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The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.

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Total Posts: 1419
This Year: 6
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Comments: 26

Thursday, October 31, 2002

A Hrefhttpwwwnytimescom20021031business31SCENhtmlex1036645200ampen17dfe4a2b31eb3c0ampei5007amppartnerUS

Thursday, October 31, 2002 3:32:47 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Do Lower Taxes Mean Faster Economic Growth?. The degree of misleading information emanating from both Washington and the media about how taxes affect the economy is disturbing. By Jeff Madrick. [New York Times: Politics]

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Software Piracy Dips In Some

Thursday, October 31, 2002 3:29:57 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Software piracy dips in some states. California, New York and Utah are among the states with the greatest drops in piracy rates for business software. But overall piracy rates inch higher, an industry group says. [CNET News.com]

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A Hrefhttpwwwnytimescom20021031technologycircuits31handhtmlex1036645200ampen2e64fff63f2670e3ampei5007amp

Thursday, October 31, 2002 3:24:57 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

A Versatile Organizer Is All Windows at Heart. With the V35, ViewSonic becomes the 29th company to produce an organizer with an operating system from Microsoft rather than Palm. [New York Times: Technology]

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Dont Trash That FlashMarc Canter Explains Why You Shouldnt

Thursday, October 31, 2002 3:09:48 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Don't trash that Flash
Marc Canter explains why you shouldn't turn off Flash in your browser just because you're annoyed by Flash ads. Canter is the father of Director, the program that Macromedia transmogrified into Flash as it tried to jump into the Web era; I don't know whether that makes him Flash's granddad, or its renegade uncle, or what, but it makes him worth listening to on the subject. [Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment]

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A Hrefhttpwwwnytimescom20021031politics31JUDGhtmlex1036645200ampen1f41ab38dcf3df80ampei5007amppartnerUS

Thursday, October 31, 2002 2:53:58 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Bush Wants Fast Vetting on Judges. President Bush proposed a plan to speed Senate confirmation of his judicial nominees. By Elisabeth Bumiller. [New York Times: Politics]
Democrats said they had confirmed 80 of the president's nominees. As of this week, there are 79 vacancies out of 849 federal judgeships, or 9 percent. While Mr. Bush blamed the Senate, Democrats said today that the White House and Republicans were also to blame. Ralph Neas, the president of People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group that has opposed Mr. Bush's conservative nominees, said 26 of the vacancies were the result of the White House not yet naming a nominee. An additional 17 or 18 vacancies, Mr. Neas said, were the result of nominees who had cleared the Judiciary Committee but had run into objections from Republican senators.

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MS Tablet Suits Corridor Warriors Canteen Commandosnbsp Ju

Thursday, October 31, 2002 2:41:46 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

MS Tablet suits Corridor Warriors, Canteen Commandos. "Just because Bill says something should be done one way, that doesn't mean it's set down on stone, uh… tablets." [The Register]

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Beautiful Case Modding Miles SF Writes Thought You Guys Mi

Thursday, October 31, 2002 2:39:39 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Beautiful Case Modding. Miles S.F. writes "Thought you guys might appreciate this little project I've been working on. This is what happens when the left and right brain get bored and ... [Slashdot]

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Workstation Makers Switch Off

Thursday, October 31, 2002 2:29:10 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Workstation makers switch off Intel tool. Intel's hyperthreading, a performance-enhancing technology that lets one chip act something like two, has been available on workstations since April. So far it's mostly been taking a nap. [CNET News.com]

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Russia Dial H For Hostage A Russian Dancer Held Captive

Thursday, October 31, 2002 2:29:03 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Russia: Dial 'H' for Hostage. A Russian dancer held captive in the recent standoff with Chechen rebels uses his cell phone to post a message to the world. Neither his captors nor government censors can stop him. Sergey Kuznetsov reports from Moscow. [Wired News]

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Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Sergeant Major Brian Pratt If Anyones Found My Tank Please Give Us A

Wednesday, October 30, 2002 6:06:15 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Sergeant Major Brian Pratt: "If anyone's found my tank, please give us a bell" [BBC News]

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Canada Cautions Some On US Travel A Href

Wednesday, October 30, 2002 5:09:04 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Canada Cautions Some on U.S. Travel [Washington Post]

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PalmOS 6 Details Emerge Beatified Biometric NET Friendly

Wednesday, October 30, 2002 4:45:54 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

PalmOS 6 details emerge. Be-atified, biometric, .NET friendly [The Register]

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How The Left Became Irrelevant

Wednesday, October 30, 2002 2:09:34 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

How the left became irrelevant. Christopher Hitchens talks about his beef with the Nation, the "filthy menace" of Saddam Hussein, and how the left ceded its moral credibility by opposing the war against Islamic fascism. [Salon.com]

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Microsofts Media Monopo

Wednesday, October 30, 2002 1:59:07 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Microsoft's media monopoly. Bill Gates wants to control the delivery of digital entertainment into your home. And according to a lawsuit brought by a pioneering software company, he's prepared to crush anything that gets in his way. First of two parts. [Salon.com]

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Pet Vs Pet NET Trounces Java Its A Dogs Life A Hrefht

Wednesday, October 30, 2002 1:38:47 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Pet vs Pet: .NET 'trounces' Java. It's a dog's life [The Register]

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Doc Likes My Definition Of SOAP If Its Going To Become Official Id Lik

Wednesday, October 30, 2002 1:34:14 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Doc likes my definition of SOAP. If it's going to become official, I'd like to add Richard Stallman to the list of people we don't have to pay taxes to. ";->" [Scripting News]

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Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Will Microsoft Limit Office 1

Tuesday, October 29, 2002 9:26:41 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Will Microsoft limit Office 11 access?. The first beta of Office 11 runs only on Windows 2000 and XP, possibly setting the stage for Microsoft to drop support for four earlier versions of Windows. [CNET News.com]

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Microsoft You Need Permission To Sell Our Software IEEEmembe

Tuesday, October 29, 2002 9:22:39 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Microsoft: You Need Permission to Sell Our Software. IEEEmember writes "Microsoft has objected to the sale of bankrupt KMart's Bluelight.com Internet unit to United Online. Microsoft's objection to the sale is ... [Slashdot]
Extra Credit: What's the legal responsiblities that bluelight has to United Online if they used GPL code?
Hint: I don't think that the answer is "none".

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Microsoft Classaction Suit D

Tuesday, October 29, 2002 4:25:41 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Microsoft class-action suit dismissed. A federal appeals court in Virginia dismisses a class-action suit against Microsoft, HP and Dell. The judges rule that there's no proof of any anti-competitive activity. [CNET News.com]

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AIM ICQ To Interoperate

Tuesday, October 29, 2002 3:16:10 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

AIM, ICQ to interoperate. AOL says it will allow its next version of AIM to communicate with ICQ, a surprise move that will topple the long-standing barrier between the two popular IM services. [CNET News.com]

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Jon Udell The Xopus Demo Is Indeed An Eyeopener

Tuesday, October 29, 2002 3:14:12 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Jon Udell: "The Xopus demo is, indeed, an eye-opener." [Scripting News]
Editing the Page intelligently on the page.

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Real Opens Source But Keeps Its Crown Jewels Bid For Ubiquity

Tuesday, October 29, 2002 2:54:55 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Real opens source but keeps its crown jewels. Bid for ubiquity [The Register]

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A Hrefhttpwwwnytimescom20021029internationalmiddleeast29NAVYhtmlex1036472400ampen9f2bf9dfed9fdcbcampei500

Tuesday, October 29, 2002 2:48:16 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

With Allies Likely and Unlikely, U.S. Navy Stems Flow of Iraqi Oil. The United States and its allies, with quiet help from Iran, have all but shut off the flow of illegal Iraqi oil in the Persian Gulf. By Michael R. Gordon. [New York Times: Politics]

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Monday, October 28, 2002

digitalMASS Microsoft Tablet PC Technology A S

Monday, October 28, 2002 6:04:40 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

digitalMASS: Microsoft Tablet PC technology a stroke of genius. It's been several years since Microsoft decided that future portable computers would be slate-like tablets, controlled by a stylus rather than a keyboard. It's taken this long for the company to get the software together and to work with computer makers on the necessary hardware. [Tomalak's Realm]

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Media Center PCs UnleashedA

Monday, October 28, 2002 5:59:05 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Media Center PCs unleashed. Sunday newspaper ads reveal details of Media Center PCs that Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard plan to unveil Tuesday. [CNET News.com]
Way to high end for the market?

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SJ Mercury Tools Coming For Connecting Information Da

Monday, October 28, 2002 3:14:53 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

SJ Mercury: Tools coming for connecting information. Dan Gillmor. But we need more sophisticated methods for gathering, massaging and making connections among all the pieces of information that enter our lives each day -- everything from e-mail to Web pages to phone numbers and more. So when I see useful tools, I pay attention. [Tomalak's Realm]

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Behind The Grief Whisp

Monday, October 28, 2002 3:06:44 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Behind the grief, whispers about politics. The popular incumbent was fighting a tough reelection battle, and both parties wonder how his death will change the balance of power in the Democrat-controlled Senate. [Salon.com]

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DivX DVD Players Arrive Division21 Writes Geeks Rejoice D

Monday, October 28, 2002 3:00:50 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

DivX DVD Players Arrive. division21 writes "Geeks rejoice -- DivX Enabled DVD Players finally surface! (With all the goodies: MP3, SVCD, etc.) I remember when MP3 compatability ... [Slashdot]

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Windows XP Tablet PC Edition WallsRSolid Writes Microsoft Ju

Monday, October 28, 2002 2:54:22 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. WallsRSolid writes "Microsoft just finished a week-long series of lectures and demos at my university, and the product that really stole the show was the ... [Slashdot]

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Big Brother Lifetime Award Goes To Microsoft D4C5CE Writes M

Monday, October 28, 2002 2:35:04 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Big Brother Lifetime Award Goes To Microsoft. D4C5CE writes "Microsoft's ceaseless "success" in bringing instability, insecurity and breaches of privacy as well as a deplorable lack of open standards to ... [Slashdot]
What's intresting here is that microsoft didn't win any actual awards, (probably becuase there isn't any actual active bad behavior). They created the lifetime achievement for Microsoft for not using enough standards, older products being crash and virus prone and what they thought Microsoft might do in the future. What sorta crap is that? If you have a current complaint speak it. If there are future concerns call attention to it. However at some point let the past be a place to draw lessons from, not vile.

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A Hrefhttpwwwnytimescom20021027international27FRANhtmlex1036296000ampen449b108138ded0b2ampei5007amppartn

Monday, October 28, 2002 2:16:43 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

France Is Set to Offer U.N. Its Own Resolution on Iraq. In a bold diplomatic challenge to the U.S., France announced on Saturday that it may formally introduce its own resolution on disarming Iraq. By Elaine Sciolino. [New York Times: Politics]

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A Hrefhttpwwwnytimescom20021027weekinreview27GETThtmlex1036296000ampenab70f5b8bcee63c6ampei5007amppartne

Monday, October 28, 2002 2:14:02 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

When Just One Gun Is Enough. These days, it is increasingly difficult to figure out who is a terrorist or what that even means. By Jeffrey Gettleman. [New York Times: Politics]

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Connecting People To XML A H

Monday, October 28, 2002 2:11:19 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Connecting people to XML. ... [Jon's Radio]
Jon wishes for an XML DHTML edit interface and a better XML editing/document story for outlook.

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Sun Pitches For Leadership In War Against NET IBM Just Tactica

Monday, October 28, 2002 2:00:25 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Sun pitches for leadership in war against .NET. IBM just tactical and reactive... [The Register]

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Friday, October 25, 2002

Software in the future

Friday, October 25, 2002 11:33:30 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

I'm reading Matt Mower's and Don Park's response to Larry Lessig on the OSAF/Future of Software topic. The apocalyptic question has been raised. Will the free software movement eventually kill off all commercial mass market software? My guess is no, but I don't have an argument why. Here are a few trends:

Free software has a lot of trouble dealing with Intellectual Property
- Examples
  - RedHat and MP3 patents
  - DVD encryption
  - Software Patents?
- Mitigating factors:
  - Popularize a free clone
  - Easier to ignore IP altogether
Free software hasn't had enough success at building complex pieces of software (and next to no success at complex software that isn't cloned from elsewhere)
- Examples:
  - desktop still isn't done right
  - Exchange killer?
- Mitigating Factors:
  - Can do it with enough time and no moving target (office file formats/desktop)
Microsoft and other commercial software companies have not adequately made the desktop an attractive place to write software for
- Examples
  - Web site interfaces instead of rich client interfaces
  - Viruses, Worms, security issues
  - Nats
- Mitigating Factors:
  - Company Line: Soap and .Net Frameworks
  - Being Offline
  - extensibility, privacy, nickled and dimed to death

Hmm... My perspective skew is showing especially in the last one. I should add "Microsoft sucking all the oxygen from the market" based on the different angry blogs I've read, but it's never felt creditable to me.

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Tax Debate Spin ControlBrad DeLong Ta

Friday, October 25, 2002 9:52:58 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Tax debate spin control
Brad DeLong takes out the scalpel and fillets Sen. Chuck Grassley's letter to the editor of the New York Times defending the fairness of the Bush tax cuts (the first sentences below are Grassley; italics is DeLong reading the mind of the letter-writer):

Some observers claim that 40 percent of last year's tax cuts went to the top 1 percent of taxpayers. The Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress's official, unbiased source, says the top 1 percent will receive 27 percent of the income tax cuts [see how I snuck "income tax" into this sentence? All but the most alert one percent of readers will believe that I am claiming that the 40 percent number is flat-out wrong. *Snort*!]

[Scott Rosenberg's Links & Comment]

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Impressions Of A Young Mac Geek Ellen Feiss The Star Of Apple

Friday, October 25, 2002 9:14:41 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Impressions of a Young Mac Geek. Ellen Feiss, the star of Apple's Switch advertising campaign, was the subject of a look-alike contest in the Netherlands. See the gallery for the remarkable results. By Leander Kahney. [Wired News]

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Domestic Violence The Media Is F

Friday, October 25, 2002 9:11:52 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Domestic violence. The media is fixating on John Allen Muhammad's Muslim beliefs. But the most relevant fact about him could be his record of terrorizing his family members -- and how that didn't stop him from getting his hands on guns. [Salon.com]

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Googlism Sam RubyThis Is J

Friday, October 25, 2002 9:03:51 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Googlism [Sam Ruby]
This is just pulling semi coherent data from google result contexts, but it's cool anyways.

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Implantable Chip On Sale Now No Sooner Does The Ink Dry O

Friday, October 25, 2002 5:34:28 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Implantable Chip, On Sale Now. No sooner does the ink dry on the FDA's curiously quick approval of an implantable human chip than the company that produces it launches a national marketing campaign. By Julia Scheeres. [Wired News]

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Tim Bray On XML In Office 11 This Came Up On The XMLDev List As

Friday, October 25, 2002 5:06:07 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Tim Bray on XML in Office 11. This came up on the XML-Dev list as well as /., but Tim Bray spent some time looking at the 'native' XML format MS is promising for Office 11, they are baroque, but they are XML. [More Like This WebLog]
Yay?

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Kerberos Bug Bites Authentication System In Stack Buffer Overf

Friday, October 25, 2002 4:56:59 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Kerberos bug bites. Authentication system in stack buffer overflow risk [The Register]

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Thursday, October 24, 2002

A Hrefhttpwwwnytimescom20021024technologycircuits24stathtmlex1036123200ampen70ae9f5743490c25ampei5007amp

Thursday, October 24, 2002 7:02:22 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

AOL and MSN: Two Paths to Milestone 8. As it turns out, both companies' Version 8 celebrations are wildly out of proportion to the mild changes in their services. [New York Times: Technology]

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Internet Telephony Revisitednbsp As Part Of My Research

Thursday, October 24, 2002 6:58:05 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Internet telephony revisited. As part of my research, I solicited and am now using the Vonage IP phone. It's an eye-opener, for sure. A little Cisco box (the ATA 165) jacks into your DHCP-enabled DSL router, you press a button, and away you go. Works right through my fully-locked-down NAT. Most folks I talk to notice the difference -- especially if I clog up my 256-up/256-down circuit with a DSL speed test while I'm talking -- but it's darned impressive. The bottom-line savings on long-distance charges are of course the reason why most folks might be willing to ditch their POTS line for this solution. But I'm equally intrigued by the upside: applications that intercept and work with SIP signalling and digitized voice, integrate phone presence with IM, forward call metadata to Web services, and all the other CTI (computer-telephone integration) fantasies that may finally start to come true. ... [Jon's Radio]

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Standards And Profits Fa

Thursday, October 24, 2002 6:53:17 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00) ( )

Standards and Profits [Fast Takes]
A reminder that most standards are not usually created for pure altruistic reasons.

Ari Pernick's Weblog

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