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uTube.com Business Stalled by YouTube Purchase Hype

Posted by timothy on Fri Oct 13, 2006 02:18 AM
from the series-of-goo-filled-tubes dept.
It's funny. Laugh. Businesses Google The Internet IT
prostoalex writes "Google's acquisition of online video sharing site YouTube.com resulted in massive traffic headed to uTube.com, "the number one supplier of used Tube & Pipe equipment in the world!", according to the site. CNN Money reports: "The company, which sells used machinery for making tubes to clients worldwide, has seen its site utube.com knocked off line by millions of online searchers looking for video site. "It's killing us," said Ralph Girkins, president and owner of the 22-year-old business. "All my worldwide reps use our Web site. Customers all over the world use it to bring up photos of the machinery, descriptions and specifications there."""
+ -
story

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[+] Your Rights Online: Utube Sues YouTube 438 comments
An anonymous reader writes "From The Age article: Universal Tube, which sells used machines that make tubes, has said it has lost business because customers have had trouble accessing its site." So now Utube is suing YouTube seeking a cease and desist on the youtube domain. (I wonder if they think Google's pockets might be deeper that the previous owners'.) This again raises the problems of domain names colliding across different industries and countries, and reminds me of the etoys/etoy tussle a few years back. Should domain name simply be exempt from trademark legislation in all countries or is it a legit thing to fight for?"
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uTube.com Business Stalled by YouTube Purchase Hype 50 Comments More /

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  • Insult to injury (Score:5, Funny)

    by cbcanb (237883) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:20AM (#16419963)
    On top of that, now Slashdot links to it...

    • Re:Insult to injury (Score:5, Funny)

      by ztransform (929641) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:24AM (#16419993)
      If all slashdot readers can AVOID the temptation to visit the utube site I'm sure the company would much appreciate it!

      • Re:Insult to injury (Score:4, Funny)

        by Ghost Hedgehog (814914) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:33AM (#16420059) Journal
        I think the company will be quite happy when all the readers at least buy something

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by kabocox (199019)
        If all slashdot readers can AVOID the temptation to visit the utube site I'm sure the company would much appreciate it!

        Opps. Why the heck did they post links in the summary if they didn't want us to visit it?

        It sounds like the company should update their webhosting and look at all the miss directed youtube folks as free ads. Well, I can see where the company is coming from. My dad sells large farm equipment. Their company would never ever just stick an ad in newspaper or do TV ads. They put ads only in ind

  • and now we /. them (Score:5, Insightful)

    by notanatheist (581086) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:20AM (#16419967) Homepage
    Good job y'all. They're already complaining about traffic and you link to their site?!

    • Re:and now we /. them (Score:5, Informative)

      by tttonyyy (726776) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:56AM (#16420173) Homepage Journal
      Worth noting that the professionally edited article at CNN links to everyone concerned except utube.com. At least they engage their brains before publishing stories.

      • there's a reason I don't give slashdot my money! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Xtifr (1323) on Friday October 13 2006, @03:35AM (#16420425) Homepage
        Well, actually several, but mostly it boils down to the utter lack of editorial standards. Bad grammar, bad spelling, slashvertisements, links to semi-literate amateur blogs for stories carried by decent, high-quality sites, and ... sheer idiocy like this. I enjoy slashdot. It's an interesting diversion. And I've been around for a long time, and I still haven't given up on it. But the complete and utter lack of editorial common sense or professionalism is simpy infuriating at times! I would miss slashdot if it disappeared, but there's no way I'm willing to pay for something this poorly produced. And that's the bottom line.

        However, at least this time I can be proud to announce that I did not RTFA! :)

      • Re:and now we /. them (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Farmer Tim (530755) <<moc.sseldnim> <ta> <elifdnuor>> on Friday October 13 2006, @06:04AM (#16421173) Journal
        ...professionally edited article at CNN...[snip]...At least they engage their brains

        Two firsts in the one day!

        (Someone had to say it. But I agree they made the correct decision)

  • And as if that wasn't enough.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by arun_s (877518) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:22AM (#16419977) Homepage Journal
    they're now at /.
    Poor guys.

  • Tubes (Score:5, Funny)

    by Grr (15821) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:22AM (#16419983)
    Well luckily he has enough tubes for all those internets!

  • Oh, come off it. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kris_J (10111) * on Friday October 13 2006, @02:23AM (#16419985) Journal
    Take the link out of the story, seriously.

  • Next aquisition (Score:5, Funny)

    by kjart (941720) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:25AM (#16420003)

    Obviously, utube.com will be Google's next aquisition - just look at how much traffic they get!

  • While you can. Might as well score some cash from the traffic.
  • The site seems to be performing fine. Maybe someone's just taking the opportunity to get their company in the news. Nothing wrong with that, of course.

    -b

  • Oh, boo hoo (Score:5, Interesting)

    by catbutt (469582) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:41AM (#16420097)
    If they can't figure out a way to profit from this, too freakin bad for them.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by leonardluen (211265)
        according to whois utube.com has been registered since 1996
        youtube.com has been registered since 2005

        i think when they first made their website that was the last thing they were thinking about.

  • Are they confused as Ted Stevens? (Score:3, Funny)

    by NZheretic (23872) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:42AM (#16420103) Homepage Journal
    Let Jon Stewart Explain [youtube.com]
  • It's the year of the tube [ewetube.com]

  • Deja Vu (Score:5, Funny)

    by tttonyyy (726776) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:45AM (#16420127) Homepage Journal
    And how kind of the slashdot editors to link to utube directly, just to rub the slashdot salt into the wounds.

    (I can hear their servers weeping in the corner right now).

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Gulik (179693)
      (I can hear their servers weeping in the corner right now).

      Oh, they're not weeping -- that sound you hear is the server's molten case dripping out of the rack.

  • Solution (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Arwing (951573) on Friday October 13 2006, @02:48AM (#16420149)
    You know, MLB.com had this problem a few years ago when it was owned by some law firm. Their solution is simple, have a really simple front page saying "If you are looking for the video site YOUtube, click on the link,
    if you are looking for used hardware, click on Utube
    It will save them some trouble in the short run, but my question is shouldn't this be happening all along since youtube is popular BEFORE google decided to buy it out?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Peeteriz (821290)
      The issue is that if the site gets promoted electronically, then the name/link tends to be correct.
      But, if the issue is promoted on TV (like it was with the google buyout), then people just hear the name "youtoob" and with the trend of naming things iThis, eThat, it's quite likely that these people think that it should be written uTube.
      Noone is going to make the mistake if they get the recommendation in writing - via e-mail, IM, etc - then YouTube can't be confused with uTube - but they do sound the same.

  • Nothing to see here, it's up (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Animats (122034) on Friday October 13 2006, @03:00AM (#16420207) Homepage

    Their site is fine now. Their equipment, though...

    They're a surplus machinery dealer, and much of their equipment has seen hard use followed by neglect. The neglect is worse than the hard use. This lathe [utube.com] is a good example. That's a good Monarch precision lathe, but the picture, taken in 2000, shows considerable rust. Most of their gear is like that; it looks like it came out of an abandoned factory. It's repairable; you can send the lathe back to Monarch [lucasprecision.com] for an overhaul. But it's not good for much in its current condition. If there's any rust in the bearings, the precision is lost.

    For comparison, see this Monarch Lathe [ebay.com] on eBay. Made in 1950, and still in good shape. Those things will last a century if cared for.

    If you have machinery like that around that's not in use, you have to oil it, then wrap it in plastic with some dessicant inside.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Dun Malg (230075)
        And how the fuck is this modded +5 interesting?
        It is far more interesting, in a relative sense, than the three hundred posts of "haw haw, now utube.com is linked by slashdot and they will get teh slashdoted" that comprise most of the rest of the discussion.
  • The most frightening aspect of this is that there are tens of millions of people out there that are having a difficult time spelling out YouTube. If it were a case of mistyping, would that particular iteration really show up that much? Perhaps we have millions of kids out there who genuinely believe that you is spelled u.

    • Re:Spelling is HARD (Score:5, Insightful)

      by hyfe (641811) on Friday October 13 2006, @03:54AM (#16420537)
      Can you tell the difference between uTube and YouTube when pronounced? No?

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Chris Pimlott (16212)
          So you go shopping on EBB-eh for used IP-odds? Does it confuse you when Emile sends you email?

          Single-letter prefixes and intentional bizarre "mispellings" are par for the course on the Internet. There's no good way for anyone not already familiar with YouTube to umabiguously know whether it was "utube" or "youtube" if they just heard the name.

    • think about it- "E"bay "E"trade they hear about utube on the radio business news or finance programs, (npr for example) and type that name in, best guess

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by aussie_a (778472)
      I suppose you laugh at people who think eyeTunes is spelt iTunes, right? They must be illiterate as well, right? Perhaps they really do think the body part known as the eye is spelt i.
    • Perhaps we have millions of kids out there who genuinely believe that you is spelled u.
      Could be worse -- we could be reading a story right now about how some site called uT00b.com is getting swamped.

  • Lesson in domain names for YouTube (Score:3, Interesting)

    by antic (29198) on Friday October 13 2006, @03:12AM (#16420277)
    Wherever possible, pick a name that is easily read in an email or understood when read out over radio, on the phone, or in conversation. Also, easy to remember and spell.

    But almost $2b later, I can't imagine that the founders care all that much!

  • That's not nice! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Bob Gelumph (715872) on Friday October 13 2006, @03:38AM (#16420439)
    How could all those internet users knock the main company offline who was responsible for construction of the Internet?

  • YAFIYGI (Score:3, Insightful)

    by RAMMS+EIN (578166) on Friday October 13 2006, @04:17AM (#16420653) Homepage Journal
    "All my worldwide reps use our Web site. Customers all over the world use it to bring up photos of the machinery, descriptions and specifications there."

    I guess they found out the hard way that making normal business operation dependent on the availability of the website, without taking great pains to assure that availability, is asking for trouble.

    This time, they got slashdotted by mistake. Next time, it could be a targeted DDoS attack.
  • Utube marketing guy: WTF? Our server is down!
    Utube hosting provider: (putting down fire extinguisher) We want more money, you're burning bandwidth like the U.S. burns fossil fuels!
    Utube marketing guy: Wait - I've just hear that Google bought YouTube and people are interested. Hey! This is an amazing marketing opportunity, I wonder how we can make use of it? (Pays hosting provider big wodge of cash)

    (...ten minutes of googling later)

    Utube marketing guy: My highly expensive and accurate research shows that tubes are incredibly important to our new potential customer base at slashdot.org, they talk about them a lot.
    Utube CEO: OK, so how do we get their attention?
    Utube marketing guy: Simple, we whine to CNN about how our business is going down the toilet thanks to google, then submit a story to slashdot - they love that stuff!

    (...)

    Slashdot editor: Hmm, I've been rejecting a lot of stories like this recently, and this one appears to be suitably poorly put together - perfect!
    Slashdot editor: (skipping "Dupe Check"/"Spel Check"/"Grahma Check" buttons) *PUBLISH*
    Slashdot readers: Oooh, how cruel to link to that site! (Follows link to see if servers really are down or not).
    Server room: (indifferent rattle of hard disks)
    Utube hosting provider: (puffing on expensive cigar) Suckers! Time to order my new Humvee.

  • Now the name makes sense (Score:4, Interesting)

    by slashdotmsiriv (922939) on Friday October 13 2006, @04:42AM (#16420765)
    Now i know why they named their site YouTube instead of uTube. The second would be more appropriate given the audience, but was already taken.

  • Free Advertising? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bad_fx (493443) on Friday October 13 2006, @06:09AM (#16421205) Journal
    Well shit, this seems like pretty good free advetising for these guys. I'd stop complaining if I were them...

  • In other news... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Junior J. Junior III (192702) on Friday October 13 2006, @06:34AM (#16421297) Homepage
    NotATruck.com has also experienced a major spike in traffic, due to confused congressmen.

  • I don't hear sysco complaining (cisco?) (Score:3, Insightful)

    by acomj (20611) on Friday October 13 2006, @08:31AM (#16422245) Homepage
    2 companies, same pronounsiation.

    sysco - provider of food stuff to eateries
    http://www.sysco.com/ [sysco.com]
    cisco - provider of network equipment.

    • Or they sent some (now illegal in the US) Gambling Balls down the tubes to clear the clutter.

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