Really, if your company wants to do "open source" and is completely uninterested in free software (GPL licensed code), why not build something around a BSD kernel?
The company should analyze WHY it wants to do "open source". Do they want to build a community and/or developer participation? Or do they want gratis software?
I don't understand why companies who DON'T want to share their source code don't consider alternatives to Linux. I would love if they went the Linux route, but then they should get with the program...
The cool thing about it is that except for the modem, the device is mechanical, not electronic. You could connect a RS-232 (serial) cable and send/receive 110 baud data. And the teletype would encode/decode the signals purely mechanically, using rotating wheels. Amazing!
This also included the paper tape punch/reader. You could write your entire program off-line to a paper tape. The you would connect and run the tape through the reader. This would allow you to enter the entire program fast, minimizing your expensive on-line time.
If you pressed a key on the keyboard all other keys would lock until the character was sent. If you typed too fast, you could hurt your fingers!
I developed a program on a PDP-11. It was a 16-bit computer and had 64kB memory. It didn't have virtual memory so in order to fit a large program you had to build an overlay tree.
Consider if function a() called b0() and b1(). And b0() called c0() and c1().
By knowing the call tree in your program and some other stuff about the dynamics of your program you could arrange so that b0() and b1() shared the same space in memory. Likewise for c0() and c1().
By studying linker maps you could create an overlay description file to make your program fit into 64kB. The OS would use this to automatically bring pieces of code in and out.
You can only imagine the consequences when you start to change the program and the pieces grow in size or new calls are added (b1() now calls c0()). You'd often have to manually do a new overlay tree.
No wonder VAX/VMS was such a hit in the late seventies with 32-bit computing and virtual memory support.
Hmmm According to the technical details you linked to it doesn't play standard DRM-free AAC files but it does play proprietary WMA files. And it requires Windows which I don't use.
Also, there is no mention on how it connects to my iTunes library? Can it sync automatically and update the smart playlists I use to load it with music I haven't listened to yet? Or do I have to go back to fully manual syncing/management?
Yeah, the normal and logical may seem that way if you're used to something so strange and illogical as US English - putting 'z' in almost every word, and I mean, MM/DD/YYYY? come on!
Yes they store dates in mixed endian format.
Not to mention football which Americans think is a sport where you don't have a proper ball and you very seldom play it using a foot.:)
If you learned how to use some other system first and now expect that any other way of doing things isn't "usable" enough, that's just plain old resistance to change. It says more about you than it does about the usability of the software in question.
...
Speaking of which, tried Windows lately? Now to me, that's really hard to use! But then, I don't want to learn the "Windows way" of doing everything, as I fail to see the pay off in it.
Hmm... Methinks this says more about you than it does about the usability of Windows...
If the operator sells the phone with a contract, why do they have to lock the phone? You are still bound by the contract. If you get an additional SIM card or another contract and use it with the phone, then so what? The operator still gets their monthly fee from their contract.
This is how many phones are sold in Sweden (there are locked phones too, but some are sold unlocked, with a contract).
Is there any source saying that the iPhone will be sold locked only?
Maybe not in the US. But take a look on a map over Europe. Lots of countries. Roaming can be really expensive. So people that travel regularly between countries (which many do) need to buy a local SIM card when entering a new country for cheap access. This only works if your phone is unlocked and accepts foreign SIM cards.
Laptops are stolen all the time, whether for corporate espionage purposes or for resell value. The thing most people don't realize is that you don't have to cut someone's finger off to use their fingerprint on common scanners. There are many ways (the gummy bear technique) to fake a person's finger and print for these cheap fingerprint scanners.
If I stole your laptop I probably wouldn't have to bother with the fingerprint sensor to get at your data. I'd just rip out the hard drive and connect it to my computer.
Do you say your drive is encrypted? Then where is your encryption key stored? I'll bet it is on the hard drive or in the computer. I hope no one thinks the fingerprint IS the encryption key.
It is important to note that both fingerprint and face-recognition technologies are not foolproof--there are a number of known, low-tech means of circumventing them. As such, depending on how secure access to your system, data, and Web sites needs to be, you might want to think twice before relying on these alternatives to typewritten passwords.
Right! Such as presenting it with a photo of the owner. Or using one of several well-known techniques to lift a fingerprint from somewhere (the computer itself?) and create a fake finger.
Why isn't this kind of "security" generally laughed at by the consumers?
You have just explained why we cannot trust Microsoft to provide "cross-platform" technologies. And why, if you are interested in non-Microsoft platforms, you should avoid Microsoft technology.
I'm an anarcho-capitalist, and a huge supporter of property rights, both physical and intellectual.
I'm puzzled why an anarcho-capitalist is so quick to embrace monopolies handed out by the government to private entities, which is what IP is. Myself, I'm more supportive of free markets where anyone can compete.
I thick government-granted monopolies is something a Guild Socialist should support. Or maybe a Mussolini Fascist.
It's important to understand that your fingerprints aren't secrets. You put them on thousands of objects every day. You can't create any security based on fingerprints unless you can assure that the reading device isn't tampered with. By placing a guard (a person) there or something.
I would like to see just about everyone you can think of, including Apple, Nokia, RIM, Sprint, ATT, HP, Motorola, Helio, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, Samsung and a bunch of others file a class action law suit against the Patent Office for screwing up the market by not doing its job.
Windows virtualization strategy is to embrace Linux in the server rooms by virtualizing it. This will degrade Linux from an operating system to an application stack. You will buy the OS from Microsoft, and the Linux application stack from Novell.
Thus, Microsoft will extend Linux by providing better drivers to proprietary HW, nice managing consoles, etc.
When this is sufficiently entrenched, the extinguish phase can begin when somehow Microsofts virtualized software stacks run better than the virtualized Linux stack.
Slashdot Mirror
Use BSD.
Really, if your company wants to do "open source" and is completely uninterested in free software (GPL licensed code), why not build something around a BSD kernel?
The company should analyze WHY it wants to do "open source". Do they want to build a community and/or developer participation? Or do they want gratis software?
I don't understand why companies who DON'T want to share their source code don't consider alternatives to Linux. I would love if they went the Linux route, but then they should get with the program...
Access the data onboard using "mass storage" (like USB memory stick) in the operating system of your choice without the need for proprietary software?
So FAT has ceased to be proprietary now?
The cool thing about it is that except for the modem, the device is mechanical, not electronic. You could connect a RS-232 (serial) cable and send/receive 110 baud data. And the teletype would encode/decode the signals purely mechanically, using rotating wheels. Amazing!
This also included the paper tape punch/reader. You could write your entire program off-line to a paper tape. The you would connect and run the tape through the reader. This would allow you to enter the entire program fast, minimizing your expensive on-line time.
If you pressed a key on the keyboard all other keys would lock until the character was sent. If you typed too fast, you could hurt your fingers!
I'd like to have one. They were noisy though...
It is said that Bing is a recursive acronym for "Bing Is Not Google". I think that is something about which we can all agree: Bing is not Google.
How is that recursive?
I developed a program on a PDP-11. It was a 16-bit computer and had 64kB memory. It didn't have virtual memory so in order to fit a large program you had to build an overlay tree.
Consider if function a() called b0() and b1(). And b0() called c0() and c1().
By knowing the call tree in your program and some other stuff about the dynamics of your program you could arrange so that b0() and b1() shared the same space in memory. Likewise for c0() and c1().
By studying linker maps you could create an overlay description file to make your program fit into 64kB. The OS would use this to automatically bring pieces of code in and out.
You can only imagine the consequences when you start to change the program and the pieces grow in size or new calls are added (b1() now calls c0()). You'd often have to manually do a new overlay tree.
No wonder VAX/VMS was such a hit in the late seventies with 32-bit computing and virtual memory support.
Maybe here?
Or here?
Hmmm
According to the technical details you linked to it doesn't play standard DRM-free AAC files but it does play proprietary WMA files. And it requires Windows which I don't use.
Also, there is no mention on how it connects to my iTunes library? Can it sync automatically and update the smart playlists I use to load it with music I haven't listened to yet? Or do I have to go back to fully manual syncing/management?
I'm not so sure the Sansa player is superior...
Yeah, the normal and logical may seem that way if you're used to something so strange and illogical as US English - putting 'z' in almost every word, and I mean, MM/DD/YYYY? come on!
Yes they store dates in mixed endian format.
Not to mention football which Americans think is a sport where you don't have a proper ball and you very seldom play it using a foot. :)
Pop quiz: What does the kernel use to access hard disks, memory, and whatever other hardware is in your system?
iTunes?
If you learned how to use some other system first and now expect that any other way of doing
things isn't "usable" enough, that's just plain old resistance to change. It says more about you than it does about the usability of the
software in question.
...
Speaking of which, tried Windows lately? Now to me, that's really
hard to use! But then, I don't want to learn the "Windows way" of doing everything, as I fail to see the pay off in it.
Hmm... Methinks this says more about you than it does about the usability of Windows...
Will you disallow perfectly good code additions simply because of the source?
No, if it compiles fine and improves the portable Linux product the code additions should be accepted. Otherwise they should be ignored.
If the operator sells the phone with a contract, why do they have to lock the phone? You are still bound by the contract. If you get an additional SIM card or another contract and use it with the phone, then so what? The operator still gets their monthly fee from their contract.
This is how many phones are sold in Sweden (there are locked phones too, but some are sold unlocked, with a contract).
Is there any source saying that the iPhone will be sold locked only?
Maybe not in the US. But take a look on a map over Europe. Lots of countries. Roaming can be really expensive. So people that travel regularly between countries (which many do) need to buy a local SIM card when entering a new country for cheap access. This only works if your phone is unlocked and accepts foreign SIM cards.
Laptops are stolen all the time, whether for corporate espionage purposes or for resell value. The thing most people don't realize is that you don't have to cut someone's finger off to use their fingerprint on common scanners. There are many ways (the gummy bear technique) to fake a person's finger and print for these cheap fingerprint scanners.
If I stole your laptop I probably wouldn't have to bother with the fingerprint sensor to get at your data. I'd just rip out the hard drive and connect it to my computer.
Do you say your drive is encrypted? Then where is your encryption key stored? I'll bet it is on the hard drive or in the computer. I hope no one thinks the fingerprint IS the encryption key.
From TFA:
It is important to note that both fingerprint and face-recognition technologies are not foolproof--there are a number of known, low-tech means of circumventing them. As such, depending on how secure access to your system, data, and Web sites needs to be, you might want to think twice before relying on these alternatives to typewritten passwords.
Right! Such as presenting it with a photo of the owner. Or using one of several well-known techniques to lift a fingerprint from somewhere (the computer itself?) and create a fake finger.
Why isn't this kind of "security" generally laughed at by the consumers?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA4Xx5Noxyo
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/05/16/gummi_bears_defeat_fingerprint_sensors/
And from 1998:
http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-9808.html#biometrics
You have just explained why we cannot trust Microsoft to provide "cross-platform" technologies. And why, if you are interested in non-Microsoft platforms, you should avoid Microsoft technology.
Currently there are perfectly good projects that have been abandoned by their developers despite being used by large corporations.
Like Visual Basic or Windows XP? Too bad those projects aren't "open source" so that said corporations could step in and get support elsewhere.
I'm an anarcho-capitalist, and a huge supporter of property rights, both physical and intellectual.
I'm puzzled why an anarcho-capitalist is so quick to embrace monopolies handed out by the government to private entities, which is what IP is. Myself, I'm more supportive of free markets where anyone can compete.
I thick government-granted monopolies is something a Guild Socialist should support. Or maybe a Mussolini Fascist.
... or how many bytes does one second of a 128kbit/s MP3 song occupy on a Creative MP3 player? :)
When will fingerprint "security" die?
Obligatory links:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/05/16/gummi_bears_defeat_fingerprint_sensors/
http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-9808.html#biometrics
It's important to understand that your fingerprints aren't secrets. You put them on thousands of objects every day. You can't create any security based on fingerprints unless you can assure that the reading device isn't tampered with. By placing a guard (a person) there or something.
Time to make some aluminum foil underpants to go with your hat.
I would like to see just about everyone you can think of, including Apple, Nokia, RIM, Sprint, ATT, HP, Motorola, Helio, HTC, Sony Ericsson, UTStarcomm, Samsung and a bunch of others file a class action law suit against the Patent Office for screwing up the market by not doing its job.
Not gonna happen, but it would rock...
Windows virtualization strategy is to embrace Linux in the server rooms by virtualizing it. This will degrade Linux from an operating system to an application stack. You will buy the OS from Microsoft, and the Linux application stack from Novell.
Thus, Microsoft will extend Linux by providing better drivers to proprietary HW, nice managing consoles, etc.
When this is sufficiently entrenched, the extinguish phase can begin when somehow Microsofts virtualized software stacks run better than the virtualized Linux stack.
...I'd never get an all-in-one computer. I just hate having to part with a good LCD monitor every time I want to upgrade or switch computers.
You'd never buy a laptop?
Like the VIA C3 processor?