Cringe: MS is millipede of software makers

news
Aug 3, 20072 mins

Notes from the field: It’s time, once again, for Cringely’s geek week in review, wherein he shares insights about Google’s prototype cell phone, Vista Service Pack 1 and the Internet worm that feasts on MP3s. “It’s Google’s … G phone, not the iPhone, that may change how and where the world connects to the Web,” while “Microsoft is the millipede of software makers.”

Best of the blogs: Google grabbed headlines with the revelation of its prototype cell phone, sparking speculation that most users won’t want to listen to ads enough to settle for even a free phone. A valid point, indeed. But Ted Samson reports that Google’s phone won’t be about voice ads. “While you’re using all those browser-based services, you’ll have ads delivered, just as you do when you access those services on your PC or desktop. And that’s where Google will rake in the revenue, I’m wagering; not through annoying and disruptive droning voice ads between phone calls,” Samson writes. Related: A Google phone with ads is beyond the pale.

The news beat: Diebold says that a virus attack against just one e-voting machine could tilt an entire election. The Black Hat conference, for the first time, shifts toward IT professionals, with the category comprising some 42 percent of the crowd. A piece of malignant JavaScript mutates itselfto evade detection. And Business Objects tests Web 2.0 technologies within its BI offerings, to mixed reviews.