Slashdot Mirror

Oink.NET writes "A new tarball of Microsoft's Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) is available for download. It builds and runs on Windows XP, FreeBSD, and Mac OS X 10.2. New in this release is Mac OS X support and class reference documentation. More details are available."

Oink.NET writes "A new tarball of Microsoft's Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) is available for download. It builds and runs on Windows XP, FreeBSD, and Mac OS X 10.2. New in this release is Mac OS X support and class reference documentation. More details are available."

Oink.NET writes "A new tarball of Microsoft's Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) is available for download. It builds and runs on Windows XP, FreeBSD, and Mac OS X 10.2. New in this release is Mac OS X support and class reference documentation. More details are available."

Oink.NET writes "A new tarball of Microsoft's Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) is available for download. It builds and runs on Windows XP, FreeBSD, and Mac OS X 10.2. New in this release is Mac OS X support and class reference documentation. More details are available."

inonit writes "Well, geez -- after all this US election talk, I got inspired to write my congresswoman. But as a good Slashdotter, imagine my irritation when I found the following note in the "Contact" section: 'In order to send an e-mail to Congresswoman Tubbs-Jones, please complete this form using the Internet Explorer browser. If the Internet Explorer browser is not available, please mail your correspondence to the listed postal mailing address above.' I don't really have the time to check all 435 Congressional sites to see if this is widespread, but it gives me some insight into why all those <sarcasm>foreigners</sarcasm> are complaining about having their governments be beholden to U.S. technology companies. Can someone running IE write my congressperson and ask her to let me write her? Does she only accept phone calls from AT&T customers?" I just tried filling out the form with Mozilla, and ended up at a page notifying me of a search error. (Huh?)

An anonymous submitter wrote: "Just when you thought the award-winning data leech Microsoft had become invincible... cellphone manufacturer Sendo, in a statement on the front page of its web site, announces the termination of its Z100 smartphone development on the Microsoft platform, licensing the rival Symbian from Nokia instead. (Further reports by ZDnet and Heise.)"

An anonymous reader writes "MozillaZine is reporting that version 0.6 of Chimera, the Mozilla-based browser for Mac OS X, has been released, packed full of fun new stuff for MacBeards to play with. The Chimera homepage has a lovely shiney globe on it and lets you download the new release." etdebruin writes "Head on over to mactopia to find the 10.1.2 Office X update from Microsoft released today."

cam_macleod writes "A friend at Microsoft (he's a nice guy, really!) pointed me to their release of the Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) source, which builds successfully on Windows, FreeBSD, and MacOS X 10.2 -- he says Linux too, but their website strangely doesn't mention it!"

Qnal writes "e-Week is reporting that Microsoft Windows 2000 has been awarded Common Criteria Certification.. Read more of the propaganda here. Basically, according to the article Any user running Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 is running exactly the same system that was evaluated. The Common Criteria certification is an internationally recognized ISO standard established for evaluating the security of infrastructure technology products. Too bad it takes 3 Service Packs..."

Qnal writes "e-Week is reporting that Microsoft Windows 2000 has been awarded Common Criteria Certification.. Read more of the propaganda here. Basically, according to the article Any user running Windows 2000 with Service Pack 3 is running exactly the same system that was evaluated. The Common Criteria certification is an internationally recognized ISO standard established for evaluating the security of infrastructure technology products. Too bad it takes 3 Service Packs..."

WallsRSolid writes "Microsoft just finished a week-long series of lectures and demos at my university, and the product that really stole the show was the Tablet PC. I was in a room with probably 150 hardcore linux users, and it seemed to me that the demonstration just floored them (the entire lecture hall CHEERED a Microsoft product). I believe that Microsoft's own online hype literature is insufficient in describing just how powerful their Tablet concept is. A July preview, Acer's propaganda, a press release about their initial success, and a behind-the-scenes account (good article) of the enabling technology. Oh, and the input stylus is electromagnetic, not pressure-sensing, ANY document (not just MS) can be annotated, and the journal software is AMAZING in its power and flexibility."

robbo writes "Earlier this week, The Register ran a piece on major UK banks and E-commerce sites' refusal to support alternative browsers for online banking, and they followed up with a list of saints and sinners. The reasons vary from requiring support for proprietary technology to security. My own bank only recently started supporting Netscape 6 (but they still don't support Mozilla). Clearly, support for Mozilla, Konqueror, or Galeon are absolutely necessary if projects like GNUCash can successfully integrate online banking. How does the Slashdot crowd find their banking support? Is your bank a sinner or a saint?"

mmol_6453 writes "Now, not only are hospitals groaning under the combination of Microsoft and the HIPAA, but banks are having issues relating to federal privacy laws. Favorite line: 'Microsoft has told...that it plans eventually to eliminate users' ability to disable Microsoft's access to their systems.'"

Andy Tai writes "In this Newsforge article, Richard Stallman analyzes the "Trusted Computing" initiative and Microsoft's Palladium, points out that such initiatives are really means to ensure your computer can be trusted by Microsoft and Hollywood (you can't do things they don't want), and urges computer users to organize, to support the Public Knowledge and the Digital Speech projects and to use their consumer power to block "Trusted Computing" in its tracks."

Ctimes2 writes "Everyone's been grousing a lot lately about high priced CEO's and compensation packages, in no small part due to the 'Enron incident'. Business2.0 has a lengthy but enjoyable feature about how corporate loans became 'compensation packages', forgivable, sometimes tax free the and norm for corporations. And Slashdot's favorite whipping boy Microsoft, while not leading the pack, certainly isn't the poster child for trustworthy finance. More importantly (or rather, to our eternal annoyance), the article provides some much needed information trolls can add to their 'CEO's are bad!' rants: "Insider lending added thrust to the long surge in executive pay that has pushed the average major-company CEO's compensation from 45 times that of the average worker in the early 1970s to about 500 times worker pay today.""

Here's a followup to our earlier story about Microsoft's "inverse switch" campaign. The AP tracked down the switcher and spoke with her: she's an employee at a Microsoft public relations firm but says she actually did switch from Mac to Windows. Microsoft's page is still 404 (but Google's cache still works). The interesting part to me is that the AP "tracked Mallinson by examining personal data hidden within documents that Microsoft had published with its controversial ad." Hmmmmmm. (Kudos to obidonn, the first to demonstrate the use of a stock photo, which piqued interest in this story. As of noon EDT Oct. 15, other stock photos are still being used in anonymous Microsoft "testimonials.")

Here's a followup to our earlier story about Microsoft's "inverse switch" campaign. The AP tracked down the switcher and spoke with her: she's an employee at a Microsoft public relations firm but says she actually did switch from Mac to Windows. Microsoft's page is still 404 (but Google's cache still works). The interesting part to me is that the AP "tracked Mallinson by examining personal data hidden within documents that Microsoft had published with its controversial ad." Hmmmmmm. (Kudos to obidonn, the first to demonstrate the use of a stock photo, which piqued interest in this story. As of noon EDT Oct. 15, other stock photos are still being used in anonymous Microsoft "testimonials.")

Twirlip of the Mists writes "There's a new page on Microsoft's web site that tells the first-person story of an unnamed 'freelance writer' who made the switch from the Mac to Windows XP. The author of the page -- who never identifies herself, and who could very easily be fictional or a composite sketch -- says 'Windows XP gives me more choices and flexibility.' How, you ask? Why, through Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, and modern operating-system features like separate accounts for each user and easy access to the Internet, of course. Maybe somebody should email Microsoft and let them know that the Mac has had all of these things for years now ... nah. It'd just embarrass them. Anyway, it's an entertaining read that's good for a laugh." Update: 10/14 21:12 GMT by P : Apparently, Microsoft has taken the page down, but Google has it.

Slashback's updates and corrections tonight include Declan McCullagh's photos from the Eldred / Lessig Supreme Court appearance, a denial from Microsoft that the company is planning to charge customers extra for security features, a reminder about your chance (well, if you're an American) to tell your elected representatives what you think about mandated DRM technology, and more. Read on.

Looking sharp in their suits. Declan McCullagh writes: "Here are some photos from after the arguments, including activists who slept on the courthouse steps, an exhausted but optimistic Larry Lessig, and the Internet Archive bookmobile, which visited Washington DC for the event."

A new meaning for 'decimation.' Martin writes "Here is a good write-up on what happened with the whole sendmail hack a week or so back. Apparently every 10th copy of the source that was downloaded from sendmail.org received the trojan'd version. Nice to see a linux hack getting some attention for a change, instead of the usual MS bashing. Here is the write-up."

I won't be charging entrance fees to Shangri La, either. After a report posted the other day indicating that Microsoft was considering charging customers more for certain security features, Software writes "According to a little snippet from Yahoo News (look towards the bottom), Microsoft won't be charging for security updates after all. As Yahoo puts it, 'Microsoft, however, said Mundie was referring to an internal proposal to begin offering stand-alone security software in the future.' No confirmation of this on Microsoft's site for the press"

As denials go, that seems like a weak one.

Where is Deep Fritz's deep game? screenbert writes "In an exciting best-of-eight chess match-up, the human is leading the computer 2 1/2 to 1/2. I find the fractions of winning amusing, almost as amusing as seeing that the best-of-eight series will take at least nine games since one of those games was a draw. For a general overview there is a good review here(1) or here(2) or here(3). And to save the 38 mandatory karma whoring comments I'll say it: Imagine if Deep Fritz ran on a beowolf cluster."

So it's back to BYOB. gnarly writes "An earlier report of detection of water masers on extrasolar planets has been debunked."

Workaround: Get your congresspuppet hooked on Free software. Several readers wondered why (complained that) the post offering a link to the place where you can submit your comments on DRM technology to the Senate Judiciary Committee was posted section-only. So here's a reminder; if you live near D.C. (or get a chance to stop by a local office), perhaps you'll be able to stop to chat a bit about how you determine who gets your vote. (Maybe you should check out the sections, too.)

gmkeegan writes "The Economist is running a story about Sun's new N1 operating system whose purpose is to make today's system administrators redundant. The idea is to virtualize the computer system so that the automated resource management software can add, remove and manage everything dynamically. The article mentions similar efforts by IBM, HP, and Microsoft."

tibbetts writes "The New York Times reports (printable version) (Free blah di blah) that Charles Simonyi, the former chief architect at Microsoft and creator of Bravo, a text-editing program that later became Microsoft Word, has left the company to form his own startup. The focus of his new company is to "simplify programming by representing programs in ways other than in the text syntax of conventional programming languages," which is highly ironic in light of his infamous Hungarian Notation style of naming variables. Perhaps more amazingly, 'Mr. Simonyi has left Microsoft with the right to use the intellectual property he developed and patented while working there.'"

An anonymous reader points to this excellent bit of online archaeology -- Mike Jones' effort to find the first online smiley. A bit from the site: "After a significant effort to locate it, on September 10, 2002 the original post made by Scott Fahlman on CMU CS general bboard was retrieved by Jeff Baird from an October 1982 backup tape of the spice vax (cmu-750x)." Interesting methodology and a lot of work went into the search -- shades of the Dead Media Project.

mdecerbo writes "The Boston Globe is reporting that next year's Intel processors will include hardware support for Microsoft's "Palladium" DRM system. There are chilling privacy implications. AMD, here I come."

handsomepete writes "According to PlanetXbox, Microsoft is looking to hire 'software design engineers' to look into the properties of modchips and detection code for hardware. A background in game hacking knowledge is listed as a preferred talent. Will any of the Xbox Linux participants take a stab at this job?"

Various Microsoft news tidbits contributed by numerous readers: Phoebus0 notes that Microsoft's Vice-President in charge of Windows development states flat out that Microsoft products aren't engineered for security, absolutely guaranteeing he'll have tomorrow's Ditherati quote. Many readers submitted this Knowledge Base article stating that Microsoft is mystified by a wave of successful hacks on assorted versions of Windows (there's also a news report on this). Microsoft has another security bulletin out on the digital certificate spoofing bug that has caused them so many problems recently.

Various Microsoft news tidbits contributed by numerous readers: Phoebus0 notes that Microsoft's Vice-President in charge of Windows development states flat out that Microsoft products aren't engineered for security, absolutely guaranteeing he'll have tomorrow's Ditherati quote. Many readers submitted this Knowledge Base article stating that Microsoft is mystified by a wave of successful hacks on assorted versions of Windows (there's also a news report on this). Microsoft has another security bulletin out on the digital certificate spoofing bug that has caused them so many problems recently.

Sivar writes "Red Hat plans to enter the desktop business OS market, The Register reports. Red Hat says that the move is in response to growing frustration with Microsoft which has peaked since the introduction of Microsoft's new licensing scheme. The article states that the desktop offering is due next year and, surprisingly "...the company is considering subscription-based pricing.""

BShive writes "Developing Applications with Java and UML focuses on building and modeling industrial-strength Java applications. The book takes you step-by-step through a product lifecycle and software process. You do not need to know UML or OO Design, as both new and experienced Java developers will benefit from reading this book. It is highly focused on process, so developers will have to put aside the 'jump in and code' attitude." Read on below for the remainder of his review. Developing Applications with Java and UML author Paul R. Reed, Jr. pages 463 publisher Addison-Wesley rating 9 reviewer Ben Shive ISBN 0201702525 summary Developing Applications with Java and UML focuses on building and modeling industrial-strength Java applications. The book takes you step-by-step through a product lifecycle and software process.

Each chapter begins with a brief summary and a list of the goals. After reading the book through, both should be useful. Each chapter also closes with a 'checkpoint' that summarizes what has been covered in the chapter and what is to come.

The first chapter sets up the entire book by outlining some of the project problems encountered in software development. Once the author gets into development models, the Unified Process from Rational Software, a huge and detailed software process, is introduced. The book focuses on only using the elements that provide the biggest 'bang for the buck'. The Unified Process is the focal process of the book, but the Synergy Process is a free alternative, only lacking some additional guidelines and how-to's. A short overview of UML is covered, along with its' place is in the software process. He notes that a project that just uses UML in a vacuum without a sound process and plan will fail.

The second chapter briefly discusses the Java language alongside the concept of Object Oriented Programming. Experienced Java programmers could skip this section if they wished. The section is worth skimming as a lead-in to the explanation of how Java and UML are a good fit.

Chapter three, Starting the Project is the first time the book delves into the meat of how to structure a project. The example scenario that is followed through the book is introduced, and throughout the book real-world examples are used that relate to the sample project. Every theory in the book that is translated into some kind of example the reader can pull apart and examine.

Through the next few chapters use-cases and class diagrams are covered, leading up to building a user interface (UI) prototype. Personally, I've never used UML for anything but sculpting class diagrams for export. This is the point in the book where I started to see how the rest of the project is able to use UML and tie it all together. Being able to model the classes and easily export them is very powerful, but even more so when combined with the rest of the ways you can employ UML in your project.

The following chapters are much like the first few that began to talk about the sample project. There is no Java code until chapter 9, halfway through the book. This is not the book to get if you are only interested in how to use UML as a base to dump out some code.

Throughout the book the content remained interesting, and relevant. Do not expect to sit down and read it from beginning to end. There is a great deal of material covered and no topic that was inadequately explored. Using the sample project consistently throughout the process was invaluable, along with the samples and source code provided. Alongside the process, the real life anecdotes and comments provided were a welcome addition instead of an intrusion. The author is someone who's seen the mistakes that could be avoided. For example, an application with 70,000 lines of Java code that only contained two classes.

Having talked about the depth and detail of the book, this was also one of the bad points as well simply since it takes so long to get through. People already well experienced in running a project with similar phases will find it much faster reading. The other issue is the expense of the tools and products involved. Rational Rose, the Rational Unified Process and WebLogic are rather expensive products. Thankfully there are alternatives that he mentions in the book, and others as well. Visio, the Synergy Process and Tomcat are all possible alternates. Surprisingly, Tomcat is used in his example setup.

I had left the rating at 8 throughout most of my reading while considering the positives and negatives. However, when I finished the book I bumped the rating up to 9 simply because of the wealth of information I learned. Anyone aspiring to run a team project with Java should read this book. In the corporate arena, most of the battle is not the code, but understanding what the users want and what will be created. Following any kind of process will improve the result, even if only a few key elements are used.

Chapters:
1. The Project Dilemma
2. Java, Object-Oriented Analysis and Design, and UML
3. Starting the Project
4. Use-Cases
5. Classes
6. Building a User Interface Prototype
7. Dynamic Elements of the Application
8. The Technology Landscape
9. Data Persistence: Storing the Objects
10. Infrastructure and Architecture Review
11. Constructing a Solution: Servlets, JSP and JavaBeans
12. Constructing a Solution: Servlets, JSP and Enterprise JavaBeans

Appendix:
A. The Unified Project Plans
B. The Synergy Process Project Plan
C. Estimating Projects on the Basis of Use-Cases
D. Sample Project Output
E. BEA WebLogic Application Server

You can purchase Developing Applications with Java and UML from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

bhsx asks: "With all the innovations going into open source software these days, why do I still need to run Exchange to meet my clients' needs? Even when demonstrating technology like LTSP mixed with any combination of OpenOffice, Star Office, even Codeweaver's Crossover Office running the latest Microsoft suite, the clincher is always over Exchange functionality. I'm aware of Bynari's InsightServer(Coincidentally, I noticed on that page, that their code is for sale) and have started using that as a possible closer, and the cost is much less prohibitive than eXchange+w2k server+CALs; but why isn't there an open source solution to this problem yet?"

"With new releases on the way, like Mandrake 9.0 and the new Lycoris can we who try to use Free Software in business environments hope for any change? Do the commercial Linux distros have any plans to implement a free replacement for Exchange, including a Win32 client-side bridge? If not, why not? Do you feel it is too cost prohibitive to imitate Bynari in this case, or is it a decision more along the lines of 'we'd rather you used Evolution and Mandrake/Lycoris/Whatever, rather than OutLook and Win32'? If it's the latter I'd be severely disappointed, and I don't think I'm alone. Any discussion on this topic would be appreciated; but what I'd really love is a community push to get this done. Perhaps a running Web-A-Thon to raise the money to simply purchase the technology from Bynari? I personally think it would be a great move towards grabbing market share from some of the other distributions, some of which have the technology but choose to keep it closed, as well as from the Great Dragon. What do you think?"

bhsx asks: "With all the innovations going into open source software these days, why do I still need to run Exchange to meet my clients' needs? Even when demonstrating technology like LTSP mixed with any combination of OpenOffice, Star Office, even Codeweaver's Crossover Office running the latest Microsoft suite, the clincher is always over Exchange functionality. I'm aware of Bynari's InsightServer(Coincidentally, I noticed on that page, that their code is for sale) and have started using that as a possible closer, and the cost is much less prohibitive than eXchange+w2k server+CALs; but why isn't there an open source solution to this problem yet?"

"With new releases on the way, like Mandrake 9.0 and the new Lycoris can we who try to use Free Software in business environments hope for any change? Do the commercial Linux distros have any plans to implement a free replacement for Exchange, including a Win32 client-side bridge? If not, why not? Do you feel it is too cost prohibitive to imitate Bynari in this case, or is it a decision more along the lines of 'we'd rather you used Evolution and Mandrake/Lycoris/Whatever, rather than OutLook and Win32'? If it's the latter I'd be severely disappointed, and I don't think I'm alone. Any discussion on this topic would be appreciated; but what I'd really love is a community push to get this done. Perhaps a running Web-A-Thon to raise the money to simply purchase the technology from Bynari? I personally think it would be a great move towards grabbing market share from some of the other distributions, some of which have the technology but choose to keep it closed, as well as from the Great Dragon. What do you think?"

Scoria writes "CNN is reporting that the infamous Microsoft has disclosed six critical Internet Explorer vulnerabilities, including some that would allow an attacker to execute arbitary commands. According to the relevant TechNet bulletin, a cumulative patch has been released to address them." Please be sure to read the EULA before installing the patch.

eggboard writes "In the Seattle Times, published right across the lake from Microsoft headquarters, I argue that Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit (MacBU) has produced some wonderfully engineered Mac OS X software, but they're generating most of the resentment they get because they miss the details: no Palm sync months after it should have come out; six-year-old broken features in Word; no common format for mail among Outlook, Entourage, and Outlook Express. If the MacBU could fix things as well as they write new features, their Mac customers would have a much better outlook." Tim O'Reilly recently had his own thoughts after meeting with people at MacBU, and meanwhile, MacBU also released Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac OS X. What's the real future of Microsoft on Mac OS X? MacBU's marketing director told O'Reilly to reserve judgment: "Watch us for another six months."

jonadab writes: "Microsoft Typography has for years provided a set of very nice True-Type fonts for free-as-in-without-monetary-cost, including the excellent Andale Mono (the only scalable fixed-width font I really like). They are gone. Here is the Microsoft page where they formerly were, which now tersely explains that they're not available any longer. There is an article about this on extremetech. According to the article, Microsoft says the withdrawal of the fonts at about the same time as the LinuxWorld is coincidence. The article also references a Debian package that has been removed from the distro because of this. If I understand my rumours correctly, it was a package that downloaded the fonts from MS, displayed their EULA, and allowed the user to extract and install the fonts. It was possible to do the same thing using other distros. Guess it's time for the OSS people to make some decent-looking scalable both-screen-and-printer fonts (preferably TrueType). At minimum, we need nice-looking serif proportional (to replace Verdana), a sans proportional (to replace Georgia), and a mostly-sans fixed (to replace Andale Mono), all with good language support. This should have been done a long time ago, since the MS fonts were, albeit $0, not licensed in an open fashion. We always knew we were relying on MS Typography's generosity, and that these could disappear at any time. But now the need is more urgent."

saforrest writes "Say goodbye to independent academia. In a presentation by Microsoft on Wednesday at the University of Waterloo, a new joint initiative was announced which involves the addition of a mandatory course on C# for all electrical and computer engineers. 'Completion of this course will be mandatory for students entering the E&CE program.'" Microsoft's press release is available.

Slashback tonight with some good news about Linux Weekly News, an annual update for interested picnic-goers, a followup on Neonapster, and a few words of caution on Microsoft's approach to code disclosure. Read on below for the details.

Look at the nice horse they left. babbage writes "As part of ongoing antitrust settlement arrangements, Microsoft has 'opened' the source code to some of their protocol implementation source code. Go ahead and read the license -- but do keep an eye on the NDA you have to agree to first. If you find an NDA to be an objectionable first step -- and I'll admit, I haven't read the license because I don't agree to the NDA terms -- then speak up about it. The Department of Justice is accepting public comments from industry professionals about the new licensing terms. There is a real concern that such pseudo-open licensing could effectively scuttle development efforts on projects like Samba & Mono, but we need to get open access to the license in order to figure out what the risks are. If you have anything to contribute, now is the time to speak up to the DOJ."

Bring your own herring. Bill Kendrick writes: "From the folks who brought you the immensely popular "Linux10" event, comes Picn*x11, a picnic/barbecue celebrating 11 years of the Linux operating system. It's going to be held in Sunnyvale again, the Saturday after LinuxWorld Expo. So go RSVP now, and get your Picn*x11 t-shirt! (Proceeds go to EFF)"

With enough eyeballs many programs seem shallow, too. TheMMaster writes "Neonapster seems to have GPL'd their software, you can download the source here, not that I am terribly happy with what happened, but at least this seems to have been settled out of court ;) of course... it is still a cheap cdex rip off ;)"

LWN is good reading. Keck writes "We all shed a tear for Linux Weekly News a little too soon maybe?

Yes, we know we said there would be no LWN.net Weekly Edition this time around, but, in the end, it was worth the trouble to put together a mini version. So here it is; with luck, the full Weekly will be back on August 15. "

JCallery writes "The Money section of Monday's USA Today carried a feature article entitled "Linux waddles from obscurity to the big time Momentum builds as upstart operating system proves it can compute". It carries a discussion of time and monetary savings in business, basic Sun and Microsoft arguments against Linux, growing popularity with Wall Street, Hollywood, and government organizations, and the credibility of Linux due to alliances with other industry companies."

TibbonZero asks: "I am using Digidesign's Digi001 audio interface with Pro-Tools 5.3.1 (an industry standard recording application), but this requires using Windows XP. I was wondering if there have been any attempts at writing drivers that would add Linux support to the soundcard? The Digi001 is a PCI based soundcard, with a breakout box. It provides 18 channels of I/O; 8 Analogue, 8 ADAT Optical, and 2 SPDIF as well as Midi I/O. There is a large users's group that supports most issues with the interfaces, and software, but few of them have the time or skills to program drivers, there is a wealth if information to be found there however. Are there any Slashdotters who are into audio and are willing to help out this community by programming drivers for it. Even getting a two channel stereo driver would be a great start (there is one available for Windows if reverse engineering it would help)." As an add-on to the question: What multi-I/O cards already have Linux support, and what do you think of them?

Da Masta writes "Codeplay Director Andrew Richards has some interesting things to say about NVidia's Cg graphics language. Just to refresh, Codeplay is the company that publishes Vector C, the badassed, high performance C compiler. In brief, it seems as though Cg isn't the universal, standard graphics language some pass it off to be. Certain design considerations in the language, such as the lack of integers, break/continue/goto/case/switch structures, and pointers suggest a general lack of universal usefulness. This leads to suspicion that NVidia plans to add and tailor the language in the future according to its own hardware and their respective features. Of course, this is all old news to those of us who noticed NVidia co-developed the language with the Evil Empire."

sonamchauhan asks: "I'd like advice on building (yes, building) my own low-res touchscreen. The reasons for 'build' instead of 'buy' are: 1) to have it sense pressure (pressure sensing is quite expensive) and 2) to have it sense multiple points of contact simultaneously (which is a useful thing). Back in 1985, researchers at U.Toronto built (PDF file) a touch-tablet (not a touch-screen) that fulfilled both requirements (pressure-sensitive and multi-touch) and used only basic electronics: lots of diodes, A/D convertors, etc. Some 17 years later, it should be possible to build a touch-screen using the same techniques (possibly using layers of transparent conductive and insulating paint for the sensor paths.) Any comments? Some other links: a Microsoft paper (PDF file) describing a touch sensor painted onto a mouse, a basic FAQ on current touchscreen technology, and a slashdot thread that discussed building touchscreens (these links don't address pressure or multi-touch though)."

A rather funny juxtaposition this morning - Bill Gates or someone with his signature stamp sent a spam-gram to pretty much everyone who receives any sort of Microsoft email: Bill only mentions Digital Rights Management in one throw-away sentence. And like most other spam, he promises it's a one-time mailing. On the other hand, Jon Lasser of Think Unix fame takes a harsher look at Microsoft's vision of a world where your computer is trusted against you.

totallygeek writes: "One year ago today (July 19, 2001), more than 359,000 computers were infected with the Code Red worm in less than 14 hours. At the peak of infection, more than 2,000 new machines were infected each minute. Servers running Internet Information Services from Microsoft were propagating this worm across the Internet faster than anything has up to then or since. For the first time, systems running the Apache web server were getting requests for a document called "default.ida". Here we are a year later, and my web log shows an average of forty-two requests per day for default.ida over the last five days. To really appreciate the spread of this program, look at this animated image."

wackybrit writes: "We've all known Linux has got Microsoft all worried, but they've always denied it. On Monday at a conference in LA, however, Steve Ballmer (of Microsoft) confessed that the FUD surrounding Linux isn't quite what it was made out to be. The Register has also covered the story in an easier to read fashion. They point out that Microsoft has just changed a page on their site which originally derided Linux, but now simply states what 'Windows does better.'"

Two pieces of Microsoft news today. tfofurn writes "According to this AP quickie and this Reuters story, both on Yahoo, Microsoft is donating 'about $550,000 in money, software and consulting services to the Peruvian government for educational and "e-government" initiatives' to Peru. The AP story mentions the conflict of this with Edgar Villanueva's proposal to have the government use only open source software. Villanueva (/. interview), you may recall, wrote a famous letter to MS Peru a few months ago." And many people have submitted stories about Windows XP Media Center, coming this winter to a living room near you.

AnamanFan writes "Microsoft has released version 5.2.1 of Internet Explorer for Mac OS X. The only notes I have been able to find on the update is that it 'provides all the latest security and performance enhancements for Internet Explorer 5 for Mac OS X.' Be warned that the installer forces all other running applications to quit, but does not require a reboot and (seems) to not change your Internet browser settings, in case you're using another browser." Also released was MSIE 5.1.5 for Mac OS, which "resolves all security vulnerabilities in previous versions of Internet Explorer 5." Heh.

AnamanFan writes "Microsoft has released version 5.2.1 of Internet Explorer for Mac OS X. The only notes I have been able to find on the update is that it 'provides all the latest security and performance enhancements for Internet Explorer 5 for Mac OS X.' Be warned that the installer forces all other running applications to quit, but does not require a reboot and (seems) to not change your Internet browser settings, in case you're using another browser." Also released was MSIE 5.1.5 for Mac OS, which "resolves all security vulnerabilities in previous versions of Internet Explorer 5." Heh.

Barkmull asks: "We have been running a Windows 2000 Terminal Services-based network for some time. We are currently using RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and CDS (Citrix Device Services) for local COM and printer port usage on our thin clients. My question is this: has anyone been successful in using USB port replication with Windows 2000 Terminal Services? We looked into using Metaframe XPe, but it is ridiculously expensive to implement. I would very much like to know what other solutions Slashdot users have come up with using Terminal Services and local port replication."

Barkmull asks: "We have been running a Windows 2000 Terminal Services-based network for some time. We are currently using RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and CDS (Citrix Device Services) for local COM and printer port usage on our thin clients. My question is this: has anyone been successful in using USB port replication with Windows 2000 Terminal Services? We looked into using Metaframe XPe, but it is ridiculously expensive to implement. I would very much like to know what other solutions Slashdot users have come up with using Terminal Services and local port replication."

Slashback tonight with another round of updates and errata regarding recent Slashdot stories. Read on for more on domain slamming, the process behind fixing and revealing the recent OpenSSH vulnerability, early photography, and a special note for residents of Maricopa County, Arizona.

Quick work by smart people. ciaweb writes "The OpenSSH group has revised its security advisory about the recent OpenSSH vulnerabilities. In it, they describe their decision-making process for releasing the bug information. It is interesting to contrast their procedure, which appears designed to maximize user protection, against Microsoft's, which appears to maximize Microsoft's protection."

Pardon me, sir, would you mind if I SLAMMED THIS HAMMER ON YOUR FINGERS?! D0wnsp0ut writes "I thumbed through my mail today and found what appeared to be a renewal notice for my domain. This one came from "Domain Registry of America." Verisign attempted something similar back in March and Bulkregister.com fought back and won an injunction, against the mailings. So watch out if your domain is getting close to expiring. I talked to my registrar (Register.com) and they're aware of it.
I'll scan the letter but have no place to post the pictures. Can anyone lend some bandwidth?"

Half the world has never eaten a Krispy Kreme donut, either. cshirky writes "I've just written an essay on the phrase ' Half the world has never made a phone call'. It's more 'voice telephony-y' than the usual telecom stories here, but after seeing the interest in media and the market that surfaced during my /. interview, I thought it might be of some interest."

Please stop sending my money to Redmond, OK? TrumpetPower! writes "All that brouhaha over Maricopa County's policy prohibiting companies or persons convicted of antitrust violations has had an effect. I just received the following note announcing a public forum scheduled for this coming Monday.

You recently inquired about the County's use of Microsoft products and the manner in which we license their software. We appreciate your interest in the County's technology plans. To provide a forum in which to discuss our technology direction and address any questions you may have, we will have Information Technology staff members available to meet with citizens at 8:30 am on Monday July 8th. The meeting location will be the County Administration Building at 301 W. Jefferson in Suite 420. Please RSVP your attendance so we can ensure that adequate facilities are available for the meeting.

Thank you for your inquiry,
Paul Allsing
Deputy CIO
Maricopa County
301 W Jefferson, Suite 420
Phoenix, AZ 85003"

Ah, but what about the first annoying family photographer? 7h3_B055 writes: "Contrary to this article on Slashdot claiming the first photograph was created in 1826, much evidence is pointing to the fact that the Shroud of Turin may have been an earlier example (substantially earlier) of photography using ingredients as basic as egg-white for treating cloth (the photopaper) and urine for developing it. The camera itself could have been a simple box with a hole in it and the exposure time would have been lengthy."

Of course, there are a lot of theories about the Shroud of Turin, and a google search is likely to intrigue you for days.

Goalie_Ca writes: "Visual J# .NET was released at the Tech Ed 2002 Europe Developper conference today. Visual J# .NET is not a tool for developing applications intended to run on a Java virtual machine. Applications and services built with Visual J# .NET will run only in the .NET Framework; they will not run on any Java virtual machine. Download it here; Microsoft J# .Net site."

Goalie_Ca writes: "Visual J# .NET was released at the Tech Ed 2002 Europe Developper conference today. Visual J# .NET is not a tool for developing applications intended to run on a Java virtual machine. Applications and services built with Visual J# .NET will run only in the .NET Framework; they will not run on any Java virtual machine. Download it here; Microsoft J# .Net site."