3 ms·
I read every issue of Wired cover-to-cover as a teen, from issue 3 until around 1999 when I decided that the magazine was past its peak. I remember reading thi
by peteforde 14y ago
I read every issue of Wired cover-to-cover as a teen, from issue 3 until around 1999 when I decided that the magazine was past its peak.
I remember reading this story quite vividly. I say this not to brag but actually in humility: I'm quite embarrassed at my own failure to take action. When I read the article it was immediately clear to me that this was going to be a Very Big Deal, and I simply sat on it.
Now, Wired was not some underground zine and it's not like I was privy to anything secret or proprietary. After all, getting covered in Wired is often the beginning of the end; see Bruce Sterling's article on Burning Man for proof.
Sometimes I feel like there's no way a photograph taken today could be special in the way Kodachromes of Afghanistan in the 70s seem to be. Too many cameras, too little soul. Yet it's obvious that in 20 years most of today's photos will be long gone and the ones that remain will seem fascinating windows to a different time.
Every time I think that the .com domain space is saturated it only takes two years to be humbled on the race to the bottom.
- binarymax 14y agoI read this article too as a teen, and was too broke to broke to buy a domain. I begged my parents for the cash, and was waved away countless times! Oh well, I guess it'll have to be hard work for my riches after all.
- OGinparadise 14y agoI say this not to brag but actually in humility: I'm quite embarrassed at my own failure to take action. When I read the article it was immediately clear to me that this was going to be a Very Big Deal, and I simply sat on it. So you have a few tens of millions less :) sucks, doesn't it? I did take some action and did relatively well but a better name or two would have made the difference. Sucks now, but they are some .cctld still. Dangerous and not as lucrative as .com but that's the next best thing. Google has sucked most of the money from domains, as they have done with almost everything else online.
- brador 14y agoHow has Google sucked money from domains? Do you mean because everyone now just hits up Google and not the address bar?
- OGinparadise 14y agoYes, and Google had a lot to do with it, it didn't happen by chance (buying Mozilla off, omnibox, exact domain name "updates" in search etc.) Google wants people to search and be greeted by dozens of ads first.