Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

RealNames Closing Shop

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the huge-surprise dept.

The_THOMAS writes: "The company RealNames, which tried to make a buck off of the domain name gold rush by adding their own layer on top of the ICANN system, is going out of business (Full story here). To review, the RealNames system is a browser plugin which redirects a user who types 'cookies' in the IE address bar to Nabisco.com. The reason for the closure appears to be the decision by M$ to NOT renew their agreement with RealNames which expires in June."

1 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. Why Microsoft hurts free markets by b.foster · · Score: 1, Troll
    Everybody knows that Microsoft practices monopoly pricing practices and hurts consumers in the process. After all, who wouldn't expect them to skew the software market in their favor if they do wield the power to do so? Any company would do the same thing, and it's no surprise that BillG and friends take advantage of their unique position at the top of the food chain to gouge customers.

    However, there is a second, more subtle effect to Microsoft's dominance of the PC software industry: they have the power and funding they need to prop up unprofitable ventures that serve only to increase their stranglehold over PC consumers. Take the RealNames scenario, for instance: Microsoft was able to compete with the Internic registry[1] only because they could afford to bleed money for several years without hurting. In this case, the market prevailed and RealNames collapsed. However, this isn't always the case. Take a look at Internet Explorer: for many years it was inferior to Netscape's offering, and only recently has Mozilla again surpassed it in speed and usability. IE never made a single red cent for Microsoft, but their monopoly position and cash reserves were used to force it down users' throats. And that, my friends, is why Microsoft endangers the entire software industry and desperately needs increased government oversight. Judge Jackson ruined our first chance to fight back, but hopefully the DoJ will not give up that easily.

    [1] I am not endorsing ICANN or their corporatist interests, but their system is clearly superior to RealNames' undemocratic process.