What happened to XMLS Software?

XMLS Software was a shareware "company" I started as a student. After spending many hours perfecting my shiny flagstaff product "News Updater" I sold about 8 licenses (€25,- each). One of those was a fraud, a credit-card with the name "Steven King" was used and was charged back. After googeling I found that licence key on some illegal "warez" sites.

Any way, I got a nice job after that (one where I could actually survive with the income). I left the site up, hoping to make some more sales, but since hosting companys started supporting server side scripting, the need for an FTP-based news-updater (CMS) was no longer a market.

When my pre-payed 5-year hosting subscription with domain-name registration came to an end (at aruba.it), I did several attempts to transfer the domain name to another hosting company. All attempts (including faxing a copy of my passport and so on) failed. In the end I gave up and waited for the "protection period" to expire. Alass, as soon as that period expired, the domain was snatched by "Oversee Domain Management" somewhere in Los Angeles.

After contacting the new owner I found out that they were auctioning domain names (snapnames.com). This is the email I received:

 

Hi There!
I hope this email finds you well. Thank you for your recent inquiry regarding xmlssoftware.com. This domain is currently for sale for USD $1050.00. If you would like to proceed with this purchase, please let me know.
Have a wonderful day!
Regards,
(name)

 

So it would cost me $1050.- to restore my name? I chose to go with another name instead.

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Update 7-jan-2017:

I have it back again! I recently just tried to register the domain again and to my surprise it was free for registration again! So, I just put back the old content again for historical musing at www.xmlssoftware.com. I might renew the site if I ever make a some product again.