hosting

You get what you pay for. Or dont.

That about sums up the differences between free and not-free. It’s really no different than anything else in life.

Free (as in WordPress.com):
1. Free
2. Maintained by someone else
3. Cannot install own themes/plugins
4. Cannot import/export posts etc

Hosting company:
The inverse of the above.

If you mean the hosted blogs at wordpress.com – you have limited possibilities to tweak, customize and personalize your blog. You get what they think you need.
If you have your own domain and hosted with a company, you can enjoy all the features WP can offer (and all the plugins etc.).

Briefly: over at wp.com they are in control, with your own isntall you are in control.

Well, that was an easy decision, thanks a buch folks!

One additional question if you could be so kind. If I host my blog elsewhere, will people still register with wordpress to use it? Thanks

Try it again.
Who are the people that will use your blog? Use it for what?

Well, initially it would be for family and friends. I am thinking of creating a blog as a way to teach people things that would benefit from interactive content. I would link to the content from the blog and use it as an interface and a means to gathert request for training topics. If it goes well, anyone of course would be welcome.

Also, I have already created a few very simple web sites for some friends and their business interests so I already have an account with a pretty good hosting company.

Yes, people would be able register to use your blog if you have your own hosting account. ??

The question is not would they be able to register. The question is would they register with wordpress or through some sort of process that I set up my self? Sorry for the lack of clarity!

Your blog is your blog. Nobody needs to register “with WordPress”* for anything.

Whether you make it a requirement for visitors/readers to register to:
a) comment on your blog
b) see your blog
that’s up to you.

From the moment you downloaded the WP zip package from here – you don’t have to return here ever. Same for your visitors: they don’t even have to know this site exists ??

_______
* WP meaning this site

Ah, ok. Thanks much Moshu, that answers my question!!

yeah, moshu! ??

Kind of funny that the word “blog” comes up as a spelling error in MS Word! LOL

Quote from moshu:
“From the moment you downloaded the WP zip package from here – you don’t have to return here ever. Same for your visitors: they don’t even have to know this site exists :)”

True that someone doesn’t “have” to come back.

Funny though that most of them do for more goodies and whatnot!

??