Please Shut Up
Blue Yeti ·
Feb 8, 2011 at 2:59pm
Courtesy of our friends at The Daily comes this video profile of the Winkelvoss twins, who claim that Mark Zuckerberg stole the idea of Facebook from them. Leaving aside the fact that there were social networks already in existence (Friendster, anyone?), that executing on the idea was really the hard part, and that they've already won a settlement for upwards of $60 million; someone, a relative, their lawyer, should really pull these guys aside and tell them to shut up. They actually come across worse in person than they did in The Social Network.
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Dec '10
Re: Please Shut Up
You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...
Know when to walk away, know when to run.
Aug '10
Re: Please Shut Up
Forget Friendster. WAYYYY back in 1996/97, I was a member of www.taponline.com, which I believe was THE very first social network on the Internet.
It's so utterly forgotten now that there isn't even a Wikipedia entry for it.
You can't even find archived copies of it at www.archive.org (a site which still contains a copy of my very first personal web site from 1997. Shudder.)
Jul '10
Re: Please Shut Up
Did they pull that video off of a gay dating website?
Hunky twins in spandex...now that's smokin' hot.
Aug '10
Re: Please Shut Up
Aside: Agreeing to conduct the interview in a rowing storage shed was a terrible decision. It just makes them look like elitist, upper-class twits.
Aug '10
Re: Please Shut Up
Kenneth: Did they pull that video off of a gay dating website?
Hunky twins in spandex...now that's smokin' hot. · Feb 8 at 3:19pm
If only they were wearing canary-yellow muscle shirts...
Oct '10
Re: Please Shut Up
So... what, exactly, do these guys claim that they did? Have a good idea? We all get those, then go back to sleep with nothing meaningful coming about. Did they do the whiz-bang computer programming? And... do they have lives? That is, apart from seeking to benefit further beyond the $60 million in nuisance money?
For such really creative and entrepreneurial guys, what is it that have now applied there lives and fortune to? Or is this all we'll ever know about them? Can you say losers??
Jun '10
Re: Please Shut Up
Blue Yeti - With all due respect, I completely disagree. The Winkelvoss twins have a legitimate case. First, though there were other social networking sites, it is too far fetched to believe that two parties at Harvard University at exactly the same time would have conceived of rolling out a Harvard-based social network. Second, there is an email trail that shows that Zuckerberg was sandbagging after he agreed to help them launch the site. Third, the reason they are appealing the settlement is because Zuckerberg lied about the valuation upon which the figure was based. Fourth, everything is not about execution or valuations wouldn't be based on intellectual property. Lastly, the 500 million users of Facebook deserve to know something about Mark Zuckerberg (and his multiple lawsuits). They have given Zuckerberg a lot of personal information about themselves and I believe that the Winkelvosses are probably standing on principle.
Re: Please Shut Up
What the world needs is a tablet computer that's really, like, super easy to use. . .
OMG, someone just showed my this iPud, or something. What a ripoff of my idea. The nerve!
Any attorneys out there who care to help me? I mean, on contingency and all.
Jul '10
Re: Please Shut Up
I wanna see a video of Zuckerberg in spandex before I decide.
Jul '10
Re: Please Shut Up
You know, I once had this idea for a website where people would have political discussions and I would charge them a subscription fee for the privilege of providing me with content.
I was gonna call it Bounce or Rebound.
But I didn't follow through. Rob Long told me it would never work.
Re: Please Shut Up
My point is not from a legal point of view, it's one of public relations. If they continue to litigate this case (as is their right), they ought to consider ways to not make every potential juror in the country despise them. That's what they are doing now.
Edited on Feb 8, 2011 at 5:03pmJun '10
Re: Please Shut Up
Hmmm...Spandex and a hoodie. That definitely makes Glamour Magazine's "Don't" column. My vote still goes to the Winkelvosses.
Re: Please Shut Up
Lisa, while I can't comment on the specifics of the Facebook case, I can assure you that this sort of thing--same idea at the same time--happens fairly often. When conditions are right for a new innovation, smart people frequently arrive at the same conclusion more or less simultaneously.
In December 1999 I raised a round of venture capital for a completely unique eHealth company. During the next 60 days, eleven other start-ups were funded in pursuit of an essentially identical business model. Were the other entrepreneurs stealing my business idea? Nope. It just felt that way.
Jun '10
Re: Please Shut Up
Blue Yeti
My point is not from a legal standpoint, it's one of public relations. If they continue to litigate this case (as is their right), they think about ways to not make every potential jurist in the country despise them. That's what they are doing now. · Feb 8 at 3:43pm
Edited on Feb 08 at 03:45 pm
They do elicit some sympathy, however, especially given their early reticence to resolve the matter through legal means. Zuckerberg, on the other hand, appears arrogant in his almost complete dismissal of them. If I were Zuckerberg and his lawyers-investors, I wouldn't bet on any jury squarely landing in my court.
Jun '10
Re: Please Shut Up
I, too, have seen multiple instantiations of the same basic idea secure funding at the same time. Any Nolo Press book will impress upon the entrepreneur the importance of documenting The Idea. Zuckerberg didn't document The Idea. What is clear is that he met with the Winkelvosses and they detailed The Idea. He agreed to a partnership and timeline, sandbagged their requests for interim deliverables and, finally, without their knowledge or consent, went live with their idea. This is simply too coincidental to rule out the possibility that Zuckerberg stole their idea to launch The Facebook.
Dec '10
Re: Please Shut Up
The funniest line in the movie was one word:
Winklevi.
Dec '10
Re: Please Shut Up
Kenneth: You know, I once had this idea for a website where people would have political discussions and I would charge them a subscription fee for the privilege of providing me with content.
I was gonna call it Bounce or Rebound.
But I didn't follow through. Rob Long told me it would never work. · Feb 8 at 3:38pm
Mine had two mascots: Rico and Chester.
Jul '10
Re: Please Shut Up
I'm sensing "Lisa Hammitt" is Winkelvoss' nom de Ricochet.
Re: Please Shut Up
No argument there. But I also think it is fair to say that after Zuckerberg stole their idea, he proceeded to make our spandex loving friends exponentially more bank on it than they would have ever made on their own. And in the court of public opinion, the Winklevii are losing to the Zuck in a big way, despite a very unfaltering portrayal in a major motion picture. Hence my plea for them to please shut up.
Aug '10
Re: Please Shut Up
I don't think they elicit sympathy. I think they're a couple of tools. But I also think Mark Zuckerberg is an (at least!) equally unsympathetic character, what with all his illegal hacking and his obnoxious comments about violating the privacy of Harvard students.
The "Winklevoss vs Zuckerberg" debate essentially boils down to a popularity contest between pompous Harvard windbags with overinflated egos and a creepy Harvard computer nerd with an overinflated ego.
As far as the PR war goes, a pox on both their houses, sez I.
I'll keep using Facebook, of course...