Fenced in

At the top of the Connor Pass in Kerry on Saturday.

Why is so much software so flaky?

Basically because software companies are able to escape liability for the flaws in their products. Imagine what it would be like if automobile companies could escape liability for lethal defects/features in their cars. Well, that’s the position with software today. It follows that if we wanted to make Cyberspace safer the quickest and most effective step would be for governments to legislate to change this. Nice essay on this subject by Bruce Schneier.

Microsoft’s ‘peace offensive’

You may have noticed that Gates & Co have been shelling out cash to companies that had complained about its monopolistic practices. Dan Gillmor has written an acute analysis of this phoney amicability. Quote:

“Microsoft’s $536 million settlement with Novell, which had sued on antitrust claims, was big money for Novell. It was less than pocket change for Microsoft, which at last count had nearly $65 billion in cash and short-term investments — and not a dime of debt.

In a slew of financial settlements with companies Microsoft has trampled over the years, the payout for wrongdoing is roughly $3 billion to date. That represents about three months of profit for a company that literally can’t spend its cash fast enough, and is giving shareholders a one-time bonus of $3 a share early next month. That payout will put only a temporary dent in the cash hoard.

What does all this mean? Simple. When governments fail to enforce the rules of capitalism, monopoly profits can buy one’s way out of almost any kind of trouble.

When the Bush administration made its odious deal to let Microsoft off the legal hook in 2001, it was giving the company an essentially free pass to do whatever it wishes in the future. There was no other way to look at it.

The administration’s cave-in was a relatively clear statement. Under this president, competition policy is industry’s job, not government’s, even if that means a dominant lawbreaker can buy itself out of antitrust troubles with a small dollop of profits recycled from its monopoly.

Promises to the contrary, there’s precious little evidence that Microsoft has made truly meaningful changes in its business practices — or that its leaders see their legal battles as anything but the frustrations of competitors defeated in a tough marketplace. The company continues to dominate almost all of its customers, ‘partners’ and competitors, while the government is at best indifferent, at worst a cheerleader.”

Next parish America…

… is what they used to say about Slea Head in Co. Kerry, the westernmost part of Ireland. We went there yesterday, and it was easy to believe it.

More from the you-couldn’t-make-it-up department

A Manchester publican who is scared of flying has bought a decommissioned RAF Vulcan nuclear bomber on eBay.

He paid £15,102.03 and is going to park it outside his pub in the hope of er, drumming up custom. My daughter’s comment upon hearing this: “Wonder what the post and packaging charges were.” And did he pay by PayPal?

Donald Knuth’s letter to Condoleeza Rice

“[the following letter was mailed in September 2002; I’ve had no response]

Dear Condi,

I’m 99.99% sure that my writing this letter will have no effect, but my conscience tells me to write it anyway. Danziger’s cartoon has pushed me out of my lethargy.

[His cartoon shows her banging on a grand piano, saying “War! War! War!”]

When I knew you at Stanford I had the greatest admiration for your abilities and good sense. (And I was disappointed that we never were able to get together to play four-hands music.) But now I cannot help but express to you my chagrin that the warm feelings I once had have basically evaporated. I hope you can pause to try to understand why this might be the case.

Fundamentally I don’t see how the government of my country has done anything whatsoever to address and correct the root causes of international terrorism. Quite the contrary; every action I can see seems almost designed to have the opposite effect — as if orchestrated to maximize the finances of those who make armaments, by maximizing the number of people who now hate me personally for actions that I do not personally condone. How can I be a proud citizen of a country that unilaterally pulls out of widely accepted treaties, that refuses to accept a world court, that flouts fair trade with shameful policies regarding steel and agriculture, and that almost blindly supports Israel’s increasingly unjustifiable occupation?

And worst of all, I find that my leaders, including you, are calling for war against a sovereign nation that we suspect to be corrupt, thereby (even if our suspicions are correct) undermining all precedents against unilateral action by other countries who might in future decide that our own policies are wrong. If we peremptorily strike country X, why shouldn’t country X have a right to do the same to us, and to our children and grandchildren in future years?

On my trips to Europe all I can do is hope that my friends there can help their governments try to make somebody in my own government act responsibly.

Sincerely, Don Knuth

P.S. This is the second time in my life that I have written a letter to a U.S. government official. The first time was during the Vietnam war.

For readers outside the computing world who don’t know why Don Knuth is a revered figure, see here.
7:04:41 PM    

Ten by Ten…

… is an extraordinary website which collects 100 words and pictures summarising what three leading international news sources (BBC, Reuters and New York Times) are saying and showing and presents them as a single image, taken to encapsulate that moment in time. Over the course of days, months, and years, 10×10 leaves a trail of these hourly statements which, stitched together side by side, it is hoped will form “a continuous patchwork tapestry of human life”.

Each hour is presented as a picture postcard window, composed of 100 different frames, each of which holds the image of a single moment in time. Clicking on a single frame allows one to peer a bit deeper into the story that lies behind the image. It’s beautifully crafted web design and a lovely use of RSS.

Have a heart

Student collecting for the British Heart Foundation, Cambridge, November 2004.

Crossing the bar

Seen through a telephoto lens on a park-and-ride bus one rainy Saturday recently.

Gone phishing

My Observer column about a new form of phishing which exploits certain, ah, features of Microsoft Windows is here. Audio version coming soon.