Malware, viral movies, and H-1B limits

Ah, the software world, full of all things that are good and true to the world. Just like Star Trek - The Next Generation. And just like that program, our patrician, Bill Gates, announced that Microsoft was looking at introducing software to fight malware and viruses. Never mind the irony that one of the reasons for the existence of Zone Alarm, Norton AV, and Ad-Aware is the defects in some of his products. No, no, sweep that cynicism under the rug. Be thankful that you are on the receiving end of more value for your money. Apparently fixing the problems is too daunting and we'll offer software patches, which will obviously be better than anything our competitors (with years of experience) can offer. Damn, cynicism - I ban thee!

Oh, and lest we mock too much our patrician's product flaws, we are reminded that his spawn also have problems. It was announced that a fake, viral movie could be created that would run on Real Player 10 and it could infect Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. Lovely. It's a cousin of the JPEG flaw reported earlier this week. If the JPEG flaw is any indication, expect the first viral fake movie to appear within 2 weeks with most people not patching their systems yet. "See," says our patrician, "We're all in danger. Ashcroft stole the concept from me."

Finally, sad news for the tech industry as they were told yesterday that the limit on the number of low-cost, high quality imports has already been reached for 2005. Yes, that's right - H-1B visa limits for 2005 have been reached. Not to worry as the minions known as Senators, are seriously discussing raising the limits. Hence, since our own education system could not possibly support the demand for highly skilled tech workers (and if it did, then they'd want to higher salaries), you will probably be able to lobby Congress to fulfill your budgets, um, er, I mean needs. If not, then expect more naked outsourcing next year.