Monthly Archives: February 2000

UCITA Passes? An Absolute Disaster

I just received an e-mail from the press office of Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, saying that UCITA, probably the most anti-consumer legislation in years in this nation, has passed and will become law in Virginia. It gives software and Internet … Continue reading

Posted in SiliconValley.com Archives | Comments Off on UCITA Passes? An Absolute Disaster

Signs of the New-Economic Times

Two reports over the weekend told stories of the so-called New Economy’s rise over the Old Economy. The former, you surely know, is the dot-com world. The latter is everything that came before, and the former seems to be overwhelming … Continue reading

Posted in SiliconValley.com Archives | Comments Off on Signs of the New-Economic Times

Post Being Recovered

The contents of this post have not been recovered from the archives yet.

Posted in SiliconValley.com Archives | Comments Off on Post Being Recovered

Another Reason Not to Shop with Amazon

Tara Calishain let me know that Amazon, the online retailer, is turning into Exhibit A for the disfunctional patent system. She pointed to a TechWeb reports that Amazon has won a patent on affiliate programs. The patent refers to “an … Continue reading

Posted in SiliconValley.com Archives | Comments Off on Another Reason Not to Shop with Amazon

Journalism and the Internet

The juxtaposition is delicious — and instructive. The Register, a superb online technology news site based in London, reports that CeBIT, the huge German technology trade show, is treating online journalists as second-class citizens. But it was The Smoking Gun, … Continue reading

Posted in SiliconValley.com Archives | Comments Off on Journalism and the Internet

Weblogs Explode, Get More Press

See Wired News today. I’d quibble with the assertion that content is king on the Net, which has yet to be proved, but it’s a good piece otherwise. More Bad News from the Privacy Front I’ve been making it a … Continue reading

Posted in SiliconValley.com Archives | Comments Off on Weblogs Explode, Get More Press

Pondering the Platform, Part II

The personal computer marketplace is a collection of horizontal slices — CPU, OS, graphics hardware, apps, etc. Intel and Microsoft own many of those slices, but no company owns them all. This isn’t the way it was in the mainframe … Continue reading

Posted in SiliconValley.com Archives | Comments Off on Pondering the Platform, Part II

H-1B Visas — A Deeply Flawed Program

The apologists for the H-1B visa program, which brings tens of thousands of high-tech workers into the U.S. each year, won’t be able to ignore this scathing investigative report in the Baltimore Sun. Is MCI-Sprint Merger Anti-Competitive? Of course it … Continue reading

Posted in SiliconValley.com Archives | Comments Off on H-1B Visas — A Deeply Flawed Program

Pondering the Platform, Part I

Last week in Silicon Valley, Microsoft launched Windows 2000 and Symbian, the mobile-phone companies’ operating system partnership, held a developers conference. These events were about platforms — the foundations from which technology empires are built. Actually, I don’t much like … Continue reading

Posted in SiliconValley.com Archives | Comments Off on Pondering the Platform, Part I

Hackers as Racketeers

FBI Director Louis Freeh, who wants to restrict your right to use strong encryption that law enforcement can’t break, now thinks it’s a fine idea to apply federal racketeering laws (Register story) to hacking. Before you applaud, consider what this … Continue reading

Posted in SiliconValley.com Archives | Comments Off on Hackers as Racketeers