Are you sure? To me, it sounds like they are running as a system service, which can have access to any file.
... and a user can apparently just run a system service to gain the same access as GDS does. If it's as simple as that and something undesirable, Windows really needs an overhaul in that area, not GDS in my opinion. It's a fully legitimate way to work with the OS, and wouldn't surprise me if numerous of Microsoft's services already do this too.
Hmm, maybe it's because the GDS indexing process runs with administrative rights and indexes other user's profile folders?:-/ That's at least the only way I can see this being a problem... Otherwise you just have a problem with your security settings on your computer.
"Software that tracks usage and reports it to others, such as advertisers. Usually the tracking is concealed from the user of the software."
It goes well with my personal thoughts about what spyware is.
Is it spyware because it doesn't obey user restrictions when scanning a hard drive?! Would seem like a totally new definition of spyware in that case. *confused*
well, it is mentioned here [microsoft.com], but yes, it should certainly be more prominent than that. that's the first example I could find after probably 10-15 minutes of looking.
Yeah, it's possibly mentioned on the web, but why not in their OS? Why not hide the admin account after a Windows install? Why not have a red bar at the top of the Windows screen saying "Warning: You are logged in as an administrator. Click here for the implications this cause"?
No one should need to be logged in like that except in very rare cases, like when upgrading system drivers. The annoying part is that Windows is nowadays a multi-user OS with personal user profiles and healthy amounts of file system and OS restrictions one can set. They just make use of them incredibly poorly for the average user, which needs some restrictions most of all because of their inexperience.
You are perhaps refering to a "root" account, which is non-existent by default.
Yes, I was referring to a root account, the equivalent of a Windows administrator account. As I said, it's unfortunate the Windows account isn't locked down as tightly as in other operating systems. It could be, Microsoft has numerous mechanisms to protect files and processes due to user restrictions in place, but I guess it's hard for them to change the way e.g. Windows Longhorn works since so many Windows applications are written assuming the user run with admin privilegies. It would probably be a trivial coding task for them to create a "User" account at Windows install and hide the "Administrator" account from the login screen; the problem lies elsewhere...
I got the impression it's "Third party software not Microsoft's fault, says Bill". A big question there. Of course, there's flaws in his logic since this software is sometimes (not at all always) let in by IE holes, but there's still a big difference from what he's saying here. It's these mistakes that spawned the "640K ought to be enough for anyone", I suppose.
Hrmmmm. Downloading third party software on my Macintosh does not seem to get me into trouble in the same manner as it does on Windows........Why is that Mr. Gates?
Because you haven't been downloading spyware and such things?
I mean, it's no secret that downloaded software ran under admin privilegies can do basically whatever it wish to your system, regardless if it's a Mac or not.
A big problem to me is that MS doesn't even *try* to tell that working in admin mode all the time is very bad.
At last! Intel realizes that.... Mhz do not always = performance!
Yes, but only when they have a hard time increasing the clock speed do they "realize" it. It's no coincidence they didn't say this during the days of 2 GHz Pentium's, but is doing it now... Always spend the minimum effort of improving the architecture when you can just crank up the clock speed and show your customers it's the best thing to do.
But I guess they've waited with this announcement (it was actually true since the day Intel designed their first microprocesor) because they dread the day when they have to start explaining how higher clock speeds aren't really everything.
I'm a Mac user, and this made me shrug. The next version of OSX due out (early next year I think) has this feature built-in. What's neat is it's integrated into the OS, and the APIs are exposed, so developers can easily take advantage of it.
Yeah, but it's not integrated in Google like this, and this is available now.:-) Two different products, this one still in beta, who knows which will end up better. I don't, but this one is certainly not poor enough to make me shrug, especially coming from one of the masters of search technology.
One of the shittiest bugs in even Firefox 1.0 PR is that it doesn't free memory from closed tabs properly. Period.
Yes, it's that bad and it means you'll have to restart Firefox after a while, even if you just have one tab open, if you don't want it to consume, say, 100 MB RAM.:-S
It can be fixed by minimizing it too, but I've noticed the memory usage quickly climbs back up when you restore it. Looks like Firefox has problems realizing what should be in the memory cache and what shouldn't.:-(
What valid reason does it have to connect at all? Updates?
Nowadays it's very common to do it for "talkback" reasons when a bug has caused the program to crash or something like that, so the company gets a stack trace to pinpoint problems that are hard to reproduce for a development team alone.
Windows XP does it, Mozilla Firefox does it, and so on.
Did you care to check what info it sends before putting on the tinfoil hat?:-)
Data doesn't automatically imply "data to identify you from a company out to get you" after all. Even if you get the impression from browsing Slashdot.:)
Yeah, or at least be able to set in some options dialog what it should index as plain text... Is about to check this out now, but I fear it won't index, say, *.bak, *.ini, or similar, just because it doesn't understand the extensions.:-(
Are we looking at the beginnings of a next-generation Microsoft-like empire?
Google can gain as much market shares as they wish, as long as they don't start forcing stuff upon users or imprisoning them in license agreements.
Google Web Search is their by far most used application and it's only so widely used because it's so good. They even try to keep ads from getting annoying.
Gmail is another recent major step forward into a new market, but they don't even want to give just about everyone access to that one yet.;-)
As opposed to Microsoft who would probably have had Gmail out of beta immediately and let the public be the beta testers.
I wonder if it's better than the award winning X1?
Just got it today, strange coincidence.
Will be interesting to compare them, and I recommend Windows users to check out X1 too. If you can bear with it updating its index the first time you run it (will take a few hours for it to index your files, but will run in the background), you might find it useful.
The government policy against the latter is only that it cannot be federally funded (since it uses the tax money from people who may oppose it, or so the claims go).
Heh, now that's a rare policy if true.
Like tax money from people is never otherwise used for something if they oppose it.
I've never understood what makes 3D environments better than 2D for applications and input devices made for 2D displays. In my opinion, the new spatial dimension you can move through is what makes it bad since it takes longer time to accomplish tasks.
Is it really more convenient to collaborate like this than just via a web conference or something?
Obviously someone see advantages here, or they wouldn't put so much effort into these projects.
So if you're doing C# and your foundations in OOP are rock-solid, there really isn't any difference whether you're coding C# or Java."
Yeah, except the entire API!
At least for me, it takes far longer time to learn and adapt to Microsoft's.NET API or vice versa than to learn a few simple language syntax differences.
Slashdot Mirror
Seems like more than enough.
I am finished indexing.
Huh?? What a strange conclusion...
The reason to stop being more exactly...?
Don't all software EULA's basically say "use at your own risk?"
Yes, they usually do... But one should take much greater care with beta software anyway.
Hmm, although I don't have a clue of how it could run with admin rights if launched by just a regular user. Hrm...
Hmm, maybe it's because the GDS indexing process runs with administrative rights and indexes other user's profile folders? :-/ That's at least the only way I can see this being a problem... Otherwise you just have a problem with your security settings on your computer.
Google Desktop Search Functions As Spyware
Where does the spyware part come from??
Here's one definition I found for it:
"Software that tracks usage and reports it to others, such as advertisers. Usually the tracking is concealed from the user of the software."
It goes well with my personal thoughts about what spyware is.
Is it spyware because it doesn't obey user restrictions when scanning a hard drive?!
Would seem like a totally new definition of spyware in that case. *confused*
well, it is mentioned here [microsoft.com], but yes, it should certainly be more prominent than that. that's the first example I could find after probably 10-15 minutes of looking.
Yeah, it's possibly mentioned on the web, but why not in their OS? Why not hide the admin account after a Windows install? Why not have a red bar at the top of the Windows screen saying "Warning: You are logged in as an administrator. Click here for the implications this cause"?
No one should need to be logged in like that except in very rare cases, like when upgrading system drivers. The annoying part is that Windows is nowadays a multi-user OS with personal user profiles and healthy amounts of file system and OS restrictions one can set. They just make use of them incredibly poorly for the average user, which needs some restrictions most of all because of their inexperience.
You are perhaps refering to a "root" account, which is non-existent by default.
Yes, I was referring to a root account, the equivalent of a Windows administrator account. As I said, it's unfortunate the Windows account isn't locked down as tightly as in other operating systems. It could be, Microsoft has numerous mechanisms to protect files and processes due to user restrictions in place, but I guess it's hard for them to change the way e.g. Windows Longhorn works since so many Windows applications are written assuming the user run with admin privilegies. It would probably be a trivial coding task for them to create a "User" account at Windows install and hide the "Administrator" account from the login screen; the problem lies elsewhere...
Mod article +5 Troll...
:-)
What other points would increase it to +5?
Funny?
A big question there.
_difference_
*drinks some coffee*
IE Holes Not Microsoft's Fault, Says Bill
I got the impression it's "Third party software not Microsoft's fault, says Bill". A big question there. Of course, there's flaws in his logic since this software is sometimes (not at all always) let in by IE holes, but there's still a big difference from what he's saying here. It's these mistakes that spawned the "640K ought to be enough for anyone", I suppose.
Hrmmmm. Downloading third party software on my Macintosh does not seem to get me into trouble in the same manner as it does on Windows........Why is that Mr. Gates?
Because you haven't been downloading spyware and such things?
I mean, it's no secret that downloaded software ran under admin privilegies can do basically whatever it wish to your system, regardless if it's a Mac or not.
A big problem to me is that MS doesn't even *try* to tell that working in admin mode all the time is very bad.
At last! Intel realizes that....
Mhz do not always = performance!
Yes, but only when they have a hard time increasing the clock speed do they "realize" it. It's no coincidence they didn't say this during the days of 2 GHz Pentium's, but is doing it now... Always spend the minimum effort of improving the architecture when you can just crank up the clock speed and show your customers it's the best thing to do.
But I guess they've waited with this announcement (it was actually true since the day Intel designed their first microprocesor) because they dread the day when they have to start explaining how higher clock speeds aren't really everything.
No thank you.
Yeah, let's not give anyone out non-personal info that can't get tied to you! It can be abu... no wait...
I'm a Mac user, and this made me shrug. The next version of OSX due out (early next year I think) has this feature built-in. What's neat is it's integrated into the OS, and the APIs are exposed, so developers can easily take advantage of it.
:-) Two different products, this one still in beta, who knows which will end up better. I don't, but this one is certainly not poor enough to make me shrug, especially coming from one of the masters of search technology.
Yeah, but it's not integrated in Google like this, and this is available now.
firefox takes up 41,392K
:-S
:-(
One of the shittiest bugs in even Firefox 1.0 PR is that it doesn't free memory from closed tabs properly. Period.
Yes, it's that bad and it means you'll have to restart Firefox after a while, even if you just have one tab open, if you don't want it to consume, say, 100 MB RAM.
It can be fixed by minimizing it too, but I've noticed the memory usage quickly climbs back up when you restore it. Looks like Firefox has problems realizing what should be in the memory cache and what shouldn't.
What valid reason does it have to connect at all? Updates?
Nowadays it's very common to do it for "talkback" reasons when a bug has caused the program to crash or something like that, so the company gets a stack trace to pinpoint problems that are hard to reproduce for a development team alone.
Windows XP does it, Mozilla Firefox does it, and so on.
Did you care to check what info it sends before putting on the tinfoil hat? :-)
:)
Data doesn't automatically imply "data to identify you from a company out to get you" after all. Even if you get the impression from browsing Slashdot.
Yeah, or at least be able to set in some options dialog what it should index as plain text... Is about to check this out now, but I fear it won't index, say, *.bak, *.ini, or similar, just because it doesn't understand the extensions. :-(
Are we looking at the beginnings of a next-generation Microsoft-like empire?
;-)
Google can gain as much market shares as they wish, as long as they don't start forcing stuff upon users or imprisoning them in license agreements.
Google Web Search is their by far most used application and it's only so widely used because it's so good. They even try to keep ads from getting annoying.
Gmail is another recent major step forward into a new market, but they don't even want to give just about everyone access to that one yet.
As opposed to Microsoft who would probably have had Gmail out of beta immediately and let the public be the beta testers.
I wonder if it's better than the award winning X1?
Just got it today, strange coincidence.
Will be interesting to compare them, and I recommend Windows users to check out X1 too. If you can bear with it updating its index the first time you run it (will take a few hours for it to index your files, but will run in the background), you might find it useful.
The government policy against the latter is only that it cannot be federally funded (since it uses the tax money from people who may oppose it, or so the claims go).
Heh, now that's a rare policy if true.
Like tax money from people is never otherwise used for something if they oppose it.
I've never understood what makes 3D environments better than 2D for applications and input devices made for 2D displays. In my opinion, the new spatial dimension you can move through is what makes it bad since it takes longer time to accomplish tasks.
Is it really more convenient to collaborate like this than just via a web conference or something?
Obviously someone see advantages here, or they wouldn't put so much effort into these projects.
I would personally be quite pissed that just to watch a movie, I would be out of touch for three hours. Not a good idea.
Then rent the DVD and stop annoying people at the movies if your personal life force you to annoy people at the movies.
So if you're doing C# and your foundations in OOP are rock-solid, there really isn't any difference whether you're coding C# or Java."
.NET API or vice versa than to learn a few simple language syntax differences.
Yeah, except the entire API!
At least for me, it takes far longer time to learn and adapt to Microsoft's