Think Microsoft is working hard to crack down on piracy? Maybe they should look at what their own programmers are doing. Some curious individual was opening some audio files that come installed with the Windows XP operating system, when he came across something strange. No, it wasn't a fart noise. In fact, he was opening them in Notepad, so their was no sound at all, just lots of code.

At the end of all that code, there is a line or two identifying the software used to make the file. Programmers often refer to this as a 'watermark'. The watermark for one of these sound files identified it as coming from Sound Forge, an audio creation software package sold by Sony. That's no surprise, it's one of the best-of-it's-breed software packages. The surprising part came from a small snippet included in the watermark: 'Deepz0ne'.

That one word tells a story that is sure to ripple throughout the tech world. Deepz0ne is the name of a warez clan; a group of people who crack software and then release it using p2p file sharing programs like Limewire or mIRC. They like to brag about their releases, so they put their signature in watermarks. Since their name was in this watermark, it means that a Microsoft programmer used a cracked version of Sound Forge to make sounds for the Windows XP operating system. Perhaps Bill Gates wouldn't pony up the dough for a superior sound creation software suite, so they had to pirate a version for themselves.
Windows uses pirated software?

OfficeMax, one of the most annoying places I've ever shopped at, plans to stop discounting the price of it's items using mail-in rebates. The company made the decision after it found that mail-in rebates were the #1 customer complaint.

OfficeMax rebates have been hit-or-miss for a long time. Of course, when you miss, it means you're out as much as $100. I've had plenty of problems with their rebates, even when I filled everything out perfectly and made all my deadlines. My biggest problem was that it seemed to be company policy to handle all complaints by saying "don't worry, we'll make sure it gets taken care of." IT NEVER GOT TAKEN CARE OF!

Unfortunately, OfficeMax is the only seller of tech goods in my town besides Wal-Mart, which sells crappy tech stuff. There were multiple times where I took copies of my rebate stuff back to the store after not getting a check in the mail after 4 months. Each time it was the same line. This makes me believe that it was highly likely the people making the decisions in the corporate office were telling their store managers to deal with the problem this way. You can only get away with screwing over honest customers for so long. I know OfficeMax had to shut down over 100 retail locations last year, and I also know they have among the lowest customer satisfaction ratings on independent surveys. I'd like to think those two things are closely related.

I might consider shopping at OfficeMax again now that I can get the discount when I buy the item, with no hassles. I can't help but wonder what will happen the first time a cash register goes haywire and doesn't give out an instant rebate on something it's supposed to. Will the cashier still say "don't worry, we'll take of it"?
Rebate Roulette - Get your rebates, not the shaft. You site for rebate reviews and ratings.