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Microsoft Warns of Windows 7 Graphics Flaw
Barence writes "A flaw with the graphics driver in Windows 7 could compromise the stability and security of PCs, Microsoft has warned. The vulnerability lies in the Windows Canonical Display Driver (cdd.dll) for the 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. Microsoft claims that the flaw could lead to machines rebooting or even allow a hacker to remotely execute code, although it claims either eventuality is improbable. Concerned users are being advised to disable Windows Aero until Microsoft can issue a fix."
and Windows Server 2008 R2
This is why you don't use unnecessary things like Aero (and graphical displays) on servers. Granted Aero isn't enabled by default on Windows Server 2008, but it's still all unnecessary. Servers are meant to be configured and left running with minimal installs. You can do everything you need to from a command line, and sftp for editing those configuration files. When you have a minimalistic install there's also much less change of some random software having an exploitable bug.
GUI is still there for remote desktop and it's easier to configure then CMD only.
When I am playing BC2 it sometimes interrupts my game to tell me I have run out of memory and Aero is turning off. I cannot imagine why, I have 1GB GPU and 6GB RAM....
It seems there are some flaws in Aero on 64 bit systems.
Well, yes: Because this driver is not vendor specific. It's part of the actual OS itself. When was the last time you saw, say, a huge flaw in the Linux framebuffer, or something like that?
If the vulnerability is caused by the vendor of a chip, or the shoddy documentation of s chip maker: hell yes, blame the third part. In this case... MS can only blame themselves. Their own 'canonical display driver' is shoddy, not a 3rd party chip maker.
Powershell is by far, one of the best Microsoft has created on the scripting side. Why? They basically took a shell and enhanced it by making it object aware, and giving it access to .net. In Microsoft lingo, cmdlets replace unix utilities.
I am not a fan of the naming conventions they use in powershell! It makes it harder to write terse scripts.
Please see
http://w3.linux-magazine.com/issue/78/Bash_vs._Vista_PowerShell.pdf for a comparison of powershell vs Bash.
http://blog.brandonbloom.name/2009/04/powershell-condemned-to-reinvent.html
No, they are not equal. The problem is that using GUIs as we know them today, is NOT using a computer. It is instead the same thing as fiddling with an appliance. A static thing. Good luck piping the output of a Firefox menu item to Gimp. Good luck scripting the interface. That’s the real problem. You can’t really. Everything is monolithic static applications. With the rare plug-in exception.
Real work = AUTOMATING
Do you know that saying, that the computer creates the work that you wouldn’t have without it?
That is what happens if you use it like an appliance, instead of automating your work away.
It’s sad that KDE and Gnome raped the Unix philosophy... with a 30 inch pipe... sideways... ...instead of doing it the proper way, and making everything a small module that does one thing, and does it right.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.