Considering Microsoft's overall record for quality and reliability, it's not really surprising to read a New York Times article reporting that "Microsoft acknowledged a security flaw Thursday in its popular Internet Passport service that left 200 million consumer accounts vulnerable to hackers and thieves". It's not even really surprising that Microsoft couldn't find a hole that only took a customer four minutes to find after his account was repeatedly hacked. But I guess I'm still not cynical enough, because I have to admit that I was surprised that there are actually 200 million people stupid enough to think it's a good idea to trust Microsoft with their personal financial information. I think that would even surprise P.T Barnum.

The good news is that the maximum fine could theoretically be 2.2 trillion dollars. That might pay for Dubya's tax cuts and wars, and even start to rebuild the surplus that he inherited from Clinton and promptly pissed away