The company started out as Intranaut, producer of the Cyber-Classroom series of CD-ROM courses accompanying mainly computer books from Prentice-Hall/Pearson, most notably the Deitel&Deitel books. The owner then decided to expand into some internet connectivity-based material and, somehow, through an unclear process, ended up deciding to do a modified Napster clone which came to be called "Aimster". The saga of that business decision became a trainwreck of epic proportions; among other things, it ended up getting renamed "Madster" because AOL sued over the use of the AIM shorthand for AOL Instant Messaging, and subpoenaed me to testify about how my boss had, in fact, invented the name from their trademark and not, as he claimed, from a nickname for his daughter (a nickname that never actually existed and was invented by him when AOL began the process of suing him). At one point he was being sued for literally BILLIONS of dollars. In the process, he ended up hiring a lawyer who turned out to have conflicts of interest that led to him deliberately maneuvering my boss into doing even MORE self-destructive things.

This was the only job that I was HOPING to be laid off on, and felt a sense of perfect joyous freedom when it happened, despite the fact that this meant I was now unemployed (within a few weeks after 9/11) with a brand-new baby and all sorts of other responsibilities.

This was also truly tragic in that when it was Intranaut, it was one of my favorite jobs and I looked forward to working there.