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User: Larry_Dillon

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  1. Re:Best way to force an upgrade on Exponential Algorithm In Windows Update Slowing XP Machines · · Score: 1

    The problem is that much of the (perfectly good) hardware will not run Windows 7 or 8, or if the hardware is fast enough, there's no driver support. This might not be a big deal for a desktop box in a first world country, but there's a bunch of medical and industrial equipment that can't feasibly be upgraded.

    The solution is to charge for yearly services packs for XP. If MS isn't willing to do it, see if a 3d party will.

    When you acquire the sort of market dominance that XP enjoyed, you also acquire a social responsibility to fix the defects in the product or let a 3d party do it.

  2. Market dominance on The Case For a Global, Compulsory Bug Bounty · · Score: 1

    It might make sense if the "mandatory" part was limited to larger players in a given sector. e.g., over 20% market share or something. Certainly, vendors need more incentives to patch bugs, but I'm not sure this is the right way to go about it.

  3. Off by default on Theo De Raadt Says FreeBSD Is Just Catching Up On Security · · Score: 1

    No, off by default is the right way for security. It reflects the correct way to think about security.

    I'm not sure your statement about adoption forwards any logical point. Ease of use and security are generally considered to be a straight-line tradeoff. People don't use OpenBSD because they put other values (ease or use, more default packages, works with x, etc) above security. OpenBSD is a joy to use, until you find something that "just worked" in Linux and doesn't (easily) work in OpenBSD. Security isn't free.

    I'm always amazed when people (especially other geeks) don't understand that many gifted computer people have weakness in other areas. Social skills being a prime example. Theo isn't some kind of demi-god, he's a person with one extreme strength and other weaknesses. Torvalds and Stallman aren't exactly the kings of diplomacy either. Being a bit anti-social is more of the norm for genius types.

  4. Incorporation on Chimpanzee "Personhood" Lawsuits Fail In New York Courts · · Score: 1

    That monkey needs to incorporate!

  5. Optimizations are trade-offs on Ubuntu Wants To Enable SSD TRIM By Default · · Score: 1

    The "everything turned on by default" concept is part of why Windows is bloated and insecure.

    This is changing, but part of what I like about Linux is that it makes less assumptions about what you are doing and assumes a (at least somewhat) skilled operator. Part of what I dislike about Ubuntu is that it makes too many assumptions about what I want to do. It's also why multiple Linux distros that target different audiences are a good thing.

    The points here are that :
    1. All optimizations or assumptions make something better for a certain task or use scenario.
    2. Any optimization that makes something better for a certain task or scenario will be worse for a different task/use scenario.

    Think of strong versus lightweight -- it's a tradeoff.

  6. The one OS that doesn't have an NSA backdoor? on MenuetOS, an OS Written Entirely In Assembly Language, Inches Towards 1.0 · · Score: 1

    Seriously, I tried Menuet a few years ago. It's crazy fast on even ancient hardware.

    It just needs a couple of killer apps.

  7. Three radar detectors? on Atlanta Man Shatters Coast-to-Coast Driving Record, Averaging 98MPH · · Score: 1

    Superheterodyne radar detectors would interfere with each other and lessen the sensitivity.

  8. Ease of use / security = straight-line tradeoff on Firefox's Blocked-By-Default Java Isn't Going Down Well · · Score: 1

    The Internet is a war zone. Not running some sort of script-blocker is like flying through an asteroid belt with your shield down.

    Microsoft lulled users into poor security practices with "just works". Java is just too vulnerable to not have some kind of click-to-play or white-list.

  9. Mono laser on Ask Slashdot: Best SOHO Printer Choices? · · Score: 1

    I'd recommend a monochrome laser (I use a Samsung) for actual printing and an all-in-one for color printing/scanning/faxing. Inkjet ink is just too expensive for day-to-day printing.

    It's like saying, "Yea multi-tools are nice, but you might want an actual knife or an actual screwdriver if you plan on using them much."

  10. Outside facing boxen on Users Slow to Update Netgear ReadyNAS Boxes Open To Remote Exploit · · Score: 1

    Where at the point where all outside facing devices need a mechanism for automatic updates, or at least automatic notification of updates.

    I imagine that most of the ReadyNSA users have no idea they are vulnerable.

  11. Crypto by default on The W3C Sells Out Users Without Seeming To Get Anything In Return · · Score: 1

    How about end-to-end, strong crypto by default? How about AES-256 built in to Ethernet adapters?

  12. Samsung is the new Sony on Ballmer Admits Microsoft Whiffed Big-Time On Smartphones · · Score: 1

    I agree that Samsung is "cooler" than Android. There are a lot of total crap Android devices. I can remember when Google was cool. Sometime before they want public....

  13. Re:When livelihoods depend on doing the wrong thin on Its Nuclear Plant Closed, Maine Town Is Full of Regret · · Score: 1

    I mod you to +6

  14. Branding problem on Ballmer Admits Microsoft Whiffed Big-Time On Smartphones · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think a huge part of their problem is with branding. Apple and Android are seen as cool and sexy whereas Microsoft is perceived as uncool and business-oriented. XBox is the only exception I can think of. The exact same hardware, delivered by a cool, edgy start-up, could have done much better.

    To be fair, I haven't even touched a Windows phone, but my perception is that it's going to try to lock you into MS offerings (Apple does this too) and it will try and keep you from doing cool things if that doesn't somehow make money for MS.

    Is this really true, is this just my perception, or is this the general perception? Bear in mind that first-hand experience (reality) has nothing to do with the perception of those that haven't touched it.

  15. Re:Moo on Study Shows Professors With Tenure Are Worse Teachers · · Score: 1

    I would like to see all faculty ratings (somehow) adjusted for the students' GPA and class grade. Too may students have an "I got an A, so instructor deserves an A, I got a C so instructor deserves a C" mentality.

  16. Business 101 or Greed 101? on With XP's End of Life, Munich Will Distribute Ubuntu CDs · · Score: 1

    I almost put something in that post about how "the business side would never go along with is because it dilutes the market for ...", but the thrust of the post was the social responsibility that companies have. If there are millions of unpatched XP boxes on the net, it could spell huge problems for the net as a whole and make the net unsafe and unusable for everyone. Profit may be job number one but it it squeezes out all other values it runs the risk of bringing down the whole system. Look what just happened to the baking industry as the result of unbridled greed. So while that may fail business 101 type reasoning, you fail business 501 and ethics 201 for being too shortsighted and polluting the well from which all drink.

  17. Re:A few things need to happen first on Gabe Newell Talks Linux As the Future of Games at LinuxCon NA · · Score: 1

    I've met a few programmers that are in love with Visual Studio. But I have to ask, "Do you know how to program or do you just know Visual Studio?" Without it, many seem lost. The tool seems to be becoming the focus rather then the actual programming.

  18. Side effect of consumerism? on The Sharing Economy Fights Back Against Regulators · · Score: 1

    Consumerism convinced us to buy a lot of things that we don't really need or seldom use so, now that times are getting tougher, we're lending/renting our excess.

  19. Time for Microsoft to give back a little. on With XP's End of Life, Munich Will Distribute Ubuntu CDs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    There's just something fundamentally wrong with a company abandoning a product with such a huge install base. It's a huge Internet public health issue. Microsoft has a social responsibility by virtue of their success to act. I see four reasonable possibilities here.

    1. Microsoft keeps releasing security patches for XP.
    2. Microsoft ships a version of Windows 8 that will run on XP grade hardware.
    3. Microsoft spins off XP into a company that will continue to support it.
    4. Microsoft releases XP source code so that others can (at least have a chance to) patch it.

    Eventually, all XP grade hardware will die, but with the advent of low power/low cost hardware XP could see a second coming if Microsoft would just support it. It's not like there isn't a huge amount of reasonably good software for the platform.

    Imagine if a company in India bought XP and started releasing XP SP4 for like $10 or $20. So cheap that the 1st world wouldn't both to pirate it and still affordable to many in the 3d world.

  20. Re:Poor statistics on SSD Annual Failure Rates Around 1.5%, HDDs About 5% · · Score: 1

    Did they look at the length of warranty? Obviously it's not fair to compare a four year old spinning disk with five year warranty ot a one year old SSD with a one year warranty.

  21. Re:Moo on Study Shows Professors With Tenure Are Worse Teachers · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think you're onto something here. Senior faculty sometimes resent having to teach 101 classes. Tenure is important for academic freedom and to go against what the administration wants.

  22. DMCA notice to the NSA on Court Declares Google Must Face Wiretap Charges For Wi-Fi Snooping · · Score: 1

    How about for copyright infringement? Even non-commercial copyright infringement is illegal.

  23. RAID on SSD Failure Temporarily Halts Linux 3.12 Kernel Work · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm not nearly as much of a believer in RAID for the home environment. If you (accidentally) delete something on one drive it's gone from both. Better to buy two drives and do a daily rsync. That way you have a window of opportunity to recover data. Personally, I use rsync without --delete until the 2d drive starts getting full, then I use the --delete flag to clean up.

  24. Re:So it has come to this on NRA Joins ACLU Lawsuit Against NSA · · Score: 1

    As a matter of policy they don't defend many 2d amendment cases because they do not believe (however misguidedly) that it's not an individual right.
    As a practical matter, they don't take 2A cases because no 2A case, with merits, has ever failed to be defended, mostly by the NRA.
    The NRA focuses on one amendment, the ACLU on the other nine. Also, the NRA's budget is bigger.

  25. Re:Patriot act? on Google To Encrypt Cloud Storage Data By Default · · Score: 1

    They way this usually works is the precise statement is true, but they leave the encryption keys where the government can find them.