Cobra

Alright, just to clarify...I am NOT an avid MS basher. I use, administer, and fix Windows desktops and servers daily and they do the job for most people.

The only problem I have with Microsoft is that they're gradually starting to creep into more areas of our lives. I remember the days of Windows 98 when you bought a computer, turned it on, and it was ready to rock. Now with Windows XP systems, you set it up, turn it on, activate Windows, activate Office (if you have it), download security patches...oh no, you have to download the Windows "Genuine Advantage" tool before you can do that!

This nifty little ActiveX script was originally intended to check your copy of Windows to make sure it was legit. That's all fine and good, I don't fault them there. Lately, however, it has been discovered that the WGA tool does more than just validate your copy of Windows/Office...

Take this snippet, for example, from Groklaw:

A computer user is suing Microsoft Corp. over the company's Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy tool, alleging that it violates laws against spyware.

The suit by Los Angeles resident Brian Johnson, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Seattle, seeks class-action status for claims that Microsoft didn't adequately disclose details of the tool when it was delivered to PC users through the company's Automatic Update system.

And yet another from ZDNet blogs:

Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is an anti-piracy technology that checks in with Microsoft's servers across the Internet that Microsoft recently pushed out to users of Windows via its Windows Update service. Unless the software is able to validate that you have a legitimate copy of Windows, you may be denied certain important updates according to an entry in Microsoft's online knowledgebase. But now comes new news that WGA is phoning home on a daily basis. Some are likening it to spyware and even Microsoft has acknowledged that it should be doing a better job disclosing what the program is doing and why.

Apparently, Microsoft has slipped in some code to "phone home" on a daily basis. Yet they failed to mention this nifty little feature in the EULA for WGA. And just what does Microsoft get from these "phone calls"?

I don't mind using Windows or Office, but I draw the line when they decide to put a tracker on my personal computer to get who knows what kind of info. Bad Bill, no cookie for you!

Yes, it's the Fourth of July. A time of celebration of our great nation's independece. Food, fireworks, and fun for all ages...indeed.

This date holds another sad significance for me personally. July 4, 2005 was a day like any other, alas it had that holiday feeling to it. At the time, I was still living in North Carolina and had gone to visit a friend of mine. After visiting for a while, I left that afternoon to go back home. I was driving down a curvy, hilly road in the NC foothills and enjoying the particularly nice weather that day. As I rounded a bend and crested a hill, I found myself headed straight for a late 80s Taurus station wagon with nowhere to go. I hit the brakes but it was too late...the lack of ABS in my Focus may have actually lessened the damage of the impact but it was still severe enough to push the front of my car back about 2 feet and deploy the airbags. The other car was spun around and ended up off the opposing side of the road while my car went up an embankment off to the right.

What happened? Well, there was a street off to the right side of my lane which was on the crest of the hill. Rather than pulling up to see if traffic was coming on the other side, the driver cut the corner only to have me find him in mid-turn. I escaped with only an airbag burn to the inside of my left forearm. He was more unfortunate, however. I noticed at least a cut forehead among possibly other things. Thank God for airbags.

So what does this have to do with the title? Well, you see, the elderly drivers seem to hunt me down, this gentleman was no exception. In the, oh, say five accidents I've been involved in since I was 16, all but one involved an elderly person. Not to mention the numerous near-misses I have encountered. My Senior year of high school, I worked hours and hours and saved to buy my first car of my own...a pristine '89 Chevrolet Beretta GT. I had the car for no more than 2 months before an elderly woman failed to stop for a traffic officer outside the high school and took it out. She then had the nerve to say it was my fault...HAH. I also had an old woman lock up her brakes in front of me (to this day I still have no idea why...) and I slid under her bumper. My car was sideswiped by an old man. And then the old man cutting the hill corner.

Maybe I'm one of those "young punk" drivers they seek to get off the road. I am by no means an aggressive driver but I have to be defensive. Who knows what evils those old people will use to take out my current vehicle...