« December 2004 | Main | February 2005 »
I wrote about Microsoft's foray into anti-spyware a little bit ago and I've now had a chance to try the software out. Overall, it seems to work for me. Install was painless and it scans my system very quickly. I have to say "seems to work" because it didn't find any spyware and I have no reason to believe that I have any. Other people have a different opinion.
I hadn't heard of XBRL before this article on Reuters today., but it looks like it has some pretty solid backing from the list of members on the XBLR website. Anything that makes financial markets more transparent is a good thing and this seems like a step in the right direction - it is easy to imagine writing software that sorts through the data and makes portfolio recommendations in real-time as the data is provided.
I can hardly believe it but apparently the Amiga has been revived. The brief history about the Amiga in this article is interesting - who would have known that the Amiga has been sort of crusing along under the radar for the past 15 years. The big question that I have to ask on this is why? There are plenty of good OS options out there, why would anyone choose Amiga?
What is Google up to with this? I'm sure they use tons of bandwith, but why would they want their own network? Maybe they have discovered how to teleport objects over fiber optics and are now offering the ability to search for your lost keys from a distance?
I don't get the whole binary XML thing. Sure, I know XML is slow but if performance (either size or speed) is one of the primary criteria for your application and broad interoperability is not, then why would you be using XML at all? If you need both high-performance and broad interop, then you need to make some compromises. Creating binary XML isn't going to help much unless it somehow becomes a widely accepted standard because you are going to be back to the 90s CORBA vs. DCOM thing where binary incompatibility crippled broad-based cross platform interop. The beauty of XML is its simplicity - let's keep it that way.
I found an interesting site today called Streamload that offers file sharing on line. It has some interesting features (you can send files via email, password protect your files, etc.) and it would be a neat way to share digital videos with others (since they are usually too large to email). The most compelling feature for me is the 10GB of storage space for free. The only limitation is 100MB of file download per month on the free account, but for my purposes, this should be more than adequate. If I need to download more, I can subscribe.
Looks like Oracle is making the first round of cuts at Peoplesoft. It is done in a really classic way via pink slips sent via express mail. That's a really great way to win the hearts and minds of the people who remain who are now just going to be collecting their paychecks and polishing their resumes while they wait for their letters. The big beneficiary of this: SAP.