Just when you think

Just when I think my life is too tough ...

I saw this on Scoble's blog and I HAD to link to it. As he said, you will cry when you see this.

Renée C. Byer - Pulitzer Prize 2007

Start at the first picture and read through the captions. Heartbreaking.

Only WE can have a Monopoly

Keeping with the Hypocrisy theme from the last post....

Microsoft is up in arms about Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of Double Click. Keep in mind that Microsoft was also vying to buy them. So now they are whining to the SEC about the deal. Here's the quote from Brad Smith, MS General Counsel.

"This proposed acquisition raises serious competition and privacy concerns in that it gives the Google DoubleClick combination unprecedented control in the delivery of online advertising, and access to a huge amount of consumer information by tracking what customers do online. We think this merger deserves close scrutiny from regulatory authorities to ensure a competitive online advertising market."

They are SO concerned about Google's so called monopoly of the online ad market because they will now supposedly control 85% of it. Obviously, the same concerns don't apply to the Desktop PC market? Remember when Ballmer said "I don't know monopoly, I only know marketshare" or some such nonsense? Note the sly "fear mongering" part about "tracking what customers do online". As Nate Anderson from Ars Technica wrote in his blog, this will not end here. You can expect "independent reports" to be comissioned, politicians to be lobbyed(read BRIBED), grassroots campaigns (of the astroturf variety) to be launched etc., to derail this deal.

To those that equate this to Microsoft's DOJ trial, as far as I know Google hasn't set up any barriers to entry in this space. And they certainly aren't threatening anyone with retaliation if you don't use Google.

Holier than thou

A month ago when the Apple Wifi flack again rose to the surface Stephen Tolouse in his usual "Holier than Thou" stance made yet another comment and I quote:

This is NOT the way a vendor should handle a vuln disclosure.

Stephen has made it a habit of lecturing Apple on its responses to security situations. And yet, when Microsoft does the same or worse, all you hear is the deafening silence.

The animated cursor flaw was reported to Microsoft in October 2004! Cesar Cerrudo, the hacker who found it, got tired of waiting for a fix from Microsoft and published details during the MoKB (Month of Kernel Bugs) project last November. And till the exploit got released Microsoft did NOTHING. And to top it off they REFUSED to credit the researcher because, in Microsoft's eye, he crossed the "responsible disclosure/full disclosure" line.

"Microsoft's point is really clear. Once someone puts customers at risk, we can't credit them. We never have and we don't intend to change that policy."

What a crock! And people like Stepto continue to lecture Apple about their response to a third party Wifi driver attack which later morphed into a OSX driver vulnerability and has YET to be proven to do anything more than crash the system. So Microsoft has a "policy" regarding not crediting researchers that put customers at risk and somehow Apple is evil for not crediting researchers on a disputed claim?

Hypocrisy, thy name is Microsoft.

Happy 31st Birthday Apple

Think Different

Here's to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.

They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can
change the world, are the ones who do.

Happy Birthday Apple. And THANK YOU !