As you mayhaps have divined from the title of this post, I have decided to abandon the trainwreck formerly known as Facebook. I want to make it clear up front that it has nothing to do with any of my friends or anything which anyone I know has done something. This is all on Facebook and their lack of integrity and complete unwillingness to protect their member’s information.

The straw on the proverbial camel’s back was the Free iPad offering. I don’t fall for these scams and I don’t know anyone who would, yet Facebook joined me to a Fan Page which not only linked me to this group without my permission, but also spammed all of my friends. This is unconscionable behavior and I will not tolerate it.

Prior to this particular event, Facebook could not stop screwing around with their privacy policy and kept opting people in to things that members weren’t asked about. Facebook has also modified the privacy settings to make them difficult to use. You can’t even cancel an account without having to wait 14 days!

While I have no proof, I could easily speculate that their financial partners have been putting pressure on them to monetize the site somehow. After all, those Ziinga people have been pounding out millions of dollars in revenues from Facebook members, and I don’t think FB sees any of that. Word is that Facebook is going to change how that all works, and that Ziinga could be creating their own network in reaction.

[UPDATE: I'm a dork. I didn't realize that the article I was responding to was from 2005. My analysis remains valid, though. It would be interesting to find out how many verified exploit potentials have been found in Mac OS X and Safari which have been actively pursued. I'm betting the number is really small. -TCR]

The time has come. Symantec has officially come out and stated that there is an active malware infection potential for Mac OS X in the wild. Many people unfamiliar with the superior operating system have claimed that the Mac wasn’t getting noticed because it was too small a target. Now Symantec is saying that Mac OS X isn’t any more secure than Windows. I can take the former statement, even though there has never been less than 30 million Mac users in the last 10 years (this is a non-verified datum point, but I’m pretty confident I’m relatively close). There are far more Apple product users now, so I’d have to say that its extremely unlikely that anyone, anywhere has no clue who Apple Inc. is. That just seems ignorant.

That leaves us with the latter statement, that Mac OS X is as secure as Windows is. That’s like saying a Lamborghini Murcielago and Tata Nano are equal in capabilities because they are both cars. The very simple fact of the matter is that Windows is a sieve because it was designed that way. Microsoft has developed a load of scripting interfaces for Windows to facilitate developer diversity, they stick hooks to these technologies in everything, including IE, then they integrate IE into the OS, and literally millions of exploitation points are born. As long as a user’s IE security settings are turned down enough to allow scripts developed by legitimate programmers to run, there are plenty of holes into IE for malware to slip in. Continue reading…

I was just wondering what my site would have looked like back in the mid-90′s and I had to use GeoCities. Now I know. The embedded MIDI music track is pure icing!

Microsoft is stupid. They don’t get it, and after nearly 30 years, I doubt they ever will. Gates was an opportunist and not particularly creative and Steve Ballmer is a lunatic with no real vision. What do you expect from such a pair? I challenge you to produce a single shred of evidence that Microsoft has ever created something original, and it can’t be an acquisition, either. You will find nothing. Windows 7 is such a blatant and baldfaced copy of Mac OS X its ridiculous, and that’s the only way Microsoft figures it can maintain its ever dwindling market share.

Am I an Apple fan boy? Sure as hell am! I’m not ashamed to admit it, just like I’m pleased to admit that I was an LA Kings fan back when Gretsky was still on the ice and McSorley was cracking skulls. Apple, since Steve Jobs return in 1997, has fostered a steady and relentless growth, smoothly taking the few bumps along the way in stride and never missing step (i.e., Cube, HiFi, build quality issues). Now Apple, the company the press couldn’t stop using the word ‘beleagured’ to describe, is now a powerhouse in the mobile media and smart phone industry segments, and has been steadily growing their computer systems market share.

This is not the kind of market Apple can simply take over. People are invested in hundreds, even thousands, of dollars in PC gear and software and they won’t simply dump it all because Apple says boo. Considering that, it was brilliant that Apple started up the iPod industry and reshaped the music market single-handedly. I’m betting Jobs knew that they couldn’t grow on computers alone because Microsoft had the 90% marketshare. Then Apple came out with the iPhone to show people what a real computer can be like, another brilliant stroke. How can people not wonder how easy a Mac is to use when they love their iPhone. Continue reading…