Monthly Archives: September 2001

Corel

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Corel has fallen upon hard times these last few years. They’ve fallen victim to Microsoft, in trying to maintain their WordPerfect product in a world where Word is the de facto standard. They squandered their early advantage with CorelDraw, which was a leading-edge product in its day (which has long past.) They tried to make money on Linux, a foolish choice, and tried to re-invent DOS, a move which seems so boneheaded that I can’t even think of a good way to describe it.

But miracles happen. It seems that they may actually be profitable this year; they’re actually making money for the third quarter in a row. Will wonders never cease.

Where’s Jimmy?

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Oh-oh. Looks like it’s curtains for Chuckie. (No, not really. I just like saying that. Try it, you’ll enjoy it too!)

I wonder why the feds are so interested in chasing after this? The case is 26 years old, everybody involved (except Chuckie O’Brien) is dead, and there’s not much doubt as to what happened to Jimmy Hoffa. It’s not like Chuckie is going to roll over as soon as he’s charged; he’s an old-school thug, and he’s been under suspicion for many years.

Traffic light cameras

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The good guys win one: a Superior Court judge here in San Diego has sided with the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit over red light cameras. The judge threw out 290 traffic tickets issued by the miserable things. The city says it will appeal.

Unfortunately, the judge stopped short of agreeing with the plaintiffs that vendor, Lockheed Martin, engaged in racketeering. Oh well, that’s a matter for the federal courts anyway.

If you don’t know what a “red light camera” is, you’re fortunate.

At certain busy intersections in the city of San Diego, the city has put up automated cameras that are tied to sensors in the roadway. If you run the red light, the camera takes a picture of the front and rear of your car, showing the license plates, and you get a picture and a bill for $271 mailed to the registered owner.

The annoying part is that the intersections have not been chosen because of a threat to public safety, but to maximize the revenue stream; they appear at badly-designed intersections, where drivers find it difficult to stop or get stuck in the intersection by traffic.

Business as usual

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We live in a screwed-up world. Two companies that have managed themselves into unprofitability through repeated mergers and takeovers, are themselves merging into the second-largest computer company. Like that’s going to somehow make them profitable? Oh, I want my DEC back!