give peace a chance

Noisy rhetoric aside, John McCain may not be eager to widen the conflict in the Persian Gulf to Iran, but a Republican administration would inevitably surround the President with voices arguing for a hard stance, voices that would be difficult to ignore.

Scrappy as they both are, neither Senator Clinton nor Senator Obama is likely to jump recklessly into an attack on Iran, especially considering that a Democratic administration would inevitably surround the President with cooler heads.

Obviously, if you'd like to see the war widened and prolonged indefinitely, you have a better chance of getting what you want if John McCain is in the White House, and you should vote accordingly.

If on the other hand you want to see something approximating peace and stability replace the current situation, well, you figure it out.

Apple luvs P.A. Semi

While there are certainly strategic considerations involved in Apple's acquisition of P.A. Semi, for Apple they would never quite amount to a sufficient reason to go ahead with the deal without being combined with a more intangible factor, which might be described as compatibility or affinity.

To put it simply, Apple must see a lot to like in P.A. Semi, and for its part, P.A. Semi found Apple's overture welcome.

This wouldn't be so much about specific technologies as about corporate culture and the sheer competence of the people who make up the company, and whether those people anticipate becoming engaged or even enchanted with what they'll be doing following the acquisition.

So take all speculation based in strategic theories with a grain of salt, and join me in relishing the moment with a twinkle of delight.

time to loosen Windows-dependence

According to Roughly Drafted, IBM has begun to take a serious look at Mac OS X for their own internal use.

This is arguably more meaningful than it would be if the company in question were, for example, General Motors, since IBM has more than a little reason not to love Apple, given Apple's abandonment of their PowerPC processor line.

It serves as yet another signal that Windows' hegemony is nearing its end, and that all are well advised to avoid further entrenching their dependence upon Windows and Windows-related proprietary technologies.

Follow this link for a detailed synopsis of the IBM initiative.

Microsoft's money pit

Rumor has it that Microsoft is moving in the direction of establishing a retail chain of its own.

Without a massive clue infusion, they're about as likely to succeed at this as Gateway did.

posted without comment (for now)

Global Warming - Doomsday Called Off (first of five segments)

The source of this series is CBC Newsworld.