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Why were we so dumb?

by joe golfer
7 replies
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Why did so many people miss out on the power of the internet in the early days? Consider this article from Kevin Kelly:

https://medium.com/message/you-are-n...e-b3d76f963142

"Can you imagine how awesome it would have been to be an entrepreneur in 1985 when almost any dot com name you wanted was available? All words; short ones, cool ones. All you had to do was ask. It didn’t even cost anything to claim. This grand opportunity was true for years. In 1994 a Wired writer noticed that mcdonalds.com was still unclaimed, so with our encouragement he registered it, and then tried to give it to McDonalds, but their cluelessness about the internet was so hilarious it became a Wired story. Shortly before that I noticed that abc.com was not claimed so when I gave a consulting presentation to the top-floor ABC executives about the future of digital I told them that they should get their smartest geek down in the basement to register their own domain name. They didn’t.

https://medium.com/message/you-are-n...e-b3d76f963142
  • Profile picture of the author thunderbird
    What technology is brazenly taking place here and now in front of our faces that we are missing but could be very lucrative?
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    • Profile picture of the author lanfear63
      I missed that boat but did hit on looking for miss-spellings for the big names like Wallmart but was really too late for that too, they were all gone, a lot had been bought up on the companies that owned the original names. The idea was to do a re-direct to your affiliate link of the site miss-spelt.Passive income.

      I did find a reasonably obscure one (a heavily promoted MLM Company) that was being heavily pushed and had a weird name. I always miss-spelt it the same way and bought the domain name of my miss-spell.

      Three people signed up under me without me lifting a finger but then it folded. Ho Hum.
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      • Profile picture of the author Kay King
        There were those who did invest heavily in domain names - as I recall, it's one of the first internet things John Reese did. It wasn't a secret - there were articles in business magazines at the time about entrepreneurs who were investing in domain names.

        What many have forgotten - or never knew - is that a domain name was $60-80 to register back then. If you considered buying 100 domains and renewing them until someone wanted to buy them at a higher price...it could be a significant investment.

        According to dollartimes.com, that $80 would be equivalent to $124 today.
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        • Profile picture of the author seasoned
          Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

          There were those who did invest heavily in domain names - as I recall, it's one of the first internet things John Reese did. It wasn't a secret - there were articles in business magazines at the time about entrepreneurs who were investing in domain names.

          What many have forgotten - or never knew - is that a domain name was $60-80 to register back then. If you considered buying 100 domains and renewing them until someone wanted to buy them at a higher price...it could be a significant investment.

          According to dollartimes.com, that $80 would be equivalent to $124 today.
          For most of the history, from 1990-1999(which was about as long as theaverage american thought of such things) Domain names, at least for the US(which included ALL WORLDWIDE EDU, ORG, NET, COM domains) cost at least $70,iirc, $35 for 2 years. The average person had to buy it for 2 years, or not at all!!!!!! The idea of 1 year, and different prices, didn't happen until they lost a monopoly case in 1999.

          Network Solutions Antitrust Suit Dismissed - Los Angeles Times

          As for the typo registration? It was ALWAYS against the law, etc.. Companies are REQUIRED to sue you or they could become the next xerox, kleenex, or spam! All names that are often used for competitors, etc.... The spirit of the UDRP CLEARLY didn't allow it. NOW, they have codified it and specifically forbid it.

          Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    I actually kind of TRIED to do that! I tried in the early eighties, but people said thatonly universities and the like allowed such things. In the mid 80s, I also tried to get a merchant account, but they had SO many restrictions because of the scammers that were there. In the early-mid 90s, I tried to get access to CGI, but companies allowing it charged a lot. In the late 90s, I got a merchant account! WOW! I EVEN got CGI access! I EVEN got a CC gateway! That lasted maybe 2 years before the CC gateway company succumbed to a STUPID Y2K bug! That was ESPECIALLY stupid for 3 reasons:

    1. The regular "Y2K" bug was a SCAM due to lazy programmers that were OLD, and just not very thoughtful. They probably thought computers were a FAD or something! People programming in 1990 should have known better!
    2. The regular Y2K bug had NO business in a C based API. OH, It WILL occur alright! It is just that it won't occur until about 2038!
    3. WHY would it duplicate the charges ANYWAY?

    Oh well, it's done! The company is GONE! Apparently the only remnant is a service paypal bought and provides(Now called PAYFLOW), I guess for API compatibility sake.

    It is ironic that now all that is free on many systems, etc...

    Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author joe golfer
    I remember reading about this domain king in Vancouver. Early on he figured out how to find and buy domains with his own software program. He was snatching them up by the truck load everyday. He was already successful so he had the cash flow to do it. The "normal" domain hunters without the software were getting killed.
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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by joe golfer View Post

      I remember reading about this domain king in Vancouver. Early on he figured out how to find and buy domains with his own software program. He was snatching them up by the truck load everyday. He was already successful so he had the cash flow to do it. The "normal" domain hunters without the software were getting killed.
      Yeah, laws don't stop abuse. MOST of the "software" was really NOTHING without the data. Data was hard to get, although easier than now. He probably SPAMMED also! There is a NOW little known STANDARD UNIX command to find ALL email addresses on a UNIX domain. Many having info on the domains used it. SO MANY, that companies started disabling the command, like many disabled ping.

      Steve
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