For over a decade I had told people that the Windows operating system was never intended to be used on a network computer, that it was dangerous and irresponsible to do so. I was told this first in 1989 by a Microsoft engineer sent to school us about Windows 3.x, and again beta-testing Win95; I've seen the quote in print several times since then, clearly saying "Not recommended for Untrusted Connections" -- Did anyone listen to me?

Not to my knowledge, no. And here now today, believe it or not, Microsoft is coming clean about the whole thing, confessing their incompetence and finally formally retracting that code base which has seduced and frauded us into our virus laden reality of modern computing. Or maybe it's just a money-grab stunt to scaremonger the tardy into dropping another grand or two to upgrade into the newest bestest next pot of similarly 'expert-crafted' OS wares. Am I making this up? Nope, sorry:

Microsoft said it wasn't feasible to make extensive changes to eliminate a security vulnerability since the underlying architecture of Windows Explorer for older versions of Windows is much less robust, wrote Christopher Budd, a program manager with Microsoft's security response center.

"Due to these fundamental differences, these changes would require reengineering a significant amount of a critical core component of the operating system," Budd said.
[ via PCWorld.com - Users of Aged Windows Face Risk ]

read it again. louder. and as of July 11, Microsoft says they wash their hands of the whole scam, no fixes, no apologies, no reimbursements, just cut it loose, wave goodbye, so long suckers, and move on to new game.

So ... you want a website like this one, do you? Well, at long last, now you don't have to be ringing me up late-night to beg or bribe advice, you can just buy the book and enjoy the adventure yourself ...

Written by David Mercer, this book is a complete guide to every aspect of creating a variety of different websites using Drupal. The book has been written against the latest release v4.7.

Packt are big supporters of open source and are keen to support the Drupal project in more ways than just publishing a book on the subject. Therefore, as part of their Open Source Royalty Program, the project will receive a percentage of every book sold.
[ via Drupal: Creating Blogs, Forums, Portals, and Community Websites ]

The good news, the bad news, and the ugly news about the diffusion of free and opensource software through the Canadian public sector, a must read for those who may be seeking to bring free software into any government environment.

The final report by e-Cology Corporation on its study of open source software (OSS) in Canada, which was contracted out by the Government of Canada, is now available. The main report includes five chapters. The Appendix contains detailed information from the study including questionnaire results, company profiles, a comprative analysis of open source software licenses and the scenario workshop report.
[ via e-cology corporation ]

In particular, I note a recurring theme of disorganization and disinformation in the diffusion of micro-vendors working the FLOSS space, and I can't help but remember nearly a decade back and our grand noble plans during those Bynari.ca years, and the grand snub of silence our proposal for a collaborative federated front foundation received from our compatriot me-me-me memed entrepreneurs.