This is totally evil, that spammers are stooping so low to... wait a minute. Never mind.
Can you say class action suit? The fear of my system being hacked by spammers has left me depressed. Give me a million dollars. Now.
Maybe if we geeks find out how to patch systems affected, that would make a good followup/. article. (I'm guessing the easiest way to patch would be to switch to Mac, or perhaps Linux (tee hee!))
"There is nothing wrong with that as long as the persons who are going to maintain the code are also of the fifth type of programmer."
I totally agree with this. But how many of us code just for ourselves and don't care about anyone else understanding it? How many of us use programming as a method of creativity, and express our code in the very best manner known to us, and not the best manner known to the general public?
Is it much different in a corporate setting? Same ends, yet perhaps slightly different means!
It seems that in a corporate setting, you would want to cover your ass-ets by obfuscating everything you can, and have a key set up so that it would unlock itself if you were treated fairly, or when you leave on good terms, as opposed to what happens 99% of the time: you get screwed by the boss over money and status, and when that happens, I say fuck 'em! They get what they deserve if they can't read it/understand it/find it!!! Cynical, maybe. Honest? Certainly.
This is a huge step compared to how society dealt with Kevin Mitnick. It used to be that they didn't care to know about vulnerabilities in systems, or that they would rather keep the vulnerabilities secret. Now John A. "Cobras" Klein of Corporate Technologies USA, Inc has some money to burn on people who crack, not to test systems, but to study devious minds. It's impressive, but what will this research be really used for?
I, for one, would be seriously surprised if anyone at Microsoft uses this to build a better system. I could see if this research was used for security outfits to track B&Es, but even that's a little loosey-goosey, IMHO.
This effort could be for the good, but crackers out there be warned that this could be a one stop ticket to FBI surveilance and eventual lockup. Come now, doesn't this remind you of the RIAA's amnesty offer?
Why not open a company that taunts "free P2P sans RIAA risk!", and just lock the P2P to the network only, thus preventing anyone outside from identifying you or snagging your stuff?
If enough privacy could be designed for such a system, I have a feeling people would flock in droves to it. The only problem is the obvious lawsuit that the RIAA would hit you with.
My opinion is that you could win the case based on the internet's ability to remain private, and if the ISP got a radio broadcasting licence, in which case they could effectively bypass any copyright nonsense.
I really enjoyed that read about the file system Google uses. The fact that they usually append to their files, is of special note. By appending data you only need to know a simple pointer address. Seems quick enough. Add a bunch of threaded concurrent writes and you could get into trouble on other systems... The "atomic append" seems interesting because of the use of multiple machines to append simultaneously (hazard free).
64meg chunk size is pretty huge, but I'm guessing that's blocked out based on continual threads of data, not typical files.
At first glance, this file system seems fairly wasteful. But hey, Google likely require speed and reliability over cost. Right?
This reminds me of the discussions about not-so-far-off database filesystems coming to an OS near you.
This reminds me of the timely adaptation of the corporate debacle by Scott Adams, in The Way of the Weasel (or was it Dogbert's Management Manual?), where Adams maintains that the only way to tell if a project is succeeding is by counting the meetings.
Doesn't figure what the project is, or if it's making any money. Just how many meetings and if there is more room to gloat over a budget for staplers or more meetings at JJ Muggs, or insert any other yuppie bar & grill.
I'm guessing it doesn't figure what was even said at the meeting, or who was too stoned/drunk to speak clearly, or who was even there. Just that one took place and important meeting stuff happened.
NDAs might also fall under this assumption that more clutter means more success, but maybe that is only true to especially idiotic judges and juries.
Sometimes the more that is said, much like this comment of mine, the more it is believed that something actually occurred that was tangible and worth something to the audience. Something worth karma at/. might fall under this assumption, although I doubt anyone would require an NDA for that.
Maybe I mistook our goals. Judging from the use of industry, autos and such, I thought we were trying to DESTROY the ozone. Did I miss a memo or something?
1) Who would you send yours to if it gets recalled? 2) How would you scrape yourself from under a bus if yours suddenly whipped you into traffic? 3) The whole Yogic Flyer phenomena takes new meaning when you consider a home-made Segway. 4) The ozone.
Let me be the first to say, YAY KAZZA! I don't like their service, but I do like them, now. The losing money factor is interesting, but it's even more interesting to believe that Kazza might win! Not to mention how the subpoenas could be thwarted now, with technical cause, rather than mere conjecture.
To even think of having my own Terabyte drive makes me feel like Luke Skywalker tapping into the powers of the force!
Now to think about what to do with this excellent space... Any comments about pr0n should be quickly modded down. Any comments about warez, should meet similar fates, although a home server done this way would likely result in n^666 years prison time, if RIAA has their way!!
But what about other types of film making? That's some of the best things I can think of, is super high-quality media creation (ala creative home film making, and I don't meen pr0n, I mean art, or something like it). Art exhibits using these drives to copy each molecule of each famous painting, so that people could learn, and protect aged-old pieces, would be quite amazing, too!
Maybe Seti could use this too? ((I wouldn't mind finding ET so I can ask him why Republicans win all the time, and why.))
Well the fact is that M$ is one for always making big promises that fail somewhere along the way. It's the culture inside the company. Managers want to get big numbers so they promote the next big thing, to stir up waves of interest internally (that leak out all the time), but they really onlyu do this to get the funding. When they get the funding they spend it on $9500 staplers and try to build digital-entertainment plug sockets with fax-mp3 players.
My point is that the PHB managers at M$ trade in status for $$ and the consumer pays. That's why they fix the stuff that works and never fix the broken stuff until it's time for a new version number rollover.
There's no money in good working software because why bother replacing something that works???
They hype up the new projects because it's a chance to start at ground zero with buggy software to repeat the M$ design focus and rob us all of our good hard earned cash.
I think it's brilliant, but it's also pretty fucking annoying.
Black Adder is my hero. I just love how his quirky relatives toss him into the most obnoxious situations. Makes ya wonder what makes Bean tick, y'know... and I think it's still really hillarious to see reruns.
Okay, this from a guy who liked 3's Company, but hey, Mr Roper was really sneaky trying to catch Jack in bed with the girls!
I think pr0n looks better "over there". Seriously, do you really want some nasty thing coming out of your laptop? This kinda reminds me of the scent-maker hardware product that would simulate smells. We all commented about some smells that would be possible at pr0n sites, and how certain spam emails would better be left unsmelt.
Personally, I think 3d displays are still fads. Now if it were a 3d hologram display that replaced the flat screen, like the chess boards in Star Wars, then I think there is definately a market (the whole market), but then you're looking at a whole new market for peripherals, or possibly hidden peripherals.
Swordgeek said:"With regards to (E), there will be no defense. If your product isn't on "the list," then it'll be fair game for anyone to sue."
I tend to disagree. Presupposing that all products must be on the list, is a tendency toward facism that even Bush would not agree with. Knowing that there are lists around, means that any member of society that buys a product that is not on the list, must be aware that it *may* be tampered with, or possibly be funding terrorism.
Caveat Emptor. The defence is that if consumers knowingly bought products that were not on the list, the consumers are liable because they had a choice and they chose to go the cheap route. (assuming that products will become more expensive if they join this list program, and why not? It's an excuse to get more money, AND look good!)
Swordgeek said:"They'll say, "We're not on the list, we never promised anything!" and the plaintifs will say, "You're not on the list--we're going to take you down!" Who has the deeper pockets?"
The courts will likely rule on the first precedent, and then throw out any case that goes against it, to save court costs and time. Special circumstances may lead to full cases after, but it would likely have to be established early that there were special circumstances (ie: faulty product got passed QC or something).
... or do some of you see that there is a real problem with this "Unkie Sam label of acceptance".
A) Governments say which products are "ok". (this kinda made me cringe when I first considered it... because it could so be exploited.) B) Consumers live with a false sense of security. C) Terrorists attack the "safe" products first and leave the other ones alone. D) Businesses that "pay up" get the seal, and those who don't... are considered second rate. E) Products without the seal can use that as a defence against *any* form of liability. (ie: Caveat Emptor) F) The seal idea indicates that the companies are currently not doing their best to protect us. G) With a little tampering, the seal could be applied to any product as a fake.
Slashdot Mirror
They should call this one "The Fifth Element".
So you're telling me that the spyware company True Active is given kudos for deciding not to send trojans out to the public anymore?
That's like saying Jeffrey Dahmer should get kudos for not killing anyone anymore.
The cost alone would be prohibitive to use this in municipal power stations. For now.
My only question is, how soon before Thinkgeek.com gets these? :)
This is totally evil, that spammers are stooping so low to... wait a minute. Never mind.
/. article. (I'm guessing the easiest way to patch would be to switch to Mac, or perhaps Linux (tee hee!))
Can you say class action suit? The fear of my system being hacked by spammers has left me depressed. Give me a million dollars. Now.
Maybe if we geeks find out how to patch systems affected, that would make a good followup
Is it much different in a corporate setting? Same ends, yet perhaps slightly different means!
It seems that in a corporate setting, you would want to cover your ass-ets by obfuscating everything you can, and have a key set up so that it would unlock itself if you were treated fairly, or when you leave on good terms, as opposed to what happens 99% of the time: you get screwed by the boss over money and status, and when that happens, I say fuck 'em! They get what they deserve if they can't read it/understand it/find it!!!
Cynical, maybe. Honest? Certainly.
I, for one, would be seriously surprised if anyone at Microsoft uses this to build a better system. I could see if this research was used for security outfits to track B&Es, but even that's a little loosey-goosey, IMHO.
This effort could be for the good, but crackers out there be warned that this could be a one stop ticket to FBI surveilance and eventual lockup. Come now, doesn't this remind you of the RIAA's amnesty offer?
Why not open a company that taunts "free P2P sans RIAA risk!", and just lock the P2P to the network only, thus preventing anyone outside from identifying you or snagging your stuff?
If enough privacy could be designed for such a system, I have a feeling people would flock in droves to it. The only problem is the obvious lawsuit that the RIAA would hit you with.
My opinion is that you could win the case based on the internet's ability to remain private, and if the ISP got a radio broadcasting licence, in which case they could effectively bypass any copyright nonsense.
Mmmmmm Quake Ping. I know I have that crusty ole CD laying about here somewhere. Quakeworld must hum on my lastest system.
The points you raised about P2P on campus are indeed valid, but still sad.
I really enjoyed that read about the file system Google uses. The fact that they usually append to their files, is of special note. By appending data you only need to know a simple pointer address. Seems quick enough. Add a bunch of threaded concurrent writes and you could get into trouble on other systems... The "atomic append" seems interesting because of the use of multiple machines to append simultaneously (hazard free).
64meg chunk size is pretty huge, but I'm guessing that's blocked out based on continual threads of data, not typical files.
At first glance, this file system seems fairly wasteful. But hey, Google likely require speed and reliability over cost. Right?
This reminds me of the discussions about not-so-far-off database filesystems coming to an OS near you.
This reminds me of the timely adaptation of the corporate debacle by Scott Adams, in The Way of the Weasel (or was it Dogbert's Management Manual?), where Adams maintains that the only way to tell if a project is succeeding is by counting the meetings.
/. might fall under this assumption, although I doubt anyone would require an NDA for that.
Doesn't figure what the project is, or if it's making any money. Just how many meetings and if there is more room to gloat over a budget for staplers or more meetings at JJ Muggs, or insert any other yuppie bar & grill.
I'm guessing it doesn't figure what was even said at the meeting, or who was too stoned/drunk to speak clearly, or who was even there. Just that one took place and important meeting stuff happened.
NDAs might also fall under this assumption that more clutter means more success, but maybe that is only true to especially idiotic judges and juries.
Sometimes the more that is said, much like this comment of mine, the more it is believed that something actually occurred that was tangible and worth something to the audience. Something worth karma at
Maybe I mistook our goals. Judging from the use of industry, autos and such, I thought we were trying to DESTROY the ozone. Did I miss a memo or something?
This is not likely a good idea for a few reasons.
1) Who would you send yours to if it gets recalled?
2) How would you scrape yourself from under a bus if yours suddenly whipped you into traffic?
3) The whole Yogic Flyer phenomena takes new meaning when you consider a home-made Segway.
4) The ozone.
I am going to buy this technology and use it to dessimate that pesky web slinger once and for all!!!!
:)
We don't need no stinkin' micro-meteor deflection systems, no how!
Let me be the first to say, YAY KAZZA! I don't like their service, but I do like them, now. The losing money factor is interesting, but it's even more interesting to believe that Kazza might win! Not to mention how the subpoenas could be thwarted now, with technical cause, rather than mere conjecture.
To even think of having my own Terabyte drive makes me feel like Luke Skywalker tapping into the powers of the force!
Now to think about what to do with this excellent space... Any comments about pr0n should be quickly modded down. Any comments about warez, should meet similar fates, although a home server done this way would likely result in n^666 years prison time, if RIAA has their way!!
But what about other types of film making? That's some of the best things I can think of, is super high-quality media creation (ala creative home film making, and I don't meen pr0n, I mean art, or something like it). Art exhibits using these drives to copy each molecule of each famous painting, so that people could learn, and protect aged-old pieces, would be quite amazing, too!
Maybe Seti could use this too? ((I wouldn't mind finding ET so I can ask him why Republicans win all the time, and why.))
Well the fact is that M$ is one for always making big promises that fail somewhere along the way. It's the culture inside the company. Managers want to get big numbers so they promote the next big thing, to stir up waves of interest internally (that leak out all the time), but they really onlyu do this to get the funding. When they get the funding they spend it on $9500 staplers and try to build digital-entertainment plug sockets with fax-mp3 players.
My point is that the PHB managers at M$ trade in status for $$ and the consumer pays. That's why they fix the stuff that works and never fix the broken stuff until it's time for a new version number rollover.
There's no money in good working software because why bother replacing something that works???
They hype up the new projects because it's a chance to start at ground zero with buggy software to repeat the M$ design focus and rob us all of our good hard earned cash.
I think it's brilliant, but it's also pretty fucking annoying.
Black Adder is my hero. I just love how his quirky relatives toss him into the most obnoxious situations. Makes ya wonder what makes Bean tick, y'know... and I think it's still really hillarious to see reruns.
Okay, this from a guy who liked 3's Company, but hey, Mr Roper was really sneaky trying to catch Jack in bed with the girls!
and a HERRRRRRING! :)
... may cause instant translation of urdu to xemphabic babel.
Like maybe a universal PIN that nobody knows but you.
Is it just me, or does this remind anyone else of Sir Isaac Newton's famous apple?
I think pr0n looks better "over there". Seriously, do you really want some nasty thing coming out of your laptop? This kinda reminds me of the scent-maker hardware product that would simulate smells. We all commented about some smells that would be possible at pr0n sites, and how certain spam emails would better be left unsmelt.
Personally, I think 3d displays are still fads. Now if it were a 3d hologram display that replaced the flat screen, like the chess boards in Star Wars, then I think there is definately a market (the whole market), but then you're looking at a whole new market for peripherals, or possibly hidden peripherals.
Swordgeek said:"With regards to (E), there will be no defense. If your product isn't on "the list," then it'll be fair game for anyone to sue."
I tend to disagree. Presupposing that all products must be on the list, is a tendency toward facism that even Bush would not agree with. Knowing that there are lists around, means that any member of society that buys a product that is not on the list, must be aware that it *may* be tampered with, or possibly be funding terrorism.
Caveat Emptor. The defence is that if consumers knowingly bought products that were not on the list, the consumers are liable because they had a choice and they chose to go the cheap route. (assuming that products will become more expensive if they join this list program, and why not? It's an excuse to get more money, AND look good!)
Swordgeek said:"They'll say, "We're not on the list, we never promised anything!" and the plaintifs will say, "You're not on the list--we're going to take you down!" Who has the deeper pockets?"
The courts will likely rule on the first precedent, and then throw out any case that goes against it, to save court costs and time. Special circumstances may lead to full cases after, but it would likely have to be established early that there were special circumstances (ie: faulty product got passed QC or something).
... or do some of you see that there is a real problem with this "Unkie Sam label of acceptance".
A) Governments say which products are "ok". (this kinda made me cringe when I first considered it... because it could so be exploited.)
B) Consumers live with a false sense of security.
C) Terrorists attack the "safe" products first and leave the other ones alone.
D) Businesses that "pay up" get the seal, and those who don't... are considered second rate.
E) Products without the seal can use that as a defence against *any* form of liability. (ie: Caveat Emptor)
F) The seal idea indicates that the companies are currently not doing their best to protect us.
G) With a little tampering, the seal could be applied to any product as a fake.