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Issue 72

From Issue #72
April 2000

Apr 01, 2000  By Various
 in
Stop the Presses, LJ Index and more.
THE BUZZ

Marc Torres leaving SuSE to head up Atipa. (http://www.linuxjournal.com/articles/briefs/054.html)

Andover.net's acquisition of QuestionExchange, a company offering technical support in an auction-type setting. Ask a question, accept bid, get your answer. (Linux Today, January 28)

IBM's big plans for Linux. Big Blue announced its line of network computer terminals can now run on Linux, and it will soon make key Java software components available to leading distributors of Linux. (Linux Today, January 31 and January 26)

Sun Microsystems' release of version 8 of Solaris for free. Well, there will be a $75 fee for the bundle of applications that comes with it. (Linux Today, January 28)

Kevin Mitnick finally getting out of jail. (http://www.linuxjournal.com/articles/culture/005.html)

Arrest of Jon Lech Johansen in Norway for breaking DVD encryption scheme. (http://www.linuxjournal.com/articles/culture/007.html)

Penguins in sweaters after oil spill. (http://www.phillipisland.net.au/)

SLASH QUOTES

On the first day of LinuxWorld Expo (the perfectly numbered 2/2/2000), I walked into the press room and was greeted by the sight of fourteen PCs, all with browsers open. Half of them were tuned in to Slashdot.

Nothing in the Linux world (Expo or otherwise) is more popular than this site, where CmdrTaco, Hemos, Roblimo and their cohorts feed readers a steady diet of “News for nerds. Stuff that matters.” But Slashdot is a source of news like a fireplace is a source of bricks. In fact, fireplace is a good analogy for the function Slashdot serves in the nerd community. Each news item is a log thrown into the fire. Combustion always follows—dozens to hundreds of comments break out.

Many of the comments either bear quotes or have signatures that are themselves worth quoting. Below are just a few.

—Doc Searls

  • If there is a God, you are an authorized representative. —Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

  • 0 1, just my two bits. —Cid Highwind

  • Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves. —George Gordon Noel Byron (Lord Byron)

  • When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do? —John Maynard Keynes

  • I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was. —Astro Jetson

  • Moderation is good, in theory. —Larry Wall

  • I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it. —Bad Mojo

  • There are three kinds of people: those who can count and those who can't. —Anonymous Coward

  • I've lost my faith in nihilism. —hey!

  • A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God. —CrudPuppy

CLUELESS IN TOYLAND

Eric Robison is a UNIX consultant of long standing whose one-man company, Clue Computing, had the good sense to register clue.com as a domain name in 1995.

Hasbro is a toy company of long standing that makes, among hundreds of other products, a board game called “Clue?”.

Like many big old companies, Hasbro was rather clueless about the matter of domain names until it was too late. When they discovered that Mr. Robison had already registered clue.com, they did what comes naturally to many big old clueless companies: they sued him. They also lost. Naturally, they appealed the judgment. So the fight is still on.

When we asked Mr. Robison for a few words about the case, he framed his response in the manner of the “LJ INDEX”. With his permission, we reproduce it here.

  1. Years Clue Computing has been in this fight: 5

  2. Dollars spent by Clue Computing on the fight: ~100,000 US

  3. Highest advertised domain name sale price in 1995: ~$100,000 US

  4. Highest advertised domain name sale price in 1999: $7,500,000 US

  5. Total number of lawyers in law firms working for Clue Computing: 2

  6. Total number of lawyers in law firms working for Hasbro: >1,000

  7. Number of settlement offers made by Clue Computing: >5

  8. Number of settlement offers made by Hasbro: 0

  9. Closing stock price for Hasbro (HAS) for the week of 6/2/95: 35 1/4

  10. Closing stock price for Hasbro (HAS) on 1/31/2000: 15 (the boycott must be working).

  11. Cost of one share of Clue Computing, since its founding: $10 (okay, so we're not publicly traded...)

  12. Number of domain names Hasbro had registered in 1995: about 20

  13. Number today: probably over 100 (whois dies after 50, and they had over 60 before NSI turned off whois a few months ago. Hasbro also tends to hide their registrations under false names and third parties.)

  14. Number of domain names Hasbro wishes to register: thousands, one per product or service they sell

  15. Hasbro's management: the stupidest SOBs in the universe

  16. Clue's management: the stubbornest SOB in the universe

—Doc Searls

______________________

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