Shameless Words from Shameless Geeks

Just when you thought there wasn’t much to talk about in the SCO case, the judge has thrown out nearly all of the SCO claims because they are too vague. We’re all waiting for this to go away soon. Maybe SCO will get the hint now.

Well, it looks like Microsoft may get slammed a little for WGA after all. A California user is suing Microsoft alleging that WGA violates current spyware laws. I wasn’t thinking about this kind of thing when I mentioned that WGA should hurt their bottom line, but I’m not surprised to hear about it. Unfortunately, lawsuits are unlikely to adversely affect the beast of Redmond. They’ll just give the Microsoft legal horde something to do, then make the price of Windows go up.

Saturday’s Space Shuttle launch is still on, despite risk of foam flying off of the fuels tank. It’s a big risk that they are taking this time, knowing what happened to Atlantis just 3 years ago. Good luck boys and girls! You may need it this time.

The next big thing on the net will probably be Google Checkout. I’ve always been afraid of Google taking all of the air out of online services, and this move does nothing to calm that fear. However, I would probably feel safer trusting my personal info to a large company under constant scrutiny than to a no-name web vendor that could possible be a phisher site. In the end, It will probably help all online businesses, but most especially the little guys.

It looks like Microsoft is delaying the release of Office 2007 until the end of the year. This is yet another slip in the litany of product delays that have become the story of Microsoft. Maybe that’s what they mean by the Windows Genuine Advantage… random release schedules. The article makes a big deal about missing the holiday buying season, but I don’t know of anyone who ever asked for an Office upgrade for Christmas.

Microsoft has finally made instructions for uninstalling and disabling WGA notifications. It’s about time.

WGA is probably the single most annoying thing that the beast of Redmond has done. It would be very nice to see it devastate their bottom line and teach them a lesson. Unfortunately, it probably won’t.

On the bright side, it has pushed a few more people into switching to alternatives like Mac OS and Linux. As people switch to the alternatives, they tend to get better… as they get better, more people switch to them. Need an example of what can happen? AMD vs. Intel.

The Gartner group released a survey yesterday showing that computers break down less often than they did two years ago. This applied to both laptops and desktops.

The one thing that I didn’t see mentioned in the survey is how often users break down. I suspect that the increase in spyware over the last few years has made the frequency of user breakdowns increase.

Intel has announced that it is selling the division that produces XScale processors to Marvell Technology Group Ltd. This is a cost-cutting measure and is a step towards the goal of a “leaner, more agile and more efficient” Intel.

It’s one of the oddities of business that they hope to solve some of the problems caused by their x86 business by cutting loose a tiny, unrelated division. Luckily, it looks like Marvell intends to keep most of the current employees.

Just got reminded that yesterday was Quake’s 10th birthday. Quake was my first multiplayer experience, as it was for most gamers of the time. I wish I could have back all of the hours that I spent playing Quake in the late 90’s. Then again… I’d probably just spend them all on a different game anyway.

Happy birthday Quake! I’ve owned every one of your descendants all of the way down to your great, great, grandson.

It looks like big, bad dictator Saddam had enough of his hunger strike after exactly one meal. Way to tough it out! I’m guessing that breaking the backbone of a country doesn’t require that you have one yourself.

Next time, instead of refusing to eat, maybe he should refuse to shower. We know he’s had adequate experience with that from his spider hole days.

You’ve probably heard all about the Windows Genuine Advantage spyware controversy. If you want to get around it, here is a way to stop WGA from phoning home. Thanks to Specialst for the pointer.

It would have been so much better for Microsoft if they had simply released an uninstaller. I can’t think of anything more annoying than a company’s refusal to allow you to remove a piece of software. When you find out that it is spying on you, it just multiplies the annoyance a hundredfold.

One caveat: I haven’t tried uninstalling WGA myself. I can’t say whether it works or not. Use it at your own risk.

Though discovered earlier, the two new moons of Pluto have been named Nix and Hydra. If you read between the lines of this article, you will notice that Mickey Mouse’s pup was named after the Roman god of the underworld. What was Disney thinking?

In yet another clueless attempt to look efficient while they enrich Hollywood promoters, The DOJ has released the Task Force on Intellectual Property report. In it they congratulate themselves for suing Grandma’s while allowing the real pirates to thrive. Does anyone honestly believe that any of this is really done with “national security” in mind? If so, wouldn’t they shut down all imports of the pirated stuff from flagrant pirates in foreign countries like China?

As always, I neither condone nor practice IP pirating. Heck… I even joined MSDN to get legal developer copies of all of the software I needed, despite the fact that illegal copies are so easy to obtain. However, it is clear that the root cause of the pirating is the outrageous prices that some companies are still charging. Don’t let the screaming hype fool you… these companies are well aware that their excessive profits are to blame. They just can’t get over their addiction to them.

This time, Louisiana has enacted a law making it illegal to sell violent video games to minors. It’s beginning to get silly. All of these laws get struck down in the courts relatively quickly. Passing them is just a pathetic attempt to appeal to certain type of constituents.

I don’t see violent content as a good thing, but I’ve yet to see anyone who has a good idea about how to keep it away from kids. The only thing that works at all is good parenting.

Update:

Heh. ’scuze me. looks like I’m a little behind the times. A federal judge had already put the law on hold by the time I had written this post. Guess I need to look at better sources. The opinion part of it is still valid, of course.

Sometimes, you just gotta laugh at people. A woman has been charged with beating a dog breeder with the corpse of a chihuahua. According to the story, the breeder sold the puppy before it was old enough, the puppy died, and the woman went back to get another one. Violence ensued.

Well, I’m glad someone has found a use for one of the rat-like yapping machines. I never could.

Bill Gates’ announcement of his impending departure has left Microsoft to ponder the future of their world domination strategy. Apparently, they didn’t need a long tome to think. This ZDNet article discusses Microsofts up-and-coming company leaders.

Whether you love the guy or hate the guy, you have to admit that Bill Gates is going to leave a big void when he is gone. If you want to find an example of rags-to-riches entrepreneurship that can even come close to rivaling Bill’s rise to the top, you would have to look back to the kings of the industrial revolution. He was by far the most visible of business leaders in recent memory, becoming something of a pop culture icon.

Well, maybe one of the new guys will end the “licensing” era for software. It was a good short term revenue stream for Microsoft, but it won’t be long before people tire of being pushed around by it.

Most of you don’t know this (even Shameless) but I work at a comic book shop. Yes, it’s a dark evil secret I have hid from all of you; but now like a good geek I am coming clean. I currently work at Thor’s Hammer in Austin, Texas as the “Magic” guy, but the reality is I do a lot more then just Magic. So if you are in the Austin, Texas drop by and say hi. I am there most of the week and always on Thursday and Friday night.
Now that I got that out of the way on to what I wanted to talk to you about. Earlier this week I told you if your a comic book fan you owe it to yourself to get Civil War 2. Well you better hurry, the darn book is selling as fast as hot cakes. Thor’s sold out in two days flat and they had a ton. In fact I think at this point it is sold out in Austin. Other shops in the country are also moving Civil War 2 fast too, it should achieve sell out by weeks end. One other hint, you don’t have buy Civil War 1 to enjoy Civil War 2.

Bill Gates announced today that he has decided to quit working for Microsoft and instead focus all his time on his foundation. I guess now that he has conquered the business world he has decided to focus his attention on creating a utopian paradise.

Note: This change isn’t scheduled to happen until 2008.

Is it ever going to end? Today’s news contains no less that 3 new patent lawsuits threatening to shut down major sections of large technology companies. In the first one, USA Video Technology Corp is suing most of the major cable operators. In the second, Creative is suing Apple (yet again) over the iPod and it’s user interface. In the third, C2 Communications is suing seven US Telecommunications providers over Internet phone services.

Again we see what we have to look forward to now that shysters control US business. In the first case, it looks like we have a little jackpot justice going on. In the second, we have two antagonistic companies who have been using portfolios of ludicrous patents as blunt weapons in a slugfest. In the third, it look like a good old fashioned patent troll. You know… a “technology” company composed mostly of lawyers.

Will somebody PLEASE do something about the USPTO and our patent system in general? This may look like a matter that only big companies need worry about until you remember who ultimately pays for all this. No matter what the outcome of the iPod litigation, the price of personal music devices will eventually reflect not only any fines, penalties and settlements incurred, it will also reflect all of the salaries and bonuses of the legal departments of both the winning and losing companies. The USPTO has become so inept, and has caused so much chaos that it should either be disbanded, or replaced by a half-dozen rodeo clowns.

Just in case you thought that the worlds most notorious game release schedule was nearing completion, here is evidence that Duke Nukem Forever remains unfinished. That concludes our humorous gaming post for today.

If you are a Spiderman fan or for that matter a fan of Marvel comics you may really want to read Civil War 2 that came out this week. The ending of this book will rate as one of the ten greatest moment comics. ***** SPOLIER link to what I am talking about *****

Microsoft still is not apologizing for pushing people into unwittingly joining a test program for their beta version of WGA. They have no intention of backing out the anti-piracy tool that was stealthily installed on millions of machines in the guise of a high priority update. The unfinished tool still sends home to Microsoft on a regular basis, and still cannot be removed once installed.

At the same time… Microsoft is saying that they won’t put their Vista beta2 on BitTorrent due to “legal and privacy issues”

So… someone check my logic here. We have a company that installs a piece of software that:

1. Is called an “update", but is actually a beta version of an unrequested tool. Basically, it is installed under false pretenses
2. Once installed, compiles information about the system it runs on
3. Regularly sends its findings to a central server
4. Cannot be uninstalled

Isn’t this software called Spyware by definition? Since when does spyware have fewer “legal and privacy issues” than BitTorrent?

I think someone at Microsoft needs serious professional help if they believe that WGA and the ludicrous press releases associated with it are even remotely credible. Most users would be much happier if you were honest about what WGA is… a dishonestly veiled attempt to squeeze more money out of a market that you monopolize.

Update:
I ran across this recent Microsoft justification of WGA. I have to say that it made me even angrier. It claims that no info is sent to Microsoft after the initial validation, and claims that their failure to mention the periodic download of a settings file is an “oversight". If it really was an “oversight", then they would make a settings file available that would shut the whole thing off. Better yet, make a removal tool available. Until those are available, I’m afraid that all evidence says that they are liars.

I’ve never used the word “liars” in print before, and it will probably call forth a legion of Redmond lawyers. However, I think that it is justified in this case. Microsoft has broken a major trust. They have installed a piece of software under false pretenses, it is entirely for their own benefit, and they refuse to allow it to be removed. I fail to see any “genuine advantage” at all.

It looks like I’m not the only one expressing an opinion. Check out this post on Groklaw.

It is rare when I take anything serious but after reading this article about the dangers of online poker (registration required), I can no longer be silent. I have simple request don’t play online poker. Not because it is addictive, everything is, but because it’s a pseudo scam.
Here is how the scam works; you player A logs onto a online poker casino and start playing. After about an hour Player B, the poker pro, who is watching your table along with about 100 other tables via a poker monitoring program like Poker Tracker, shows up. At this point you will lose all your money to him. You ask how, since you are the best poker player ever. Simple thanks to Poker Tracker he knows your betting habits and play style. Using this information he will beat you most of the time. But that is cheating you say, yes it is but as long as the online poker casinos allow it he is going to use it. So do your self a favor and don’t play online poker, I am sick of seeing friends ruined by it.

And just when you thought that a silver ingot with Garfield on it would be the only cat story of the day, Along comes COJones with this story about a cat that chases bears.

I wish he would give my cats a lesson or two. They’re both bigger than him, but neither has ever chased anything scarier than a moth.

Just in time for the movie comes the market-tie in product of all time, a sterling silver bar with a picture of Garfield on it.

I’ve just posted a page containing a little bit of my investigations of how to control Athlon CPU frequencies in Linux. The post contains an explanation of just how simply it can be done, as well as working code to prove the point. Check out exactly what can be done with a little bit of code and a little bit of ingenuity in Fun with PowerNow! This is the first of what I hope are a long list of code contributions by myself and others. Let me know what you think.

Take-Two and the FTC finally came to an agreement about the “hot coffee” mod that caused a big stir last year.

The deal is a lot more lenient than I expected. It could be that the FTC noticed that Take-Two has been losing a lot of money lately. A big fine would probably have just put them under.

Okay, I know video games can be addictive and at some points they have taken over my life, but do we really need a detox clinic for video games? When are people going to wake up to the fact that some people that can get addicted to anything, and that the most addictive games are the ones that are the most social?

Recently I updated my PC so that I could install the WinFX development SDK and I noticed a new download called Windows Genuine Advantage. At first I did not think much about it. In order to install WinFx, I had to download and install it. The only thing that annoyed me about it was that I was previously able to install WinFx without it. Odd and annoying, but not atypical Microsoft behavior. However, after reading this article about what Windows Genuine Advantage is and does, I am down right pissed.

Windows Genuine Advantage is an anti-piracy tool installed by Microsoft to check to see if the version of Windows installed on a PC is legit or not. If it is not, then Microsoft will nag you to death and deny you patches. The kicker, however, is that it sends status updates everyday to Microsoft and can receive commands to shutdown parts of a PC from Microsoft.

My big question is: why is Microsoft doing this? No pirate in his right mind is going install it. It seems like another anti-piracy tool that is designed to punish honest users. Maybe I am reading too much into this, but still… why did Microsoft not come clean about this application until users figured out it was up to, weeks after strong-arming every honest user into installing it?

It looks like the Adult video makers are taking a stab at getting a share of the MMORPG pie. Personally, I don’t think adult MMORPGs are going to succeed. There are already a million places online to get the stuff they are offering for free. Still, this is a free country and they have the right to pour money down the drain.

We’ve all seen it. The picture that Microsoft critics use to represent the company’s OS dominance. I’ve laughed at this one for years, but I think it’s becoming a little “old hat". There is a new Borg on the horizon, and it’s name is Google.

Don’t believe me? Well, take a closer look. There are some parallels.

Many people forget that one of the biggest reasons for Microsoft’s meteoric rise was that they turned a blind eye to rampant software copying. Sure, they had a problem with the real pirates, but they were very tolerant of people making copies of DOS and distributing it to their friends and co-workers. This was at a time when the prevailing attitude of computer companies was to wring every possible penny out of every possible user. There were some serious resources expended by most software manufacturers to insure that nobody could ever use their software without paying for it. Microsoft, to their credit, saw this as a bad way to build market share. They turned out to be more right than they ever imagined.

Fast forward a few years, to the mid-nineties, and you’ll see that most home computers are running either an OEM version of Windows, or one bootlegged from work. When Microsoft turns the Windows that everyone is hooked on into an OS, many people order an upgrade for work, then bootleg a copy for home. The addiction gets really bad.

Today, there is almost no air left in the software development business. Microsoft has crushed the life out of most companies, and they are beginning to wring every possible penny from every possible customer. Customer annoyance with this new attitude has led to the rise of the Open Source movement, and opened the door a crack for Microsoft’s greatest fear: Google.

Google is a large company that essentially gives its services away for free to the public (sound familiar?), asking only that you look at it’s ads once in a while. A better, more benevolent way of doing things? For now… but maybe not forever. Remember that, as Microsoft became more and more certain of it’s hegemony, the price for it’s products increased, and they used ever more draconian methods for keeping out the non-paying rabble.

Another parallel is that the software industry is beginning to get squeezed by Google’s benevolence. As long as they continue to provide nearly every conceivable online service for free, how much room is there for anyone else? Why would any company bother to spend the development dollars to provide a free (or ad supported) online service?

OK… it’s a little bit of an exaggeration to say that Google is as dangerous as Microsoft, but it is the direction that they are heading. Recent days have seen the meteoric rise of Google, and the slow decline of Microsoft. You can call me crazy if you want, but I’m a little worried that we may be trading one beast for another.

I was trolling around the web today, when I stumbled on a gem of an article at eWeek. Beta users are complaining about the number of prompts for privilege elevation in Windows Vista.

It’s really quite humorous to see. The main reason why Unix and it’s variants are more secure than Windows is user restrictions. Now that Microsoft has finally caved in to the obvious and started restricting people a little more, they are being chastised for it. Hilarious.

I hope this isn’t all of it, but it appears that AMD is starting it’s response to Conroe. Having CPU cores with independent power control would be a very nice thing for the Turion. The announcement of the dual dual core 4x4 (is that a valid term?) seems almost to be a “me too” response to Intel’s announcement of quad cores in 2007.

I really hope that AMD comes up with a better response than this. I’d like to continue buying their CPU’s. Unfortunately, I don’t believe in brand loyalty, so I’ll switch to Intel if they have the best product. My real wish is that the competition continues to be close, so that quality goes up and price goes down.

Update:
Anandtech has a more detailed view of AMD’s recent announcements that still seem somewhat unconvincing. They gush about the new HTX connection that will allow for a high-speed cache-coherent connection to the CPU for high performance add-on cards. I am. however, still skeptical. Though VLB and AGP were great special-purpose buses in their day, I think it may be hard to talk a large company into making two completely different products (thats two sets of hardware, two sets of drivers, etc) to satisfy a small enthusiast market. Cost sensitivity and volume are much more important to add-on card manufacturers than to CPU manufacturers.

Update 2:
… and it looks like someone at Vulture Central is seeing things my way. Who am I to disagree?

I saw something somewhere online that mentioned that ask.com had released some search tools for blogs, so I decided to check it out for myself. What I found was pretty surprising, and I think it is (mostly) a pleasant surprise. I entered the phrase rise of legends in the Blogs and Feeds page, and was surprised to find that my little post about it appeared on the second page. In front of that, What I found was mostly a bunch of reviews by small, independent sites like this one. I only found one or two commercial sites who had the game for sale. I tried the same thing, but at the top level web searcher, and found 18 pages of entries… and none of them was mine. Most of those 18 pages were full of blurbs by the developers, ads for online game sales, and reviews by the same old tired reviewers that nobody trusts anymore.

Part of the problem is that Ask.com needs to do a lot more work on their searcher. I understand that the small readership of this site keeps it below the radar of most searchers, but I was surprised that page 19 of the results was about X-men: Legends, not Rise of Legends. The fact that something on a completely different topic was ahead of me in the rankings was tremendously annoying. Just to check up on this, I tried the same phrase on Google, and got 50 pages of results that were all on target.

It looks like the blog searcher does a pretty good job of sticking to blogs. The searcher could probably use a little more work to weed out the remaining advertising feeds, but it seems pretty good overall.

According to Reuters, Monster’s job index hit a record high of 167 in May which is an increase of 4 over April’s number. Excellent news for those in the midst of a job search.

Eventually, I’m hoping the demand in the high tech industry keeps growing until it reaches the levels of the late 90’s. It’s a pretty unlikely occurrence, but wouldn’t it be sweet? Does anyone remember when companies would give across-the-board increases to high tech workers so that they wouldn’t leave? Those were the days. *slap* *slap* Wake Up Dude!