Sometimes, Microsoft is Right...

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Sometimes, Microsoft is Right...

Posted by chrisd on Tuesday May 21, 2002 @03:29PM from the headlines-you-never-thought-you'd-see-here dept.

We've run a number of stories about RealNames over the years. To our credit, Slashdot readers and editors have mostly thought that RealNames was a foolish and pointless money wasting exercise to create an alternate DNS system that is neither, well, alternative or compatible with the DNS protocols. But recently, due to some shrewd marketing on the Part of Keith Teare, the RealNames CEO, they've gotten undeserved sympathy by painting themselves as victims of Microsoft. It is my intention to cut this off before it goes any further, to engage in some review of RealNames business and why it was a good thing that they went out of business. If you are interested in reading my thoughts about this, read on... A quick review: RealNames (then Centraal) first showed up on the Slashdot radar in 1998 when they inked a sales deal with Pre-verisign Network Solutions in which NSI would sell RealNames along with their other stable of internet "products." RealNames were very much pioneers in doing ethically troubling things for money on the Internet. Specifically, they were the first company to make a business model around manipulating search results for money. They also were trying to replace Network Solutions then-monopolistic control of domain names (a laudable goal) with a monopoly of their own (not so laudable), with their RealNames "augmenting" the DNS system in the Internet Explorer Browser and within search engines with which they had inked sales deals.

Now many many users of Slashdot have expressed their dislike for search services that order results based on cash, and many of us don't use IE, so the question comes up: why should we care about RealNames at all? Why does the failure of some poorly managed, ill-conceived company warrant any space on Slashdot? Alternative root servers make for a better story, no doubt. I'm the first to agree that RealNames deserves very little of your time, but the story of RealNames has recently taken a turn that is both annoying to me personally, and worrying to me as a long time participant in the open source scene.

Keith Teare, CEO of RealNames, has tried to make it seem like it was Microsoft's monopoly power that made RealNames go out of business. Lets review: RealNames had a deal with Microsoft to provide the RealNames service to MSN and Internet Explorer, for which they paid Microsoft a fee, and in return they got to derive revenue from selling the RealNames to companies, so basically Microsoft was likely RealNames' sole source of income. Keith and his coworkers were very happy to tie their horse to Microsoft while Microsoft was willing to pull them.

I don't need to explain to the Slashdot reader why RealNames was a poor idea. It is something you feel in your gut. I mean, in the end if you're going to accept the consensus reality that is the domain name system, are you going to stick with the somewhat broken NSI/ICANN/Pick-Your-Favorite-DNS company structure? Or are you going to go to a completly left field, poor, expensive excuse for NSI like RealNames? If you are a company trying to establish a web presence, do you choose the system that everyone has agreed on and publicize your url "http://www.bobstigerrentals.com" ? Or do you put: "RealName: Bob's Tiger Rentals" in your ads?

To illustrate further: Back in the day, I bought the linux.com domain name for the then-VA Research (Now VA Software) from Fred van Kempen (And there was much publicity, huzzah). Four or five months after doing this, I got a call from James Ash at RealNames trying to sell me the Linux RealName. This was not unusual, as I'd get any number of calls trying to sell me anything from containers full of stuffed penguins to whole companies (I was the wrong guy for those calls ...) What shocked me was the price he thought we'd pay. My mind remembers it as a horrible inverted Ron Popiel style sale, with none of the charm of Ron's products. How much would you pay to control the "Linux" RealName for four years? You'll be all over MSN and IE! $19.95? $29.95? $39.95? Try 1 million dollars.

It was a lot of money then, it's a lot of money now. It was a lot of money for any business. I told him we'd get back if we were interested. I didn't get back to him.

This is the innovation that Mr. Teare claims Microsoft squished, his right to overcharge for a dubious product. While Caveat Emptor certainly applied in the case of RealNames, his claim that Microsoft, somehow, has some duty to continue to provide the RealNames "service" to their browser client rings false. And that is the point of relating this bit of personal history.

I have little interest in engaging in schadenfreude over broken companies and laid off workers, but I do take issue with Keith Teare's attempt to jump on the anti-trust complainants bandwagon. If it is his hope that by crying foul on Microsoft now he can derive some sympathy or some other unknown gain, he'll have to look somewhere else than here on Slashdot, especially considering those that have a valid complaint against the software giant. Even considering recent developments I can't find any sympathy for him or his company, a company that, in my mind, belongs in the same class as LinuxONE (the California, not the Korean, company) and Digital Convergence.

126 of 352 comments (clear)

Sometimes Microsoft is right!? by Any+Web+Loco · 2002-05-21 15:33 · Score: 2, Funny

Don't say that. Everytime you say that, somewhere an open-sourcer dies...
1. Re:Sometimes Microsoft is right!? by vena · 2002-05-21 15:47 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  /me claps
  
  don't die, open sourcer!
  
  /me claps harder
  
  don't die!
Invest in space heaters! by sheldon · 2002-05-21 15:35 · Score: 4, Funny

Hell must have just frozen over!
1. Re:Invest in space heaters! by Debillitatus · 2002-05-21 15:58 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Let's see... hell froze over, and the first advice is, "invest in space heaters".
  What does this say about where /.ers read from?
  Heh.
  
  --
  Come on, give it up, that's
Sorry for him, but... by Bogatyr · 2002-05-21 15:39 · Score: 4, Insightful

If he wanted to not have Microsoft control his coporate survival, he should have found someone else to be a customer. Depending on a single client as your sole revenue stream is a trap that has severely hurt at least one former employer of mine.
1. Re:Sorry for him, but... by Bogatyr · 2002-05-21 16:34 · Score: 2
  
  Uh? Yes.
  Depending on a single source of income is generally a bad business plan (there are of course exceptions out there). One possible example is if they'd designed themselves to hook into AOL in a way similar to the AOL keyword search strategy. If they had AOL as a customer, they would still have money after Microsoft decided to stop.
2. Re:Sorry for him, but... by tftp · 2002-05-21 19:00 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  if they'd designed themselves to hook into AOL in a way similar to the AOL keyword search strategy
  I believe, AOL's keyword is the AOL's own equivalent of RealNames' product. Why they should share cash with anyone for something they can (and do) provide on their own?
3. Re:Sorry for him, but... by dcavanaugh · 2002-05-22 01:09 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Mistake #1: Relying on a single customer
  Mistake #2: The single customer is Microsoft
  Mistake #3: Relying on the monopoly of M$ and IE
  Mistake #4: Creating an AOL-keyword knockoff and thinking it would somehow generate revenue
  Mistake #5: Failing to realize that the keyword concept would either die on its own or be emulated by others -- no profit either way!
  
  So RealNames is in the Internet cemetary -- buried next to the Cue Cats.
4. Re:Sorry for him, but... by NormalVisual · 2002-05-22 01:25 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  A CueCat makes a passable general purpose bar code reader with a little bit of work, and if you can't do that, at least you've still got a spiffy little flashlight. I can't see any such utility with RealNames.
  
  --
  Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
5. Re:Sorry for him, but... by dcavanaugh · 2002-05-22 02:42 · Score: 2
  
  It's lousy as a flashlight, but very useful as a barcode reader (with minor surgery).
  
  As you say, CueCats are a little more useful than RealNames, but the majority of CueCats are sitting in landfills because the average user doesn't know how to properly declaw them.
Thank you, thank you! by Da+VinMan · 2002-05-21 15:39 · Score: 4, Interesting

I am sick to death of alarmist stories on /. that assume that the average /.er will believe in anything but Microsoft no matter what the story.

Hopefully, this is a sea change for /. and it's front page stories. Stories that are about so-and-so feeling screwed and wronged by Microsoft aren't automatically worthy of our attention. To me, that why the story of RealNames on /. is worthy of mention; because of /., not RealNames.

Thanks again....

--
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
1. Re:Thank you, thank you! by dangermouse · 2002-05-21 15:50 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  How the hell is the parent offtopic? The story is about RealNames and the Slashdot reaction. So is the parent post.
  Go ahead, burn your mod points on me. I can take one for the team.
2. Re:Thank you, thank you! by RadioheadKid · 2002-05-21 16:55 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Well there's always two things that hold true around here, most people with moderation points are idiots and /. is anti-Microsoft.
  
  Wait, strike that, one thing...
  
  --
  "Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -Homer Simpson
3. Re:Thank you, thank you! by _Sprocket_ · 2002-05-21 18:02 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  To me, that why the story of RealNames on /. is worthy of mention; because of /., not RealNames.
  
  I'd offer a couple other reasons this story was worthy of attention.
  
  First, RealNames has shown up on Slashdot before. And as chrisd points out in this article, RealNames is a posterchild for dubias business strategies that involve shoving the Internet in to one's own private monopoly. It wouldn't be suprising that the ultimate failure of this company wouldn't show up as a followup on Slashdot.
  
  Secondly, the recent shenanigans has opened up dialog on a great subject: Microsoft isn't always in the wrong. If the CEO of RealNames had posted on Slashdot, he would have been labled a troll. Posters didn't fall for the bait. They noted RealNames was a Bad Idea and Microsoft, for once, wasn't doing anything worthy of ire. I saw the article subject not as "look what evil Microsoft has done now", but rather "look at who this guy is claiming as a scapegoat".
  
  Lets not get carried away. Microsoft does plenty to attract criticism. But to be fair - Microsoft should be criticized only when their actions ARE appropriate. Microsoft doesn't deserve to be roasted when some scam artist wants to jump on the Microsoft-illegal-behavior-awareness bandwagon.
4. Re:Thank you, thank you! by scrytch · 2002-05-22 06:52 · Score: 2
  
  Hopefully, this is a sea change for /. and it's front page stories
  
  I dunno. The story had to go to great lengths to explain how RealNames did itself in while MS had nothihg to do with it. In fact, the title of this article points out the novelty of Microsoft not being the bad guy. The story could have been posted as "Microsoft lets RealNames twist in the wind" and there would have been legions of rabid penguinistas jumping on them, not the least of which would probably have been the submitter, and the editors who take anything that slams MS without an iota of fact checking. And it's that last part that's the clincher -- the submitter spared the editors from having to do the fact checking. I suspect the next 10 stories about Microsoft will be of the form "New attack out for vulnerability [not mentioned: patched >6months ago]" or another piece of minutae in whatever legal imbroglio they're in to invite half-baked legal opinions about how Bill Gates should be forcibly given a sex-change or something.
  
  In short, while the culture of slashdot might not be composed entirely of said rabid penguinistas, the editors certainly do their best to make it look that way. This one instance doesn't really assuage me at all.
  
  --
  I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
5. Re:Thank you, thank you! by evilpenguin · 2002-05-22 09:24 · Score: 2
  
  I hate the term "penguinista." It is insulting to people who advocate Linux because they believe it serves their needs better. It is insulting to people who fought and died in South American civil wars (on both sides). This is not meant to be a personal attack on scrytch. It is complaint I tend to lodge whenever this hateful word springs up.
  
  What does amaze me about this post, however, is the implicit assumption that any news critical of MS is inherently biased and non-factual. I'm not sure this conclusion can be drawn.
  
  Those of us who mistrust Microsoft are backed up by Federal District Court and a Circuit Court of Appeals. I'm not sure what backs up MS's advocates.
  
  As for the fact that a community tends to be self-congratulatory, well, I grant you that. Of course, I cannot immediately think of a single counter-example in human history...
6. Re:Thank you, thank you! by scrytch · 2002-05-23 07:05 · Score: 2
  
  I don't think I coined the term "penguinista", I've just used it a good deal more than average. In fact, I think it was a self-applied label, used in some sort of positive sense the first time I saw it. I took it as exactly how twisted the evangelism had gotten. I personally think that usage was a good deal more disturbing than the pejorative connotation I put on it. How about "penguinite"? (aside from sounding like a chemical substance).
  
  What does amaze me about this post, however, is the implicit assumption that any news critical of MS is inherently biased and non-factual. I'm not sure this conclusion can be drawn.
  
  Whoah there. No, it's just that slashdot has shown a long and increasingly obvious pattern of what goes way worse than bias when it comes to Microsoft. I don't even have a word for it, suffice to say that it impugns the first word of slashdot's slogan: "News".
  
  Those of us who mistrust Microsoft are backed up by Federal District Court and a Circuit Court of Appeals. I'm not sure what backs up MS's advocates.
  
  I'll do my best to shelve my clever rejoinders if you put away yours. Appeal to authority, and not even one universally respected. Besides, I haven't seen the words "great satan" anywhere in the court decisions :^) (ok, I promise, last one)
  
  As for the fact that a community tends to be self-congratulatory, well, I grant you that. Of course, I cannot immediately think of a single counter-example in human history..
  
  Self-congratulatory is one thing, I get used to minor kernel release announcements and "linux used to power 3 vacuum cleaners at company XYZ" (ok, -1 troll). What I refuse to accept is the daily Two Minute Hate against Microsoft that slashdot seems more and more to represent, which is destroying the
  credibility of the community it is associated with. Slashdot is becoming synonymous with sloppy spite-filled evangelism, which (and I bet is in the FAQ) is worse than none at all.
  
  --
  I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
7. Re:Thank you, thank you! by evilpenguin · 2002-05-23 10:21 · Score: 2
  
  I know you didn't coin the term "penguinista." I used to know who did -- I know I engaged in on-line discussions with the person who coined it. I hated the word then. I hate it now.
  
  I certainly agree that Slashdot is not journalism.
  
  I'm rather surprised that you consider the judgement of a U.S. Court to be Argumentum Ad Verecundiam. I must concede that this is tecnically so, if I were trying to clinch a logical proof. However, I was attempting to demonstrate that Microsoft was acting outside of the bounds of an abstract social convention. I guess I would have considered the law to be the ultimate expression of social convention. Maybe not.
  
  As for a two-minute hate, I think it is a product of the feelings of the majority of the technical community. In other words, Slashdot follows opinion. It does not lead it. For example, I hate Microsoft for at least 27 minutes each day.
  
  I've been hating Microsoft ever since the DR-DOS AARD code fiasco and the "Works with Windows95" label marketing program. Their (sccuessful) efforts to dominate ISVs and OEMs by leveraging their control of the OEM OS distribution channel has been sticking in my craw for 8 years.
  
  I didn't hate them before that. I even happily owned a few products of theirs like their "m80" assembler for CP/M. It was the best one. I didn't like a lot of their crummy products, like multiplan and the early versions of Word, but that was on their merits, not on an instutionalized hate.
  
  Eight years later, it is institutionalized. I admit it.
On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by xRizen · 2002-05-21 15:41 · Score: 4, Interesting

RealNames wasn't exactly the best idea, I think we can all agree. But can anyone think of a system that is *seriously* better at everything DNS does than DNS? Even if someone could, who's to say that it would be adopted? IMO, DNS is far too entrenched to be pushed away at this point. Switching to another system would most likely be even more difficult than the switch to IPv6.

Beyond RealNames and other DNS-alternatives, it seems like once every year or two, a bunch of tech geeks get up on an anti-ICANN fit. They go off and create an alternate NIC, but about a year later, it's been mostly abandoned. It seems to me that until a large portion of the geeks (preferably those who control some of the lower-tier DNS servers) really unite and get serious, we may be stuck with ICANN, as sad as that may seem.
1. Re:On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by NutscrapeSucks · 2002-05-21 16:20 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Somebody else said it first, but DNS was not supposed to be a keyword system.
  
  But yet that's exactly how people have treated *.COM, and everytime we have a story about squatting or ICANN or CompanyReallySucks.com, slashdot gets up in arms and starts proposing reforms and reorgs and so on.
  
  So some company comes along and tries to make a keyword system apart from DNS, and what's Slashdot's reaction. Well, they suck too, the leeching bastards. I don't get it.
  
  Alternate NICs are not a solution the abuse of DNS -- they do nothing more than attempt to extend the misuse of the system.
  
  Keywords and Search are the solution, and RealNames was not a bad idea. Lets put the stupid squatting and trademark junk in their database instead of our DNS system. Let them worry about the problem of how to find "Something" on the internet without resorting to "Something.com".
  
  Having RealNames punted by MS is a good thing in this respect. Hopefully browser developers will come up with a system where you can plug in as many Keyword Systems as you'd like (just like you can with search engines). I wouldn't mind an automatic Google Are You Feeling Lucky? feature in my address bar.
  
  --
  Whenever I hear the word 'Innovation', I reach for my pistol.
2. Re:On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by KillboyPHD · 2002-05-21 17:47 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  I wouldn't mind an automatic Google Are You Feeling Lucky? feature in my address bar.
  
  In mozilla, make a new bookmark of the following URL:
  
  http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%s&btnI=I'm +F eeling+Lucky
  
  ...and assign it a keyword of "lucky" (or similar). Now you can type in "lucky foobar" and be automatically directed to the FooBar Consulting web page.
  
  --
  Bah weep granah, weep ninny bong!
3. Re:On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by btempleton · 2002-05-21 18:27 · Score: 2
  
  You don't have to replace DNS to build something better than works on it.
  
  The answer is to break up ICANN and allow a lot of competing systems on a level playing field.
  
  --
  Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
4. Re:On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by Trepalium · 2002-05-21 19:25 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Then perhaps you should visit http://toolbar.google.com/. It's a toolbar for IE that lets you search direct from the tool bar, and also has other features, such has showing the rank of the page you're currently visiting (although Google warns that has privacy concerns), search (via google) the site you're currently visiting, submit your search to the image or usenet search, or highlight your search terms (this is my favorite feature, because it doesn't even rely on your current page being originated from Google). I kinda wish there was a version for Mozilla and Konqueror. A few of the features come in very handy (keyword highlighting, in particular).
  
  --
  I used up all my sick days, so I'm calling in dead.
5. Re:On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by byolinux · 2002-05-21 23:00 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  There's a Mozilla version over at MozDev It's pretty sweet really. Hope this helps!
  
  --
  Join the Free Software Foundation
6. Re:On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by PhReaKyDMoNKeY · 2002-05-21 23:55 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  chrisd: If you are a company trying to establish a web presence, do you choose the system that everyone has agreed on and publicize your url "http://www.bobstigerrentals.com" ? Or do you put: "RealName: Bob's Tiger Rentals" in your ads?
  
  I know I've seen plenty of ads with "AOL keyword: so-and-so" on TV, in magazines, and elsewhere. It seems to work for them okay.
  
  NutscrapeSucks: Somebody else said it first, but DNS was not supposed to be a keyword system.
  
  North America was supposed to be an extension of the United Kingdom. Slashdot was supposed to be a forum for rational discussion. We all know how that turned out. People adapt things to their own purposes.
  
  Keywords and Search are the solution, and RealNames was not a bad idea. Lets put the stupid squatting and trademark junk in their database instead of our DNS system. Let them worry about the problem of how to find "Something" on the internet without resorting to "Something.com"
  
  The current system isn't going anywhere anytime soon, like it or not. It's become too ingrained. Besides, keywords would have all the same problems. Eventually they'd all point you to porn. You were right about one thing, though. Search is a solution. With search engines (most notably, Google) actively updating and trying to help increase the relevance of your search results, as well as filtering the bulk of the junk, we are able to navigate the insanity of the internet quite a bit more efficiently. Hopefully they can remain on top of web spammers' techniques for a long time and save us all a lot of grief.
7. Re:On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by skt · 2002-05-22 00:22 · Score: 2
  
  Or, you could put this in user.js and then whenever mozilla doesn't recognize what you put into the location bar as a URL, it dumps the string to google's I'm feeling lucky feature. Less typing involved for most searches, as you don't have to type the keyword anymore.
  
  user_pref("keyword.URL", "http://www.google.com/search?btnI=I%27m+Feeling+L ucky
8. Re:On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by markmoss · 2002-05-22 01:46 · Score: 2
  
  Keywords and Search are the solution, and RealNames was not a bad idea. Where it became a _terrible_ idea was when they set a high price for listings. (Can anyone confirm that $1M? I don't want to call Chrisd a liar, but I can't imagine even the largest corporations paying that much until they had definite evidence that a RealNames listing would bring in lots of business. Which it wouldn't when, because listings cost too much, too few companies were listed too make it worth your time to do a RealNames search...)
  
  If they'd charged $10 the first year, it might have been successful, although unprofitable unless they had exceptional management. And once the database was big enough to get consumers actually using it, then they could have proven it's value and jacked up the renewal price...
9. Re:On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by scrytch · 2002-05-22 07:05 · Score: 2
  
  I dumped the google toolbar for one reason: no keyboard shortcut. See, I have a broken trackpad, no mouse (often no surface for it), so I use these mousekeys, which can take me 10 seconds to click on something. Plus, even when I have a working mouse, I hate to take my hands off the keyboard and aim for something on the screen. It's easier for me to just hit Ctrl-o, type 'g' (I have it aliased in my hosts file), hit return, then start typing my search. I also have a MS natural keyboard, and I hit the little blue "search" button, and have it set to a custom page that includes google, as well as a DICE search for my area. Still much faster than that shortcutless toolbar.
  
  --
  I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
10. Re:On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by edrugtrader · 2002-05-22 08:58 · Score: 2
  
  UHHH... you just hit alt-g (for google... hopefully you can remember that) and the cursor will go into the google toolbar... type in your search query and hit enter, and tab through the result links.
  
  RTFM before you flame the product
  
  --
  MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
11. Re:On Alternates To DNS/ICANN by scrytch · 2002-05-23 07:11 · Score: 2
  
  Cool, thanks. Wasn't really flaming the product, actually, I just figured it was par for the course. Anyway, I just discovered caret browsing in Mozilla ... I'm in keyboard user heaven. I wonder (seriously) if it'd be possible to get IE to run as a plug-in, get it to run in a mozilla tab for when I really need IE for a site. Hmmm...
  
  --
  I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
Yes, but... by NoMoreNicksLeft · 2002-05-21 15:42 · Score: 4, Funny

This is the statistical anomaly that will never happen again. M$ used their one "get to be right for free" card on knocking down realnames, so it's safe to assume they'll *never* *ever* be right again.

Satisfying, in a way.
1. Re: Yes, but... by Tony-A · 2002-05-22 00:32 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Microsoft being wrong does not imply that everybody else is right.
  Occasionally Microsoft comes up against something even more wrong.
2. Re:Yes, but... by OblongPlatypus · 2002-05-22 01:53 · Score: 2
  
  On the contrary, they don't need to rely on that card at all. They can just buy rightness with some of that $40 billion they have on hand.
  
  --
  -- If no truths are spoken then no lies can hide --
Time to change our passwords... by Anonymous Coward · 2002-05-21 15:42 · Score: 5, Funny

Seriously, someone who can plant a story like this must be able to see them, right?
Real Names sucks, 'cept for ALL of Asia by nicholas. · 2002-05-21 15:43 · Score: 4, Insightful

As much as we English loving types had no use for real names, it was a viable way for Asian countries to use their own characters for DNS entries. It had a chance of being a standard. Granted, a skewed results go to the hightest bidders standard, but it was probably better than entering and IP everytime you wanted to visit a site.
1. Re:Real Names sucks, 'cept for ALL of Asia by fungus · 2002-05-21 16:00 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  Unicode DNS exists.
  
  Even Microsoft supports it.
  
  Some internet draft...
  another interesting one.
2. Re:Real Names sucks, 'cept for ALL of Asia by quantaman · 2002-05-21 16:45 · Score: 2
  
  a skewed results go to the hightest bidders standard
  
  As much as we English loving types
  or at least a close knock-off thereof
  
  --
  I stole this Sig
3. Re:Real Names sucks, 'cept for ALL of Asia by tftp · 2002-05-21 20:46 · Score: 2
  
  This "plugin" can be as simple as:
  "http://resolver.realnames.com/who.pl? "
  (the UNICODE will be in UTF-8 in HTTP). Of course, a Java applet or a HTML form for the same action would be a trivial 3-minute exercise for anyone.
4. Re:Real Names sucks, 'cept for ALL of Asia by Zocalo · 2002-05-21 21:55 · Score: 2
  
  True, Real Names is providing the Asian ISPs with resolution of Unicode hostnames to IPs, yet when Real Names dodgy business model starts to fall apart what do the ISPs do? Pay Real Names to maintain their service for them and keep them afloat? Form a group to develop their own equivalent service? No. They clamp their wallets shut and attempt to lay all the blame at Microsoft's door. If Asian loses it's Unicode DNS it's the fault of the ISPs, not Real Names and certainly not Microsoft.
  As always, the real losers are the naive users who paid up the cash in the first place thinking they were onto a good thing.
  
  --
  UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
5. Re:Real Names sucks, 'cept for ALL of Asia by ncc74656 · 2002-05-22 05:46 · Score: 2
  
  Unicode DNS exists.
  
  Okay, and how am I supposed to type a chinese URL? How could I then ever reach a FTP server in Israel, if it only had a hebrew hostname? (You know, my keyboard doesn't have a single hebrew key on it.)
  
  Character Map (on Win2K, XP, and maybe NT) lets you select Unicode characters (like these: ) and paste them into whatever. I'm not sure how well the address bar would handle them...if it won't accept them directly, there's probably some sort of escape you can use.
  (I suppose the other difficulty with selecting characters for Asian languages is that you probably don't have the appropriate fonts installed. Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, etc. are handled with the fonts that get installed by default. Also, since there are so many ideographs associated with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, aren't some of the character codes overloaded with different symbols for each language?)
  
  --
  20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
Hey, chrisd..... by ZaBu911 · 2002-05-21 15:44 · Score: 2, Funny

I guess you wouldn't mind if I got the rights to the Linux RealName then, eh?

;)

--
PayPal $$ if you sign up for free offers (eBay, cred cards, e
1. Re:Hey, chrisd..... by chrisd · 2002-05-21 19:05 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  It's all yours. I clearly won't be standing in your way...
  Chris
  
  --
  Co-Editor, Open Sources
  Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
Re:Why are you posting this? by zCyl · 2002-05-21 15:46 · Score: 2

chrisd, Honest question: what exactly are you qualifications that put you in such a high and mighty position to lecture us?

The fact that you read the article.
Bad Idea from the start by al_d · 2002-05-21 15:47 · Score: 2, Interesting

I remember reading about the 'success story' of RealNames soon after it had started; how this entrepreneur was 'revolutionising' the internet. What a leap backword, to go from heirachical domain names, to the equivalent of the AOL Keyword (nowadays they would have patented it of course...).

It seemed like such a bad idea from the start; a similar effect easily achievable (although not necessarily of any use) in the browser itself, like that thoroughly annoying MSN Search junk that appears if you misspell a URL in Internet Explorer (Obviously both this and opennic are slightly different to RealNames, but I still don't feel that RealNames was any more useful).
1. Re:Bad Idea from the start by lewp · 2002-05-21 17:21 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  You can turn that searching junk off by selecting "Do not search from address bar" in IE's advanced options.
  
  I was very happy when I found that option.
  
  --
  Game... blouses.
2. Re:Bad Idea from the start by ncc74656 · 2002-05-22 05:59 · Score: 2
  
  IE doesn't import my Mozilla bookmarks properly, so I'd like to be able to stop using it altogether. Unfortunately I can't just yet.
  
  Since Mozilla stores its links in an HTML file, why not just set up a link in IE to that file? Click a link on the page and you'll go there.
  
  --
  20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
Re:Why are you posting this? by dangermouse · 2002-05-21 15:48 · Score: 3, Funny

Um, that's what editors do. It's why they call things like this "editorials".
Re:Why are you posting this? by jonnythan · 2002-05-21 15:48 · Score: 4, Insightful

Is Slashdot just the editor's personal soapbox?

Um, yes. Slashot always has been (and I imagine it always will be) a site for Rob and friends to post stories they find interesting, review books and movies they think are worth reviewing, and just say shit they think is worth saying.

How on earth did you miss this, having a low 5 digit UIN?

And another thing.. No one was lecturing you. chrisd posted a story about a case where someone is attempting to victimize Microsoft, possibly to give a little spin to the standard Microsoft bashing. Just deal with it.
necessity is the mother of invention..... by ZaBu911 · 2002-05-21 15:50 · Score: 2, Insightful

Why RealNames failed:

1) "Necessity is the mother of invention" - nobody NEEDED a little shortcut for their domain names.

2) Hardly anyone KNEW about the RealNames thing. The ones who knew were the most tech savvy, and they could probably have just made an aliases file to have "linux" go to linux.com or something....

3) it wasn't widely-spread. only a handful of keywords worked.

4) costed WAY TOO MUCH!

--
PayPal $$ if you sign up for free offers (eBay, cred cards, e
10 Headlines You Thought You'd Never See on /. by zaius · 2002-05-21 15:52 · Score: 5, Funny

10. Natalie Portman tops worlds ugliest people list.
9. Beowulf clusters aren't so useful after all
8. IIS beats Apache in recent security audits
7. JonKatz reviews _______ in less than 1000 words
6. [Lucent | IBM | Intel] [invents | patents] [single molecule | [carbon | other element] nanotube | really small] [transistor | hard drive | computer] (wait... maybe we have seen that one before...)
5. CowboyNeal read this (marry me)!
4. 133t k1dd13z h4x0r3d /.
3. BeOS returns, outperforms Linux
2. Sometimes, Microsoft is right...
1. Bill Gates buys U.S. Supreme court, clears M$ of all charges.
1. Re:10 Headlines You Thought You'd Never See on /. by hendridm · 2002-05-21 16:23 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  On any other article, this would be modded as Troll, but oh so funny and true here.
  
  > 1. Bill Gates buys U.S. Supreme court, clears M$ of all charges.
  
  Not so unvelievable. Add a teaspoon of Slashdot drama with a dash of overreaction and sprinkle with a story about Microsoft using campaign contributions and you've got your headline!
2. Re:10 Headlines You Thought You'd Never See on /. by kevin+lyda · 2002-05-21 17:12 · Score: 2
  
  > 1. Bill Gates buys U.S. Supreme court, clears M$ of all charges.
  
  no, no, i can see that one on /. well, very briefly before gates had osdn's web farm confiscated due to an ms license audit.
  
  --
  US Citizen living abroad? Register to vote!
3. Re:10 Headlines You Thought You'd Never See on /. by SocialWorm · 2002-05-21 17:28 · Score: 2
  
  Solaris saved you in your workplace, and yet you treated it like garbage.
  And that's what you are, the King of Refuse. So bow down to SlashDot if you want.
  
  Dang funny, my complements AC. Is that a copy of the "altered" Slashdot homepage? I can't quite tell which message this post is talking about. Also, complements to chrisd for an interesting headline and story. AOL-keyword-style systems might have made sense years ago, but, as they say in the Dark Tower series, the world has moved on.
  
  --
  My Blog: http://nic.dreamhost.com/
4. Re:10 Headlines You Thought You'd Never See on /. by Sloppy · 2002-05-21 17:43 · Score: 2
  
  Even the most dedicated RMS follower knows that Microsoft is sometimes on the right side. Has everyone already forgotten the Apple/MS "look and feel" crap? Has else everyone lost their "Keep your lawyers off my computer" button like I did?
  
  (Oh, but they're still evil and they suck. There. :-)
  
  --
  As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Live by the sword, die by the sword, or by MS by Seth+Finkelstein · 2002-05-21 16:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

In one line, RealName's business model was to leverage Microsoft's desktop monopoly, into being a DNS monopoly. To be melodramatic, the problem is that when you act as a henchman for someone who is trying to Rule The World, never forget that the would-be world-ruler has no loyalty to you. Only to how you fit into the world-ruling strategy. It's a complicated and difficult task to attempt to Rule The World. When strategies change, the specialists recruited to implement the former strategies, will be gone. And so came to pass with RealNames.
They attempted to live by the Microsoft monopoly-sword, and now they die by the Microsoft monopoly-sword.
This is not, though, Microsoft necessarily being "right", so much as having failed in one Rule The World gambit, and rationally, cut its losses. That's not the same thing at all.
Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)
1. Re:Live by the sword, die by the sword, or by MS by zangdesign · 2002-05-22 00:46 · Score: 2
  
  You diehard, you!
  
  You absolutely refuse to believe that a company can go under on it's own without any overt help from Microsoft? Microsoft wasn't interested anymore - this instance was not a monopoly power grab on their part.
  
  Sheesh!
  
  --
  To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
2. Re:Live by the sword, die by the sword, or by MS by dcavanaugh · 2002-05-22 02:58 · Score: 2
  
  Was Mussolini so foolish as to think Hitler would give him a big chunk of the world to rule with autonomy? As they say, history repeats itself.
  
  Did RealNames ever think "Gee, we have to assume that M$ will either take our idea and cut us out of the loop, or we simply fail and everyone abandons the concept." Either way, RealNames was doomed from day one.
Not True by waldoj · 2002-05-21 16:01 · Score: 5, Informative

As much as we English loving types had no use for real names, it was a viable way for Asian countries to use their own characters for DNS entries. It had a chance of being a standard.

Speaking of standards...

The IETF Internationalized Domain Names Working Group
IBM On Unicode Domain Names
Slashdot: Why Unicode will Work on the Internet
Verisign's Internationalized Domain Name Testbed

-Waldo Jaquith
Realnames closure is hurting in asia.... by os2fan · 2002-05-21 16:02 · Score: 5, Insightful

If the Register is anything to go by. the closure of Realnames is hurting people who rely on it to surf the net in their own languages (eg Japan, China). But the post is relatively silent on this matter.
I mean, Google is a good idea in the west, but in the east, it's still an english-language tool. And it's not just google: realnames was using the address line, so that {asian glyphs} were substutuded with {european letters}.

--
OS/2 - because choice is a terrible thing to waste.
1. Re:Realnames closure is hurting in asia.... by frleong · 2002-05-22 04:00 · Score: 2
  
  I mean, Google is a good idea in the west, but in the east, it's still an english-language tool. And it's not just google: realnames was using the address line, so that {asian glyphs} were substutuded with {european letters}.
  No, Google handles asian languages pretty well. I mean, the fact that many people that understand Chinese use it to find warez sites in mainland China that haven't gone down for more than 3 years mean that those guys at BSA have the same notion as you that Google is only for Europeans and Americans.
  RealNames is a so-so service that I rarely see people using it (you have to teach people to type in words rather than URLs in the first place). Also, typing in Asian characters is a difficult thing for many people. This has led quite a number of companies in China to use numeric domain names like 163.com or 881903.com.
  
  --
  ¦ ©® ±
Feature-Writing 101: Don't Insult the Readers by guttentag · 2002-05-21 16:06 · Score: 4, Insightful

I don't need to explain to the Slashdot reader why RealNames was a poor idea. It is something you feel in your gut.
To our credit, Slashdot readers and editors have mostly thought that RealNames was a foolish and pointless money wasting exercise...

This is the journalistic equivalent of beginning your presentation with the phrase, "if you don't agree with me, you're a moron."
Even lazy reporters aren't rarely so brazen. They try to make up for their lack of research/interest by inserting the word "clearly" at the beginning of a sentence. They think it absolves them of their responsibility to inform -- I call it "intellectual bullying."
I'm not picking on your writing or trolling about your opinion. I happen to agree with your assessment of RealNames, but if you can't present your argument without the bullying your argument doesn't deserve a forum. Slashdot editors, please consider this before accepting/writing features.
1. Re:Feature-Writing 101: Don't Insult the Readers by ImaLamer · 2002-05-21 18:36 · Score: 2
  
  It's like Bush when he started a sentance (at a speech talking to a school...):
  
  "Someone asked me the other day, I mean I'm asked often about how we... It's an old political speech trick... I'm asked often about how we as citizens can stop terrorism..."
  
  Seems that chrisd and G.W. learned their writing styles at the same place... a speed dating course (using subliminal suggestive phrases).
  
  Other than what the parent pointed out the RealNames idea was "cool" but useless.
  
  --
  Get your Unix fortune now!
2. Re:Feature-Writing 101: Don't Insult the Readers by chrisd · 2002-05-21 19:09 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  I didn't perceive that as bullying, I can see how one might though. I was trying to get across that my read on slashdotters reaction to realnames in previous /. stories on the company.
  It wasn't my intention to sound bullying though.
  Chris
  
  --
  Co-Editor, Open Sources
  Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
west coast by Satai · 2002-05-21 16:11 · Score: 4, Funny

Sometimes, Microsoft is Right...

Uh, Chris, did you forget again that the west coast viewers haven't seen the show yet?

Mulder: Dana, the cigarette smoking man told me something... Something important.
Scully: Fox, what is it?
Mulder: Microsoft was right.
Bandwagon Jumping... by rusty0101 · 2002-05-21 16:11 · Score: 2, Insightful

While I am no fan of Microsoft, and never really considered "RealNames" a viable business, I think that RealNames jumping onto the anti-Microsoft bandwagon is about as sensible as if Borland were to have done the same thing.

My problem with the RealNames model is that there are litterally dozens of instances of some names. In the work that I do, the Acronym ATM has two distinct meanings. In the past five years I have run into two instances where SME did not stand for Subject Matter Expert.

Kraft has one meaning at the moment, however Craft has two distinct meanings (ability to shape things, and vehicle).

My own website's name can have two different meanings, and I am moving from one to another.

My feeling is that "RealNames" was in the auction dns buisness. They would sell "names" to the highest bidder, and the price could go up every time the name came up for renewal.

If that is a "viable" buisness model that they presented to their ventur capitalists, I can see why the money dried up. The VCs would wise up once they figured out the problem with the model.

To blame this on Microsoft is inviting the wrath of your customers. You were attempting to hold a proverbial gun to their heads.

This does not make Microsoft "right" any more than the village drunk blaming the village idiot for the village drunk's drinking, absolves the village idiot of any idiocy.

-Rusty

--
You never know...
Even _I_ Agree With This One... by PRickard · 2002-05-21 16:13 · Score: 2

I'm the uber anti-Microsoft guy and even I agree. RealNames just had a retarded idea and it naturally did what all companies based on bad logic eventually do - go under. Microsoft's investment in the company was stupid but had nothing to do with their failure.

--
== Paul Rickard, Editor of The Microsoft Boycott Campaign ====
Missing the point by kteare · 2002-05-21 16:15 · Score: 5, Interesting

Chris you are missing the point. Any reading of my WebLog at teare.com must lead you to the conclusion that the inability of DNS to support multi-lingual characters requires fixing, and that right now ONLY RealNames fixes this natively in the browser that is on 90% + desktops. Microsoft are now about to hard code the browser to Microsoft's OWN middleware - the MSN Search Engine. If you type "IBM Thinkpad" into the browser you will get an MSN Search result. Even if you do not like RealNames (its a free world) you have to acknowledge that ending up on the ThinkPad page at ibm.com is the right outcome. How you can support Microsoft tying the browser to exclusively Microsoft controlled middleware - and by so doing disable every language except English (7 bit ASCII actually) is baffling to me. Incidentally the business model you describe was abandoned many years ago. Keywords were $50 per year flat fee or $500 if it was a top brand with high traffic. Keith Teare Former CEO RealNames Corporation
1. Re:Missing the point by Darby · 2002-05-21 17:13 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Even if you do not like RealNames (its a free world) you have to acknowledge that ending up on the ThinkPad page at ibm.com is the right outcome.
  
  What if you are looking to buy a used laptop?
  What if you want information about getting Plan9 running on your thinkpad?
  What if you want something *besides* the highest bidder.
  
  The same holds true regardless of the language.
  
  Your business was idiotic and helped nobody but you.
  
  Remember on your blog where you said:
  
  I hope I can make sure other entreprenuers learn the lesson of this before they repeat my mistake.
  
  You didn't learn from the mistakes of all of the others who the same exact thing happened to.
  Had you done the most cursory investigation of Microsoft you would have known this would happen.
  
  When you said this though I had to laugh:
  
  I have a lot of respect for Microsoft in general and a good company doesn't allow things like this to go unpunished or uncorrected.
  
  This is their SOP. If you respect that, then you are a fool.
2. Re:Missing the point by _Sprocket_ · 2002-05-21 21:00 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Keith, your belief in your former company is commendable in its own way - we should all believe in what we do. But in re-stating your points here, it seems like you're missing the point yourself. Let's go over your points and hazard a guess why they're not gleefully received:
  
  Any reading of my WebLog at teare.com [teare.com] must lead you to the conclusion that the inability of DNS to support multi-lingual characters requires fixing, and that right now ONLY RealNames fixes this natively in the browser that is on 90% + desktops.
  
  I am not familiar with this issue, but according to some of the posts under this article (and some excellent provided links) the issue is in work, and in fact some of the solutions are being implemented. Your solution may have provided a nice stop-gap now... but ultimately it was a monopoly in competition with the existing system. The entire Registrar game has been quickly moving away from single monopolies - with good reason. I'm affraid you're stuck in the past.
  
  If you type "IBM Thinkpad" into the browser you will get an MSN Search result. Even if you do not like RealNames (its a free world) you have to acknowledge that ending up on the ThinkPad page at ibm.com is the right outcome.
  
  That's a pretty easy call. But what if I type in the word "peppermint"? Should it go to peppermint.com (Peppermint Productions)? How about www.peppermints.com (Penguin Mints)? Or maybe www.altoids.com (Altoids)? Suddenly its not so obvious. Unless, of course, your company refused to sell a generic keyword. But c'mon... we both know it went to the first/highest bidder. And frankly, that makes your point pretty moot.
  
  How you can support Microsoft tying the browser to exclusively Microsoft controlled middleware - and by so doing disable every language except English (7 bit ASCII actually) is baffling to me.
  
  Look around. There's been grumbling about this practice (even replacing 404's with a MS search result). But it seems that replacing one monopoly with another is little to get excited about. The entire practice stinks. RealNames was just an interchangable part of the problem.
  
  You're a business guy. Your baby was slaughtered. A lamb that was shocked when the pack it ran with decided to stop for lunch. But if you think you can gain support in this forum by simply pointing your finger at Microsoft, you've gravely misunderstood Slashdot's collective culture. And you've missed the real root of the complaints against Microsoft.
3. Re:Missing the point by perky · 2002-05-21 23:09 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  "We're condemning the court's decision as well as the government's prosecution. We're 3 years old, and Microsoft was prepared to give us the trust of owning a core part of the browser. That doesn't seem the behavior of a monopolist."
  
  - KEITH TEARE, CEO Realnames (20% Microsoft Investment), June 2000
  
  "Microsoft seems to be playing the role of the referee who decides whether any innovations succeed"
  
  - KEITH TEARE, ex-CEO Realnames, after MS cancel contract.
  
  Like lambs to the slaughter. You guys really didn't think that MS would let you build a viable business off their backs did you? Surely you understood that if that kind of ervice ever became successful they would tear it out from under you, and perfectly within their right as well. There's no law against not renewing a contract, as I am sure you found out when your customers deserted you.
  
  Now onto the crucial point in all this: the internet has been designed to be an open system. All of the protocols that enable the core functionality are available for perusal by anyone. Consequently anyone can make software that works with these protocols. What you were trying to do was provide a new service (good), but build a monopoly out of it so that a few years down the line anyone who was getting a significant portion of their site traffic from RN would be forced to keep stumping up the no doubt increasing annual charges. Presumably you would charge other browser makers for the privilige of using this service too. This is bad.
  
  And now you are making sour grapes about non-ascii character support. I assume that you are focusing on this because you have some support in asia whereas in the west you have none. Now on the basis of the open principles mentioned above, how do you think extended character addressing should be handled?
  
  a) Open DNS-like system extended to support Unicode, and administered much like the current ststem.
  
  b) Proprietary directory system that is closed, tied to one provider and which only works on one browser, and is dependent on the good will of the browser manufacturer (don't you owe them $25 Mil?).
  
  I don't think I need to go on.
  
  --
  "The new wave is not value-added; it's garbage-subtracted" - Esther Dyson, Dec 1994
4. Re:Missing the point by perky · 2002-05-21 23:15 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  You are confusing search functionality with address functionality. The analogy to typing in "IBM Thinkpad" in RealNames system, is typing in http://www.pc.ibm.com/thinkpad in a normal address bar. It is not analogous to typing in IBM thinkpad into google.
  
  --
  "The new wave is not value-added; it's garbage-subtracted" - Esther Dyson, Dec 1994
mixed metaphors by kyras · 2002-05-21 16:15 · Score: 5, Funny

Keith and his coworkers were very happy to tie their horse to Microsoft while Microsoft was willing to pull them.

Perhaps their first mistake was tying their horse to something in the hopes that it would get pulled...

--
Tastes like burning! - Ralph Wiggum
He is missing the whole point by rveno1 · 2002-05-21 16:15 · Score: 4, Insightful

Ok So RealNames picked an idea that was somewhat obvious. They are allowed to do that (Its a free market).
What everyone is missing is WHAT IF MICROSOFT STARTS DOING THE SAME THING IN HOUSE?. Than what will we say?.

I see this becoming an issue when someone will be typing " web browser" in the adress bar and Microsoft redirecting them to IE (or pick your own example where microsoft decides where you will end up)
Remember That ALL Default settings in Microsoft's Browser points to thier own in jouse web sites. )and to change that setting you have to be a little tech savvy.
1. Re:He is missing the whole point by DietFluffy · 2002-05-21 17:36 · Score: 2, Interesting
  
  I see this becoming an issue when someone will be typing " web browser" in the adress bar and Microsoft redirecting them to IE (or pick your own example where microsoft decides where you will end up)
  
  You know what's funny? Typing "web browser" in the address bar DOES bring you to a Internet Explorer download page.
2. Re:He is missing the whole point by isorox · 2002-05-22 00:11 · Score: 2
  
  Remember That ALL Default settings in Microsoft's Browser points to thier own in jouse web sites. )and to change that setting you have to be a little tech savvy.
  
  Its scary the amount of people I have talked to that didnt know you could change your homepage. Worse then that some people have asked me if its legal to change it!
  
  Not to mention one law undergraduate student that thought it was a legal requirement to register your software, and have no problems with the DMCA, CDBTPA (or whateer the sssca is), except after many days of discussion before finally finding an analogy that she could understand.
3. Re:He is missing the whole point by Technician · 2002-05-22 01:06 · Score: 2
  
  Remember That ALL Default settings in Microsoft's Browser points to thier own in jouse web sites
  
  Who uses the MS search? Only newbies and those who want to find the highest paying advertiser use it.
  
  --
  The truth shall set you free!
4. Re:He is missing the whole point by shaka · 2002-05-22 20:58 · Score: 2
  
  I see this becoming an issue when someone will be typing " web browser" in the adress bar and Microsoft redirecting them to IE (or pick your own example where microsoft decides where you will end up)
  
  Umm... When I type "web browser" in Galeon's address bar Google gives me Opera first, IE second & third, Netscape is number four & five, Mozilla number six...
  
  --
  :wq!
Link to RealNames CEO account has changed by Seth+Finkelstein · 2002-05-21 16:15 · Score: 4, Informative

By the way, Keith Teare's story has moved off his site's front page, which is the link given in the Slashdot link above in the story RealNames CEO Talks Back
It's now an unobvious deep-link into the archives
Also available elsewhere
Sig: What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org)
So and uhh. . . . by Com2Kid · 2002-05-21 16:19 · Score: 2

How exactly are these real names supposed to be used?

Does ANYBODY actualy have one?

I use IE every day, have for 3 or so years now, err;

They are integrated into IE? Really? Heh.

Could've fooled me. . . .

--
Need help treating your acne? Come here!
poetic justice by g4dget · 2002-05-21 16:23 · Score: 5, Insightful

The CEO of RealNames is experiencing just what people have been complaining about in the anti-trust lawsuit: because of Microsoft's monopoly, Microsoft gets to pick the winners and loser in the market. As long as Microsoft picked RealNames as a winner, this was really swell for them. Teare even went so far as to publically say that Microsoft was not a monopoly and that there were no problems with competition. Now that Microsoft has made them losers, he is whining about it.
This should be a warning to any company that bets their business on being Microsoft's favorites rather than on innovating and competing independently. The lesson is actually quite independent of Microsoft: it is a fundamental mistake to build your business on a relationship with a single corporate partner. It just happens to be the case that in the software space, in some areas, there is no other partner around besides Microsoft.
Asians left out in the cold by alanjstr · 2002-05-21 16:38 · Score: 2, Redundant

Unfortunately, this leaves Asian character set as URLs out in the cold. The Register talks about how RealNames allowed for Internationalized Domain Names, something not currently supported otherwise. The "Internet Engineering Task Force group working on a technical standard for addressing non-ASCII IDNs in the DNS" is doing just that, working. Its not set yet. So don't just slam RealNames for the ASCII keywords.
Makes sense by quantaman · 2002-05-21 16:49 · Score: 3, Funny

Microsoft finally being right about something is such a big story /. has a whole feature on it!!

--
I stole this Sig
I'm not convinced... remember Smart Tags? by guttentag · 2002-05-21 16:53 · Score: 4, Insightful

Sometimes, Microsoft is Right...
I'm sure Microsoft is right sometimes, but I'm not convinced that this is one of those times. Whenever Microsoft does something apparently benevolent, I sit back and ask myself: "What do they have to gain by doing this?" A huge corporation with shareholders to please and a pocket full of powerful monopolies doesn't do anything that's not in its interest.
Remember Smart Tags? They were designed to give Microsoft the influence and revenue stream RealNames's technology had... but on a broader level. RealNames was confined to the location bar, while Smart Tags could modify the contents of a Web page. Microsoft has a history of getting close to companies that have a hot new idea just long to figure out what makes it tick . Then it incorporates the idea into its products and either acquires the partner (Vermeer, VXtreme, etc.) or drops it like a rock (Novell).
I believe Microsoft dropped RealNames because they sucked all the intellectual lifeblood it could from the company, not because it thought RealNames was a bad idea. Microsoft shelved (turned off) the Smart Tags feature under heavy criticism, but made a point of stating the feature may be released in a future version of IE.
1. Re:I'm not convinced... remember Smart Tags? by Tazzy531 · 2002-05-21 19:37 · Score: 2
  
  I believe Microsoft dropped RealNames because they sucked all the intellectual lifeblood it could from the company, not because it thought RealNames was a bad idea
  How much "intellectual lifeblood" is there in a bad business plan? The logic behind the RealName idea is just counterintuitive to the standards that engineers and people have tried to establish in this industry.
  
  --
  
  _______________________________
  "I'm not Conceited...I'm just a realist..."
Re:Why are you posting this? by RadioheadKid · 2002-05-21 17:05 · Score: 2

If you read the post above this in the comic book store owner guy's voice from the Simpsons, it much more entertaining....try it:

Um, yes. Slashot [sic] always has been (and I imagine it always will be) a site for Rob (look he's on first name basis with CmdrTaco, I bet only 5 digit UIN's get that) and friends to post stories they find interesting, review books and movies they think are worth reviewing, and just say shit they think is worth saying.

How on earth did you miss this, having a low 5 digit UIN?...

...In fact since I am UIN number 79727 I have much greater knowledge of the ways of Slashdot than the rest of you and it is my duty to hence enlighten thee!

--
"Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -Homer Simpson
Freudian slip? by British · 2002-05-21 17:06 · Score: 4, Insightful

, and many of us don't use IE

You said that in reference to Slashdot users. Perhaps you were meaning to say that in reference to Linux users? I find it hard to believe most Slashdotters, no matter how big of linux zealots they are, are using Mozilla or Opera. Many of us surf at work, and our only choice is IE.
1. Re:Freudian slip? by os2fan · 2002-05-21 18:20 · Score: 2
  
  Honey, I think you missed the point here...
  Face it: if you still use MSIE, you are one lazy, sorry bastard with a really crappy job. It sucks to be you.
  Or you work for a large corporation, which has a policy of using MSIE. You don't expect them to let users pick their own mail clients, browsers, etc, do you?
  Out past your life, it's bear-skins and stone axes as far as the eye can see, I'm afraid.
  
  --
  OS/2 - because choice is a terrible thing to waste.
2. Re:Freudian slip? by chrisd · 2002-05-21 19:14 · Score: 2
  
  Actually, I meant that things that affect IE users generally aren't so important to /. readers, or at least we don't think that things that affect ie users is what you come to /. to read about. Not so much zealotry than relevance.
  I'm well aware that many companies simply mandate IE/XP/Whatever and I sympathize, I don't see it as a "all ie users are curdled" thing, that's too simplistic a view of the world.
  chris
  
  --
  Co-Editor, Open Sources
  Open Source Program Manager, Google, Inc.
3. Re:Freudian slip? by os2fan · 2002-05-22 17:47 · Score: 2
  
  Honey, let me fill you in on the real world.
  Those of us who work for large companies, do not have the choice of what browser, email client, word processor, spread sheetm we can use.
  Even if we were rabbid open source users, and card-carrying MSFT haters, we'd still have to use MSFT's legacy stuff, or find a new job. Jobs are tight, and so you just accept this.
  The point is is that if outlook is so bug-infested that it shuts the business down, it does not affect me, since it's their choice, not mine.
  You should really get out more.
  
  --
  OS/2 - because choice is a terrible thing to waste.
Re:Why are you posting this? by wdr1 · 2002-05-21 17:06 · Score: 2

Um, yes. Slashot always has been (and I imagine it always will be) a site for Rob and friends to post stories they find interesting, review books and movies they think are worth reviewing, and just say shit they think is worth saying.

I disagree. I think some of the editors, Rob, Hemos, etc. included, have worked to make it a site they'd like to read. Rob has said as much in his posts. And they've done a great job of it, and along with it, built a sizable community.

With that community seem to have come a new wave of editors who seem like they have been appointed leaders. I would place timothy, michael, and chrisd amongst them. This is a depature from the early generation in several significant ways.

First, they didn't use slashdot as their tree stump. Sure, they would a post a story with a blurb or two throw in, but if they wanted to make a comment, they posted in the comments not make an independent story of it.

This story is a perfect example. Why couldn't have chrisd posted his comments in the earlier story on the same subject? I have no problem with him expressing his opinion, only the manner in which he expressed it. The difference is in how you perceive yourself in context of the users. I think Rob, etc. see themselves as users. I think T/M/C see themselves as above users. Obviously, some find this annoying. (Myself included.) If, as you state, this has always been the case, I challenge you to find comparable examples of Rob, Hemos, CowboyNeal, etc. doing the same. [1]

I think my case is pretty clear and simple. Based upon other discussions here, I know I'm far from the only person who's felt the same thing about the same editors. This isn't rabid I-hate-everything Slashdot critizim, but legitamite concern about a community we find ourselves members off.

Anyway, my two cents.

-Bill

[1] Although to be honest, I probably wouldn't have a problem with such posts as I'm a fan of them and consider them informed individuals. ;-)

--
SlashSig Karma: Excellent (mostly affected by moderatio
if Slashdotters could moderate articles... by ceejayoz · 2002-05-21 17:23 · Score: 4, Funny

Sometimes, Microsoft is Right... (Score:-1, Flamebait)
Remember Bob, MSN, and RealNames Itself by krmt · 2002-05-21 17:32 · Score: 2

But is this really going to happen anyway? People are trained to use standard addresses. If it doesn't end in ".com" people are very confused. No one is going to just type "Web Browser" in to their addresss bar. They'll type "www.webbrowser.com" because that's what they've been trained to do by being saturated with web addresses for the past 5 years or so.

Even if Microsoft implements this, I don't think anyone will use it.

--

"I may not have morals, but I have standards."
Missed outside the USA? Doubtful... by carlfish · 2002-05-21 17:38 · Score: 3, Insightful

If RealNames was as useful outside the USA as its founder suggests, then the company would not have gone under as soon as Microsoft ended the deal.

If there was consumer demand for their services, RealNames could survive by distributing a browser plugin that hooks into the RealNames naming service. Something like the Google Toolbar would have worked perfectly. Those people who are apparently now sitting around crying because RealNames has gone out of business would instead be rushing to download the new plugin and it'd be business as usual.

But RealNames business plan wasn't based on being a useful service, it was based on being a part of Internet Explorer. Any business that bases its entire business model on a single contract with a single company is doomed. Any business that bases its entire business model on a contract with a company as well-known for looking out for number one as Microsoft is doubly doomed.

Charles Miller

--
The more I learn about the Internet, the more amazed I am that it works at all.
Re:horse dragging by Graspee_Leemoor · 2002-05-21 17:40 · Score: 3, Funny

Since they were flogging a dead horse, the image is even funnier: the microsoft truck pulling a diseased corpse of a horse along, with RealNames execs walking behind, saying "Oooh, this is good".

graspee
Try a new method! by E-Rock · 2002-05-21 17:42 · Score: 3, Interesting

Write a browser plugin. Now you no longer need MS and if you're crafty you can write something that works in Netscape, Opera, etc.

I bet if you wanted you could tell people how to build a custom search in the QuickSearch.exe that's part of the IE powertools! I built a custom search so 'gg term' searches google and 'dict word' brings up the dictionary.com page. Wouldn't be hard to build a 'RN whatever' to go to your site and redirect. All this from the address bar.

Stop whining that the powers that be destroyed your horrible business model (all eggs one basket) and be creative and do something else.
1. Re:Try a new method! by PatientZero · 2002-05-21 18:35 · Score: 2
  
  "I built a custom search so 'gg term' searches google and 'dict word' brings up the dictionary.com page."
  OMFG, please share! I've been wanting to do something like that for a loooooong time. I do both of those things quite often, and to be able to bypass the homepage (though at least Google's is nicely minimalist) would be very sweet.
  If you could post any info I'd be very grateful, even if it's just pointers to where to look for info. I will go look for myself now, but I anticipate that others would love to have this as well.
  
  --
  Freedom to fear. Freedom from thought. Freedom to kill.
  I guess the War on Terror really is about freedom!
2. Re:Try a new method! by ParisTG · 2002-05-21 19:04 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Konqueror on KDE does exactly this. Its a really useful feature, and included by default. No custom plugin writing required :).
3. Re:Try a new method! by E-Rock · 2002-05-22 05:04 · Score: 2
  
  Ok, third try. Comments.pl keeps eating my reply. /. must know when someone is posting on how to make a MS product mroe useful. ;)
  
  The tool you'll need is the Web Accessories for Internet Explorer 5. It says they won't work in IE6, but the tool we want does (Web Search).
  
  After you install the tool, go to your links folder and fire up Quick Search.exe. There's a lot of built in stuff, but no google. To add google, click New, Shortcut: gg, Search: Custom URL, URL: "http://www.google.com/search?q=%s" (no quotes). Click OK and then Save.
  
  Now you can type gg whatever on the address bar and you'll get a search on whatever. From here you can build whatever searches you want, so get out there and be creative!
  
  NOTE: If you don't want to install all the other crap, you can simply open the .exe with winzip and pull out Quick Search.exe, not sure if it matters where it lives, but the installer places it in the links folder of your favorites.
A million bucks? by ImaLamer · 2002-05-21 18:56 · Score: 2

Man, a million bucks for the "Linux" RealName?

I got "Ima Lamer" for free by signing up for a free Homestead web page. Problem was Homestead went out of business first.

Dear Subscriber, Congratulations! We've approved your subscription for the following Internet Keyword(s): Ima Lamer Now, anyone using your Internet Keyword can navigate directly to your most important Web pages, from prominent Internet Keyword links on several major sites. <sniped> Internet Keywords are your most valuable Web marketing tool! === By using Internet Keywords to promote your site in all of your marketing materials, you'll be helping your customers find you -- fast! Communicate and advertise your Internet Keyword just like you would your Web address. As an added service to you, RealNames provides traffic statistics of when and from where your customers come to your site using Internet Keywords. We encourage you to look at your statistics often. (Internet Keyword: RealNames Login; URL: <sniped>. In English.)

The problem was, at that time not everyone used Internet Explorer® in Windows® even.

--
Get your Unix fortune now!
Outside? Bah! by krmt · 2002-05-21 18:57 · Score: 5, Funny

But why would you want to go outside? If hell has frozen over, then surely Debian stable has been released, Mozilla has hit 1.0, Duke Nukem Forever is out, and you're probably putting off having sex with a supermodel to play with all that new software.

--

"I may not have morals, but I have standards."
1. Re:Outside? Bah! by the+grace+of+R'hllor · 2002-05-21 23:03 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Suddenly having a social life (we are talking about sweaters in hell, obviously) and the sensibilities that come with it, I'd say screw Debian stable, screw Mozilla 1.0, screw Duke Nukem Forever and, more the to the point, screw that supermodel.
Re:Microsoft right is, hmmm? by Anonymous Coward · 2002-05-21 19:07 · Score: 2, Funny

Penguins are evil creatures. Didn't you see Wallace and Gromit?
Sometimes M$ just takes out the middleman... by speedenator · 2002-05-21 19:25 · Score: 2, Insightful

My perspective on this is slightly different. The number of companies that have had successful, long-term partnerships with Microsoft is surprisingly small. IMHO, this is because M$ is now big enough that they don't need to afford any risk --- if a partner making a good enough profit on M$, then likely it could make money for a competitor. So they either re-create the technology in-house and attempt to kill the former partner, or they buy the partner. Either way, they control the technology.

RealNames just happened to fall in the category of "easier to build then buy." Which goes to show you, if you're gonna play at a table with M$, you'd better bring something they can't make themselves.
Changing things the OSS way by theolein · 2002-05-21 20:04 · Score: 3, Insightful

If RealNames had instead tried to get on the ICANN bandwagon and had this done as a standard extension to the DNS system on the server side of the equation, they might still be around. Their options would have been much much bigger. They could have patented the system or just GPL'ed it and they would still have companies doing business with them. Their problem was greed, greed and more greed.
so does Opera by Trepidity · 2002-05-21 20:07 · Score: 3, Informative

On Linux and Windows at least. "g blah" searching google for blah, and there's a bunch of others.

Mozilla also allows you to type something into the URL bar and then hit the down arrow key to go to "search [configurable search engine] for [what you typed" in the URL auto-completion drop-down box.

--
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
www.google.co.jp by Tottori · 2002-05-21 20:35 · Score: 4, Insightful

I use it regularly.
In fact, even www.google.com will automatically select the Japanese language if you're browsing from Japan (not sure if they're going off browser settings, IP address, or DNS).
All this talk about how the DNS desperately needs to be internationalised overlooks one vital fact: the DNS intentionally uses a limited character set. a-z, 0-9 and -, that's it. This allows hostnames to be used in all kinds of useful places without quoting (like URLs!). And it means they have a single, unambiguous, canonical representation.
If I can register ".com", shouldn't someone else be able to register "/.org"? How about "slashdot.org"? If not, why not?
DNS names are mnemonics, not keywords. Their purpose is to be easy to remember, not to provide a human-language description of the domain. If you want to search for something, please use a search engine. That's what they're there for. Any reasonable browser will let you search from the URL bar.

--
use constant PERL_IS_BROKEN => $] >= 5.006;
[OT] Other handy Mozilla bookmarks... by follower-fillet · 2002-05-21 21:11 · Score: 2, Interesting

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=%s
http:/ /www.google.com/search?q=cache:%s
http://groups.g oogle.com/groups?q=%s
http://www.google.com/searc h?q=%s

I have them as the following keywords: ggt, ggc, ggg and gg.

(You can also do a similar thing in IE.)
What makes you think Sun et al isn't doing this? by forgoil · 2002-05-21 22:27 · Score: 3, Insightful

Hate M$ all you want, but all these anti-trust crap is bad for the business as a whole, it states "if someone is big, we can cash in by suing them for whatever comes along".

It should be the business of the goverment to deal with bad business practises, not a personal vendetta powered by other companies (splitting up windows is just a bad deal for the consumers, imagine paying for all the parts of your car and then assemble it yourself...), especially not via states.

It's a market economy, make products that won't sell and you loose, just like this "alternative" DNS scam (isn't AOL doing the exact some crap?). Give companies a good chance to succeed with good products instead of pointing fingers like kids in a sandbox.
pewp by Vodak · 2002-05-21 22:30 · Score: 2

Damn some people are pity whores. I'm just sick of all these people who screw up thier business ventures crying about his or that andblamingother people. Is it Microsoft's fault?? I don't know I don't care. I just wish he people in charge of RealNames would just asccept they failed.
Re:No, he's got a legitimate complaint by tdye · 2002-05-21 22:47 · Score: 4, Insightful

MS didn't reneg on their agreement. They just decided not to renew their contract. The effect of that, of course, was to put RealNames out of business. Apparently MS didn't want them around, even though they offered an attractive package.

That's perfectly within MS's rights, and isn't dishonest, mean-spirited, or anything else. If you make your money selling water you draw from my pump, you have little right to bitch if I decide to buy a box of dixie cups and stop renting the pump to you when your lease is up.

--
Whatever happened to JonKatz?
Forget the rest of the article by brunes69 · 2002-05-21 23:14 · Score: 2

I just want to know where I can find this "Bob's Tiger Rentals" place. I can think of a few times it would have been nice to be able to just go rent a tiger for a day (during those extremely annoying tech support days perhaps?)
1. Re:Forget the rest of the article by nigelc · 2002-05-22 05:50 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Well, here's a place...
  Tiger Lady
  
  --
  
  Cthulhu Barata Nikto
Far east DNS troubles by nagora · 2002-05-21 23:35 · Score: 3, Interesting

There is a lot of talk about how RealNames were actually providing a useful service in countries with non-latin character sets as the DNS does not support them.
How true is this and does anyone have an alternative solution that has any chance of catching on?
TWW

--
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
I'm feeling lucky on the addres bar by caduguid · 2002-05-22 01:31 · Score: 2

If you enter the following into a .txt file, rename it to a .reg file, then double-click it, you can have your internet explorer "I'm feeling lucky" address bar.
--Well, almost-- Actually you must type:
. searchterms
(aka: period space searchterms)

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl\.]
@="http://www.google.com/se arch?btnI=I&q=%s"
" "="+"
"#"="%23"
"&"="%26"
"?"="%3F"
"+"="%2B"
"="="%3D"
That's not how the game works by mblase · 2002-05-22 01:50 · Score: 2

This is the statistical anomaly that will never happen again. M$ used their one "get to be right for free" card on knocking down realnames, so it's safe to assume they'll *never* *ever* be right again.

If you knew how to play "Monopoly," you'd know that a "Get out of jail free" card goes right back into the draw pile as soon as it's spent.
1. Re:That's not how the game works by NoMoreNicksLeft · 2002-05-22 02:01 · Score: 2
  
  Yeh, but I'm not the monopoly/Monopoly expert here. It is M$ we're talking about. ;-)
Feature-Writing 102: Always Pander to the Readers by freeBill · 2002-05-22 03:22 · Score: 2

"I don't need to explain..." and "To our credit" are hardly insults nor are they bullying. They are somewhat lazy as writing devices. And they deliberately compliment the reader (sometimes known as "pandering" if such compliments are intended get better ratings or higher sales or more click-throughs).

Anyone who feels bullied by such a comment would have to be in need of emergency intervention from a self-image-rescue team. Not exactly your average /. reader.

"Clearly" is hardly a mark of excellent writing, but generally means that the author thinks he or she has a strong argument for the position being identified which is so clear it's not worth devoting space to. It can be a sign of lack of research but is more likely related to a desire not to waste the readers' time. As a means of intellectual bullying, it falls flat on its face. Anyone who uses "clearly" to bully is setting themselves up for an intellectual thrashing (especially on an open forum like /.) since the responder is absolved of the need to prove the contrary and only needs to prove that it is not clear.

I would be fascinated to hear the logical steps needed to get from a compliment like "To our credit" to "if you don't agree with me, you're a moron." Perhaps the poster feels the threat of withholding the compliment is somehow intellectually intimidating.

Most slashdotters wouldn't.

--
Eternal vigilance only works if you look in every direction.
One Language by Vortran · 2002-05-22 03:36 · Score: 2, Interesting

I disagree strongly on the issue of language and multi-national characters. If the French want to have their own private Internet, fine. Same for the Spaniards or the Russians or anyone else. This is not a troll.. hear me out.

My feeling is that the Internet is best served by standards that all (or most) people can use and understand. Having multi-language support is antithetical to this goal.

Please don't call me an English-only bigot. I freely admit that I know no other written/verbal language. However, I truly wouldn't care what language was used, as long as it was the univerally understood standard. If Swahili was the standard language of the Internet, I'd have learned Swahili so I could use the Internet.

Perhaps one language is too few.. maybe 3 or 4 languages would be better... IF everybody (or most everybody) could use them. I don't want the Internet to become segregated.

Find a standard language, ANY language... Use it exclusively in a global medium. This promotes global communication and prevents people from having their own little private "Internets" where the rest of the world can't understand a thing they're saying, much less search and browse through their "private world".

Right now, English is the standard, right or wrong, for better or for worse. Whether or not English should be the standard is a different debate to me. My point is that we should have a standard language and maintain it in order to keep the whole thing all together and on the same (web) page.

If you want to reach out and communicate with people across the globe, you have to have common ground. On the Internet, that's langauge. So, on the Internet, España is "Spain".

Vortran out

--
Knowledge is like ignorance.. too much can be just as bad as not enough.
Seriously... by Random+Feature · 2002-05-22 06:10 · Score: 2

I said this last week. The demise of RealNames isn't any more Microsoft's fault than the demise of any company who puts all their eggs in one basket.

Poor business decisions, poor business model, inflated prices. That's what killed RealName.

I don't like Microsoft, but they really can't be blamed for this one. They're just an easy (and believable, most times) scapegoat.

If we blame MS for everything we'll eventually be counted in the "boy who cried wolf" group and when we point out the wrongdoings of Redmond we'll be completely ignored. We don't want that, so look at this situation objectively.

--
I don't have a solution, but I certainly admire the problem.
Re:Not Quite by Bogatyr · 2002-05-22 06:38 · Score: 2

Y'know, you're absolutely right: I was imprecise in my comment. Even if Microsoft was a customer buying keywords from RealNames, I was intending to comment on their vendor relationship to RealNames. Thanks.
How's this? "I think it's a bad idea to depend exclusively on a single source for the access to serve your customers."
Thank You! by PatientZero · 2002-05-22 07:47 · Score: 2

Very, very cool. I just created the Google and dictionary.com entries. Tres sweet! :) Thanks again.

--
Freedom to fear. Freedom from thought. Freedom to kill.
I guess the War on Terror really is about freedom!
Uh... by NoMoreNicksLeft · 2002-05-22 08:17 · Score: 2

No, they most certainly have never got anything right. If by "right" you mean being able to know how to cheat the most effectively, then your definition of "right" is simply too twisted for us to communicate.
Dialog and Microsoft by theolein · 2002-05-22 09:22 · Score: 2

Dialog and Microsoft is an oxymoron and your post is offtopic.
ceasing wrongdoing != doing something laudable by DunbarTheInept · 2002-05-22 10:09 · Score: 2

But the RealNames saga *is* about Microsoft doing something wrong. In the past. They cuddled up with RealNames in the first place. The "doing something right" in this case was merely a matter of ceasing to do something wrong that they shouldn't have started in the first place. Praising them for it is kind of silly.

--
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Search Result = many hits. Realnames = 1 hit by DunbarTheInept · 2002-05-22 10:28 · Score: 2

See the subject line. That's the key difference. If I type "IBM Thinkpad" into a search engine, I don't get just the one hit that the name maps to. I get a comprehensive list of many sites that deal with that string. The problem with RealNames was that they would offer you only to the "official" place for information about IBM thinkpads, where "official" is a synonym for "most willing to pay us money".

--
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
Replacing DNS with Google is a terrible idea. by DunbarTheInept · 2002-05-22 11:12 · Score: 2

Here's the problems I can see off the top of my head:
1 - What about web admins that don't want their site to be catalogued in the search engine for everyone to find? Right now there's ways to make that happen, such that the few you do want to know about your site can be given the DNS name to access it, but you want to do away with that.
2 - What about web sites that aren't linked to from anywhere else, such that Google doesn't find them? This could either be because they aren't popular, or because the site just got put up.
3 - What if I know of some obscure site that I want to visit that isn't well known, but is of interest to me? Unfortunately Google ranks it low in the list because it isn't well known, so it takes me a lot of scrolling and "next" clicking to get to it. Now if only I had some kind of unique name to refer to to that site and that site only right away with one hop. Gee I wish there was some kind of system that does that.
4 - Okay, even ignoring those other problems, lets say they all get solved. So I use Google to find all web pages. Great. Now that you've done away with DNS, how do I get to an IRC server? How do I get to the IMAP mail server on campus? How do I "ssh" in to a machine at work to work from home? I assume a poster to slashdot would at least be aware that port 80 isn't the only way to access a host on the internet, and therefore a mapping that gets you to a host for other services is needed too. Gosh, I wonder what we could call such a mapping...

--
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.