[arin-ppml] Internet 101: Collaboration (was - Microsoft receives court approval for transfer as agreed with ARIN)

[Owen DeLong]

On Apr 29, 2011, at 2:50 PM, David Conrad wrote:

> Owen,
> 
> On Apr 29, 2011, at 2:19 PM, Owen DeLong wrote:
>> If, as you say, the ARIN community is a few hundred techies, then, there are enough
>> legacy holders to overwhelmingly sway the discussion if they have a united purpose.
> 
> Sure, but from the perspective of the vast majority of legacy holders, why bother wasting the resources (time, money, people) on seeing how many addresses can be configured on the head of a pin?  It only becomes an issue if ARIN gets in the way.  When that occurs (e.g., ARIN refuses to recognize a sale), there would appear to be a number of options:
> 
> 1) spend resources (time, money, people) on joining the ARIN debating and fine lunch and dinner club with uncertain prospects for positive outcomes
> 
> 2) spend resources (time, money, people) on suing ARIN with uncertain (but higher probability based on the two existing precedents) for positive outcomes
> 
> 3) find an alternative registry, pay the no-strings-attached fixed fee, and be done with it.
> 
> Guess which option Nortel took?
> 
> Regards,
> -drc

In spite of your framing of the issue, from what I read, Nortel didn't choose any of the three
options and Micr0$0ft chose option 1.

Owen