computer software Archives - The Silicon Underground

Did Microsoft steal DOS from CP/M?

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 11:00:53 +0000

Did Microsoft steal DOS from CP/M? There’s $100,000 in it for you if you can prove they did. Digital forensics consultant Bob Zeidman still says no. I’ve written about him before. But the rumors persist, hence the reward. So how would

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Spot phishing e-mails with Outlook

Dave Farquhar — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 12:00:55 +0000

I got e-mail the other day from Turbotax saying someone had filed my taxes for me. Obviously a cause for concern, right? Here’s how I determined the message was fake in about three minutes. You can spot phishing e-mails with Outlook

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Best Buy needs to clone Micro Center, not Radio Shack

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 12:27:34 +0000

So Best Buy is planning to close 50 big-box stores, downsize others, and try to focus its efforts on selling cell phones, tablets, and e-readers. Sounds to me like they’re trying to become Radio Shack. I’ve talked about the store’s

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The many troubles with e-books

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:51:12 +0000

A brief essay by free software pioneer Richard Stallman on the problems with e-books made the front page of Slashdot today. It’s everything I’ve come to expect from Stallman. I found myself vigorously agreeing with parts of it, and vigorously

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Linguistic analysis isn’t hooey

Dave Farquhar — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 13:33:17 +0000

For the second time in two months, I’ve seen a case where a linguist analyzed writing and tried to conclude whether someone was or wasn’t the author of a suspicious e-mail message. The first was a threatening letter purportedly sent

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Why piracy matters

Dave Farquhar — Sun, 24 May 2009 14:58:14 +0000

Rob O'Hara offers an interesting perspective on piracy.

I agree with him. 20 years ago, copyrighted material offered presence. It was something special.

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Why Firefox will probably always have mixed acceptance in corporate environments

Dave Farquhar — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:48:03 +0000

I saw an article in Information Week today about Firefox in the enterprise.

The fanboys on both sides took offense, of course.

I'm a longtime Firefox user and an IT professional, but yet I agree with the premise that Firefox will always have trouble in that environment.

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Microsoft lives to see another day

Dave Farquhar — Fri, 29 Jun 2001 06:07:39 +0000

Microsoft lives to see another day. I'm of two minds on the Microsoft breakup. As a good little Republican, I believe in free enterprise and history demonstrates again and again that the best way to kill something is to regulate it. Government is reasonably good at protecting us from thugs, when it wants to be, and it's best at protecting us from thugs when it's not meddling in things it's not good at doing.

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