Hey, here's a start. It doesn't have some of the automatic cleverness you've mentioned, but it's managed to keep most OSes safe for 30-40 years or so.
Instead of an "Internet" bit, how about an "executable" bit. The default would be "not executable". Then, to run it, the user would explicitly "change the mode" of the file. This would prevent things from running or even being run automatically.
If only someone would prototype this and see if an OS with this features suffers less from trojans and viruses.
(Perhaps to save typing we could even call the command "chmod". Of course a graphical environment could offer a graphical view as well.)...
The flaw in any protection, not that Windows offers it of course, is macros. The instant any document format, particularly those of "office suites", offers a feature to access and modify files and documents, it should be globally quarantined and users punished for using it.
Another problem is the lack of support for JavaScript, I suppose, but the only mobile phone I know that has it is the Blackberry, and its support is so slow it had might as well not exist.
"Blazer" on the Treo has JavaScript support and I haven't noticed any speed problems related to it.
A coworker was raving about the movie so I rented it last week (I'd been meaning to for a while but it hadn't stood out to me). I bought the book and read it this weekend too.
He even let me set up a Web site to host some projects that we've made from scratch (more on the way) as well as just submitting patches to existing software. As far as convincing, it wasn't hard:
He already knows a little bit about open source (although he did complain about how TightVNC "ripped off" VNC), and said that he's seen firsthand that good software can come out of that process
Fixes and enhancements for things we use internally
A chance that if I get hit by a bus, someone else out there has already used the code and can be hired to help
Recruiting tool to technology people; shows some of our techniques, style, discipline
Increases our perception as a participant in the community, thereby making people friendlier when we ask for help, enhancements, etc.
I live and work in Orlando, and the amount of racism festering just under the surface is unbelievable. Sorry about your friend; glad his daughter is okay.
That's one of the more foolish ideas I've heard. I personally have the opposite problem where I work... people have a bad habit of using "reply one" instead of "reply all" and stripping everyone but the replyee out of the thread. And they wonder why there are communications issues in the company.
One of the reasons (aside from CYA protection) that I prefer to have anything related to tasks go through our Cerberus Helpdesk installation: it munges the Reply-To header (normally a terrible idea, but in an office of Outlook-breathers there's not really a lot of choice) meaning that no matter how hard they try, all involved are kept apprised of the progress of relevant issues.
Face it... in most cases replying to the group is appropriate. There are 2 reasons people tend to have a problem with this:
They use an extremely unprofessional tone and make personal remarks, and don't like to take their audience into account (even I, never known for my interpersonal skills, am very deliberate when using the corporate email; sometimes not always politic, but always deliberate).
They don't like having to think, even for a split second, before pouncing on that button. Hence the spate of "sent to someone with a similar-seeming name" problems, as well.
I guess I should count my blessings that not everyone in the corporate environment is completely functionally illiterate. Yet.
I called to make exactly this point and was routed between several operators. They gave me this address to write to:
State Attorney
PO Box 5028
Clearwater, FL 33758
Although it might be a good idea to call 727-464-6221 and mention that you'd like to write regarding the case yourself. If they keep getting calls about the issue it might get a little attention. Regardless, I'm writing a letter today.
I live in Orlando and on several occasions I tried to use the wireless service outside. I was unable to get a DHCP lease or even a very strong signal (this was right next to the sign proudly advertising the wireless). Then there are the homeless people that congregate in these parks. Finally the humidity is very bad. It wasn't even summer yet, but I was concerned that long term use might short out parts of my laptop. Plus it's not pleasant to sit outside and be hot and sweaty.
I hope they didn't kill the wireless in the library downtown though; that works quite nicely and is a great benefit when visiting for relaxation or research.
Oh wow. argent, I apologize. I didn't notice the missing middle term in your example conditional; I couldn't even fathom that such a thing was accepted anywhere. I just tried it and indeed it works in GCC ("-ansi -pedantic" generates a helpful "warning: ISO C forbids omitting the middle term of a ?: expression").
I'm used to people railing against the conditional operator for no good reason, just like weak minds complain about fallthrough in "switch". But I misread your post and so I take back the comment about discarding facts etc. It seems that we're in violent agreement on the subject of cross-platform compatibility.
Are there any good reasons not to compile with "-ansi -pedantic"?
But then I don't use incompatible non-C extensions that were added to GCC and act as a Microsoftian "barrier to entry" to other compilers, like "a = b ?: c;". Oh, it's a perfectly logical extension to C, but only GCC accepts it.
Hey argent, you should have checked ISO/IEC 9899:1999 6.5.15 before you shot your mouth off. Sadly, while the rest of your post is interesting, I have to discard it entirely and recommend that others do the same because I have no way of knowing that the facts haven't been similarly discarded in the other topics that you discuss.
Or go get RealPlayer Enterprise. The BBC issued an ultimatum that they were going to switch away from RA unless Real offered an no-ad, no-spyware version. Cleanest multimedia player I've seen yet on Windows, and very unobtrusive.
Additionally, switch from the initial craptastic XP theme to the "standard" theme (2k style), and the RAM usage will just plain drop.
Empirically, I and coworkers have found that skipping that step and simply setting the themes service to "disabled" provides the most noticable improvement.
Easiest way to get Explorer not to suck CPU is set your performance options (I think in "My Computer" somewhere) to "Best Performance". Then go to Explorer and turn status bars back on.
Isn't the S/390, the successor of the system you mentioned, pretty widely admired? I'm not a mainframe guy so I have no clue but IBM's stuff doesn't seem to be despised.
Without tools that are synergistic with the underlying technologies, programmers cannot develop great software..NET hides the underlying technologies, limiting the scope of software development and denying programmers exposure to the very things that could inspire them.
Out of curiosity, does C# not allow you to shadow members with local variables? In Java, I would have made the parameter name simply "nSize" (or "newNSize", perhaps), and then said:
Slashdot Mirror
Hey, here's a start. It doesn't have some of the automatic cleverness you've mentioned, but it's managed to keep most OSes safe for 30-40 years or so.
...
Instead of an "Internet" bit, how about an "executable" bit. The default would be "not executable". Then, to run it, the user would explicitly "change the mode" of the file. This would prevent things from running or even being run automatically.
If only someone would prototype this and see if an OS with this features suffers less from trojans and viruses.
(Perhaps to save typing we could even call the command "chmod". Of course a graphical environment could offer a graphical view as well.)
The flaw in any protection, not that Windows offers it of course, is macros. The instant any document format, particularly those of "office suites", offers a feature to access and modify files and documents, it should be globally quarantined and users punished for using it.
A coworker was raving about the movie so I rented it last week (I'd been meaning to for a while but it hadn't stood out to me). I bought the book and read it this weekend too.
I live and work in Orlando, and the amount of racism festering just under the surface is unbelievable. Sorry about your friend; glad his daughter is okay.
One of the reasons (aside from CYA protection) that I prefer to have anything related to tasks go through our Cerberus Helpdesk installation: it munges the Reply-To header (normally a terrible idea, but in an office of Outlook-breathers there's not really a lot of choice) meaning that no matter how hard they try, all involved are kept apprised of the progress of relevant issues.
Face it... in most cases replying to the group is appropriate. There are 2 reasons people tend to have a problem with this:
- They use an extremely unprofessional tone and make personal remarks, and don't like to take their audience into account (even I, never known for my interpersonal skills, am very deliberate when using the corporate email; sometimes not always politic, but always deliberate).
- They don't like having to think, even for a split second, before pouncing on that button. Hence the spate of "sent to someone with a similar-seeming name" problems, as well.
I guess I should count my blessings that not everyone in the corporate environment is completely functionally illiterate. Yet.Hmm, you mean like the label "Open" next to the radio button that's checked by default?
I called to make exactly this point and was routed between several operators. They gave me this address to write to: State Attorney PO Box 5028 Clearwater, FL 33758 Although it might be a good idea to call 727-464-6221 and mention that you'd like to write regarding the case yourself. If they keep getting calls about the issue it might get a little attention. Regardless, I'm writing a letter today.
I hope they didn't kill the wireless in the library downtown though; that works quite nicely and is a great benefit when visiting for relaxation or research.
I'm used to people railing against the conditional operator for no good reason, just like weak minds complain about fallthrough in "switch". But I misread your post and so I take back the comment about discarding facts etc. It seems that we're in violent agreement on the subject of cross-platform compatibility.
Are there any good reasons not to compile with "-ansi -pedantic"?
My snarkiness was marred only by my stupidity. I meant MultiZilla, of course.
No, but it would be why TabZilla, and later the Mozilla project proper, copied the concept from Opera...
Your nickname is accurate, for sure...
Or go get RealPlayer Enterprise. The BBC issued an ultimatum that they were going to switch away from RA unless Real offered an no-ad, no-spyware version. Cleanest multimedia player I've seen yet on Windows, and very unobtrusive.
Yes, we read jwz too.
And a lot of distros nowadays turn off TCP connections in the X server. There's a knob to turn in xorg.conf somewhere.
Easiest way to get Explorer not to suck CPU is set your performance options (I think in "My Computer" somewhere) to "Best Performance". Then go to Explorer and turn status bars back on.
For an excellent story dealing with this scientific topic, check out Bob Shaw's "Light of Other Days".
Isn't the S/390, the successor of the system you mentioned, pretty widely admired? I'm not a mainframe guy so I have no clue but IBM's stuff doesn't seem to be despised.
Sad, but thought-provoking.