Posted 6:18 PM (0) comments

Is there a doctor in the house? With his own couch?

Darl MacBride, the Mephistophelian CEO of SCO, says IBM is behind the open source attacks on his company! According to Devil Darl, IBM is"...able to extract themselves from (the dispute), and so they throw Red Hat at us, they throw Novell at us, they have (Open Source Initiative President) Eric Raymond on their payroll. They have all these guys that they fund and then they just step back and watch the fracas go on."

Just the idea Eric Raymond on some big business payroll is enough to have 'em rolling in the aisles!

Posted 1:15 PM (0) comments

Thank you sir, may I have another?

In the scariest bit of news about Microsoft I've seen in quite some time, the Redmond monopoly announced thatWindows patches may become automatic. As in, "we'll just re-arrange your PC (or server) and won't bother to tell you."
Anyone who's had a PC for more than a year, and who has tried to keep it up to date, will tell you that patches are not a no-brainer. They are fraught with possibilities to do damage, either to the OS installation itself or to some other service or application running on it.

Just one question, Microsoft - when the patch blows up in my face, will you come out to my house and clean up the pieces?

Posted 12:10 PM (0) comments

Alert: antispam bills won't work

Finally someone with a bit of authority is telling the anti-spam "emperor" that his clothing is a tad transparent, if it exists at all. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy J. Muris told a group of businessmen and government officials that most antispam legislation won't work.

The great bulk of the spam that gets to my mail client doesn't come from US-based companies who can be hauled into court. It mostly comes from overseas "script kiddies" looking to make a fast buck through an affiliate commission. But don't even try to suggest outlawing affiliate connections which violates freedom of association. Nor can you hold responsible the company they are affiliated with - the spammers are free agents. Better filters and better enforcement of existing laws (like those against fraud, for example) will do much more to control the contents of my inbox then any of the proposed legislation.

Posted 9:43 AM (0) comments

Clue and Trademarks

Evidently the folks at NetFlix, (as well as those at eBay and lots of others, evidently) don't really understand what "trademarking" is all about. They're about to ask Google to bar sites affiliated with them from using the search giant's AdWords program to advertise their services. AdWords allows advertisers to bid for placement next to search results based on keywords. The affiliates have found they can make money on their affiliate fee while still buying the ad space from Google. So the solution is really simple: Google allows an advertiser to buy exclusive space (by paying more, of course). NetFlix could actually save money (in affiliate fees) by buying the exclusive AdWords placement!

Evidently the "marketing geniuses" at some companies never got past their classes in litigation 101.

Posted 8:58 AM (0) comments

Blast the blaster, worm the worm

In a bizarre reaction to the MSBlaster worm, someone has released a new worm into the wild. Called variously "Nachi, Welchia or MSBlast.B", it exploits the same vulnerability that attracts Blaster but then attempts to remove Blaster, download and install the Microsoft patch and then re-boot the machine. I'll bet someone thinks they deserve a medal - or at least a pat on the back - for doing this. What they'll get from me is a kick in the rear! Stay out of my computer! Don't try to protect me from myself. The damage already done by this so-called do-gooder while not as much as Blaster, is nevertheless significant. The perpetrator should be apprehended and prosecuted.

Posted 11:05 AM (0) comments

Another red penguin!

CNet reports that China will block foreign software use on government (and, presumably everyone else's) computers in favor of "domestically produced" software, such as Red Flag Linux and the WPS office suite. Microsoft will not be amused, but Chinese users may also be up in arms. According to the story, "Chinese software company Kingsoft used to take 90 percent of the market with its Chinese word processing tool, but lost nearly all market share to Microsoft Word when the product entered in the early 90s." No one forced the Chinese users to go with Word, they chose to do so.

Just one more example of why government shouldn't be dictating how businesses run - whether that's China and high tech, the EU and Biotech or the US and steel mills.

Posted 10:57 AM (0) comments

PeopleSoft faces shareholder revolt

Some shareholders of PeopleSoft have finally awoken to the idea that the company's management is out to feather their own beds in their fight against the Oracle merger. Golden parachutes and poison pills won't benefit the stock owners at all, but will insure that company management gets rich no matter what the outcome. There oughta be a law!