One for Scripting News perhaps? - The Scotsman Online -| Now and Then - 2 November

1619: Patent granted to Nathaniel Udwart of Edinburgh for a monopoly in the manufacture of soap.

Monopoly? Soap? Hmm, here have I seen those two words used together before ;-)

DaveNet : The Microsoft settlement

In conclusion, as an independent developer and investor, I don't believe that the agreement will, in any substantial way change or limit Microsoft's practices, nor is there much hope that Microsoft will self-impose restraint in the interest of a vibrant software marketplace. It's not a good settlement for independent software developers.

Lots of feedback in response to a question posting to the http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/website-info-mgt.html list: Cross-site branding on distributed academic websites - any success stories? [Search]

Stealing MS Passport's Wallet

By cobbling together a handful of browser-based bugs with flaws in Passport's authentication system, Slemko developed a technique to steal a person's Microsoft Passport, credit card numbers -- and all, simply by getting the victim to open a Hotmail message.

Microsoft Passport to Trouble

It is very clear that either Microsoft does not have sufficient resources in place to properly review the security of their services and software (it only took me about 30 minutes to come up with the basics of the example exploit, why didn't they notice the same issues?) or that they are aware of the shortcomings but decided that attempting to gain market share was more important than their user's security. Either way, extreme caution is necessary when considering the adoption of Passport technologies and, by implication, any technologies built on top of Passport

BBC News | BUSINESS | Q&A: The Microsoft deal

The three-year court battle between US software giant Microsoft and the US government, with the support of 18 US states, appears to be drawing to a close. The two sides have agreed an out-of-court settlement, but the deal has not been sealed yet. BBC News Online looks at the issues surrounding the case.

Standard Practice: SOAP Support Across Sun[Tm] One

Sun announced that the Sun ONE Integrated product portfolio will continue to support emerging web services and XML standards, including SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol). With JavaTM technology continuing to provide open, cross-platform support for SOAP and other key web services standards, Sun ONE customers can develop web services with XML support that are interoperable with other standards-based services.

Your First Cup of Java (for Mac OS)

I have lots of things to do so now the ideal time to install the Mac OS X v 10.1 upgrade (and Mac OS 9.2.1). I may be some time...

[note to self: backup first ;-)]

via HtP - developerWorks : Open source : The Jikes Research Virtual Machine

The Jikes Research Virtual Machine (RVM) is designed to execute Javaª programs that are typically used in research on fundamental virtual machine design issues. It will provide academic and research communities with a flexible testbed to prototype new virtual machine technologies and experiment with different design alternatives. It runs on the AIXª/PowerPCª, Linux©/PowerPC, and Linux/IA-32 platforms, and exhibits industry-strength performance for many benchmark programs on the first two of these platforms. The Jikes RVM includes the latest VM technologies for dynamic compilation, adaptive optimization, garbage collection, thread scheduling, and synchronization. The Jikes RVM is implemented in the Java programming language.

The Register: Win-XP vs Red Hat 7.2

However, if you're a basic PC user thinking about buying XP, don't. It's basically malware. It harangues you with nagging, fake-friendly reminders to obtain a Passport and submit to product activation, and treats you like a child when you try to do anything heretical, like install a device driver of which it disapproves.

And here's the bottom line:

If these OS's were cars, XP would be the Warner Brothers Special Edition minivan, and 7.2 would be a Yugo well on its way to becoming a KIA.

As Dave on Scripting News says "JD Lasica has a fantastic set of links to stories about weblogs"

Duncan Yo Yo leap-frogged me in the Google ego-search for Duncan. I've been relegated to #10 on the first page. Mind you you have to admire the current marketing slogan "Duncan Toys Make You Sexy":

That's right. You read that correctly. Duncan® Toys make you sexy. No one throws yo-yos like a Duncan man or Duncan woman. Since 1929, the Duncan yo-yo pro has been the choice of discerning ladies and gentlemen across the world. Style, class, skill - the Duncan pro has it all. Ladies love a man who's good with his hands, and the Duncan yo-yo man is that man indeed. And all the ladies know that a Duncan yo-yo is an express train to a man's heart. Only classy, stylish, hip and cool chicks play with Duncan yo-yos. Duncan yo-yos bring out the best in people.

Yo! Just call me "Yo Yo" Duncan from now ;-)

And if this many "Duncan"'s don't get me above #10 in the Google charts I don't know what will!

BlueJ - Teaching Java

BlueJ is an integrated Java environment specifically designed for introductory teaching
BlueJ supports:

• fully integrated environment
• graphical class structure display
• graphical and textual editing
• built-in editor, compiler, virtual machine, debugger, etc.
• easy-to-use interface, ideal for beginners
• interactive object creation
• interactive object calls
• interactive testing