Windows Genuine Advantage Spyware

I need to stand on top of my Microsoft soap box and say a few things about Windows security. I use both Linux, Windows and whatever devices make my digital life more productive and entertaining. Well, if you have not heard, just this past week Microsoft was caught and tagged as the largest spyware source to date. "Microsoft Big Brother". For roughly the past year, all modern Windows PCs have been phoning home every day. This was put into service in July 2005 as the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) service which was required to allow Windows patches to continue working. The true intent of WGA was never revealed by our trusted Big Brother, Microsoft.

The thing that bothers me the most about this is that Microsoft did this for security reasons and used it for some yet unknown reason (marketing) to make using Windows better for everyone. This sounds like a smokescreen to me and makes me wonder about the new integrate security features like anti-spyware Microsoft has embedded into the next version of Windows Vista.

Boy am I glad that I have options and know how to use Linux and other personal computing platforms effectively. As I look to the future, I see a less Windows dependent future for me. At least as far as home computing and entertainment computing and security are concerned. With Linux, Mac and Sony PS3 coming online soon, I think in the near future I will further diversify my personal computing technology architecture and use Windows less. Choices exist, you just have to exercise your right to choose based on good solid information.

Online Everything Is Getting Closer

I moved to using e-mail on the web in the mid 1990s with Yahoo! Mail. It was the best thing since slice bread for me. Prior to using Yahoo! Mail exclusively for my personal email, I was always on the wrong computer or at the wrong place when I wanted to access my e-mail folders containing the e-mail with information I needed where I was. This scenario could be while at home needing to access a work e-mail or while at work and having to access a home e-mail. Keeping track of the e-mail accounts and which computers could access it was just a pain.

To make a long productivity story, once I moved 100% to web e-mail, the problem just disappeared and is now a no-brainer. I do not understand the number of people I know who are still tied to thick client e-mail (MS-Outlook) today. Why? Who knows.

Well if you are still using your thick client calendar or e-mail, then you are stuck in the 1990s. With Yahoo! Calendar and most recently Google Calendar and the ease of collaboration over the web only requiring that you have access to the internet using any browser, I just don't understand the folks I hear talk about Outlook and wishing they were at home to access their personal email while away from home. Huh!?! Hello?! It's the 21st century and that is an old 1990s problem. Why are you still stuck in the 1990s?

Well, with the recent release of Google Spreadsheets and Google's acquisition of Writely, I think the days of being tied to a thick client for spreadsheets and word-processing are numbered. The only pieces missing is a nice web-based presentation application and a quick webtop database for business productivity. I suspect this will happen within the next year.

I can think of a few other web apps that would be nice replacement for their thick client equivalents, however for now I'd like to reserve some room for innovation in 2007. By the way, I just got my Google Spreadsheet account today and have already been inspired with a few ideas for its use within the first few minutes of using it. As for the "Online Everything" concept, I think this was dubbed Web 2.0 last year.