Actually, Google makes a lot of guarantees about security and privacy. They provide excellent authentication and spam prevention. What they don't do is offer tight assurances that your data will be private.
You also have to balance data integrity against security. In the most secure system possible, you're a lost password away from losing everything. In the most stable system possible, anyone who wants to can access and copy your data (helpfully making a backup.) This is the reason Google's doing so well - much of the security we have is shoddy anyway, while still giving you the data integrity issues that come from only having a handful of data storage areas, which may or may not be fully in sync.
While the security issues are real, I think cloud storage is probably more secure than local storage for the majority of businesses' under-funded IT departments, if only because they are not providing the resources to legitimately secure the data.
Google offers real security (with the caveat that you don't have any control over your data) at a fraction of the cost that most businesses are paying for insecure solutions.
Some people sacrificing for the greater good is all very well and good. It is often necessary. But some people deciding who will sacrifice, and others having the sacrifice thrust upon them, THAT is what makes the process so irritating or exciting. The who and how of that is what keeps the gears of history lubed with blood.
And, honestly, it seems to handle it better than Flash.
Video streaming doesn't work at all on this box through Silverlight, so I don't really see that. If Microsoft was supporting multiple platforms, their code would be just as bad as Adobe's.
Oh, they can study it, but can they study it safely? A worm, even in a firewalled virtual worm farm, is not something to be trifled with.
Well, and I mean you need to set up a firewalled virtual worm farm. This thing could conceivably be studied on an ordinary box without too much worry. Though a purpose-built VM is of course ideal.
Obviously they're looking at stock hardware. Furthermore, all CPUs are about as optimized as anything could be for sorting. Trying to roll your own in hardware isn't going to help a lot when the primary bottlenecks are memory and disk.
I think we can safely say that you can saturate it for a couple years, as I imagine someone has done that and not had any issues.
Though I haven't seen the data, I think if someone consistently showed SSDs dying at a year of saturation (which is far more than you will usually have) it would make news.
Between bureaucracy and Nixon-style genius, I'll take mediocrity.
Really, that statement was a cover for Nixon quietly subverting the bureaucracy. The bureaucracy exists for a reason, and it is effective. Genius always thinks itself better than the group. It is generally wrong.
Changing the US fed govt infrastructure from MS to 'something else', Linux for example, will take an extremely long time, and may well end up worse than it is now.
That is a problem, and it needs to be addressed. We cannot allow any piece of our infrastructure to be so dependent on a single company, especially not the OS.
And I was pointing out that that does not make it okay, and that there's a substantial difference between minor censorship (primarily in open-access media, with the exception of CP) and full-out political censorship complete with secret executions and imprisonment are two entirely different things, and it's perfectly consistent to think the level of censorship in the US justified while the level of censorship in China is morally reprehensible.
What if the people really do want to kill all ethnic minorities? I mean, there are people who think all the Hispanics need to get out of the United States, right?
Well, no, but a high-end IT salary is more than sufficient for most purposes so long as you aren't a total dick. (And even then, you're in pretty good shape.)
You can't sleep with a different chick each night, but if your angle is hedonistic abuse of wealth, you'll do alright.
Once you're at the level of Palmisano, it doesn't fucking matter. It's the difference between 100,000 slutty hotties and 1,000. It's still far more than you're capable of taking advantage of.
And the longevity argument is probably even more applicable here, since even assuming James manages his money well, in 10 years he will have no more sex appeal than Palmisano.
Given the number of incompatible platforms that qualify as.Net, I would say it is an ecosystem. Between Mono, Windows.Net, and the various versions of Silverlight, calling it a 'platform' is somewhat disingenuous. I'd be fine with it, if I could just run my the code wherever I want. But you can't do that, because Microsoft has decided that multiple implementations are a better idea than one cross-platform one.
The Hong Kong move pretty much nukes that strategy. Now China is allowing access to some of its citizens, but not others. Google is not at fault for the blocking.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, Google makes a lot of guarantees about security and privacy. They provide excellent authentication and spam prevention. What they don't do is offer tight assurances that your data will be private.
You also have to balance data integrity against security. In the most secure system possible, you're a lost password away from losing everything. In the most stable system possible, anyone who wants to can access and copy your data (helpfully making a backup.) This is the reason Google's doing so well - much of the security we have is shoddy anyway, while still giving you the data integrity issues that come from only having a handful of data storage areas, which may or may not be fully in sync.
While the security issues are real, I think cloud storage is probably more secure than local storage for the majority of businesses' under-funded IT departments, if only because they are not providing the resources to legitimately secure the data.
Google offers real security (with the caveat that you don't have any control over your data) at a fraction of the cost that most businesses are paying for insecure solutions.
It was a fucking budget meeting. When was the last time a budget meeting demanded your full attention?
You still haven't proposed a better solution.
I didn't say Flash was a good platform, it's just better than Silverlight, because it has stable APIs and near universal support.
Video streaming doesn't work at all on this box through Silverlight, so I don't really see that. If Microsoft was supporting multiple platforms, their code would be just as bad as Adobe's.
At this point the most significant security hole in web browsing is Flash, so yes, it does add problems every other browser doesn't have.
Oh, they can study it, but can they study it safely? A worm, even in a firewalled virtual worm farm, is not something to be trifled with.
Well, and I mean you need to set up a firewalled virtual worm farm. This thing could conceivably be studied on an ordinary box without too much worry. Though a purpose-built VM is of course ideal.
Obviously they're looking at stock hardware. Furthermore, all CPUs are about as optimized as anything could be for sorting. Trying to roll your own in hardware isn't going to help a lot when the primary bottlenecks are memory and disk.
I think we can safely say that you can saturate it for a couple years, as I imagine someone has done that and not had any issues.
Though I haven't seen the data, I think if someone consistently showed SSDs dying at a year of saturation (which is far more than you will usually have) it would make news.
Between bureaucracy and Nixon-style genius, I'll take mediocrity.
Really, that statement was a cover for Nixon quietly subverting the bureaucracy. The bureaucracy exists for a reason, and it is effective. Genius always thinks itself better than the group. It is generally wrong.
That is a problem, and it needs to be addressed. We cannot allow any piece of our infrastructure to be so dependent on a single company, especially not the OS.
Composting is actually a lot easier than recycling in a lot of ways... it smells, but it eventually generates fertilizer, so it's worth the trouble.
Ocean acidification and overfishing will have killed it all off long before we finish building 1000 windmills to power this.
And I was pointing out that that does not make it okay, and that there's a substantial difference between minor censorship (primarily in open-access media, with the exception of CP) and full-out political censorship complete with secret executions and imprisonment are two entirely different things, and it's perfectly consistent to think the level of censorship in the US justified while the level of censorship in China is morally reprehensible.
It's not advertising. It's on the box. If the box isn't clear about what the box contains, they are liable.
What if the people really do want to kill all ethnic minorities? I mean, there are people who think all the Hispanics need to get out of the United States, right?
The same computers are used to monitor Chinese citizens and determine if the state needs to kill them.
If Dell can guarantee their parts are made in India and not China, I just might be getting a Dell next year.
Well, no, but a high-end IT salary is more than sufficient for most purposes so long as you aren't a total dick. (And even then, you're in pretty good shape.)
You can't sleep with a different chick each night, but if your angle is hedonistic abuse of wealth, you'll do alright.
Once you're at the level of Palmisano, it doesn't fucking matter. It's the difference between 100,000 slutty hotties and 1,000. It's still far more than you're capable of taking advantage of.
And the longevity argument is probably even more applicable here, since even assuming James manages his money well, in 10 years he will have no more sex appeal than Palmisano.
Given the number of incompatible platforms that qualify as .Net, I would say it is an ecosystem. Between Mono, Windows .Net, and the various versions of Silverlight, calling it a 'platform' is somewhat disingenuous. I'd be fine with it, if I could just run my the code wherever I want. But you can't do that, because Microsoft has decided that multiple implementations are a better idea than one cross-platform one.
It's hard to learn that except by experience. I mean, I learned that lesson when I was like 12, but many people don't learn it. Teaching is necessary.
The Hong Kong move pretty much nukes that strategy. Now China is allowing access to some of its citizens, but not others. Google is not at fault for the blocking.
Insecure platform + insecure platform = one really fucking insecure platform.