HardwareZone

HardwareZone is a IT-oriented Internet portal based in Singapore. It is operated by Hardware Zone Private Limited, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). Some features of the portal are: IT price lists for several countries, product reviews, and forums on a variety of topics.

History

HardwareZone was started as an online magazine in August 1998 by five engineering students from the National University of Singapore: Lee Choon Yau, Eugene Low, Poh Swee Hong, Ang Chi Hoe and Jereme Wong. After a year, it had became a popular gathering place for Singapore's computer-savvy to discuss hardware and software news. [cite news | title = Connecting people online | author = Alfred Siew | date = 4 August 1999 | publisher = Computer Times] By 2000, the website was attracting two million page views a month. The founders made plans to turn the website into a full-fledged portal and launch an initial public offering (IPO) to raise capital. Had the IPO gone ahead, they would have been the first undergraduates in Singapore to launch one.cite news | title = 5 undergrads aiming for IPO with e-magazine | author = Sandra Davie | date = 5 February 2000 | publisher = The Straits Times] However, as of 2007, the company has not been listed on the Singapore Exchange yet. [cite web | url = http://info.sgx.com/webstocks.nsf/revamp+new+all+stocks+by+name+all?OpenView | title = Stock / Indices List | publisher = Singapore Exchange | accessdate = 2007-09-08]

In 2006, HardwareZone was purchased by SPH for S$7.1 million. SPH acquired all the magazine titles published by HardwareZone, which included "HardwareMAG" ("HWM"), "GameAxis" (a computer games magazine), and "PHOTOVIDEOi" (a digital photography magazine). [cite news | title = SPH buys popular website in $7.1m deal | author = Leong Chan Teik | date = 30 September 2006 | publisher = The Straits Times] [cite news | title = SPH Magazines to acquire Hardware Zone | date = 30 September 2006 | publisher = Business Times]

Forums

HardwareZone's forums are the most popular in Singapore. They are policed by moderators, who are trusted forum members who have been selected by the site administrators. Moderators report objectionable posts to the administrators for removal, at the rate of about 10 a day. [cite news | title = Wanted: A Net that can catch its own bad hats | author = Sheralyn Taysheralyn | date = 6 February 2007 | publisher = Today | page = 1]

One well-known malicious post was that made by polytechnic student Lin Zhenghuang one day after the 7 July 2005 London bombings, using the online nickname of "krisurf". Titled "Breaking News - Toa Payoh hit by bomb attacks", it claimed that bombs had been found at the Toa Payoh bus interchange. Another forum member was alarmed by the post and reported it to police. Because Lin had made the post while connected to his neighbour's unsecured wireless network, police initially arrested his neighbour, who was released after further computer forensics tests exonerated her. It took the police more than a year to find and arrest Lin. In February 2007, he was sentenced to three months' jail and a S$4,000 fine. [cite news | title = Bomb hoax youth gets 3 months' jail, $4,000 fine | author = Chua Hian Hou | date = 8 February 2007 | publisher = The Straits Times]

HardwareZone's forums have a sub-forum named Eat-Drink-Man-Woman(EDMW), where the intentional misspelling of words is most apparent. For example, "is" would usually appear as "ish", "you" as "chiu", "this" as "tis", "not" as "notch", "likely" as "rikely", "look" as "rook", "least" as "reast", "plus" as "pruss", and etc.. There is no definite translation or transformation from the misspelled words to proper English, but by reading them out aloud, the pronunciation should be similar to the word's proper pronunciation. The noticeable trend is the exaggerated sibilance, as in "ish", "chiu", "notch", and "pruss". The usage of "EDMWish language" created a conflict between HardwareZone's Forums and VR Forums, another IT related forum, in late March 2008. [ [http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=1909931] HardwareZone' Forum] [ [http://forums.vr-zone.com/showthread.php?t=253927] VR Forums]

Controversy

The success of HardwareZone has also come with a fair share of controversy. In September 2000, HardwareZone sued Video-Pro, a computer shop in Sim Lim Square, for registering the same domain name as its own, with the suffix .sg added. (HardwareZone's domain name is www.hardwarezone.com while Video-Pro had registered www.hardwarezone.com.sg.) In its statement of claim, HardwareZone said that the "hardwarezone" part of its domain name had gained it substantial goodwill in Singapore, and thus Video-Pro was trying to pass itself off as the original website by using the .sg version of the name. Video-Pro counter-sued HardwareZone, alleging that the website offered Video-Pro's price lists for download without the shop's permission and that two statements which defamed the shop had been posted on the HardwareZone website. This was the first legal dispute in Singapore over a domain name. [cite news | title = Website sues 'sg' namesake | author = Oo Gin Lee | date = 26 September 2000 | publisher = The Straits Times] Despite being the first of its kind, no landmark ruling was made in this case because both parties settled the matter out of court just four days later. Video-Pro transferred the hardwarezone.com.sg domain name and paid S$10,000 to HardwareZone. It also withdrew its counter-claims. In return HardwareZone removed the offending statements from its website and agreed to help identify who had made those statements. [cite news | title = Domain name war ends in settlement | author = Oo Gin Lee | date = 30 September 2000 | publisher = The Straits Times]

References

External links

* [http://www.hardwarezone.com HardwareZone]