TEAM Zarate Tarrani Notes From the Field

April Fool? Mike's facetious 1 April entry was no joke. There is more to add about what I consider to be poor integrity of products coming from Microsoft. As a competitive intelligence specialist I certainly see the advantage of having competitors using Microsoft products. However, since exploiting security holes is an illegal and unethical approach to gathering intelligence the exposures that are reported I cannot take advantage of the problems that seem to go with using Microsoft products.

In addition to the issues that Mike raised, here is another that was reported on 2 April: MS security patch fails on local files. It's no coincidence that Mike, Linda and I all use Netscape - we closely follow security issues and the reported problems with Microsoft products is one reason why we avoid using them when there are alternatives. Of course, there are barriers to escape as shown in Windows Messenger 'Trojan update'. Sounds like monopolistic behavior to me. Oh, I forgot - they're convicted of monopoly. Never mind.

One approach to resolving the problems is proposed by Sun's chief scientist, John Gage, in a 29 March interview with The Register. See Make Microsoft pay for bugs and BSODs - Sun's Gage for the full text.

Intellectual Property and Lunacy. The Gage interview is important for reasons other than Microsoft's problems - the true message is in his thoughts on intellectual property; specifically what he has to say about Surviving Valenti. Along these lines the Wired News article titled The Kazaa Ruling: What It Means is an outstanding analysis of intellectual property issues, especially as they relate to peer-to-peer and file sharing. It's a brave new world and the law makers just don't seem prepared to deal with it. But deal with it they must. See ElcomSoft squares up to Feds in Sklyarov test case. This is the first time in a case that will challenge America's controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In my opinion this is a good move. For more background see the 16 November 2001 article titled IP conference: copyright law has gone too far. Not only has it gone too far, it seems to cater to special interests and is anti-consumer. If you want to closely follow these issues read Lisa Rein's weblog - she is on top of the issues and pulls no punches when reporting them.

A Smile a Day. You just have to smile when you read reports like Microsoft's anti-Unix campaign backfires. Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity. Just don't be stupid yourself - there's sage advice in Your Biggest Threat, and you'll do well to heed the advice.

Final Note. I'll be working with Mike on a project in Kuwait (Insh'Allah) - Insh'Allah means God Willing. And if He is willing, in a few weeks I will have an opportunity to engage in process design, developing reference data and applying knowledge management in support of service delivery goals. Salaam from Irvine, California.