* I operated a web server when there were maybe a few thousand web users, and a few dozen web servers. In those days there was a list of all known web servers you could check once a day for new additions.
* I advocated for java when there were a few thousand java programmers, if that. Maybe a few hundred.
* I played on the poker tournament trail when there were a few dozen regulars at most.
* I switched to OS X before it was a complete no-brainer.
Okay, that last is only a 3/10 on the earliness scale instead of 1/10. I bet I'm forgetting some other winners here. (I KNOW I'm forgetting all the losers.)
From the article:
Until Scrabulous landed on Facebook, no one could have mistaken the game, which had only a few thousand users, for a fast-growing phenomenon.Hey, you ignorant reporter! Where are the web, java, poker, and OS X today? That's right. If you'd bothered with a little basic legwork you'd have known what was coming.
“People believe it to be in the public domain, like chess,” Mr. Williams said. “The idea that Scrabble belongs to a corporation is something that people don’t or are unwilling to accept.”I am pleased to see that hundreds of thousands of other people can now experience the frustration that comes with this, which is a huge part of why I stopped playing. Hasbro owns the game, controls it like a paranoid tyrant, and treats its most devoted players like pieces of poo on its corporate shoe. No shit people are unwilling to accept that. Do you want to live in a world where people would think it makes any sense at all? Is the precise configuration of the rules of scrabble so goddammed inventive that we should stop playing because hasbro says so, more than fifty years after the game was invented? As I've mentioned I no longer accept any form of intellectual property, but other than those who own hasbro stock, who could think this is sensible?