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MICROSOFT STRATEGY?
The troubles with the XP service pack may be slowly fixed. After all, MS wants to sell Vista, so if folks are having problems with the older system, they might be more likely to update.
--Peter L. Nelson, PyLoN PiX
PCI STANDARD - DAVE & BUSTER'S
I am growing increasingly frustrated with individuals with zero experience in applying the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), constantly blaming it for the security breaches that are reported in various media outlets on a nearly weekly basis. This is nothing but a red herring. There is nothing wrong with the standard; if it is followed and maintained, and there is appropriate discipline for non-compliance, it offers a more than reasonable means of protecting consumer financial data.
The problem resides with businesses who either don't disclose where they are storing and transmitting consumer financial data and/or businesses that fail to maintain the standard when the auditors walk out the door. Information technology managers are highly susceptible to operational pressures to just get the thing done, with security as an afterthought, [thinking] the time to worry about PCI and security is only when the auditor comes around.
And the way the PCI governing board is structured doesn't help. PCI makes the standard and approves the QSA (Qualified Security Assessor) -- PCI assessors, i.e., auditors -- but does no enforcement; that is left up to the card brands. I wonder how often -- in the case of large corporations who house huge amounts of consumer financial data -- do the card brands look the other way when there are issues of noncompliance, to avoid biting the hand that feeds them?
The entire game is not to protect consumer data, but to push liability off on the next guy as much as possible -- especially the merchants. This is a huge mess, and allowing the card brands to self-regulate is simply courting disaster. Until we see the same sort of regulations and security controls applied as there are in cash accounts (i.e., bank accounts) we will continue to see data breaches.
--Nel Walton
PCI ARTICLE
I keep reading articles that seem to state that PCI standards should be raised. While I do believe PCI standards should be followed by companies, I am disappointed that card issuers are not being pressed to employ smart stripe technology.
There are two companies that I know of that provide this technology: PrivaSys and QSecure. Both vendors have technology that changes the magnetic stripe with each use. The technology does not require any change of point of sale equipment by merchants. I strongly believe that issuers should be asked to do take responsibility for the card numbers they issue.
--George Odencrantz, Sinclair Oil
SAFARI VS. .GOV
Your article was good as far as it went, but why wasn't Section 508 covered? I've hammered multiple government sites for not being Section 508-compliant. The law applies to all federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain or use electronic and information technology.
Under Section 508 (29 U.S.C. 794d), agencies must give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others. If a government site is requiring use of a specific OS or a specific browser, they cannot be Section 508-compliant. The ONLY way they can be compliant is to be [W3C] standards-compliant.
--Lee Allen
OLPC IN TROUBLE
The OLPC problem is that nobody in the company saw that the best way to market this was by bundling the whole system. No infrastructure for online education, and no curriculum for K-12 or textbooks. Not a word about WiFi to connect it, teachers and translators. Bundling is the only way this will work.
--Deborah Boyd, Global Development System
BIG PROBLEMS CONVERTING FROM EUDORA TO APPLE MAIL
I more than share Tonya's experience converting from Eudora to Apple's Mail application. I recently took the plunge and converted some 106,000 e-mails -- 12 years of e-mail -- and had nothing but trouble! All of this I've documented on the Apple discussions Web site.
My biggest frustration is with Apple Mail's poor management of e-mail left on the POP (post office protocol) server, which prevents me from keeping my e-mail synced between my work and home computers and my iPhone. If you are like me and are in the habit of manually managing your Eudora mail that is left on the server, with Apple Mail you'll end up losing all of your e-mail that you stored on your POP server.
It would seem that the setting to "delete mail from server when moved from in-box" would be the perfect choice for heavy e-mail users like me. However, this particular feature is totally bug-ridden (apparently for several years now) and randomly and regularly deletes your saved mail on the server.
Today, for example, the Apple Mail application at my office decided to delete all my e-mail from today from the server. Not yesterday's or before that -- just today's! Therefore, when I go on the road later this afternoon with my iPhone, or when I try to reply to my e-mails at home tonight, today's messages will be missing and I won't have the opportunity to work with them until I return to the office.
All these many years my many clients and I have solidly depended on my e-mail. But recently, they are all complaining that something is wrong with my e-mail as lately I keep loosing and missing their messages Therefore, I'm about to do the unthinkable: After 25 years of using Macs, for the first time EVER I'm going to deconvert from an Apple application and am going back to Eudora.
Now that Eudora uses the Apple Address Book, and given it's vastly superior message handling and message search capabilities, I will likely never try Apple Mail ever again, having wasted some 200 hours carefully and painstakingly preparing over 106,000 e-mail messages for this badly bug-ridden application.
Come on Apple -- it's just POP3 e-mail! Why can others like Eudora do it so much better than you ... and for free?!?
My advice: If you like Eudora, stick with it. There is nothing that Apple Mail does better than Eudora, and lots that it does worse.
--Randy Banis, Sundance MediaCom
WINDOWS AND INTEL
So why doesn't Intel develop an operating system -- or AMD, for that matter -- to support their processors? Seems to me they are best able to make the best use of their own chips. We could call it "Wintel," and use third-party apps such as Firefox, iTunes and OpenOffice. That way, MS could focus its entire energy on [getting] rich quick chasing after Google.
And leave Vista in a box where it belongs. I'd bet Intel could do an outstanding job creating a compact yet powerful OS. And I wouldn't be surprised if it already has an OS that it uses in the development/testing of its processors.
--Al Engle
VISTA AND WINDOWS BECOME BLACK HOLES
I think it is very important to point out the fact we have seen this play out in the Apple world already. In order to fight the consumer backlash as Windows become more bloated (even back to 95), Apple followed a fresh strategy for EVERY OS -- transitions to OS 8, OS 9, OS 10. Each time Apple forced its consumers to start all over with new hardware and new software (remember the PPC vs. 680x0), there would be a cry of anguish and more people would flock back to PC. Meanwhile, Windows continued to always be universal but grow larger and larger.
Now that Apple finally has released an acceptable OS with 10-11, we have watched feature creep and bloat fill the Apple arena. The original OS 10 machines could run fine on a 400 to 500 MHz processor and 64 to 128 MB of RAM, whereas XP would crawl on a similar setup if even start at all. However, the latest MacBooks are packed with Intel multi-GHz processors, and the OS needs every MHz of it.
Anyone who has been paying attention sees that Apple has locked itself into the same path Windows started 15 years ago, a slowly bloating OS that required ever-greater hardware. Apple already tried the "fresh start" approach and consumers didn't buy. The "forever bloat" business model appears the only way to keep up. It has brought Apple out of the dark ages, and I seriously doubt Microsoft would try a process that laid out their only competitor for 10 years.
--Matthew Miranda
VIDEO BEATING STOKES DEBATE OVER FAME, VIOLENCE
We as humans have violent tendencies. In the article on the subject line there are comments to the effect of blaming media once again. In other countries, they allow violence and nudity on TV, but this does not seem to present a problem.
"Kids who perpetrate crimes like this are 'totally disconnected from the reality of what they're doing,' [Parry] Aftab, [cybercrime lawyer and executive director of WiredSafety.org,] explained. 'They think they're good kids, just playing for their 15 megabytes of fame. They also see this kind of thing all the time around them in the media, and when you talk to them, you can see they just don't get it.'"
I don't agree with the above comments made by Aftab because no one is ever "disconnected from reality" unless [because] of illness or legal drugs or [what] not. They knew exactly what they were doing with or without the idea of being able to [communicate via] YouTube or MySpace. They wanted to assault her because the teens didn't like what she had to say. We are in a country of freedom of speech, and we have to hear a lot of things we don't like, but you have the choice to punch that person in the face or go on. They couldn't think that they are good kids. They knew exactly what they wanted -- revenge -- and it is possible that they wanted some fame.
I hate [she] blames the media, just trying to shove off the blame. I am a college student in my first years, I watch those shows -- the movies about killing, violence, murder, rape, whatever it is, you name it, as well as play violent video games on my Xbox 360. I don't feel compelled to go rape a girl or shoot up a classroom, no matter what anybody says to me or if my girlfriend were to break up with me. Then there would be those who would say that I don't want to do these things because of my upbringing -- I have to say they are wrong.
Being a person from a home where the parents never married, didn't get along after separation, [and] abused by my father gives me every reason to disagree, and even fought against him in court up until not to long ago. I sit in the same types of classrooms as everyone else that teach almost one constant: Don't do violence to others or, [as] the saying [goes], "do unto others as they would do unto you."
We each have a choice at who we are to become. I don't ask for pity, I don't act violent and, as far as everyone else sees me, I am just the same as the next guy. Those who say they have no choices have already made their choice. We all have options that we should look at and not just choose the quick and easy [and] then complain to others about it. I don't want to hear it. As it is told to us many times as children -- we are all responsible for our own actions.
A question everyone should ask themselves no matter how cliche it is: Would I/you jump off a bridge just because the other person has done it?
--David Carver
EBAY'S DONAHOE ERA ARTICLE
I am not a PowerSeller. I am a disabled American who sells on eBay to make ends meet, provide tuition for my children and retain some of my own self-worth. I started selling on eBay 2 1/2 years ago. I sell new hats, gently used clothing, homemade soap, etc -- the stuff one might find at a flea market. The reason eBay will continue to sink is because Mr. Donahoe said he didn't want eBay to become a flea market. Of course, it is because of the same stuff I was selling that eBay became the giant it is. It was the little guy who plugged away from the beginning.
It was said -- during the webcast in February -- these changes would be great for PowerSellers, but what of the little guy? No one asked our opinion. eBay took the top 200 moneymakers to lunch and asked them their opinion. What about the millions of sellers who were not those 200?
Sellers are leaving because they don't have a voice on the site. They can't get a person to answer the phone or their e-mail. The buyer, while very important, is being catered to from all sides: eBay is catering to them, and the seller is catering to them. Who caters to the seller? The seller pays the fees -- ALL OF THEM.
Customer service is what I provide to the people who pay me for goods and services. I pay eBay, which makes me THEIR customer, and yet I am not considered important enough to have an opinion, have a person to speak to when I need help, or even get an e-mail returned that isn't canned.
Mr. Donahoe is losing established sellers every day to sites like OnlineAuction.com (OLA.com), where you can pay for the whole year with what one months listing at eBay cost. No listing fees. No final value fees. Just a membership fee that, for a full year, costs less than one month of fees at eBay. They answer the phone. They e-mail back. They support the seller, who is THEIR customer.
eBay is on the outs, with sites like OLA.com, eCrater.com, and 20 or 30 other sites where the seller is being catered to. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. eBay is a greedy dinosaur who is feeding off its sellers and, little by little -- sometimes in hoards -- the sellers are leaving. What a shame too, because eBay had it all ... just like Bogie and Bacall.
--Elizabeth Metz
WINDOWS XP
Here is a perfect case of "if is isn't broke ... ." The OS does pretty well -- they would do better to keep putting out SPs rather than some glitz hog like Vista. Remember Millenium (SP) Edition? What a piece of crap.
In time, XP could become a really nice entity and, by providing support, Microsoft would be rewarding those faithful to them. I would welcome your passing this to whoever makes these decisions at MS. New stuff almost always is bad for at least a year or two. Why keep inventing the wheel?
--John Diehl
VISTA/XP
I am today replacing Vista with XP on a Core 2 Quad. Vista is useless for anyone trying to get anything actually done.
I tried because I thought it would be good to know. I tried very hard, but the OS is just so breakable that is it not worth learning. So, tell Microsoft that its OS is not worth even the effort of trying -- and warn your readers, as well.
--D. Hard
RESPONSE TO "SHUTTING DOWN TEXT SPAM: JUST GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE"
In your article, you mentioned the Web sites of the four largest U.S. wireless carriers that did not contain instructions for how to report and handle text-messaging spam. This is not accurate for Sprint Nextel.
Go to Sprint's Web site and type in "text spam" in the search field. You'll see several articles that are easily available that discuss reporting wireless spam. The first link can help customers block unwanted messages from persistent sources.
While "spammers" dodge this work-around, the next two links go into more detail around reporting text-messaging spam. This information is very straightforward and should be easy to find from casual Web browsing users to the most savvy surfers.
--Michael Walton, Sprint Nextel
APPLE SECURITY
Hi,
I have read with interest many of these articles on Apple and security. I work as a Unix admin. As Mac OS X is Unix, it is inherently a more secure OS. This is because Unix was, from the beginning, built as a multi-user environment. Windows, on the other hand, was not. This isn't to say Unix systems aren't hackable as we all know they are, but it certainly is more difficult.
What annoys me about these articles is the smug tone that says "we told you so," which is just as bad as any smug Mac user. For example, you state in your article, "It's little surprise then that reports of Mac viruses have been rising steadily." Links to these reports? Any facts I can refer to?
As for hacking the iPhone, this is not considered a full-fledged computer, so to lump its security in with Mac OS X is a bit misleading -- to say the least. Of course, a stripped-down OS for a handheld device is not going to be as secure. Anyone that thinks otherwise is simply naive. Show me some hard facts that prove that OS X (NOT the iPhone version) is less secure than Windows including successful hacks and I'll be happy to sit up and take notice.
If that can't be done, I'll continue to consider articles such as this as nothing more than that other common human reaction to something that is really good -- envy.
Yours sincerely,
--N. MacQuarrie
WHERE ARE THESE REPUTED VIRUSES?
To quote Roger L. Kay, "It's little surprise then that reports of Mac viruses have been rising steadily." Kay blithely states that Mac viruses have been rising steadily. Where does he get this information? He should back up his statements with hard information.
To date, there have been no self-replicating Mac viruses in the wild. There have been a few proof-of-concept viruses discussed, but they required physical access to the machine.
There have been many reported vulnerabilities in Mac OS X, and most if not all have been patched. But one cannot equate vulnerabilities to viruses.
--Philip Ershler
UBUNTU 8.04
I use [Ubuntu version] 7.10, so i downloaded and burned 8.04 to a disk, [and I] also did the online upgrade. Both installed great, but reboot [led] to a blank screen. Seems as if it's not quite ready yet.
Regards,
--John Martin
HURLEY ARTICLE
"The executives have really turned it around in the last few years."
This guy is living in a fantasy world! People working there (at BMC) live in terror of losing their jobs from quarter to quarter. I don't see BMC adopting open source in a big way.
--David Gwartney
PAKISTAN BANS YOUTUBE
I don't know how serious you were by your "You can blame a Danish cartoonist and a Dutch filmmaker if you weren't able to watch video on YouTube last weekend" comment, but it's really inappropriate. It comes across as you blaming free speech for YouTube being down, as opposed to the exact opposite -- censorship -- on behalf of Pakistan.
--Steven Burton
MAD-AS-HELL BEST BUY CUSTOMER FILES $54M LAWSUIT OVER LAPTOP LOSS
In the first paragraph (of this story), it's stated that Best Buy refused to compensate her (the customer) fully. Unfortunately, compensation is only inclusive of loss. Loss -- in this case -- includes the laptop, and Best Buy not only offered to compensate, but extended its condolences with more than $2,000, despite the laptop only being worth roughly $900 new.
As far as data goes, (according to) the wonderful clause in EVERY tech service contract, the tech company is not responsible for any lost data. If I were Best Buy, I'd count my losses on a replacement computer and tell the customer the hard drive had to be wiped. You certainly aren't dealing with an ethical customer, so why be ethical in return?
--James Davidson
RE: GAMING ON MAC
I recently read the article on gaming for the mac written by Walaika Haskins, and while it was generally informative and correct, the author repeatedly referred to Apple's Boot Camp software alongside virtualization packages such as VMware and Parallels, which I think gives a mistaken impression. Boot Camp is merely a setup assistant and set of Windows drivers, which allow the user to install and run Windows NATIVELY on (his) Intel Mac hardware. It is not, by any means, a virtualization environment.
Virtualization packages do run native Windows code rather slowly and have questionable -- at best -- support for DirectX applications. Boot Camp allows the user to install Windows on a separate partition and optionally boot up into either Windows or Mac OS X.
I speak from (extensive) experience when I say that even graphically intensive games such as "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare," "Half-Life 2: Episode 2," and "EverQuest II," as well as lower-intensity games like "World of Warcraft" and "Sam & Max" run at least as well on my MacBook Pro running Windows as they do on my equivalently powered PC desktop machine.
--Scott Harper
UBUNTU: A HOW-TU
In your recent article, Ubuntu: A How-Tu, I noticed something that may confuse many people new to Linux. The author states, "One of the best things about Linux is its ability to run well even on rather elderly PCs that are not powerful enough to run Windows XP." Now, this is very true for many versions of Linux, like you state, but the article is about Ubuntu.
The newest versions of Ubuntu have higher system requirements than XP Pro. Ubuntu version 7.10 requires 384 MB of RAM (random access memory) for the Live CD version. I had an old laptop that had 256, so I installed Ubuntu 7.10 using the text-based installer. It installed fine but it was so much slower than XP, that I had to load XP back onto it. XP requires 128 but as low as 64 MB is supported. XP ran much faster on the same computer.
Now I know you were not stating that Ubuntu will run faster on older computers, but that's sure what the article makes it seem like.
Regards,
--Daniel Chandler-Klein
OPINION OF A LONG-TIME SILVER POWERSELLER
Thought you may be interested in a recent post of mine to the eBay bulletin board that eBay promptly removed. This was submitted on behalf of my mom:
Quoting Humphrey Bogart's character from "Casablanca": "I stick my neck out for nobody." In other words, keep selling.
If the eBay community is truly behind this boycott, your sales should increase. Let the rich be the do-gooders of the world. (Furnished by my son when I asked him what I should do regarding the boycott.) I am participating and communicated back and forth -- many times -- with Stacy of CNN Money, who is supporting our cause. As a retired paralegal of 35 years, I am keeping close watch on any lawsuit aspect of this situation. I wish I could participate in the boycott. I want to, but after much consideration and discussion with my children, I simply cannot afford to do so. I am retired on Social Security. My eBay store and auctions provide my only other income. Yes, I am very upset with eBay's new policies. They are not fair -- but then none of the changes eBay has made in the last few years have been fair to sellers.
I started selling on eBay in 2004 and attained Silver PowerSeller in less than 15 months. My feedback is over 6,000, at 99.9 percent, and I have about 30 percent of buyers who leave feedback. I sell nothing that costs more than (US)$90, and most of my items are about $30. And yes, I ship internationally. I have an unconditional 30-day money back guarantee, no questions asked. I even pay for return shipping if a buyer is unhappy. One hundred percent of the few negative feedback (items) I received never contacted me with questions or a request for refund, and most were because the product was lost in the mail. Of course I always ship a replacement if that happens. And the most interesting statistic is the buyers were new to eBay. Of course, they did not read the eBay statements about how to proceed before leaving negative feedback. eBay could easily have prevented this. But yet, eBay doesn't care and still does nothing. eBay is punishing sellers for good customer service and being completely honest.
My biggest complaint about eBay was a change last year. What REALLY FROSTED ME was when I saw posts from sellers that actually supported this change! They obviously were not businesspeople, and were only game players (sometimes called a "hobby").
Here is my complaint: eBay stopped us from listing for three days, then increasing it to five days, then seven, and then paying the additional 40 cents for 10 days. The reason eBay gave was that buyers did not like it. If that is true, why did my sales decrease 60 percent almost immediately?
If buyers did not like it, why were they buying? I have asked eBay this time after time and, of course, get no satisfactory response. My eBay auctions and store items are truly a "storefront" to me. What storefront owner actually puts something new on the shelf and does absolutely nothing to promote the sale for 10 days? No one making any money does that. So, from this old Harley-ridin' grandma, keep the rubber down, and good luck with your boycott.
--Shari Gab, Work At Home Companies Online
EBAY'S REPLY TO MY CONCERNS
An e-mail sent to eBay:
I am very disappointed with the new changes eBay (implemented) on Feb. 20, 2008.
1. Reducing my listing cost by (US)5 cents is great, but raising my final value fee by 3.5 percent is too much.
2. Buyers will only be able to receive positive feedback? It will be sellers beware. Auction-style sellers will be readings the buyers' feedbacks to see if they have a history of leaving negative feedback and removing bids for those that do. There are good and bad buyers out there too. Basically, there will be no consequences for buyers who do not read auction descriptions, don't like the movie they bought, (experience) slow or lost mail, or a thousand other reasons.
3. The new feedback rating system sounds like a twisted maze of new math and IRS forms. My status sounds like it could change from day to day.
4. What the heck is the thing about PayPal holding payments? So, I may never get paid for an auction I ship because the buyer leaves negative feedback?
5. The only thing I am seeing in these new changes is a lose-lose situation for sellers. Paying eBay a great deal in fees last year plus a one-third cost in postage fees -- nearly closed me down. Now, I'm afraid with these new changes that my time with eBay maybe coming to an end. I think somebody needs to rethink these changes and their real impact on sellers.
Part of eBay's reply:
It is true that we have raised some of the final value fees, but this is only to balance the changes we made to the insertion fee schedule and also offering free gallery. PayPal may delay release of the payment funds to the seller. This would be only until the buyer has left a positive feedback or 21 days have passed without a dispute, claim, chargeback or reversal filed on that transaction.
--Gilbert Stevenson
I HEAR COMCAST AND MY BLOOD BOILS!
I just don't understand why they have all of sudden got such a big head. We used to have Adelphia -- they always were nice polite and easy to ask questions to. The same people work for Comcast, and they have got a Big Attitude!
I had to get rid of them altogether and, yes, take a slower connection. But half the time, my connection was not what Comcast promised. They said I was supposed to get up to 12 mg download -- most of the time it was maxing out at 3. No, it was not my machine -- I have 4 gigs of RAM (random access memory) and a SATA (serial advanced technology attachment) hard drive at 7200 RPM -- and it is not cluttered. I know for a fact that because I had Comcast cable and Internet, the good ol' boys in my neighborhood all of sudden had it too. When I would tell Comcast about it, they would tell me that no one was using my service but me. RIGHT!
The place that I made a mistake about moving to is Port St. Lucie, Fla. I use to live further south in West Palm Beach just about all my life, and when I moved up here, well, not only is Comcast the worst, but so is just about all the other services. If I am able at any point, I would like to supply free WiFi for the whole area -- maybe I would be able to make some friends then, but I suspect that Comcast and all the others would come after me. ...
Why not have free Internet? That is the way everyone gets around anyway, so then maybe you would be able to sell more items and it would not cost so much for people to try there ideas out. I say give it to them. I will -- if God is willing.
--William Lyman
RE: EBAY SELLER REVOLT
Fees are only one avenue of eBay's downfall. I was blackballed out of buying or selling for a non-stated reason, the closest I could get for a reason was: You have a low customer satisfaction rating, you do not ship what you sell, OR you are not stating what you sell factually.
I tried to garner assistance from eBay when I ran into unkosher behavior from a buyer, but they only sent me to put in a review -- no assistance given. I tried to be very accurate in my listings by going online and gathering details and specs for my item, even finding photos -- it would take me an hour or so for certain computer accessories, etc. I tried to get specific answers to my blackballed status, but I did not get it. I checked to see if anyone had posted a complaint about me in the system, but nothing was there.
I mentioned to some people I was buying from about the issue, and I found out that two I know of were also treated this way -- without ANY warnings they were shut out of their stores. They were kept out for weeks at a time. Meanwhile, eBay expects you to keep paying your fees of course! One was looking for a way to do her own store without eBay -- I gave her some suggestions and this was about one year ago now. Another indicated that he also ran into this within the last two years, he was not happy either.
I have never returned to eBay and I never will. I no longer sell things online, I paid my fees and took my losses. It was ALL losses for me. Whenever I see classes to learn how to sell on eBay, I e-mail the teacher how they should be teaching how NOT to join eBay and why, that they should warn their customers to stay away. I never hear from them of course!
eBay is a fraudulent site, they say they are fair, but I read how they will no longer accept any commentaries by sellers if they are not absolutely positive -- so how is this fair? The truth is, the buyer is allowed to stiff "us," to demand repayment without sending the item back and to post inflammatory comments against "us" without contacting "us" for a solution! It happened to me over and over again in just six months time! I was devastated -- to say the least!
Sincerely,
--Sandra Marr, Computer Tutor On Site
"WOULD-BE WIKIPEDIA REPLACEMENTS STUMBLE" IS AN EMBARRASSING HATCHET JOB
To the editors:
The characterizations of Citizendium in the article "Would-Be Wikipedia Replacements Stumble" by Mick O'Leary are either false or deeply misleading and, in any case, journalistically irresponsible. This article does a huge disservice to the hundreds of people who contribute to the Citizendium each month, as I will demonstrate. Mr. O'Leary should have actually interviewed me -- which he easily could have done. But I was never contacted. It appears that he had already made up his mind, and the facts were not going to stand in his way.
To comment on a few of his poorly researched remarks:
"This occurs through a highly convoluted process for submitting, reviewing and approving changes, in which editors and authors collaborate in an intricate hierarchical relationship."
This is simply and provably untrue, and belies any understanding whatsoever on Mr. O'Leary's part about how the Citizendium actually works. The process of making changes to Citizendium articles is virtually identical to that of making changes on Wikipedia: It is a wiki. You can see this by a casual glance at our recent changes page. As Wikipedia's main architect, I am not about to change parts of the Wikipedia model that work. The ease of contribution is the same in Citizendium and Wikipedia. Furthermore, it is highly misleading to say that there is "an intricate hierarchical relationship" between Citizendium editors and authors. In fact, they work side-by-side on the wiki, editing each other's prose; editor authority is rarely exercised. Mostly, editors "lead by example."
"What are the results of the Citizendium authority-driven model? Not much. There are 4,000-plus articles in Citizendium, but this number is misleading. Many articles are one paragraph or one page 'starters' with little content."
We have 5,400 articles now, and we have added our most recent 2,000 articles in the last three months or so. The number is hardly "misleading." In fact, the average length of the articles we created was six times as long as the average length of the articles Wikipedia had in its first year. We actually added more words in our first year than Wikipedia did in its first year, and now have about 6 million words.
"Citizendium's articles don't differ greatly from their Wikipedia counterparts; often, there are only minor editorial changes."
This is, again, provably false. In fact, we have more articles in the database than the 5,400 we take credit for; we do not include in that number the articles copied from Wikipedia to which we did not make significant changes. Moreover, we delete Wikipedia-sourced articles that do not undergo significant change. Most of our articles (I don't have the percentage ready to hand, but I think it's something like 60 to 70 percent) are original to us. By policy we discourage people from copying from Wikipedia. Not only are we growing, our growth has been accelerating very nicely on multiple measures -- number of active contributors, number of articles started per day and so forth. Acceleration is the opposite of "stumbling."
"First, their models of contributor/expert collaboration are cumbersome and laborious, which makes it hard to get anything done."
This claim does not describe the Citizendium community at all. The model of collaboration is the same as that used by Wikipedia: again, just look at our recent changes page. When we say that editors and authors typically work shoulder-to-shoulder in a bottom-up collaborative process, we mean it! That's how it works, and it does work quite well. That's why the project has grown as well as it has in its first year. That's why it's accelerating.
"Second, their models, which merge old- and new-paradigm encyclopedia publishing, are uncomfortable marriages. They insist upon old-paradigm authority and stability, yet they are trying to work within a new paradigm, which discounts old school authority and dismisses stability."
This represents a deep confusion on Mr. O'Leary's part: He has not even made an effort to try to understand how the marriage might actually be taking place. He did not observe that only 50 of our articles are approved so far (mind you, that's a statistic we will soon be making changes to improve). Even those articles are not "stable" in the sense that no one can improve them; in fact, our approved articles are often improved in the attached "draft" pages, which anyone can contribute to. It is extremely misleading to lump Citizendium in with Veropedia.
The Citizendium is more active by about two orders of magnitude. We now average well over 500 edits per day, have 40 to 50 different editors and authors working on the Web site each day, and over 200 different contributors each month. By contrast, Veropedia does not use named, verified experts, as Mr. O'Leary would have discovered if he had done minimal research. Moreover, it features only a dozen of log entries per day, and these are not "edits" but simply someone copying an article over from Wikipedia. The Citizendium is another whole kettle of fish. I believe Mr. O'Leary and this publication owe the many fine contributors to the Citizendium an apology for this hatchet job. Frankly, due to its many hostile, ill-informed misrepresentations, it verges on libel.
--Larry Sanger, Ph.D., editor-in-chief of Citizendium
EBAY UNFAIR TO SELLERS!!
With the new feedback system proposed at eBay that the seller may no longer leave negative feedback for a buyer, we as sellers are sitting ducks for any thief and con artist.
Our final fees will soon be calculated on our feedback rating. With this new system and the buyer having the power to lower your feedback score, we will either have to agree to lose money to a con artist or to eBay in our selling fees. Either way, the seller loses. The buyer will lose also because the seller will have to raise prices to cover the costs of the new fees.
And also, they have created another hurdle for the seller in that they must be registered with PayPal -- which is owned by eBay -- and take the risk of funds being frozen according to their feedback scores and what PayPal determines to be a risky transaction.
So now, the seller sells an item and is paid for the item through PayPal. (The seller) must ship the goods to the buyer and possibly wait 21 days to actually receive payment for the item. Who do you think pays the shipping charges for this item??? Not eBay, Not PayPal!! The seller. Then, as a seller, I risk that they may file a claim on this money and PayPal will refund them, so I've lost my merchandise, packaging materials and also the shipping charges!! Now this sounds like a con artists' playground. Personally, that is a risk that I am not willing to take -- me, along with thousands of other sellers and buyers on eBay. We are banding together -- strong, and with a vengeance.
The boycott is scheduled for Feb. 18-25, and many -- like myself -- are moving completely away from eBay over this. I am already registered with another online auction and will be spending the next week preparing for the big move. Goodbye to eBay!!
We have taken the fee increases over the last year and just sat quietly not saying much, but this has totally gone too far. The boycott of eBay is real!! We are talking about people's livelihoods being messed with. As both a buyer and a seller on eBay, I feel that I can speak fairly.
--Debi Pieraccini
TRICKED-OUT KNEE BRACE GENERATES POWER WHILE YOU WALK
TechNewsWorld is presumed to be cutting-edge. This knee brace generator -- which three universities are trying to develop -- is cumbersome and already antiquated. It's old hat already.
Just read Bill Bryson. He accomplished this a long time ago! All you need is to wear the right boots. Very good for armies, and all other "techies."
Sincerely,
--John Turnbull
FTC SHOULD APPROVE MICROSOFT'S BID FOR YAHOO
If the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has consumer interest in mind, it will approve Microsoft's bid for Yahoo, should Yahoo choose to move forward with the deal. The new firm would be able to put tremendous pressure on online ad leader Google, forcing margins for both companies down while either saving money for advertisers, increasing payouts to content creators or both.
A stronger competitor to Google in the market means a richer Internet and innovative new technologies -- things we all want.
--Cord Blomquist, Competitive Enterprise Institute
WHY DO YOU KEEP QUOTING ROB ENDERLE?
Rob Enderle has been wrong so many times that it is appalling that anyone continues to give him the status as an expert. If you want a list of his errors, I will be glad to give it to you.
In your "Are Toshiba's Price Cuts HD DVD's Swan Song?" article, he promotes downloads over Blu-ray, but later says that there could still be a miracle for HD DVD. What happens if the miracle comes? Then downloads AREN'T the way to go? Enderle is CLEARLY biased against anything Blu-ray. He is NOT an impartial observer.
--William Roberts
RE: OLPC VS. INTEL: DEVELOPING NATIONS OR EMERGING MARKETS?
In the article, it says that Intel has come under fire for competing with OLPC (One Laptop per Child). The statements I have seen from (OLPC founder) Nicholas Negroponte criticize Intel for dumping product on "emerging markets" at below cost -- as opposed to OLPC, who provide laptops at cost. This is different than normal market competition.
That is the key to understanding the conflict. Intel is accused of abusing their wealth -- by selling below cost -- in an attempt to shut OLPC out of the "market," rather then competing fairly.
--Alan Pater
BLU-RAY IS SONY'S IRAQ WAR
Hi!
I am upset with the "Blu-ray is Sony's Iraq" article. Aside from incorrect information in the article (Blu-ray movies accounted for 72 percent of all high-def movie sales last week, and has outsold HD DVD all year long, so I fail to see how HD DVD sold well and Blu-ray didn't), the comparison to the Iraq War was distasteful in my opinion.
The silly comparison was mocking all the men and women fighting in Iraq right now and was a poor tribute to those who have died in Iraq. I would appreciate it if future articles about Blu-ray, HD DVD or other electronics would leave out rude and unnecessary comparisons. I would also appreciate it if your authors would double-check their facts and list sources before making (false) claims.
Thank you!
--Jeff Gudorf
IN REGARDS TO "BLU-RAY IS SONY'S ... "
Mr. Enderle,
I'm writing you in regards to your recent online column posted on TechNewsWorld.com. As an analyst, it would have made some amount of sense for you to have thought what you were writing through before posting it publicly. Your analogy was tasteless, insensitive and appalling.
You write, "Now look at Blu-ray. Since bringing it out, Sony has trashed its PlayStation division, had to downsize a number of top executives including the guy that was credited with creating the PlayStation's success in the first place. The company's financial performance has largely dropped into the toilet and it has had to sell off parts of the company to Toshiba, the company behind the other format. Key studios have abandoned it, some of which have gaming properties that probably now won't go to PlayStation. Sony has nearly assured that whatever country gets the next media format, it won't be Japan and probably will be China, it will be constantly reminded of the Betamax mistake, Nintendo is No. 1 in the gaming segment, and it'll be locked into a battle it can neither win nor exit from. You'd have to believe that the guy making the proposal would be chased by ninjas out of the office and his ending wouldn't have been a good one."
You're are absolutely correct, sir. Your assumption of Sony's executive level business practices are quite similar to a war in which casualty numbers are so high that they are without accurate estimate. You're absolutely right that Sony's corporate atmosphere is very similar to a region of the world where American soldiers have gone missing or have lost their lives.
I'm sure you'll similarly be receiving countless mailings from the Blu-ray camp regarding your suspiciously vague blanket statements and assumptions that suggest you were far too lazy to fact-check your own opinion outside of the one non-Wikipedia link you posted.
But it's quite clear to me that you haven't had anyone close to you serve in this very real war. That you haven't lost a loved one or seen the torment of your buddy from high school who came back home missing a leg. That you are so completely removed from things that you deem it appropriate to compare a so-called "format war" to the real thing. Maybe you're just trying to get a rise out of people and think this is funny, and maybe this column was written in hopes of getting a few more hits based upon its sensationalism.
No matter what your intentions, you should be ashamed of yourself.
--Unsigned
EDITORIAL FAUX PAS?
As a U.S. veteran, I'm appalled by R. Enderle's editorial comparing events in an electronics format tussle to U.S. efforts in Iraq, essentially describing U.S. efforts as "brain-dead."
Such a comparison is inappropriate and uncalled for, and I can only conclude that your employee, Mr. Enderle is the one who is brain-dead. I've forwarded the article to friends in various military and retired military fraternities.
Regards,
--K. Barham, retired U.S. vet
(Editor's Note: Enderle's column is not an editorial. It reflects his own opinions and does not represent the stance of ECT News Network.)
ROB ENDERLE ARTICLE
I'm absolutely disgusted in the recent article by Rob Enderle comparing the format war and Sony's position to Iraq. Regardless, whether true or not, the absurdity of comparing something as trivial on the world stage as HD media to a very real and very heartbreaking war is probably some of the most irresponsible reporting I've ever read. Ask any soldier how they would feel having HD DVD compared side-to-side with them dying.
--Mario Vengoechea
EFFICIENCY OF IBM MAINFRAMES
The energy savings IBM realized from replacing smaller servers with Linux mainframes ("IBM Turns a Brighter Shade of Green With Linux Mainframe Switch") has, of course, nothing to do with Linux and most to do with the inherent capabilities of mainframe architecture.
As the article points out, the mainframe eliminates all those power supplies. Note that this implies that the recent architectural trope, bladed servers, cannot be as efficient in this sense as the mainframe. IBM has done a great job upgrading the mainframe since it came under attack from Unix boxes and minicomputers two decades ago.
If bandwidth for most remote users can be dramatically raised and its cost kept within reason, we may see a reprise of mainframes. Being able to run applications remotely would eliminate having to struggle with the increasing complexities of PC OSs, firmware upgrades, compatibility issues, and most importantly it would offload the bother of trying to cope with viruses and spam to those running the mainframe.
--Tom Shillock, M2 Consulting
PRIVACY COVERAGE - PATRIOT ACT
RE: "Civil Liberties, ISPs and the FBI's Letter-Writing Campaign"
ECT is to be commended for its sustained editorial commitment to the protection of liberty from the wanton appetites of an executive whose thirst for power is unlimited.
Please continue to cover the story with more articles that examine the excesses of the domestic war on terror. Obviously, this is a real fight against a real enemy ("Web of Terror, Part 1: Extremists Take to the Net"; "Web of Terror, Part 2: Chasing a Moving Target") ... but it is a grave mistake to assume everyone everywhere is the enemy.
--David Faibish
COMPUTER GREMLIN STRANDS THOUSANDS OF UNITED AIRLINES PASSENGERS
This (story) is a Harbinger of things to come.
The people who created and maintained these large complex systems are retiring. The computer industry is showing that it is not able to attract, train and retain replacements. Our education system and our reward system, indeed, our culture is focused on creating people who know very little that relates to resolving this problem.
The Internet environment is a probabilistic environment and suffers from lockups and other failures. We accept these failures as just a fact of life. This attitude spills over into our education, on-the-job training and reward system. Otherwise, skilled people are worrying about how to download ringtones rather than making a career in mission-critical systems.
A mission-critical system must be deterministic and must have strict operating rules to ensure complete reliability of operation. This is a tough environment, and people naturally prefer the easy money and an easy life. I'm just as guilty as many and perhaps symptomatic of the times: Leaving a job in a division of Ferranti dedicated to creation and operation of mission-critical systems to work on office automation at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center). In parallel, leaving a teaching post in the Computer Science Department at the University of Edinburgh, where I had the opportunity to help students identify the mission-critical environment as a career opportunity rather than a curiosity.
Bottom line: The story basically says that we should expect this sort of outage and get used to it. The more we accept this sort of thing, the worse it will get: An inconsistent data set will put two people into a seat designed just for one. While this may be resolved by bumping and a skillful customer-oriented gate agent (i.e. operator) a similar situation in Air Traffic Control (ATC) can lead to disaster.
We are already seeing situations in ATC where the computers are putting two aircraft into airspace for one. The reservation system collapse is therefore symptomatic of other mission-critical environments where aging systems are now prone to failure due to poor maintenance and inappropriate operating procedures. To make matters worse, we are not providing training and incentives to replace the operators that are retiring. Operators that have the skill and judgment to intervene when they see that a system is operating incorrectly and that data is inconsistent.
A big and growing problem is in the ATC arena. (President) Reagan dismantled the Air Traffic Controllers Union with the effect that this high-pressure and very skillful job is not seen as a suitable career by enough people. The result is that the skills and reflexes of the controllers will not be there in sufficient numbers to partially overcome the increasing failures of these systems. Sorry to say, but things will get a lot worse.
--John Ellenby, president and CEO, GeoVector
IN THE ARTICLE "MIT WIZARDS ZAP ELECTRICITY THROUGH THE AIR"
I found it sad that no mention was made that Nikola Tesla demonstrated the transmission of electrical energy without wires. That depends upon electrical conductivity as early as 1891.
MIT Wizards Zap Electricity Through the Air
--Russell Rice
HILLARY'S TECHNOLOGY PLAN
It is with deep disappointment that my husband and I read Hillary Clinton's stance on increasing the numbers of H-1B visas in the U.S. There is a total misconception that we do not have talented software engineers in the U.S. available to work. The problem is that the industry standard is to hire them at fire sale prices. Or perhaps the better comparison is to compare the H-1B visa recipients as indentured servants.
The fact is they can probably get work, where my husband has had difficulty.My husband is a very talented software engineer but he cannot compete with the lower paid H-1B recipients. The corporate mentality is that they must hire these workers at approximately half price to remain competitive. The fact is, my husband and many other software engineers would be willing to work at half price, just to stay in the industry and to feel valued. Also, there is a little known fact that the H-1B recipients must stay at THE SAME U.S. corporation for several years to become eligible to get their green cards. So therein, they are indentured and suffer less than optimal employment environments.
So, the corporations have it figured out. Half-price engineers who cannot afford to move -- unfortunately, this is not good for the U.S. at any cost. We are paying the price of a decreased standard of living that is a direct result of outsourcing or going offshore to decrease the quarterly bottom line of corporations. It makes sense, right? Lower prices, better earnings, sell more stock. The corporations are fat and happy. Unfortunately, the next generations are smart enough to talk to their mother/brothers/cousins and are not majoring in computer science at all. From the peak of the 1990s, the number of new computers science majors has dropped 70 percent.
So, let's make our stock holders happy and the new developments, engineering achievements and discoveries will not be made in the U.S. We are selling out for the short term and our children will not have the opportunity to be middle class because there will be no middle class. So teach your children well. Teach them a skill where they must be present to be paid. And Hillary, please educate yourself and don't sell out to the big business lobbyists who can finance your campaign. Even if Chelsea is not at risk, think of your grandkids ... and mine.
--Jo Jenrette
IPHONE - AFTER-PURCHASE ACTIVATION NIGHTMARE
After waiting in line at a remote AT&T store to buy my gadget -- and paying my nieces $200 for switching places while I was at work, I was the first customer purchasing an 8 MB from a Lakeville/Apple Valley store in Minnesota. Fourteen hours later and perhaps no less than 13 runaround phone calls to AT&T, my costly iPhone is yet to be activated. Having been an AT&T customer for the last four to five years, I am completely embarrassed to have stood up for their service and so on. AT&T service reps are "great" at apologizing and "sympathizing" with my issues, yet it does not change the fact my phone is not yet active. Furthermore, their stories demonstrated the lack of well-informed AT&T customer service representatives and the information flow between their departments. Calling their "activation experts" render my deepest concern for my investment in their technology.
The individual who answer the phone actually told me that activating my iPhone through iTunes was INCORRECT. That I needed to activate it through AT&T and provided me with a URL that in fact, took me back to iTunes. In talking to very many individuals within AT&T trying to resolve my issue, I learned that there are thousands or tens of thousands of customers experiencing the same fate I am. I was aware of "growing pains" and "bleeding edge," but these issues are embarrassing to the lamest persons. AT&T states that their "network" is "bugged down." How difficult is it to truly do a job well? Not very, testing and proper forecasting would have prevented this.
Future buyers beware -- your phone could take no less than 24 hours to be activated and, if you are like me as one who is merely upgrading phones, make sure they don't deactivate your 'functioning' phone or else you will be like me ... no phone ATT all.
--Axel Sasso, The Sasso Group
SYMANTEC'S ULTIMATE INSULT
I just received the ultimate insult from Symantec. I renewed my subscription to Internet Security in November 2006. I haven't had any problems until today (May 22). I got an error message stating an internal program error with Norton AntiVirus occurred.
I followed the on-screen prompts and received two options: 1) Move to Vista (?) or run AutoFix Tool. I have no use for Vista. I'm running XP Pro, so I selected option 2. I got to the end of the install, and Symantec said it couldn't determine my system.
Norton has recognized my system since November 2004. My subscription is supposed to be good until November 2007. So, now what? I think it's time to contact the attorneys general of a number of states and see what shakes out of the tree.
P.S. I know Symantec was planning to gouge people over paying for updates at intermediate times during a year.
--George Brewer
THE LONELY VOICE OF DISSENT AT NOVELL'S BRAINSHARE
This whole thing with Novell and Microsoft looks more like the Time Warner/AOL merger.
Those of us that have been paying attention can clearly see that the big boy's are playing "Monopoly" with software and services and we the little people are the ones that get to pay the price for the mistakes of the big boy's like Microsoft and Novell.
I would think that if Microsoft truly wanted to make a difference in the OS community for the end user's that they would come up with an actual stable working version of windows before moving on to crush the competition.
--George Sjostrom
GETTING OUT OF CELL CONTRACTS
If you are locked into a cell contract, it's usually pretty easy to get out of.
Call them and tell them you can't afford the phone, and you want to downgrade to a less expensive package. Most companies will let you change packages, as long as you don't cancel. Keep downgrading until you get to the least expensive package, and then downgrade to the emergency standby package.
Most companies have a low cost "Grandma needs a cellphone package" for people who just want to be able to call for help if the car breaks down.
Pay for the emergency package for a few months, and then cancel. At that point they may charge you for the remainder of the contract, but they will do so at the rate of the package you are currently on, not the one you signed up for originally, since they already let you off the hook for that one at their own discretion.
Often they will look at the package you are on, and the buyout for the emergency package isn't even worth sending out an invoice for, and let you go. Once you are free, you can go out and buy yourself that shiny new iPhone.
Whee!
--Bernard Becker
HELLO IPHONE, GOODBYE CELL PHONE?
Why so much hype over Apple's iPhone? We already have smartphones that can connect to the Web, take pictures, etc. It sounds to me like Apple's latest move is more advertising than substance.
--Tarsee Li
MICROSOFT, NOVELL AND UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
I'm of the opinion that what these global 2000 corporations should be doing, is pressuring Microsoft into signing a uniform escrow deal with them -- i.e., if Microsoft goes out of business or gets delisted, all the Microsoft software they currently have installed gets released under either the GPL or a similar reciprocal license.
The effects would be twofold: tne, Microsoft may have to realize that it's just as likely to collapse as PanAm, another company renowned -- in all the wrong ways -- for its service, and whose customers need to be legally protected against such an eventuality as much as Linux users need to be protected against SCO-alleged "stolen code"; two, the companies that undertake such an arduous undertaking would get some seriously needed education in the escrow effect of the GPL -- it's a built-in escrow.
I can take up the maintenance of an abandoned software package; I can set up a company to do it; anyone else can do the same with whatever I have written and/or maintained.
Have a think about it.
--Wesley Parish
YEAR OF THE TECH PATENT LAWSUIT
Thank you for your article. Please permit me to respond to a few things.
Regarding patent reform, my experience has been that it is anything but easy to get a patent. I have patent applications that have been pending for over 14 years!
Rather, this misconception about bad patents is but a red herring fabricated by a few multinational tech firms who more often than not find themselves on the wrong end of patent lawsuits -- a la RIM. This is merely an attempt by such firms to legalize their theft and make it harder for anyone but them to obtain and enforce patents. They come not to fix the patent system, but bury it.
Sadly, some legislators and other parties have been duped by these slick firms and their well greased lawyers, lobbyists (some disguised as trade or public interest groups), and stealth PR firms. Don't be surprised to find the Washington lobbyist scandal spreading into the patent deform proceedings.
--Stephen Wren, actuary/inventor, St. Louis
VISTA SECURITY
The article on Vista security missed one very important point. While MS made the OS more secure, it failed to harden Outlook 2007. A scanner in Outlook 2007, based on heuristics of malware design that would identify specific threats and allow safe attachments through, would have gone far to improving MS's image and confidence in their products.
As things stand today, Vista as an OS is very secure. A person would have to intentionally allow malware onto the Vista OS. However, other MS products running on Vista are not secure beyond the standard warning about opening unsafe attachments in Outlook.
Who at MS didn't see this coming? Why weren't common preventive action techniques used during development? MS, with the money and manpower to do the job right, is apparently still living in a corrective action world (patches and "updates") of their own.
--Bob Sireno
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