August 2008 Archives
Nominum Solves Kaminsky Attack, and Novell's iPrint Open to Attack, Say Researchers. What do these stories have in common? I was thinking perhaps institutionalized delusional thinking and incompetence, but maybe I'm being too harsh.
This blog was written a few months ago by an Inkscape developer, Bryce Harrington, and it is one of the better analyses I have seen:
"A point I often hear made is that having a good Windows port of Inkscape will "increase it's popularity." Perhaps, however popularity by itself isn't valuable - it needs to be translated into something tangible. For proprietary software, increased userbase means increased income, which allows hiring more developers to fix the bugs that the increased number of users are reporting. For free software projects, popularity doesn't bring value quite so directly..."
WSJ: Microsoft using Seinfeld as Vista pitchman in $300 million ad campaign
"Comedian Jerry Seinfeld will headline Microsoft's upcoming $300 million Windows Vista ad campaign, along with Chairman Bill Gates, according to anonymous sources quoted in The Wall Street Journal."Seinfeld will get $10 million for his work on the campaign, whose slogan is along the lines of "Windows, Not Walls.""
What could be more appropriate than using professional comedians as Vista pitchmen? I wish they'd use Judy Tenuta- now that would be ads that bite.
Thanks to Jose_ X for finding this story.
I can't share all of the Talkbacks that I think are worth sharing because there are too many good ones. So here is a random sampling of a few that caught my eye. I'm not saying I agree with any of them- I just think they're worth sharing.
As powerful as all this cool technology is, it's also fragile, as I learned yet again today. A storm blew in and it was a doozy- high winds, machine-gun rain, lightning, and thunder that felt like it was RIGHT HERE. What can the mighty Linux and FOSS machine do in the face of Mother Nature pitching a little fit? Not a darned thing. They're not even relevant.
Sean Michael Kerner is an excellent reporter, and gives the impression of keeping a straight face as he wrote this article. It may be that he did; I know I would not have been capable of writing it as a straight news story. Allow me to share a few choice quotes:
