Re: [wg-c] breaking up (names) is hard to do

["Mark C. Langston" <skritch@home.com>]

On 23 August 1999, John Charles Broomfield <jbroom@manta.outremer.com> wrote:
>
>How would you deal with that? The answer is that you CAN'T realistically.
>For better or for worse, AOL will have to continue using "aol.com" for the
>forseeable future no matter how pissed off it got with NSI.
>If NSI tomorrow demands US$10million to renew "aol.com", they might get sued
>by AOL, but AOL would most likely pay up in the meantime while seeking their
>legal remedies (hey, you don't suddenly want 14 million customers calling
>the hotline wondering why their email doesn't work, do you?).
>One of the largest amongst the many BIG problems to deal with is the lock-in
>that so many on these lists seem to live in denial of.


People would deal with it in exactly the same way it's always been dealt
with when a large corporation changes physical addresses, or phone numbers,
or has their area code reallocated, or what-have-you:  They'll suck it up,
cope, and move on.  It's a huge headache, yes.  It's something you want
to avoid if at all possible, because it's expensive and time-consuming
to cope with, yes.  However, it's a fact of life.  This isn't anything new.
Businesses move, either entire buildings, or within their own building.
Phone numbers change.  Logos change.  Names change.  Area codes change.
Prefixes change.  All of this has been dealt with smoothly albeit with
no small amount of grumbling on the part of the affected.  But it happens,
and there's a solution.

And, as far as people who run around putting their *personal*,
non-forwardable e-mail addresses on their *business* cards, they should
know better, and I have no sympathy for them.  Personal e-mail addresses
are exactly that, and business email address are also exactly that.
If you put your personal e-mail address on a business card, and it's
either unreliable, non-redirectable, or subject to change based on the
whim of the ISP, the market, or your personal situation, it's your own
fault.

-- 
Mark C. Langston	LATEST: ICANN refuses	Let your voice be heard:
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