Recently in Business Category

The Register: AOL probes hacker "breach"

I kept calling and pretending I just had jaw surgery and mumbling gibberish. At first I had no info except the screen name, then I called and got the first name and last name by saying, 'Could you repeat what I just said?' Then each time that I got information I called back making the real information understandable, and everything else I just mumbled.

You'd like to think that this kind of stuff could never happen, that such a simple way of getting information would be completely useless because no one would ever fall for it. You'd be wrong though. As data storage centers become larger and larger, the rewards gained from obtaining access become more and more lucrative. On top of that, the number of ways to gain entry are increasing. It used to be that to get this kind of info, you'd need to break into a building, and you could only steal what you could carry out.With one customer's info on a sheet of paper, how many customer's could you carry out? Now, you can attack from anywhere in the world, mobile devices, desktop PCs, your local library, wherever, and the amount of information that could possibly be swiped has grown incredibly. National citizen database? No thank you.

Wired News: The Games Wal-Mart Doesn't Play
As far as I'm concerned, when people start saying things like "With that kind of clout, the discount retailer can exercise considerable influence over the kinds of titles that find their way into consumers' hands..." we have a problem. I don't want Wal-Mart changing a game before I even get to buy it somewhere else, yet it seems like that's what's happening. That's crap.

Wal-Mart has already forced many mom and pop stores out of business as well as many larger chains. The more I read about them, the more I'm reminded of stories about the Darth Gates and Microsoft. Maybe when our DA finishes up with MS, he should head on over to Wal-Mart and give them some crap too.

"Forget browsers. Think instead about the implications of Microsoft's announced plans, dubbed Hailstorm, to integrate into Windows its own network services for handling privacy, security, copyright, identity authentication, real-time communications, payments, scheduling, software delivery, and file storage. It's not hard to imagine the dystopic possibilities when a private monopoly exercises unfettered rights to define the architecture of such important zones of our common, global space."

That quote is from Breaking Windows: How Bill Gate Fumbled the Future of Microsoft, by David Bank. I think it sums things up nicely, and this whole Palladium thing is in the same basket as far as I'm concerned.

"In Christensen's schema, a disruptive technology starts as an untested product with an unknown business model or one that offers lower profit margins. Most significant, few customers even seem to want the new thing. Any rational manager would stick to the old approach and brush aside the threat from a product at best suited for marginal, niche markets. At the same time, constant improvements in the traditional technology make it all the more valuable and seemingly invincible -- giving rise to breathless accounts of a company at the peak of its power. By the time the disruptive technology makes the jump to mainstream and undercuts the incumbent with a "good enough" product at a markedly lower price, it's usually too late for the incumbent to recover."

Another quote from Breaking Windows: How Bill Gate Fumbled the Future of Microsoft. As I read this, I couldn't help think about Open Source projects like Linux and Mozilla. They seem to me to be better and better, and soon to make the jump to mainstream.

In case you couldn't tell, I just finished Bank's book. I enjoyed it. I've read a few books about Microsoft, some about the court proceedings, and some about them and Netscape. This one looks at Microsoft's internals throughout their trials and tribulations, and for someone who enjoys organizational behavior, the book had a lot of good insights and commentary. If you enjoy non-fiction about technological corporate America, check it out.