Bug Crushing, Microsoft, and the NSA

Danger – Microsoft Inside

Ever wonder why Microsoft has historically been so bad at crushing bugs? I think I know why.

NSA Spying Scandal – An Analysis

NSA Logo

Like a lot of people, I’ve been following the NSA Spying Scandal closely. In fact, I’ve been following it for several years, since before I first ran into Barrett Brown. Seriously. The leaks about go back a long way, and most writers appear to have missed the implications.

National Security Agency Wins – Groklaw Shuts Down

Groklaw

On Tuesday August 20, 2013, PJ announced that Groklaw would shut down. To quote her final post:

The owner of Lavabit tells us that he’s stopped using email and if we knew what he knew, we’d stop too.

There is no way to do Groklaw without email. Therein lies the conundrum.

What to do?

The whole NSA spying on emails thing came out of left field to most people. I knew a fair bit about it before it hit the news – I’d been corresponding with a variety of people who were nibbling around the issue from various directions. The problem was that they were all working on different angles, and everything seemed to lead into one direction, which seemed like pure paranoia.

Unfortunately it wasn’t.

Getting the Desktop Back Up And Running

Me & Kleopatra

Due to various exigencies, my desktop got loaned out. In other words a friend’s gaming rig died, he needed something with lots of horsepower, and didn’t have the cash to buy a replacement. So he got my desktop as a loaner.

Ubuntu Drops Mono?

Ubuntu Logo

Word is out that Ubuntu is removing all the Mono applications from Ubuntu 12.04, Precise Pangolin.

TimeTrex Payroll and Time Management – Lying to Potentional Customers

Me and my junior editor, Kleopatra

I’m a Canadian Publisher. Originally I got into this to publish family. Originally.

Since people found out that I’m doing this, I’ve had a lot of requests from people who I know to expand. They are want me to do their publishing for them. So count this as an official announcement.

I’m expanding, and have already signed some writers.

But that’s not why I’m writing.

Office Suite Update

Me and my junior editor, Kleopatra

One of the consistently high scoring articles has been my write-up on LibreOffice/OpenOffice. It’s time to take another look at the two most popular Free Software Office Suites.

The Comment Wars

The Author and his Deceased Editor

To start off I’d like to make a sad announcement. Sam, my Beagle Dog, the handsome little guy who I’m holding in the picture above, who I’ve referred to as my “Editor in Chief” (he sat beside me when I wrote every article for the last four years) died in June. He was chasing a rabbit, and it cut across a road. Sam didn’t look.

He is greatly missed by the family, and by his pack mate Rose..

Libre Office 3.4 Beta 1

 

The Warning Label

Downloading Libre Office 3.4 Beta 1, and I noticed the warning label. They don’t want me to use it for mission critical purposes, like running the atomic reactor I’m building in the back yard. WTF? I thought the idea of releasing Betas was to test them!

The Android Header File Controversy Or 'The Sky Is Falling By Florian'

Florian Müller Profile on Blogger

I’ve been sitting back watching the newest Florian Müller psycho babble play out. It always plays to the same formula. Florian Müller raises the alarm. The people who actually know what they are talking about explain why Florian is wrong. Again.