I, Cringely | The Pulpit Cringely again. OK, I really don't like his idea about Internet caller ID. He proposes this as a solution to security problems. Seems like Intel tried this with the Pentium III and got royally whacked for it by pretty much everybody. Cringely does add that people could remain anonymous, just like phone caller ID, but users could choose to block communications from them.

I, Cringely | The Pulpit Robert X. Cringely presents the case against Microsoft, this time from the perspective of willful disregard of system and application security. He makes a number of good points, but there is one I disagree with: He says the lack of security in Microsoft software was a deliberate business decision. Well, yes and no. I believe Microsoft has put usability and interoperability at the top of their list of desirable features. So, yes, that's a business decision. But to declare that Microsoft has something against security and actively decided not to include it in their products is a little too simplistic. The reason all the email viruses and IIS security flaws exist is because Microsoft is trying to make their stuff easier to use. I believe they started out pretty naive about this policy, and have only recently showed any signs of getting a clue about how to design a secure system. But, unfortunately, their legacy software prevents them from doing the right thing. They did try to stem the tide of email viruses starting in Office 2000 by including the ability to restrict executable attachments. And the latest Internet Exploder also allows for higher degrees of security. But the bell can't be unrung, the genie can't be put back in the bottle, and hindsight is 20/20 (is that enough cliches in one sentence?) We have to live with an incredibly insecure system because Microsoft's a monopoly. I don't see any way around that.

( blogdex ) Now all I have to do is sit back and see if I get included in the Blogdex. I can't wait.

disinformation | grant morrison: flick the switch Comics for the disaffected. Bringing up the rear of the Blogdex top 10.

We Are Some Kind Of Fat Oh, yeah. We're fat, not phat.

A Scientist's Art: Computer Fiction Vernor Vinge is pretty cool. I like his daughter Joan's books, too. But why's this article number 8 on Blogdex?

NERVOUS Industries This site is a joke, right?

DaveNet : Big blank machine Dave Winer on the 20th anniversary of the IBM PC. Good title.

MTV.com OK, who's got anything to say about MTV. Anyone? Anyone? Class?

BBC News | SCI/TECH | Meet the Neanderthals Why should an article about reconstructed Neanderthal heads be number 4 on the Blogdex list?

Boston.com / Latest News / Nation People haven't changed since Plato asserted most were motivated by pity and fear. Carpenter gets nailed.

I, Cringely | The Pulpit Good to see that Cringely made the number two spot on Blogdex. This is actually a pretty interesting article.

The War On Drug Wars - Ashkan Sahihi Gets Normal People High Hmmm. This is the number one link found on blogs according to Blogdex? Well, I may as well link to it as well.

Tracking Bloggers With Blogdex This is an interesting idea, to index all the sites that people like myself write blog logs about. Worth checking out.