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WinExtra

aka Steve Hodson - a cranky old fart wandering the internet causing mayhem as he goes

Would Microsoft Really Consider A RIM PurchaseYesterday

Microsoft has never been one to get into the hardware business. The only exception being in the smaller computer periphery market with things like mice, keyboards and webcams; and of course the gaming market with the Xbox. For anything else it has always concentrated on the software solutions to run on other peoples hardware products. This is especially true when it comes to the cell phone market where Windows Mobile is used on about 18 million devices currently.

Like winds of war though the wind can shift direction bringing with it many different types of opportunities and the current economic downturn could be bringing one such opportunity Microsoft’s way. According to a post over at electronista they are quoting Canaccord Adams financial expert Peter Misek as suggesting that Microsoft could have a standing offer to buy Research In Motion; makers of the Blackberry, if their stocks fall below the $50 range. Now given the sliding stock market it is very conceivable that RIM’s current stock price of $60 could slide but it would have to slide all the way down to $40 in order for Microsoft’s bid to be considered as a premium offer.

As pointed out in

Can I Have The Drugs Zucker Baby Is Smoking?October 9

For as long as mankind has been exchanging goods and services for money business has always need some sort of road map to help it grow. It’s called having a business plan, a business model and it usually requires that the business be making money in order to pay the re-occurring costs of doing business in the first.

It has never mattered if you borrowed money to get started or if you got investors to turn over their cash. Everyone at the table knew that the money would get paid back because you had a good solid business plan. If you didn’t have a solid business plan you soon found yourself kicked from the table.

Then along comes Web 2.0 and says screw that we don’t need business plans. We don’t need them because we can get advertising to pay for all our costs or there are VC that will pay us to play at being a business until we can sucker in some bigger company to buy us. Once in awhile though you get one of these Web 2.0 start ups that for whatever reason take to the stratosphere and become a VC black hole all without having the first clue of how they are really going to make money. Two examples of this have to be Twitter and Fa

Hear That Death Rattle? It’s Reality Knocking On The DoorOctober 9

Hang on a sec would ya I gotta go get the popcorn and Pepsi…

Okay … all set .. comfie chair and snacks … I’m already for the show.

Well that is what exactly this nashing of teeth in the Web 2.0 world about the upcoming smack down of the bubble that they’ve been living in for the past three or so years really feels like. Everyone is howling at the moon like an American werewolf in London as they see their world come crashing down. A world built around the idea that everyone can be a Facebook or YouTube or Twitter and exist on advertising dollars with VC millions giving them all a Viagra high until their gravy train comes in.

This is at the same time that Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said that he has ordered his deputies to stop evicting people from foreclosed properties because

“We will no longer be a party to something that’s so unjust,”

[..]

“We have to be sure that when we are doing this — and we are destroying some people’s lives — we better be darned sure we’re talking about the right people,” Dart said.

In contrast we ha

PJ’s Forum Round-up 7.10.08October 8

I received a PM today which reminded me that I have been remiss in my duties….  Real life stepped in over the weekend (as well as my zealous participation in the forums) and I lost track of time.

So, without further ado, let us recap last weeks doings.

Dancer’s became a grandmother.  Again.  She did this just a few years ago.  We’re wondering if she’s learned anything about abstinence by now.  Many congrats Dancer.  Don’t know how you keep pumping them out but if they’re like you, this world is a better place for it.

ChadMan’s been lighting up a firestorm about politics in The Cage.  I’m beginning to wonder if he’s a pyromaniac in disguise….  Check out The Cage for the last five topics and you’ll get a taste for the evilness he’s brewing up.  His comments have been like Molotov cocktails on the smoldering embers of election politics.  (Note, you can’t get there if you haven’t registered and asked for access.  So, sign up, put your flame suit on and jump in!)

There’s been

Are There Any Secrets That Can’t Be Found Out?October 8

Before the great unwashed masses began the dispora to the Internet it was easy for entities like the government and corporations to keep secrets. That great big red Top Secret stamp carried weight in a world where individuals didn’t have global access to information. Now though, the territory was once ruled by Deep Throats and clandestine meetings is being encroached upon by a whole new brand of information sleuths using the Internet as their gateway to the public.

Governments the world around and corporate boardrooms globally are spilling their secrets without even realizing what they are doing. This is because this new cadre of public spirited bloggers are able to piece all those little clues that lie around the Internet and come up with something that neither governments or corporations wanted out in the public purview.

Such is the case of a post by Lewis Page where he lets us all know about a new secret surveillance and tracking project currently underway; albeit still in the beginning stages, within those dark halls of DARPA. For those that may not be