SEATTLE -- The man whose $35 payment to an Internet namingcompany rescued Microsoft Corp.'s Hotmail service decided to auctionoff the $500 reward check for charity.
Michael Chaney, 31, a Nashville, Tenn.-based computer consultant,received the check from Microsoft over the weekend, and set up asale on the auction site eBay.com Monday morning.
As of Monday afternoon, with more than nine days to go, the checkhad received a single bid for $500. Chaney promised that he wouldgive the proceeds to charity, and match the top bid with a donationof his own. The charity would be determined by the high bidder, hesaid.
"I figured that whatever I got from Microsoft, I would give it tocharity," Chaney said. "This way, though, there's a chance ofgetting even more for it."
On Dec. 24, Chaney logged into the technology discussion Web siteSlashdot. The Hotmail service, which provides free e-mail to some 50million users, had been out of service for hours, and the peopleposting to Slashdot were trying to figure out why.
On Christmas Day, Chaney logged back on and found that theSlashdot readers had discovered that Microsoft had not paid its $35bill for the rights to the Web domain name "passport.com," a Website that houses all of Microsoft's password services. Because ofthe lack of payment, the company that handles Internet names,Network Solutions Inc., shut down the connection between the nameand Microsoft.
Thus, while Hotmail's front page was working, nobody could enterin their passwords in order to access their mail. Chaney logged ontoNetwork Solutions' Web site and paid Microsoft's bill. Hotmail wasworking normally the next day.
Since then, Chaney made national headlines as the Everyman whopaid the bills for the world's most valuable company. Bidding on thecheck will continue until Jan. 27.
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