Okay, so maybe they didn’t get completely raped, but it’s still funny to see the “almighty” Microsoft get stepped on from time to time. In case you haven’t heard the story of Peter Quinn, I’ll give you a rundown.

Quinn was the CIO (Chief Information Officer) for Massachusetts until he recently quit his position. Much to the chagrin of Microsoft, Quinn was pushing a mandatory ODF (OpenDocument Format) initiative for all state agencies in Massachusetts. Why was Microsoft mad about this? Because they don’t support the OpenDocument Format (read: no one would be using Microsoft’s own personal, licensed document format anymore). Read the rest of this entry »

So if you haven’t at least heard about the latest record company debacle then you must be living in China or North Korea. In their feeble attempt to stop piracy, Sony came up with the idea of using the popular “computer fraud” method to help protect their empire. On their latest CDs with DRM, the disks contain highly dangerous software (a rootkit) that is installed without the user’s knowledge. Read the rest of this entry »

Check out some good software on the Good Software page! (updated)

“As I always say, there’s only one type of software that is worth actually spending money on … one that requires a subscription (constant updates) to function well; no one should ever pay for any other kind of software. Any software that is worth using was created recreationally by real programmers that are just doing what they love, and software like that never has a price tag. Not to say, however, that programmers should never get paid for their work; if a company comes to you wanting you to take time out of your schedule to do work for them then they’d better do something for you in return.”

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