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Zone Alarm Vs 180 Solutions: Zango hooks?
Sub-Seven writes "Found at Vitalsecurity.org, they detail how a Microsoft MVP pulled the Zango file to pieces, and discovered some interesting facts about exactly what a "simple" fun and games application does to a machine that its running on. Hooking into Windows OneCare and Microsoft Antispyware? What's that all about? "
The linked-to blog article is clear as mud
No kidding. The blog article has ZERO content, apart from linking to two other sites about some program that purportedly is being flagged as spyware.
If slashdot is accepting lame "my blog entry" submissions like this (and what's with the "Microsoft MVP" comment in the submission? That's like trying to give credibility to a blog entry by purporting it to come from a "high school graduate"), then I'm going to start submitting every entry I make. Maybe I'll blog about this blog entry that blogs about a blog entry and submit that.
Ah well, like I - esteemed high school graduate and Blockbuster cardholder - said - most blogging is bloggers talking about blogging. (Yes, hypocrisy runs deep with this)
The whole reason for the lawsuit wasn't because 180 was pissed with misleading statements, it was because a potential business partner of 180solutions had concerns about associating their company which Zone Labs had tagged as a high security risk.
Well, if legitimate companies are afraid to associate with spyware companies, then I'd call that a good side-effect of the Sony malware mess.
For anyone who doesn't know, you become a Microsoft MPV largely by being an unemployed loser - the more time you can waste away providing pro-Microsoft answers on Microsoft's message boards, providing them with a lot of free labour.
What about all those people providing support on Linux/MySQL/Apache mailing lists/forums etc - what
are they? Unemployed losers or OSS champions?
This is IMO becoming a problem in a lot of games. Counterstrike, World of Warcraft, Valve with its Steam engine, crap like punkbuster that scans your entire drive, registry and who knows what else, just to make sure you aren't cheating. And we are not talking about minor game companies here.
Don't get me wrong, cheating is a major (if not: the worst) problem in online games, but the lengths to which game providers go to assure (a) that you are using a legally bought version of the game (most important) and (b) that you are not using modified drivers, game libraries etc. in order to cheat (game company couldn't care less, but it costs them customers so they have to care..), could certainly make some of them be rated as 'spyware'. Then again, so can Windows XP itself. After users accepted that activation crap from Microsoft, where else could you expect this thing to go? If Microsoft is allowed to do it, then why not $small_corp_with_questionable_ethics?
(obviously, the answer is that Microsoft should not be allowed to do it in the first place, either. But as it is, this company might actually have a point - if Sony can do it and not be detected for over half a year, why can't they? The idea is ridiculous ofcourse, but hey...)
Every expression is true, for a given value of 'true'
Those active in other communities (ie Linux) are not told that they are unemployed losers for helping people out. So what if a bunch of us want to actually help people by making use of our expertise?
Not every MVP is an expert in every area, but they are an expert in the area that they were awarded in. For example, my award is in Mobile Devices, but I'm far from being an expert in FoxPro.
This is the principle of the "Möbius blog", whereby the information is wholly one-sided and is repeated so often that it is taken for fact by anoyone reading it. As they move from link to link, their indoctrination in the rhetoric increases, with the theoretical maximum value being reached when they return to the original "source" blog. Once a "Möbius blog" is entered, the ability of the reader to avoid reading the next blog in the series decreases proportionately.
The "Möbius blog" is also know as "Internet journalism".
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