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It's funny. Laugh. Businesses The Almighty Buck

Flashing Back to the Dotcom Era: 24 Hour Dotcom 183

Posted by CowboyNeal from the halcyon-days-of-yesteryear dept.
comforteagle writes "I was taken back six years in one swoop by the 24 Hour dotcom project this morning. A group of german folks at the Wizards of OS conference have launched 24 hour sit-in 'to create a dotcom business from scratch in 24 hours.' As of writing there's only three hours left until the IPO on eBay. Half serious, half art project, it looks like great fun."
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Flashing Back to the Dotcom Era: 24 Hour Dotcom More

Flashing Back to the Dotcom Era: 24 Hour Dotcom

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  • Dotcom business? (Score:5, Funny)

    by FyRE666 ( 263011 ) * on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:28AM (#9406757) Homepage
    Isn't that in the same league as "placebo chemist" or "linux licence"?

    Really, I'd only be impressed if they subsequently managed to burn through a few million dollars and go out of business within 24 hours - like most other dotcoms in the '90s ;-)
    • On that same note... do people go bankrupt in the next 48 hours? It's not really a dotcom business without an amazing fireball of destruction as investors realize that an internet operated toaster isn't going to make any money.
    • Heh, 24 is a bit generous, they'll be out of business in less than an hour after been /.ed

    • Re:Dotcom business? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by flinxmeister ( 601654 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:35AM (#9406798) Homepage
      I say raise the bar.

      Where is the 10 million dollar data center, corporate jet, and 5 million lines of worthless code?
      • 5 millions lines of worthless code...

        Makes you wonder. You could write a simple perl scrip to unroll a 5 million itteration loop in C.

        But you see, that would be the hacked way (ie. elegant way) of doing it. The real way would be some wise crack programmer thinking he's doing humanity a favor by reinventing an entire framework over and above all existing standard technologies (php, SQL, asp, cf...) just because the first time he dabbled with one of these languages he was unable to output a date in "12. j

    • Re:Dotcom business? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) <<moc.liamg> <ta> <namtabmiaka>> on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:37AM (#9406810) Homepage Journal
      You know, this isn't such a bad idea. What if (and that's a big "what if") a bunch of technologists and business people from various walks really did attempt to all take a vacation about the same time, then worked non-stop on a new business for a week? What would they be able to produce? Would they be able to create any business relationships? Perhaps even secure some form of long term funding inside that period?

      The real problem I see is the number of people. If it did work, and everyone decided to stay with the business (i.e. give their two-week with their current employer), what would their burn rate be? At 50,000-75,00 per employee, you could be potentially burning the better part of a million dollars a month. And would the results of the company be maintainable? (The pace definitely wouldn't be.) Interesting thought exercise, anyway.

  • 3 hours left until the IPO (Score:5, Funny)

    by Schreckgestalt ( 692027 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:29AM (#9406760)
    and 6 hours left until they have to fire every employee... or outsource them to india.
    • This timeline is getting stretched out way too far, the investors are going to pull out! Back in my dot com days business plans would be formed on a napkin, investor relations made over a beer, and a coding team assembled from random stragglers at a tech convention all in about four hours :-).

      The companies would most likely dissolve at the end of the weekend when they forgot to ask what irc server C0derMan hangs out on.

  • They forgot one other part... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dotslashconfig ( 784719 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:29AM (#9406761)
    Half serious, half art project

    Half-stupid. The sad part is, someone is going to buy into this heap.

    Impulse is a scary force in human nature.

  • Their todo list (Score:5, Funny)

    by flimnap ( 751001 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:29AM (#9406764) Homepage

    From the article:

    * 19:00 Building the Office
    * 19:30 Kick-off party
    * 19:45 International expansion
    * 22:00 Concepts and planning
    * 02:00 Nightly coding
    * 14:00 Milestone 1
    * 15:00 Milestone 2
    * 16:00 Milestone 3
    * 16:50 Milestone 4
    * 17:00 Press conference
    * 18:00 Final candidate 1
    * 18:30 Release Party
    * 19:00 Final release
    * 18:59 Launch, IPO on eBay

    They sure do have their priorities right! All the essential ingredients of a dotcom...

  • IPO (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Teri in Hell ( 727154 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:30AM (#9406771) Homepage

    An IPO on eBay? It sounds creepy and foreshadowing of things to come. As if eBay isn't central to our economy enough.

    Any /.er's planning to bid?

  • Thanks slashdot! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tom7 ( 102298 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:32AM (#9406781) Homepage Journal
    I'm sure they are really appreciating the slashdotting given that they only have a few hours left to construct and sell their web-based application.
  • Just run a shopping cart and put your old socks onsale! There you have a new online sale system. Your very own oldsocks.com.Also you can have it eBay types and do some kinda barterlike trading undies for socks...think about it. :-O

  • getting a dot com (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jooon ( 518881 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:33AM (#9406790) Homepage
    One of the harder things to do within 24 hours seems to actually get a dot com address.

  • What does it mean if it works? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Fragholio ( 574860 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:36AM (#9406803)
    If something like this succeeds, what does it mean for business? For daily life?

    "Sorry honey, I can't go visit your parents with you, I'm starting a business today. But I'll be finished with it by Tuesday..."

    Another implication...as much as our friends in Redmond slap us in the face with the fact that businesses are all about making money and not about providing goods or services, I wonder how people would trust a business that literally sprang up overnight to be in our best interest?

    • Actually that is my hope with the tools I am building for my company. A hosted application framework and set of tools that would let you create business in about 24 hours.

      My company, hostedlabs.com, is building the first few apps to help mature the technology and then we plan on opening thye system up.

      Should be fun! ;-)

  • [body bgcolor="white"] (Score:5, Funny)

    by autopr0n ( 534291 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:40AM (#9406828) Homepage Journal
    Or:
    <style>
    body{
    background-color: white;
    }
    <style>

    People never used to forget this, but now I see it all the time... People just assume that the background color on a web page will be white, and design with that in mind.

    Well, I've got my browsers set to show gray backgrounds by default, JUST THE WAY GOD INTENDED! None of this white background heresy! Btw, slashdot apperantly dosn't allow >body bgcolor="white"> as a subject, even thought they convert "<>" to "&lt;&gt" automaticaly. Lame.
    • I'll have you know I just logged in to Slashdot for the first time in two or three years just to reply to this comment, because I totally agree. It is _way_ too often that I run across a page that looks like ass just because the designers didn't set a background color and didn't use transparent images. And the worst part is that this is one of the kind of things where, if you complain, they reply and say "Oh, well, that's your fault. You should have your background color set to white." Know what? They'
    • People never used to forget this, but now I see it all the time... People just assume that the background color on a web page will be white, and design with that in mind. I want a browser that sets all unassigned parameters to random default values. That would be absolutely great for test driving web apps- if it looks good in *that* browser, it will look good *everywhere*. And it'd allow me to bitch about almost every website in existence. Until that browser exists, I'll keep using Netscape for those purpos
      • I want a browser that sets all unassigned parameters to random default values.

        In Explorer and Opera, you can add JavaScript to your user style sheet. [quirksmode.org] This technique is used by at least one malware program [myers.name] that sets the default style sheet to point to a CSS file that it drops on your hard drive. The CSS file contains JavaScript that monitors you as you surf porn sites or whatever:

        The devious thing about this exploit was that the user style sheet the malware stuck on my computer contained CSS property valu

    • Blame IE.

      IE was the first browser to default to a white background. The great unwashed masses of HTML jockeys never saw the problem.

      This is why we have standards. It's a shame few decide to use them.
    • Am I missing something? Why are you changing your browser's default background color for webpages? Is there significant need for this? To change the default, then whine about pages that don't display properly?
      • Perhaps my recent journal entry [slashdot.org] can help explain why full white is not a good color for surfaces intended to emulate paper.
      • "Oldschool" HTML pages, without any fancy stuff or graphics look better on a grey background. This is probably due to nostalga for "the way things used to be" back when I started surfing the web aboud a decade ago.

        So I have IE set to default to grey. I like it. Once in a while, you'll come across a page that the designer had expected a white background.

        Also, as a matter of fact, IE does not default to white, it defaults to the "Window" color specified in display properties. Certan people with goofy c

  • About Right (Score:5, Funny)

    by mfh ( 56 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:41AM (#9406832) Homepage Journal
    Yeah 24 hours is about right. They should phone Trump and do each hour in realtime for reality TV. That'd be something I'd watch.

    "We have no content, no products or services."

    "Don't be so negative, we have kittens!"

    "Right, kittens!"

    "They can play with the kittens if they register on the site..."

    "And registration should be 5 tier'd so we can upscale our sales model."

    "Why only 5? Let's go with 10 tiers, so everything from Zinc members right up to Platinum VIP Studs."

    "Ok, we're done."

    "How long was that?"

    "We have about 23.56 hours left."

    "Let's get some beer!"

  • I am a Slashdot sucker... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:41AM (#9406833)
    I am a Slashdot sucker. I just paid $11 for 1% of a 24-hour fly-by night company that showed up on Slashdot.

    Considering I never lost any money on dot-coms though, it seems like a good investment. Yes? Or no?

    I mean, their marketing guy got a story on Slashdot which is more than I can say I've ever accomplished!

    • Re:I am a Slashdot sucker... (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I am a Slashdot sucker. I just paid $11 for 1% of a 24-hour fly-by night company that showed up on Slashdot.

      On behalf of OSDN I would just like to say thank you for your slashdot subscription :-)

    • Your already winning!
      1% should equal to about $17 now :)
      The auction [ebay.com]

      And ofcourse, by the time you read this, it might be even higher. Congratulations! Pretty damn good ROI in just few hours :)
  • *Searching for a pin*

  • Dupe alert! (Score:5, Funny)

    by maxbang ( 598632 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:44AM (#9406857) Journal

    Here's the original [vasoftware.com].

    • That is funny (Score:3, Insightful)

      by ACNiel ( 604673 )
      If only I had mod points. This is so funny.

      Whatever happened to ESR saying he wasn't going to let his new found wealth go to his head. What a pompous ass. Reminds me of a fortune I got the other day (maybe even at the bottom of a /. page)

      "Don't be humble... you're not that great."
      • Whatever happened to ESR saying he wasn't going to let his new found wealth go to his head.

        I think what's gone to his head is the fame, more than the money. And he's so openly contemptuous of the people whose admiration are the basis of his fame. It's like some kind of Hollywood thing.

        What a pompous ass.

        Ever been in the same room with him? "Pompous ass" incarnate. I once talked to a computer bookstore owner who had him scheduled for a signing. He just wanted to play with his laptop, get the signatures

  • I see no information what their product is or their business plan. To whom will they sell this rapidly-developed and (by definition) untested piece of code? What is their revenue model?

    It seems pretty sketchy to ask people to pony up money without much information about what they are buying and without a track record to show that the market for this thing (whatever it is) actually exists and is capable of supporting this company.

    However, like far too many dotcoms, they'll probably find someone greed

    • It's a joke/art project.

      part of the 'dotcom' thing is to NOT HAVE THOSE THINGS before kicking off.

      however, who knows, they might have invented something brilliant in the 24hours. but they started with a clean table, which was also part of the 'thing' in this project.

      .

    • " I see no information what their product is or their business plan". I thought that was the hallmarks of a dotcom, no product, no business plan, but a hell of a whopping game room for their soon to be gone employees.

      If you get the chance, see the movie "Startup.com"
      • "hell of a whopping game room"

        Ok, I confess, we do have a game room.

        *points to the Slinky in the corner*

      • If you get the chance, see the movie "Startup.com"

        I second the suggestion to rent Startup.com!

        I saw it a week or two ago. The most interesting thing about it is that it's the real footage of a startup right from the beginning (and to the end...). Originally, a friend of the CEO (an ex-MTV VJ) wanted to make a documentary about the 20-something millionaires and all the opportunity that the Internet brought to young entrepreneurs... It turned out to be a record of the dotcom bust.

      • Just as long as you don't all start slashdotting ed2k://|file|startup.com.avi|735004672|C04A007D22E AF24585CC52D9E9718196|/

        It may not be a legal copy.

  • Yeah, but..... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by gr8fulnded ( 254977 )
    If it was a true dot com, it'll be dead in another 24 hours.

    --Dave
  • that they only have a few hours left yet there is nothing on there site about what the product they have decide on is orhow one would bid on the ebay auctions...any /.ers got more up to date info

  • I need my eyes checked (Score:3, Funny)

    by sahonen ( 680948 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:48AM (#9406878) Homepage Journal
    I thought it said "Build a dot-com that will scratch in 24 hours." I didn't know it was possible to go out of business that fast!
  • I'm not quite sure why... but it just sounded interesting. Yea yea yea.. call me stupid all you want, I realize I probably just wasted $11 but hey what the hell.

  • Awesome. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by artlu ( 265391 ) <artlu@art[ ]net ['lu.' in gap]> on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:51AM (#9406889) Homepage Journal
    This is a great use of how powerful the Internet can become. These guys are going to get a ton of traffic and have a viable site now because of slashdot. Wow. Anyway, I also tried to start a dotcom this week - GroupShares.com [groupshares.com] - and it had a very successful first week. About 50 registered users and some ad money from adsense - enough to Incorporate in FL anyway. Goes to show that if you do enough work, maybe anyone can get a dotcom off the ground.

    Cool.
    Aj
  • "No more investments, please! Stop sending us money!" ...these guys remember what the dotcom boom was all about right?

  • Visit them ! (Score:5, Informative)

    by proxy2 ( 156777 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:58AM (#9406927)
    You can find their dotcom site at

    http://dozomo.24hdc.com/ [24hdc.com]

    Taken from their site:


    What is dozomo?

    Dozomo is a quick way to reach every search engine in the world! Just type the name of a search engine followed by a search term, and dozomo will take you there immediately. If you want to search google for "Miles Davis", for example, type "google Miles Davis". To search allmusic for "Miles Davis", just type "allmusic Miles Davis".

    Soon they will be millionaires with this !

    • Re:Visit them ! (Score:2, Informative)

      by s7uar7 ( 746699 )
      Oh dear. Do none of them use Firefox? You can do exactly the same from your address bar.
    • I tried mistyping and instead of their example "google Obi-wan",
      I typed "googl Obi-wan", and the result was our old favourite NSFW asshole.
  • Don't you need to wait 24-72 hours before a newly registered .com domain name actually shows up around the world?

    Alex.
  • Let's see...doing something that any sane person would call "making a fool of oneself", desparately calling attention to it, and then trying to make an obscene amount of money from it...

    Yup, it is performance art!

  • From the site: INVEST: No more investments, please! Stop sending us money!

    At the moment, these kids are really drowning in cash.

  • Search Proxy at WOS3 (Score:5, Interesting)

    by roell ( 624353 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @11:10AM (#9406990) Homepage

    The Dozomo team has manipulated the Webproxy at the WOS3-Conference so that when you query Google, you are redirected to Dozomo. The problem is that your search parameters are not passed on. So users are forced to enter their search query a second time and post the dozomo-form. Then they get to google (or whatever search engine they specified).

    Bad enough, but it gets worse: When you now modify your search query on google, you are redirected back again - and again, your search query is not passed on!

    Querying the web from the conference is a pain at the moment. If I had shares, I would sell them.

  • Actually this is the inverse of a dot-com (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Infonaut ( 96956 ) <infonaut@gmail.com> on Saturday June 12, 2004 @11:19AM (#9407021) Homepage Journal
    They're building the app *before* getting funding. That's not how the dot-coms did it, for the most part.

    I have this vivid recollection of going to visit a Silicon Valley dot-com in 2000. They were bidding to provide the backend for an ecommerce project I was working on for another dot-com (see how incestuous the whole thing was?).

    We talked for a while about their underlying technology. I noticed a couple of dozen people scurrying around in the open bay of the converted light industrial warehouse, so I asked the CTO what all of those people were doing. "They're in marketing and sales," he replied confidently.

    "So who are your current customers?" I couldn't help but ask.

    "Well, our infrastructure is still being rolled out," he answered.

    "Umm.. you mean, your datacenter is still in the works?"

    "Well, yes, but the application itself is still evolving."

    I could tell where this was headed. "What percentage of this functionality we've been talking about is actually available right now, today?"

    He at least had enough shame to avert his gaze as he admitted, "Well, we're almost there. I'd say 75% of the functionality is there right now, but by the time we finish you're project, we'll have all of the desired functionality for our product."

    These guys had over $10M in funding, and had been in business for four months before we spoke with them. Their revolutionary new technology was essentially an Object Perl framework for building websites. They had no customers. They had no product. They had lots of money. All of their managers were under 30 years old.

    THAT was a dot-com.

  • I added Slashdot to the Dozomo search engine. Just type Slashdot query, and you get to use /.'s extremely efficient search.

  • flawed business plan - no patent, no lawsuits (Score:5, Funny)

    by hugesmile ( 587771 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @11:27AM (#9407052)

    From the article:

    * 19:00 Building the Office
    * 19:30 Kick-off party
    * 19:45 International expansion
    * 22:00 Concepts and planning
    * 02:00 Nightly coding
    * 14:00 Milestone 1
    * 15:00 Milestone 2
    * 16:00 Milestone 3
    * 16:50 Milestone 4
    * 17:00 Press conference
    * 18:00 Final candidate 1
    * 18:30 Release Party
    * 19:00 Final release
    * 18:59 Launch, IPO on eBay

    They forgot to apply for a patent!

    • Right, let's amend that:

      File suit - 20:00
      Fact Discovery - 22:30
      Initial Report - 22:45
      Opposing Experts' Reports - 23:00
      Counter-reports - 23:15
      Expert Discovery - 24:00
      Dispositive Motions - 0:30
      Rule 26(a)(3) Disclosures - 4:00
      Exchange of proposed jury instructions - 4:00
      Special Attorney Conference and Settlement
      Conference - 4:15
      Final Pretrial Conference - 4:30
      Filing of proposed jury instructions - 4:30
      5-week jury trial - 5:00

      Now that's a nice schedule!

      (with apologies to Judge Kimball [groklaw.net])

  • I want you to hire me, pay 100,000 dollars, and give 100,000 shares. Maybe I'll work 5 days a week, and I will always be wearin tee-shirt and shorts.
    and sneer, I'll sneer at you a lot.
  • I added Ask Jeeves to their SE list with Konqu eror. The cgi response errors and success messages needed to be downloaded to a textfile (mime types, kids) but that's a config tweak I'm sure they have on a list...

    Anyway, some of their code is working, now a meta search engine that returns only the links that I really want, now that'll be a trillion...

    Neeeever mind...
  • Looking at the project they came up with, Dozomo [24hdc.com] it's impressive for a 24hr hack. I guess you'd call it a 'one stop search engine superstore' or something. It's got browser plugins and even supports slashdot searches +)
    • Looking at the project they came up with, Dozomo it's impressive for a 24hr hack. I guess you'd call it a 'one stop search engine superstore' or something. It's got browser plugins and even supports slashdot searches +)

      I'm not sure how this can be called "impressive" when you can find meta-searches everywhere, and can even download and install one on your own site from hotscripts.com, or some other script source. I'm not sure if this is even a product. On a story. It's a LAN party with a spiffy (?) web si

  • It is a pretty typical dot-com in this regard: check out how many coders they had!

    Adam Wern, CEO
    Eric Wahlforss, CIO
    Friedrich-Wilhelm Graf, Chief Designer
    Nadia Gisler, Design Consultant
    Joni Braun, Photographer
    Tav, CTO
    Stephan Karpischek, COO
    David Thunman, Logistics
    Fubbi Minister of desinfo
    Antje Taiga, Businesswoman
    t, Chief Strategic Officer
    enki Chief, Security Officer
    Ben Pohl, Documentation

    No wonder they got only to Milestone 2 of 4! (Not unlike other firms we know.) And like dot-coms, they had no problem
  • In the DotCom era someone devoting and actual working 24 Hr period to concept design and deployment is MUCH MORE than I swear some companies did back then, and Im sure they didnt make the FATAL dotcom mistake of changing their business model 9 times a month, hey they only had 24 hrs, so maybe 2 changes..........
  • Won't this process take months and such to be a real legal entity?. I don't see how they are selling shares of whatever without fully incorporating and such before hand.

    Sunny Dubey
  • Not bad for 24hrs work!!! :-)
    Auction Page [ebay.com]

  • How does the story not include an e-Bay auction link! [ebay.com]

    Current bid is $434. Remaining bidding time is 2 days 22 hours. The dotcom is dozomo.com [dozomo.com], but the site does not appear to exist.

    -

  • help! (Score:4, Funny)

    by zmooc ( 33175 ) <zmooc@zmooc.DEGASnet minus painter> on Saturday June 12, 2004 @04:16PM (#9408610) Homepage
    Somebody please overbid me [ebay.com]!
  • Goto the main site [24hdc.com] and click on the Supported Engines [24hdc.com] link.

    Looks like Mr. Goatse.cx has already found an exploit and made his presence known.

    "Waiter... there's a sphincter in my Zope"

  • Prohibited items on eBay: Stocks (Score:3, Informative)

    by hugesmile ( 587771 ) on Saturday June 12, 2004 @10:39PM (#9410785)
    From eBay's rules page:

    Prohibited and Restricted Items > Stocks and Other Securities

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regulates the sale of stocks and other security interests that represent a current investment ownership interest in an entity, and efforts by individuals to raise money or find investors for businesses. Such regulations place substantial restrictions on an individual's ability to sell such items on the Internet through eBay, and therefore eBay does not permit the sale of "securities" on its site. Examples of items not allowed on eBay:

    • All stocks, bonds, and investment interests in any entity or property, including but not limited to corporations or partnerships, other than the exceptions permitted below for cancelled certificates and single-share gifts.
    • Credit (for example, you may not sell $1000 in credit to a buyer).
    • Solicitations to invest money in any business venture.
    • Any portion of an ongoing business.
    • 100% of any ongoing business if the sale involves a transfer of any stock in that business.
    • Documentation that represents proof of a current investment interest in any entity.
    • Notes (except as specifically permitted under our Real Estate Rules).
    Some business related items are not "securities" and may be listed on eBay. Examples of items that can be sold:

    • 100% of the assets of a business (inventory, lease, good will) where no transfer of stock is involved.
    • Information about how to start a business.
    • Any sale of inventory, leases, fixtures.
    • "Turn key" businesses such as vending machines, windshield repair kits, and breathalyzyer machines.
    • Tools used for a business, such as silk screening machines, photo mug equipment, business card makers.
    • Websites or domain names.
    • Old or collectible stock certificates, provided that such stock certificates are cancelled or represent an interest in an entity that no longer legally exists.
    • Single-share stock certificates marketed for gift purposes rather than investment purposes, provided that the certificates are marked and advertised as non-transferable, the ownership is not transferred into the name of the purchaser, and the minimum sale price is more than twice the current exchange trading price of the underlying single share security.
    Wonder how this will come out!
  • Anyone notice Antje Taiga [m4models.de], listed on their page [24hdc.com] is a model?

    Google the rest of them. Quite a motley crew they have there.

  • A group of german folks at the Wizards of OS conference have launched 24 hour sit-in 'to create a dotcom business from scratch in 24 hours.

    You might consider capitalizing "German" next time. I'm not German, and I can't say that I like that country, because I met a German once, and he was a jerk, but please be a little more respectful next time, and put a capital letter where it belongs. They make good beer.

    (Come on, jump on me for stereotyping an entire people based on one experience with one individual, b

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