|
 |
Sunday, March 21, 2004 |
Kerry Statement on Venezuela
Throughout his time in office, President Chavez has repeatedly undermined democratic institutions by using extra-legal means, including politically motivated incarcerations, to consolidate power. In fact, his close relationship with Fidel Castro has raised serious questions about his commitment to leading a truly democratic government. [Thanks Miguel]
7:55:38 PM
|
|
Microsoft Change? Don't Hold Your Breath
by Dan GillmorSomeday, we might hope, the world's governments -- perhaps including a truly pro-competition U.S. administration -- will conclude they've had enough of a serial malefactor that sneers at the rule of law. Maybe timely antitrust enforcement, with teeth, will emerge. Even if it doesn't, perhaps governments will start using their market power. They and other big customers of technology should opt for open source and other alternatives. They'd suffer a few withdrawal pains -- Microsoft's Windows lock-in strategies are all too effective -- in return for some long-range freedom, not just a revival of innovation in a currently stifled market. The only certainty is this: Microsoft won't reform itself.
5:25:56 PM
|
|
About this time last year I was writing a lot about O'Reilly's Safari. I wrote a very positive review and I got a year free subscription for it. Now, it is my duty to tell you this: Their customer service sucks! So, the year pass and they just cancel my subscription without telling me at least I think that is what happened, because my account doesn't work and customer service won't answer my messages, despite being instructed to contact them when I try to access my account. Yes, I will subscribe sooner or later, but this is no way to treat a customer. Is it too much to ask someone reads and answer emails? I think not... O'Reilly needs to hire some geek that understand customer relation management... pronto!
4:17:48 PM
|
|
Musical Chairs With the Big Boys. The fate of RealNetworks, a pioneering maker of music-playing software for the Internet, is a question awaiting an answer. By Steve Lohr. [New York Times: Technology] I have little sympathy for RealNetworks because their products sucks. same thing happened with Netscape (and Palm, for that matter). It would be nice for a change to get an enemy of Micro$ucks that made a hell of a product and found themselves in trouble because of Micro$ucks illegal monopolistic tactics (not "alleged" they were found guilty and then let go by a corrupted, lenient judge...)
11:13:32 AM
|
|
Get Out of My Namespace. As globalization and the Internet make the world smaller, there are not enough names to go around and more reasons to fight over them. By James Gleick. [New York Times: Technology]
The Namespace is really crowded. everybody thinks I came up with Patilla.com by imitating Apple (I am an Apple boy, after all), but I was not involved at all with the decision. I didn't even thought it was a good name. But Patilla (which means watermelon in Venezuela, but not in other spanish speaking countries) turn out to be a hit name and, through obscurity, found a niche in Namespace and carved up its little place. It's very hard to make it in this game. I like better the original name rather than the new name of the boutique bank I work for. But the latter already has a history in Namespace, is that more important? Getting scientific with names is as hard as getting instinctive in it...
11:07:48 AM
|
|
Schumacher wins! Despite Pole and Victory, Ferrari can't let up. The season starts in Europe. Remember last year. Of course, McLaren has a lot of work to do. But I expect more from Williams and Renault. See you in the Vahrain race!
4:35:04 AM
|
|
Good Whatever race Fans! Watching the race live. I'll be commenting live, at least while my laptop battery lasts. Look to the F1 Bets category for more...
3:07:55 AM
|
|
© Copyleft 2005 Alfredo Octavio.
|