HTNet - A Notepad of Tech, Business, Science and Self Improvement

I was reading this article on hackers locking files and demanding ransom for unlocking it, which somehow eerily reminds me of this recent post I’ve read on Weblog Tools Collection. At the time of the hack, this was how the Pictorialis Forums looked like. Is this a sign of what the darker side of technology has in store for the future?

Nowadays, data is worth lots of money. It also took lots of time, money and effort to compile it into useful information. It sickens me to see those who happens to find a script or two to hijack this data and later demand payment to restore it to the original owners.

In life beyond the networks and packets, similar people are called kidnappers or thieves. And there, they are usually punished severely for their crime (depending on where you live, YMMV).

As reported by C|Net and discussed on OSNews… the monopoly from Redmond has again, showed their acumen for illogical and exploitive business decisions.

However, to be fair to Microsoft, the press release for XP Starter Edition already contains the following information:

Starting in October 2004, Windows XP Starter Edition will ship on new, low-cost desktop PCs available through PC original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and Microsoft OEM distributors in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Language versions will be available in Thai, Malay and Indonesian.

However, it would be kinda dumb to actually use a manufacturer-crippled OS when there are other perfectly viable alternatives available which are the real deal.

First of all, yes, Microsoft does have its own Linux lab. A memorable line from the article would be:

“I am a non-Microsoft guy working at Microsoft,” Hilf said.

An interesting insight to MS’s Linux strategies.

…at least according to craigslist (special thanks to Geek News Central for the link).

I know that the article is actually intended to be humourous, however, there’s no escaping the fact that there’s actually some bits of interesting information in there.

Another point missed is that, geeks, being tech-savvy, tend to have information at their fingertips. This includes actually finding out important scientific information relating to building long-lasting relationships based on trust, affection and a million other things that have a tendency to wreck one.

Overall, although humourous, the article is also insightful and concise. A recommended read for geeks and non-geeks alike.

BitTorrent, the protocol which allegedly accounts for more than one-third of all Internet traffic, has now hit version 4.0.0.

Another interesting point to note about this release is that the license has changed from the MIT license to BitTorrent Open Source License, which basically is a derivative of the Jabber Open Source License. Somehow after writing this, I felt that 99% of you don’t really give a flying hoot about this… but what the hell, I already typed the damned thing :).