> If I convert dollars to bitcoins, I would be tempted to wait a couple of days and sell on mtgox and then buy the service with dollars.
Remove the "purchasing a service" element out of the equation and this still holds up -- the temptation to put money aside in bitcoins is still there.
As the service is a month-to-month thing, there's a limit on the amount of time you can wait if you did purchase by bitcoins. Also, if the price of bitcoins is going up, it's encouraging customers to pay earlier and earlier which is a good thing as most customers seem to wait until the last day (but server bills come up before then...).
No, it's encouraging the customer use an established, stable currency which doesn't force him to closely monitor the exchange rate. Usually, he doesn't want every transaction to be highly speculative.
It also depends, psychologically, on how early you got in. If you bought a bunch of bitcoins at $1 per BTC (or less), and a company is selling X for 1 BTC, you might think "Ooh, I'm getting X for just $1!" (Or if you do mining, calculate the electricity costs.) Sure, 1 BTC may be worth ~$30 right now, but you presumably want item X right now. Plus you get a physical asset worth ~$30 for what cost you in stable-money $1. (Though with the surge over the past week or so I'd agree with you on avoiding spending for that period if possible.)
No way. Say I bought 49 coins for 49$. I wouldn't use them to buy one month of vps. I would convert them to ~1400$ and use 118 of those good old dollars to buy the service, tell myself how clever I am and spend the rest on cocaine or something like that.
As the service is a month-to-month thing, there's a limit on the amount of time you can wait if you did purchase by bitcoins. Also, if the price of bitcoins is going up, it's encouraging customers to pay earlier and earlier which is a good thing as most customers seem to wait until the last day (but server bills come up before then...).