Notes from the field: Robert X. Cringely waves goodbye to Gateway’s goofy cow boxes, since Acer acquired the PC maker. On the kinda sorta bright side, the move puts Acer into the third ranking among PC vendors. “Maybe so, but it’s one with cow manure beneath. Doing this deal is like going to a really bad salad bar; the lettuce has wilted and the tomatoes look dodgy, but you can eat as much as you want.” Acer buys the farm (with cows). Columnist’s corner: In Technology and the Bill of Rights, Ephraim Schwartz asks a simple question: Do 18th century concepts of personal freedom still work in the 21st century? The answer to that, however, is not so easy. “I’m not surprised that AT&T and other telecom companies complied when the government asked [them] to assist in wiretapping their customers,” Schwartz explains. “But our legilsators are a different story. We should expect more from them.” The news beat: Traders punished Acerfor purchasing Gateway as shares opened today down on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. SAP doubles its customer base in India after last year’s announcement that it plans to invest $1 billion in the region by 2010. And folks hacking the iPhone open to unlock it from AT&T service are inviting a lawsuit from the two companies under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Technology Industry