One last post today. I have an oooold CD on sale at Amazon. But guess what, it's also for sale at these 10 million other sites. How does this happen, do sites just exist to return hits in google and then route errant linkers back to Amazon?

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=%22Elizabeth+Grigg%22+%2Bfolk

comment []6:55:27 PM    

Consumers are such fragile creatures in the face of most security and networking experts. In the same vein as virus protection or firewall software that counts every interaction with the internet as a security risk (and logs it as such), this web site tells me all about a "parasite" that I have "installed." As anyone who follows the above link will probably not have the banner that I see, I have pasted it below for your convenience. This banner is cleverly inserted in the html I see when viewing this page.

I click the link to get rather detailed instructions on how to remove the product from my registry. This is a product that I have uninstalled, and is currently nonfunctioning. If all that's left is the registry entries, what's the big deal?

While I'm appreciative that folks provide this kind of public service to the unwitting, let's not get things out of perspective. If the uninstall works, I think we should leave the name calling at that. Banners of this sort will make the good guys seem like bad guys after all. What about privacy issues with detecting various apps in my registry? What about credibility issues with giving me instructions on how to edit my registry myself? The feeling is of the insurance salesperson who happens to have your medical records.

Okay, enough complaint about doxdesk, they mean well, and I'm always batting for the unwitting end-user. Different perspectives: truce.

comment []5:42:27 PM    

Independent thinker and former colleague Brian Dear writes a multipart usability assesment on netflix.

http://www.nettle.com/subj-netflix.html

comment []5:18:22 PM