Viacom VS Google: Copyright Violations / Copyright Infringement

The interesting detail about the last salvo alleged copyright violations concerning Google YouTube is no suprise. My friend and I had talked about it about 6 months ago.

The two founders of YouTube dodge a huge bullet in copyright violations, and made out like a bandit in the process (i.e selling to Google). Not sure who has the better deal in the transaction, Google, or the two founders of YouTube. It's looking like that in the latest suit between MTV (Viacom) and YouTube (Google). The potential is that if Google loses this suit, YouTube would not be a great investment (at least not in it's current form).

I would not underestimate Google. I would be willing to bet that there will be an 11th hour agreement to settle out of court. CEO Eric Schmidt is an extremely shrewd business leader. He will guide the company there this rough patch of currents.

This case is a precendence setting case. If Viacom MTV wins, you better bet that there will a long line of companies / entities filing suits against YouTube. On the other hand if Google wins, this would be the exact oppossite of what happened in the music industry (i.e Napster case).

I am sure the lawyers will battle it out in Southern District of New York. In the end, the lawyers are the winners.



tags: Viacom VS Google, YouTube, MTV, Napster, copyright violation, software

Mini Y2K - Daylight Savings Time 3 weeks early

Daylight savings time is 3 weeks early this year, thanks to the US Energy Policy Act 2005. On the surface it sounds like a good idea. But is it?

In the past this might have been a good idea. These days maybe not. People are leaving for work before dawn, and sometimes not getting back until after dark. Due to these patterns are we energy? I'll let you decide.

On other hand, we use lights, and appliances while we are awake, and turn them off when we go to sleep. In a sense we do same electricity, but do we save gas?

Moving clocks 1 hour forward three weeks early affect all electronics that have a time device. This past Saturday night / Sunday morning, IT specialists were busy patching their systems to account for this change. It's like a mini Y2K. Three weeks later, we have to adjust the clocks 1 hour back to account for the original daylight savings time. How much is this really costing companies, and government agencies? Are we actually saving money, or energy?

The good news is IT specialist now have more work to do. How's this for job security?


Don't forget moniker "Spring forward, Fall Back".




tags: daylight savings time, software, IT systems, electricity

US DOT Banned on latest Microsoft Products

US DOT CIO Daniel Mintz says he has placed "an indefinite moratorium" on Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 7.

Sounds like there are concerns with security and compatibility. The department is looking at other alternative solutions.

With upgrade come costs. With upgrade of OS comes upgrading of other specialized department applications. Spending on upgrades at this time is unwarranted.

In addition, not upgrading is risk mitigation. This is in light of the move later on this year to the new DOT headquarters.

A similar banned is in effect at the Federal Aviation Administration.

Any prolonged banned can cost major $$$ for Microsoft.

This is good use for the competitors Google, Linux, and Sun Microsystems.

For once the competitors of Microsoft might be able to benefit from this moratorium.



tags: Google, Microsoft, software, Linux, Sun Microsystems

Google VS. Microsoft: Latest Salvo

As usual, Microsoft starts fighting the competition when there is a sense threat or perceived threat to their turf. The latest on the radar is Google. I was perusing an article from SiliconValley.com, it sounds like the battle lines are drawn. Each are firing salvos. The battle will get serious soon. Latest salvo is from Microsoft Attorney Thomas Rubin. Rubin says "Companies that create no content of their own, and make money solely on the backs of other people's content, are raking in billions through advertising revenue."

Rubin also riped into the handling of copyright materials. According to Rubin, "In essence, Google is saying to you and to other copyright owners: 'Trust us — you're protected. We'll keep the digital copies secure, we'll only show snippets, we won't harm you, we'll promote you,' " Rubin told the publishers. Then came a little rhetorical misdirection. "But Google's track record of protecting copyrights in other parts of its business is weak at best."

The remarks were presented at the Association of American Publishers.

On other hand there others in Microsoft that don't exactly agree wtih Rubin's stance. Don Dodge, director of business development for Microsoft's Emerging Business Team, shook his head: "Really dumb move! What are these Microsoft lawyers thinking? Even if they are right, which is debatable, what reaction do they expect from the public at large? This strikes me as pandering to the Association of American Publishers."

It seems to me that Microsoft is attacking Google's most vulnerable part of the company. This is just the latest in the many salvos between the two companies.

Of course we know the history of competition versus Microsoft. Give a prayer to those fallen by the way side. Novell, Borland, Netscape, Sun Microsystems, etc.

Of course the bundling technique has worked well for Microsoft over the years. We will see how the latest move of bundling the search bar in the Windows Menu works.

Jury is still out on Vista.

This does not mean Google not fighting back. Google is has introduced various products to compete with Microsoft. The latest is Google's premium apps.

Of course, this is good healthy competition, give people choices, just like when you pick hotels (silicon valley hotels). The hospitality industry just like the software industry is extremely competitive.

tags: Google VS. Microsoft, microsoft, google, siliconvalley.com, silicon valley, software

Windows Vista: Latest Vulnerability

While I was at work yesterday morning, I saw an email from InfoWeek. Headline: Latest Vulnerability found in Windows Vista. This definitely does not suprise me. Then later yesterday, there was a Mac commerical making fun of this vulerabiity of Vista. Boy, how news travel, and Apple has reacted very quickly market wise to capitalize on this latest news.

According to the InfoWeek article, I quote, "The flaw, which is similar to a buffer overflow problem, is a privilege escalation bug, according to Marc Maiffret, co-founder and chief hacking officer of eEye Digital Security, an endpoint security company based in Aliso Viejo, Calif." Now buffer overflow problems is nothing new to the industry. Buffer overflows use to happen on a regular basis, until we became more security conscious.

Of course like a buffer overflow problem, we have a priviledge escalation bug, which most likely is caused by an error in coding (i.e forgeting to check buffer space, or deallocating buffer space, etc). Thanks to the age old problem of buffer overflow, regular users in Vista, can now grab priviledges illegally, and have system level access, not just regular user access.

The good news is that the vulnerability does not apply to remote uers. However, if combine with other hacks, viruses, spyware, this vulnerability can be extremely dangerous.



tags: Windows Vista, Windows Vista Vulnerability, Apple, computer virus, software