1115.org

When talking about Microsoft, its almost inevitable that someone refers to it as “the evil empire”. This usually precedes a lengthy diatribe about buggy software, draconian business practices or some mysterious condition known as “the blue screen of death”.

(We’re not exactly sure what that is. As Mac users, we never have to deal with such things.)

But back to the matter at hand. Despite Microsoft’s less-than-stellar image, the company is making effors to present a kinder, gentler face to the world. How else can one explain their recent generosity toward convicted hacker Jeffrey Parson, who wrote a variation of the infamous “Blaster” worm? The company decided to drop the $500,000 fine that Parson owed, despite the fact that his handiwork infected 48,000 PCs and caused about $1.2 million dollars in damages. Mighty nice of them, wouldn’t you say?

It’s all well and good that Microsoft can turn around and absolve a debt like that, but what of the people who directly suffered from Parson’s actions? No one creates a computer virus by accident; it’s a premeditated, malicious action that has no purpose other than causing chaos on as many computers as possible. Individual users and businesses alike have lost valuable (and in some cases, irreplaceable) data. In some cases, the impact of a computer virus can cost people their jobs. I highly doubt that the thousands of people who were targeted by Parson’s actions feel as generous toward him as Microsoft seems to be.

Maybe Microsoft needed his help in writing their unintentionally hilarious “Parent’s Guide To Computer Slang“, which does justice to every “n00b” who wants to learn “m4d sk1llz”. It totally “roxx0rs”, apparently.

Too bad the average PC user remains “pwn3d”.