I've been drinking all night, so, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that Ric paid around several thousand dollars for the WordPress.com domain, and then gave it to matt, for free.
What, exactly, are we complaining about?
Lets all understand that people who own domains, controll them completely. Domains, by defnition, are not open. They are closed, controlled, can be used for almost any purpose imaginable. Ric is servicing this community, he's doing what he can to keep high profile domain names within the open source community.
Call him a squatter, and it hurts him, but it doesn't change that he's doing a great thing for the community.
If it weren't for him, WordPress.com would be porn, or spam, or worse. Who knows? He kept it from the true evil squatters and he deserves credit. Ric spent his hard earned cash to ensure that WordPress.com didn't become a useless domain for profiteering, and the start of a interminable and expensive lawsuit.
Some of us have skills, some of us have money, and some of us have both. Ric uses his capabilities to service the opensource community, and for that, I thank him.
I don't think I'll be needed anymore, but I'll be lurking. I hope WordPress.com turns out to be everything I hoped it would be. And sorry to Net&If, and AndrewB who worked so hard on the WordPress.com proposal with me. If anyone is interested in our buisness plan, I'll post it. It is, of course, opensource as well.
Thanks everybody, what a freakin wild ride. Sorry if this is incoherant, I'm Drunk, it's my birthday, and I just lost my chance at using WordPress.com in the most positive way possible. I'm not sure how to feel, but, oddly, I feel pretty darned good.
Thanks Ric, Thanks Matt, Thanks Net&If, AndrewB, and Farms.
Here's to WordPress. May it take the world by storm, and show the full power of OpenSource.