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Sorry if this is trollish, but Macs are IMO a WORSE security risk than Windows when dealing with spearphishing and other forms of targeted attacks. Security updates are rare. Even if the OS model is better than Microsoft's, it's not a good choice.

Macs are security risks.

How many keygens contain malware? How many times have people downloaded movies to suddenly discover that the movie only plays in a "special exe-based player". Do we really need to revisit the iWork-crack botnet example? People who are trying to steal people's data online have a huge incentive to pay crackers to crack software and infect it with Malware. They have "no incentive to include malware in their cracks"? Yeah, right.

First Mac Botnet Stems From iWork, Photoshop Trojans
http://www.crn.com/security/216700006

iWork Trojan reappears in Photoshop CS4 crack
http://www.itwire.com/opinion-and-analysis/core-dump/22865-iwork-trojan-reappears-in-photoshop-cs4-crack

I agree that Nokia vs. Apple/Apple vs. Nokia isn't a Mexican standoff but that Nokia probably owns the far more fundamental mobile patents. However, the problem that Nokia has in this is that its most fundamental patents in the mobile space are part of GSM and other standards. That fact doesn't expropriate Nokia but at some point they could come under pressure that those are patents that should be made available on RAND (reasonable and non-discriminatory) terms. Then Nokia could argue that it is, in Nokia's view, not at all unreasonable to ask Apple for a cross-licensing deal because otherwise Apple could exclusively control some of the more recent technologies (multitouch etc.) while Nokia (and similar vendors) would be expected to grant licenses to their patents only because they're part of older standards definitions.

Apple faces the typical problem of a late entrant: even if you obtain some patents on new technologies, you still need the underlying old technologies and those patents are generaly still valid, given that patents expire only after 20 years (except for a failure to pay renewal fees, which won't happen if the patent holder is Nokia and the patents are valuable). That's why in an area of incremental innovations patents may not be even remotely as helpful to innovative late entrants as many people are led to believe.

In terms of waster pistol vs. aiming a cannon, I think this also applies to the Apple/HTC situation and HTC's announcement of yesterday that it's now (counter-)"suing" Apple.

The Wired article on mobile patent lawsuits was, quite apparently, written just before the latest front was opened: HTC yesterday announced that it is now "suing" Apple.

However, at a closer look it becomes clear that HTC didn't file a lawsuit in the traditional meaning of the word, which would mean that they take Apple to a court of law. It is only a complaint with the US International Trade Commission. By contrast, Apple (in March) sued HTC in an actual court of law plus lodged a complaint with the International Trade Commission. Only lodging a complaint is rather weak. Fortune/CNN lists the five patents in play and points out that it's only a complaint, not a suit filed with a court, and is not impressed.

On my FOSS Patents blog I comment on developments concerning patents and Free and Open Source Software, and I see the squabble over video codecs as a closely related issue. In both cases, Apple is on the side of the large patent holders and Google favors "open" alternatives. Android is a Google-backed project, and as I explained in a three-part sequence of blog posts on video codecs, Google so far backs Theora and it might now try to establish VP8, after open-sourcing it (which may happen very soon), as a codec standard. Apple, however, backs MPEG LA's H.264 (even though Apple is only a small contributor to the MPEG patent pool; for an example, Apple contributed only one patent out of 1,135 to the H.264 pool).

There's nothing more unpleasant for a proprietary/closed-source vendor to deal with than free/open-source competition. Patents then come into play and can tilt the scales in favor of entrenched proprietary/closed-source players. Sometimes it's sufficient for the major patent holders just to ensure that the "free" alternative won't be completely free, neither completely free as in free beer nor as in free speech. The use of patents against vendors of Android-based phones mobile phone operating software will probably result in increased prices and possibly also in reduced functionality of Android-based phones. The use of patents against open-source video codecs, which Steve Jobs said would happen but without providing any specifics, would have a similar effect for Theora and, possibly, VP8.

"Chairperson Robinson announced that DTIS internally hired the new Security Manager, Jeana Pieralde. He stated that a memo went out asking departments who their IT security contact person with the plan to implement a security IT work group within the City"

Why are there no reports about others involved in this case?

"The office from which Pieralde removed the hard drive belonged to DTIS Security Officer Nancy Hastings (who naturally was not present in the office because the "security audit" was being conducted after hours.)

Terry Childs had returned late to the offices (which do include his office and do not include Jeana Pieralde's office) at about 5:15 P.M. to find Jeana Pieralde (who does not work in those offices) taking a hard drive from one of Terry's co-workers offices. Terry photographed this act with the camera in his cellphone.

Jeana Pieralde then involved DTIS Deputy Director Rich Robinson. Rich called Terry and told him to stop taking pictures.

Three days later (Monday) both Rich Robinson and Jeana Pieralde filed complaints of threats with the San Francisco police department and Police Inspector James Ramsey was assigned to the case. No charges have ever been filed against Terry Childs for the alleged threats (which included the statement "I'm ready for you Rich. Or I can come up to your office.")"

"5. Mr. Childs clashed with the new Security Manager on the subject of authentication and control, which led to poor formal review"

In early June, Terry Childs sent repeated complaints of incompetency regarding a supervisor (Herb Tong) to that supervisor's superiors. When nothing was done about the informal complaints, Terry Childs filed a formal complaint regarding the supervisor (Herb Tong.) It was several weeks later, on the 20th of June that the reported clash with the new (position created and filled just this year) Security Manager (Jeana Pieralde) occurred.

The Security Manager position was new. Jeana Pieralde was promoted from a prior position within DTIS to the Security Manager position. Jeana Pieralde no longer worked in the same offices with Terry Childs. He returned to those offices on the evening of June 20th, 2008 after normal office hours (which end at 5 P.M.) to find Jeana Pieralde removing a hard drive from someone else's office. She claimed to be performing an unannounced audit.

Jeana Pieralde is the author of a proposed security policy for the city which is still waiting for committee review. That security policy, if accepted, may one day give Jeana Pieralde specific authority to perform audits and perhaps even to have administrative control over city communications networks.

Please dig deeper into this story"

http://www.itwire.com/telecommunications-news/networks/36473-spooks-get-broader-powers-to-bug-internet
[Australian] Spooks get broader powers to bug internet"
Isp's can watch and report on traffic, gov agencies can make copies of your isp usage logs.
Bt would make an isp look, then its just finding out what you looking at.

If you bought into any of these, you're a sucker. They don't work any more.

• Divx (1998-2001). "Disposable" DVDs tied to a remote authorization system. Promoted by Circuit City and Thompson. Content now unplayable.
• WalMart Music (2007-2008) Downloadable music tied to an authorization server. Content now unplayable.
• PlaysForSure (2004-2008) Microsoft system. Downloadable music tied to an authorization server. Content from AOL MusicNow (closed), Musicmatch Jukebox (closed), Yahoo! Music Unlimited (closed), Spiralfrog (closed), MTV URGE (closed), MSN Music (closed), Musicmatch Jukebox (closed), Ruckus Network (closed) now generally unplayable, although exit strategies exist. Authorization servers were to be shut down August 31, 2008, but were kept up after that date.

Next, Disney.

There are many good reasons for open source voting system but this story by the Daily Kos is a beat up, and is based solely on the lack of technical ability by the person making the claims. I've actually downloaded the database, restored it successfully in SQL Server 2008 and examined it and there really is no basis to this story. That doesn't mean I support Sequoia, that doesn't mean I support closed voting systems, just merely in this particular instance the story is not based on fact. Here's how to restore it and what you'll find: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/28715/1141/

Again, when 1.5% of the developers are women, and only 0.1% of the comments are sexist, what is the REAL problem that you are trying to "solve"?

Because obviously a few comments couldn't possibly be indicative of an overall cultural attitude, and of course one or two comments couldn't be enough to drive women away in droves.

Get a grip on yourself.

This reminds me of an instance on the Debian mailing list a couple months back -- not this one, hmm... can't find it right now -- where a woman on the list dared to speak up against some sexist comments that were going on, and got flamed out of existence (certainly out of the Debian community) while the list "regulars" went on to make sex jokes for the next several days.
And we wonder why there aren't more women in Linux.

It's as much stealing as not paying your doctor or your plumber for work performed. Sure, you can claim "I didn't take anything physical from you, therefore, you aren't actually losing anything when I don't pay you", but work needs to be done, you want the benefits of that work, but you balk at paying for it.

The doctor and plumber's time is limited, number of copies of digital media isn't, so it's a bad analogy. Not to justify copyright infringement as I agree that copyrights are a good thing, but it isn't at all the same as stealing. Consider the situation with MS Windows. While they would prefer that people buy it instead of copy it, they prefer people to pirate windows than use a competing product. Can you think of any seller of a tangible product that would prefer you to steal their product than use a competitor's product? Stealing doesn't work like that.

While I agree with the concept of copyright, the constant extension of copyright terms, lobbying for draconian legislation, deliberate public misinformation programs and abuse of the court system by copyright holders is far worse than what the "pirates" are doing and was happening long before copyright infringement became commonplace. I oppose any measures in support of that industry until they demonstrate their willingness to clean up their own act first. Until then, if the pirates destroy their businesses I will be cheering from the sidelines. Vote for the pirate party.

By "stop the behaviour" you mean stand up and contest the corruption of your legal system which leads to these sort of lawsuits, right?

By "stand up and contest the corruption of your legal system" you mean wait for out sane and not politically appointed judges to sort this one out then yes, I intend to do just that. What you dont know is that this is the first such case in Australia. What the alarmist reporting doesn't say is that AFACT has already withdrawn their primary claim against iinet (engaging in copyright infringement, as in knowingly and willingly storing infringed materials on iinet's own servers) as well as one of their two secondary claims (intentionally referring customers to copyright infringement sites) and have only got their weakest claim left, that iinet did not prevent copyright infringement (Actually, their claim boils down to iinet not referring copyright infringement notices to users).

This is an extremely weak case for AFACT now, the only reason that AFACT hasnt withdrawn completely is that if they did iinet would be able to rip them a new one in a counter suit. Given that these notices require due process in Australia it is extremely unlikely for AFACT to be able to win this case, right now they are hanging on in the hopes that iinet will not be able to counter sue but at the very least AFACT and it's backers will be required to pay iinets legal costs.

Please see here for more details.

I do understand that in the States you are used to corrupt law enforcement but in other nations we manage to keep corruption to an absolute minimum and most of our judges actually have a clue about the cases they preside on.

But illegal downloading really IS stealing.

No it isn't: Illegal downloading is copyright infringement - it may be against the law, but it has nothing to do with theft.

At this point in the argument, I would point out that possessing an illegal copy of something does not deprive any legal owner (licensee, really) of the use of the work, whereas in theft, the owner can no longer use the stolen item.

It's not stealing, it's cheating: similar to copying someone else's homework.

Now if the new IEEE Digital Personal Property were implemented, and it worked as specified, then you could steal it. Though I suspect that IEEE DPP is there more to show the world, in writing, that the concept is simply not viable.

Your complaints about driver stabilization over time are valid IMHO. I think it would be smart if they agreed to not change the ABI for say 2 years at a time. Or rather, keep the legacy interface around for that long.

Linux has "something like 10% market share" if you include servers. Yet even support there is seemingly marginal from the vendors.

As far as market share is concerned. I'ld like to see a source. Everywhere I read puts linux ~2%.
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-9910263-16.html
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/25361/1141/

Microsoft has imposed limitations on Win 7 Starter Edition for netbooks. No more than 1GB of RAM, no screen sizes larger than 10.2-inches. At least the hard disk restriction has moved from a maximum of 160GB to a higher max of 250GB.

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/25218/1105/

On that sort of underpowered netbook, Windows XP is capable of running more than just the OS and say, Word, without thrashing the hard disk to death.

While Windows 7 does a much better job than Windows Vista of booting up AND running a single program like Word or Excel with only one Gig of RAM, Windows XP is undeniably more capable on the same limited Hardware.

Booting? Is that like when you press the big blue button on front of the Hard Drive?

Perhaps Debian doesn't believe that Microsoft might do something like Rambus did.

Rambus was chastised for their actions (like the linked article states). And I propose Debian approach this the same way someone would approach the Rambus situation from the beginning had they an inkling of Rambus' true intent.

Even though Microsoft submitted the CLI and C# main components of .NET, MIcrosoft does hold at least one patent on the .NET infrastructure. So far, Microsoft has agred to offer these under a "reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) terms of use" and they are currently royalty free. No one seems to be clear on how you get this into writing but it's allegedly the way things are.

Were I a Debian leader, I would simply approach Microsoft with the Mono code and the ECMA code of conduct and demand it in writing that for this snapshot of the code you have a forever royalty free to interact with .NET. Should they fail to comply with this request in a timely manner, I would submit all communications with Microsoft to ECMA in a motion to dismiss the aforementioned "standards" and remove Mono--and unfortunately Tomboy--from the Debian default package. I'd beef up the Debian wiki with details on how to get these two packages to fix this bug and focus on the bug for a near future release after Squeeze.

At that point, sit back and let ECMA and the community at large hash it out with Microsoft. Better now than later when other things may depend on this package and Microsoft has you right where Rambus has every memory maker on the planet.

At Microsoft, Tremblay joined the Strategic Software/Silicon Architectures team, nicknamed "SiArch".

Today's news that Microsoft will set a wattage limit on netbooks running the starter edition of Windows 7 clearly shows why Microsoft has an SiArch team and why Microsoft hires "processor" guys and gals. Only a team packed with "processor" experts can do the kinds of studies that are needed to determine what is a reasonable wattage to impose on netbooks.

Why must Microsoft spend several million dollars on a SiArch team to pick a simple wattage? Microsoft is facing severe competition from Linux at the low end.

If Microsoft picked a wattage that is too low, then the netbook manufacturers could not build such a system and would rebel -- right back into the arms of Linux. Microsoft absolutely needed to pick a realistic number.

Until April of 2008, Linux owned the majority of the netbook market. Then, Microsoft submitted its Windows XP to that market and quickly seized 90% of it. Microsoft wants to keep that market share. So, if Microsoft wants to impose hardware restrictions on netbooks, Microsoft will ensure that those hardware restrictions are reasonable.

"Then there is the usual stuff... I tell people about Ubuntu, and how it is an alternative operating system" - comment from Matrix

So, Ubuntu is an operating system now, is it?

By other accounts, Windows 7 is fast when it has plenty of RAM. Sometimes even faster than XP. But it is still a memory hog.
In http://www.itwire.com/content/view/24805/1231/ (linked in a previous Slashdot article), the author claims (emphasis mine)

Upon logging in, and without any other programs installed or running, 7.73GB of the hard drive was used already. On a roomy 160GB hard drive that's not a problem but if your netbook uses a solid state hard disk then space may be more of a premium.

The task manager's performance tab showed 33 processes running and 465MB of RAM - or about 45% - in use while sitting idle.

My conclusion is that it will be fine with 2 GB RAM or more, but anyone with less memory will still be unhappy. On the other hand, some old Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon (32 bit) might still run fine if you add a bit of RAM (cheap these days).

Joe Sixpack will, of course, use what is pre-installed and that alone will help Windows 7 to become the dominant Windows version eventually.
From corporate IT I expect less resistance this time as Windows 7 actually seems to be a halfway decent system.
And some people who really hate DRM (like me) will stick to XP as long as possible, then switch to Linux.

Ooops... Forgot the link to a story about the deal as it relates to OO.o

Use SSH keys in addition to passwords. Disable ssh root logins. Use the AllowUsers command in sshd_config to restrict what accounts can log in with ssh. Edit /etc/hosts.deny and add IP ranges for where you are unlikely to login from. Use iptables rules to block people who are hammering your ssh server from the same address. Use tools like Fail2ban and DenyHosts to block other abusers and share abuser information with other victims.

Australia introduces licences for internet users

But check the date ;-)

You are labeled a Troll, but I do distinctly remember reading an article that explains that a lot of ISPs do actually route around the USA because of its surveillance policies. Actually, it was quite easy to Google for information: The Internet interprets the USA as damage and routes around it. Your Troll moniker is certainly unjust.

In particular, don't visit http://dentaldistinction.com.au/, which does appear on the list. It's depraved, I tell you, depraved! He wants me to brush my teeth and see a dentist twice a year!

From an article at IT Wire:

The inclusion of Queensland businesses Dental Distinction and Maroochy Boarding Kennels would seem to confirm fears that sites could be incorrectly added to the list. According to reports, Dental Distinction was previously a victim of hackers which may have triggered its inclusion on the list.

I was gonna add a wry, sarcastic comment of my own here, but I just can't do this justice.

Conventional wisdom dictates that user training should accompany new software deployments. However, the Gendarmerie figured that people knew âoehow to operate a web browserâ and opted not to provide training for any of the new apps.

Happily, they were proven right with the vast range of users effortlessly picking up the new office suite, web browser and mail program.

Other countries seem quite happy to move into the vacuum being left by the US's policies on visas and visitors. For example, at my university a number of "study in China" scholarships have recently been announced. China is also aggressively pursuing research collaborations within Australia.

The Skype protocol/encryption are only well known to the secret services. To us mere mortals, they're closed. People like Biondi/Descaux have gained some insight but by no means reverse-engineered the protocol.

I don't believe for a second they're only now starting to listen in on Skype calls. There's too much evidence that Skype already has a backdoor.

Evolution is dependent on Mono as well these days.

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22434/1154/

"Remove mono-core and here's a list of what gets removed along with it: banshee-1-backend-platform-gnome, banshee-1-extensions-default, banshee-1, banshee-1-backend-engine-gstreamer, banshee-1-backend-platform-unix, beagle-evolution, beagle-gui, beagle, avahi-mono, boo, evolution, dice, f-spot, ggreeter, gnome-do, gnome-desktop-sharp2, gnome-keyring-sharp, gsf-sharp, gtkhtml314-sharp, podsleuth, taglib-sharp, tasque, evolution-sharp, tomboy, gnome-panel-sharp, gmime-sharp, mono-addins, mono-zeroconf-provider-avahi, mono-zeroconf, monsoon, mono-web, mono-winforms, mono-data-sqlite, mono-data, gconf-sharp2, glade-sharp2, gnome-sharp2, art-sharp2, gnome-vfs-sharp2, notify-sharp, ndesk-dbus-glib, ndesk-dbus, gtk-sharp2
and glib-sharp2."

Perhaps this has somthing to do with it: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22484/1066/

You might want to take a look at this then: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22434/1154/

Hmm, wait a minute here...

renoX says 1/3 of notebooks are sold with Linux (no source)

This article released today tells us 'Both Acer and Toshiba indicated that more than 90% of their netbooks shipped were Windows XP models.'

I can't put my finger on it.... but something isn't adding up.

"Of course, Windows XP has shown that it handles netbooks with aplomb, and works with the web best of all, thanks to having all the browsers, plug-ins, downloads and more you could ever want, something you just can't claim with good old Linux."

Really??? You have to laugh really.

Yes, Linux on netbooks is so much better than WinXP.

"Our Windows XP netbooks are outselling Linux machines by more than 9 to 1," Henry Lee senior product manager - retail channel manager, Acer Computer Australia, told iTWire.

If XP works "with aplomb" why would there be any specific need to tweak Windows 7 for the purpose? Surely it's a case of "just keep swimming", since the path they'd be on would be the correct one.

A version specifically designed for a function is always better for that function than a general design. That is how it has been in the past and how it will be in the future, and is not limited to Windows or Microsoft. Also, WinXP works well on netbooks, but Vista doesn't because the different Vista versions were designed with higher hardware requirements in mind. I notice I don't see many Linux based netbooks running compbiz, for exactly the same reason.

"more and more people are buying Linux computers", which are those small netbooks.

Except, that isn't true. I haven't even seen one of these magical netbooks in the wild. Don't think I'm not looking around when I get dragged into a Starbucks. I don't see people using them. But who am I? Nobody. You can't judge the success of these things based on my sole observations. If only we had something else. Some fresh piece of evidence to draw a conclusion. Like this...

Netbooks market maker Asus, the champion for the past year of Linux advocates the world over, has confirmed that sales of Eee PC models pre-loaded with Linux have fallen in the wake of availability of Windows XP versions.

It's a bit of paradox. Linux doesn't sell because odds are most people who use it won't like it. Yet, Linux isn't popular enough to have enough negative karma, so most of the blockhead fanboys don't see how it can possibly fail. It's too bad Asus won't release the sales ratio. I'm sure it would have a lot of people around here eating crow.

Sure, Linux can sell when it's completely invisible. By that point, the OS hardly matters at all. It's the application that needs to run, and all Linux has to do it provide an environment to do it. It doesn't have to be a perfect environment. It doesn't matter if Linux is slower or more inefficient in a given area. The trusted Unix slogan of "good enough" rings true once again.

My gf was taking statistics last semester, her first math class in 10 years. She's dyslexic, particularly with respect to numbers, and was terrified of the class and I figured the book might help.
Both of us found the format and presentation to be more distracting than informational.
If you think statistics is boring, maybe this will make it interesting. If you think statistics is *difficult*, this probably won't do anything for you that a conventional stats book, except provide pretty pictures. And, since story problems don't seem to make people learn better than just learning the basic math using abstract variable names, why not just do that?

No it's more like this:
Optus spent $5 million creating a 900 page bid proposing an open playing field. I don't think the details are public yet, but that link has the media release. They also fronted a $5 million bond.
Telstra sent in a 14 page memo saying something along the lines of "we'll do it as long as you guarantee our infrastructure monopoly and we wont pay the bond, but we promise to put in $5 billion".
If this gets up, this is a win for all Australian Internet users. "Telstra has said entry-level access to its proposed NBN would start at $39.95 per month for a 1 megabit per second connection with 200MB of download capacity."[ref] This is what we could look forward to under Telstra. More of the same shite. That 200mb includes backhaul too.

good point. and to be honest, most people don't need FireWire 800/1600 just to transfer a few documents or spreadsheets--or even photos & mp3s--to their computer. the few seconds saved doesn't justify the added cost of FireWire over USB. nor do they need to use a high-speed data bus for their mouse, keyboard, webcam, printer, scanner, or what have you. so it makes sense that USB is more prevalent than FireWire.

however, FireWire is still extremely useful (and crucial) to certain professionals who regularly work with large files or have to move around large amounts of data, like hi-res/raw images, lossless audio, hi-def video, etc. that's why FireWire is still pretty standard in high-end music & video production equipment. so the idea that FireWire is dead (or can simply be replaced with USB 2.0/3.0) is just poorly informed.

even the military still uses FireWire for things like the the F-35's vehicle systems network:

1394b is playing a pivotal role in the F-35 Lightning II program, providing guaranteed quality of service with predictable latencies in real-time control applications. More than 70 1394 devices are delivering information about mission details, communication systems, weapon systems, engine controls, and flight controls.

the IEEE-1394B data bus is similarly employed in the F-22 Raptor for which it was developed. and NASA also uses it to monitor debris during launches amongst other mission-critical applications.

"Speeds represented are peak network downlink speeds. Actual customer download speeds will be less and will vary due to network configuration, congestion, distance from the cell, local conditions, hardware, software and other factors."

The 21Mbit/s number is pure grandstanding and PR puff. The Ericsson press release, of which TFA is basically a clueless rewrite, doesn't include the disclaimer since Ericsson isn't actually providing a service and so cannot be hauled before an Australian court for misrepresentation under the Trade Practises Act, like Telstra can.

I don't see how Adobe is related to the topic. PDF is not an "Adobe's format" anymore. PDF can be implemented by anyone without requiring any deals or license from Adobe. There are hundreds of feature-rich open-source implementations. PDF has nothing to do with Adobe.

Yes, everybody thought so. Then Adobe got pissy at Microsoft for implementing it. This news was widely covered everywhere, including Slashdot.

Whom did they sue? Can you give us some references?

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39273094,00.htm
http://software.silicon.com/applications/0,39024653,39159285,00.htm
http://www.techweb.com/wire/software/188701275
http://www.pdfzone.com/c/a/Authoring/Adobe-to-Sue-Microsoft-Over-PDF-Support-in-Office-2007/
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/4509/53/
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1012_3-6079320.html
http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_to_Drop_PDF_Support_in_Office/1149284222

I have to correct myself, though: They didn't actually sue, because Microsoft settled first (by relegating the PDF support to a optional install.)

What Adobe wants is irrelevant. Nobody needs Adobe's permission to implement PDF support. Anyways, can you give us some reference to Adobe's behaviour?

Yes, everybody thought that. Then they got pissy at Microsoft for implementing it. Wow, this conversation is kind of repetitive.

ms didn't "back-down". It truly hates the idea of providing proper pdf support.

Actually, they did. Is your memory seriously this short? It only happened, what, 2 years ago? It was covered in all the trade press, extensively, it got probably 1000+ comments on Slashdot stories. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

Microsoft agrees with you. However, the article writer is not so sure.

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/21044/53/ Microsoft has responded with their side.

I don't get that result - for me the top link today was this poll conducted in 2006 where a majority claimed linux would become viable.

MIT found some material for new and cheaper catalytic converters. Platinum is the so called "best" option today but its expensive. I think it can be a breakthrough if it can be applied to battery tech. Source of the MIT annoucement: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/19785/1066/

Vista pages very frequently even with 4 Gb ram so i would definitely say its very disk intensive. Couple that with indexing, prefetch and all the other hacks to make up for the performance loss that DRM brings along and you have 24/7 disk activity. I suspect sustained read speads arent an issue but rather spurious writes that happens all the time.

See this for more info or try it out yourself if you have a Vista machine at hand:
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/19553/1141/

The problem is that game censorship in Australia only goes to R15+ which still falls into the Child category.

It's supposed to be called "classification" (and that should be "M15+", not "R15+"). But your version is probably closer to the truth.

The only way to get games that are adult is to have a R18+ category however the present Government (Labour) as well as the previous Government (Liberal) don't appear to be interested in passing legislation for a R18+ category. It is not intransigence on the part of the gaming lobby groups since they really want this category it is the Government.

It's not the Government preventing it. It's one guy.

The short answer : yes

The longer answer : every OS is vulnerable one way or another. The difference lies mostly in the response and the response time by the vendors.

Linux : take the debian ssh disaster a few month ago as example. I read about it at Google News, head over here to check how the linux bashing was coming along, and while I was reading, the "update available" icon appeared. A few minutes later and the vulnerability was no more.
Admitedly, it took a *VERY* long time to find out about the problem in the first place, but the response time from then on was very short, and the update contained concise information about the whole mess.
Today's vulnerability will probably take a bit longer to be fixed, as it requires some primordial changes in the way packet manager work to be fixed. But I'm rather sure people are already looking for a solution (you know .. people who actually CAN fix this kind of problems, not your average /. reader)

Apple Mac : when Apple admits that there is a vulnerability in their products, they take their dear sweet time to fix it. As a matter of fact, Apple just released a security fix for Apple TV, covering vulnerabilities dating back to, at least, January 2008 (at which time it was fixed for OSX, but NOT for Apple TV). I can't comment on how detailed the security fixes are, as I don't own apple products

Microsoft : the Zero Day initiative still lists 12 issues concerning Apple product, classified as "high severity", but the oldest item is a Microsoft vulnerability dating from September 2006 (more or less quoted verbatim from the iWire article I'll link to a bit later). Microsoft updates are particularly obscure in their descriptions, and, if I remember correctly, they are sometimes even applied without asking the user first, and have a bad habbit of breaking other stuff.

So, is Linux 100% secure? No, and it will never be. But at least the devs react in a timely manner, and they don't just install something without telling you what it is or that they are patching at all. Therefore it is better secured than Apple and Microsoft products whose vulnerabilities are often left open, for the sake of obscurity I suppose.
"Superiority" is a highly subjective term, so I won't even start to thread on this subject. It is for me, but your mileage might vary

Apple TV fix article

Zero Day Initiative upcoming advisories

The facts: "On this first ATV mission, Jules Verne will deliver 4.6 tonnes of payload to the ISS, including 1 150 kg of dry cargo, 856 kg of propellant for the Russian Zvezda module, 270 kg of drinking water and 21 kg of oxygen. On future ATV missions, the payload capacity will be increased to 7.4 tonnes.

About half of the payload onboard Jules Verne ATV is re-boost propellant, which will be used by its own propulsion system for periodic manoeuvres to increase the altitude of the ISS in order to compensate its natural decay caused by atmospheric drag."

Also: On April 25, 2008, the European Space Agency announced that earlier in the day its first automated transfer vehicle (ATV), the "Jules Verne," increased the altitude of the International Space Station by about 2.8 miles (4.5 kilometers)--the first time an ESA craft had performed such an important task. The 12.3 minute maneuver was directed by ESA's ATV Control Center, which is located in Toulouse, France.

At 6:22 a.m. Central European Summer Time (CEST) (0422 GMT), controllers turned on two of the Jules Verne's four main engines. The two engines produced a thrust that increased the station's speed by about 8 feet per second (2.65 meters per second).

To achieve this re-boost in altitude, the ATV consumed 537 pounds (244 kilograms) of fuel. In all, the ATV carries about two metric tons (about 4,400 pounds) of propellant for re-boost activities.

After the burn was completed, the new altitude of the ISS became 212.5 miles (342 kilometers) above the Earth's surface.

The Space Station needs periodic boosts to raise its orbit because its orbit decays slowly over time due to a very small amount of atmospheric drag on the large structure as it orbits about the Earth.

In the past, the RSA Progress, the NASA Space Shuttle, or the ISS itself has performed such a maneuver. However, only RSA Progress and the ESA ATV are able to re-boost the space station to such a high level due to the amount of fuel onboard each vessel.

The Jules Verne ATV (ATV-001) will perform three additional re-boost maneuvers over the next few months: on June 12th, July 8th, and August 6th. Normally, the space station tries to keep at an orbital height of about 211 miles (340 kilometers) above the Earth's surface.

Later in August 2008, the Jules Verne, loaded with waste and unneeded materials from the space station, will be undocked from the ISS. The ATV has a capacity of carrying up to 6.3 metric tons (13,900 pounds) of unwanted material from the Station."

So what most people don't realize is that JV carries a LOT more (dense, low-volume) as mass as fuel for reboost than it does anything else in that cool pressurized comparment it has the astronauts go in. I understand that the JV maneuvers were held off to allow Shuttle attachment of KiBo at the lower and easy to reach altitude. But my point is that things are only going to get worse and will ultimately I think go beyond what JV is designed or funded to do to keep ISS up.

JV is an experiment in European autonomous docking technology, not an integrated reboost system. I have yet to see any plans for how many JVs will be flown in the long run - currently there are only 4 more in the pipeline thru 2015. The numbers above represent the data required to figure out just how many JVs will be required to keep ISS up for X number of years. I predict that when that calculation is finally run - and when NASA explains to ESA that there will be zero American funding to keep the JV production line running - that ESA will say, OK, we ain't payin no Euros to keep this junkheap up either, which side of Hawaii do you want us to splash the ISS in?

While it's sad that Ivan believes OLPC has lost sight of it's goals, you might want to keep an eye on what's happening with OLPC Australia.

The Rudd government is looking at providing sponsored laptops for children. OLPC has set up an Australian office as a consequence. Jeff Waugh has been appointed board director, and seems to understand the issues well.

"I have no idea as to why Windows is regarded as relevant to this and some of the stuff in the press about running Sugar on Windows and things like that - well Windows is just an operating system that doesn't deliver on the vision of OLPC."

...and MacOS is the only commercial OS that has never had a zero day exploit in the wild

Wow... I cannot believe you said that out loud.

Actually, they will. Over the air broadcasting will stil be there, just not analog. The rabbit ears will pick up the digital signals just fine. I already have my converter box coupon.

Rabbit ears also make an excellent FM radio antenna.

Link and link and a more detailed link

"I also have to wonder about brain damage as another side effect."

Killing other people definitely damages a person mentally, and is definitely likely to cause the person to have trouble sleeping.

I've never known anyone who slept only 7 hours a day who seemed as alert and calm as people who sleep 9 hours a day. I think the problem is worse than they say.

Why did Slashdot editor Zonk link to that story about the CDC? I found this in about a minute: National Sleep Awareness Week, March 3--9, 2008. Quote from the CDC: "The National Sleep Foundation recommends that healthy adults sleep 7--9 hours daily."

Do Slashdot editors lose any sleep over poorly written, edited, and considered stories?

The story linked by Slashdot is from an automatic news release publisher in Australia. At the bottom of every page it says "powered by computer". Why not link to the source? Why link to a company that says, "Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now When you subscribe get a 12 months license for LiveProject Valued at $99 USD"?

See the links to the left and right of this story: Sleep and Sleep Disorders: A Public Health Challenge.

Do people in the U.S. lose sleep over the fact that they are forced to pay to kill Iraqis? Will people in the U.S. lose sleep when they realize that the huge rise in prices, which has already started, is mostly timed for the end of Dick Cheney's and George W. Bush's terms in office? Whether or not they lose sleep, killing Iraqis definitely lowers the quality of life in the United States.