Friday 15th December, 2006
Have you ever wondered how two Skype (and other P2P) clients exchange data, despite the fact that both machines are each sitting behind a firewall that only permits outgoing traffic? Read this article from Heise Security.
Peer-to-peer software applications are a network administrator's nightmare. In order to be able to exchange packets with their counterpart as directly as possible they use subtle tricks to punch holes in firewalls, which shouldn't actually be letting in packets from the outside world.
Monday 11th December, 2006
It's well worth reading the whole article at Groklaw, but here are some choice quotes.
Co-counsel for the Plaintiffs, Roxanne Conlin, recounted how Microsoft developed a program called EDGI (Education Government Incentive). She went on to read from an internal Microsoft document on when EDGI was to be used:
“It is essential, therefore, that we use this only in deals we would lose otherwise. Bottom line, do our best to show the great value of our software to these customers and ensure we get paid for it. Under no circumstances lose against Linux before ensuring we have used this program actively and in a smart way.”
Conlin then goes on to explain:
EDGI has the added benefit to the outside world as appearing to be based on Microsoft generosity, but in fact the program is intended only for use where Linux is a threat.
What is EDGI? There is no mention of any charitable purchase. This is about beating Linux. And it is not even limited to developing countries, and squarely, directly, and only for defeating competitors in the guise of benevolence.
And one I found quite funny, by Jim Alchin, group Vice President of Microsoft, sent in an internal e-mail dated January 7, 2004:
"I'm not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers, both business and home, the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems our customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that does not translate into great products ... I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft.”
Emphasis added.
Sunday 10th December, 2006
It's still happening
Rob, May 2015
This sort of thing seems to happen alot recently. Remember the Sony rootkit scandal? I'm sure Sony wish you wouldn't. Sony's reaction was interesting, they initially acted as though they had the right to install the rootkit on their customer's PCs. Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's president of global digital business, was outrageously quoted as saying:
Most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?
ComScore, the company involved in this particular incident, claim they would never install software without permission, and it does appear that it is being installed by third parties. The risk is that the software takes screenshots of every Web page viewed by its 1 million participants, even transactions completed in secure sessions, like online banking, or shopping.
It's not a safe world for Windows users, when even 'legitimate' software is proving invasive.
Monday 4th December, 2006
This is an old article, but still interesting. Research from the University of Arizona showed that computer keyboards may have nearly seventy times as many germs as the average toilet seat. The figure for telephones was even higher, over 500 times as many germs. Hmm.
Thursday 30th November, 2006
Unfortunately the original URL provided below now leads nowhere, but I found a copy courtesy of the Internet Archive.
Rob, May 2015
Notice how Microsoft often talk about how they innovate? Here's an interesting collection of products created by Microsoft's "innovation".