Kevin Malm: kSoftware

Sat, 04 May 2002 23:15:25 GMT

"The problem with capitalism, see, is that in creating new markets you usually destroy older markets. Kellner and Hollywood just don't seem to understand that. As Copyfight put it more eloquently (Speak Softly and Carry a Big Sledgehammer), Hollywood has fallen in love with the creative and distribution possibilities of the Internet, but feel betrayed that those same possibilities will destroy many of their existing business models. "

Yale Law School: Top Ten New Copyright Crimes. [via Scripting News]

Sat, 04 May 2002 22:40:29 GMT

"Swimming pools can be dangerous for children," the authors wrote. "To protect them, one can install locks, put up fences and deploy pool alarms. All of these measures are helpful, but by far the most important thing that one can do for one's children is to teach them to swim."

No Easy Fixes Are Seen to Curb Sex-Site Access. One of the most thorough reports ever produced on protecting children from Internet pornography has concluded that neither tougher laws nor new technology alone can solve the problem. By John Schwartz. [New York Times: Technology]

Sat, 04 May 2002 05:33:19 GMT

Megnut: "Imagine if your car used a gas pedal to accelerate, but depressing the same pedal on your friend's car sounded the horn." [via Scripting News] // Like this and have been down this road more than a few times.

Sat, 04 May 2002 05:20:19 GMT

Study: File sharing boosts music sales. Millions of songs may illegally trade hands online every month, but file swapping may actually be causing people to spend more money on music, according to a new report. [CNET News.com] /\ Hmmmmm.........

Fri, 03 May 2002 19:09:51 GMT

"Coinciding with this realization was Microsoft's change in licensing policies. Enterprises that do not buy a software maintenance plan for Microsoft Office by July 31, 2002 (thereby paying Microsoft a fee every year) will have to re-buy the software the next time they want a new version, at roughly twice the price they used to pay for an upgrade. "

Sun's StarOffice: Challenging Microsoft's Office Suite [ZDNet] // Big Bill is going to regret this little mistake.

Fri, 03 May 2002 18:49:32 GMT

"That software does not always work correctly is roughly as surprising as finding a cockroach in a New York apartment."
"'It's not a bug, it's a feature.
"just write in the manual, rather than fix the product
"such solutions compound the fear that computers are 'so complicated that you're not going to understand how they really work.'"

The Workaround: 32 Steps to Frustration. Some software companies often don't even try to fix what is wrong with their product. They say it's up to you to "work around" the problem. By Peter Meyers. [New York Times: Technology] // And why is it acceptable that software is different and can get away with this krap ?

Fri, 03 May 2002 18:19:18 GMT

A few notes in outline form about various blogging tools that I am more or less familiar with, as they relate to issues of centralization. [Scripting News]

Fri, 03 May 2002 17:03:18 GMT

A Panel Discussion for the DePaul’s Technology Community, Co-Sponsored by the CTI Alumni Association & the Chicago Chapter ACM : "Agile Development is quickly changing the landscape of software development, leading the industry toward lean, adaptable development methodologies. Join DePaul's CTI Alumni Association for a panel discussion on the Agile Development movement." // This ought to be fun this evening, way tooooo much hype here.

Tue, 23 Apr 2002 06:05:29 GMT

Lucent Jettisons Jobs in Its Quest for Profitability. Struggling to stanch losses in an extremely difficult operating environment, Lucent Technologies said that it planned to cut 6,000 more jobs. By Kenneth N. Gilpin. [New York Times: Technology] // 6k more potential job club bears :-(

Tue, 23 Apr 2002 03:07:05 GMT

Survey: Is Gates Lying? [Scripting News]

Tue, 23 Apr 2002 02:24:38 GMT

Bill Gates Warns Judge About States's Antitrust Plan [reuters.com] // Fud ! I can't believe I mentioned this krap a couple days ago and Bill is out there doing it again. See fud.

Fri, 29 Mar 2002 00:53:09 GMT

Mary Wehmeier wrote a letter to Senator Hollings. It's the first letter I've seen from a user explaining the consequences the senator's bill would have on the vendors' products she depends on. In other words, users can't afford to be silent on this bill. If you like our software and you want it to keep evolving and improving, you have a stake in the outcome. [via Scripting News]

Fri, 29 Mar 2002 00:48:23 GMT

Reuters. A ruling by a Dutch appeals court to throw out charges against FastTrack (the P2P music sharing technology provider) could make it impossible for the music and movie industries to continue on their present course. Prepare yourselves for an all you can eat digital media subscription service coming to a PC near you. As I pointed out below, it's inevitable. This ruling just accelerates it. [via John Robb's Radio Weblog] // Here is this again, just had to highlight here a little.

Thu, 28 Mar 2002 23:58:27 GMT

// And while I was in the monkey story territory I poked around and found a few short paragraphs on the value of UML. which I like. It is not the silver bullet ( there is none ) but can help with improving communication on projects which is (or should be) the target for all silver bullets.

Thu, 28 Mar 2002 23:32:05 GMT

Reuters: "A Dutch appeals court on Thursday told an Internet software company it could distribute a software program that is designed to let users share music and films on the Internet." [via Scripting News] // :-)

Mon, 18 Mar 2002 18:00:32 GMT

What advice would you give to a Developer? Development Manager? Software Marketer?

Developer - don't plan like the mission impossible team (i.e. ten things have to go perfect or you die); manager, listen to the developer; marketer, understand the customer's needs, really! Then understand the developer's perspective of the customer's needs and move second to first position.

// This came from a Dave post (actually the same as the last one) with a link to a Q & A with his old boss who is apparently Mr. Symantec. The link is worth a quick read but this nugget stood out to me. There are way too many software teams planning mission impossible projects. The best here though is the last little bit about understanding the developer's perspective of the customer's needs and then concentrating on it. All to often we get what the developer thinks the customer wants rather than what the customer wants. When what the customer wants and what the developer thinks the customer wants are one and the same, we get great software.

// Also it is truly amazing that many many (at ?) times the developer is able to succeed without direct customer input and/or exposure. Unfortunately, it isn't likely.

// Oh and he forgot the marketer ? This is not necessarily a bad thing and should happen much more often.

Mon, 18 Mar 2002 17:49:44 GMT

Software for people with minds. $39.95. Click here. [via Scripting News] // I trimmed this out of one of Dave's posts. A "daveism" as I have been calling them. And really, it is.

Mon, 18 Mar 2002 08:40:01 GMT

"So if you use shareware, pay for it. If you can't even do that, you have no business complaining about how record labels and movie studios are afraid to sell their content online." - From the Shareware Industry, Lessons on Keeping Downloaders Honest // The percentages in here are brutal. I'll think of this every time a piece shareware nags me. I have one on my desktop which I'm riding the fence on at the moment.

Fri, 15 Mar 2002 22:28:32 GMT

Linux Journal: Unix under the Desktop. By Doc and Brent. [Scripting News] // Mr. Jobs now has Unix under the hood. I think this is a good thing and suspect he is headed the right direction, FWIW.

Sat, 09 Mar 2002 02:24:39 GMT

Mike Donnelan nails it. "Stop buying music." [via Scripting News] // and a quote from this

"Hey, here's a novel idea: if you want to hear your favorite music all the time, learn to play an instrument.". // Hey I never thought about this but when I master this guitar thing it might help my cut the cost of my CD habit ;-)

Wed, 06 Mar 2002 17:02:09 GMT

"As a result of discovery, we have concluded that, in addition to Microsoft's fully integrated version of the operating system, the company should be required to offer a modular version that will allow equipment manufacturers and others to make their own decisions on adding middleware products that consumers want such as browsers or media players," he said in a statement. "Microsoft therefore would not be required to provide numerous versions of the operating system." - Tom Miller, Iowa assistant attorney general and one of the leaders of the 9 states
"The modified measures should deflate Microsoft's overblown rhetoric and apocalyptic predictions about the proposed remedies," - Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal

Ballmer: Sanctions would kill Windows // Mr. Ballmer is so full of it, we couldn't get this lucky. Other than the abuse of the term middle ware all over the place, this article shows that the 9 states are definitely headed in the right direction. The other 9 ? cowtowing to big business.

Fri, 01 Mar 2002 07:04:41 GMT

My dog hates OSX: "What we need is a killer application which returns us to the good old days of the occasional system crash, spinning cursor of doom, or the half-hour recompile." [the Jer Zone] via [Phil Ackley's Radio Thingumabob]

Mon, 25 Feb 2002 18:24:21 GMT

Why Standards Alone Won't Get You Portable Software and How to Make Open-Source Middleware Work For You [InformIT] // Doug on portability (and of course ACE).

Fri, 22 Feb 2002 19:48:15 GMT

Newsday.com: Microsoft To Share Software Codes // Call me skeptical but I'll believe this when I see it.

Fri, 22 Feb 2002 06:38:38 GMT

News.com: Walmart.com ditches the OS in new PCs // Hmmm....how come Walmart is the first one to think of this ? or to try this ? Heaven only knows how Microsoft will try to get their profit out of these machines and could this open a door for the PC companies ? Is the timing here interesting ? Does Bill have the kahonas to try to tell Walmart they can't sell PCs with Windoze on them because they want to sell them without ? and do it while there are still 9 states with their heads screwed on right ? All just things which make you go hmmmmm.....

Wed, 20 Feb 2002 06:21:43 GMT

AP/boston.com: Be Incorporated sues Microsoft, alleging antitrust violations // Yes !!

Fri, 01 Feb 2002 03:48:44 GMT

Craig Burton: "Innovation is the only way to compete effectively. Litigation=desperation." (AOL going after Microsoft).

Thu, 31 Jan 2002 19:06:42 GMT

Joel on Software: In Defense of Not-Invented Here Syndrome - If it's a core business function - do it yourself no matter what.