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Platformonomics TGIF #141: October 2, 2026
Platformonomics TGIF is a weekly roll-up of links, comments on those links, and perhaps a little too much tugging on my favorite threads. Get Platformonomics Updates By Email I’ve been pacing my output here (for the good of humanity naturally), but am now back in the saddle. Consider yourselves warned. My Writing BREAKING: Meta Announces…
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The NASCAR Bailout
It only took on the order of $110 billion in additional “sweeteners” to get enough votes to pass the $700 billion bailout bill (a bill almost certain to be a disaster, we just don’t yet know what the unintended consequences will be). The “sweeteners” took the form of new or extended tax breaks. One can…
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But Are They on Twitter?
Amidst a story about Somali pirates capturing a Ukrainian ship carrying 30 Russian T-72 tanks and ammunition is this gem: The pirates are highly organized. They work in teams. There is even a pirate spokesman (who could not be reached for comment on Friday). Who says PR is dead?
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MySQL or My Bad?
I was wondering a few months ago how Sun’s MySQL acquisition would impact their relationship with Oracle: How has the MySQL acquisition by Sun impacted the relationship with Sun’s biggest historical partner, Oracle? I may be misjudging Oracle’s leadership, history and culture, but my guess is they view databases as their birthright and treat any…
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Silver Lining?
In what is otherwise the least humorous piece ever by Andy Kessler, he suggests a possible upside to the Wall Street bailout: My analysis suggests that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (a former investment banker, no less, not a trader) may pull off the mother of all trades, which could net a trillion dollars and maybe…
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IBM Threatens to Take Bat and Ball, Go Home
It isn’t often I have occasion to praise IBM, but they deserve kudos for at least threatening to pull out of formal standards bodies and openly questioning their once-beloved “standards process”: International Business Machines Corp. will review its membership in the bodies that set common standards for the technology industry and may withdraw from some,…