alt concepts FAQ

Why the name alt concepts?
Who runs this outfit?
What if my question wasn’t answered?

Why the name alt concepts?
The company name was suggested by our domain name, alt.cc—not the other way around. Around the time we were looking for a new domain name several years ago, names in the .cc domain had just become available to the general public. (In case you were wondering, “.cc” comes from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Like several other small nations with little use for their own top-level domains, the Cocos Islands sold rights to the domain as a way of boosting their economy.) We were looking for a domain name that was short, easy to pronounce, and easy to spell—and “alt.cc” fit the bill nicely.

The other thing we found attractive about “alt” was that it evoked the alt.* hierarchy of Usenet newsgroups—that is, a catch-all for miscellaneous topics that didn’t fit into well-defined categories such as comp.* (computers), rec.* (recreation), or sci.* (science). Strictly speaking, “alt” isn’t short for anything, and since it is never capitalized in its newsgroup sense, we don’t capitalize it either. (For the record, “concepts” is lowercase too just because it looked better that way next to the lowercase “alt.” Our Shift keys are fully functional, thanks!)

Who runs this outfit?
Wordsmiths-in-Chief Joe Kissell and Morgen Jahnke serve as head honchos, ably assisted by a merry band of contributors, volunteers, and other valued hangers-on. Joe holds a B.A. in Philosophy and an M.A. in Linguistics, and worked for ten years in the software industry before launching alt concepts. He is a highly regarded author: besides having written numerous print and electronic books, Joe is Senior Editor of TidBITS and a senior contributor to Macworld magazine. Morgen has many years of experience working in the nonprofit world as a grant writer and event planner, and holds a B.F.A. in Creative Writing. They live in Paris.

What if my question wasn’t answered?
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