Microsoft continues to be the target of viruses. That's always the problem with being on the pedestal. Everybody wants to knock you off. It's been suggested that originators of these viruses are targeting Microsoft. Unfortunately, they don't realize that they are only strengthening Microsoft's resolve.

Viruses always remind me of one calamity at 724 Solutions. Hard to believe, but the Director of IT was the originator of the first and most destructive virus in 724's history. Was he fired for the calamity? No :)

Does anybody need more convincing that Microsoft should be split up? The monolith can destroy you simply by buying your lesser competitor.

At Opencola we actually planned our strategy around avoiding getting stepped on by Microsoft. Ken Nickerson, x-GM of Microsoft Canada, was our CEO for a time and when I discussed integrating email into our application, the reasoning for not doing so was simply to avoid putting ourselves up against Microsoft.

This is the best reason I've heard for the masses to move to broadband. The problem is that people are not going to watch TV on their computer. They want to watch TV on their TV. The solution is of course to be creative. You need a set top box that accepts broadband and you have to deliver that receiver to your broadband customers. We'll see if AOL and AT&T Comcast are listening. Eventually, all of our appliances will accept broadband Internet connections. We're just not there yet.

Here's another creative attempt to monetize blogs. The site uses the referer tags from Google searches to generate a new search at Amazon and suggest a relevant book. Cool?

Here's another great tool for monetizing blogs. Doesn't really do anything that a simple techie shouldn't be able to do on his own. The author isn't trying to make money, but rather is just providing a tool that can be used by bloggers to make money. Nice guy.

This is a simple monetization trick. I tried to get something like this implemented in Opencola. Unfortunately, monetization is an unknown word at Opencola. The idea was ignored at the onset.

A marriage? Mockerybird is monetizing weblogs using Amazon web services. The marriage of blogs and commercial web services?

This is simply creative. Provide a service that you can make a little money with. I'll send Erik Benson an email asking if the ventures is paying.

Interesting, most of the web services mentioned that were developed using APIs are still functional today. Whereas, those developed by reverse engineering the protocol are no longer functional.

At Opencola, we scrap the search sites for results and constantly find ourselves tweaking the scrapping to account for changes in the search engines. I think the models of reverse engineering a protocol and HTML scrapping are dead. The future is web services.

I'm working on a .NET client called Juice. You can download it at http://www.kbcafe.com/juice.htm. I'm using both Google and Amazon's SOAP API. I integrated both in less than 15 minutes each. Most of the work went into the UI, not that the UI is all that great, but the interfacing is so easy with web services.

I think Amazon and Google have a real head start in providing these SOAP APIs. But they must move their APIs forward. I've been negotiating with Google (over emails) for several days in trying to find a business solution that is acceptable to both of us. Google's only business angle is that someday they will be charging for use of their API. Amazon provides the API without limitation on its use.

The debate is usually titled Linux vs Microsoft, but clearly the debate is Linux vs Windows NT/XP Server. It's a fight for the server market. But don't forget Sun in that equation. Solaris is still a big player. I sometimes wonder, if Microsoft is playing itself up against Linux or vice-versus in order to remove Sun from the thoughts of the IT manager.

Beyond Linux vs Microsoft and Sun, the debate is really about Open Source vs Intellectual Property. When a company makes the decision to go Open Source, they devalue their Intellectual Property. Which side of the fence do you think Sun is on? Yes, believe it or not, its Linux vs both Microsoft and Sun. Sun is a closed source shop.

Opencola (my current employer) was originally an Open Source shop. They had great marketing and terrible product development. I'm uncertain if the product development failures were related to their Open Source philosophy. The VCs stepped in and removed the current team and replaced them by one that could develop a product, a closed source product. In the end, neither philosophy worked, not the philosophy has anything to do with a company's failure to execute.

Kerry McLellan's Kinek is slowly putting back together the old 724 team. Kerry was COO of 724. He left 724 very near the top. He now has Paul Mansz, the original 724 architect and Chris Jarman, the mcommerce evangelist.

Kerry is on my list of top 10 most impressive people that I've met. Here's the rest

#1 - Greg Wolfond, Chairman, 724
#2 - Ken Nickerson, x-CEO, Opencola
#3 - Kerry McLellan, x-COO, 724
#4 - Patrick Engel, VP Development, 724
#5 - Steve Gamble, x-Developer, 724
#6 - David Lawee, x-COO, Opencola
#7 - Kalyan Moy Gupta, x-Director or Research, Casebank
#8 - Bob Stasyzyn, Developer, 724
#9 - Michael Lenaghan, President, Frogware
#10 -  Phil D'Eon, CEO, Casebank

Where's the PDA market going? Do we end up with one device or many? Voice enabled RIMs? Palms? WinCEs? Cell phones with PIMs? Cell phones with WAP browsers?

I really like my browser enabled WAP cell phone. But the airtime is expensive and the applications are not very appealing. I've done Palms. What about a WinCE enabled cell phone. That'd be cool.

Great article on the languages of the day. But let me add some forgotten detail.

First Java is a great language for programming in the browser. Not only Javascript, but Java applets are widely supported on many browsers slash operating systems. Java applets will continue to be more trusted and supported in the browser, then the equivalent C# (non-admin mode .NET apps). I doubt C# client-side scripting will be supported in any browser other than IE and browsers based on IE.

As for server-side scripting, C# and VB will have to fight it out on the .NET platform. We don't really need a winner, as they are essentially equivalent. JSP and servlets will dominate on Unix slash Java platforms.

Last thing. Remember that embedded and real-time programmers were the last to move from ASM to C. But they did make the move. Eventually. And eventually, they will also move from C slash C++ to Java slash C#. Just not right now.

There seems to be a lot of ways to monetize the Web using medical solutions. This article explains how some people are doing medical research from their Web browser and getting paid for it.

Another angle is topical research from the Web browser. Many of us are scouring the Web for interesting information. Some are getting paid to do what we do for fun. Lucky.

Sometimes articles say more than the author intended. This is another view into the sentence, "Ideas are a dime a dozen."

Executing on the idea takes resolve and talent. Monetizing the idea is executing on a business and marketing plan. Funny thing is that this kid did 3 out of 3. Got the idea, developed the product and won his high school challenge. Not many businesses are executing like this kid.

My wife has got her eye on this property :)

If anybody has addition links, pixs, etc on this property, my wife would be greatful. Actually, my wife has been looking at some Lionshead estates. Yikes! I need a raise.

More stats on the end of the honeymoon between VCs and technology.

If there's any VCs out there listening. For 50K per month, I'll bring you the world [http://www.kbcafe.com/investors.htm].

Old news. I'll see what I can do with this technology. Maybe I'll create a simple .NET secure IM client. Then go from there.

Amazing, we spent thousands of man hours at Opencola trying to develop a secure P2P framework. And all this time, Intel was providing source code for free.

Further on the mobile product subject. I think the end product is a WinCE-like device that accepts wireless broadband from cell stations, like Qualcomm's EV-DO. The device has an earpiece that doubles as a mic for use as a cell phone, or should I say WinCE phone.

I think 3G and WiFi and EV-DO are effectively going to make WAP a stop-gap solution. Within five years, I don't forsee and need for an alternate browser for mobile solutions. IE on WinCE will suffice.

The human vs computer story is interesting, but has been done. What would be more interesting is a programmer vs programmer story.

Programmers are given a .NET interface for writing a chess heuristic. The heuristics could be played up against each other. See terrarium [http://www.gotdotnet.com/terrarium/] for an example. The same approach would work for any intellectual game.

People don't seem very concerned with the life in Afghanistan after the war. I feel that unless economic conditions are reversed, Afghanistan will continue to be a breeding ground for anti-West sentiment.

A better use of our money would be to build schools in Afghanistan. Show them that we care and that we are interested in more than their crude oils and gasolines. If we are going to bomb their country (to rid them of bin Laden) and use their country as a staging ground for wars (against Russia), then when its all over, it's up to us to clean up.

Another Microsoft basher. What to do?

I remember at 724 Solution arguing the Solaris vs Wintel comparison. The argument at 724 was that the application ran better on a $50,000 Sparc, than it did on a $5,000 Dell. Thus, UNIX is better than Windows NT. The Microsoft basher fails to see the lack of logic in this statement.

I play both sides of the fence. When Microsoft refused to ship Java with XP, I turned down their Visual Studio.NET MVP award. I even wrote about how this decision was bad. And I've written on many subjects that Microsoft was not pleased to hear. But I'm not blind like the Microsoft bashers.

Remember that because Outlook is the target of most email attacks, the resolve of the Outlook security team at Microsoft is stimulated. And for that reason, the security of Outlook far exceeds any of the other available email clients. Period.

Repeat and replace Outlook with Exchange, client with server.

When I found out that something I installed might be vulnerable to the Slammer virus, I did a little research to find out exactly what this virus was and did.

Turns out that you have to have SQL Server or MSDE installed bare naked on the Internet. The bulk of the problem is those people that have SQL Server 2000 installed bare naked on the Internet. By bare naked, I mean that there is no firewall between the Internet and the SQL Server. Additionally, you've had to ignore Microsoft's advice to install the patch and fix that have been available for more than one half year.

Yes, you got are correct. If you have this virus, then you should fire your database administrator. There are some who would escape blame, those that had MSDE installed that was not serviceable by SQL Server 2000 SP3. But the others, fire them.

The thought is that the person who found the flaw and reported it somehow did something wrong. No, Litchfield is the messenger and nothing else. Microsoft is responsible for creating the flaw and someone else is responsible for maliciously taking advantage of it. Litchfield could have used the flaw maliciously, but decided otherwise.

This reminds me of a situation I found myself in three years ago. I reported to the president of 724 Solutions that his Outlook folders were public and that his folder called PWD, which contained all his passwords, was available to everybody in the company. The folder included his brokerage accounts numbers and passwords, credit card numbers, debit card numbers with PINs, etc. etc.

I thought I was being nice, in reporting this to him. Next thing you know, the company reneged on my new 9000 stock option plan, told me that my raise for the year would be negligible (even though I was recently official named a key employee of the company) and threatened to sue me if I joined another company in wireless computing or financials.

I was the messenger and they shot me. I could have used his banking information maliciously, but I didn't. Litchfield is just the messenger. Don't shoot him.

Of course, I quit. It wasn't all that bad. The stock tumbled from $50 to less than $1. So my 9000 stock options would have been worthless anyhow.

Wow! This is clearly the number one technology project in the works. Where do I send my resume?

I'm always amazed at how little buzz companies try to create using press releases. This is an example of a good press release, solely there to create buzz around 724's gateways. But looking back, 724 didn't release a press release for more than two months, spanning from October 2002 to January 2003.

Opencola, my current employer has released one press release in the last six months. 1X, my employer prior to Opencola, never released a press release in its 2 years of existence. KBCafe, my personal website, has released three press releases this month [http://www.kbcafe.com/news.htm]. This is simply a matter of effort. I take the time to write and distribute the press releases.

I remember the day Alistair Rennie first joined 724. He ridiculed the dot-COM startups that were releasing press releases in bunches, then going months without any PR. He said he was going to release PR at scheduled intervals to give a constant stream of PR. I was very impressed. Unfortunately, he didn't live up to his word. He released PR in bunches and went months without. I wasn't so impressed.

This is the floor space that 724 is abandoning. I sat on the 7th floor. 724 still occupies the northern half of the 7th floor. That's where I sat. If you number the north-east office #3 and the two offices to the south of it as #1 and #2, then use incrementing numbers counter clock-wise around the office.

The original floor plan was...

#1 - Roy Morris, Kim and Joel Brooks (network admins)
#2 - Mike Page and Max Krenin
#3 - Rob Kemp, John Plaudis, Rene and later Valentin Stefan (we called this room the tree house) 
#4 - Steve Gamble and Fedja Stefanovic
#5 - Paul Dembowski and Graham Barnett
#6 - Eamon Roche, Mike Lin
#7 - Duc Hong, Rob Chung and before Rob was Wentao
#8 - Brian Danylkiw, Lucian Feier
#9 - Martin Cottreau, Ken Li
#10 - Randy Morin (me), Mike Lepenna, Roman Kulyk (opposite tree house), later Chin Huang, David Vormitag, Diana Diaconu (directly opposite the tree house)
#11 - boardroom
#12 - Roberta Peach (later me and Rob Kemp, then me and Chris Chan)
#13 - Patrick Engel
#14 - Paul Mansz (Bob Stasyszyn moved in with Paul later on)
#15 - Greg Wolfond
#16 - Andre Boysen (north-west corner)
#17 - Chris Erickson (north-west corner)
#18 - Kerry McLellan
#19 - Ian Hobbs

The title is correct. Cash is King, not Content. I love articles that talk about the value of content. I myself believe that Content is the path to Cash, which is the true King.

But the remainder of the article suffers from definition flaw. Content he defines as "professionally prepared material such as books, movies, sports events, or music". That's a very narrow definition of the term.

Another premise of the article is that connectivity is king because email is the true "killer" app of the Internet. Funny thing is that email without content is simply matter moving thru space. The more typical and broad definition of content is what is sent in an email.

I like this article, but think that V/IP is on hold for one reason. Nortel is unable to sell it. This is clearly a marketing problem. I haven't heard anything about V/IP in over a year. Nortel has to get the buzz on the street that V/IP has a big payoff. This means you have to develop a marketing plan. You take your four Ps, add some push and pull, elbow grease and sales roll in.

The tendency is to blame your inability to market a product on this or that thing that is out of your control. Reading the article, the Nortel person clearly indicates that it's a lack of customer education. In other words, Nortel failed to deliver the message to the customer. They failed at marketing.

Most every company I've worked for has had a horribly incomplete or non-existent marketing plan. At 724 Solutions, the company refused to implement any pull marketing, saying that the product will sell itself and pull marketing is the responsibility of its customers (financial institutions). At 1X Inc, the company didn't have a marketing plan, nor did they do anything to market the product, other than one-on-one sales.

This isn't going to work either. The problem is that the author's intent in the first place is to circumvent the law and allow file sharing or copyright material sharing.

A better solution is a P2P solution that doesn't require a central server, not even a central authentication server or central naming service. You release the code as Open Source and let it ride. This requires a P2P naming service, which hasn't been conceived of yet. But given time.