Mike’s Thoughts

So… I use Gmail as a catch-all account for all of my email and I use the web interface because Outlook doesn’t handle the IMAP so well. I also use Gmail Redesigned, which gives the web interface a cool face lift.  To complete my web ensemble, I use AdBlock Plus to keep my web experience focused on what I am working on and not the ads.

So I logged into my Gmail account a few minutes ago, and what do I find in the message page, but a bar full of ads. My natural instinct is to zap the div container with Ad Block, so I do. This confuses me, as this is the first time I have ever seen them since I initially zapped them after installing AdBlock. I laugh to myself over my victory and proceed to continue reading my messages. As I open the next message, I am shocked to find another column of ads plaguing my window. So again I adblock the area. For good measure, I reopen the message. Ads. Again!

It seems as if Gmail is randomly naming the div container to prevent AdBlock from blacklisting the ad’s container. This is a low blow, and while genius from a company and coding standpoint, is beyond irritating for me as a user. I will keep trying to de-crap the experience as best as possible, but this is really going to irritate me. Keep it up Google and you just might lose another user.

I am very picky about my software. I want it to work right, and to look good. It’s not just a matter of working and getting the job done, but getting the job done in an intuitive way. A prime example of this is my instant messaging client. I don’t use AOL’s client. It’s slow, bloated, and riddled with ads. I’ve tried Pidgin, and, yeah, it works, it’s ok. It doesn’t have a whole lot to it, and it irks me most that it looks like a Linux app. I’m sorry, but big, plush buttons and a child-like interface are not for me. So, what am I to do?

Enter Digsby, an app written by a couple of RIT graduates (woot! RIT! ). Digsby not only supports a plethora of protocols, it also integrates with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and my email accounts. I get a little message whenever one of these sites or protocols updates, including when I get a new email, or when my friend has a new wall post. Best of all, Digsby has a slick interface, and is streamlined, and acts rather quick. Best of all, it’s free… take that Trillian Pro!

Ironic, just ironic

All was well…. until the company started getting greedy. Now, yes, I understand that they are a company that needs to make money, and generating a profit would be nice too. But, the makers of Digsby are choosing the wrong friggin way to do it. Let’s start with the installer. The previous installer, ironically, used a system similar to NullSoft. The front page displayed an icon promising “no spyware, adware, or viruses.” Ok, cool. Well, now, as part of their efforts to make money, the creators have chosen to now utilize “InstallIQ” to manage Digsby’s installation. Now, sure, you can still get the old installer, but only if you click the microscopic link underneath the obnoxiously obvious download button. Now, if you don’t know, InstallIQ is made by none other than freeze.com. Now, any computer user who isn’t a n00b when it comes to security, or even someone who can google, will know that freeze.com generally means you can kiss your computer goodbye. If spyware and viruses are your thing, cool, enjoy. The InstallIQ, along with Digsby’s site, claim that the “optional” components are not required, and are easily uninstalled. Uh, huh. Ok. Lemme esplane somtin to yu. Crapware that is bundled with apps that is made to piss you off doesn’t say, “HEY! Are you sure you want me to install myself and prompt you with ads non stop??”. Um no, it will just install, plain and simple.

Then there is a second revenue model that Digsby is trying. According to a blog post on Digsby’s site, the application will now, without your knowledge or permission (at least by default), utilize your computer’s idle CPU cycles to perform calculations for whatever they want. Supposedly it will only utilize cycles when the computer is idle, and the computational process is a low priority process that will stop if any app needs resources. Ok, there are several problems here. A, you never tell people that you are using their cycles, or that there is a way to turn them off. B, you aren’t telling us what you are using them for. You are essentially renting our computers and turning them into something that could almost be considered a botnet. Sure a botnet is composed of compromised computers controlled with Trojans, but the principle is the same. Now, this idea is similar to Folding@Home. Folding can be installed on PCs, laptops, Macs, and even PS3s. The idea is the same. Help global research by offering up your computer’s processing power. But here’s the difference. Folding is completely public and open. I can join teams to compete and see who can generate the most results, and more importantly, I can see what projects are being conducted, as well as the processing that my computer has done. For all I know, Digsby could be renting my cycles to some fly-by-night company that wants to come up with a new way to crack passwords. Sure, I would doubt that they would stoop that low, but hey, look how low they’ve sunk already.

And, just to rub it in, Digsby, by default, appends a message to the bottom of your profile that lets everyone know that you use Digsby. While this isn’t a big deal and easily changeable, it is just irritating to have an app that thinks they can just do whatever they want with my profile and my computer.

Being from RIT, I see Digsby stickers littered literally ALL over campus. At first, I thought it was cool, but now, I wonder how many people are aware of the crap that Digsby is pulling without their knowledge.

After ridding myself of Digsby on my laptop (and my desktop), I was redirected to Digsby’s site, where I could provide feedback as to why I uninstalled it. I let them know that I will not stand for such sneaky behavior from a company:

When I first starting using Digsby, I like it; in fact, I thought it was awesome! But then things started to change. You began using sneaky techniques to try and make money. First it started with the freeze.com installer. Anybody who knows freeze, or who executes a simple google query will know that freeze is no good, and it spells disaster in every sense of the word. To make matters worse, I happen to come across a blog post that said that you use my computer’s CPU cycles without my permission and without my knowledge by default. Sure, the blog post said how to “opt-out” of the program, but you don’t tell people during the installation either that you are going to use their cycles or how to turn off this feature. I don’t know what you are using them for, and I cannot check their progress, like I can with Folding@Home. With Folding, I can see exactly what my cycles are used for, and I can be proud to support the projects. With Digsby, I have NO idea what’s going on, and for all I know, it could be something malicious, whether or not that was you intent. This has made me lose all faith in Digsby. How am I supposed to trust you application now? How do I know that you won’t try to sneak in some other money making garbage when I upgrade or reinstall? What a shame. I was so optimistic about using your app. I have struggled to find an app with an interface and feature set that Digsby offers, and have not succeeded. I have had to settle for second best. However, I cannot use an app that I cannot trust.

While I’m still not thrilled about using Pidgin, anything is better than Digsby. I will continue the search for a truly great app that marvels Digsby’s capabilities, but until then, Pidgin reins supreme.

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MySpace. Just hearing that word makes me shutter. A few years ago, I drank the MySpace kool-aid and created a page of my own. It was the coolest thing since sliced bread. But then I realized just how trashy the site had become. More than half of the site had become riddled with ads. And if I should spend the hour or so to Ad-Block all of the images and text ads, I was left with a horrible shell of a site that had more white spaces on it than any site I’ve ever seen.

So, I decided to give Facebook a try. It has far less ads and had a more promising interface and API. However, after learning from my roommate that they had changed their Terms of Service, I have a different opinion of them. According to a post on Consumerist, Facebook now claims that by uploading content to their servers, you are granting them the right to use your content for whatever they want, indefinitely. They don’t need your permission to do so. Here’s the best part: if you close your account, or even if you delete content from your page, they still keep a backup of the content to use whenever they want. This angers me. A lot. So much, in fact, that I may be soon closing my Facebook and demanding that they remove my content from their servers, unless they want a fight.

Why is this an issue for me? Well, besides the obvious fact that Facebook is essentially stealing my intellectual property (stealing, according to Merriam-Webster is “to take surreptitiously or without permission.” Me uploading to your site is NOT giving you the right to backup my content for your own personal use whenever you feel like it!), they are doing it behind users’ backs. According to their privacy policy, if they make changes to their Terms of Service or Privacy Policy, they will either notify users at the top of the Privacy Policy page, via email, or their homepage. Let me tell you, a change like this can’t be contained to a freakin’ tiny line at the top of the Privacy Policy (which, by the way, has an effective date well before the aforementioned changes). If this is the kind of company Facebook is turning into, I want nothing to do with them.

Though I haven’t made a true decision, I am going to be reviewing content on my profile, and if need be, demanding in writing, that the content has been removed. For your own sake, look through your profile for any content that you wouldn’t want Facebook using as if it were their own, and remove it, and write them to make sure that it really is gone. And from now on, make SURE that you really want your content submitted to Facebook before you post it.

Todd, though I might not have agreed with your position on some of the aspects of the new facebook layout, I can see why you are timid of Facebook! Facebook, you are headed down a dark path!

So, for those of you who have not heard, the music industry just fell about 10 pegs in my book. Between Ruckus shutting down, XM in peril with the potential of shutting down, and then XM telling me that in less than a month, I will no longer get to listen to my music online for free anymore.

Let’s start with Ruckus. It was a simply concept… give college students free music for them to listen to. Sure, it had DRM on it that restricted you to listening it only on your computer, but it was music none-the-less. Now, I know certain people who will whine about DRM until the end, but I argue that DRMed music that is legally obtained is better than nothing, or need I say, pirated music. Unfortunately, because the service was not generating enough revenue from ads, they were forced to shut down. Great… now where am I going to get my music from?!

Now onto XM. I’ve got mixed feelings on this one. Part of me is sad for them that they might be shutting down. However, after logging in to listen to XM Online, since I’m at college and don’t have a radio in my room, I was presented with a lovely message that in less than a month, online radio would no longer be free! >:| Now comes the job of convincing certain parental units to spend the extra $3 a month so that I can continue to listen to “now near CD quality” music online. Nonetheless, I hope that they can get their affairs in order so that my backup source of music doen’t meet the sam fate as Ruckus.

Ok, so if you’re here, then you are hear to read my thoughts. That’s the point of a blog. If you are a die hard Mac/Apple Fanboy (or Fangirl) who can’t stand to read something bad said about their idol, stop. Do not pass go. Do not continue reading.

Ok, so I’ve obviously peaked your interest if you’re reading this!

Let me start by saying that I do own a mac. I don’t deny that they are nice looking machines, and my 1 year old aluminum iMac is no exception. Ok, enough praising this sad excuse for a secure computing machine.

Let me paint you a picture. On my mac, I have several accounts. I am obviously an administrator on my machine. Now, sense I’m at college, my family borrows my computer, no problem, cool. My brother is an administrator on the machine, as is my dad. My dad, for whatever reason, does not have a password protecting his account. My machine doesn’t contain the answer to life or the formula to eternal youth, so I don’t really care. This point aside, I recently came to discover something that I would consider a huge security issue and a complete blunder on Apple’s part. For those of you who know Windows, you know that when User A locks their computer, only User A can truly unlock the system. If another administrator logs into the system, it will “unlock” the computer, which really means that the user is logged out, and the system returns to the logon screen. Now, on a mac, if User A locks their system… oh wait, I’m sorry, they can’t! The only way to “lock” the computer is to require a password when the system returns from sleep or a screen saver. Sorry, that’s not the same thing. But, whatever. Now, let’s say that User A locks their system, and an administrator comes to unlock the system. When they enter in their credentials, it does not log out the user, but instead returns them to User A’s session. Hello! Um…. yeah, I don’t care if you are an administrator, you should not be logged into my session where you now have free rein of my system to snoop through my files, change settings, send love letters to that girl in the cubical two rows over in my name, and change my background… don’t TOUCH my background!

Ok, so you’re prolly thinking in your head, HELLO, administrators have access to your files anyway. That’s why they’re administrators. Duh! Well, um, no. NTFS permissions on Windows, as well as the permission schema on the Mac allow users to explicitly deny a group of users access to your files. Without going into too much detail about file security (it can be a doosy), there are two ways to prevent a user or group from accessing a file or folder. You can either explicitly deny the user, or you can simply not define access for them, which will prevent them from accessing the resource. Oh, but wait, the administrator is now parading around my mac as ME, so it doesn’t matter that he doesn’t have access to my files, my mac thinks it’s ME installing 50 GB of software onto the system. Good job!

Now, there might be a way to change the way this logon/unlocking protocol is handled, and I have just not changed it. However, if that is the case (which I don’t think is), the better question is what dim-witted programmer DIDN’T ENABLE IT BY DEFAULT!?!?

This is only the tip of the iceberg on the way I feel about Mac security. I have bashed Microsoft before and said things about Vista and other Microsoft products, but I can say one thing with certainty. That company is not afraid to admit vulnerabilities and flaws in its products and provide prompt updates for them. Every second Tuesday of the month comes the famed Patch Tuesday where Microsoft pushes out important and critical patches to its customers. It does not try to hide these flaws. I don’t care what you think about Microsoft, you CAN NOT deny that it is looking out for the best interest of its customers. Apple on the other hand… refuses to admit flaws in its supposedly “perfect” operating system. Critical flaws can take months at a time to patch, often met with denial from company personel about the alleged issues. Don’t believe me? Read this ComputerWorld: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9110907

It’s crap like this from Apple that makes me want nothing to do with them. Once you get over the wow factor of their, admittently decent looking products, you will see that you are paying for overpriced crap. For the same price, you can get a PC with twice or three times the specs as the mac. I thought that it would be cool to work at Apple. After doing some digging on their business practices, and the horrible way that Steve Jobs treats his employees, I don’t want anything to do with them.

In a class a few weeks ago, we saw a video about the modernization of technology, including the first Apples and the first computers. I caught an early glimpse at how Steve Jobs views innovation, and it made me want to put my fist through a wall. I saw him talk about how he has not a care about how he and his company took specifications from Xerox all those years ago to create the first real GUI and the early macs. Yet, today, Apple whines and complains when Window starts to look “like a mac” <shutteres>. Or better yet, when a company proposes a way of organizing pictographic program depictions, we’ll call them icons, into a straight line, or container, and puts this container along one side of the screen, that’s copying the “Dock.” Hmm, I should probably remove the red box at the bottom of my desktop background into which I organize my icons, because, you know, that looks an awful lot like the Dock. >:/

I’m done watching keynotes where Jobs freaks out at the audience because the guy in the back row took more than 5 seconds to look at the “innovative”, “amazing” new Mac Pro casing that Jobs insisted everyone see. I always thought Apple products were cool, that they were imprevious to security breeches, and that they were made by a company that stood for innovative, original ideas; one that respeced its employees, and valued that interests and opinions of its consumers.

Althought I will probably continue to look out for what next product Apple tries to insist that everyone “can’t live without,” I know that once the potential wow factor wears off, I’ll be left with nothing.