Seven Patches Patching

• By Doug Barney
• 12/10/2007

IE, DirectX and even Vista are all getting fixes.

Them's Fightin' Words!
Analyst firm CMS Watch must've been trying to get press attention. Why else would it call the proliferation of SharePoint content a "virus"?

According to the research firm -- which goes out of its way to point out that it's "vendor-neutral," as if that's some kind of rarity -- individual users and departments are setting up so many SharePoint repositories that IT can't keep track.

Now, last time I checked, a virus is something that replicates on its own. SharePoint is not replicating on its own; it's proliferating because people happen to like it.

CMS Watch is right -- companies large enough to worry about compliance need to manage SharePoint more carefully, and SharePoint itself lacks some of the tools to understand all that's out there and control its growth.

But a virus? No, that's just a CMS Watch publicity stunt. And if this item is any indication, it worked.

Scammers Still Exploiting Microsoft Name
It's been a while, but I just got another scam e-mail saying I've won a bunch of money, this time a cool million. All I need to do is contact Peter van Gogh in the Netherlands and make arrangements to pick up the dough. For some reason, Microsoft sponsored the lottery and 600,000 e-mail addresses were picked. We didn't even have to buy a ticket.

I know this kind of thing has got to bug our friends in Redmond. I'm hoping to get a real e-mail soon saying that Microsoft tracked down these creeps and they're up on charges!

Microsoft Gets Undeserved Black Eye: Ho Ho Ho!
When you have 60,000-plus employees and gosh knows how many contractors, there's always going to be some clown that'll make you look bad.

One of my former employees, Network World's John Fontana, wrote an interesting story about a Live Messenger Santa-bot who was naughty and not a bit nice. This artificial intelligence-based Saint Nick responded to questions with comments that would make Howard Stern blush.

Microsoft yanked the filthy Claus before he could do too much damage.

Is This the Only Newsletter That Cares About the Amiga?
I put this item at the tail end in case you don't care about the Amiga computer or have never heard of it (it did pretty much die off about 15 years ago).

But for those who care, this item comes courtesy of the head of IT for 1105 Media, which publishes Redmond magazine. This IT exec (let's call him Erik) pointed me to a discussion of an ongoing lawsuit that could determine how or if the next rev of the Amiga operating system is released.

Here's the CliffsNotes version: Amiga Inc. spun off from Gateway, which has bought the intellectual property rights to the Amiga. Amiga then hired Hyperion to help write Amiga OS4. During that time, Amiga ran out of money, leading Hyperion to claim ownership of the OS, citing a clause in the contract that gave Hyperion all rights if Amiga ever went bankrupt. But Amiga says it never went bankrupt, but was acquired by another company before ever filing for Chapter 11.

OS4 is actually done, and works with PowerPC-based systems (lots of people run Amiga stuff on old PowerPC Macs), but it can't be sold broadly 'til the ownership rights are established. If it ever ships, and if the hardware is priced right, I'd pick up one of these puppies tout de suite.

Here's what Amiga has to say.