Woah! IT

14th August 2008 - 200,000 words
24th September 2008 - 220,000 (the 220,000th was, by the way, "pleas")

33 writing days, 20,000 words = ~606 a day. Not bad.

Still haven't budged from the 86% of the way through the marked up copy - this is all new, extra, but important stuff... the current chapter (Arcturus) is already ~41,000 words (that's almost half an average paperback) on its own, so I suppose I (and eventually you) should be glad that they are not all that long, otherwise IT would be about half-a-million words and I'd probably be 2.5 years away from completion (that's working 11-6, Mon-Fri, every week... we don't do holidays when we're not earning) even if I could maintain the recent furious rate of scribbling - which I doubt I could.

Fortunately though the dénouement of this chapter is approaching... should be all done in another couple of weeks LOL!

Finally, for no reason other than the fact that my fingers are still on the keyboard here's a little bit more about IT, though I shall try to make it sound much duller than it really is ["A real page turner" (to quote my sister)]

It is, almost correctly speaking, an epic in prose poetry, intertwining narrative action, philosophy and mythology (world-spanning astronomical mythology and much, much, more!) in a timeless, placeless world. The questions are: what is it to be human, what is humanity, what are "human rights" (sort of), what is right, what is choice, the role of law, the administration of justice, social organisation, and probably quite a few other things I've already forgotten.

It's a journey - two journeys - traversing the ages of man, tales of love and tragedy, valour and cowardice, illusions and dreams, of seeking and finding and losing.... and so on.

The answers are... in there somewhere. I think. You may have to look for them.

It began a long time ago... soon it will be at and end.

IT. The Book. MY STUFF

Runaware? Runasleep!

6th August 2008. For some reason I was thinking about trying another online trial of Microsoft Office 2007 and found myself here at a site apparently belonging to "Runaware" - except that it looks like Microsoft. It looks good... maybe I should trust it. Ha! I wasn't born yesterday. We shall check the site identity...

Except that "This website does not provide any identity information" according to Firefox, and when I think about downloading I am offered "TestDriveWizard-v1.4.4.exe" from http://a4156g.akamai.net.

So... someone who can't establish who they are thinks that because they have "Microsoft" slapped all over their webpage I am going to allow some random download (from yet another site)? (Yes, I know who akamai are but so what?)

No thanks... but feeling decidedly suspicious, I think... phishy people are sloppy people... let's see what else there is to reassure or raise further doubts.

Checked the "Privacy" link... where I find such beauties as...

Control of Your Personal Information
Except as otherwise described in this statement, personal information you provide on the Site will not be shared outside of Microsoft and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates without your permission

Insert description of any mechanism available for users to excercise [sic] choices regarding secondary uses of personal information. These include contact preference questions, the inclusion of unsubscribe language in promotional e-mail, etc.

and

Changes to This Privacy Statement
We may occasionally update this privacy statement. When we do, we will also revise the "last updated" date at the top of the privacy statement.

...of course there is no "last updated" date at the top...









and

"Microsoft" may also "collect information about" "the pages that you access while at the Site"

Notice not "pages on this site" that you access, but "pages you access while at the site" - which is carte blanche to go snooping around my browsing. No thank you. I Object - none of your damn business! Keep out of my browser except for the purposes of the "testdrive".

So, like a decent chap, I do send an email to the offered email address in a suitable tone (suitable for dealing with an idiot or a phisher - or both) saying basically...

Insert statement of deep suspicion about data collection and the need to run an executable from a site that does not provide any identity information (and hence cannot be verified) and hence decision to completely ignore the test drive. So, Runaware is an (unsubstantiatable) "Microsoft Vendor" - what does that mean? All very phishy…

Insert statement of intention to publicly humiliate by any means including but not limited to blog, email etc. whoever Runaware may be unless appropriate action taken immediately

And guess what - 6 weeks later absolutely nothing has changed (and there was no reply either)

See? They really are well organised, efficient, professional, caring Microsoft affiliates/providers/whatever after all!

If after 6 weeks you can't correct your mistakes once they have been pointed out for you, you don't deserve to be in business.

And if having incompetence, stupidity, negligence implied is not enough to send you shame-faced to your website, then just wait till either Microsoft notice and choose another partner or your own shareholders take notice and bring a class action suit for the all business you have thrown away.

Mind you, don't know why I bother... look at these shoes, only had them three weeks and already they're falling apart...

Pointless Stuff