Randall Kennedy is a Devil

Randall C. Kennedy used to be a columnist for InfoWorld. The key word is used to. IDG fired him recently due to controversy over his claims about Windows 7 memory issues. He is a devil. More specifically Randall Kennedy is actually Craig Barth, CTO of Devil Mountain Software.
Craig, or Randall as he was known to InfoWorld readers, claimed that 86% of Windows 7 computers have memory problem. He based this on data collected from Devil Mountain’s XPNet. This is a collection of computers using Devil Mountain software and reporting the results back to the company. The memory problem claim has been hotly contested in the blogosphere.

The real story seems to have been Barth”s column under the pseudonym. The guy was hyping products from his own company. He was able to keep this a secret from the public for a while. When the Windows 7 memory issues became front lines, Kennedy’s identity cover was blown.

Hey. I am all about writing under a pseudonym. But you got to make sure you don’t have conflicting interests when you write. Otherwise it is going to look bad. I am talking real bad here. Everyone seems to be distancing themselves from Barth. His company is probably going to suffer. And I doubt anybody will be letting him write columns for their magazine. Ownage.

The Cost of One Mistake

My mom does not like the gifts I get her. She says I get stuff that just clutters her house. Not wanting to be a poor gift giver, I asked my mom what she actually wanted. She said she loves flowers. Great.

I have a local florist who delivers. For a while I have been calling them up, and having them send my mom flowers for her birthday and mother's day and Christmas.

This works out for all involved. My mom gets what she wants. I don't have to do much. And the florist makes some decent cash. Everything was going well until their last delivery.

My mom called me up last Christmas and said the florist delivered some dead flowers to her house. She called the florist up to complain. They sent a replacement set the next day.

However the damage had already been done. I was pissed off that I was paying $50 or $60 for some dead flowers. At that moment I decided to stop using this florist. They had to deliver top quality flowers for the high price they were charging. One screw up cost them me as a customer. That's a lot of lost revenue. I was paying upwards of $150 a year for a few flower deliveries. It is a tough business.

Research and Development Tax Credit

The US government has a tax credit on the books that companies can take if they invest in research and development. If you use a development process to create new functionality, then you qualify for this credit. Good stuff.

There are some legal stipulations you must meet to claim the credit. But most software development activities qualify. The work must be technical in nature. There must be a probability of failure. And you need to be doing some experimental research.

Your business should file Form 6765 with your taxes to claim the credit. This is something your CPA should know about. The R&D credit is an old one dating back to the early eighties. Cash in now.