Sharecropping

Slashdot had an interesting article that likens developing for a closed source platform to sharecropping. The article rang true with several things about Microsoft that I have come across recently. One of these is Microsoft’s recent purchase of GeCad Software. Microsoft specifically mentions that it’s a purchase of intellectual property, and that they have no plans to continue to develop GeCad’s products. This is rather unfortunate, because GeCad’s RAV antivirus software is a wonderful Linux-based antivirus mail scanner product. I wonder if the prospect of destroying a Linux product had anything to do with Microsoft’s decision. If I was Symantec right now, I’d be very worried about Microsoft muscling in on territory that’s been fair game for years.

Slurpee Conspiracy

In case anyone is interested, tomorrow is Free Slurpee Day at 7-Eleven. I’m starting to notice a trend at my local 7-Eleven. The slurpees are getting runnier. As I was approaching the machine, I though I spied the Coke slurpee was perfect. From a distance, you can tell by the colour of the mix in the machine exactly what the consistency is. The Pepsi one was very dark, and obviously very runny. Well, as I approached the machine, I realized that someone was playing a cruel trick on me – it wasn’t Coke – it was Vanilla Coke! What an awful slurpee flavour (it’s terrible as a beverage – freezing it does nothing to enhance the experience). What was I left with? Grape, or some mexican thing. Ewww.

Talking of slurpees, I ran across this online diary the other day. It’s obsessive-compulsives like this that help me feel normal.

Field Day

What a busy couple of days. Last Saturday/Sunday was amater radio’s annual Field Day event. This is a 24 hour event that involves lugging thousands of dollars worth of radio equipment out into the middle of nowhere, and proceed to chant the same incantation (“CQ Field Day, CQ Field Day”) into the microphone for 24 hours, only to gather up all of the equipment and take it home again. The weekend consists of junk food and mosquitoes.

Actually, it’s lots of fun. It’s basically an emergency preparedness exercise, with a big social element thrown in. This year, we were located in Mission Creek Park in Kelowna, BC. This gave us great public exposure, with lots of people asking us questions.

This year was a double-whammy, because right after Field Day was the annual Canada Day contest. This time, we were holed up in our club shack, but the incantation was similar (“CQ Canada Day, CQ Canada Day”). I must admit that this year I sneaked away from the Canada Day contest to grab some decent shut-eye in my own bed.

Now it’s time for me to get back to work…