Month: May 2002

Feng Shui for web designers.

The Web contains far too many straight lines. Ch’i doesn’t flow smoothly around these pages, and the user’s response to their repetitive appearance makes them all the more stagnant. The number of sites with a bar down the left side and a bar along the top is enormous. All those corners and right-angles lead to bad ch’i.

(Via Quiddity)

Way back in September, we went through a long, tortured process with Qwest Qworst in a vain attempt to get DSL at our house. Our Baby Bell insisted DSL was, in fact, available to us when we approached them directly to provision it (oddly enough, they had rejected it when we tried to go through a third party, but I rightly guessed they’d be much more enthusiastic if we tried to go directly to them). So they said, “Sure, it will work great from your house,” and they started the service and sent us the hardware and spent many tech support hours as we tried to figure out why the hardware didn’t detect a DSL signal and then spent many field service hours over a few days as wiring technicians came to our house and tested the lines and ran an alternate line to the house from the phone box in the backyard and tried and tested and toned and finally …

… reported back that the signal was far too weak, and that the order should never have been processed and that, in fact, somebody had had to override the “this won’t work” flag in the ordering system to get the order processed.

Margie called up Qworst and got them to throw us a bone on our billing. And, a few months later, after a couple of further phone calls, they sent more service folks out to get rid of the phone line left draped across our back yard.

Flash forward to the present …

My phone at the office rings. It’s Margie. Pleasant conversation ensues. Then she says, “Guess who’s playing in the backyard?”

Is this a trick question? “Katherine?”

“No, she’s down for a nap.” Silence. “I’ll give you a hint. They’re at the back of the lot, playing with the box.”

I flash on an image of Jake and Dizzy worrying a big cardboard box to pieces in the back yard. Before I can ask why the dogs are visiting, Margie says, “It’s US Qworst. They’re installing DSL next door. And guess what — <sarcasm>they’re having problems</sarcasm>.”

Now, I’d like to think that Qworst is simply so inept and incompetent in their record-keeping that nobody flagged our phone segment as too staticky or far from the CO or whatever for DSL to be provisioned through it, even after the September debacle.

Margie is less charitible. She thinks they simply stand to make money off a few months of service and (since it’s only by serious haranguing that you can get them to refund the money already paid for service that never worked — and even then, they’ve made some bucks off the float).

And it occurs to me that the field techs they sent out for us (and, presumably, again) were not actual Qworst techs, but from a contractor of Qworst’s. And if Qworst only has to pay when the problem is resolved ….

Margie calls that fraud.

Well. One way or the other, we’ll have to have a chat with the neighbors.

And who knows. Maybe they’ve solved the problem, and DSL can be provisioned to our house, too.

And maybe CEOs of Qworst, Micro$oft, and VeriSign will all hire me to solve their customer relations difficulties.

Guess which is most likely to happen first.

Simply amazing.

Jim Allchin, the GVP for Platforms at M$, testified that forcing M$ to share informations with competitors could seriously compromise national security, including the war effort in Afghanistan.

Why?

When you finish sifting through it, it’s because Microsoft’s coding is riddled with bugs and revealing APIs and protocols would make it even easier for hackers to break it.

In his written testimony, Allchin suggested several, far-reaching dangers that could develop if Microsoft is not permitted to withhold API and protocol disclosures when it has security-related concerns. “It is no exaggeration to say that the national security is also implicated by the efforts of hackers to break into computing networks,” Allchin, group vice president for platforms, wrote in his testimony. “Computers, including many running Windows operating systems, are used throughout the United States Department of Defense and by the Armed Forces of the United States in Afghanistan and elsewhere.”

Of course, since under the DoJ agreement (which the nine states are protesting) M$ would be able to exempt any API or protocol under security grounds, M$ is using its own incompetence as a shield to keep it from revealing anything it doesn’t want to reveal … and, not coincidentally, trying to wrap itself in the flag while doing so.

But, then, security through obscurity (don’t admit, don’t tell, take your sweet time in fixing) has long been a hallmark of M$ overall security strategy.

When pressed for further details, Allchin said he did not want to offer specifics because Microsoft is trying to work on its reputation for security.

In other words, Trust us, because we’re very security minded, so security-minded that we don’t even want to let you know where our security sucks.

Yeesh.

More on the entertainingly irksome scum at VeriSign.

(Via Xkot)

Three interesting stories from today’s Register, particularly when read in sequence:

1. An article about how VeriSign not only bungled a prominent domain transfer through its lack of verification procedures, but how it refuses to do anything about it, and in fact continues to maintain a crude, manual (and unauthenticated) domain management system in order to make it tough on folks to use a different registrar. (See this past post for more info.)

2. An article about how VeriSign has been slamming its competitor’s customers, sending them deceptive notices to try and get them to transfer their domain registration back over to them.

3. An article about how VeriSign wants to be your company’s trusted managed security vendor.

Micro$oft has entered into an agreement with BMW to use Windows CE as an OS for its controls. Does that mean that cars are going to start being covered by EULAs (End User License Agreements) and the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act)?

If so, this scenario may not be too far behind.

Preston: Yes, well, if you had read the license agreement when you had the chance, you would have seen that Microsoft places certain restrictions on the use of its software that we at ABC Motors, as a Microsoft OEM, are obligated to help enforce.
In order to protect its intellectual property from possible illegal transfer, Microsoft forbids you to disconnect any part of the electronic system. Furthermore, Microsoft reserves the right to have us install updates to their software and their digital rights management capabilities when you bring your car in for service.

The horror … the horror …

When is a computer virus not a computer virus?

When it’s a hoax about a virus, encouraging people to delete files off their computer which are actually legitimate system files.

If someone sends you a virus warning, check out some legitimate anti-virus sites. Some good ones to try”