Joel on Software

2000/07/26

Am I the only one who is terrified about Microsoft Passport? It seems to me like a fairly blatant attempt to build the world's largest, richest consumer database, and then make fabulous profits mining it. It's a terrifying threat to everyone's personal privacy and it will make today's 'cookies' seem positively tame by comparison. The scariest thing is that Microsoft is advertising Passport as if it were a benefit to consumers, and people seem to be falling for it! By the time you've read this article, I can guarantee that I'll scare you into turning off your Hotmail account and staying away from MSN web sites.

Read all about it: Does Issuing Passports Make Microsoft a Country?

Where do morons like this get $10,000?

I promise I am not making this up. I was watching the TV news, and they were interviewing a passenger getting off the Concorde, and he actually said these words: "I'm not a statistician, but I do know that the probability of the Concorde crashing twice is infinitesimal."

Um, excuse me, even if you don't know basic probability, do you really think that the Concorde you're flying on knows about the other Concorde that crashed?

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You’re reading Joel on Software, stuffed with years and years of completely raving mad articles about software development, managing software teams, designing user interfaces, running successful software companies, and rubber duckies.

About the author.

I’m Joel Spolsky, founder of Fog Creek Software, a New York company that proves that you can treat programmers well and still be highly profitable. Programmers get private offices, free lunch, and work 40 hours a week. Customers only pay for software if they’re delighted. We make FogBugz, an enlightened project management system designed to help great teams develop brilliant software, and Fog Creek Copilot, which makes remote desktop access easy.