Following up on The Hammer’s post from last night, here’s another doozy: In an article titled Microsoft Advises to Type in URLs Rather than Click, Slashdot is discussing an MS Knowledge Base article meant to keep users safe from malicious hyperlinks. The bottom line from MS: don’t click on hyperlinks.

Is this part of a pattern? Is Microsoft really going to start laying the burden on users to provide workarounds for that company’s lousy programming practices?

Linux, Mac… your time may be at hand…

UPDATED at 10:36 am. – I just found the link to the BBC’s Real Audio of this program (World Today News Europe, January 30th 2004, about the 6-minute mark of the program), so I’ve updated Sundwall’s quotes for accuracy… tH.

[Editor’s note: Stumax.com is proud to welcome guest author The Hammer as a regular contributor to the site.]

I was driving home from Cinerama tonight, where I finally saw the Return of the King. The Hammer doesn’t usually wax poetic, but aside from the fact that all the guys in the movie looked like they were constantly about one frame of film away from tounging each other with naked homosexual affection, the LoTR trilogy is about as good as moviemaking gets. So my head was spinning a little bit when I switched on KUOW to listen to BBC World Service.

One of the segments sported an interview with Microsoft shillperson Sean Sundwall. Seems MS is a little pissed off now that someone’s gone and pointed MyDoomB at Big Brother’s own servers. In response, our favorite local employer has offered a $250,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the b-variant’s author.

The virus is distributed as an email attachment – usually from an infected computer which sends the email to addresses it finds on the host’s computer system. The virus opens backdoors which could allow a hacker access to the infected computer. The virus also blocks access to popular anti-virus sites.

After spouting the company line about why Microsoft decided it had to dangle a reward out there for any finks or stool pigeons who think money’s more important than friendship (or at least professional courtesy), Sundwall was asked whether the latest virus illustrates the vulnerability of Microsoft systems.

Normal person woulda said, “Yes, regrettably, and it’s something we’re working very hard on.” Or something like that. Right?

Not our boy Sunny.

Get this: Sundwall says^1^ that “this vulnerability is actually independent of Microsoft software or any vulnerabiities that might be in our software.” Instead of showing any problems with the MS OS, the virus “simply relies upon social engineering tricks to get people to do something that otherwise they would not normally do, which is to open an attachment from someone that they don’t know.”

Brilliant! Oh, my God! That’s just f-ing brilliant! So MyDoom – a virus which according to Symantec’s website does not affect DOS, Linux, Macintosh, OS/2 or Unix – this virus apparently has nothing at all to do with the Windows OS. No, there’s no problem with your operating system, people. No, instead the virus writers are socially engineering the computer-using public to do something completely contrary to what we would usually do; namely to share information over the freakin’ internet.

But, I hear you saying, opening an attachment from somebody you don’t know is stupid and you really shouldn’t be doing that anyway. Well, sure, that’s stupid behavior if you buy into the argument that any program ought to be allowed to change your system files without your permission. (Sure, the benefits of that are obvious.) But, listen to what Sundwall says next. Mind you, this is in the same breath, just – I mean immediately after he said that users are opening attachments from people they don’t know:

“This particular virus is extremely tricky in what it purports to be. In many cases it purports to be an undelivered message, so sometimes it will come back as a postmaster; so even a savvy user would double-click on that because they would expect it to be the message that they sent, when indeed it’s not.”

Brilliant. I wish this had been on BBC TV instead of radio so we could actually see this guy talking out of his ass! Play the audio yourself and imagine Sundwall as Ace Ventura, bent over and making with the butt puppet as he spouts this putrescence.

No, there’s no problems with Microsoft’s products. It’s social engineering, that’s your culprit.

I, for one, sure hope they catch this little virus-writing bastard. Anyone clever enough to perpetrate social engineering on that scale is a dangerous f-er. Why, next thing you know, he’ll turn his criminal mind to making us drive our cars to work or, eat our breakfasts, or… buy Windows XP! He’s mad with power, I tells ya!

God forbid Microsoft should have to take the blame for producing a lousy product. Within an hour of hearing that interview, I read on Slashdot where the FBI is all on Macs because they’re – and I’m quoting an FBI security expert on this – the Macs are “secure out of the box!”

What’s more, I also picked up the Seattle Weekly tonight. The cover article is all about spam, and the author quotes one expert who asserts that up to 75% of all spam could be coming from virus-infected machines and another who claims that if you connect a PC to the internet without a firewall, you’re likely to be infected within five minutes!

Get with it, Microsoft. Your users are using your software in good faith. You’ve been socially engineering them for years to believe in the promise of interconnected computing, and that means you’ve been the ones training them to open attachments that they get in their email.

Just a little double-click, man. Everybody’s doing it. The first one’s always free.

Step up to the plate, Bill Gates. Tell your lackeys that Microsoft is big enough to take its lumps like a man. Then fix your g-d product so that it works like every other mature operating system.

(And, by the way, if you really had any integrity about catching the virus writers, you might have ponied up the reward money when it was your scum-sucking SCO buddies that were in trouble, instead of waiting until somebody pointed a bunch of virus-loaded PCs back in your faces.)

I’m Audi 5000, y’all. The Hammer has spoken!

¹ Don’t just take my word for it that this is what Sundwall said; go to the http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/index.shtml yourself and listen to the World News report that ran on January 29th.

I was just trying to get a category list to display on my sidebar. Now I’ve got inline formatting for my MovableType powered blog!

Brad Choate’s most excellent website provided the little plugin that could. Formatting, for example, a

1. Numbered
2. List
3. of

1. items

   or a

   • bulleted

• list

  will be a piece of cake!

  I’ve already discovered Movable Style for cool style sheets. Today’s jackpot was the MT Wiki at Virtual Venus. With the help of this great resource, I hope to make the blog more feature-rich and useful.

Since a blog is supposed to be all about the links, I figured it was time that I started getting with the program. Sure nobody’s actually reading the site now, but that could all change one day and I should probably oughta be prepared.

You’re supposed to write what you know, and if there’s one thing I do know, it’s gadgets! Though I’m not generally what you’d call a first adopter, I’m usually at least riding the first wave of acceptance of new technology. A good gadget should make your life easier, and when I spot a new device that does something faster, better, and/or just plain cooler than the old way, I’m happy to ding the Visa on the slim justification that anything that revolutionary has just got to have a payoff eventually.

Take my Palm, for instance. I’ve carried one of these babies in one incarnation or another since my first 3Com Palm Pilot Pro in 1997. For seven years, I’ve marvelled at the sheer volume of usefulness that Palm has been able to pack into this little PDA. Back in the day, when my schedule was much more hectic and changeable than it is now, I mostly just wanted to get rid of the awkward limitations of my bulky Day Runner. The Palm filled the bill in spades, but the thing that kept me hooked was that people were writing applications for the device that turned it into the electronic equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife.

My Palms have been around the world and all over the country with me. With the right software, my palm can be a notepad, a calculator, a multi-time zone clock, a translator, a dictionary, a game player, an electronic book reader, a web and email browser, a car maintenance log, a map, a flashlight, and even a mirror! I’ve been drawn into more than a few conversations with strangers who’ve been intrigued by my tricorder-thingy. I’ve been directly responsible for turning at least eight of my friends onto the devices, and I bet I’ve convinced more than a few strangers, too.

My current pocket companion is the Palm 505, my first color PDA. Though I lust after the new Palm Tungsten T3, with its wide-screen-revealing sliding case, Bluetooth capability and whopping 64 MB of RAM, I’m likely to pass the 505 on to my lovely finance Louise and buy myself a new Handspring Treo 600.

The Treo 600 is part of a new breed of PDA/cell phone hybrid called the “smart phone.” That means that it’s one more step closer towards the gadget-lover’s holy grail: an all-in-one total convergence device. The 600 combines all the great features of a Palm PDA with the convenience of a cell phone. The fact that it’s a cell phone also means that it can browse the web and read email just like a desktop computer. There have been more than a few times in the last year when such functionality would have come in right handy, so as soon as Handspring can get its assembly line cranked up to meet the demand, I plan to jump on the bandwagon and put one of these beauties in my pocket.

Of course, the 600’s high price tag, low-res screen, and low-quality camera may mean that it’s not the device for everyone. And some people swear by the Sony Clie series, which also runs the Palm operating system. If you’re interested in exploring the options, do what I do: Try starting with PalmOne’s Solutions page to see which PDA might fit your needs. Then, check out the reviews at Shopping.com (formerly epinions.com), InfoSync World, BargainPDA.com, and Brighthand.com.

Before you make your final decision, check out Gizmodo.com. This wicked cool site, a mecca for gadget freaks, is the place to check up-to-the-minute news, reviews, and rumors. For instance, I first heard rumors of the updated Treo, the 610, on Gizmodo. Now I can decide if I really need Bluetooth, or if I want to go ahead and splurge so that I can have the 600 in my hot little hands. Decisions, decisions.

When you’re finally ready to buy, use ”DealTime or PriceGrabber to check the latest prices. To make your new palm useful, head over to PalmSource, the official site for over 20,000 PalmOS programs.

I’ll let you know how the Treo 600 works out as soon as I can get my hands on one. In the meantime, I’ll continue to post useful links to product and service pages around the web. Happy gadgeting!

Somewhat old news by now, but the Mars Rover Spirit is now well on its way to recovery. It’s been fun to watch the media and JPL team alike use the sick-patient vocabulary, calling Spirit at first in “critical” condition, then “serious,” “stable,” and now “in rehab.”

Space.com’s Mars Rover page also has a link to zoomable and pannable Rover images. The feature requires installing a plugin for your browser and the image I tried took about a minute to download over my DSL connection, but this could be a cool tool to use as more images are released.

The Mars Explorer Rover Spirit has encountered a hiccup. JPL lost communications with the plucky little robot a couple of days ago. After such a magnificent start, it’s a real shame to see an issue like this crop up. I’m watching the press briefing right now on NASA TV. Project Manager Pete Theisinger seems hopeful that part of the mission can be salvaged, though he’s also pessimistic that full functionality will ever be restored. I know that some of the best technical minds in the world are working on this, and if it’s a problem that can be fixed, it will be.

Opportunity landing is tomorrow at 9:05 PM (PST), and coverage will start at 7:30 PM. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for a successful landing and mission.

By the way, there’s really good coverage of the entire mission on Spaceflight Now and on the Planetary Society’s site.

The pervasive, intrusive, and insistent nature of advertising these days bothers me. Why is it seemingly impossible to have an experience that isn’t somehow interrupted by someone trying to sell me something?

I get advertisements on my computer, over my telephone, in all major media, on the sides of busses, on clothing, coffee mugs, in my mail box, at the theater, at the movies, during the movies, during, now, as well as between programming segments on television. Sports arenas, buildings, and even educational edifices, instead of being named as they once were for people, are now named for companies. Because it’s good advertising. Clever ad agencies are promoting underground tactics such as paying people to use a product in public places. Kids watch advertising on school televisions on a service that the school district pays for. Airlines show advertisements on airplanes before the movie. And after. Never mind ads on billboards, grocery carts, bus stops, bumper stickers, restroom walls (!), the sides of buildings, elevators, and on and on and on.

In addition to how persistent advertisers are getting, consider the rising level hyperbole that has accompanied this growth. Sportscasters and new anchors breathlessly promote upcoming news stories with the kind of rhetoric that makes you think armageddon is coming and it’s going to be broadcast at 11! (Or 10, if you’re in a one-upped news market.) Music engineers are being pushed to compress their music more and more so that it sounds louder when it’s played at normal volume (see article here). Everyone is desperate to be heard through the noise that everyone else is making. Where will it end?

When something really important happens, how will we know? If news anchors can call a winter storm a “nightmare” and devote the kind of coverage to it that befits a surprise military strike, how will the viewing public be able to take that same station seriously when something really serious happens?

Here’s a radical idea:
What if corporations had their own senators and representatives? We’d re-jigger the districts so that certain politicians could focus on normal citizens while others would pay attention to what’s good for businesses. We’d get rid of lobbyists and the common man might start to have more of a voice in politics again.

I have now created a separate blog for the Haiti- Toussaint-related posts and discussion. I feel that this will give me the opportunity to open up the Toussaint discussion to others, and at the same time give me a chance to broaden the discussion on my own Stumax site. I would like the freedom to explore ideas from the mundane to the silly, and I would like to preserve the integrity and seriousness of the Toussaint project.

You can see the new site, The Louverture Project, at http://www.stumax.com/tlp/.

I’m making plans to promote the site to the Haiti List. I’d like to invite historians, formal and otherwise, to comment and add to my discoveries. Hopefully, this will accelerate the pace of my learning.

On today, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, KUOW played a “Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City” entitled Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. The text quoted herein was obtained at Hartford World Publishing’s World History Archives.

The speech is a sensitive, thoughtful, and carefully reasoned indictment of the war in Vietnam. It is not dogmatic or impolitic. It does not cater to fear; rather, it calls on our higher selves, our sense of responsibility, fairness, and justice.

King opens with what called him to action:
“I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join with you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. The recent statement of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam”

He then explains his seven reasons for protesting the war in Vietnam, which I will only briefly summarize here:
1. The war pulls away resources that would otherwise go to help the poor in the US.
2. It manipulates the poor at home by sending the races to die together who are not allowed to live together in a segregated society.
3. It undermines the message that social change can be brought about by peaceful means.
4. The war in Vietnam poisons the soul of America, and those who care about America must therefore protest.
5. King’s winning of the Nobel Prize for Peace earlier that year was “a commission to work harder than I had ever worked before for ‘the brotherhood of man.’”
6. And anyway, he says, even if he hadn’t won the Nobel Prize, it’s a Christian value to promote peace, to love and care for all men.
7. Finally, it is King’s calling to speak out in brotherhood for those who are “suffering and helpless.”

King then lays out a history of Vietnam’s struggles and the US’s involvement as early as 1945. He does so in the name of understanding the thought processes behind our so-called enemy. He goes to great pains to make clear that he does not condone the violent tactics of the Vietnamese. He attempts not to speak as their apologist, but to understand their side of the equation.