Scott Adams Creates a Blog

I don't believe it ! The mentor for all office workers right around the world has decided to start his own blog. Now if that is not an awesome news item, I don't know what is. (Do I need to mention that I am a fan of the comic strip Dilbert ?)

Rootkits

Yep after viruses, trojan, malware and spyware comes a new menace - Rootkits. These things actually change the way your operating system works so that your normal spyware/malware detectors can't pickup any problematic proggies running on your system. These things are real nasty and apparently the only solution to really get rid of one is to format the system again. There are a few programs out there that will help you detect these bothersome things.

Check out the article at :
Tech Support Alert

Slave Species of god

I found a new interesting book via fedup.co.za (thanks goes to my wife) that has been written by fellow South African, Michael Tellinger. The first chapter can be downloaded for free.

"Short introduction to Slave Species of god.

While many books have been written around the subject of our human ancestry, Slave Species of god skilfully manages to combine much of the ancient knowledge of lost civilisations to expose the shocking truth about our human origins. The book is easy to read and grabs its reader from the very first chapter. It unravels the mystery of our CREATOR and the creation of "Adam" while it draws a clear distinction between "god" and GOD. It takes its reader on a journey of discovery through 550 pages of astonishing facts. You will be exposed to the earliest human writings and our ancestors some 450 000 years ago, as they plotted the genetic manipulation of the human race. This is probably the most controversial book written by any South African author and will challenge all the newcomers to this genre of literature."

Check it out here :
Slave Species Link

Ananova - Artists erect giant pink bunny on mountain

Now here is a news item worth noting.



"An enormous pink bunny has been erected on an Italian mountainside where it will stay for the next 20 years."

Check it out here :

Ananova - Artists erect giant pink bunny on mountain

Quote of the Day

We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.
- Robert Wilensky

Steve Ballmer Event

Went to see Steve Ballmer yesterday at Gallagher Estates in Midrand, South Africa. One thing I can say about him is that he is very aware of competition out there and really is a champion for the future of Microsoft development. He pretty much had everyone hanging on his lips and lots of people clapping at fairly simple features.

I was pretty much impressed though with the new way that Office 12 is going to work. Rather having little factual menus, the whole thing has been revamped to the way people would work. Steve also pushed how us developers will be able to use all the new wonderful features of Vista in our code.

Only problem is - that Vista will probably only have an implementation base as of 2 years from now... but I really look forward to it though. It will make us coders look so much more intelligent with little coding :).

Microsoft business systems future definitely looks great going forward though and they are trying their best to outsmart competition. And as it is directly benefiting Microsoft there is no reason that they won't succeed ... I'm one of the people that is sufficiently impressed on what .NET can do and it's going to be big.

"Steven A. Ballmer is Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation, the worlds leading manufacturer of software for personal and business computing. Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 and was the first business manager hired by Bill Gates. Since then, Ballmer’s leadership and passion have become hallmarks of his tenure at the company.

During the past 20 years, Ballmer has headed several Microsoft divisions, including operations, operating systems development, and sales and support. In July 1998, he was promoted to President, a role that gave him day-to-day responsibility for running Microsoft. He was named CEO in January 2000, assuming full management responsibility for the company, which includes delivering on the company’s mission of enabling people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential."

Mark Shuttleworth on Ubuntu Linux

Found this article on Slashdot :

"Mark Shuttleworth has released a FAQ about Ubuntu's Direction and Intent. It comments on the discussions of funding, of being a Debian-fork or not, of the strange names, and many other 'hot topics' relating to Ubuntu. In his own words: 'This document exists to give the community some insight into my thinking, and to a certain extent that of the Community Council, Technical Board and other governance structures - on some of the issues and decisions that have been controversial.'"

And from the wiki :

"Ubuntu is not without its controversies. This is a good thing (at least IMO) as it suggests we are both challenging the status quo, and taking some risks. Speaking for myself, my motivation for funding and participating in Ubuntu so heavily is in large part derived from a desire to do both of those things, I enjoy shaking up established lines of thinking, and I enjoy taking risks. This document exists to give the community some insight into my thinking, and to a certain extent that of the Community Council, Technical Board and other governance structures - on some of the issues and decisions that have been controversial."

Check it out here :
Ubuntu Wiki