Piczo

Sharp says one of his researchers identified the second payload weeks ago and that when the company notified the FBI, the bureau asked it to keep quiet so it could try to track down the author of the worm:

So we just updated our def files to protect our customers and otherwise kept silent.

That was weeks ago. Then yesterday (Nov. 6), iDefense decided to come out and collectively bash the antivirus industry, us included, for not having "cracked the code" on Warezov (Stration). They took this opportunity to announce their discovery of the previously-secret payload, and mess up any chance of this international investigation going anywhere. Great job, guys. ...

Via Adam Rosi-Kessel.

If IBM were to win this lawsuit (and, let's face it, it will settle long before we get to that point), IBM could put a toll on the Internet.

And I thought Microsoft was wrong to tax open source innovation. IBM's attempt to steal the web is even more audacious. ...

Earlier:
World's largest Windows error message.

Via Bill Ives, who says the fact that the government is running such an effort is further proof of the value wikis can have in any large organization.

Bruce Parens explains why he thinks it's a way for Microsoft to try to crush open source.

Jon Collins sees it as more of a way for Microsoft to get into true enterprise management, by giving it hooks into Unix environments.

Darth.net: You have to wonder if Microsoft is serious about this or are they just trying to smack Red Hat around a little bit.

Nick Selby sees it as a counter-measure to the Oracle/Red Hat folderol. But he adds: One has to wonder whether this is one of Novell's most astute move in years or its worst move ever.

Eric Mesa: Novell sells out.

Colin Brayton: Isn't that a bit like saying the Trojan
Horse bridged the divide between the Greeks and the Trojans?

The entire FCC ruling.

Figurski at Findhorn on Acid is a hypertext novel: It comes on a CD (Windows or Mac) and you decide where to go once you're in it (it's actually been around for awhile). It's comprised of 354 "nodes" with hundreds of links.

Jessica Laccetti's review is interesting as well, although possibly as much for what it says about her and big-word academics as what it says about the book. I admit I was particularly struck by a footnote:

[T]he prefix, "hyper" problematizes feminist thought (which has sought to destabilize hierarchies such as mind over body and vision over touch) as it adds inscriptions of hierarchy to an already seemingly hierarchical and male-dominated field.

Huh? Hypertext is hierarchical? Since when? Sure, it can be used that way, but we've gotten way beyond gopher-like menus, haven't we?

Today, I friended (oops, wrong social network) somebody. Curious, I went to the My Contacts page - where I saw that my very first LinkedIn contact was still there, even though he'd died several months ago. He was a very nice guy, so  it was kind of sad to see his "current" profile.

But also, what happens when a member of a network like this dies? Where's the final virtual resting place for the deceased? Do such disembodied accounts just keep getting LinkedIn requests? What happens if LinkedIn survives and I go back in 40 years (well, if I survive that long as well) and everybody I knew is dead, and then I notice that my network now has 3.8 billion members because on the Internet, nobody knows you're dead?

Casey Willborn shows what happens when network administrators notice heating ducts up in the ceiling, in his entry in our post-contest Halloween Alpha Geeks competition. The balsawood airplane is on its way! And we have plenty of 'em, so send in your photo.

And see our Halloween page for more.

Madden reports he came up with the mask a few years ago while working for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, not long after the foundation had moved from some space above a pizza parlor: "In those days our wiring closet was a desk with a couple of Cisco 5000s and spaghetti everywhere." Today, he writes computing security policy and does Web development for a large airplane manufacturer.

He likes the creative when it comes to Halloween: "I was a nun a few years ago with a long brown robe and habit.  It didn't work out too well; I had a mustache and was getting too much action from the men so I had to become a monk."

What's the scariest thing about IT today? "It's always been that IT seems to have a holier than thou attitude towards the common users.  I've been on both sides and can understand how they get their attitude, but it doesn't help the situation, or the users."

A whole host of scary networking costumes for ghouls of all ages.

Via Tyler Reguly, who tested it out with a copy of a virus he's studied in the past. He said he was impressed - after he realized his own anti-virus software wasn't letting him upload samples (he set up a virtual machine to upload the code).