David Coursey

What do you suppose our enemies would pay for a device capable of identifying all the Americans walking down the street in a foreign city? And why might the U.S. Department of State be making such a weapon possible? Were talking about a plan to embed RFID (radio-frequency identification) chips into U.S. passports, which the […]

This morning I turned on my computer and had barely sat down when an IM from my friend and fellow Microsoft SBS admin, Susan Bradley, appeared. “Dont install SP1,” it read, the service pack in question being the brand new release for Windows Server 2003. It turns out that Microsoft Small Business Server, which is […]

One of the problems facing new technologies is that while they may be less expensive and include new features, there often are subtle differences between it and the technology it replaces. Sometimes this causes problems—even life-or-death problems—for customers. Take Vonage, for example. Sure, its VOIP services can be a good value, if you already have […]

So whats a Mark Heard? Thats what I found myself asking when someone called and excitedly told me the news that Mark Hurd—the correct spelling—would apparently be succeeding Carly Fiorina at HP. Succeeding where Carly failed must be the hope, I suppose. The problem: My friend didnt actually know who Hurd was or where hes […]

Its always pleasant when Microsoft, after years of not paying attention, finally comes around to your point of view. For a long time, Ive complained that Microsoft only created “trickle down” technology. These are things developed to empower huge enterprises and might someday find their way down to the smaller companies where America really does […]

In a perfect would, people might pay for security software based on the number of attacks prevented and the severity of those threats. The bigger the threat, the harder the software works and the more it protects, the more you pay. Seems fair enough. In the case of Mac OS X, if you paid for […]

Am I alone or were other people in technology scared when China recently passed a law allowing it to go to war if Taiwan declared its independence? This doesnt sound like the China weve lately come to know and respect. And the change could have direct consequences for technology companies, along with everyone else. Is […]

Heres a piece of news you may not know: There are currently no viruses or malware that specifically target Mac OS X lurking “in the wild,” ready to infect your Macintosh. What? You dont have a Macintosh? Maybe thats just as well. After all, if lots of people did have Macs, the platform would be […]

Microsofts acquisition of Groove Networks isnt a case of “why?” as much as “why now?” or even “why so long?” Groove founder Ray Ozzie, now Microsofts chief technology officer, is a genius with a knack for creating products that everyone realizes are great, but that are also too revolutionary to be widely adopted. Lotus Notes, […]

There is something troubling about the ouster of Harry Stonecipher at Boeing for violating the companys ethics code. Its not that the ex-CEO is gone, though strictly speaking I dont think employees consensual sex lives are an employers business. What bothers me is that the letter complaining about Stoneciphers affair with an employee included what […]

I had lunch in San Francisco a few weeks ago with executives from Corel. We do this a couple of times a year so I can stay up to date with what they are doing to keep WordPerfect Office relevant in a Microsoft-dominated world. It was clear they had some good news that they really […]

In San Francisco on Tuesday, Bill Gates announced what the world has been waiting for: presence awareness, to be built into all Microsoft applications. I presume the press release overstated this a bit and was referring only to Microsoft Office applications (but maybe it really would be useful to have presence built into Monster Truck […]