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This is why I feel that "Don't Be Evil" lost all meaning the moment that Google bought Doubleclick (inventors of the tracking cookie). Of course, I'm also old enough to remember the sheer outrage and total boycotting of X10 by Slashdot users (decimating their consumer customer base) because they were the first company to launch a major ad campaign using popunders. I'm still waiting for similar outrage to be aimed at Netflix.

(Incidentally, Chris Wright's Help Desk comic has established that the actual Face of Google is an extradimensional eldritch horror known to us as "G'oo'gl", and "it's not G'oo'gl's fault that when it communicates in the ancient language of its race, all of the meaningful nuances, tones and inflections of the words are lost to the range of human hearing, making every utterance sound like the same thing over and over and over again. It's also not its fault that the basic structure of its language sounds like a philosophical statement supporting something it has been opposed to since the beginning of time. After all, its language came first..."

The "every utterance that sounds like the same thing over and over again," of course, sounds like the phrase "Don't be evil."

The Ubersoft comic ran a Google Voice comic of similar humor today.

Note: The characters are running from Apple zealots, while working on a special project to prevent Steve Job's ego from destroying everything.

The document defines openness as companies/organizations collaborating, sharing and debating. No mention of who owns the knowledge. The simple fact is - that if the source ain't open then the 'standards' can't be open.

'Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with the following criteria: Free Redistribution, Source Code, Derived Works, Integrity of The Author's Source Code, No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups, No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor, Distribution of License, License Must Not Be Specific to a Product, License Must Not Restrict Other Software, License Must Be Technology-Neutral ..'

--

Minion: We can't compete against open source
Boss: lets promote a paradigm shift and say it's not about 'open source' but about 'open standards' and then get 'open standards' to mean using our software.
Minion: That's so evil boss !
Boss: I know ..

Ubersoft

http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2000/12/next-logical-step

http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2000/12/next-logical-step-ii

Apple, if you really want to go forward with this please have your lawyers shower me with cash.

http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2000/12/next-logical-step

http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2000/12/next-logical-step-ii

Apple, if you really want to go forward with this please have your lawyers shower me with cash.

[begin shameless self-plug]

Let us also not forget the Fifth Law of Robotics.

[end shameless self-plug]

The entire planetary commercial ecosystem would grind to a halt without Microsoft Office ...
--

Ubersoft Marketing Language

"Isn't it possible that .. Ray Ozzie is the originator of this idea and Lotus Notes did not have the foresight to patent this technology when he worked for them? Isn't it possible that he thought this idea patentable and in a better late than never fashion he patented it?"

They why isn't his name anywhere on the patent, and why didn't Microsoft mention this prior art in the patent application?

Inventors: Gwozdz; Daniel (Redmond, WA)
Assignee: Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, WA)
Appl. No.: 11/152,524
Filed: June 14, 2005

'What is "the right thing?" He works for a company with the priority to rake in cash. It's "right" in his boss' eyes, I'm sure'

Breaking: Ubersoft patents use of vowels in electronic news tickertape

obligatory comic

OMG, XKCD is no longer the only comic to change the world:

http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2008/02/viktorgate/ and following

http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2000/12/age-umpires
http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2000/12/age-umpires-ii

http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2000/12/age-umpires
http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2000/12/age-umpires-ii

One of the more spectacular takeovers of American production happened back in the 1970's and 80's, in the solid-state electronics field. First the Japanese, then the Koreans and a few others, discussed openly how they were going to do it. Their argument was based on an uncomfortable fact: At the time, developing a solid-state manufacturing facility cost on the order of $1 billion US dollars, and required about a decade of building, training and testing to get it to the point of producing working products. They observed that American management was no longer capable of making decade-long investments. Managers were judged on this quarter's results, and "long term" mean looking at most a year into the future. Americans could no longer build electronics plants, because managers of such investments would be fired within a year due to their zero profitability. So, the Asians argued, anyone who was willing to invest in 10 years of development time could take the entire business away from the Americans who had already done the basic research.

They were right, of course, and this argument still works. American firms invest in short-term marketing research, and make small tweaks to their products that can be profitable right away. Any manager that pushes for longer-term, more expensive research or development will be out of a job before the investment pays off.

There was also a good Help Desk cartoon yesterday about how US industry works these days.

An interesting workaround for companies in that situation we all know it the USian patent system is broken and hopefully will get rebuilt sensibly in the near future, the patent in question is so broad it should never have been granted.

Please stop saying "USian". American will do nicely, thank you.

Unless you're using the ugly constructs USian and THEMian, I agree. I'd like to see an endian of such abuse.

An interesting workaround for companies in that situation we all know it the USian patent system is broken and hopefully will get rebuilt sensibly in the near future, the patent in question is so broad it should never have been granted.

Please stop saying "USian". American will do nicely, thank you.

Overbroad patents are a direct consequence of the USPTO's stance that due diligence on their part is not required, and that it's perfectly okay to let interested parties sort matters out in court later. That's most definitely not okay, though, since that wastes absolutely incredible amounts of time and money, and keeps new products off the market.

An interesting workaround for companies in that situation we all know it the USian patent system is broken and hopefully will get rebuilt sensibly in the near future, the patent in question is so broad it should never have been granted.

Would it KILL you to to bring me a friggin' STRAW???

Chris Wright, is that you? :)

Those zippy cool mac ads seemed to have hurt Microsoft's ego a little. maybe

A fact that has not gone unnoticed at Ubersoft.

'"it works on Windows" is not enough to claim ACPI compatibility'

It works on Microsoft ACPI .. dumass .. ;)

'One thing I find myself wondering about is whether we shouldn't try and make the "ACPI" extensions somehow Windows specific'

übersoft.net ...

http://ubersoft.net/ Current story on blogging from the 'Technology is not your friend' dept.

And take a business card with you:

http://ubersoft.net/comic/hd/2008/06/duly-licensed

Secret Evidence

Like this?

Personally I wonder if they can use characters from Help Desk.

For your reading pleasure at http://www.ubersoft.net/.

You might want to start at the beginning: http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/1996/03/alex-loss-words

For your reading pleasure at http://www.ubersoft.net/.

You might want to start at the beginning: http://www.ubersoft.net/comic/hd/1996/03/alex-loss-words

Anything relying on the home user doing or not doing something is bound to fail. Click here to have all your bank account details sent to the Russian mafia and your computer reduced to a doorstop.

Ok... I'm pretty sure that the comic Ubersoft is blatantly mocking Microsoft... but with this, it seems like Microsoft is trying to become MORE like how they're projected in that comic. I don't know whether that's funny, disturbing, or just plain sad.

Yes, Comcast ist offering unlimited* service. Please note the asterix.
As helpfully pointed out a while ago in marketing speech an asterix negates the word it stands after.
And honestly who would buy "a (usually) really fast internet connection for a flat fee no matter how much or long you surf, but actually we'll throttle the thing to a crawl if you download too much."
My recommendation (IANAL): Tell them (first via phone, then via postal mail) that you paid for an unmetered account with speed X and that you consider this kind of traffic shaping and throttling as a breach of contract on their side. Reserve yourself the right to sue in a small claims court. Demand that they either restore the service to full functionality (i.e. no traffic shaping and throttling) or reduce your monthly fees by a significant amount (50% or so). Be sure to mention legal uses of Bittorrent (FOS like Linux, Demo Software, Patches, that online video on demand store that uses BT) that are affected. If all that does not help, send them an immediate cancellation of your subscription citing their breach and contract and failure to rectify the issue, stop paying, and look for a new ISP.

Übersoft v Richard Stallman

Matrix XP

Microsoft iPod

Southpark Matrix - Parody

Ghost in the shell- Matrix Parody

Exclusive Matrix Parody

There's no point in making a marketing sleight of hand portable to other platforms, is there?

Maybe it's changed in the last few years, but when Microsoft first started talking about "dot net" the only thing I could figure was that they didn't really know what it was going to do -- and four years after it had been announced it didn't really seem as if that had changed.

Maybe it's changed since then... it's been three years since the last time I paid any attention to it...

There's no point in making a marketing sleight of hand portable to other platforms, is there?

Maybe it's changed in the last few years, but when Microsoft first started talking about "dot net" the only thing I could figure was that they didn't really know what it was going to do -- and four years after it had been announced it didn't really seem as if that had changed.

Maybe it's changed since then... it's been three years since the last time I paid any attention to it...

I'm not sure it happened to him. I think RMS's mindset and attitudes are a result of the truly monumental task he took on when GNU got started. It takes a very radical outlook and mentality to push a project like that forward. It's made him a very effective force even today, even if it does make him (apparently) intractible on some issues and (from what I've heard) difficult to talk to. He does have a sense of humor, though. He sent me a pretty cool email the last time I had a little fun at his expense.

I like those, but I think this one speaks to the topic more specifically:

http://www.ubersoft.net/d/19960429.html

"Everytime I print, it crashes."

"Well, with a bunch of research, we've found that users typically quit after printing, so we combined the features."

Priceless :)

... before Microsoft started getting all their ideas from me, instead of the other way 'round:

http://www.ubersoft.net/d/20030224.html

but more specifically

http://www.ubersoft.net/d/20030228.html

... before Microsoft started getting all their ideas from me, instead of the other way 'round:

http://www.ubersoft.net/d/20030224.html

but more specifically

http://www.ubersoft.net/d/20030228.html

http://www.ubersoft.net/

Maybe the advertising collapse happened because one company owns the entire market?

Yea, Google is the new Übersoft .. ;)

"I'm just pondering here not seriously implying anything, but that sounds similiar to something MS did with OS's and media players/browsers etc"

Considering people have a choice as to what search engine to use and Google don't have a desktop monopoly I don't think it is at all similar. No doubt once Microsoft embed search directly in the apps that anomaly will soon be corrected.

was: Re:Unemployment? (Score:5, Interesting)

"That website is pretty low on content and for the heck of it I read the links on the right as well. The 25 shortcomings one is pretty ludicrous. You should read it."

I'm confused. How can it be and still have 25 shortcomings spread over two web pages.

"Most home users don't give a shit about SMB2. Most users are going to get Vista with new hardware, so their needing new hardware point is moot and really is it a shortcoming of Vista that it won't run on old hardware or is it a shortcoming of the hardware."

Why, in your opinion, is breaking SMB support in Linux not a problem. Considering that MS is all about inter-operability. Did the MS Linux Lab not even test it with the current Linux distros. If not why not?

I don't understand that you speak for the vast majority of home users. But isn't it true that they won't actually have a choice as to what to get with their next round of Windows/Vista upgrade. So what the home users give a shit about is a little moot.

It's also a demonstration in circular logic: To get Vista, 'home users' have to get new hardware. Since they don't have any choice the point is moot.

"The 2 gigs of ram to run Vista is bollocks - these guys havent even booted upto the RCs have they"

Do you think a PC running XP on 1GB will run faster or slower on Vista.

"He complains about a lack of driver support from the hardware manufacturer - how can you spin a hardware manufacturers problem into a shortcoming of vista?"

The trolls round have always criticized Linux for lack of hardware support. Why isn't that also a problem for Vista.

"They talk about lack of compatibility with AV products but do fail to mention a lot of things M$ is doing better with security"

Like locking out the AV companies from the kernel. And most of the new security feetures have been broken already.

"I run Debian in lab and Zenwalk at home"

I like Linux and really want it to be better.

"By the time he gets to 20 he isn't he making grammatical sentences and he actually claims that theres bound to be bugs in 50 million lines of code and a five year beta test period - I'd agree but it isn't because theres 50 million lines of code because dear lod Linux also has a lot of lines of code"

Criticise the form of the msg. Why wouldn't 50 million lines of nearly new code be the cause of some bugs slipping through.

"I'm not going to go on bashing the article"

As he goes about bashing the article ..

"Heres my list of things that are Bad with Vista"

"1) DRM .."

His billness has already criticised this. Is msDRM already in the works?

"2) UAC - this is a great idea in principle but the last I checked in implementation it was too goddamn annoying and I'm sure most people will just turn it off"

You mean it didn't work as there were so many thing a user had to do as root, sorry administrator. Sudo seems to work OK under Linux.

"I had no driver issues. If I did I don't think I'd be blaming MS and rather my shitty hardware manufacturer"

You must be the only one. The HW manufacturers write to the specs. How is it the shitty fault of the manufacturers when the driver don't work on Vista. The drivers would have been certify by a MS test suite, else they wouldn't have made it into Vista.

was bad article- my list for BadVista. (Score:5, Astroturfing)

http://www.ubersoft.net/
http://www.apcstart.com/site/jbannan/2006/09/1330/ vistas-user-account-control-one-click-and-its-gone
http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3 615936

Not so

Copyright? I think you mean trademark...

Do you possibly read Ubersoft?

Props to a state that's been thumbing its nose at tyrrany since Sam Adams

...Open Document Format, a format agreed on by *multiple* word processor companies that is royalty free and usable by any company who wishes to implement it, no hooks. That includes MS, should they so choose.

But what if they don't feel like it?

But he refuses to give examples, which is strange.

I can tell you that in my experience, the best software by far comes from Apple, from OSX on down to products like Final Cut Pro and Motion. Compare the user interface of Motion with the mess that is Flash and you'll get the point. Or compare Final Cut with Premiere.

Apple's not perfect, and I think Woz is responding to that fact. He's frustrated that even with world-class perfectionist Steve at the helm, software isn't perfect.

And of course this is true. But at least Steve's fighting for perfection - I fundementally agree with the cartoon I linked to - in an industry where most want to settle for "good enough for Government work."

D

A more relevent example to most people might be the original IBM PC, which was produced in exactly the same way.

IBM set up a separate facility in Boca Raton, Florida and gave them almost complete independence; they came up with the PC in record time.

The speed of development was partially thanks to their operating system agreement with Microsoft and so the Dark Lord of Ubersoft gained power at the same time.

Sadly, the head of IBM's autonomous PC division died in a plane crash and the division was folded into the greater IBM. Bye bye innovation :-(.

Can't have everything, I guess.

D

http://www.ubersoft.net/

Mr. Bunny, the Happy Hoppy Computer Guy will not be pleased

Why you shouldn't code drunk

http://www.ubersoft.net/