Windows (and DOS) show drive letters for partitions that are flagged as windows filesystems (FAT-something, NTFS) in the partition tables of all drives. An integer id is used to identify the partition type, but it does not necessarily mean that the drive is formatted (filesystem data structures may not have yet been created). Thus, Windows may "see" the drive and make it accessible via a drive letter, but still ask you to format it.
Have you any idea how much confidential information lives on university networks? Many university researchers sit on loads of proprietary and/or highly sensitive data with confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements up the yingyang. Public health, national security, and defense research come to mind. Security MUST be part of the picture, lest the university loose the trust and the funding from external sources that value the privacy of their data.
You must be new here (the universe, not Slashdot).
Honestly, though. How many non-/. reading, mainstream users are going to install another widget system on their computer? Few or None. Even if you port your free application to a "Linuxy" version of Windows or OSX, no one will come. If you want my mom to use your program, it better come on CD and run on Windows. If you want my dad to run it, it better come on CD and run on Windows. My sister, well, she'll download it, but it better run on Windows.
The GTK runtime for win32 is distributed as a collection of DLLs. When distributing a GTK-based application for Windows, I can easily integrate GTK into the installer. With a little effort on my part, the installation can be made seamless. The pain of "installing another widget system on their computer" is, I think, overstated.
I write code ("scientific computing") that is intended for a wide audience ranging from fellow researchers (who are likely to prefer a Unixy environment) to government apparatchiks (who run only Windows). Portability, therefore, is very important to me, because I can get all birds stoned at once and everyone is happy. The convenience to the users, IMO, greatly outweighs the convenience of development in a "pointy-clicky-draggy-droppy" environment.
Providing a truly secure OS is antithetical to the Windoze Nature, i.e., that of an OS for dummies. Maintaining a secure system takes time, know-how, and sometimes even reading some fucking manual. But Microsoft's "operating systems" are intended for the PC, a platform where the majority of users are not willing to make that investment. Eventually, once the novelty of MS Paint wears off, a user needs to install another application in order to actually accomplish something useful on the PC. Because MS necessarily assumes that the user is a brain-dead clod, a simple scheme like the allow-or-deny elevation masquerade is necessary (and, of course, the user can be easily duped into installing malware). Anything more sophisticated, and the appeal (and usability) of Windoze to the masses suffers, because it's no longer "user friendly." After all, if grandma needs to dick around with file and process permissions, why not just install Linux? No version of Windoze will be a truly secure system until its user base becomes better educated, which is a requirement that Microsoft will never enforce to protect their bottom line.
"They think of it as programming," Dr. Cuny said. "They don't think of it as revolutionizing the way we are going to do medicine or create synthetic molecules or study our impact on the climate of the earth." Last time I revolutionized medicine, I just hit the "Make It So" key. I don't see what the problem is.
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Windows (and DOS) show drive letters for partitions that are flagged as windows filesystems (FAT-something, NTFS) in the partition tables of all drives. An integer id is used to identify the partition type, but it does not necessarily mean that the drive is formatted (filesystem data structures may not have yet been created). Thus, Windows may "see" the drive and make it accessible via a drive letter, but still ask you to format it.
Have you any idea how much confidential information lives on university networks? Many university researchers sit on loads of proprietary and/or highly sensitive data with confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements up the yingyang. Public health, national security, and defense research come to mind. Security MUST be part of the picture, lest the university loose the trust and the funding from external sources that value the privacy of their data.
You must be new here (the universe, not Slashdot).
You must be Xenu?
The GTK runtime for win32 is distributed as a collection of DLLs. When distributing a GTK-based application for Windows, I can easily integrate GTK into the installer. With a little effort on my part, the installation can be made seamless. The pain of "installing another widget system on their computer" is, I think, overstated.
I write code ("scientific computing") that is intended for a wide audience ranging from fellow researchers (who are likely to prefer a Unixy environment) to government apparatchiks (who run only Windows). Portability, therefore, is very important to me, because I can get all birds stoned at once and everyone is happy. The convenience to the users, IMO, greatly outweighs the convenience of development in a "pointy-clicky-draggy-droppy" environment.
Providing a truly secure OS is antithetical to the Windoze Nature, i.e., that of an OS for dummies. Maintaining a secure system takes time, know-how, and sometimes even reading some fucking manual. But Microsoft's "operating systems" are intended for the PC, a platform where the majority of users are not willing to make that investment. Eventually, once the novelty of MS Paint wears off, a user needs to install another application in order to actually accomplish something useful on the PC. Because MS necessarily assumes that the user is a brain-dead clod, a simple scheme like the allow-or-deny elevation masquerade is necessary (and, of course, the user can be easily duped into installing malware). Anything more sophisticated, and the appeal (and usability) of Windoze to the masses suffers, because it's no longer "user friendly." After all, if grandma needs to dick around with file and process permissions, why not just install Linux? No version of Windoze will be a truly secure system until its user base becomes better educated, which is a requirement that Microsoft will never enforce to protect their bottom line.
No "Keystroke dynamics for troll recognition?" /., call me.