The Geeks’ Agenda

In a study that only Captain Obvious would consider undertaking: “Is an armed society a polite society? Guns and road rage,” Accident Analysis and Prevention, Jan. 2006. A positive correlation appears to have been confirmed between. Can you say, duh.

Nevertheless a well know and respected magazine “Popular Science” published the information provided below as a summery; seeminly in an attempt to lend credence to the findings [ big surprise there ] and perhaps more surprisingly to the purpose of the study.

The Findings: After cold-calling 2,459 American adults with an anonymous questionnaire, researchers from the Harvard Injury Control Research Center discovered that directing “indecent” gestures at other motorists was significantly more common among suburbanites, binge drinkers, Northeasterners, those who think most people can’t be trusted and, yes, those who admitted that they keep guns in their vehicles.

Why Bother? The paper says it best: “If someone is giving you the finger, it may be useful to have some sense of whether or not they have a gun.” Co-author Mary Vriniotis adds that states have recently loosened laws allowing motorists to drive while packing heat. The implication is that if lethal weapons are more readily accessible, hostile driving incidents could turn ugly more often. Knowing which populations are prone to road rage could help policymakers devise awareness campaigns or other strategies to help curb its frequency.

Recently Winternals software, makers of several advanced software utilities, filed suit against Best Buy and Geek Squad for software piracy. This after negotations originally initiated by the Best Buy for Greek Squad to obtain licensing for the use of Winternals “Administrator’s Pak” broke down. In a recent press release by Winternals Best Buy allegedly had been using the software illegally for an indeterminate amount of time before attempting to obtain a legal user license.

Best Buy and Geek Squad initially contacted us and said that a license was needed to come into compliance. Rather than focus on the degree to which Best Buy and Geek Squad had previously engaged in the unauthorized copying and use of our products, we entered negotiations for a software license and to establish a long-term business relationship.

However after the negotiations betwen the two companies broke down, Best Buy and the Geek Squad continued to make copies of and use the “Administrator’s Pak” without securing a legitment license.
Interesting news indeed when you consider the Best Buy’s corporate policy on accepting software that has been opened as returns. In related news I hear that Websters publishing may be considering updating the definition of hypocrisy so to better use Best Buy as an example. =P

For more information you can read the entire article at the Winternals website.