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Well there is also these problems:

Counterfeit chips in Cisco gear on military networks:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/12/FBI-worried-as-DoD-sold-counterfeit-Cisco-gear_1.html

Chinese buying the main fiber network the US military uses:

http://www.hereinreality.com/likashing.html

Stupid is, as stupid does...

It is not too hard to hack a network if you got
counterfeit hardware inside the network giving
you a backdoor in.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/05/12/FBI-worried-as-DoD-sold-counterfeit-Cisco-gear_1.html

So once they got in, they learned what they needed
to know to stay in, and put other methods in place
to stay in.

They are going to have to rebuild their network one segment
at a time from the ground up.

They need several things with one of them being segment
monitoring IDS system that can detect the outbound traffic.

Something that can track all outbound traffic against
a white-list of acceptable IPs, think a reverse peer guardian
that tracks what IP's are reached and snds alarms if they
are not on the list.

In any event they will have a monumental task of clearing
all the backdoors in the system, and should consider going
totally to a secure hardware+software encrypted VPN that
does not even travel over the public internet.

There is enough dark fiber out there to do it for the classified
material they transmit.

Also if most of your military traffic goes over the old
global crossing network, don't allow the public sale of
that network to a foreign nation with an oppposing ideology.

Namely China !

http://www.hereinreality.com/likashing.html

When you do stupid things, bad things happen.

This incident does bring up the question of what we will do when a government, NGO, or criminal group like the Mafia decides that Open Source software belongs to them and that people must pay a fee to them for using it...

Which is precisely what you have here. M$ tried via SCO to scuttle Linux. It turned out that SCO hadn't a leg to stand on. So, enter the Novel-M$ SW Patent deal where de Icaza and other receipt-carrying M$ Boosters inject proprietary technology into otherwise free and open source projects. Novell differs from SCO in that this time around there is a trail of receipts showing that yes you do owe M$money for their products even though they were readily available for download.

People have been good about readying the licenses for the main packages, but de Icaza and co. target the libraries and other components that these packages are built on. Combine that with a marketing team that hangs around Slashdot and goes after sites like Boycott Novell and they have made some headway. To be sure, Mono wastes a lot of space on the Ubuntu installation CD. Space which could have been used by Free Software. So even without the sw patent deal, Mono is technologically unsound.

Then there are Novell's attacks against OpenOffice.org and the OpenDocument Format. But that speaks for itself.

At the beginning it was simply described as a stupid move. Novell/M$ is a problem that is getting worse, mostly due to the noise they make and the interference they cause in free and open source projects. The patent pact put Novell outside the free and open source software community. The actions since then have only proven this to be more so.

No, Java is the new COBOL:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/28/52FE-underreported-java_1.html

With the right ID card, they can.

To bad they won't be able to surf websites such as Slashdot, Fark, or whatever else might be considered offensive to the government.

http://www.infoworld.com/news/feeds/08/10/13/No-opt-out-of-filtered-Internet.html?source=gs

Sorry for going off-topic.

i have dual citizenship (Taiwan & U.S.) but i don't think i'd enjoy working or living in Taiwan. besides, it doesn't seem to have a growing job market at the moment. Europe and Canada sound appealing though.

the only places in Asia i'd be interested in working at are Japan, because it's such an interesting culture and a technological leader, and South Korea because, well, Korea seems to have a higher proportion of hot girls than any other Asian country. it'd also be nice to have a 100 Gbps internet connection instead of the throttled and unreliable connections we get overcharged for here in the U.S. it's strange that the InfoWorld article doesn't mention either of these technological leaders in their section about Asia.

Intel recently did a study on how datacenters can be cooled using air-side economizers, saving up to 67 percent in energy costs on a 10MW room. This was unthinkable even a couple years ago but modern systems can handle heat a lot better so you are bound to realize some savings by bumping the temps up to 85-90 degrees.

Sorry for the thread hijack, but I decided to post this link as soon as I saw the links to all 4 pages of the top 10 list.
http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/08/10/06/40TC-power-myths_1.html

Link to 1 page version. Anonymous so as not to be a karma whore.

BitTorrent: because fuck you, Hollywood!

Hollywood: because fuck you, BitTorrent

I fought the law...

Is the InfoWorld article this seems to have come from:

Right here

This is being shown in a laptop, and will be in a Schwinn bicycle next year.

This sounds good, certainly, but I'm *really* hoping eeStor's superduperultracapacitor technology works out as advertised. That will change the world.

I am actually looking forward to the Windows 7 release.

Another interesting project is the Windows Workstation 2008 project http://www.win2008workstation.com/ which customizes Windows Server 2008 (which is also very modular) for desktop use.

Windows Workstation 2008 also is much faster than Vista http://weblog.infoworld.com/enterprisedesktop/archives/2008/03/windows_worksta.html

I wonder if Windows 7 is essentially a version of Windows Server 2008 with desktop components and with some of the server components removed.

If that is the case, then we have a great OS from MS.

and here: http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/08/08/18/34FE-it-under-pressure_1.html (for the 2nd TFA link).

is available here: http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/08/09/22/39FE-IT-management-chasm_1.html

I suggest you read Paul Venezia's articles and blog entries concerning the Terry Childs case. The SF authorities have changed their account a number of times, and it is no longer clear what Childs employment status was at the time he refused to handover the password(s). As for passwords being the companies property, they should have instituted the procedures that Childs suggested, and would have avoided this issue. What if he'd been incapacitated (by the classic running over by a bus for example)? As for documentation at home, well if that's a crime then most of the conscientious and hard working IT people I've ever worked with would be guilty of it. http://weblog.infoworld.com/venezia/ If this really boils down to Childs refusing to hand over the password(s) after being fired, then SF are going to have one hell of a fight on their hands to not be laughed out court by arguing that the passwords are "company assets".

It's a terminal server, so it doesn't have a MAC address. It's connected to the back of some router somewhere, if it even exists. Last I read on Paul Venezia's blogs, they've found some modems Childs could use to access the network remotely, which doesn't seem unreasonable.

Childs had designed the network so only he could do anything to it, even when he had to do funky routing to maintain his centralized control. He had set up the routers with their config stored only in memory, so if rebooted they would loose their configuration. He also set up some components with "no service password-recovery", which means the devices would everything if you try to reset or recover the passwords (fairly logical on a maximum security network).

Apparently Childs, a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert, was way ahead of everyone else in the San Fran IT, and he trusted nobody but himself to touch the FiberWAN. According to his coworkers, it was known and accepted for months (maybe years) that he was the only one with access to the network configuration, and he was on call 24/7/356 and had some serious social problems with his bureaucratic supervisors.

So a newly-created security-something-or-other department finally decided to wrest control from him and put him in jail and got a $5 million dollar bail on him, which seems downright looney. They then hired a flock of expensive contractors to tear the place apart, after they threw Childs in jail before asking him for passwords (more weirdness). It don't want to believe conspiracy theories, but some of these things just don't make sense, even from a the standpoint of office politics.

They also raided his office and house and found (ooo shock!) some ammunition and a clip for a different kind of ammunition, along with network schematics and such, and the infamous VPN login and password lists which they entered into the publicly-accessible exhibit.

The city claims that the access devices Childs attached to the network exposed it to hackers, which would make one think SF just proved contamination of anything resembling evidence and has made itself look really moronic in knucking-down an introverted network genius who has difficulty dealing with authority.

A Cisco engineering commenting on Paul Venezia's blog said it pretty well:

* Joel Helgeson
        * 07/27/2008
        * 03:05:00 PM

As a Cisco Engineer, the modem is plugged into the AUX port and it still requires a person to log into the console. It is the same thing as using the console port on the back of the router, but just through the modem. No difference. IT does sound like Childs was possessive of 'his network' that 'he built'... sounds to me like he built it and maintained it himself and one minor ACL change or BGP tweak and it could really screw things up. So he then took the next step of security of No Service Password Recovery, whoa... Am i ever glad that feature exists. With equipment located at customer sites, I do NOT want some engineer to reboot my router, modify my config, then reboot it back with his modifications in place - that is precisely how data leaks begin and every network that carries TS or even LES information should have that feature. Seriously, to my ear, this guy sounds like he's got some territorial issues and regarded the network as belonging to him. Every bit of information i've heard thus far only supports this case... it is like i'm reading a breathless news report stating that the janitor was found to have keys to EVERY SINGLE ROOM IN THE BUILDING, including the LOCKED CLOSETS that NOBODY ELSE HAS KEYS TO... that upon inspection were found to contain TOXIC CHEMICALS that could be combined to create an EXPLOSIVE MIXTURE, where what they really found was the janitorial closet with cleaning supplies, including some drain cleaner and other things that if MacGyver found them he could effect his escape.

In my opinion, this case is beyond absurd.

Paul Venezia digs a little deeper into this so-called "terminal server" today in his blog:

"From what I can see, it's a device running Cisco IOS that was accessed via telnet. I could generate an identical screenshot to the one entered into evidence in about five minutes using an elderly Cisco 2924-XL Ethernet switch -- a device that's certainly not a terminal server. It's completely unclear to me how they could have possibly come to the conclusion that this is a "terminal server" -- the evidence presented to the court certainly does not support that theory."

Venezia also uncovers additional technical errors in the prosecution's case, which appears to be unraveling with the recent news that the DTIS Datacenter Supervisor Ramon Pabros will testify on Childs' behalf. Since coming forward, Pabros has announced he will be retiring from the DTIS, effective Sept. 17. Coincidence?

Paul Venezia digs a little deeper into this so-called "terminal server" today in his blog:

"From what I can see, it's a device running Cisco IOS that was accessed via telnet. I could generate an identical screenshot to the one entered into evidence in about five minutes using an elderly Cisco 2924-XL Ethernet switch -- a device that's certainly not a terminal server. It's completely unclear to me how they could have possibly come to the conclusion that this is a "terminal server" -- the evidence presented to the court certainly does not support that theory."

Venezia also uncovers additional technical errors in the prosecution's case, which appears to be unraveling with the recent news that the DTIS Datacenter Supervisor Ramon Pabros will testify on Childs' behalf. Since coming forward, Pabros has announced he will be retiring from the DTIS, effective Sept. 17. Coincidence?

Paul Venezia has some of the best reporting and editorial comments about this whole case. His post in regards to the 'hidden' device: http://weblog.infoworld.com/venezia/archives/018408.html

http://weblog.infoworld.com/venezia/archives/018376.html

An insider claims that the power outage that Terry Childs was accused of using to sabotage the San Francisco network was not a planned outage.

TAGS: Problems, San Francisco's FiberWAN, Terry Childs

If you've been following the Terry Childs case to any degree, you probably know that one of the key allegations keeping him in prison on $5 million bail is that he had willfully planned to cause the network to fail during a planned power outage at the DTIS One Market Plaza Datacenter on July 19th. According to credible information I've recently received, that power outage was only going to affect the cubes and offices in that building, but not the datacenter itself.

Thus, there never was a plan to power down the network core. Thus, there's no way that Childs could have tried to engineer the failure of the network during this planned power outage, since the network core would not have lost power.

[ Follow the Terry Childs saga with InfoWorld special report: Terry Childs: Admin gone rogue. ]

The evidence supporting this claim comes from someone certainly in a position to know: Ramon Pabros, the DTIS Datacenter Supervisor himself. Pabros has been employed by San Francisco's DTIS for a surprising 41 years. He's been the Datacenter Supervisor since 1984. He's been running datacenters for the City of San Francisco since Ronald Reagan's first term, the introduction of the Macintosh, and the second season of The A-Team. It's probably safe to say that he knows what he's doing.

According to my source, he will testify to the fact that he discussed the power outage with Childs several weeks before the outage, and at least 10 days before Childs' arrest. He will also state that Childs specifically asked for confirmation that the datacenter itself would not be affected, and was reassured that it would not lose power.

With this statement, the City's allegations that Childs planned to cause the failure of the FiberWAN basically collapse.

Now, I'm admittedly a stranger to San Francisco politics, and am certainly not a lawyer, but if the DA was going to make these accusations against Childs, shouldn't they have talked to Pabros? If the OMP Datacenter was not going to lose power on that date, then this charge against Childs is essentially the same as charging someone with planning to burgle a store that doesn't exist.

But then again, this is the same DA's office that placed valid group usernames and passwords into the public record, and an IT department that ran public, unprotected websites containing internal emails, core network details, as well as usernames and passwords.

I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised at all.

UPDATE: It appears that Pabros has just announced he will be retiring, effective next Wednesday. I can't help but wonder if one event has anything to do with the other. I do know that there have been a number of odd layoffs from San Francisco's DTIS in the past two weeks.

Posted by Paul Venezia on September 8, 2008 08:48 AM

cranes, welders, plasma tables, galvinization equipment, etc. that is required for us to build our product isn't just going to magically take less electricity just because we want it to.

The idea is that the controls will move from ad hoc human decisions (e.g. I'll flip on the welder now because I plan to use it in five minutes) to computer planned decisions (where work is scheduled for the welder so as to minimize the amount of time when the welder is warming up, etc.). The example given in the article is heating and cooling. For example, if you know that it will be hot during the day and cold at night, you can allow the temperature to gradually increase during the day and cool overnight if you only have a daylight shift.

Of course, we've been talking about doing this for twenty years. While this is the future, I don't know that it is particularly likely to take over in the next few years. It will gradually become more common, the way that it is now common for every automobile to have computer controlled fuel injection, valves, and sparking system rather than operate purely mechanically.

Everybody go post comments on infoworld's site about this article. You don't need an account to do it.
Let's slashdot it and let them know how geeks feel about IT unions!
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/09/04/36NF-union-for-tech-workers_1.html

http://www.infoworld.com/offshore/. We looked at 12 cities and 6 regions.

Or given that TI is mentioned, maybe it's more likely to be about Rubin et.al's attack on TI's Digital Signature Transponder. See Security Analysis of a Cryptographically-Enabled RFID Device (paper) and/or article.

Well it's certainly being talked about:
here
here
here
and here

Here's Bob Cringely's take on the comics. Although his futurisms tend to be disproved with time, he does have insight when it comes to the present:

The Recording Industry Association of America probably sees itself as a band of caped crusaders fighting for truth, justice and the American way. (And in this case, "American Way" translates into propping up a dying cartel seeking to squeeze as many pennies out of consumers as possible before they sink into the ooze.)

Probably a fitting description of that cartel if there was any.

The second set of comics by the NCSC deals with another topic that's touchy with libertarians: eminent domain. You know, the concept where the government can ignore the idea that your property is yours and simply take it because they're sovereign (and, most likely, because you're a convicted felon)?

It's both interesting and disturbing that "several legal scholars" would green-light a publication that depicts file-sharing as criminal infringement. Notice also that a known conservative ad agency wrote the thing, and we all know how the so-called media "conservatives" love corporations. How dare the students steal stuff from the defenseless record companies. We oughta lock them up with the murderers and rapists and destroy their lives before they realize that they should've been tried in civil court.

This isn't "education". It's right-wing media propaganda.

http://weblog.infoworld.com/fatalexception/archives/2008/08/was_javascript.html

Like it or not, pure coding jobs in the "Western world" are going away. The "cheap code" genie is out of the bottle.

• There is such a low expectation on quality for code these days (thanks M$) that a lot of management can assume that project will be delayed and most likely have bugs. There are a lot of reasons for this (changes in project specs, using cheap coders, buggy OS's and toolkits); but there is not a perceived value anymore in having in-house development (Infoworld just had an article on this)
• We have fought to keep useless certifications from the programming world. Because of this, one programming peep looks about the same as another to the HR dept and the people who budget programming labor
• There is a lot of really good, free (as in beer) code - operating systems, office suites, etc. While this has done little to wedge M$ out of their desktop monopoly, it does contribute to the opinion (admittedly held by the ignorant) that coding can be had on the cheap.

I think the "salvation" of those of is with programming and systems experience is to leverage our skills in leadership positions where we enable companies to do more outsourcing with successful outcomes. Would I like to be paid to code all day? Absolutely. But I don't think that's realistic when somebody claims that they can do the same job for less than half of what I make. The survivors, the pointy-hair bosses and consultants, stay around because they market their ability to get things accomplished. Our best hope for survival as senior developers is to sell upper management that we are their best chance to successfully use the inexpensive labor they are so desperate to hire.

12% is the average inflation in India. You're assuming that everyone's wages are increasing by the average value. Highly sought after people will be able to demand more and their wages will inflate faster.

e.g. 30% wage inflation.

http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/07/05/29/riya-wage-inflation-sinks_1.html

What the heck, I have time... I'll grace your ranting with one more reply...

Software engineers never need to read industry publications to learn about hardware? You just acquire and test yourself every single new device that comes out? Seems pretty inefficient.

So why aren't you still shouting that NetworkWorld and Tom's are Mac publications? That Apple paid them to produce their reports (if you must insist that a thorough examination by an expert on Tom's is not a "study.")

You say: "my measuring stick is PERFORMANCE, PRICE, HARDWARE MAINTAINABILITY and UPGRADE-ABILITY not whether or not the case matches my entertainment center." That is precisely the list of features cited in the reports I listed. I never talked about the color of the case. So you then must think Macs are cheaper, right? Given the clear evidence I provided?

Then you go off saying that add-ons from Apple cost too much. If you had bothered to read the Tom's report, they claim the same thing. That Macs are the same price or cheaper, but that they over-charge on the add-ons. So, like I said, if you don't make stupid purchasing decisions, you don't pay more for the hardware cost of a Mac. You still are not countering the fact, yes fact, that hardware cost is a minor concern in the total cost of ownership. You still have yet to provide one scrap that the average cost of ownership of a PC is lower than the Mac. This is because you cannot find even a raving Windows-fanboy site to say that, because it is not true.

As for Macs in the enterprise, again, I am relying on fact, while are relying solely on your hatred of what you don't understand. Here's the first article I found, though there are plenty recently
Survey: 8 in 10 businesses now using Macs - June 26, 2008 (and no, I am not claiming they are using Macs to the exclusion of Windows, but the article details how they are burgeoning in the enterprise.)
I suppose now you're going to tell me that InfoWorld is a Mac site too, right?

I modified the WoW search because software changes over time. So judging something only by its 1.0 release isn't very thoughtful for a software engineer.

I said that your people with two computers could run Windows on their Macs, I did not mean to the exclusion of Mac OS. It is called virtualization... ever heard of it? You can run genuine Windows XP or Vista within the Mac OS using VMWare (ever heard of that?) or Parallels. It is a waste of money and a stupid purchasing decision to have a second computer running Windows when for far, far less money your IT department could have just bought VMWare.

It is clueless software engineers who think nobody wants to use a Mac that lead to Windows-only software. When that ignorance is applied to commercial software development, then it just means that you immediately exclude 5-10% of your potential customer base. The number of companies willing to piss off than many customers is rapidly decreasing (see link above, or look around you), which is why Macs are able to penetrate so well into the enterprise recently. I think you need to get over this mindless hatred and see what is going on around you. The fact that Macs look cool and that hey cost what they are worth (again, completely in line with Dells or other big brand PCs) should not mislead you into thinking that somehow they aren't cool for engineers to use. Again, they are certified UNIX 03... something you cannot get from any Windows or Linux box in the world.

According this back-door legislation, the shortage of tech workers was so sever, that it constituted a national emergency.

But, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics:

August 06, 2008
Almost 50,000 IT positions lost in last 12 months

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/08/06/Bureau-of-Labor-Statistics-reports-big-drop-in-tech-jobs_1.html

Microsoft submitted OOXML to the international standards body Ecma International in November 2005 as an attempt to fast-track it through the ISO. Despite protests and criticisms, that process eventually proved successful on April 1, when the ISO approved OOXML as a standard.

On Wednesday, Microsoft said it will not have support for the current ISO specific for OOXML until it releases the next version of Office, code-named Office 14. The company has not said when that software will be available. Update: Microsoft to support ODF, PDF in Office next year

I guess we'll see when they actually try to do it, we'll all laugh hysterically if it turns into another Vista disaster and they can't cut features because they are locked into an ISO standard!

http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/08/08/01/A_photo_that_can_steal_your_online_credentials_1.html

"I'll give 10:1 odds that Futuremark simply compiled their benchmark with Intel's C++ compiler.

I wrote a detailed explanation back in 2005 about how the Intel C++ compiler generates separate code paths for memory operations to make AMD processors appear significantly slower, and how you can trick the compiled code into believing your AMD processor is an Intel one to see incredibly increased performance. See this article for additional details." - by Eponymous Cowboy (706996) * on Friday August 01, @10:09AM (#24432917)

Good job man, & that's completely 'no sarcasm' on my part - congrats/kudos/salutations.

That sounds COMPLETELY logical, & reasonable + "right on the mark", about futuremark & other benchmarks... especially, as others state here, IF you "follow the money trail" & look @ the motivations of billions of potential profit.

Hey - I'll even "go out on a limb", & say YOU are probably right here - even though "the great arstechnica" (NOT) apparently couldn't figure that out, & you basically DID, long ago (3++ yrs. back)...

----

HEY - between the processor errata that INTEL has, that has folks in security circles 'terrified' to a big extent, since hacker-cracker types are out to exploit them, per this news:

Researcher to demonstrate attack code for Intel chips:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/07/14/Researcher_to_demonstrate_attack_code_for_Intel_chips_1.html

SALIENT/PERTINENT EXCERPT:
----
"Kaspersky says CPU bugs are a growing threat, with malware being written that targets these vulnerabilities... Security researcher and author Kris Kaspersky plans to demonstrate how an attacker can target flaws in Intel's microprocessors to remotely attack a computer using JavaScript or TCP/IP packets, regardless of what operating system the computer is running."
----

I am GLAD I have an AMD here, by all means, because still, to date? AMD has not been shown as vulnerable to the above, either... not yet @ least. So far, so good.

(I would have told anyone that INTEL CPU's were better/faster, until I saw this article of yours AND the one I point out above - regarding CPU errata exploitation being possible on INTEL cpu's, where so far, no such thing has surfaced on AMD stuff!)

----

Ordinarily?

I'd say that is an accomplishment on YOUR part, in figuring out YEARS AGO, what all of arstechnica apparently cannot!

Then again - Comparing yourself vs. arstechnica's general populace in computing know-how isn't saying much man (it's like comparing a world-class athlete vs. a newborn child, in a footrace - not exactly a fair comparison (& most anyone could win)).

No HUGE trick, getting the better of them & their "experts" (like the "no degree, no certification, no years-to-decades of professional hands-on experience in the trenches in the art & sciecne of computing" Jeremy Reimer, for example. No contest).

APK

P.S.=> Good job man, good job... &, I liked your article as well - I must have missed it years ago, thanks for bringing it up again too! apk

"Javascript has become quite the tool." - by WED Fan (911325) on Friday July 25, @02:06PM (#24338577) Homepage

Yes, it has - However, quite often also (not just 'for the good') for the creation of malware laden websites, as well as adbanners that are bad (in combination w/ Iframes too).

Searching SECUNIA.COM for the past 3-5 yrs. worth of exploits almost nearly always has something to do with javascript, in the past few years worth of attacks, such as these:

----

Microsoft apologises for serving malware:

http://apcmag.com/microsoft_apologises_for_serving_malware.htm

----

(It even happens to "the best of them", including large corporate bodies, in them being 'suckered' by the people that put out malwares, by sneaking them into adbanners, as the example above notes)

AND, javascript's being exploited fro upcoming worse malware attacks, such as this:

----

Researcher to demonstrate attack code for Intel chips:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/07/14/Researcher_to_demonstrate_attack_code_for_Intel_chips_1.html

----

That last one? It's "pretty bad", imo @ least, maybe yours too, if you take a read of that last one.

I do NOT doubt it could happen, anymore than say, a malware being able to flash your vidcard OR motherboard's BIOS (because, if tools by say, ASUS &/or Gigabyte can do it, AND WHILE YOU ARE IN WINDOWS mind you (not bootup from a floppy) then it's possible these could too)

E.G.-> For example, if they ship a download via scripted attack that has say, a PnP driver + BIOS "img file" inside of it that the bogus javascript could SOMEHOW execute (or, a .exe they send - who knows? I don't make that kind of bogus ware, but the point is, the people misusing it are getting more & more "creative" about it, & their methods seem to be working).

----

Now, don't "get me wrong" here:

It's not that I "hate javascript" (well, I don't like working w/ it as opposed to other languages, let's put it that way), because it has its uses, but it gets abused a lot, in the way of being intended to harm others, is all.

Fact is - I have to use it myself on ASP.NET pages I create or created on the job, for instance, because sometimes, it makes easy going of it, or provides a way to do things I need done, faster (or, the only way I could SEE or KNOW how to do certain types of functionality, fast).

(Now - If the folks that create & extend javascripting engines can somehow do away with these misuses of javascript happening (how, I have NO idea, somekind of 'sandbox' such as 'fullblown java' has, good idea, maybe not perfect, but solid idea) that'd be GREAT... but I don't think that is as easily done, as it is said.

Mainly because it's like saying that for probably nearly ANY compiler out there for say, std. .exe files, first of all, probably an impossible undertaking (like a razor, compilers & code have 2 sides potentially).

Well - then, I wouldn't be "afraid of javascript", as an end-user online! Fact is, IF I knew it was safe (or, rather, safer than it is)?

I'd turn it on again in ALL of my webbrowser programs, & for every site online again (I cut the latter off, years back, once I saw it was being abused in bad adbanners mainly, like the first example above).

Yes, that is right, I am a bit afraid of it & tend to initially "cut it off" as to using it, wholesale @ first, in all of my webbrowsers, & ONLY turning it on for sites I absolutely cannot live without it on, & that's mostly banking &/or shopping style websites (& others that demand database or other files' access for instance, for ABSOLUTELY full & proper functionality (not just 'bells & whistles')).

Personal

In NZ they are not offering a unlimited data plan, the best you can do is 500 mb's per month for $130. The good news is that it is only $130 per month now; they got dragged through the media and I think they realised their pricing was ridiculous.

If I buy the iPhone with no contract it is $1200. So the price isn't actually too bad now, but is still twice as much as the Freerunner.

But if you want another reason not to buy the iPhone, how about this:

"The upshot is that every citizen of planet earth can get the iPhone SDK at no charge, but they're contractually obligated to Apple not to discuss the SDK or exchange ideas with others. The agreements leave no room for forums, newsgroups, open source projects, tutorials, magazine articles, users' groups, or books". From the article: http://weblog.infoworld.com/yager/archives/2008/07/apples_iphone_c.html

I agree this guy was a complete selfish asshole, but you're treading on dangerous ground here. There aren't two different types of people: "criminals" and "non-criminals". Someone being a criminal doesn't make them morally corrupt and somehow more able to commit murder/suicide.

Have you read Confessions of a Former Spammer? These assholes do things like scrape emails from support websites for recovering gambling addicts and then send them invitations to online gambling sites. This is more than just fraud or theft. They prey on the weak and vulnerable for their own profit. And they do it in the most cowardly way possible, where they never even have to meet or see their victims.

You're correct in that these types of generalizations aren't really productive, but I think it's a rather safe assumption that anyone who has made millions off of spam aren't just a thief but truly a sociopath. They know that they're ruining the lives of others; they just don't care.

Good JavaScript libraries like (jQuery ExtJS or YUI) makes much easier to use JavaScript but it's still JavaScript!

In fact, comparing Java and JavaScript is not a fair at all... From a software engineering perspectives, JavaScript is too weak to hold water.

As Brendan Eich, the JavaScript creator, himself recognises, JavaScript was designed to add a little bit of animation or a little bit of smarts to Web forms and Web pages.

Furthermore, GWT has a JavaScript Native Interface (JSNI) that allows automatic inclusion of external JavaScript and directly interacts with JavaScript from Java and vice versa.

I might perhaps add that GWT compiler generates faster JavaScript than you can write by hand!

Finally, there are extensions available GWT-Ext and GWT-Query which does what Ext-JS and jQuery does but calls the GWT compiler to produce optimal code.

FYI that this post was actually written and published elsewhere, at the InfoWorld site (where I work). The story linked here is not the original. Here's the original: http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/07/18/Study_predicts_IT_staff_reductions_in_09_1.html

If anyone cares about the real story I recommend you read this article http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/08/07/18/30FE-sf-network-lockout_1.html . Or read the comments by Dana Horn on this wired article. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/07/former-san-fran.html Just because Hans Reiser was guilty doesn't mean every geek that is accused is guilty.

"Would MS still have gone after AOL if they had a successful bid on Yahoo?"

Obviously *no*, but isn't Microsoft also going to have to report this deal to the US antitrust subcommittee .. :)

Arrr, laddie, I've seen error messages the size of great whites! Swallow a man whole, they will!

CAN
YOU
STAND
THE
HORROR!!!

But yeah, the most wacked out ginoruous displays in Times Square are at the end of the day just great big monitors. Running Windows 2000.

And your post clearly shows how an uninformed Slashdot reader can still sound like he knows what he's talking about. It's sad that you equate passion for a "frothing invocation" and appear so critical of my vigor.

I can think of some other folks you might feel similarly about... Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock... yes, mad, "frothing" men, it's just a shame no one criticized them earlier on, eh?

Regarding your actual comments... first off, the wiretaps CLEARLY violate a number of different constitutional protections. Namely freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and protections against illegal search and seizure. Don't believe me? Well, there are certainly court opinions you could reference on the topic.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/08/17/HNwiretapsmackdown_1.html

As the telecoms... if you REALLY believe that the major law firms the telecoms employ didn't realize that wiretapping their customers with NO warrants or court appointed oversight... in essence, illegally listening in on private conversations... wasn't legal that's your business. However, at $500 an hour and some of the best legal teams out there (Skadden Arps, I'm looking in your direction) I find that INCREDIBLY hard to believe. They saw it, they knew it for what it was, but they got caught up in the same "kill Achmed, burn him at the gate" mentality as all the other sheep.

Hey, I have a quote from another frother that you might like! "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither."

Now hurry along Hans, you're going to miss the torch parade.

-rt

Ahem, ahem...

I am not really impressed by B&M gates foundation... and the use they have given to it:

e-Mexico.

Which was about to be kickstarted with Open Source (with the backup of HP, IBM, Sun, etc)... until Bill Gates went to Mexico to speak with Presidente Fox... aaaaand, guess what:

Microsoft has pledged $60 million in software and training to help fund Internet kiosks that are being built in remote communities. The software maker has also allotted $10 million to train workers in small and mid-size businesses, along with an additional grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to the country's VAMOS MEXICO program to be used to move the country's libraries online.

Ohh, Vamos Mexico... the foundation from Fox's wife which has been investigated for allegued corruption practices.

Oh yes, B&M Gates foundation are God's messengers.

Gladly, Infoworld explores such a thing here.

It is no secret that vendors give out "gifts" and this happens for many corporations even magazine publishing corporations.

So you are telling me that despite Infoworld employees being given "gifts" by vendors, it does not influence how they write their article, and just because the article written is positive and the writer and/or editor got "gifts" it is not selling out or shilling or even considered unethical?

That somehow because I cited a problem in the media, it means I do a shitty job?

Well to be civil, and because you are upset and angry over it and it appears I touched a nerve, I will withdraw the statement for your sake. I don't want you getting stressed out over it, or anyone to say you did anything wrong over it, eWeek too as well as Infoworld. :)

Buying and selling their own name to themselves for 6 years.

Don't forget selling their OS, writing a new one from scratch, shelving it, buying back the old one, then rewriting it again, all the while promising "It's gonna be Linux!" Color me unimpressed.

is here.

http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/08/06/17/25TC-pydc-intro_1.html
http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/08/06/17/25TC-pydc-lessons_1.html

http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/08/06/17/25TC-pydc-intro_1.html
http://www.infoworld.com/archives/emailPrint.jsp?R=printThis&A=/article/08/06/17/25TC-pydc-lessons_1.html