumers fully enjoy the benefits of technology and how it fits into their every-day lives.”

About Tucows

Tucows is a global Internet services company.

OpenSRS manages over 8 million domain names and millions of email boxes through a reseller network of over 9,000 web hosts and ISPs. Our Retail group sells services directly to consumers and small businesses through Domain Direct, It’s Your Domain and NetIdentity. YummyNames owns premium domain names that generate revenue through advertising or resale. Butterscotch.com is an online video network building on the foundation of Tucows.com.

More information can be found at http://tucowsinc.com.

Sale marks next step in Company’s divesture of non-core assets

TORONTO, NOVEMBER 5 - Tucows Inc. (AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC), a global provider of domain names, email and other Internet services, today announced it has sold all of its 7.38 equity interest in Afilias, a global provider of registry services, back to the company. The purchase price of $7.4 million is payable to Tucows in three cash installments: $3.2 million today; $2.1 million in June 2009; and $2.1 million in December 2009.

“This sale is another step in our stated goal to divest non-core assets in order to unlock hidden value for shareholders” said Elliot Noss, President and CEO of Tucows Inc. “The proceeds of the sale provide additional funds that will be used to fund further share repurchases.”

About Tucows

Tucows is a global Internet services company. OpenSRS manages over eight million domain names and millions of email boxes through a reseller network of over 9,000 web hosts and ISPs. Our Retail group sells services directly to consumers and small businesses through Domain Direct, It’s Your Domain and NetIdentity. YummyNames owns premium domain names that generate revenue through advertising or resale. Tucows.com remains one of the most popular software download sites on the Internet. More information can be found at http://tucowsinc.com.

This release may contain forward-looking statements, relating to the
Company’s operations or to the environment in which it operates, which are based on Tucows Inc.’s operations, estimates, forecasts and projections. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to important risks, uncertainties and assumptions concerning future conditions that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate or differ materially from actual future events or results. A number of important factors could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Consequently, investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based on Tucows Inc.’s current expectations, estimates, projections, beliefs and assumptions. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and are based upon the information available to Tucows Inc. at this time. Tucows Inc. disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:
Mary Magnani, MKR Group
mary@mkr-group.com
415-829-7879

Leona Hobbs, Tucows
lhobbs@tucows.com
416-538-5450

In addition to the news release about our new service, YummyNames, we’ve also put together a short video explaining what YummyNames is all about with Bill Sweetman, General Manager, YummyNames:

And we also have a social media release (SMR) which is a special webpage loaded with nearly a dozen videos, images, quotes and links about the announcement. You can view that here.

Of course, we’d also like to invite you over to the brand new YummyNames website where you can try a search or two and see what the portfolio has to offer.

Allows marketers to search and select from thousands of superior domain names to enhance marketing and branding initiatives

Toronto, October 29, 2008 - Tucows Inc., (AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC) a global provider of domain names, email and other Internet services, today announced the launch of YummyNames, a new service providing exclusive access to a large selection of premium domain names from the Tucows Domain Name Portfolio. Created especially with marketers in mind, YummyNames allows people to search for and obtain the perfect domain name for their organization from tens of thousands of high-quality domain names.

A few of the YummyNames domain names available include countryrock.com, divorced.com, lemons.com, listener.com, mygarden.com, thepub.com, tool.com and veggies.com.
Marketers seeking high-quality domain names for their company, clients or campaigns can go to http://www.yummynames.com and search through a large portfolio of premium domain names. They have the option of purchasing a name outright or leasing the domain name for a finite period of time, the latter being a payment option particularly advantageous for short-term or seasonal marketing campaigns.

Developed and managed by a team of marketing and domain name veterans at Tucows, YummyNames is also a useful resource for SMB owners who recognize that obtaining a high-quality domain name is critical to the success of their business.

“It’s important for marketers and organizations to realize they don’t need to settle on a lousy domain name,” said Bill Sweetman, General Manager, YummyNames. “Domain names are a vital component to successfully marketing a brand – whether it’s the launch of a new company, website or marketing campaign. A high-quality domain name is short, relevant and most important, easy to remember. We’re excited to open the Tucows portfolio of premium domains to the public through YummyNames. We’re confident users will find their perfect name.”

“YummyNames, the public face of our domain portfolio service group, provides an additional means by which to realize the value of our domain portfolio assets to drive continued growth for the Company,” said Elliot Noss, President and CEO, Tucows.

About Tucows

Tucows is a global Internet services company.

OpenSRS manages over eight million domain names and millions of email boxes through a reseller network of over 9,000 web hosts and ISPs. Our Retail group sells services directly to consumers and small businesses through Domain Direct, It’s Your Domain and NetIdentity. YummyNames owns premium domain names that generate revenue through advertising or resale. Tucows.com remains one of the most popular software download sites on the Internet.

More information can be found at http://tucowsinc.com.

TORONTO, Oct. 28 /CNW/ - Tucows Inc. (TSX: TC, AMEX: TCX) plans to report its third quarter fiscal 2008 financial results via news release on Monday, November 10, 2008 at approximately 4:00 p.m. (ET). Tucows management will host a conference call the same day at 5:00 p.m. (ET) to discuss the results and the outlook for the company.

Participants can access the conference call via the Internet at http://tucowsinc.com/investors.

For those unable to participate in the conference call at the scheduled time, it will be archived for replay both by telephone and via the Internet beginning approximately one hour following completion of the call. To access the archived conference call by telephone, dial 416-640-1917 or 1-877-289-8525 and enter the pass code 21286921 followed by the pound key. The telephone replay will be available until Monday, November 17, 2008 at midnight. To access the archived conference call as an MP3 via the Internet, go to http://tucowsinc.com/investors.

About Tucows

Tucows is a global Internet services company.

OpenSRS manages over 8 million domain names and millions of email boxes through a reseller network of over 9,000 web hosts and ISPs. Our Retail group sells services directly to consumers and small businesses through Domain Direct, It’s Your Domain and NetIdentity. We hold a portfolio of approximately 150,000 domain names that are available for sale, monetized through advertising and support our wholesale Personal Names Service. Tucows.com remains one of the most popular software download sites on the Internet.

More information can be found at http://tucowsinc.com.

Toronto, October 21, 2008 – Tucows Inc., (AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC), a global provider of domain names, email and other internet services, today announced that Elliot Noss, President and CEO, will present at the RBC Capital Markets Growth Conference 5.0 on Tuesday, October 28th at 1:05 p.m. Eastern Time. The conference is being held at the MaRS Centre in Toronto.

Tucows will offer a live audio webcast of its presentation as well as a 30-day archived replay, which may be accessed in the “Investor Relations” section of the Tucows corporate website at http://tucowsinc.com/investors/ and the “Featured Events” section at http://www.mkr-group.com.

Conference Details:

• RBC Capital Markets Growth Conference 5.0
• October 28, 2008
• MaRS Centre, Toronto, ON
• More information can be found at: http://www.rbccm.com

About Tucows

Tucows is global Internet services company.

OpenSRS manages over 8 million domain names and millions of email boxes through a reseller network of over 9,000 web hosts and ISPs. Our Retail group sells services directly to consumers and small businesses through Domain Direct, It’s Your Domain and NetIdentity. We hold a portfolio of approximately 150,000 domain names that are available for sale, monetized through advertising and support our wholesale Personal Names Service. Tucows.com remains one of the most popular software download sites on the Internet.

More information can be found at http://tucowsinc.com.

Contact:

Leona Hobbs
Director of Communications
Tucows, Inc.
(416) 538-5450
lhobbs@tucows.com

Todd Kehrli or Mary Magnani
Investor Relations
MKR Group, Inc.
(323) 468-2300
tcx@mkr-group.com

TORONTO, October 3, 2008 – Tucows Inc., (AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC) a leading provider of Internet services to web hosting companies and ISPs worldwide, today announced that it has partnered with Web.com, a leading provider of online marketing services for small business, to offer Tucows’s OpenSRS Personal Names Service. Through Personal Names, Web.com will offer personalized email and web addresses for people looking to showcase their name brand for their business.

“As a market leader in providing online services to small and medium-sized businesses, Web.com’s selection of our Personal Names Service underscores the importance of email to customer retention for service providers,” says Elliot Noss, President and CEO of Tucows. “Too many service providers are content to let their users get email from Google, Yahoo or Microsoft without realizing the cost to their business. Web.com recognizes that a quality email experience with a great, personalized email address is appealing and important to keep customers happy, retention high and word-of-mouth growing.”

OpenSRS Personal Names is ideal for small business owners, sole proprietors or SOHOs looking to showcase and associate their name brand with their company within their email or web address, such as amy@smith.net for their email address and amy.smith.net for their web address.

“We are always looking to make the services we offer to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) more effective, says Jeff Stibel, President of Web.com. “This partnership with Tucows enables us to provide SMBs with a customized email address directly related to their own name.” The majority of Americans will now find their own name waiting for them at Web.com.

About Tucows

Tucows is an Internet services company. Through our global network of over 9,000 service providers our OpenSRS group provides millions of email boxes and manages over eight million domains. Tucows is an accredited registrar with ICANN (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). We hold a portfolio of approximately 150,000 domain names that are available for sale, monetized through advertising and support our wholesale Personal Names Service. Our Retail division sells Tucows services to consumers and small business owners through Domain Direct, IYD (It’s Your Domain) and NetIdentity. Tucows.com remains one of the most popular software download sites on the Internet. For more information please visit: http://tucowsinc.com.

For further information:
Todd Kehrli
MKR Group
323-468-2300
todd@mkr-group.com

Leona Hobbs
Director, Communications
Tucows
416-538-5450
lhobbs@tucows.com

As part of our participation in the One Web Day project, I thought it would be interesting to talk to some of our people about one of Tucows’ core values: we believe that the Internet is the greatest agent for positive change the world has ever seen. I asked around to see what the greatest change the Internet had made in the lives of our employees. Here are some of the responses:

Bill Sweetman: I apparently have an “inner teacher” so I love to share my passion and expertise, and the Internet allowed me to do that on a global scale in a highly efficient manner. Before the Internet, I could only reach people in my immediate geographical vicinity. Now I hear from people all around the world who say they have benefitted from reading my blog, listening to my podcast, or visiting one of my web sites. Bill Sweetman is the General Manager of the Tucows Domain Portfolio.


Stacy Reed: Besides the obvious benefits of having a world of knowledge at my fingertips, the biggest changes the Internet has made in my life have been personal in nature. For instance, I can thank the Internet for giving me a humbled ego that desires the knowledge of truth over the desire to always be right, as well as a greater appreciation of our global cultural differences, a bad case of carpal tunnel and a slightly larger arse. Stacy Reed is a software librarian with Tucows.


Adam Elliot: The main thing the Internet did to change my life was to give me a job! I started tech support for an ISP back around 1996 or 1997 and have worked in the Internet industry ever since. The .com bubble burst when I had a whack of stock options from a buy-out of my former ISP by a huge international ISP which afforded me my first-ever sabbatical, and now I’m working at Tucows as a Credit Card Fraud Specialist which has opened even more doors for me careerwise. I love my job, and I feel proud to be an “Internet Superhero.” It’s an immensely gratifying job. People whom I inform about credit card fraud against them often call me back weeks, even months later, to thank me again for notifying them before they found out from any other source, thus saving them even more identity theft damage. I give all my friends great Internet advice and educate them about Internet fraud so they don’t fall victim themselves. It’s been a great ride so far! Adam Elliot is a fraud control officer with DomainDirect.


Kari Dykes: I got stoked on the Internet the first time I IM’ed a friend across the country in the mid-90s, when keeping in touch was the main reason the ‘Information Superhighway’ and I got along. Almost 15 years later, I do everything online; but now and then I’m still surprised by what it can do. In 2006, I hooked up with an organization called Kiva that uses the Internet to connect micro-lenders with entrepreneurs in developing countries. Because of Kiva’s online business structure, overhead is kept to a minimum and admin fees are voluntary for lenders. The money that’s loaned to people is tracked in an online portfolio and returned to the lender through an online refund when the loan is paid back. Plus you can email the business owners to track their progress and growth. Did I mention you can also use it to shamelessly promote good causes you believe in? Kari Dykes is the Customer Success Manager for OpenSRS.


Kevin Hartmann: Yesterday, I gave one of my friends the directions to my housewarming party. I didn’t give her the directions over the phone, like I might have 20 years ago. Instead, I emailed her the invitation, along with a web link to an online map, complete with colour satellite photographs of my house. That map is so detailed that you can see the colour of the cars parked along the side of the roadway on the day the photos were taken, and all the shortcuts through the back alleys are clear and obvious. I couldn’t do that when I was young. Kevin Hartmann is a software developer with Tucows.


Sharon O’Rourke: As a part time ‘mature’ student at university and a full time executive assistant, the impact the Internet has had on my life is almost immeasurable. At work I can book travel - flights, hotel, car - the works without picking up the phone or leaving my desk. I can order office supplies, arrange offsite meetings, find answers to almost any request my boss can make - the Internet makes it all possible. On a personal level, at university the Internet is an invaluable tool - I can do research from home, find articles and books online and if they’re not online, then I can use the Internet to reserve them at the library. And I have found old friends and classmates on social networks and can now keep in touch in a way that was simply not possible ten years ago. I have to tell you, I’m a fan. I love the Internet. Sharon O’Rourke is an Executive Assistant with Tucows.


Nabil Altai: On a personal note, since 2003 I have had more chances for staying in contact with some members of my family in Baghdad through the Internet, instant messenger, email, etc. Without the Internet I would have been at the mercy of the telephone network and lines in Iraq, and pay for my phone calls. I also have family members in a few countries that I keep in touch with mainly through the Internet. Nabil Altai is a data warehouse analyst and developer with Tucows.


Jody Stocks: I’d have to say that the biggest change the internet has wrought in my life is…banking.

Consider what we used to do in a given month:

• flurry of bills arrive in the mail. I start writing cheques and noting them in my account book.
• oops - ran out of cheques. Call up (and then pick up) some more cheques.
• now, into the envelopes. Hey - I actually have enough envelopes!
• …but not enough stamps. Gotta go to the post office.
• Do I have enough in my account to do the grocery shopping? Let’s stop at an ATM and find out.
• Wow - where did the money go? Transfer some more in and we’ll do the forensics when we get the statements.
• Speaking of forensics, check out this credit card bill we got!! If I’d known we’d put THAT on credit, I’d have moved money differently.
• OK - now we have the statements and know where the money needs to go. Let’s go to the bank and make the 7 transfers we need to do to set things to right.

Ouch. I can’t imagine going back. Now, I don’t need to even do half the stuff up there and the other half takes up about 10 minutes of computer work each month, with no waiting in line or anything. Jody Stocks is the Director of Software Engineering at Tucows.

Ken Schafer: Well, I owe pretty much my entire professional career to the Internet. Over the last fifteen years I haven’t had one job that existed when I graduated from university.

But the biggest change I’ve seen has been the ability of my mother - who is now almost 88 years old - to use email and instant messaging to stay actively engaged in our lives and the lives of her grandchildren. She was born before radio, TV and even phones were common and here she is popping up on my desktop at work to see if I’m getting enough sleep and taking good care of the kids! Ken Schafer is the Vice President of Marketing and Product Management for Tucows.


Claire Lam: As any technologist would say, you can never be too rich or too thin and you should never live without the Internet. The Internet has affected my life tremendously. First of all, it’s a huge addiction of mine, and going on an Internet “fast” would be a difficult endeavor. Secondly, it’s simplified communication and truly connected the world together. I remember being 10 years old; while my friends were outside playing in the sun, I was sitting at home logged onto CompuServe through my 14.4 Global Village modem, typing on a black and white terminal and watching lines go across the screen. Today, I’m doing the same thing but on a grander scale. The online community is a phenomenon, allowing us to archive our life histories in words and pictures. The Internet has changed my view of life by giving me diverse points of view, made me find love, lose love and offer new ideas that makes the Internet media so rich today. Claire Lam is the Manager of Implementation Services for Tucows.


Heather Leson: Carleton University had Freenet when I started school. I immediately got an account and was hooked. Being a library girl, I quickly realized that my dream to have information at my fingertips was just a website away. Internet access and availability is quickly becoming an essential service. When I think about the wonderful projects out there such as OLPC or Little Geeks, I can only dream that anyone who ever wants to learn or explore can travel online much like a library. The Internet is full of opportunity and big dreams. We really are becoming Pico Iyer’s global citizens when the boundaries are only a connection away. Heather Leson is the Customer Communications Specialist for OpenSRS.


Chris Mercer: The Internet has changed the way I’m able to consume media and absorb information. Before the age of the Internet, it was difficult to get instant answers to questions and to experience different points of view on a given topic. This also includes information in the form of media and being able to send and receive music, videos, and photos all over the world. This ability has allowed us to discover potential interests that otherwise may have gone unnoticed, especially if you lived in an area where your social circle didn’t introduce you to those kinds of media. In short, the Internet has given each of us the ability to share our perspectives and interests with the world and to find others who might share our personal tastes. Long gone are the days of faxing photos and making mixtapes. Chris Mercer is a Business Development Manager with OpenSRS.

We’d love to hear some of your stories. How has the Internet changed your life? Post a comment and let us know!