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Apparently trying to extort the biggest software company in the world is not as easy as you would think. A Canadian teenager, Mike Rowe, signed up the domain name MikeRoweSoft.com, leading Microsoft lawyers to demand he hand the domain over. When Rowe asked to be compensated, Microsoft lowballed him with an offer of $10. Rowe asked for $1,000, which then got those lawyers working their billable hours by sending over a 25 page letter saying he was extorting Microsoft. Oh, silly Canadian teenager. Please realize tricks are not for rabbits or kids, just gazillionaires who control the earth.
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a follow up at the village voice has him picking up more work as a web designer from the fallout...he actually had to close the site because all these folks went to check it out...http://news.statesmanjournal.com/article.cfm?i=74010...props to ms for pulling the garage sales pitch...like he had an old pair of vise grips or something
Microsoft is now backpedalling because of all the negative publicity this has generated. I guess sicking your lawyers on kids isn't always the best way to make friends, eh Billy? MS sucks.
http://news.com.com/2100-1014_3-5143614.html
Suing a 12-year-old girl actually benefitted the music industry over the long haul--contrary to what many think. (Sales up 10%, P2P traffic down.) Obviously, what happened is Microsoft had teenager lawsuit envy and just couldn't let the RIAA reap all the benefits of harassing the youth of North America.
P.S. Microsoft, because of the endowment set up by Bill and Melinda Gates, is my favorite corporate monolith controlled by gazillionaires. His endowment will probably stop malaria and stem the spread of AIDS in Africa before anybody else gets around to it. Steve Jobs, what are you doing to better the world? And no, cute MP3 players don't count. Michael Dell? Anything?
Michael Dell gives thousands of dollars every year to charity -- including George W. Bush, a dozen House and Senate candidates, the RNC, etc. Look it up on www.opensecrets.org.
Dell's wife designed one of Laura Bush's inaugural outfits, and then one of the Bush daughters "interned" with her, to learn fashion or something.
Big bullies. And according to articles on CNN and other news outlets, Mike Rowe asked for $10,000, not $1,000.
Mr. & Mrs. Gates have put $26 BILLION into their foundation, which has already made grants of about $2.3 BILLION (in the past two years), including more than $1.3 BILLION to global health initiatives. As part of the foundation's charter, it will spend down its entire endowment to distribute an HIV vaccine once one is discovered. There are very few "anti-competitive" business practices that are not justified by this amount of public benefit. I'm happy to have bought probably 7 versions of Windows and Office over the years, and I will continue to be a loyal Gates fan and MS customer.
NB: I work in the foundation that was the world's largest until 2000, when the Gates formed theirs. Despite the fact that we were behind the creation of PBS, the NEA, and microfinance, we have never spent more than $650 million in one year. Just to give you an idea of the scale.
Coolfer, the reduction in p2p seemes to have only been temporary. Swapping's back up (no, not that kind of swapping)...
http://news.com.com/2100-1027-5142382.html
Yeah, Jen, get the facts straight! Mike Rowe wasn't out to extort M$, as you allege, but to make up a funny sounding name for his PT web biz. He was originally offered $10 for compensation for the domain name registration by Microsoft. He responded by saying he had spent money developing the site and printing stationary, etc. so he would think $10,000 would be more reasonable.
M$ then responded by issuing him a 25 page letter saying that M$ customers could get confused by Rowe's website. That's the real story, acording to reports... :)
Ditto, Anthony. Jen, please get the facts straight. Rowe is the real victim:
http://www.theregister.com/content/6/34955.html
Lets face it, his only real crime is being Canadian.
I thought this was an interesting take from cnet:
"Under the law, Microsoft is required to take action to protect its trademark against widespread infringement. Struan Robertson, editor of Out-Law.com, a Web site that covers legal issues affecting information technology, explained that if a holder does not take action to protect its trademark whenever it is aware of a potential infringement, it risks losing that protection."
If you had one of the most recognized names in your field, I doubt you'd want to risk losing the ability to protect it.
It's spelled "stationery" with an E. You use the letter E when you're talking about paper-related materials.
You only spell "stationary" with an A when you mean "not moving."