The Null Device
2000/6/8
"Independent" label TVT (owner of the Wax Trax marque and teenygoth superstar Nine Inch Nails) joins the war against Napster. I wonder how much of this stems from their relationship with Seagram-owned teen-rebellion label Interscope (which owns all or part of TVT, bought solely for NIN).
Well, it's official; Microsoft is to be split in two, forming a Windows company and an applications company. If this is upheld (as seems likely), the most likely outcome would be MS stripping Windows down to its bare bones, spinning it off and reassembling the interlocking webwork of proprietary mechanisms within the applications company. Though hopefully that will not be enough to preserve Microsoft's control over the software industry.
Patent skulduggery: Microsoft patents its media format, uses the patent to crush a GPLed video processing program. We can probably expect to see more of this kind of thing as the War on Copying heats up and media titans demand "secure" formats. (via technocrat.net)
Antispam vigilante: An innocent bystander was sick of having his domain forged by spammers. So he fought back, cracking into their computers and posting the dirty secrets of their operation for all to see. (via Found)