tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-242237432024-03-13T16:05:26.130-04:00Cranial SoupPeas, carrots, green beans, and gray matter.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-2909287954194704402010-04-18T00:48:00.001-04:002010-05-08T15:43:17.087-04:00Bit.ly is Harmful to Your Reputation<p>It all started with a simple innocent tweet. As <a href="http://twitter.com/vwadhwa" target="_blank">Vivek Wadhwa</a> was finishing up his excellent post on <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/17/should-tech-startups-outsource-product-development/" target="_blank">outsourcing</a> he tweeted about it and I replied with a tweet of my own: </p> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/app103/status/12254993302" target="_blank"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="my original tweet" alt="my original tweet" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/S8qPH07cFOI/AAAAAAAABAo/GYCL7M2RpYU/Screenshot%20-%204_17_2010%20%2C%201_16_32%20AM%5B7%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="439" height="228" /></a> </p> <p>Note the URL I tweeted to him was shortened using the <a href="http://xrl.in" target="_blank">xrl.in</a> service. </p> <p>Now, Vivek is a <a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/" target="_blank">TweetDeck</a> user, and TweetDeck uses <a href="http://bit.ly/bgtDBv" target="_blank">bit.ly</a> to shorten links, even links that don't need shortening, like mine. So what do you think happened when he retweeted me and responded? </p> <p><a href="http://twitter.com/vwadhwa/status/12255054933" target="_blank"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="Vivek's retweet" alt="Vivek's retweet" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/S8qPIk8Y0cI/AAAAAAAABAs/yKyNJA7k5sY/Screenshot%20-%204_17_2010%20%2C%201_11_22%20AM%5B6%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="439" height="230" /></a> </p> <p>That's right, my already shortened link was reshortened with bit.ly. </p> <p>Now what do you think you see when you click that link? The site I was trying to link to? </p> <p>No, you see a warning page that implies that my original link leads to a malware, phishing, spam, or forgery site. </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/S8qPJfJ-FKI/AAAAAAAABAw/Y_Vdvz9bF3U/s1600-h/bitly-warning%5B5%5D.png"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="bitly-warning" alt="bitly-warning" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/S8qPKJAP2BI/AAAAAAAABA0/AlMtOaz0Z9c/bitly-warning_thumb%5B3%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="439" height="236" /></a> </p> <p>So my link to a reputable site is being called a bad site by bit.ly because I used a competing URL shortening service in my original tweet. </p> <p>Note that there is an email link to report mistakes on bit.ly's warning page. What do you think happens when you click it and report a mistake? Do they check the link and remove the flag if the site is ok? </p> <p>No, they don't. They told me to make a new bit.ly link and give it out to people, as if that would undo the damage that was done, change the links in other people's tweets, and prevent others from retweeting the bad reputation damaging bit.ly link that I never made in the first place. </p> <p>Then they apologized and told me some day their service will be better, still not removing the reputation damaging flag from the link.</p> <p><a href="http://appsapps.info/blog/bitly-email.png" target="_blank"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="bitly-email" alt="bitly-email" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/S8vV4t1-j5I/AAAAAAAABBI/khq1baVSHow/bitly-email.png?imgmax=800" width="439" height="732" /></a> </p> <p>Can something like this affect you and your website? You bet it can. </p> <p>If you or anyone else ever tweets a link to your site using a competing URL shortening service, and that link gets retweeted with any twitter client that shortens all URLs with bit.ly (whether they need it or not) the resulting link to your site will be flagged as a bad site. </p> <p>What happens when the average person clicks that link and sees that warning page? Well, the average person believes it and won't visit your site. And if your name is on the original tweet, it will also be on the retweet, giving you the reputation of passing out links to bad sites. </p> <p>Will a smart web savvy user believe the bit.ly warning page? Maybe, maybe not. But the average person probably will. As a developer I have seen the average person believe a lot of things that were not true, placing their complete trust in things like that bit.ly page and other false positives, and believing the worst, even spreading the word about it as if it were the truth, telling others that a website or application was harmful. They think that companies don't do things like this without ironclad proof, so they believe every word of it.</p> <p>What alarms me the most is the attitude of bit.ly with regards to this problem and how they refuse to remove the flag from innocent links. They don't care if your reputation is damaged. </p> <p>And it is in the best interest of bit.ly not to fix the problem, since it makes more people use their service, worried that if they use another service and get retweeted, they could end up with a reputation damaging link to their site. So this whole problem serves to make more people use bit.ly, out of fear, rather than convenience or because they have a better service. </p> <p>I am not a bit.ly user because it is not convenient for me. I have a browser plugin that uses xrl.in, that with a single click of a button, copies the shortened link to whatever page I am on to my clipboard, ready to paste anywhere I want. </p> <p>Other links in the stuff I tweet use ff.im, because they are cross-posts from <a href="http://friendfeed.com/" target="_blank">friendfeed</a>. I was pretty sure if I post something on friendfeed, cross-posted to twitter and it gets retweeted, reshortened with bit.ly, it will result in one of those warning pages, too. </p> <p>But I was wrong, it doesn't. In fact, there are a few other shorteners that don't get warning pages either, probably because they are so popular that they would get noticed pretty quick if bit.ly decided to pick on them. </p> <p>Bit.ly does white list the following shorteners: </p> <ul> <li>ff.im </li> <li>youtu.be </li> <li>goo.gl </li> </ul> <p>There is no reason why bit.ly can't white list the rest of the popular shorteners if they can white list those. But those others are competing services and they don't feel like being nice guys about it. They would rather ruin the reputations of innocent people like you and me. </p> <p>So what can you do to ensure you won't become a victim of bit.ly's "bad site" interstitial page? </p> <p>There are only 2 things you can do: </p> <p>1. Always use bit.ly to shorten your links and make sure everyone else in the world does too. (highly impractical, because you can't control what other people do.) </p> <p>2. Let bit.ly know this is unacceptable. Tell them to play fair and white list the other shorteners. The choice of url shortener you use should be yours and not theirs, and you should not be punished with a reputation damaging warning page because you use a competing service. (easy to do) </p> <ul> <li>Send them an email: <a href="mailto:support@bit.ly" target="_blank">support@bit.ly</a> </li> <li>Tweet them: <a href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Hey%20@bitly%20play%20fair!%20Kill%20the%20interstitial%20page%20and%20just%20don't%20allow%20reshortening!%20Stop%20damaging%20our%20reputations!%20http://xrl.in/53zh" target="_blank">@bitly</a> </li> <li>Spread the word by tweeting this post </li> <li>Share this post on social networking sites </li> <li>Blog about it </li> <li>Tell your friends </li> </ul> <p>Don't stop making noise about this till bit.ly stops damaging the reputations of innocent people. </p> <p> </p> <hr /> <p><u><strong>UPDATE May 8, 2010:</strong></u> Bit.ly has changed their interstitial page, slightly. Instead of the top banner saying "WARNING - visiting this website may harm your computer" it now says "Stop - there might be a problem with the requested link"</p> <p>But it goes on to say</p> <blockquote> <ul> <li>Some URL-shorteners re-use their links, so bit.ly can't guarantee the validity of this link. </li> <li>Some URL-shorteners allow their links to be edited, so bit.ly can't tell where this link will lead you. </li> <li>Spam and malware is very often propagated by exploiting these loopholes, neither of which bit.ly allows for. </li> </ul> <p> <br />The link you requested may contain inappropriate content, or even spam or malicious code that could be downloaded to your computer without your consent, or may be a forgery or imitation of another website, designed to trick users into sharing personal or financial information.</p> </blockquote> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/S-W-cd4hOuI/AAAAAAAABB4/5Y8l3TExLKk/s1600-h/bitly-warning2%5B12%5D.png" target="_blank"><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="bitly-warning-new" alt="bitly-warning-new" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/S-W-c5ICU1I/AAAAAAAABB8/IKan4J7g_Vo/bitly-warning2_thumb%5B10%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="439" height="291" /></a> </p> <p>I still consider this unacceptable. If bit.ly can detect a shortened link at the time someone clicks, they can detect it at the time someone submits it for shortening, and just not allow it. That page is completely unnecessary and can still be damaging to someone's reputation.</p> <p> </p> <p>Come on, bit.ly, just do the right thing! How hard is it to just not reshorten?</p> Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-53108292661501897122009-05-13T00:34:00.014-04:002013-10-30T20:52:23.329-04:00OpenCandy: A New Kind of Adware/Spyware<img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335167503983734690" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SgpSk_Qob6I/AAAAAAAAAx8/s3LFFsZIZs4/s400/opencandy.jpg" style="float: left; height: 164px; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0pt; width: 303px;" /><br />
They claim to be doing something noble, but the only thing sweet about <a href="http://www.opencandy.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">OpenCandy</a> is the sales pitch to naive developers that might just fall for it, tricking them into thinking it is somehow different than the typical common adware/spyware.<br />
<br />
A lot of developers do seem to be biting the bait, but no matter how you slice it, it's still adware/spyware, and to me it stinks worse than the old fashioned kind.<br />
<br />
In <a href="http://www.opencandy.com/what/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">OpenCandy's own words</a>, this is what they do:<br />
<blockquote>
Recommendations are made to users during the installation process. Utilizing the install process creates a user-friendly experience and offers optimal engagement for making a software recommendation. The user is presented with a screen that describes the recommendation, at which time they may choose to install the recommended software.</blockquote>
That makes it adware!<br />
<blockquote>
We then provide analytics back to the creators, so they can see how their software and recommendations are performing. This way they can better understand how to build and recommend great applications. </blockquote>
That makes it spyware!<br />
<blockquote>
We've also provided our technology as a platform to a handful of software creators who are utilizing an offer screen during the install process as an advertising unit. Some creators are already monetizing their distribution by offering apps like browser toolbars, so we're helping them improve their user experience and optimize the effectiveness of their offers. </blockquote>
That makes it your typical spyware/adware we have always known.<br />
<br />
Actually, this is much worse, because instead of big companies like Sun & Opera making some software and offering it for free and advertising Yahoo's toolbar in the installer, we have a lazy predator company backed by venture capitalists that doesn't want to bother with or take the risk in developing a ton of software of their own to push toolbars to make their millions. They want to use the software of naive developers to accomplish it.<br />
<br />
An ad is an ad, and to me there is no difference.<br />
<br />
There is no difference between showing an ad for some other product by some other developer in the installer of my software, no matter how much I might even like that software myself, and popping up an ad for CocaCola or Viagra on a user's screen during the install process.<br />
<br />
Do you remember what you parents told you about not taking candy from strangers and why? Well, these guys are not really strangers, they are known preditors. The founders of OpenCandy are <a href="http://www.opencandy.com/about/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the same guys</a> responsible for the inclusion of the <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=divx+adware" target="_blank">spyware/adware in DivX</a>.<br />
<br />
Now, before you call me a hypocrite for bashing adware installers while having ads on my blog, let me explain the difference:<br />
<br />
Any visitor to my blog can turn off Javascript and not be exposed to ads. Or they can use a noscript plugin, or an ad blocker. They have that choice before they land on my site.<br />
<br />
I even offer an <a href="http://cranialsoup.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default">ad-free RSS feed</a>.<br />
<br />
If I want to recommend software to my users, I put it <a href="http://appsapps.info/links.php" target="_blank">on a separate page of my site</a> and not in my software or installers.<br />
<br />
When the ads are in an installer, the user can't install the software without seeing the ads. They have no real choice. That's the difference. And I seriously doubt that developers are going to offer two different installers and give users the option to see or not see ads or be exposed to spyware.<br />
<br />
So now that I have told you what I think, what is your opinion on OpenCandy, as either a software user or developer (or both)?<br />
<br />
<u><b>UPDATE Saturday, February 19, 2011:</b></u><br />
The following applications have been found to install OpenCandy:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>aMSN</li>
<li>Any Video Converter (last freeware, OpenCandy free version 1.21 available <a href="http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/512255-free-any-video-converter-10/" target="_blank">here</a>)</li>
<li>ApexDC++</li>
<li>ATI Tray Tools</li>
<li>aTube Catcher </li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">avast! Free Antivirus </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">AxCrypt </span></li>
<li>CDBurnerXP Pro</li>
<li>Cheat Engine</li>
<li>CNET TechTracker</li>
<li>Connectify </li>
<li>CrystalDiskInfo</li>
<li>CrystalDiskMark </li>
<li>CutePDF</li>
<li>Daemon Tools </li>
<li>DarkWave Studio</li>
<li>Dexclock</li>
<li>Dexpot</li>
<li>DoubleTwist </li>
<li>Driver Sweeper</li>
<li>Duplicate Cleaner</li>
<li>DVDStyler </li>
<li>DVDVideoSoft products</li>
<li>eRightSoft products,including Super</li>
<li>ExtractNow</li>
<li>Ezvid </li>
<li>FL Studio</li>
<li>FreeFileSync </li>
<li>Free YouTube Downloader</li>
<li>Freemake Video Converter</li>
<li>Freemake Video Downloader</li>
<li>Free Music Zilla</li>
<li>Free Video Dub</li>
<li>Free Video To Flash Converter </li>
<li>Frostwire</li>
<li>GameHouse</li>
<li>HappyLand Adventures </li>
<li>IE7Pro</li>
<li>Image Tuner</li>
<li>ImgBurn </li>
<li>IZArc</li>
<li>kantaris</li>
<li>KMPlayer</li>
<li>Launchy (when not downloaded from SourceForge) </li>
<li>Media Info</li>
<li>MediaCoder</li>
<li>MediaInfo</li>
<li>MiPony </li>
<li>mIRC</li>
<li>Miro</li>
<li>MyPhoneExplorer </li>
<li>Office 2010 Trial Extender</li>
<li>Orbit Downloader</li>
<li>PDFCreator</li>
<li>PeaZip </li>
<li>Photobie</li>
<li>PhotoScape</li>
<li>Power Plan Assistant for Windows 7 </li>
<li>PrimoPDF</li>
<li>PSP Video</li>
<li>RealArcade </li>
<li>RedKawa</li>
<li>SIW</li>
<li>Soldat</li>
<li>Soft32 Updater </li>
<li>SPlayer </li>
<li>Startup Manager</li>
<li>StepMania </li>
<li>SUPER </li>
<li>Super Mario Bros X (Level Editor)</li>
<li>Super Simple Photo Resizer</li>
<li>Sweet Home 3D </li>
<li>TechTracker</li>
<li>Trillian Astra</li>
<li>Tubetilla </li>
<li>True Burner</li>
<li>Unlocker</li>
<li>uTorrent </li>
<li>Veoh Web Player </li>
<li>Videora </li>
<li>Vistaglazz</li>
<li>WebShot</li>
<li>Winamp </li>
<li>WinSCP</li>
<li>Xfire </li>
<li>YouTube Downloader HD </li>
</ul>
This is not an exhaustive all inclusive list. This is just what I have found with a quick Google search. If you know of any other applications that should be added to this list, leave a comment and let me know.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com55tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-39361120132751787112009-03-25T14:55:00.001-04:002009-03-25T14:55:03.387-04:00It was a "Fizzbin" kind of day today.<p>I have a very high tolerance for stupidity when helping other people. I can guide even the the most brain dead along, explaining things 55 billion different ways till it clicks in their heads, without losing my patience.</p> <p>But I have no tolerance for incompetence when I am forced to deal with a complete idiot, when calling a company with a support issue. </p> <p>I had the worst tech support experience of my life with Verizon, today. </p> <p>First, my internet went down at about 1:30 AM. I did the usual rebooting my router and PC, making sure my daughter's laptop was turned off (it was) before calling to complain, yet again. This has become a ritual I have had to perform an uncountable number of times since I ordered my DSL speed upgrade back in early December. I have been complaining about the flaky connection for months, with Verizon not doing a damn useful thing to fix the issue, which they have insisted is on their end and their fault, each time telling me they have fixed it and they really haven't.</p> <p>Had I known that ordering an upgrade was going to give me such a flaky connection and crappy tech support at twice the price, I would have stuck with the slower stable connection and paid less, and kept more of my sanity. </p> <p>So, I called Verizon and as normal, had to go through their automated menu crap and get put on hold to wait for a human. This time, I was on hold for more than an hour and a half.</p> <p><img height="208" alt="jackass" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/Scp-BhaUEhI/AAAAAAAAAu0/DGOk1y5UMuM/jackass%5B7%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="240" align="left" />Then someone finally picked up the line, and it turned out to be the most incompetent idiot I have ever come across, at any ISP, beating even the AOL guy from some 3rd world country that told me to make a backup of all my husband's emails (since he had the smallest amount), delete the originals, and replace them with the backup copy, in order to fix my dialup. And when it comes to incompetence, that AOL guy is a hard one to beat.</p> <p>The Verizon nitwit I had to deal with today, beat all of the AOL nitwit techies I have ever had to deal with, combined. </p> <p>After doing a line test and saying that the problem wasn't on their end, and checking router/modem settings, and making me tell her what username I was using, and making me disconnect /reconnect just to make sure I was using the right password for that username, she finally "knew" what the issue was...</p> <p>She seemed to think that Internet Explorer was broken, and because all applications that use the internet do it through Internet Explorer, if Internet Explorer is broken, then Firefox, Chrome, K-Meleon, Opera, and every other browser will not work...and she doesn't think there is such thing as non-browser applications like XChat, Filezilla, GTalk, etc and insisted they all use IE to connect to the internet too, and none of them will work, because IE is broken. Yes, she told me this crazy load of crap. </p> <p>And how did she verify and make a final determination that IE was the problem? Because she had me run it and without typing in any URL, she wanted me to tell her what the error message was. There was no error message, because I don't have a home page set. When I run it, it's blank. That's the way it's supposed to be. But nothing I could say would convince her otherwise, that a blank page when you open IE is normal when you don't have a home page set. To her a blank page with no error message is positive proof that IE is broken.</p> <p>Now let me tell you how she said my Internet Explorer got "broken" while I wasn't even running a browser, and certainly not IE. She seems to think that while I was typing in XChat, some virus forced its way onto my machine and broke my IE so it is blank and doesn't give an error message, and that is why my internet does not work. </p> <p>So I guess that means that at the exact same time, that virus also managed to force its way onto my daughter's laptop and break her IE, too...while her laptop was shut off, since her internet wasn't working either? And that sneaky virus did it to my PDA too?</p> <p>Now I haven't even told you about the "My Computer" fiasco yet. </p> <p>While trying to "help" me, she tells me to go to "My Computer", right click and go to "My Computer". Now if you have a desktop icon for "My Computer", right click it and see if it has an entry on the menu that says "My Computer". You won't find one. </p> <p>I asked her to confirm this, that she wanted me to right click "My Computer" and select "My Computer" from the menu. She said yes. I told her it wasn't on my menu, and maybe she meant something else, like "Properties", perhaps? She insisted that wasn't it.</p> <p>She then told me to go to "Start" and then click "My Computer". Sorry, but that isn't an entry at the root of any Start menu in Windows XP unless someone adds it there themselves, and I sure didn't add it to mine.</p> <p>Then she had me look in "My Documents" and "Control Panel" for "My Computer". Then had me go to Start, Run, and type in "My Computer" (try it, it's fun!). I suspected she may have wanted me to go to "System Properties", but she kept insisting that wasn't it and we needed to find this elusive "My Computer" entry that was missing from all my menus. </p> <p>She wouldn't let me speak to her supervisor, or another techie that actually had half a brain, and ended up hanging up on me when I totally lost my patience with her. I probably would have hung up on her long before that, if it wasn't for the fact I didn't feel like waiting on hold for another two hours.</p> <p>When I called back and went through the automated crap again, before placing me on hold I got a recording that said that Verizon was having issues in my area code and there could be outages for the next 6 hours and if I still wanted to speak to one of their techies, to hang on, otherwise hang up.</p> <p>For some reason, the nitwit I had talked to earlier didn't know about the issues on their end, as she kept insisting there was no problem on their end, nothing wrong with my modem/router, and that my IE was broken on every computer in my house. </p> <p><a href="http://www.hanselman.com/blog/FizzBinTheTechnicalSupportSecretHandshake.aspx" target="_blank">Scott Hanselman was right</a>...there really <em>should</em> be a magic word like "Fizzbin" that you can say when you call tech support, so they don't treat you like you are an idiot...<strong><em>or force you talk to one of theirs</em></strong>.</p> Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-87571890880146222072009-03-16T23:10:00.001-04:002009-03-16T23:10:21.572-04:007 Reasons Not to Direct Link to a Developer's Download Files<p><img style="margin: 0px 10px 30px 0px" height="169" alt="downloads" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/Sb8UnKwWemI/AAAAAAAAAsk/36AprmLCk78/downloads%5B27%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="240" align="left" /> As a developer, I can't help but be more than a little bit bothered by the fact that some bloggers chose to direct link to application download files (.zip, .exe, etc) in some of the articles they write, rather than the page on the developer's site, in which the download links can be found.</p> <p>If this is how you do things when you write articles & reviews, then I'd like to inform you that this isn't a very nice thing to do, for the following reasons: </p> <ol> <li>You are depriving the developers of the full credit they deserve for the work they have done. If the application is worth writing about, it's also worth giving the developer full proper credit. </li> <li>Some freeware authors have Paypal donate buttons on their sites, and your readers will never see them, therefore never click them. This deprives some developers of their only income and maybe their only incentive to keep making freeware/donationware. </li> <li>Some freeware authors have advertising on their sites, and additional page impressions or clicks generated from the traffic you send them means an income for them, and your direct linking to the files prevents that from happening. This is how some software can remain free, rather than the author resorting to making it payware (or even worse, adware). If you would like things to stay free and clean, you have to do your part to help the developers keep it that way. </li> <li>A blog linking to a page on a small developer's site can mean a big boost in Page Rank, making their software easier to find through search engines. This helps the people searching for the perfect tool to do the job they need, as well as the software developer that created it. </li> <li>You are depriving and cheating your readers of the chance to browse around the developer's site, and perhaps the opportunity to discover more useful software they might be interested in. And in the case of the applications that come from sites like <a href="http://donationcoder.com/" target="_blank">donationcoder.com</a>, you are preventing them from discovering a wonderful software enthusiasts community that they really would enjoy, and can even request custom made freeware, made to their specifications. </li> <li>In some cases, you may also be making it more difficult for your readers to find the info necessary to submit bug reports and get support, not to mention application updates and upgrades. </li> <li>You may also be depriving your readers of important information related to installing or using the application, that they may need to know. </li> </ol> <p>So, could you please be a really nice person to us poor freeware/donationware developers, and your readers, and fix your links to point to the pages and not the file downloads? And in the future, always link to the pages, instead. </p> <p>Your readers and the software developers would really appreciate this.</p> <p>Thank You.</p> Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-33372510950285003512008-12-06T13:00:00.003-05:002010-12-13T22:49:33.156-05:00AutoHotkey is NOT a Virus, Worm, or Trojan!<p><img style="margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px" height="200" alt="AutoHotkey" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/STq90-KrE6I/AAAAAAAAAgg/_kavoAd-uH4/ahk%5B9%5D.png?imgmax=800" width="200" align="left" /> I am so sick and tired of irresponsible antivirus companies unfairly flagging compiled AutoHotkey (AHK) scripts as viruses, trojans, and worms. </p><p><a href="http://www.autohotkey.com" target="_blank">AutoHotkey</a> is a free, open source scripting language, just as much as Perl, Python, Ruby, or JavaScript is a scripting language. </p><p>There is nothing wrong with the language itself, nor is there anything wrong with most scripts written in it. A lot of <a href="http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel" target="_blank">really awesome, useful, Windows utilities</a> have been developed in AutoHotkey. </p><p>The language is powerful, easy to learn, enables you to write Windows utilities very quickly, and you can compile them to .exe and distribute them to others that don't have AutoHotkey installed, or you can give them the source script (.ahk) and they can run that if they do have it installed. </p><p>The problem is that there are idiots that will write malware in AHK, just as there are idiots that will write malware in any other programming language. You can't blame the language for this. And you can't blame all the developers that use the language, either. </p><p>But that is exactly what the antivirus companies are doing. They have decided that if a single person writes and compiles malware in AHK, then all compiled AHK scripts are malware. This results in tons of false positives, ruined reputations of innocent programmers, and a mistrust in AHK applications by the general public. </p><p>Developers have repeatedly contacted antivirus companies and complained, which after enough outcry from programmers and the public will result in them fixing the problem with the false positives. That is until a new version of AutoHotkey is released. Then the antivirus vendors get amnesia and forget that AutoHotkey is a language again, and flag all utilities made with it as malware, once again. </p><p>Lather, rinse, repeat. </p><p>This has been going on for a few years now and it's a viscous cycle that needs to stop. </p><p>I have written utilities that I would love to distribute to the public, with the source code, but I am afraid of putting them on my website, out of fear that my reputation will be destroyed by the stupidity of the antivirus companies. </p><p>This is unacceptable behavior on their part. Can you imagine if these antivirus companies decided to pick on another programming language and did the same thing they do to AutoHotkey? Can you imagine if every six months they decided that all applications written in C/C++ were malware? Or anything compiled with Microsoft's Visual Studio was malware? How about if they decided that all JavaScript was malware? You wouldn't be able to load most web pages or run most of your software. If they did that, those antivirus companies would all be out of business very quickly. </p><p>But that is exactly what they are doing. And AHK is the language they are picking on. </p><p>I am asking all developers and AHK users to join an organized effort to take the bull by the horns and petition the antivirus companies to stop the unfair treatment of our software. </p><ul><li><a href="http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31975" target="_blank">An open letter for Antiviral software companies</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?topic=15210.0" target="_blank">DonationCoder stands behind AHK developers</a> </li>
<li><a href="http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=223437" target="_blank">All of these false positive virus alerts on ahk scripts</a> </li>
</ul>Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-37599158472633653982008-07-15T01:57:00.006-04:002008-12-11T02:24:11.803-05:00Bloggers With Comment Forms That Suck a Chunk of Your Life Into a Black Hole<img style="margin: 20px 10px 0px 0pt; float: left;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SHxASAbNBBI/AAAAAAAAAXA/aq_1ucvUNr8/s400/black+hole.jpg" alt="Black Hole" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5223120345938854930" border="0" /><br />Listen up, <a href="http://johnchow.com/">John Chow</a>, <a href="http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/">Jack Humphrey</a>, <a href="http://blogaboutyourblog.com/">Matthew Henrickson</a>, <a href="http://andybeard.eu/">Andy Beard</a>, and the rest of you lazy and/or inept bloggers out there:<br /><br />I am tired of wasting my time on broken comment forms, screwball captchas, lazy moderation, and bad site design.<br /><br />Too many times in the past 2 weeks, I have tried to make comments on blogs that ended up sucked into cyberspace and never making it to its destination, which is the post in which I was commenting on.<br /><br />On three blogs, after taking the time to formulate an informative, relevant, quality comment (one of them was at least an hour of work), it was just sucked away after clicking the submit button, with no indication that it made it to where it was supposed to go, or it being held for moderation, or anything else. Will I ever grace those blogs with another comment again? No!<br /><br />On another blog, after almost the same amount of work and hitting the submit button, I was informed that commenting on that post was closed. Why was there a comment form then? And why was there no visible indication that commenting was closed that I could see,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> before</span> I wasted my time putting together a comment? Will I ever grace that blog with another comment? No!<br /><br />On another blog, after I took the time to make a comment thanking the blogger for his post and tell him how useful it was to me and why, and how I was going to send him some traffic because it was that damn good, his captcha informs me that I must have flunked math in school because 4+3 does <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> equal 7. Don't insult me like that. I try to compliment you and thank you, and this is the thanks I get? A screwball captcha that calls me an idiot? Will I ever comment on your blog again? No!<br /><br />On another two blogs, my comment was being held for moderation. Now I can understand the need to do that in order to keep spammers at bay, but don't you think you should check your queue to see if any comments were made, at least once a week, if not more often? Maybe even check it when you are making a new post, at least. Will I be commenting on those blogs again? No!<br /><br />I am tired of wasting chunks of my life trying to comment unsucessfully on your blogs.<br /><br />So to all you bloggers out there, please check to make sure your comment forms and captchas <span style="font-weight: bold;">work</span>, when commenting is closed that it is visibly closed to your visitors <span style="font-weight: bold;">before</span> they waste their time (remove the form if possible), if comments are being held for moderation that <span style="font-weight: bold;">commentors are told this</span>, and process your comment moderation queues <span style="font-weight: bold;">on a regular basis</span>!<br /><br />And if you have no clue what you are doing or how to fix things, <span style="font-weight: bold;">ask someone to help you</span>!Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-68149356469099459212008-06-28T18:58:00.007-04:002008-12-11T02:24:13.267-05:00Pro-life and Pro-choice Can Be Two Sides of the Same Coin If That Coin Is Education<img style="margin: 20px 10px 0px 0pt; float: left;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SGbMCKjhEDI/AAAAAAAAAWY/F0famoA8mbo/s400/16-week-unborn-baby.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217081555920425010" border="0" /><br />I am both pro-choice and pro-life and the 2 views are not in conflict with each other because I am also very pro-education.<br /><br />In a perfect world, every child would be born to 2 responsible parents that loved it, wanted it, had the means and skills required to take care of it, nurture it, properly educate it, and help it to become a productive member of society.<br /><br />But we don't live in a perfect world, do we?<br /><br />And people do make mistakes. That is why there are erasers on pencils and backspace keys on keyboards...and abortion.<br /><br />Unless and until we can find a way to eliminate the mistakes before they are made, then the eraser is still needed, and the backspace key...and abortion, and all of those will continue to exist.<br /><br />If you want to end abortions, then end the mistakes that lead to them...by educating people to make better choices.<br /><br />Instead of telling kids that babies come from the stork or by swallowing watermelon seeds, start at an early age and tell them where they <span style="font-style: italic;">really</span> come from.<br /><br />And don't tie the hands of educators that want to provide children with knowledge by forbidding them from teaching how the human body works, how and why pregnancies occur, how one can prevent pregnancies. This is valuable information they will need, even if they do wait until marriage to have sex.<br /><br />Arming your kids with the facts doesn't lead to wild orgies of teens having sex. On the contrary... Show a classroom full of 14 year olds a video of a live birth, with a nice close-up of the woman's twat opening wide to pass the head of a baby, and it's likely to scare the crap out of them and give them something to think about and make them not want to have sex for at least a year.<br /><br />Telling them about birth control choices and making them available prevents them from getting pregnant, in the event that they do decide to be sexually active. And don't forget to educate them on the psycological effects of abortion and the lingering effects it has on the mind of the mother that decides to take that route, so they won't see abortion as a first line birth control choice.<br /><br />Do whatever it takes to change the attitudes of young women who regard taking care of a baby as being all fun and games, like playing house, or playing with baby dolls, so they don't deliberately get pregnant with a child they are unable and unprepared to care for. And make them understand that caring for a child isn't like caring for a pet dog, cat, or hamster. They need to understand this before they get pregnant with the first one and not find out after the fact, which can lead to aborting a second pregnancy.<br /><br />Give them enough information and better choices and they won't make so many damn mistakes that lead to abortion. There is so much to consider <span style="font-style: italic;">before</span> getting pregnant. Teach them this and don't wait till after the fact to tell them. End abortion by ending unwanted pregnancies...end unwanted pregnancies with knowledge and understanding.<br /><br />If my daughter made a mistake, which is highly unlikely because I have educated her myself, I would hope she would seriously consider giving her baby a chance at life, like I did, but I would also hope she would make that choice after careful consideration about what kind of life that baby would have and how it would impact hers, and exactly how she will provide for it and not eventually become a burden to her child at the same time. But in the end, the choice is hers and not mine, and I don't have the right to make that choice for her. If my daughter decides she is not ready to be a mother, than I am not ready to be a grandmother, as well.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.livingwithbugs.com/pubic_lice.html"><img style="margin: 20px 0px 0px 10px; float: right;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SGbPHJ03MzI/AAAAAAAAAWg/a70aannmeRo/s400/crab_louse.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5217084940158972722" border="0" /></a><br />Whether you like the definition or not, babies are perfect parasites, by the technical <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?parasite">definition of what a parasite is</a>, and not one that can be cured with a little bit of medicated soap.(funny how we don't see "save the <a href="http://www.livingwithbugs.com/pubic_lice.html">pubic lice</a>" protests, huh?)<br /><br />Parenthood is a permanent condition. When you decide to have a baby, you are stuck with it and it's effects for life, not just till it becomes legally an adult. Even if your child dies before you do, you don't stop being a parent...you just become the parent of a dead child.<br /><br />I wonder how many old women died from falling out of bed, severe bone fractures caused by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteoporosis">osteoporosis</a> that began with a baby leeching the calcium from their bones when they were young.<br /><br />Yes, you may have contributed to the cause of death of your mother by your actions before you were born. Kids also need to know and understand things like this before they get pregnant.<br /><br />And just like you can't end typos by outlawing backspace keys, you can't end unwanted pregnancies or abortions by making it illegal...you only end <span style="font-style: italic;">legal</span> abortions, driving women to seek their abortions <span style="font-style: italic;">illegally</span>, putting them at great risk of death by having an abortion performed by an untrained person in a tattoo parlor or butcher shop, or doing it themselves with a coat hanger at home, rather than a nice safe medical clinic by a trained doctor.<br /><br />Outlawing abortion can kill both your daughters and grandchildren at the same time, which is much worse than just losing your grandchildren, and I would never forgive the one that takes my precious daughter away from me with their thoughtless laws.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-46230250899049768342008-06-28T06:01:00.005-04:002008-12-11T02:24:13.724-05:00Bill Gates Cleans Out His Desk and Leaves Behind a Priceless Email<img style="margin: 20px 10px 10px 0pt; float: left;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SGYP3-So54I/AAAAAAAAAWQ/07Q3_lsF5Rg/s400/bill_gates.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216874672643696514" border="0" /><br />The internet has been cluttered lately with <a href="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=bill-gates-cleans-out-his-desk">tributes</a> and <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23930871-5014239,00.html">articles</a> devoted to Bill Gates and his contributions to the world of computing, on the eve of his retirement from Microsoft.<br /><br />Out of all of these, one in particular stands out...<br /><br />Back in 2003, Bill Gates tried to download and install Windows Movie Maker, unsuccessfully, and then sent a <a href="http://www4.osnews.com/story/19921/Full_Text:_an_Epic_Bill_Gates_e-Mail_Rant">whopper of an email rant</a> to the proper department heads.<br /><br />I chuckled and felt a great sense of satisfaction as I read this, because this is a whole different side of Bill that we have never seen. This is not the smiling Bill you see in all the publicity photos. This is not the Bill you have seen in interviews and videos.<br /><br />This is "Bill the XP user"...one of us. And he was pissed as all hell, at all the crap he had to go through to download & install an application from Microsoft.com, which in the end, he still wasn't able to do.<br /><br />This email rant is a priceless gem.<br /><br />It is the email we all wish we could have written, a million and one times over.<br /><br />Each and every time that we have blamed and cursed out Bill over the years because of some stupid-ass Windows crap that has annoyed or confused the hell out of us, Bill Gates has been annoyed and confused right along with us, and bitching at the people responsible for the bullshit.<br /><br />Thanks, Bill. You changed our lives. And I hope, even though you are retiring, that you plan to keep on bitching.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-53121163943195935762008-06-26T14:46:00.011-04:002008-12-11T02:24:14.039-05:00The American Spaghetti Crisis: Part 1<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5216265212441748146" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 20px 10px 10px 0pt" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SGPlkuHRYrI/AAAAAAAAAWA/pnVA8HNtu-c/s200/00007098.jpg" border="0" /><br />While the world's eyes are focused on the global rice shortage, skyrocketing rice prices, and how it is affecting 3rd world countries, there is another issue that seems to have slipped by relatively unnoticed: the skyrocketing price of pasta in the US.<br /><br />Over the last year there has been an extreme increase in the price of spaghetti and most other macaroni products. In some cases it has been an almost 300% price hike.<br /><br />Around this time last year, I was able to purchase 3 packages of spaghetti for $1, regular price. Now I am lucky if I can get 1 package at that price, on sale.<br /><br />And the price for a box of macaroni & cheese has gone from $0.49 to $0.89..<br /><br />A case of ramen used to be $1.99. It is now $2.50.<br /><br />All of this within the last 12 months.<br /><br />While rice may be the staple food for the poor in many 3rd world countries, pasta is also a food heavily consumed by the poor, in the US. And even though the price of rice has increased drasticly, it is still by far much cheaper to buy than spaghetti currently is.<br /><br />I believe that it is quite possible that the rising cost of macaroni products can make the global rice shortage even worse than it already is, as more lower income families switch from pasta to rice, to save money, thereby increasing the demand for rice.<br /><br />What is even worse, is that the rising prices of food in general will cause a rise in prices that restaurants charge for a meal, causing more middle income families to eat at home rather than going out to eat. This loss of business to restaurants translates to a loss of jobs and income for many lower income families that depend upon minimum wage restaurant jobs to support themselves.<br /><br />The poor that rely on the Food Stamp program are running out of money before the end of the month because of the increase in food prices, but no cost of living increase in their monthly allotment of funds. They are being forced to turn to local church run food pantries for help feeding their children.<br /><br />Pasta is a staple of many local food pantries that supply the poor with free food. As prices go up, the poor can afford less, and rely on these food pantries more & more to keep from starving. And as prices go up, donations made by the middle class to these food pantries decreases, and then they don't have enough to meet the demands of the poor they are feeding.<br /><br />Poor children are eating cheap, high fat, high sugar, low nutrient junk food to keep from being hungry. They are not getting the nutrients they need to grow strong & healthy. They are getting sick and missing school more. The ones that are in school are too busy thinking about their growling stomachs to pay attention to their work. Their health & education are sufferring, and they will pay for it in the future by never acquiring the means to rise above their current poverty status. At the same time, as a result of bad nutrition, they are becoming a bigger burden to the free government provided Medicaid healthcare system, that is paid for by the tax dollars of the middle class.<br /><br />And why exactly are the food prices so high? Could it be the price of gas affecting the shipping costs and driving everything higher? Could it be that the economy really sucks right now and businesses are raising prices in order to turn a profit and keep their doors open? Bad weather killing off crops? A combination of things?<br /><br />Whatever the reason for the increase in prices, this much you can be sure of: the prices are not going to come back down, whenever the problem that is driving the increases goes away. I have never known a business to lower prices after an economic slump. They usually just keep them at what they are, raising them again when the next crisis hits, that eats their profits. Your dollar is shrinking fast, and it's likely to stay shrunk, even when the economy improves.<br /><br />The amount of low income families in America is increasing, the bar that marks the poverty level is rising, the middle class getting smaller as they slip down below that bar, the number of elderly increasing, the amount of tax dollars needed to support social services & healthcare for the poor and elderly increasing, the amount of tax dollars available to fund it all decreasing, the amount the middle class needs to make ends meet increasing, the amount in their paychecks after taxes decreasing.<br /><br />This is a serious long term crisis, and a $300 economic stimulus check ain't going to fix it.<br /><br />Read More:<br /><a href="http://cranialsoup.blogspot.com/2008/10/american-spaghetti-crisis-part-2-our.html">American Spaghetti Crisis: Part 2</a><br /><a href="http://del.icio.us/app103/American-Spaghetti-Crisis">Other articles, news, and information resources</a>Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-14087076184687125202008-05-13T02:30:00.004-04:002008-12-11T02:24:16.603-05:00Creative Commons and Author's True Intentions Creates Copy ConfusionYou see it every day on blogs all over the web: content posted with a <a href="http://creativecommons.org/">Creative Commons</a> license.<br /><br />The Creative Commons license, for his own original works, is the choice of the author. He is not forced to do this (unless it's a derivative work based on another Creative Commons work, or he is publishing someone else's CC licensed work). He does it willingly. He makes the conscious decision to make his work copyable under certain restrictions, whether they be giving him credit, not making derivative works, derivative works allowed, restrictions on commercial use, no restrictions on commercial use, etc.<br /><br />But he is giving you the right to copy it, nonetheless.<br /><br />I spotted this one at the bottom of the page on a blog today:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wypov.com/" target="_blank"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qlCAUZtia6Q/SCk3rA7pNWI/AAAAAAAAAUU/59q1UostURI/s400/SNAG-00028.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199748456900015458" border="0" /></a><br /><br />According to the Creative Commons <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/">license for that site</a>, in which the author links to, I <span style="font-weight: bold;">CAN</span> copy his content. According to the little <a href="http://www.copyscape.com/">Copyscape</a> banner above it, I may not.<br /><br />So which is it? Can I or can't I?<br /><br />I wish authors would think about it seriously and make up their minds before they put the banners on their sites. They can't have it both ways. They can't say out of one side of their mouths you can copy their work, and out of the other that you can't. They are conflicting statements and ideas.<br /><br />If you don't want to give people the legal right to copy your work, don't release it under <span style="font-style: italic;">any</span> type of Creative Commons license. Retain full copyright and priviledges for yourself. And get the Creative Commons badges off your site!Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-49574019935207977822007-05-03T15:31:00.001-04:002007-11-18T05:36:55.235-05:00Verizon's Prepaid $0.99 a Day Theft Plan<p>So, I am just sitting here, minding my own business, when all of a sudden I get an IM from a friend of mine that just needs to be shared. (he wanted me to, which is why he told me about it.)</p><p> </p><p><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> I was checking out prepaid cell phones today online..<br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> and while I was at verizon's site, this popup thing came up on my end...<br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> wanna see the convo?<br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> lol<br /><span style="color:#ff80c0;">app:</span> sure</p><p>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><blockquote><p>Please wait for a Verizon Wireless sales representative to assist you with your order. Thank you for your patience!</p><p><br />A Verizon Wireless online pre-sales specialist has joined the chat. You are now chatting with Kelly.</p><p><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Kelly:</span> Hello. Thank you for visiting our chat service. How may I help you today?<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Kelly:</span> Are you an existing Verizon Wireless customer?<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> No<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> I'm looking over the prepaid plans, and I'm wondering how Verizon thinks they can get away with charging $0.99 per day even if I were to not use the cell phone.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> that's theft<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Kelly:</span> That is the access fee for that plan.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> access fee for accessing nothing?<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> theft.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> do you have a legal degree, or is there a lawyer present?<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Kelly:</span> No, there is not lawyer here.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> I was honestly considering a prepaid phone through Verizon - until I read that your company will be stealing $0.99 per day EVEN if I DON'T use the phone. Then, unfortunately for you, this jackassy pop-up came popping up, asking me if I wanted to talk to someone.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> sorry you were there to catch the brunt of it.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> I have STRONG reason to suspect that I will be going with another provider OTHER than Verizon.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> sheerly due to the fact that no matter if I use the phone or not, I'll be charged $0.99 each day.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> a $15 card would last how long at that rate?<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> just shy of 15 days?<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> yet it expires in how many days?<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> that's gotta be deceptive advertising<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> a $15 card will NEVER last 30 days.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> not with you all stealing $0.99 each and every day even if the phone ISN'T USED!<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> Cingular at least is kind enough to not commit such theft.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> TMobile is nicer as well<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> what do I get with Verizon?<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> what is the "party-bonus" that I get if I go with Verizon and your theft plan?<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> *prepaid plan<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> my mistake<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Kelly:</span> We do offer the in calling and night calling free with that plan.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> ok - anything else?<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> what are "ringback tones?"<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Kelly:</span> That is tones that the person calling you hears before you answer your phone.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> alright<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> well, I have to say that it seems as if Verizon's prepaid plans are, for lack of a better word, flat-out theft from the pocket phones of the prepaid world.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> even if I don't use it, I get charged?<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> what the fudge?<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> who was smoking what when this idea came around?<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> You see, I'm not a phone addict like you would wish I were... are there any plans which won't charge me even if I don't use the phone? prepaid plans?<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Kelly:</span> WE do have the Easy pay plan that allow you 350 minutes for $50.00 per month pre pay.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> do you have any plans comparable to the $29.99 prepaid cards (which aparently, with your company's theft of $0.99 per day even if the phone isn't used, would only last 1 month anyhow)?<br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">Kelly:</span> No, unfortunately we do not.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> ok, well thank your supervisor for this jackassy popup appearing on my end, and for your company offering what appears to be crappy prices and theft. in the mean time, I would like to thank you for working for complete and total morons who probably figure no one reads the fine print.<br /><span style="color:#00ff00;">You:</span> I hope you have a very nice day - honestly I do.</p></blockquote><p>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p><br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> that poor gal prolly never expected it<br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> damned jackassy popups<br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> "Do you want to talk with a representative?"<br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> no, but since you're bothering me with a popup, fucker, sure.<br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> right now, I'm thinking about Cingular for a prepaid<br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> I haven't talked with tmobile yet<br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> not extensively enough to decide<br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> it's gotta be better than Verizon's theft plan<br /><span style="color:#00ffff;">byte:</span> *prepaid plan</p><p>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p><p>I really do need to start another blog...a group one...for the occasional ranters among my friends. That way they can have their own place for this and won't have to borrow my blog. (lol)</p>Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24223743.post-1147333493323089822006-05-11T03:44:00.000-04:002007-11-18T06:52:37.359-05:00Does your OS define your worth as a human being?Linux lovers are like those guys that go to a football game in the middle of winter with no shirt on, and their bodies painted in their fav team's colors. Would you want to say something bad about their team where they can hear it? Would you want to say something good about the other team?<br /><br />I am not talking about a normal person that can see the merits & faults in either OS and can use either one for themselves depending on the circumstances. I am not talking about people that are sane & 'normal' Linux users. I am referring to the guys that think everyone should be using Linux, Microsoft should be blown off the earth, and if you don't like it or can't figure Linux out, you should stfu and get rid of your pc.<br /><br />They think if you say you don't like Linux that you don't like them, too. They identify with their OS just a bit too much. They have a habit of getting into very heated Linux arguments with Windows users and Windows programmers. Somehow they believe that your operating system defines who you are...not merely what you prefer to use.<br /><br />Nobody's value as a human being should be rated based on an operating system installed on their pc.<br /><br />Linux users are not the only ones that do this though. I have seen a great many Windows programmers do the same thing when referring to Windows 9x users. Somehow they think that people that still use Windows 98se or Windows ME are less human than those that can afford newer computers, or afford to upgrade. And they think that these people are less in need of quality software that will run on their systems.<br /><br />Is their money less green than an XP user? I don't seem to think so. And it's not that hard to support an older OS. It's not unacceptable to detect an OS and disable features in software that will not work on that OS. And it's not unacceptable to provide an alternative or features that will only work on 9x and disabling them for NT users.<br /><br />Just because Microsoft decided that it will no longer support 9x it doesn't mean that 9x will suddenly disappear off the earth. There are still a great many computers out there that can't run newer OS's...their hardware doesn't allow it. Slow processors, lack of RAM, drivers not available...lots of reasons not to upgrade.<br /><br />And just because someone does buy a new PC that doesn't mean that they will be tossing the old one in the trash. I moved my old pc to my kitchen and plan on putting a recipe database on it...if I can find suitable software to run on it. Older software may not be an option for me, as most older versions have been replaced with newer versions that forget about people like me. Newer versions are not an option because most think you are running a Pentium 4 with at least 256mb of RAM, and Windows XP. My only alternative may be to code it myself...meaning that it will probably be years before I have what I want.<br /><br />I am going to make sure that my software I create will work on that old pc...for people like me that still have an old hunk of 'junk'. I promise that to you for as long as that old pc still runs. I will not define your human worth based on your OS.Apphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04973805741360160102noreply@blogger.com0