Microsoft just emailed ME!!!!

**RON2** · 11-11-2002, 10:20 PM

$1500 for the pair. You would mike a nice little profit and it's cheaper for them over a UDRP. If you want to push it then maybe 2k.

Best of luck! I'd love to hear a happy ending to this story.

**dmyre** · 11-12-2002, 12:27 AM

Greggish and -RJ- have the right idea. I would ask for either $1500 cash or 200 shares of stock, but would definately leave room for negotiation.

**cxz** · 11-12-2002, 01:06 AM

.

**RON2** · 11-12-2002, 01:25 AM

kingdon · 11-12-2002, 04:14 AM

Call your local news station and claim you're being bullied by Microsoft into selling your idea. Have them do a David and Goliath piece about your struggle. Shake your fist at the camera and violently scream, "I'm not afraid of you Bill Gates" Make sure you're wearing a Ford hat and a Ford jacket with an American Flag pin on your collar.

But Seriously, they want to buy. This Bozo went to the water cooler and told his story about you sending him an idea, and his boss said, "Well how much did he want for those two names Bozo?" and Bozo stood there drooling, and then Mr Boss explained to him that's why he's still middle management. Then Mr boss threw it to a Big Cheeeze and the Big Cheeeze said, "let's grab it, I think we'll use it in our automotive section, we'll call it, My Car Soft"! Mr Boss stormed into Bozo's office and said " Get me a figure on that deal Bozo" and here you are.

I wouldn't respond to any of their e-mails, this guy Ed is in trouble for not thinking, they will be back with a phone call, and when they call, I would tell them that you're in the process of working out a deal with a large local Ford dealership for the name. Tell them you were inspired by Bozo's mention of Henry Ford in his response to your offer, and how receptive the folks at Ford are to you idea. If nothing was ever to come of this, I think it's a great thing to have happen to you, and you're a lucky guy for this experience. I hope it turns into something prosperous for you, good luck and bye bye for now.

Don

President Gringo · 11-12-2002, 05:40 AM

Originally posted by kingdon
Call your local news station and claim you're being bullied by Microsoft into selling your idea. Have them do a David and Goliath piece about your struggle. Shake your fist at the camera and violently scream, "I'm not afraid of you Bill Gates" Make sure you're wearing a Ford hat and a Ford jacket with an American Flag pin on your collar.

But Seriously, they want to buy. This Bozo went to the water cooler and told his story about you sending him an idea, and his boss said, "Well how much did he want for those two names Bozo?" and Bozo stood there drooling, and then Mr Boss explained to him that's why he's still middle management. Then Mr boss threw it to a Big Cheeeze and the Big Cheeeze said, "let's grab it, I think we'll use it in our automotive section, we'll call it, My Car Soft"! Mr Boss stormed into Bozo's office and said " Get me a figure on that deal Bozo" and here you are.

I wouldn't respond to any of their e-mails, this guy Ed is in trouble for not thinking, they will be back with a phone call, and when they call, I would tell them that you're in the process of working out a deal with a large local Ford dealership for the name. Tell them you were inspired by Bozo's mention of Henry Ford in his response to your offer, and how receptive the folks at Ford are to you idea. If nothing was ever to come of this, I think it's a great thing to have happen to you, and you're a lucky guy for this experience. I hope it turns into something prosperous for you, good luck and bye bye for now.

Don

Calm down, they are only asking a polite question, not trying to steal it at this point.

**Shiftlock** · 11-12-2002, 06:34 AM

Sounds to me like they decided to use a domain name for their project instead of running it under the microsoft.com umbrella. When this came up in a meeting, a bell probably rang in the guy's head and he thought of you since you said you wanted to make "a few bucks." Even Microsoft projects have budgets. You can start negotiating with a couple thousand, but don't be disappointed if they're not willing to pay more than a couple hundred. And if that's the case, then you have a decision to make - to sell or not to sell. Let us know how it goes.

DomainNameFactory · 11-12-2002, 02:56 PM

I would ask for shares

kingdon · 11-12-2002, 04:48 PM

While the first part of my comments should be taken as a joke, the second part is how I would personally handle it. I know they budget a large amount of money for research and development, they might spent 100K just investigating an idea, propduct development and focus groups. And this idea is a winner and they know it. I would wait for the phone call, and then try to stay as calm as a cucumber, and try to find out what motivates their curiosity. Nothing is over the top when you're talking about great ideas having great value. Good luck with this one and bye bye for now.

Don

qak · 11-13-2002, 07:53 PM

Let MS draw first blood with the first offer and then take it from there. If they're taking the time to talk to you it's worth alot to them and they know the domain cannot be taken by brute force.

However, if they back-off, they will never return to the negotiating table. This comes from direct experience...I've delt with them more than once! Grrrr

May the force be with you!

Q

**opencg** · 11-13-2002, 11:46 PM

this story was so motivating i was about to become a pirate again LOL just kidding but hey I hope everything goes well!

**TrafficMonsterRRR** · 11-14-2002, 12:07 AM

Microsoft would probably never use MyCras(h)oft, I mean MyCarsoft for their product. It boarderlines a mockery of their name.

BU tI think they are interested in adding these to a creative pool of candidates and most of all they might want to silence you and your ideas while they take on the highly competitive market.

STill think you can make some $

Good luck and WTG so far!

**greggish** · 11-14-2002, 12:16 AM

I think I'll register Micrapsoft.com and email them about the wonderful ideas I have for THAT domain.

**IPatlas** · 11-14-2002, 12:22 AM

Do not forget MikeRawSoft.tv and your plans to make it into a soft porn movie site depicting the indadequacies of a Bill Gates lookalike named Mike, in bed.

mike · 11-22-2002, 10:51 AM

Sorry, but I think they are probably just setting you up to bully the name from you in a udrp action. I know Yahoo has had extraordinary success being awarded misspellings and knock-offs of their domain. Be careful. I would stop giving them an e-mail trail to build their case with and call them to find out what their intentions are.

**Gomains** · 11-22-2002, 11:14 AM

Microsofts.com is available if anyone wants it

**.com.net.org** · 11-22-2002, 11:18 AM

Originally posted by revsorg
Maybe you should quote your correspondence with Microsoft in a couple of well place emails to Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Netscape and IBM ? A bidding war awaits

Added: My PC has crashed 3 times this evening. I can't wait to get an MS operating system in my car!

Don't bcc the mail.

**.com.net.org** · 11-22-2002, 11:34 AM

Originally posted by Gomains
Microsofts.com is available if anyone wants it

Are you sure ?

**domaindirk** · 11-22-2002, 12:15 PM

Get it listed and well placed on the major search engines, and see what happens. Should be worth the investment.

**schmidte** · 11-22-2002, 01:05 PM

FYI: According to http://www.domainsurfer.com/ (which was Last updated: 09 Sep. 2002) There are 2409 domain names with the word microsoft in it and of those names, 1865 start with the word microsoft.............their legal department stays very busy.