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Yearly Archives: 2007

Norton/Symantec a Pig, Users Are Dumb about System Slowdown

Uh-Oh. that’s not gonna make me many friends . . .

Hello again.  I’ve been quiet for a while. Well, my old pal Fred Langa over at WindowsSecrets.com posted an article this week that has me juiced.

Some background:

One of the many things that adds up to “me”, professionally, is a decade or so in the press. I wrote, edited and published IYM Software Review, did some freelance for PCWorld magazine, spent five years on radio, TV and the ‘net as The Computer Answer Guy, and mixed in the middle somewhere did two years as Awards Chair, then two more as President of The Computer Press Association.

Apple Virus Found!

Yes, it’s true. After many years of claiming that their products are impervious to viruses, Apple has egg all over its face.

Or rather, is the egg all over its face.

I’ve resisted commenting on the iPhone price drop debacle. Let’s get this out of the way: my opinion is that even in a market where prices free-fall (and I argue that the iPhone is not a typical mobile phone, so this doesn’t apply, anyway), Apple has screwed its early-adopter customers to a wall dropping the price of the iPhone by $200 just two months after its initial, much-hyped release. No news there; everybody thinks so.

“It was Microsoft’s Fault”

I love how often bad software companies blame their bad software problems on the biggest, baddest software factory of them all.

OK, actually, I hate it. I make a living primarily by working with the mess that their software so often is, but I’m not a big Microsoft basher (hmmmm . . . maybe that’s why I’m not . . .)

When Skype, fresh from their 48-hour no-service-for-anyone-but-really-we-swear-it’s-not-everybody debacle last week, decided to blame Microsoft for the problem, my first thought was “same old stuff”. That though lasted about a nanosecond. Skype tells us, and has now spent as long reaffirming the claim as the problem existed, that it was Microsoft’s regular monthly Windows update that crashed their software all over the world.

IBM Running Skype ?

I remember back in the day when setting up a computer network was . . . well honestly, if was pretty difficult. Most networks used coaxial cables (we’re talking “the dawn of ethernet” timeframe), and rather than all the computers connecting through hubs or switches they ran in a big circle or along a straight line.

This meant that if one computer in the network went down, the whole thing went down. Literally.

The joke in those days was “imagine if IBM ran the phone network . . . every time a new phone was installed, everyone who already had one would need to reboot”.

Copyrights and Recipes

from lifehacker.com 2/8/07

(http://lifehacker.com/software/recipes/find-restaurant-secrets-at-top-secret-recipes-234768.php#viewcomments)

there’s a fine-line distinction here. you’re correct about the p.r., but there’s a long history of companies suing over unauthorized disbursement of their trade secrets/recipes. mrs. fields is especially fond of this tactic.

that said, the internet has changed a lot of things, so I see lawsuit as a down-the-road scenario. but these guys are attributing the recipes (copyright-enforcable or not) to trademarked corporate entities, and those guys just plain don’t like that kind of thing. oh: and technically, if your trademark is being infringed you are OBLIGATED to pursue it once you find out, and one other side-effect of the internet is that they’d have a hard time claiming not to have!

Verizon Wireless “Unlimited Access” Data Plan

from consumerist.com 4/5/07

(http://consumerist.com/consumer/verizon/verizon-unlimited-access-plan-is-extremely-limited-249873.php#viewcomments)

C’mon, guys . . .

Yeah, the wording of their agreement gives the “the right” to terminate you at any time. But what they’re really trying to do is stop you from running a server using your PDA or wireless card as a pass-through. Kinda like your ISP limiting your bandwidth.

Kids and Allowances

from consumerist.com, 4/11/07

(http://lifehacker.com/software/personal-finance/money-tip–save-spend-and-give-jars-251413.php#viewcomments)

Years ago, I did the same thing with my kids, with the added “real-world-ism” of their allowances matching their ages, meaning that they each got a “raise” once a year. Seemed to work pretty well; they’re all great kids/people, and understand money pretty well. Goood Job!

“Federal Subscriber Line Charge”

[Updated February 16, 2010]

Two-and-a-half years later, with much traffic still flowing here and to our parent PC-VIP, I’ve decided to update this post:

When Judge Herbert Greene broke up the phone company back in 1984, he set a business change in motion that was supposed to be useful and helpful to consumers. In fact, it was; we no longer pay $.25 per minute for long distance, and AT&T had no incentive to change that before competition was created. Thank you, Judge Greene.

Local Number Portability When Your VoIP Provider Goes South

From July 18 at consumerist.com:

(http://consumerist.com/consumer/wlnp/wireless-number-portability-how-to-keep-your-number-228521.php#viewcomments)

Folks, a couple of thing to keep in mind:

1) SunRocket was not officially a phone company at all. Technically, this means they are not subject to LNP rules (in fact, check your customer agreement w/ them…it says clearly that they *may* allow you to take your number with you, but are not obligated to do so).

Think of this as it applies to eFax or all the free phone # services. The entities that provide those services AREN’T PHONE COMPANIES. As LNP is telecom-specific, “Your” #s belong to them, not to you.





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