The saga of QNX and Amiga continues.
Just in time to coincide with the release of Office 2000, is the Cult of the Dead Cow’s Back Orifice 2000. There’s a Web site at www.bo2k.com, but it appears to be down, probably due to excess traffic. InfoWorld also has a Back Orifice article that describes its capabilities, and includes some gratuitous whining from a Microsoft employee. The latest version of Back Orifice is released under the GPL, so you can use it as a foundation for your own Windows “administration tools.”
The Industry Standard is taking an interesting look at what comes next after the standard PC.
You knew it had to happen soon or later … an Internet industry lobbying group has been formed. (Yeah, I already know about TechNet, they’re a computer industry lobbying group.)
Real Networks has made its way onto the Realtime Blackhole List for spamming.
Speaking of lobbyists, Salon has an interesting article about the availability of overtime pay for tech workers today. Apparently, tech workers are specifically denied the right to collect overtime thanks to the zealous lobbying efforts of our benevolent employers. The exemption is ignored by California law, but the lobbyists working for the Silicon Valley are working to change that. I’m so glad to know that our employers are willing to demonstrate their concern for our quality of life by spending their money on lobbying for looser labor laws instead of just coughing up overtime pay. The article also discusses the idiotic ‘overtime stigma’ that is attached to people who aren’t willing to work for free out of some misbegotten sense of charity for a profit-making enterprise.