The big picture

The big picture

Thanks for your thoughtful comments, Max. Let me try to summarize the situation as I see it.

Microsoft has made a perfectly legitimate deal with GoDaddy, one of the effects of which is that it shifts Netcraft statistics to their advantage. Because Netcraft statistics do not reveal idle domains, these statistics are very probably useless to anyone who is not a complete lunatic, but Microsoft will surely use them anyway to do their business.

The problem of software patents is a very difficult one. It involves having to convince a whole lot of people that they are wrong, or that they should care about something that means nothing to them. Plenty of organisations contribute to this effort, in their own way, maybe for their own reasons. It is a difficult playing field, and the ways in which players can be influenced are numerous. It is also intercontinental, I might add, by the way.

Bruce (Mr Perens to some ;-) has found a way to fight the first problem: why not convince domain owners to park idle domains on a non-Microsoft platform? Say: lighttpd. Hang on, we're going to end up in "Other". But we do want to make the technically correct choice: we'll fake the server to look like Apache. After all, this is a crucial part of the plan. We are not just doing the Apache Foundation a favour, we are taking on the giant, we have to protect our status as the most popular webserver.

(We are not going to tell the Apache people about this, obviously. Those hackers are too busy cranking out mod_lighttpd anyway. Especially Open Source leaders can afford to pull off an innocent prank like this. And it's not like the world really *cares* about Apache, it's software, dude. Now, please let me proceed before I lose my RIGHT TO PROGRAM, dammit.)

Wait a minute -- idle domains, software patents, ads, we could be on to something. We'll try to fund a PAC, in order to finally solve the problem of software patents in a way that has been discussed and tried before quite unsuccessfully. The thing to do now is to stay cool and *not* make any plans, let's concentrate on the money and the software patents. Don't forget the patents. We'll see what happens.

To avoid the possibility that anyone ever brings up difficult questions about business plans, and whether we are going to consider spending the money on a holiday in Rio, we'll be absolutely open about the money by revealing the average costs of internet access. Which, given our business plan -- sorry, inspiration, is a substantial percentage of the total turnover so that satisfies any requests about what happens to the rest of it. This is after all the least interesting bit of the whole deal, it's not like a PAC gives us any clear and ready strategy for funds. Problem solved.

Oh, the software patents, yes. Wait! And see!

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Yes, this is highly cynical (and Max, nothing personal against you, or Bruce for that matter -- it's strictly business). I'll wait to hear Microsoft's take on it, see what they make of it. Trust me: I am converted, but this time I can imagine how some of their facts might just seem to be, in fact... quite true.

I thought the original idea was to thwart Microsoft.

(Let me be absolutely clear on one point. I really don't care what happens to the money if the PAC doesn't make it and I certainly don't suspect Bruce of any bad intentions. I do find odd points in his logic, but I am fully prepared to accept the fact that I am mistaken. Of course I think it would help if I had a bit more to go on than "wait", "I'm not a bad guy" and some easily made and often repeated statements, but you are free to consider this to be a shortcoming on my part.)