Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Hotmail Domain Reward Check on E*Bay
Big_Joe wrote to us with the continuing story of Michael Chaney. Michael is the guy who paid the re-registration fee for the Hotmail domain name, after Microsoft had failed to over the Christmas holiday. He's auctioning the 500$ "thank you" check off on E*Bay and has pledged to donate the winning bid to charity, as well as matching up to $2,000 of that out of his own pocket.
http://cgi.ebay.co m/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=239850613
Gentlemen (and women) start your bidding.
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Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
Why?
I mean, I see your point, he's just doing this for good press (I'm not agreeing, just seeing). But honestly, if you can get someone to do a good deed just for some (free) good press, thats great! More good deeds will happen, and the world will be a better place.
Why does a good deed become bad just because it will get you covered in the media? This guy is giving $2500 of his own money to charity not to mention spending some of his time to raise yet more money for charity. HE'S USING HIS GOOD PRESS TO RAISE MONEY FOR CHARITY! I think it is in remarkably poor taste to critize someone who is doing their best to get as much money as possible to a food bank. Sure, he gets his name in print, but in 3 weeks who will remember it? By your logic, Mother Theresa was extremly petty. I mean, her whole life she just kept trying to make headlines by helping people.
In short, I have a greal of respect for this man for donating his time and money to charity and very litte for you for critisizing him.
--Nick
Hey chill out, I remember being online and reading slashdot when passport.com went down (yes I know it was Christmas day), and reading the article and all the threads when Micheal Chaney paid the bill. I remember that his post when he paid had "Merry Christmas, Microsoft" on it. ... I would ask that when they make out a check they consider how much revenue would have otherwise been lost had this been down for another day or two, "
.He pointing out that he saved a multi-billion $ corporation's most popular Internet service (yes, Hotmail provides the most hits to MSN.com via the cute little logout redirection trick) from at least 24 hours of outage maybe more and that is worth more than a thank you and $35. I've seen his web-page he's a regular hack just like me (i'm probably worse off since i'm still in school) and I would have done the same thing, the least they could do was give a little extra (rebate check, free software, extra $$$). If that's greed to you then I say not giving a reward would have been the height of ingratitude and corporate penny pinching from a company who's CEO can afford to burn a million dollars a day from now till he dies and still will die a billionairre.
I was actually surprised it took that long for 1 of us to pay it because several people (myself included) went to the NSI payment site to verify if it was down but for hours nobody paid it until Micheal Chaney did. Upon reflection it seems very telling upon the character of slashdot readers (during Christmas) that it took that long for one of us to pay it...(it's not like we suspected MSFT wouldn't reimburse the check).
Here's the offending ZDNet and C|Net articles that made everyone start calling him a money hungry opportunist.
Quotes...
ZDNet : Microsoft said it would refund Chaney the $35, although Chaney hinted his bailout of the world's biggest software company was worth more. "Microsoft is under no legal obligation to repay the $35 to me, and it doesn't really matter to me if they do or not. If they do
C|Net: As for Microsoft's promised check, Chaney said he plans to frame it. "I'm not going to cash it," he said, "unless it's a huge amount." Pointing out the value of restoring service to millions of Microsoft customers and the preservation of advertising revenues, Chaney suggested that his Christmas charity is arguably worth more than a simple thanks. "In a perfect world, I wish they'd take that into account," he said. "But I'm not relying on it. It's their choice."
What he claimed is that he felt what he did was worth more than a $35 check and a thank you.