Oh please -- give us a break!

Who is the person at Xtra that can't add?

It's been well known that msn.co.nz was a highly trafficked site -- if only because it was the default start-up page for so many users who couldn't be bothered (or understood how) to change that setting of their browser.

How hard can it be to do the simple math to work out that the combined site was going to receive all the regular Xtra site's visits, plus those that used to go to msn.co.nz and then multiply the resulting headcount by the average number of page-views per visit at Xtra and add a margin for "curiosity"?

Or was it the link from Aardvark that produced the massive spurt of traffic which caused XtraMSN's servers to grind to a halt last week? :-)

There's still no explanation however, exactly why users contacted me to bitch about the broken graphics and other problems they experienced at XtraMSN last week. Was it mere coincidence that many of these people were using Apple Macs or Netscape's browser rather than "pure" Windows/IE?

The NZoom Response?
At one stage, a year or two ago, it appeared as if there was going to be a real battle between Xtra and NZoom to win the hearts and homepage setting of NZ's websurfers.

Both sites were gearing up to become the "one-stop-shop" portal that each hoped would steal visitors away from the other's site.

Unfortunately NZoom hitched its wagon to NBCi and what used to be its Snap portal. NBC has since decided that it's been spending (aka losing) far to much money on things-Internet so has significantly scaled back the scope and depth of its online activities.

It certainly appears that the presence of NBCi's offerings on the NZoom website have gone -- bloody good job -- it was a waste of webspace and seemed to slow page-loading to a trickle anyway.

However, if the battle for eyeballs is still on, I wonder what NZoom will do to respond to the challenge that the XtraMSN co-venture has created?

Readers Say (updated hourly) Nothing Yet Have Your Say

Domain Discord?
Those organisations who aren't chuffed to bits with Domainz's management of the New Zealand domain name registry are banding together to create a new group called The New Zealand Registrar Interest Group.

According to its website, "the group's purpose is to develop a uniform registrar view of the draft SRS model, its business rules, and technical requirements published by ISOCNZ."

However, it also says "The NZRIG is not associated with or an activity controlled by the sponsor for the .nz CCTLD, the Internet Society of New Zealand [ISOCNZ]".

What does this mean? I have to say -- I'm not too sure yet but I'm certain we'll find out pretty soon. Stay tuned!

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