He says, "I can’t remember anything good coming from my freshman year – other than starting a business with a few of my classmates, which inspired me for subsequent businesses."
So, he found his calling in College? A waste of time? Could he have started this first business without attending college?
Getting a .ca in Canada is very easy and pain free (I buy them all the time). This post is inaccurate, at best. There is no bureaucracy involved in the process, unless you consider receiving an email to legitimize your registration a bureaucratic process. In fact, it's not different from any other registration method where you have to verify who you are, surprisingly, via email.
And the "Domain Registry of Canada" letters are a scam; it's painfully obvious that they are. BTW, the emails you get from the lawyers of dead generals in Africa are also a scam.
The first thing that you should know and accept is that there are probably 10 other people working on the same application you have in mind or are working on.
Second, if you go the facebook route, the first app of its kind will likely be more successful--that incumbency thing. If it's a compeling app, hurry app and deploy it.
Finally, if you decide to create the website first, then your target market has to be well defined, i.e., you have a niche solution to a specific problem for a specific group of people. If it's too broad, creating the website first will not likely generate enough traction, unless you can create enough volume.
I don't agree. Specially when most users post anonymously.
For example, I participate here, digg, and reddit, but never give any personal information.
For me is more like the getting my turn at the podium without fear of anything, as what I say is not going back to the real me. Of course, if someone really wanted to know who I really am, he or she could find out. But it's not worth the effort.
What I really don't get is the people that are so active in these type of sites that it seems that it is all they do. And they are proud of the fact of being so active. I find the comments interesting; however, for me, they are not enough to cover all my social needs.
I guess with time, we'll know the full effect of "socializing" with cute user-names all day long.
Flickr, et al.