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Necessary Roughness (Rants)

Spinning Disk Drives – Not Ready for the Pasture Yet

Robin Harris, an infrequent, but important, contributor to ZDNet put up a piece today that clarifies for many some things that I learned long ago, and make use of each time I set up a computer.
Yet, for many, I must justify my actions, and give them a quick class in things I feel they should [...]

Software Copyrights and EULAs – Not In the Public Interest

With the ruling on the weekend, and Apple lawyers putting the final stake in rogue company Psystar’s heart, it is clear to see that you just don’t mess with the legal system put in place by the computer industry, which may be the thing that people hate most.
The article I posted concerning the dubious usage [...]

Something In The Air…Smells Like…Stupidity!

Sometimes I read things and wonder exactly what has happened to the people who wrote them, or those being written about. It’s as though one truly has entered the Twilight Zone.
That has happened this morning when I read a small blurb on slashdot explaining that agent provocateur and sometimes idiot savant Mark Cuban has put [...]

Microsoft Muddies the Licensing Waters Again

Earlier today, I saw a small piece on Maximum PC about the OEM System Builder copies of Windows being technically illegal for home users, and also, strangely enough, system builders, to use on a PC that will be used by them.
Whenever we recommend a build list for new systems, we inevitably turn to Windows OEM [...]

In the War Of Cops & Pirates, The Pirates Have Just Pulled Off Another Victory

It’s been with us since 2001, and still hangs on. No, it’s not the specter of Al Qaeda in the Middle East, waiting to attack, it is the activation scheme for Microsoft Windows. The activation scheme is something that makes Microsoft happy, as they mistakenly believe that they are keeping piracy down, and annoys many [...]

MPAA Joins IRS As An Entity Above the Law

In an amazing turn of events, the MPAA has managed to shut down the municipal wi-fi network in a small city in Ohio. In what might be called  the most outrageous event in that state since Kent State in 1970, another egregious miscarriage of justice has occurred.
The slashdot article references another article in boingboing -
“The [...]

A Solution With No Problem to Solve

I often wonder why things like this are pursued. It appears to come from the thought process that things provided will find a reason for their existence.
YouTube is something that can provide hours of fun, but it occurs to me that only the desperate would use it as a way to view high quality content. [...]

Windows Patch Tuesday Leaves 0-Day Flaw on Wednesday

Many articles about the last Patch Tuesday were almost puffing about the lack of fixes for Windows 7. It did appear that Windows 7 was doing better than almost any other operating system after release.
It was not to be however, as a story in ComputerWorld reveals the flaw reported in Windows 7 the very next [...]

Software Patents? Does Anyone Have A Clue?

They certainly don’t at Microsoft, or at the U.S Patent Office.
Over at slashdot a story tells about the Microsoft move to patent a command, SUDO, that has been running on computer hardware since 1980, and was originally run on a VAX minicomputer.
The people at the US Patent Office apparently have no clue about software, which [...]

Verizon Early Termination Fee Draws Congressional Ire

It was only a matter of time before someone in the public eye got upset about the new Early Termination Fees from Verizon. There have been discussions on Lockergnome about the changes in the ETFs, and a few things were brought to light.
The first is that the higher $350 ETF only applies to more advanced [...]

Mr. President – Concerning Afghanistan, Ask Someone Who Knows

I make absolutely no excuses for voting for the current President. I believe that if John McCain had become the top executive, we would be further embroiled in an inexcusable, unwinnable war.
The President is a learned man, which is why I thought we could trust him to correctly interpret what has occurred in Afghanistan over [...]

Can We Believe Him? Jen-Hsun Huang Says No nVidia CPU Is Forthcoming

While we all know that many times the things said are not the same as what is getting done in the back rooms of the corporate world, the leader of nVidia has always appeared to be a straight shooter,  though somewhat colorful in his speaking.
A story this morning from Maximum PC tends to dash the [...]

Kaspersky Drops The Ball, But McAfee Comes to The Rescue

As I have written here before, I hosted a Windows 7 Ultimate Launch party, and for the party there were a couple of offers for software that was a kick-start to getting people purchase other software, to go along with Windows 7.
The biggies on the list were deals on Norton Internet Security and Kaspersky Antivirus. [...]

When It Rains, It Pours!

It’s more than a slogan for a salt company. It’s an old saw that means when bad things happen, they tend to come in droves.
That could be the forecast for Intel, as we have news that the Federal Trade Commission might jump on the dogpile that is forming on Intel. The suit expected to come [...]

Verizon Begins Offer Of Pay-As-You-Go Wireless Internet Access

For those who don’t want to be locked into a plan, Verizon offers a pre-pay alternative to it, as well as a better choice than using the Virgin network, which is actually Sprint’s.
A very good idea for very casual users, or others that realize that the usual post paid plans are no deal (5GB per [...]

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