PeterCoffee: Microsoft's cheerful desperation “Microsoft wants the next generation of personal computers to be more usable. Who could disagree? But PC buyers may be more than a little surprised, and not entirely pleased, to learn the full extent and direction of Microsoft's influence over the capabilities and design details of the next generation of business [...]

Phil Jones says that the problem isn't Microsoft, it's Amazon (cause of their patent-hungry culture). I'm conflicted, for certain. If I had morals, I'd take Amazon off my site. But, I don't. I'm selling out, and I'm quite honest when saying that. Plus, I like Amazon — they offer the best deal on the Internet [...]

Jeff Bezos' Amazon.com continues to be under pressure from investors and observers of the e-marketplace, but Bezos professes utter confidence in his company and its future. [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

Went to a Nusphere MySQL seminar this morning.

Corporate Sites Seem to Skimp on the Facts. NY Times: Corporate Sites Seem to Skimp on the Facts. A new study indicates that corporate Web sites often fail at what might seem most important: getting out the corporate message. It found that in many cases, reporters could not use the sites to get information as [...]

How Secure Is Digital Hospital?. The paperless, wireless, all-digital hospital to be built in Alabama is designed to streamline healthcare and finally bring the medical industry into the technology age. But those nagging security issues raise concerns. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News]

Starting Your Own Business. Eleven maxims for successful self-employment from a Fool who's been there. [The Motley Fool]

Salon: Microsoft storm warning. Scott Rosenberg. HailStorm purports to give us more control. But there is no escaping the simple fact that Microsoft is asking us all to move our data from its current home on our desktops into a paid service on a server inside a Microsoft data center — Bill Gates' Control Room. [...]

Took my cat Hallie to the vet this morning. She was as charming as ever.

Library Card Catalog, R.I.P.. Sonoma State University rolls out an automated retrieval system at the library that's making books easier to find. But the utterly random nature of the operation — in complete opposition to the Dewey Decimal System — has some librarians unnerved. Katie Dean reports from Rohnert Park, California. [Wired News]