Weblogs.com

Well, it has been confirmed

October 6, 2005 by Michael Boyle

Well, it has been confirmed

that VeriSign has purchased weblogs.com. And now that it’s not just rumour anymore, it’s appropriate to comment.

What a bloody nightmare. VeriSign haven’t met a service they couldn’t screw up, a trust they couldn’t break, a marginally ethical lock-in they didn’t do everything in their power to try to gain over their own customers. I can’t imagine a worse option. Hope Dave’s happy with his money though – whatever your opinion of the guy, he has provided a fantastic service that was absolutely critical to the development of the world of blogs.

Update: Paidcontent.org has the details. There’s more all over the web. People seem a great deal more optimistic about VeriSign than I am – I guess that many lucky people have avoided being VeriSign customers.

Kottke is reporting

October 6, 2005 by Michael Boyle

Kottke is reporting

that he’s heard from multiple sources that Weblogs.com has been sold to Verisign. Stranger things have happened I suppose.

The weblogs.com file

June 15, 2004 by Michael Boyle

The weblogs.com file

continues to evolve, and at least now it’s getting some notice on the main protagonist’s principal (and by far most-viewed) page.

Dave Winer has shut down

June 15, 2004 by Michael Boyle

Dave Winer has shut down

all of the weblogs.com blogs, that had been hosted for free for several years. I don’t want to get into the pros and cons, just to reference the post so that anyone who wants their site back can go and leave a comment and regain access to their posts.

What do I have to do

October 5, 2001 by Michael Boyle

to support the new Weblogs.Com XML-RPC interface? I’m sure some will ask the question, “why should I have to support this system. Shouldn’t it be supporting me?” I’m not asking that question, because for me the give and take on both ends is perfectly fine, I give to it, it gives back to me. But there’s a leap here that many won’t really see the point in making. Will that break a system that, above all, is fundamentally about engaging the network effects that come from being able to join easily?