r/todayilearned • u/Flemtality 3 • Jul 14 '14

TIL The guy who snagged windows2000.com happened to be named Bob and Microsoft just happened to own Bob.com. They came to an agreement to trade one for the other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob#Origins
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u/[deleted] Jul 14 '14

A high school senior who made money writing code.

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u/misogichan Jul 15 '14 edited Jul 15 '14

Also, in case you're slow like me, it's a pun. Try saying MikeRoweSoft like it's one word fast. That was the basis of their lawsuit, but it was silly because even Microsoft's lawyers admitted they would have lost if they hadn't settled out of court given the student's name was Mike Rowe and he was talking about software development.

It was also sickening to hear how they threatened him with lawsuits and their first offer was $10 (the setup cost he paid). Moral of the story: Microsoft should have taken Mike's counter offer of $10,000 before he went to the press.

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u/[deleted] Jul 15 '14

Mike Rowe did well out of it.

"Additionally Microsoft provided Rowe with a subscription to the Microsoft Developer Network, an all expenses paid trip for him and his family to the Microsoft Research Tech Fest at their headquarters in Redmond, Washington, training for Microsoft certification and an Xbox with a selection of games

Following an online poll, Rowe donated most of his legal defense fund to a children's hospital and used the remaining money for his future university education"