Matthew's Weblog

So there’s a column entitled The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites that analyzes the success of some ugly websites and finds that it’s really function that sells.

Ummmm….. duh?

I’ve seen tremendous success from websites that are built to a specific task, and when they get really successful and pull in the cash they finally get around to cleaning up the looks of the site.  Or not.  It’s no big deal since they’re making money and their users like the results they get.  But really, as a businessperson, would you not look at the choice of: (a) add functions that make me money or (b) make it purty and choose (a)?

Is it a surprise that users then face a choice of: (a) sites that are useful or (b) sites that are purty and they also choose (a)?

A story on stomping out botnets and the info that can be harvested… both interesting and concerning, since most folks won’t know if they get hit. I’m glad the interviewees do this, because I wouldn’t have the patience.

So Microsoft “security” personnel are now suggesting people get better at wiping their machines and reinstalling the OS because they don’t have any other answer for the malware scourge… very reassuring.

Of course, that’s the same song I’ve used for 10 years – I just don’t have a title or company to back it up.

So the only reason I care – and why I think Cringley may be right – about Boot Camp not being a surprise to Microsoft is if then Microsoft turns around and makes VirtualPC work using a Boot Camp partition, so both OS’s will run at the same time. Then I can finally move all my work back to the Mac.

And, my darling Apple folks, couldn’t you get me a Boot Camp for Linux, please? Debian, not one of those packaged vendors. Thanks!