Unfortunately personal freedoms in the US are being eroded away more quickly than most realize. But of course many people don't care. Just a few weeks ago I was listening to National Public Radio and heard mention of a pole in which most of the individuals questions said they would be willing to give up some freedoms in order to be protected from terrorism. A sad day indeed.......
If we won't keep am eye on what our government is doing they are going to walk all over us.
The RIAA is not the police and there is an investigation when the police do shoot some one. Will there be an investigation every time Sony DOSes some one? What about due process? What about innocent until proven guilty by a court of law?
This seems like a bill that was not thought out at all. Oh wait......why would a politician think as long as a large industry is stroking his wallet?
>A large corporation is not going to want to be told to check mailing lists and newgroups.
What's ironic about that is that I can't stand to use any systems where I can't check mailing lists or news groups. A plus to this may be that both types of support will be available.....if they pull it off.
Right now I am developing Unify Data Server applications using their own proprietary Accell/SQL language. The only documentation in the whole world seems to be in there shitty manual set. They are nearly worthless. I'd kill for a google search for info or examples on it to come back with pages that weren't either on Unify's site or an ad. It is so frustrating.
>Relying on an external project manager to gather requirements and define scope is usually disastrous.
You said it! This is the problem. Ther person who gathers the requirements is also our department head and he has no time. He's always in meetings and things and we get blown of constantly.
The department started out with only him and one other person. Now there are nine of us and things have grown beyond the ability of one person to both manage the department, take care of coporate needs and wants and funnel requirements our way. He is very reluctant to give up control and has made it pretty clear that he doesn't want us to talk to the people that actually need the software. Things are going to have to change soon or there is going to be a mutiny.
Boss: Well just start working and we will fill that stuff in laster.
How the heck can I write good when I am hardly told what the application is supposed to do? So I write something, it doesn't take into account the missing details that I asked about. Those get defined two weeks after the thing is supposed to be done. The app turns out terrible and then the powers that be want to know why it has problems. It is incredibly frustrating.
I agree. All of our assignments were handed in in hard copy form. No one even bothered to run them. You were given a data file and if your program produced correct output for that data all was well. It didn't matter how it behaved with the rest of the infinite number of inputs that were possible.
I don't even want to get into the level of cheating this encouraged. The worst part was the attitude of many in the faculty. I know someone who brought up the cheating to an instructor and this person actually rationalized it by saying, " Well people cheat in other departments too!"
I know of another instructor that told my friend to be proud of his 'B' because he earned it. Many of the people who got 'A's had cheated and the instructor seemed to be okay with it. It continues to make me sick to this day.
But the industry has dooped people so well that they believe there is really nothing wrong when software fails. They believe that it is just the way it is, that they should hit the reset button and get on with life.
Product testing costs money. The customer will buy it even if it is defective because 1. They don't know they have a choice, and 2. They don't really care that there's a problem. If a customer will buy it anyway why spend more money on testing? It reduces the bottom line and you can always fix the problems people actually complain about later.
Many companies today care little about integrity or the satisfaction of their customers as long as it doesn't have an effect on profits. In the software industry the cost of producing a product with fewer defects is greater than that of having a possibly unhappy customer.
I'm still getting several hundred attacks a day from which ever of the worms it was that would try and execute cmd.exe among other things. Code Red, Nimda, and Sircam all came out so close together I can't even remember which is which any more.
I don't see/here about too many rpc.statd attacks. Maybe I just know good admins.......
Working with users quiet a bit I've realized that no one knows how to work Windows either. I don't know about you but I get asked several times a day by co-workers if I have time to go to their homes and fix their computers or install new software on them. The truth is that what OS they run makes little difference to them as long as there is a geek around to help them out.
Also having worked at both a bank and a collection agency I've noticed that the software they use typically runs via a terminal program or via some kind of command line system. I'd imagine that the government isn't much different. For most real work a GUI just slows you down anyway.
Of course the government is pretty inefficient. Maybe they use a mouse for everything.
>If there's one thing gov't can do, it's spec the hell out of something. I don't think this would be a problem if they addressed it in earnest.
While this is true and I agree that this would be a good idea it is important to note that in the past thinking like this has resulted in things like Ada. =)
It sounds to me a little like they are whining because the system was too hard to hack. They went for an easier target. That sounds more like script kiddie behavior that of a hacker.
This is really surprising for me. I have Palm M100 that I bought almost two years ago and use constantly. It's been fantastic for the money spent on it. Palm's production standards must have dropped dramtically. It's really too bad. As an Address Book/Calendar it has really done a lot to make my life easier.
While I know that the BSDs use gcc as their compiler I am fairly certain that the most of the rest of the utilities are not actually written by GNU. The greatest evidence of this is the fact that the man pages don't suck like the ones that come with most anything GNU.
The thing to be aware of is that the latest versions of Eudora, by default, use IE to read e-mail that contains HTML. It is the same control that outlook uses to view mail. If you don't turn it off Eudora will also automatically execute attachments if they exploit a vulnerability in IE.
On the bright side, you can switch it off and use Eudora's built in viewer.
http://www.iss.net/security_center/static/8609.p hp
That's why I finally bought an Antec case that has a screwless slide off side panel and drive bays that can be removed with no tools. I can have the whole things pulled apart in less than a minute. Not only do I have easy access but my wife doesn't complain about all of the "naked" computers.
Of course the couple of P150s that I have lying around for firewalls are as naked as ever but they live in a heap in the corner.
I don't really see a problem with them shipping whatever software they want with their OS. I do see a problem if they discourage vendors from providing alternatives.
If it is wrong for them to bundle IE, is it wrong for them to bundle solitare? notepad?
I don't use Windows simply because it is an inferior product. I get frustrated every time I sit down at a computer that uses it. It is slow, it swaps constantly, reading the floppy drive stops windows from redrawing. It sucks in almost every respect.
But it does one important thing. It makes people believe that there computer is a simple, friendly tool. It is far from that in reality, but people believe it. If that friendly tool, bites them in the ass, they tell you to just turn it off and turn it back on. No big deal.
That is where Microsoft has done serious wrong, or some would say they have been brilliant. They've lied to people about the fact that a computer is a highly technical piece of equipment that takes a certain level of expertese to operate.
They've lied to all of us when it comes to usability, reliabilty, security, and a host of other things. And that's why I hope they hang. Not because they package a web browser with their OS.
Of course you could say similar things about many other big corporations. That doesn't make it right though.
Agreed. Windows is an OS and a GUI intricately laced together. Linux is not a fair comparison. Mac OS is. Of course Mac OS doesn't have an integrated so my guess is that there is nothing that would have helped him with this question. Is that really the point?
Who cares if Windows comes with IE as long as one can install Mozilla? I think that point is that manufacturers should be able to bundle whatever additional software they want with Windows and Microsoft shouldn't go out of its way to make it more difficult for non-MS apps to work well. If it comes with IE, great, but Dell, should be able include Mozilla/Netscape if they'd like to.
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Unfortunately personal freedoms in the US are being eroded away more quickly than most realize. But of course many people don't care. Just a few weeks ago I was listening to National Public Radio and heard mention of a pole in which most of the individuals questions said they would be willing to give up some freedoms in order to be protected from terrorism. A sad day indeed.......
If we won't keep am eye on what our government is doing they are going to walk all over us.
The RIAA is not the police and there is an investigation when the police do shoot some one. Will there be an investigation every time Sony DOSes some one? What about due process? What about innocent until proven guilty by a court of law?
This seems like a bill that was not thought out at all. Oh wait......why would a politician think as long as a large industry is stroking his wallet?
>A large corporation is not going to want to be told to check mailing lists and newgroups.
What's ironic about that is that I can't stand to use any systems where I can't check mailing lists or news groups. A plus to this may be that both types of support will be available.....if they pull it off.
Right now I am developing Unify Data Server applications using their own proprietary Accell/SQL language. The only documentation in the whole world seems to be in there shitty manual set. They are nearly worthless. I'd kill for a google search for info or examples on it to come back with pages that weren't either on Unify's site or an ad. It is so frustrating.
>Relying on an external project manager to gather requirements and define scope is usually disastrous.
You said it! This is the problem. Ther person who gathers the requirements is also our department head and he has no time. He's always in meetings and things and we get blown of constantly.
The department started out with only him and one other person. Now there are nine of us and things have grown beyond the ability of one person to both manage the department, take care of coporate needs and wants and funnel requirements our way. He is very reluctant to give up control and has made it pretty clear that he doesn't want us to talk to the people that actually need the software. Things are going to have to change soon or there is going to be a mutiny.
Sad but true.....
Boss: Go write some code that does some stuff
Me: Well what about this? I need this info.
Boss: Well just start working and we will fill that stuff in laster.
How the heck can I write good when I am hardly told what the application is supposed to do? So I write something, it doesn't take into account the missing details that I asked about. Those get defined two weeks after the thing is supposed to be done. The app turns out terrible and then the powers that be want to know why it has problems. It is incredibly frustrating.
Welcome to my world........
I agree. All of our assignments were handed in in hard copy form. No one even bothered to run them. You were given a data file and if your program produced correct output for that data all was well. It didn't matter how it behaved with the rest of the infinite number of inputs that were possible.
I don't even want to get into the level of cheating this encouraged. The worst part was the attitude of many in the faculty. I know someone who brought up the cheating to an instructor and this person actually rationalized it by saying, " Well people cheat in other departments too!"
I know of another instructor that told my friend to be proud of his 'B' because he earned it. Many of the people who got 'A's had cheated and the instructor seemed to be okay with it. It continues to make me sick to this day.
But the industry has dooped people so well that they believe there is really nothing wrong when software fails. They believe that it is just the way it is, that they should hit the reset button and get on with life.
Product testing costs money. The customer will buy it even if it is defective because 1. They don't know they have a choice, and 2. They don't really care that there's a problem. If a customer will buy it anyway why spend more money on testing? It reduces the bottom line and you can always fix the problems people actually complain about later.
Many companies today care little about integrity or the satisfaction of their customers as long as it doesn't have an effect on profits. In the software industry the cost of producing a product with fewer defects is greater than that of having a possibly unhappy customer.
I'm still getting several hundred attacks a day from which ever of the worms it was that would try and execute cmd.exe among other things. Code Red, Nimda, and Sircam all came out so close together I can't even remember which is which any more.
I don't see/here about too many rpc.statd attacks. Maybe I just know good admins.......
Working with users quiet a bit I've realized that no one knows how to work Windows either. I don't know about you but I get asked several times a day by co-workers if I have time to go to their homes and fix their computers or install new software on them. The truth is that what OS they run makes little difference to them as long as there is a geek around to help them out.
Also having worked at both a bank and a collection agency I've noticed that the software they use typically runs via a terminal program or via some kind of command line system. I'd imagine that the government isn't much different. For most real work a GUI just slows you down anyway.
Of course the government is pretty inefficient. Maybe they use a mouse for everything.
>If there's one thing gov't can do, it's spec the hell out of something. I don't think this would be a problem if they addressed it in earnest.
While this is true and I agree that this would be a good idea it is important to note that in the past thinking like this has resulted in things like Ada. =)
It sounds to me a little like they are whining because the system was too hard to hack. They went for an easier target. That sounds more like script kiddie behavior that of a hacker.
This is really surprising for me. I have Palm M100 that I bought almost two years ago and use constantly. It's been fantastic for the money spent on it. Palm's production standards must have dropped dramtically. It's really too bad. As an Address Book/Calendar it has really done a lot to make my life easier.
While I know that the BSDs use gcc as their compiler I am fairly certain that the most of the rest of the utilities are not actually written by GNU. The greatest evidence of this is the fact that the man pages don't suck like the ones that come with most anything GNU.
This is my favorite post of all time.
GNU/Good GNU/Work!
Squid or any other proxy software.
It's funny how some people can't recognize sarcasm when they read it.
It might be worth an ammendment though. =)
The University is a shit hole too. =)
The thing to be aware of is that the latest versions of Eudora, by default, use IE to read e-mail that contains HTML. It is the same control that outlook uses to view mail. If you don't turn it off Eudora will also automatically execute attachments if they exploit a vulnerability in IE.
p hp
On the bright side, you can switch it off and use Eudora's built in viewer.
http://www.iss.net/security_center/static/8609.
That's why I finally bought an Antec case that has a screwless slide off side panel and drive bays that can be removed with no tools. I can have the whole things pulled apart in less than a minute. Not only do I have easy access but my wife doesn't complain about all of the "naked" computers.
Of course the couple of P150s that I have lying around for firewalls are as naked as ever but they live in a heap in the corner.
Amen! Most of the money made by devopers is not made developing software that comes in a box from Best Buy.
I don't really see a problem with them shipping whatever software they want with their OS. I do see a problem if they discourage vendors from providing alternatives.
If it is wrong for them to bundle IE, is it wrong for them to bundle solitare? notepad?
I don't use Windows simply because it is an inferior product. I get frustrated every time I sit down at a computer that uses it. It is slow, it swaps constantly, reading the floppy drive stops windows from redrawing. It sucks in almost every respect.
But it does one important thing. It makes people believe that there computer is a simple, friendly tool. It is far from that in reality, but people believe it. If that friendly tool, bites them in the ass, they tell you to just turn it off and turn it back on. No big deal.
That is where Microsoft has done serious wrong, or some would say they have been brilliant. They've lied to people about the fact that a computer is a highly technical piece of equipment that takes a certain level of expertese to operate.
They've lied to all of us when it comes to usability, reliabilty, security, and a host of other things. And that's why I hope they hang. Not because they package a web browser with their OS.
Of course you could say similar things about many other big corporations. That doesn't make it right though.
The same model plextor CD-RW drive, one IDE, the other SCSI.....
The SCSI drive burned CDs in half the time.
My reason for having SCSI on my desktop is that I like to be able to play a game, copy, a CD and be downloading new RPMs in the background.
Anyone who uses their computer to do one task at a time will gain nothing from scsi. Anyone who multitasks will definitely notice a difference.
Agreed. Windows is an OS and a GUI intricately laced together. Linux is not a fair comparison. Mac OS is. Of course Mac OS doesn't have an integrated so my guess is that there is nothing that would have helped him with this question. Is that really the point?
Who cares if Windows comes with IE as long as one can install Mozilla? I think that point is that manufacturers should be able to bundle whatever additional software they want with Windows and Microsoft shouldn't go out of its way to make it more difficult for non-MS apps to work well. If it comes with IE, great, but Dell, should be able include Mozilla/Netscape if they'd like to.