I recently read about e-bridge, a new business formed by some rich guys trying to do the Web thing everyone else is failing at. Apparently e-bridge is going to offer online Java play and a wealth of bridge information.

This venture is going to be a waste of money for its investors and the ACBL. If this sounds self-indulgent, it's because as a Web developer I am tired of seeing businessmen and tycoons taking the Internet for granted. Many think their traditional business success can carry over into e-business. And that's just not true.

First off, the online bridge market is already saturated. Free games include Microsoft Gaming Zone and Yahoo! Games. Pay games include OKbridge and BridgePlus. And these are years ahead of e-bridge in market share and software development.

And what's this about the ACBL joining forces with e-bridge? This is a futile, naive effort to try resuscitating a dead horse. The ACBL knows nothing about online bridge. Heck, I doubt e-bridge knows anything about online bridge. They don't even know how to pick a domain name:

• Smart Web businesses don't use dashes or the dreaded "e-" catch-phrase. Dashes are difficult to type, and "e-" is just hype. Would you want to type "e-yahoo.com"?

• If you are starting a Web business, and [your business name].com name is already taken, you should change names, not add another word to your URL. Example: Want to start a company called 'Microsoft', only to learn that microsoft.com is already taken? Don't try 'microsoftmaster.com'.

• The first order of business when registering a domain name is to register the .net and .org names, too. Are e-bridgemaster.net and e-bridgemaster.org available? The last time I checked, yes. And that's just not smart.

And e-bridge can't even write a grammatically correct Mission Statement:

The vision of e-bridge’s founders is to create [a] community portal for the bridge players[,] offering to its members [a] bridge game and bridge information in[-]depth and in breath [in-breadth]. By creating [a] large bridge community in the cyberspace, [and] closely interacting with live games, e-bridge will increase public awarness awareness of bridge, and attract new people from all populations to bridge. e-bridge’s vision is to create [a] "bridge continent" on the web, linked closely with live bridge conducted in bridge clubs and by federations all accross across the world.

Good luck, guys. When the money is pouring in by the millions, spend some of it on a copy editor.