Tuesday, May 04, 1999

Benoit Cazenave, a Frenchman, thanks Americans for developing the Internet. Of course I believe there are some Americans who are not idiots, but as a group, measured by the polls, we are. Al Gore talks about the Wisdom of the American People. Pfui! I think the American people, collectively, are about as wise as a bored four year-old.

Karl Fast: Canadians are Idiots Too.

Dan Gillmor: Australians are Idiots Too.

Wired: SEC Chairman To Investors -- Get a Clue. "To investors: Don't be idiots. To online brokers: Don't prey on the idiots. To regulators: Don't draft heavy-handed laws to protect the idiots from themselves." The idiots are everywhere today.

John Dvorak: Bland PCs.

Perl XML FAQ.

InfoWorld reviews Mac OS X Server.

MSNBC: Cuba Stomps Baltimore, 12-6. "The Orioles, whose AL-worst 7-17 record belies their payroll of more than $78 million, were completely outplayed by a team whose players make a total of about $2,250."

Deep Fun: Png Ponnng.

As you may know, Netscape bundles our Mac IdleTime INIT with Communicator. This has been a huge annoyance and distraction for us, as people send us emails blaming it for all kinds of system ills. However, today, Virginia Lindsey reports a real problem with the way Netscape is using IdleTime. This is a support issue for Netscape.

InfoWorld: Lucent to debut collaboration software. "It's a persistent place on the Internet or a corporate intranet where people can go and get engaged in a variety of activities."

The product Lucent will be releasing: BitRoom. It's an interesting piece of software. On the client it's an enhanced web browser.

eBay: Now you can buy your own planet!

NY Times: Companies derail the burnout track.

Wired: MS cheated in DOS war. "What the guy is supposed to do is feel uncomfortable, and when he has bugs, suspect that the problem is DR-DOS and then go out to buy MS-DOS," Brad Silverberg, a Microsoft executive, allegedly wrote in a 1992 email cited by Caldera.

News.com analyzes the rebuttal witness choices in the Microsoft anti-trust trial.

InfoWorld: Foes tee off on Microsoft. "Solaris is the New York Yankees," Bernard said. "NT is the Taiwan little leaguers. Solaris is Niagra Falls; NT is a spring mist." Go get em Bill!

Wired: MP3.COM signs Tori Amos and Alanis Morissette. "The report says Morissette will post songs on MP3.com that were recorded live on her tour, and that she may take a stake in the young company." This is how it will happen.

Wired: Never Mind. "In March, Tom Petty released a song from his Echo album -- Free Girl Now -- on MP3.com. But the MP3 file was taken down after two days because Warner Brothers had not approved the promotion. The song was downloaded more than 150,000 times before it was removed, however."