Why Buzzwords Create Problems. Big Problems, Right, Microsoft?
January 7, 2025
This is an official dinobaby post. No smart software involved in this blog post.
I read an essay by Steven Sinofsky. He worked at Microsoft. You can read about him in Wikipedia because he was a manager possibly associated with Clippy. He wrote an essay called “225. Systems Ideas that Sound Good But Almost Never Work—”Let’s just…” The write up is about “engineering patterns that sound good but almost never work as intended.”
I noticed something interesting about his explanation of why many software solutions go off the rails, fail to work, create security opportunities for bad actors associated with entities not too happy with the United States, and on-going headaches for for hundreds of millions of people.
Here is a partial list of the words and bound phrases from his essay:
Add an API
Anomaly detection
Asynchronous
Cross platform
DSL
Escape to native
Hybrid parallelism
Multi-master writes
Peer to peer
Pluggable
Sync the data
What struck me about this essay is that it reveals something I think is important about Microsoft and probably other firms tapping the expertise of the author; that is, the jargon drives how the software is implemented.
I am not certain that my statement is accurate for software in general. But for this short blog post, let’s assume that it applies to some software (and I am including Microsoft’s own stellar solutions as well as products from other high profile and wildly successful vendors). With the ground rules established, I want to offer several observations about this “jargon drives the software engineering” assertion.
First, the resulting software is flawed. Problems are not actually resolved. The problems are papered over with whatever the trendy buzzword says will work. The approach makes sense because actual problem solving may not be possible within a given time allocation or a working solution may fail which requires figuring out how to not fail again.
Second, the terms reveal that marketing think takes precedence over engineering think. Here’s what the jargon creators do. These sales oriented types grab terms that sound good and refer to an approach. The “team” coalesces around the jargon, and the jargon directs how the software is approached. Does hybrid parallelism “work”? Who knows, but it is the path forward. The manager says, “Let’s go team” and Clippy emerges or the weird opaqueness of the “ribbon.”
Third, the jargon shaped by art history majors and advertising mavens defines the engineering approach. The more successful the technical jargon, the more likely those people who studied Picasso’s colors or Milton’s Paradise Regained define the technical frame in which a “solution” is crafted.
How good is software created in this way? Answer: Good enough.
How reliable is software created in this way? Answer: Who knows until someone like a paying customer actually uses the software.
How secure is the software created in this way? Answer: It is not secure as the breaches of the Department of Treasury, the US telecommunications companies, and the mind boggling number of security lapses in 2024 prove.
Net net: Engineering solutions based on jargon are not intended to deliver excellence. The approach is simply “good enough.” Now we have some evidence that industry leaders realize the fact. Right, Clippy?
Stephen E Arnold, January 8, 2025
Salesforce Surfs Agentic AI and Hopes to Stay on the Long Board
January 7, 2025
This is an official dinobaby post. No smart software involved in this blog post.
I spotted a content marketing play, and I found it amusing. The spin was enough to make my eyes wobble. “Intelligence (AI). Its Stock Is Up 39% in 4 Months, and It Could Soar Even Higher in 2025” appeared in the Motley Fool online investment information service. The headline is standard fare, but the catchphrase in the write up is “the third wave of AI.” What were the other two waves, you may ask? The first wave was machine learning which is an age measured in decades. The second wave which garnered the attention of the venture community and outfits like Google was generative AI. I think of the second wave as the content suck up moment.
So what’s the third wave? Answer: Salesforce. Yep, the guts of the company is a digitized record of sales contacts. The old word for what made a successful sales person valuable was “Rolodex.” But today one may as well talk about a pressing ham.
What makes this content marketing-type article notable is that Salesforce wants to “win” the battle of the enterprise and relegate Microsoft to the bench. What’s interesting is that Salesforce’s innovation is presented this way:
The next wave of AI will build further on generative AI’s capabilities, enabling AI to make decisions and take actions across applications without human intervention. Salesforce (CRM -0.42%) CEO Marc Benioff calls it the “digital workforce.” And his company is leading the growth in this Agentic AI with its new Agentforce product.
Agentic.
What’s Salesforce’s secret sauce? The write up says:
Artificial intelligence algorithms are only as good as the data used to train them. Salesforce has accurate and specific data about each of its enterprise customers that nobody else has. While individual businesses could give other companies access to those data, Salesforce’s ability to quickly and simply integrate client data as well as its own data sets makes it a top choice for customers looking to add AI agents to their “workforce.” During the company’s third-quarter earnings call, Benioff called Salesforce’s data an “unfair advantage,” noting Agentforce agents are more accurate and less hallucinogenic as a result.
To put some focus on the competition, Salesforce targets Microsoft. The write up says:
Benioff also called out what might be Salesforce’s largest competitor in Agentic AI, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). While Microsoft has a lot of access to enterprise customers thanks to its Office productivity suite and other enterprise software solutions, it doesn’t have as much high-quality data on a business as Salesforce. As a result, Microsoft’s Copilot abilities might not be up to Agentforce in many instances. Benioff points out Microsoft isn’t using Copilot to power its online help desk like Salesforce.
I think it is worth mentioning that Apple’s AI seems to be a tad problematic. Also, those AI laptops are not the pet rock for a New Year’s gift.
What’s the Motley Fool doing for Salesforce besides making the company’s stock into a sure-fire winner for 2025? The rah rah is intense; for example:
But if there’s one thing investors have learned from the last two years of AI innovation, it’s that these things often grow faster than anticipated. That could lead Salesforce to outperform analysts’ expectations over the next few years, as it leads the third wave of artificial intelligence.
Let me offer several observations:
- Salesforce sees a marketing opportunity for its “agentic” wrappers or apps. Therefore, put the pedal to the metal and grab mind share and market share. That’s not much different from the company’s attention push.
- Salesforce recognizes that Microsoft has some momentum in some very lucrative markets. The prime example is the Microsoft tie up with Palantir. Salesforce does not have that type of hook to generate revenue from US government defense and intelligence budgets.
- Salesforce is growing, but so is Oracle. Therefore, Salesforce feels that it could become the cold salami in the middle of a Microsoft and Oracle sandwich.
Net net: Salesforce has to amp up whatever it can before companies that are catching the rising AI cloud wave swamp the Salesforce surf board.
Stephen E Arnold, January 7, 2025
A Technologist Realizes Philosophy 101 Was Not All Horse Feathers
January 6, 2025
This is an official dinobaby post. No smart software involved in this blog post.
I am not too keen on non-dinobabies thinking big thoughts about life. The GenX, Y, and Zedders are good at reinventing the wheel, fire, and tacos. What some of these non-dinobabies are less good at is thinking about the world online information has disestablished and is reassembling in chaotic constructs.
The essay, published in HackerNoon, “Here’s Why High Achievers Feel Like Failures” explains why so many non-dinobabies are miserable. My hunch is that the most miserable are those who have achieved some measure of financial and professional success and embrace whinge, insecurity, chemicals to blur mental functions, big car payments, and “experiences.” The essay does a very good job of explaining the impact of getting badges of excellence for making a scoobie (aka lanyard, gimp, boondoggle, or scoubidou) bracelet at summer camp to tweaking an algorithm to cause a teen to seek solace in a controlled substance. (One boss says, “Hey, you hit the revenue target. Too bad about the kid. Let’s get lunch. I’ll buy.”)
The write up explains why achievement and exceeding performance goals can be less than satisfying. Does anyone remember the Google VP who overdosed with the help of a gig worker? My recollection is that the wizard’s boat was docked within a few minutes of his home stuffed with a wifey and some kiddies. Nevertheless, an OnlyFans potential big earner was enlisted to assist with the chemical bliss that may have contributed to his logging off early.
Here’s what the essay offers this anecdote about a high performer whom I think was a entrepreneur riding a rocket ship:
Think about it:
- Three years ago, Mark was ecstatic about his first $10K month. Now, he beats himself up over $800K months.
- Two years ago, he celebrated hiring his first employee. Now, managing 50 people feels like “not scaling fast enough.”
- Last year, a feature in a local business journal made his year. Now, national press mentions barely register.
His progress didn’t disappear. His standards just kept pace with his growth, like a shadow that stretches ahead no matter how far you walk.
The main idea is that once one gets “something”; one wants more. The write up says:
Every time you level up, your brain does something fascinating – it rewrites your definition of “normal.” What used to be a summit becomes your new base camp. And while this psychological adaptation helped our ancestors survive, it’s creating a crisis of confidence in today’s achievement-oriented world.
Yep, the driving force behind achievement is the need to succeed so one can achieve more. I am a dinobaby, and I don’t want to achieve anything. I never did. I have been lucky: Born at the right time. Survived school. Got lucky and was hired on a fluke. Now 60 years later I know how I achieve the modicum of success I accrued. I was really lucky, and despite my 80 years, I am not yet dead.
The essay makes this statement:
We’re running paleolithic software on modern hardware. Every time you achieve something, your brain…
- Quickly normalizes the achievement (adaptation)
- Immediately starts wanting more (drive)
- Erases the emotional memory of the struggle (efficiency)
Is there a fix? Absolutely. Not surprisingly the essay includes a to-do list. The approach is logical and ideally suited to those who want to become successful. Here are the action steps:
Once you’ve reviewed your time horizons, the next step is to build what I call a “Progress Inventory.” Dedicate 15 minutes every Sunday night to reflect and fill out these three sections:
Victories Section
- What’s easier now than it was last month?
- What do you do automatically that used to require thought?
- What problems have disappeared?
- What new capabilities have you gained?
Growth Section
- What are you attempting now that you wouldn’t have dared before?
- Where have your standards risen?
- What new problems have you earned the right to have?
- What relationships have deepened or expanded?
Learning Section
- What mistakes are you no longer making?
- What new insights have you gained?
- What patterns are you starting to recognize?
- What tools have you mastered?
These two powerful tools – the Progress Mirror and the Progress Inventory – work together to solve the central problem we’ve been discussing: your brain’s tendency to hide your growth behind rising standards. The Progress Mirror forces you to zoom out and see the bigger picture through three critical time horizons. It’s like stepping back from a painting to view the full canvas of your growth. Meanwhile, the weekly Progress Inventory zooms in, capturing the subtle shifts and small victories that compound into major transformations. Used together, these tools create something I call “progress consciousness” – the ability to stay ambitious while remaining aware of how far you’ve come.
But what happens when the road map does not lead to a zen-like state? Because I have been lucky, I cannot offer an answer to this question of actual, implicit, or imminent failure. I can serve up some observations:
- This essay has the backbone for a self-help book aimed at insecure high performers. My suggestion is to buy a copy of Thomas Harris’ I’m OK — You’re Okay and make a lot of money. Crank out the merch with slogans from the victories, growth, and learning sections of the book.
- The explanations are okay, but far from new. Spending some time with Friedrich Nietzsche’s Der Wille zur Macht. Too bad Friedrich was dead when his sister assembled the odds and ends of Herr Nietzsche’s notes into a book addressing some of the issues in the HackerNoon essay.
- The write up focuses on success, self-doubt, and an ever-receding finish line. What about the people who live on the street in most major cities, the individuals who cannot support themselves, or the young people with minds trashed by digital flows? The essay offers less information for these under performers as measured by doubt ridden high performers.
Net net: The essay makes clear that education today does not cover some basic learnings; for example, the good Herr Friedrich Nietzsche. Second, the excitement of re-discovering fire is no substitute for engagement with a social fabric that implicitly provides a framework for thinking and behaving in a way that others in the milieu recognize as appropriate. This HackerNoon essay encapsulates why big tech and other successful enterprises are dysfunctional. Welcome to the digital world.
Stephen E Arnold, January 6, 2025
China Smart, US Dumb: The Deepseek Interview
January 6, 2025
This is an official dinobaby post. I used AI to assist me in this AI. In fact, I used the ChatGPT system which seems to be the benchmark against which China’s AI race leader measures itself. This suggests that Deepseek has a bit of a second-place mentality, a bit of jealousy, and possibly a signal of inferiority, doesn’t it?
“Deepseek: The Quiet Giant Leading China’s AI Race” is a good example of what the Middle Kingdom is revealing about smart software. The 5,000 word essay became available as a Happy New Year’s message to the US. Like the girl repairing broken generators without fancy tools, the message is clear to me: 2025 is going to be different.
Here’s an abstract of the “interview” generated by a US smart software system. I would have used Deepseek, but I don’t have access to it. I used the ChatGPT service which Deepseek has surpassed to create the paragraph below. Make sure the summary is in line with the ChinaTalk original and read the 5,000 word original and do some comparisons.
Deepseek, a Chinese AI startup, has emerged as an innovator in the AI industry, surpassing OpenAI’s o1 model with its R1 model on reasoning benchmarks. Backed entirely by High-Flyer, a top Chinese quantitative hedge fund, Deepseek focuses on foundational AI research, eschewing commercialization and emphasizing open-source development. The company has disrupted the AI market with breakthroughs like the multi-head latent attention and sparse mixture-of-experts architectures, which significantly reduce inference and computational costs, sparking a price war among Chinese AI developers. Liang Wenfeng, Deepseek CEO, aims to achieve artificial general intelligence through innovation rather than imitation, challenging the common perception that Chinese companies prioritize commercialization over technological breakthroughs. Wenfeng’s background in AI and engineering has fostered a bottom-up, curiosity-driven research culture, enabling the team to develop transformative models. Deepseek Version 2 delivers unparalleled cost efficiency, prompting major tech giants to reduce their API prices. Deepseek’s commitment to innovation extends to its organizational approach, leveraging young, local talent and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration without rigid hierarchies. The company’s open-source ethos and focus on advancing the global AI ecosystem set it apart from other large-model startups. Despite industry skepticism about China’s capacity for original innovation, Deepseek is reshaping the narrative, positioning itself as a catalyst for technological advancement. Liang’s vision highlights the importance of confidence, long-term investment in foundational research, and societal support for hardcore innovation. As Deepseek continues to refine its AGI roadmap, focusing on areas like mathematics, multimodality, and natural language, it exemplifies the transformative potential of prioritizing innovation over short-term profit.
I left the largely unsupported assertions in this summary. I also retained the repeated emphasis on innovation, originality, and local talent. With the aid of smart software, I was able to retain the essence of the content marketing propaganda piece’s 5,000 words.
You may disagree with my viewpoint. That’s okay. Let me annoy you further by offering several observations:
- The release of this PR piece coincides with additional information about China’s infiltration of the US telephone network and the directed cyber attack on the US Treasury.
- The multi-pronged content marketing / propaganda flow about China’s “local talent” is a major theme of these PR efforts. From the humble brilliant girl repairing equipment with primitive tools because she is a “genius” to the notion that China’s young “local talent” have gone beyond what the “imported” talent in the US has been able to achieve are two pronged. One tine of the conceptual pitchfork is that the US is stupid. The other tine is that China just works better, smarter, faster, and cheaper.
- The messaging is largely accomplished using free or low cost US developed systems and methods. This is definitely surfing on other people’s knowledge waves.
Net net: Mr. Putin is annoyed that the European Union wants to block Russia-generated messaging about the “special action.” The US is less concerned about China’s propaganda attacks. The New Year will be interesting, but I have lived through enough “interesting times” to do much more than write blogs posts from my outpost in rural Kentucky. What about you, gentle reader? China smart, US dumb: Which is it?
Stephen E Arnold, January 6, 2025
Love Phishing? New Angling Gear to Try
January 6, 2025
Registrars have long run out of TLDs (top-level domains) aka the endings at the end of websites. TLDs like .com, .net, .org, etc. are hot commodities, but in order to expand their offerings registrars added new endings that are unfortunately a new tool for bad actors says Krebs On Security: “Why Phishers Love New TLDs Like .shop, .top and .xyz“. Phishing attacks increased 40% in 2024, mostly on Web sites that end with .shop, .top., xyz, and other generic TLDs (gTLDs).
Interisle Consulting conducted a study on new gTLDs sponsored y many anti-spam organizations. Interisle discovered that gTLDs accounted for only 11% of the new domain market, but 37% of all cybercrime domains from September 2023 to August 2024.
The golds domains are very inexpensive to purchase. They can then be used on Web sites used for phishing scams and more:
“Spammers and scammers gravitate toward domains in the new gTLDs because these registrars tend to offer cheap or free registration with little to no account or identity verification requirements. For example, among the gTLDs with the highest cybercrime domain scores in this year’s study, nine offered registration fees for less than $1, and nearly two dozen offered fees of less than $2.00. By comparison, the cheapest price identified for a .com domain was $5.91.”
Scammers are very excited because the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is about to drop a boatload of new gTLDs sometime in 2026. Despite all the information about bad actors using the gTlDs, ICANN will press forward. Interisle also found that phishers can avoid paying for gTlDs with subdomain providers like weekly.com, pages.dev, and blogspot.com.
Registrars don’t care as along as they get paid. They don’t ask any questions, slap on anonymity; and collect referral fees until someone shuts the bad actors down.
Whitney Grace, January 6, 2025
Russian Drug Trade Likes That Cryptocurrency
January 3, 2025
No smart software involved. Just a dinobaby’s work.
High tech innovation meets traditional thuggery in Russia’s expanding drug trade. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime summarizes its recent report in, “Breaking Klad: Russia’s Dead Drop Drug Revolution.” The write-up includes links to download the report and a related press release. First up, the innovation:
“There has been a groundbreaking shift in the global drug trade, pioneered in Russia and now spreading globally. Unlike traditional drug trafficking models, this system leverages darknet markets and cryptocurrency for anonymous transactions, allowing buyers to retrieve drugs from hidden physical locations, or ‘dead drops,’ rather than direct exchanges. Driven by large platforms such as Kraken, Mega, and Blacksprut [sic], Russian darknet markets control 93% of the global share, generating approximately $1.5 billion in revenue in 2023 alone. This dominance marks a new era for organized crime, with Russia’s digital drug economy vastly surpassing traditional Western darknet markets in scope and influence.”
We are told this digital shift was prompted by several factors. Increasingly restrictive anti-drug policies and strained trade relations with the West contribute. Also, drug dealers now have the technology to give their clients (and themselves) the convenience and anonymity they desire. Wonderful. The writeup mentions that, within Russia, trade in cheap-to-make synthetic drugs like mephedrone is overtaking traditional imports like cocaine and heroin. Which leads us to the thuggery:
“Youth are drawn into this high-tech drug economy, often working as couriers or ‘kladmen’ for online shops—a job that comes with high risks, including violence, criminal charges, and addiction. Violence has become endemic in the system, with enforcers, known as ‘sportsmen,’ meting out harsh punishments for couriers suspected of theft or negligence. This pervasive violence, combined with the easy availability of highly addictive synthetic drugs, is fueling a public health crisis and contributing to rising incarceration rates among young Russians.”
These young people may find miserable company in a growing number of countries; the report warns this model is spreading beyond Russia’s borders. Authorities must adapt to the new reality. Understanding Russia’s darknet markets will help, advises the report.
Cynthia Murrell, January 3 , 2025
Marketing Milestone 2024: Whither VM?
January 3, 2025
When a vendor jacks up prices tenfold, customers tend to look elsewhere. If VMware‘s new leadership thought its clients had no other options, it was mistaken. Ars Technica reports, “Company Claims 1.000 Percent Price Hike Drove it from VMware to Open Source Rival.” We knew some were unhappy with changes Broadcom made since it bought VMware in November, 2023. For example, nixing perpetual license sales sent costs soaring for many. (Broadcom claims that move was planned before it bought VMware.) Now, one firm that had enough has come forward. Writer Scharon Harding tells us:
“According to a report from The Register today, Beeks Group, a cloud operator headquartered in the United Kingdom, has moved most of its 20,000-plus virtual machines (VMs) off VMware and to OpenNebula, an open source cloud and edge computing platform. Beeks Group sells virtual private servers and bare metal servers to financial service providers. It still has some VMware VMs, but ‘the majority’ of its machines are currently on OpenNebula, The Register reported. Beeks’ head of production management, Matthew Cretney, said that one of the reasons for Beeks’ migration was a VMware bill for ’10 times the sum it previously paid for software licenses,’ per The Register. According to Beeks, OpenNebula has enabled the company to dedicate more of its 3,000 bare metal server fleet to client loads instead of to VM management, as it had to with VMware. With OpenNebula purportedly requiring less management overhead, Beeks is reporting a 200 percent increase in VM efficiency since it now has more VMs on each server.”
Less expensive and more efficient? That is a no-brainer. OpenNebula‘s CEO says other organizations that are making the switch, though he declined to name them. Though Broadcom knows some customers are jumping ship, it may believe its changes are lucrative enough to make up for their absence. At the same time, it is offering an olive branch to small and medium-sized businesses with a less pricy subscription tier designed for them. Will it stem the exodus, or is it already too late?
Cynthia Murrell, January 3, 2024
Code Graveyards: Welcome, Bad Actors
January 3, 2025
Did you know that the siloes housing nuclear missiles are still run on systems from the 1950s-1960s? These systems use analog computers and code more ancient than some people’s grandparents. The manuals for these codes are outdated and hard to find, except in archives and libraries that haven’t deaccessioned items for decades. There’s actually money to be made in these old systems and the Datosh Blog explains how: “The Hidden Risks of High-Quality Code.”
There are haunted graveyards of code in more than nuclear siloes. They exist in enterprise systems and came into existence in many ways: created by former IT employees, made for a specific project, or out-of-the-box code that no one wants to touch in case it causes system implosion. Bureaucratic layers and indecisive mentalities trap these codebases in limbo and they become the haunted graveyards. Not only are they haunted by ghosts of coding projects past, the graveyards pose existential risks.
The existential risks are magnified when red tape and attitudes prevent companies from progressing. Haunted graveyards are the root causes of technical debt, such as accumulated inefficiencies, expensive rewrites, and prevention from adapting to change.
Tech developers can avoid technical debt by prioritizing simplicity, especially matching a team’s skill level. Being active in knowledge transfer is important, because it means system information is shared between developers beyond basic SOP. Also use self-documenting code, understandable patterns for technology, don’t underestimate the value of team work and feedback. Haunted graveyards can be avoided:
“A haunted graveyard is not always an issue of code quality, but may as well be a mismatch between code complexity and the team’s ability to grapple with it. As a consultant, your goal is to avoid these scenarios by aligning your work with the team’s capabilities, transferring knowledge effectively, and ensuring the team can confidently take ownership of your contributions.”
Haunted graveyards are also huge opportunities for IT code consultants. Anyone with versatile knowledge, the right education/credentials, and chutzpah could establish themselves in this niche field. It’s perfect for a young 20-something with youthful optimism and capital to start a business in consulting for haunted graveyard systems. They will encounter data hoarders, though.
Whitney Grace, January 3, 2024
FOGINT: What Do the Most Recent Telegram Function Enhancements Portend for 2025?
January 2, 2025
This is a report from the FOGINT research team.
For a company without a permanent office with staff who show up everyday, Telegram has been busy in December 2024. One good example is Telegram’s chopping up the video stream from its Gateway Conference held in early November 2024. The individual talks with their unique Telegram / TON Foundation quirkiness are available on YouTube at this link. One can mostly parse some speakers’ content using the Google caption function.
Also, a “real” news service has collected several other Telegram and its ecosystem announcement in “Telegram Rolls Out Third-Party Account Verification, Filters.” For those unfamiliar with Telegram, the service offered a verification process. That service remains, and “has now launched a new project to let already-verified third-party authorities, such as food quality regulators or educational consortiums, verify an account.” The article also points out that Telegram has added “filters” to the baked in search and retrieval service. FOGINT wants to point out that the search service is not very good. Retrieval remains spotty. The only way to find certain content is to monitor specific public and private groups. The content from these groups can then be downloaded or sucked from the service with a well-crafted script tuned to observe Telegram’s quite specific blocks on bulk downloading. According to the cited article, Telegram has added:
- Emoji reactions
- Sending gifts (this is a money generating angle)
- Search filters for private chats, group chats, and channels.
The write up does not ask the question, “What is the direction these features suggest Telegram and its associated entities are heading in 2025?”
Here’s FOGINT’s take on the path Telegram is likely to follow:
- Freeing Pavel will be a top priority
- Amping up Telegram and the TON Foundation’s crypto activities. (Telegram is the platform for TON Foundation; the Foundation is the marketing and developer magnet for the TONcoin.)
- Provide functions and services like third party verification to show the French judiciary and others that Telegram does have “real” users and can provide investigators with some useful information maybe.
But the big priority after the “Free Pavel” action is crypto; specifically, making the Telegram platform the hub for crypto gaming and possibly some allied services like automating the movement of crypto from one coin and wallet to other wallets and coins. Tie ups with the Ku Group and other organizations providing crypto alternatives to traditional and regulated financial systems are on board and rolling out integrated services at this time.
Stephen E Arnold, January 2, 2025
Google, the Modern Samurai, Becomes a Ronin. Banzai!
January 2, 2025
Written by a dinobaby, not an over-achieving, unexplainable AI system.
I read “Google to Fight Japan’s Claims That It Harms Rivals in Search.” This paywalled Bloomberg story explains that Google is going to fight Japan’s allegations about hampering its competitors. Would Google do that?
A brave online advertising samurai reduces arguments to tiny flakes of paper. Arguments don’t stand a chance when a modern samurai fights injustice. Thanks, ChatGPT. Good enough.
The write up reports:
Alphabet Inc. is preparing to counter Japanese government allegations that it engages in anticompetitive practices such as forcing smartphone makers to give priority to Google Search in default screen placement.
Google’s position is a blend of smarm and lawyer lingo. As reported by Bloomberg:
“We have continued to work closely with the Japanese government to demonstrate how we are supporting the Android ecosystem and expanding user choice in Japan,” Google said in a statement without providing details of the allegations. “We will present our arguments in the hearing process,” it said, adding it was “disappointed” and the FTC didn’t give enough consideration of the company’s proposed solution. The company didn’t elaborate.
With Google explaining how the US government should respond to the shocking decision that Google was a monopoly, the company seems to bounce from one legal matter to the next.
What’s interesting is that Bloomberg characterized Google’s approach as a “fight.” I don’t know too much about Japanese culture. I have watched a Akira Kurosawa film and I recall John Belushi’s interpretation of a modern samurai warrior. Google definitely can send throngs of legal warriors into court. For PR purposes, I think adopting Mr. Kurosawa’s use of color for different groups of brave fighters would contribute some high impact imagery to YouTube videos.
However, with some EU losses and the twist of Googzilla’s tail by the US legal system, the innocent-until-proven-guilty company is likely to become a Saturday Night Live skit. Maybe Joe Koy will slip the Belushi-type of samurai into a set about how Google helps everyone, 24×7, and embodies the quaint motto “Do no evil.”
Stephen E Arnold, January 2, 2024
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
