Scoutseven

Beware All Yee Evil Bloggers

Sitting on the airplane seat next to me is a very dramatic cover of Forbes Magazine: ATTACK OF THE BLOGS! I laugh out loud and wonder, for a deluded moment, if Forbes has gone satire. Well, of course, the article is a genuine analysis of how dangerous this whole blog thing has become to corporate biz as usual, with lots of crunchy numbers and paranoid quotes. If you’re curious, check it out…

Even mighty Microsoft, for all its billions, dares not defy the blogosphere. In April gay bloggers attacked Microsoft over its failure to support a gay-rights bill in Washington State (the company is based near Seattle). “Dear Microsoft, You messed with the wrong faggots,”wrote John Aravosis, publisher of AmericaBlog, which threatened to oppose Microsoft’s plans for a big campus expansion unless the company caved in. Microsoft reversed itself two weeks later, saying it supports gay-rights legislation after all. It says pressure from its own employees, not from bloggers, caused the change of heart.

Strange Bedfellows and More Protection for Linux

Will the day ever come when the social change sector collaborates based on shared interest with as much gusto as the private sector continues to do?

Several tech giants form a new venture to keep Linux safe. Read full article.

The open-source movement will attempt to better negotiate a potential litigation minefield with the unveiling on Thursday of a company that will acquire technology patents to limit the movement’s legal exposure.

The Open Invention Network (OIN) will acquire related patents and offer them royalty-free to companies, institutions, or individuals that agree not to assert their patents against the Linux operating system or Linux applications.

OIN is being bankrolled by IBM, Philips, Red Hat, and Sony. The company refused to give details about the amount of funds being contributed by its benefactors, but said it was significant.

That Everlasting Question: What is Web 2.0?

Referring to one possible definition as, “a political affiliation with The Next Cool Thing,” the always insightful Danah Boyd still has my favorite line on the subject.

Nonetheles, I found this informal mind map pretty useful.

Rosa Parks…More Than Just a Moment

This piece does a great job calling it like it is, challenging the often “revisionist history” of the civil rights movement, and pointing to the all too oft overlooked men and women who were central to that struggle.

The Long History of a Bus Ride
By JUAN WILLIAMS (NYT) 1059 words
Published: October 31, 2005

ROSA PARKS led an inspiring life. Unfortunately, we rarely hear about it.

That may sound surprising at a time when Rosa Parks is probably mentioned in every American history textbook and is the subject of dozens of biographies. The problem is that her story is usually presented as a simplistic morality tale. It is a paint-by-the numbers picture of virtue that goes like this:

Continue reading Rosa Parks…More Than Just a Moment…