I’m sure there’s nothing to this, but I have to point it out: a Microsoft employee publicly seeking information on Google PageRank. Roberto D’Angelo, in How Google PageRank(tm) works (the post has been removed, here is a PDF version of the original*), discusses how the PageRank algorithm works as well as asks for others to provide additional information.
Anybody find this a bit odd?
I’m not trying to knock Roberto, or Microsoft, it just strikes me as odd that a Microsoft employee would be publicly seeking information on a proprietary feature of a competitor’s product. While it’s normal to review a competitor’s product to see what it does better, trying to figure out patented and proprietary technologies, in a public setting, seems like a bad idea to me.
What gets me about this, is that it’s so public. Digging into a competitor’s product in a public manner will lead to backlash, especially when we’re talking about Google and Microsoft. I can only imagine the comments that will be made as a result of his post. So far I’ve not seen any feedback on this, but I have to image that it will be coming. From a business perspective, I have to suspect this will be considered a mistake.
What do you think, is it really a good idea to publicly dig into the proprietary feature of a competitors product?
Update: Since this was published the original page was removed, making public discussion a bit of a moot point. I’m leaving this as I feel it’s an interesting point. I’ve removed the original link and added a link to a PDF file of the original page, for those interested in seeing what was said.
Time once again, for a WordPress update, the software that powers this site. This is primary a security update, fixing a few nasty issues as well as cleaning up some other things (here’s the breakdown). If you are running a WordPress blog, I’d recommend going for the update.
It’s a painless update, and so far seems quite stable.
The Valleyschwag crew has released their 5th package, a holiday package no less. I ordered mine a few days ago, and it arrived today. While I believe the guys behind Valleyschwag made a real mistake, it’s nice to see that they are still hard at it.
This is a nice package, with goodies from Guba, mingle and WebShots (along with a few others). All in all, a rather nice package.
I recently took a trip down to the local VW dealership to see what the ’07 Jetta‘s look like. I was rather impressed. The new Jetta is a very sharp, very sporty car; a rather impressive ride. I had no intention of buying, I just wanted to take one for a test drive.
That is, until I saw a black Wolfsburg edition. As soon as I saw the car, I knew it was true: love at first sight is real. 
After 3-hours and signing a small mountain of papers, I had a new car. Not just a car, my first new car.
Update: The promised picture (now that Flickr uploading works again):
My blog has been rather quiet recently, largely due to a project I’ve been working on for one of the largest banks in the country. The project, a dynamic, script-able, plug-in driven data capture system, has finally been released and is in production. I’ll not bore you with any of the details, so I’ll get right to the point:
I’ve got a life again!
Well, at least as much of a life as a developer / technologist / workaholic ever has. I should be back to posting on a more regular schedule now, sorry for the extended silence.
Microsoft is currently running a promotion for free copies of Vista Business Edition and Office 2007 Professional. The deal looks a bit like this: You watch 3 videos, answer some questions about the videos, then fill out a form with a bunch of personal information. Sounds to me like a great deal. This is quite similar to a promotion some time back for a free copy of Visual Studio.
Here’s the downside: If you are a member of the Microsoft Partner Program, or Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN), you aren’t eligible for these offers.
The site is currently loading very slowly, as it seems word of this offer is spreading fast. Once I get more information on this, I’ll pass it along.
Update: I forgot to mention, this offer is only open to US residents.
