Just a couple of tidbits that probably stand on their own with no comment (though, sometimes I just cant help myself!):
Tech security specialists at Symantec have discovered a suite of virus-writing software that includes a sort of licensing statement, similar to the licenses we users have to click through in order to install software.
Apparently, these guys who write the virus that cripple our computers have figured out a way to make a living from their skills. But they dont think it should be legal for anyone to steal their software, they want everyone to pay for it and abide by normal intellectual property rights.
So, the thing is, if you buy their software suite to infect computers or create botnets (well talk about botnets later), you may not redistribute the software to others, you cant take apart the code to see how it works, you cant submit it to security companies, and above all, you agree to pay for regular updates.
If you violate this legal license for your illegal code, they reserve the right to run you into the ground by reporting YOU to security companies and/or capturing your botnets.
When criminals require other criminals to abide by licensing agreements, it seems to imply that the old truism about honor among thieves just might no longer apply.
Not computer related, but something to think about anyway:
According to Harpers Findings, a regular feature in Harpers Magazine , the worlds dirt is disappearing faster than ever before.
This is not a joke about the guys that offer to come clean your carpet, this is a real scientific fact that you can add to your list of Things to worry about at night when I cant sleep.
The dirt thats disappearing is topsoil (theres an average depth of only three feet of it worldwide and we need all of that to grow crops), and theres also the disappearing soil along every known coastline, which scientists call coasting away.
And finally:
I downloaded and installed Service Pack 3 for Windows XP today. I havent had a chance to put it through any trials or testing, but if there are issues, I will try to get those posted as quickly as possible.
As far as I can tell in reading various posts and news reports, there are no major issues except possibly with AMD processors (I guess that would be a major issue).
Most of my customers are trained to ask me before a major upgrade (have I said that I have the best customers in the world?), so I doubt that I will have any panic stricken callers today, but there are procedures to recover the HP built AMD processor computers if the download should go wrong.
Theres a long list of things that are fixed by SP3 and generally, I expect it to be a necessary and friendly install. Stay tuned.