MacEdition ProNews December 13, 2000
by MacEdition Staff (feedback)
Soap opera, pt. 2: Every dragon has its weakness...
This one just happened to be a suitor. Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products NV, which purchased, among other companies, Dragon Systems, is fighting its way through some tough financial times. Things are so bad that the company decided to go the tried-and-true bankruptcy route, seeking to right itself.
Note to companies: when you do this, at least be serious about it. The New York Times on the Web (free registration required) has a piece about what happens when you don’t take the process seriously. From the article:
“The proposed restructuring measures stand in sharp contrast with the boastfulness of founder Jo Lernout,” Judge Michel Handschoewerker said in a scathing attack on the local entrepreneur. “Such boastfulness is totally out of place. What we need is correct and full financial information, which isn’t there.”
There’s more at CNet. Someone obviously didn’t understand what was required. Time for a new version of someone’s speech recognition software?
Just what we need: More Web page acid trips
I’ll shred you, my pretty! And your little applet too!
You can’t use those bugs without a separate license fee, either
We can always count on The Register to have some of the more interesting news and commentary to choose from, like this little tidbit about – who else? – Microsoft. Seems they have caught something from Apple, and want to boost the hits to their web site (or hide the information, maybe?) by preventing SecurityFocus.com (and its BugTraq bug tracking list) from publishing MS security warnings using copyright reasoning. What’s next? Patents on 1-Click Crashing?
Soap opera, pt. 3: Negative and harmful? Lock ’em up until they’re 21!
And ... we go back to the NY Times on the Web (free registration still required, unless you registered above) for this story. Different people will read this one different ways, but it sure seems that two things are going on – kids have too much time on their hands (when haven’t they?), and lawyers do, too. From the article:
In a controversial decision issued November 28, Judge Ward S. Arnold of McHenry County, Ill., ruled that the father of a high school student accused of digitally grafting the picture of a female classmate’s face to a hard-core sexual image displayed on a Web site can be sued for damages.
Should parents be more aware of their children’s activities? Will children try to get away with anything they think they can? Will Bob and Rebecca ever get over the loss of Bob’s pet rock? Is the iMovie Theater KidSafe? Shut it all down; this Internet thing isn’t good for nuttin’ but trouble anyway.