Monday, July 16, 2007

tech pirates

When faced with being accountable for the inevitable problems that accompany any personal technology device even the most scrupulous individual becomes a pathological liar. Phrases like: ‘I didn’t touch it’ or ‘I didn’t install anything’ or ‘It just started doing that’ are the tech equivalent of letting your dog poop on the sidewalk and then running away. You know that someone somewhere is going to have to deal with the mess you made, but you’d rather not take any responsibility or figure out how to clean it up cause you’re just so damn busy. Personal favorite – when someone downloads every damn browser toolbar known to man and then cries about the length of time it takes their browser to open. I know, I know folks want their computers to work like a hammer. You just pick it up and hit something, it should just work. Problem is we have all kinds of ninja programmers and developers switching teams constantly. Take for instance the story of Bert. He worked for a startup company called ‘Stumble upon’, cute little toolbar that is supposed to give the user tips and options for searching all kinds of stuff on the web. Seems like Bert got acclimated to a very plush lifestyle in the Oakland hills, and when his company decided to give him an options self off or pay cut choice he simply split and signed up with a company that needed developers to infiltrate toolbars with malicious software and hijack browser results. Long story short, he has figured out how to maintain his opulent lifestyle by constantly creating demand for himself with rival companies. So far he has developed software to screw up your computer then contracted himself out to the company that designs software to catch said spyware, then hires on as a consultant to design even better spyware to elude the developing he just designed. These guys are pirates of the tech high seas, worse even than ambulance chasers, they prey off the uninformed and informed alike offering their services in an effort to make top dollar off of everyone’s cyber-frustration.

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