Obviously, if your only source of communication is public, you've got to be careful what you're saying, no matter the transmission method. But there is a big security difference between reading unencrypted files saved on a public machine, and building an inline sniffer device. The former can be done by any curious person who comes along. The latter requires know how and intent. You're talking the difference between hidden cameras in the shower, and public nudity.
A teach of mine told me that, back in the old mainframe and terminal days, when mass storage and computing were costly, students would be asked to buy keyboards. Owning a keyboard permitted you to use the mainframe at any terminal on campus.
This seems almost like the reverse idea. Build docking stations to fit the cube, and you can carry the COMPUTER with you. No need to worry about the privacy of your data, or the expense of a monitor. I could see where this could become VERY popular in Asia, where the resources to give each person their own computer aren't there yet.
Dude. Most people DON'T have control over their computer. Most people know a handful of functions in a handful of programs. Have you noticed the pleasant messages you get in XP when browsing the hard drive? Shit, I know a PROGRAMMER who can't live without his My Documents folders or the ability to save to a desktop.
To a userbase that doesn't know draconian DRM from fast alt-tab switching, what use is there in some alien system that provides them with security they don't care about in exchange for forcing them to relearn all of the crazy gibberish that they've come to accept in Windows? None. It's no use. DRM is as much a problem for these people as a fragmented hard drive...and Linux is as much a solution as waving a magnet in front of it.
has a much lower TCO than microsoft (and it really does... the cost of licensing Microsoft products alone makes this case).
Whoa. Hold on here. TCO means Total Cost of Ownership. The cost of licensing MS software may be high, but the whole idea of TCO is that this is only part of the picture. Whether it's the lion's share or not depends on the size of the transition, the organization involved, and whose numbers you trust.
Yes, you're right, if you're an enterprise with no ties to current software, a good IT budget and the budget to retrain your people, Linux is probably the way to go.
For us and our customers, the TCO issue is a big deal breaker. Because while we can offer then a Linux based solution for about $2300 less per installed machine, the TCO of maintaining that install is insurmountably massive due to a number of customer specific daily use Windows-only closed source applications, no IT budget to speak of, and a total resistance to any sort of change. It has taken us years to move our clients away from DOS, and we still take a majority of phone calls on how to do things like install a printer under Windows.
In our company, I very much wanted to use a Linux install on an old box for our firewall, so we could use the box running our Novell firewall for another use and saving us the cost of a new server. We don't have an IT staff...kind of a waste of cash for a business of 20 some odd folks. So all of our IT is either handled by multitaskers on our staff, or a trusted consultant. None of our trusted consultants know how to administer Linux, and are very resistant to doing so (I had one of them tell me "why eat hamburger when you could have steak." yeah, real enlightened). So, when I presented the idea, it was quickly struck down. See, a new server costs about $2000. If the "free" linux firewall ever broke, and I wasn't around to fix it, we'd have to hire an outside consultant. Rates would probably be over $100, so he'd have to be able to diagnose the problem in less than 20 hours. This is in addition to the loss of our internet connection, the loss of time looking for consultants, etc, not to mention the 8+ hours it took me to build the box. Alternatively, for me to train another guy here to be able to fix any of the things that MIGHT go wrong with Linux or IPChains (from a hard drive that needs fscking to diagnosing a bum ethernet card) would take at least a month -- and that's assuming I could find somebody willing to learn and with the time to play around on their own.
So even for such a simple, novel use of Linux, hidden costs easily beat out the feasibility. If I had a network of smart Linux guys, it would be different...but we can't even get 3 guys for a Slashdot Meetup in this area.
PS: A "segue" is a transition. A "segway" is a scooter.
When you say "quality," you seem to mean resolution. Resolution is only a small part of it. The quality people care about -- fixing red eye, cleaning up zits, repairing the washout caused by using a flash in a bright area -- is VERY easy to do with digital. And a smart staff of folks and EASY software are going to make that type of quality come home for people.
And you know? Even if it costs a few dollars more for fewer pictures, people would really like these features. I guarantee there'll be a demand for it.
Right...but they don't offer it in less than an hour. Most places only offer digitized pictures if you send it away for the "full processing." Digital throwaways offer it in minutes, and as part of the standard practice. And that's big if you're an ebayer...no need to wait three days to "get the film back" before selling!
Oh, and I am a liberal. Sorry I replied. But I guess there's little you can do about it, constitutional free speech and all;)
I dunno about film developers drying up. Right now it costs about $.40 per page to print full color pictures using decent ink at home. It takes a long time to print them, and even at the end, they aren't as good quality as images squeaked out of a nice dye sublimiation digital printer. Yes, the many of the petrochemical development labs will probably slowly disappear, but they'll be replaced by awesome printers with massive development rates. One hour photo? Try five minutes, and at much better quality!
Furthermore, most people are complete bufoons when it comes to digital photo software. Easy digital retouching labs, even ones that make the picture "smaller" (read: decrease the resolution), will be very useful to people like my moms who can't figure out which mouse buttom is the left one. My local photo hut will take your "digital film" and develop 4" prints on real Kodak paper by beaming the image onto it for the same price as regular development. When they pay off that machine, it'll be LESS than regular development.
Naw, photo labs aren't going anywhere. They're just going to be doing different work...and we'll get better pictures faster as a result.
Or maybe it's the CDs they offer along with the digital prints, perfect for somebody who wants to ebay something but doesn't own a digital camera.
Or maybe it's that downloading and printing the pictures takes less than 10 minutes and they're better quality than the one hour photolab. Certainly important if your friends are leaving on a flight and you want to give them pictures of their visit.
Or maybe it's that film is expensive and the chemicals are quite caustic and any mistakes in the process can result in garbage photos.
Or maybe it's that you can't overexpose a digital camera, thus eliminating the need for a dark room, and permitting anybody on the planet to process them. Even Habib's Convenience Mart on my corner has room for a printer...
Or maybe it's that digital cameras are smaller and lighter, since they need no room for film slots. Or that, eventually, they could sell 50 and 75 shot models without increasing the footprint. Some of these one shot flash cameras do not slip comfortably into your pocket...a digital has no excuse. Digital cameras are easier to waterproof as well.
You could be on to something with your digital retardation theory. But I believe there's a lot more to it than you realized.
Or for the same reason people use $9.99 35mm disposables: they are cheap to get in bulk, easy to have developed and are universally available. In exchange for this, you get embarassingly bad quality. You're not paying for a good camera, you're paying for developed pictures and convenience...with these, you're also getting a CD, which for your average mom & pop ebay team is a godsend.
But remember: this is a focus-free plastic lens on a 2 megapixel ccd and MAYBE 8 meg of ram, with a washed out flash and no way to recharge the batteries. Companies give better cameras than these away for promotions. If this is how you save money, I've got a good condition Mr. Microphone that's just perfect for use in your stereo system...
Of course, the purpose of a hack is not to save money. It's because it's fun to make stuff work in ways that were not intended. Otherwise, assholes like me wouldn't be installing leather seats in old Volkswagens or make Macintoshe SEs into wireless email stations...
Well, it's self censored, so you have to think that maybe the company releasing it wants to target the game at a younger audience and doesn't want the hassles involved with keeping a small addition to the gameplay like "jiggle."
Mai's bouncing is a big joke and I wished they'd left it in, because it's funny. The gunplay and tiny blood splatters really won't be missed. The KOF series has a history of being low on gore, has almost no killing and no disembowling at all. It's a competetive fighting game and that's why the players like it...it's by no means as extreme as Guilty Gear or Mortal Kombat. They make up for the lack of violence by enfusing the characters with more esoteric gimmicks...so instead of a team of killers, you have a team of really tough bisexual clones in vinyl pants.
King of Fighters is a REALLY tame game. If taking out some jiggly stuff is all it takes to get a T instead of the M that Beach Volleyball got (a game that is probably tamer than Pokemon Colloseum), i'm all for it. I don't even use Mai.
Actually, it's a masters, and it's in "Pompous Ass." A good major for people who want to be authoritarian, but don't want to go to the trouble of actually learning anything (see also MBA, MFA and any masters with "cultural studies" somewhere in the title).
I lost mine when I was thirteen. Granted, it was to a woman of my own design, but at least it was consensual...how many popular kids can say that!
Re:Preference for "geek" over "nerd"
on
We Are All Nerds Now
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I'd have to say that you have it completely ass backwards. Probably because you want to define yourself as a geek without feeling bad about it.
Both geeks and nerds are obsessive, but about different subjects. Geeks are obsessed with liberal arts topics, like films, books and other media. Nerds are obsessed with more technical concerns, such as science, math, and computers. There's a lot of crossover.
The obnoxious factor has nothing to do with being a geek or a nerd. Either can be quite cool...for example, Henry Rollins is a major geek, and Steve Jobs is a big nerd. Somebody who's obsessed with something to the point of obnoxiousness is a DORK. And you have to admit, there are dorks in all walks of like, not just geeky or nerdy fields. I've met dorky religious folks, dorky jocks, and plenty of dorky musicians.
Dorks like to refer to themselves as geeks because it's not cool to be obnoxious. You know, unless you're a stand up comic or a republican.
I spent two days as an engineering major at my school. My doctoral student TA was trying to teach us how to install a logic IC in a circuit board. It took about an hour to realize he didn't know how to do it. Neither did the TA he called for help.
It was at this point that I said, "hey, I already know how electronics work. I don't know how humans work." Presto! 4 sweet years of sociolinguistics, psychology and rhetorical theory...and I got $10 an hour to take other people's logic design tests.
Piss off. Tools don't make the 'tronics nerd, because real nerds use their TEETH. I kept my braces two years longer than I needed to because they were perfect for stripping kevlar insulated 16 guage single strand. You know. For 'boxing. The ironic skill, because if you're an effective 'boxer, you get free phone calls, and then have nobody to call.
And as for respectable nerds knowing less than 10% of the names...this is utter rubbish. Hello? Harry Knowles? Comic Book Guy? Trekkers who know all the guest stars and their entymology? IMDB itself is an extension of nerd aprocrypha.
I do own a pocket protector. Several, and a slide rule. I wore them in middle school as a badge of courage. I figured if I was going to get beat up for being on the math team (they still display the plaque from the 1991 Math Olympiad...Props to my homies from Team Graymalkin), I might as well solidify my identity.
Yeah. I have to find newer, geekier media to stay ahead of the norms and their "they might be giants" cds. Have you heard of Atom and his Package? MC Chris? B.E.N.E.F.I.T? Man, I'm on that hard ass Judy Tenuta shit now. Don't talk to me about the new O.K. Go or whatever. I don't care about your corporate geek rock!
Come back when you've read Miracleman and watched Mospeadea in the original Japanese. Poseurs.
Actually, the idea of this is that IE is not a program any more. It is a rendering engine with a front end. Since the rendering engine is a terribly useful thing, it SHOULD be part of the OS.
I believe they should remove the reliance on the front end (which is really where your viruses and exploits come from, anyway...the rendering engine doesn't do any more damage to your computer than any other set of widgets would). But removing "IE" because you don't want to get viruses is like removing the chassis of your car because your tires are flat. Get your ass some new tires and your problems are already solved. No registry hacking required.
which the short-sighted think are only to do with web browsers
You mean, like, half of the tin hats posting replying to this article?
Seriously, guys. Just because you don't read a patent and don't understand what you read doesn't mean they just patented basica algebra or something. MS had what in 1999 was a cool idea (whoa...like...programs in HTML...), patented it, and since then have improved on their own idea a dozen times. Or at least I think they call that "XP" mess an improvement...
Wow, what a meaningless post. You've effectively euphamized yourself into obscurity. Maybe you should take up marketting?
See, this is a patent on building a regular everyday desktop application that USES html as its interface and a form of scripting as its control. Why do that? Because HTML is a VERY effective and customizable information layout system. You can just stick bits and pieces any old place, and it looks good. Plus a lot of people know HTML...people who know know how to build a windows app;). Basically, any time you're writing an application that has more logic for display than it has for control, you'd be best served by writing it in HTA.
This doesn't give them the right to hunt people down. It just gives them a tiny little good idea in their pocket. Don't like it? Then make your HTML scripted desktop apps out of XML instead;).
Well, with all the kickass controls, flexibility, reliability and small footprint of apps written under the.NET framework, why would you bother writing something in HTA?
The other posters are right when they it's "another VBScript." They just don't understand why. See, the reason VBScript under Windows Scripting Host (that's what those "Kournikova.jpg..vbs" file run under) was so dangerous on the desktop was that it had a tiny footprint and could do extraordinary amounts of damage due to accessibilitity of the API. It was a very very useful little tool, because it could essentially access any part of the operatings system in a efficient fashion and did not need to be compiled. However, it didn't do much that you couldn't already do in VB in about the same amount of time, so it really didn't have a whole lot of popularity among programmers.
VBScript really only appealled to two sorts of people: those who needed a lot of powerful API access in a small footprint (e.g. virus writers and some really cunning IT folks), and those who already knew VBScript from its initial incarnation in ASP. In fact, you could actually get most of your ASP scripts to run on the desktop simply by changing a few of the references and the I/O method. Neat, huh? Well, it was neat back in 1998.
People who think VBScript was dangerous because of something inherent to the language don't really understand what it is. VBSCript is no more powerful, nor more dangerous, than perl or tcl or any scripting language in a unix like language. The difference was that when VBScript viruses were making their headway, most Windows PCs had been configured with the user running priviliged. And most users hadn't been trained NOT to open every attachment that came to them. Linux is quite vulnerable to these types of things...or would be, if 95% of the market used it and all of them were running as root.
Slashdot Mirror
ask yourself if you are paranoid enough.
Kid, you're paranoid enough for the both of us.
Obviously, if your only source of communication is public, you've got to be careful what you're saying, no matter the transmission method. But there is a big security difference between reading unencrypted files saved on a public machine, and building an inline sniffer device. The former can be done by any curious person who comes along. The latter requires know how and intent. You're talking the difference between hidden cameras in the shower, and public nudity.
A teach of mine told me that, back in the old mainframe and terminal days, when mass storage and computing were costly, students would be asked to buy keyboards. Owning a keyboard permitted you to use the mainframe at any terminal on campus.
This seems almost like the reverse idea. Build docking stations to fit the cube, and you can carry the COMPUTER with you. No need to worry about the privacy of your data, or the expense of a monitor. I could see where this could become VERY popular in Asia, where the resources to give each person their own computer aren't there yet.
Sure would make the old Tech Park Softball League more interesting.
Dude. Most people DON'T have control over their computer. Most people know a handful of functions in a handful of programs. Have you noticed the pleasant messages you get in XP when browsing the hard drive? Shit, I know a PROGRAMMER who can't live without his My Documents folders or the ability to save to a desktop.
To a userbase that doesn't know draconian DRM from fast alt-tab switching, what use is there in some alien system that provides them with security they don't care about in exchange for forcing them to relearn all of the crazy gibberish that they've come to accept in Windows? None. It's no use. DRM is as much a problem for these people as a fragmented hard drive...and Linux is as much a solution as waving a magnet in front of it.
has a much lower TCO than microsoft (and it really does... the cost of licensing Microsoft products alone makes this case).
Whoa. Hold on here. TCO means Total Cost of Ownership. The cost of licensing MS software may be high, but the whole idea of TCO is that this is only part of the picture. Whether it's the lion's share or not depends on the size of the transition, the organization involved, and whose numbers you trust.
Yes, you're right, if you're an enterprise with no ties to current software, a good IT budget and the budget to retrain your people, Linux is probably the way to go.
For us and our customers, the TCO issue is a big deal breaker. Because while we can offer then a Linux based solution for about $2300 less per installed machine, the TCO of maintaining that install is insurmountably massive due to a number of customer specific daily use Windows-only closed source applications, no IT budget to speak of, and a total resistance to any sort of change. It has taken us years to move our clients away from DOS, and we still take a majority of phone calls on how to do things like install a printer under Windows.
In our company, I very much wanted to use a Linux install on an old box for our firewall, so we could use the box running our Novell firewall for another use and saving us the cost of a new server. We don't have an IT staff...kind of a waste of cash for a business of 20 some odd folks. So all of our IT is either handled by multitaskers on our staff, or a trusted consultant. None of our trusted consultants know how to administer Linux, and are very resistant to doing so (I had one of them tell me "why eat hamburger when you could have steak." yeah, real enlightened). So, when I presented the idea, it was quickly struck down. See, a new server costs about $2000. If the "free" linux firewall ever broke, and I wasn't around to fix it, we'd have to hire an outside consultant. Rates would probably be over $100, so he'd have to be able to diagnose the problem in less than 20 hours. This is in addition to the loss of our internet connection, the loss of time looking for consultants, etc, not to mention the 8+ hours it took me to build the box. Alternatively, for me to train another guy here to be able to fix any of the things that MIGHT go wrong with Linux or IPChains (from a hard drive that needs fscking to diagnosing a bum ethernet card) would take at least a month -- and that's assuming I could find somebody willing to learn and with the time to play around on their own.
So even for such a simple, novel use of Linux, hidden costs easily beat out the feasibility. If I had a network of smart Linux guys, it would be different...but we can't even get 3 guys for a Slashdot Meetup in this area.
PS: A "segue" is a transition. A "segway" is a scooter.
When you say "quality," you seem to mean resolution. Resolution is only a small part of it. The quality people care about -- fixing red eye, cleaning up zits, repairing the washout caused by using a flash in a bright area -- is VERY easy to do with digital. And a smart staff of folks and EASY software are going to make that type of quality come home for people.
And you know? Even if it costs a few dollars more for fewer pictures, people would really like these features. I guarantee there'll be a demand for it.
Right...but they don't offer it in less than an hour. Most places only offer digitized pictures if you send it away for the "full processing." Digital throwaways offer it in minutes, and as part of the standard practice. And that's big if you're an ebayer...no need to wait three days to "get the film back" before selling!
;)
Oh, and I am a liberal. Sorry I replied. But I guess there's little you can do about it, constitutional free speech and all
I dunno about film developers drying up. Right now it costs about $.40 per page to print full color pictures using decent ink at home. It takes a long time to print them, and even at the end, they aren't as good quality as images squeaked out of a nice dye sublimiation digital printer. Yes, the many of the petrochemical development labs will probably slowly disappear, but they'll be replaced by awesome printers with massive development rates. One hour photo? Try five minutes, and at much better quality!
Furthermore, most people are complete bufoons when it comes to digital photo software. Easy digital retouching labs, even ones that make the picture "smaller" (read: decrease the resolution), will be very useful to people like my moms who can't figure out which mouse buttom is the left one. My local photo hut will take your "digital film" and develop 4" prints on real Kodak paper by beaming the image onto it for the same price as regular development. When they pay off that machine, it'll be LESS than regular development.
Naw, photo labs aren't going anywhere. They're just going to be doing different work...and we'll get better pictures faster as a result.
Or maybe it's the CDs they offer along with the digital prints, perfect for somebody who wants to ebay something but doesn't own a digital camera.
Or maybe it's that downloading and printing the pictures takes less than 10 minutes and they're better quality than the one hour photolab. Certainly important if your friends are leaving on a flight and you want to give them pictures of their visit.
Or maybe it's that film is expensive and the chemicals are quite caustic and any mistakes in the process can result in garbage photos.
Or maybe it's that you can't overexpose a digital camera, thus eliminating the need for a dark room, and permitting anybody on the planet to process them. Even Habib's Convenience Mart on my corner has room for a printer...
Or maybe it's that digital cameras are smaller and lighter, since they need no room for film slots. Or that, eventually, they could sell 50 and 75 shot models without increasing the footprint. Some of these one shot flash cameras do not slip comfortably into your pocket...a digital has no excuse. Digital cameras are easier to waterproof as well.
You could be on to something with your digital retardation theory. But I believe there's a lot more to it than you realized.
Or for the same reason people use $9.99 35mm disposables: they are cheap to get in bulk, easy to have developed and are universally available. In exchange for this, you get embarassingly bad quality. You're not paying for a good camera, you're paying for developed pictures and convenience...with these, you're also getting a CD, which for your average mom & pop ebay team is a godsend.
But remember: this is a focus-free plastic lens on a 2 megapixel ccd and MAYBE 8 meg of ram, with a washed out flash and no way to recharge the batteries. Companies give better cameras than these away for promotions. If this is how you save money, I've got a good condition Mr. Microphone that's just perfect for use in your stereo system...
Of course, the purpose of a hack is not to save money. It's because it's fun to make stuff work in ways that were not intended. Otherwise, assholes like me wouldn't be installing leather seats in old Volkswagens or make Macintoshe SEs into wireless email stations...
Well, it's self censored, so you have to think that maybe the company releasing it wants to target the game at a younger audience and doesn't want the hassles involved with keeping a small addition to the gameplay like "jiggle."
Mai's bouncing is a big joke and I wished they'd left it in, because it's funny. The gunplay and tiny blood splatters really won't be missed. The KOF series has a history of being low on gore, has almost no killing and no disembowling at all. It's a competetive fighting game and that's why the players like it...it's by no means as extreme as Guilty Gear or Mortal Kombat. They make up for the lack of violence by enfusing the characters with more esoteric gimmicks...so instead of a team of killers, you have a team of really tough bisexual clones in vinyl pants.
King of Fighters is a REALLY tame game. If taking out some jiggly stuff is all it takes to get a T instead of the M that Beach Volleyball got (a game that is probably tamer than Pokemon Colloseum), i'm all for it. I don't even use Mai.
Come one man. You know you've seen this.
From my heart and from my hands, why don't people understand my intentions?
Actually, it's a masters, and it's in "Pompous Ass." A good major for people who want to be authoritarian, but don't want to go to the trouble of actually learning anything (see also MBA, MFA and any masters with "cultural studies" somewhere in the title).
I lost mine when I was thirteen. Granted, it was to a woman of my own design, but at least it was consensual...how many popular kids can say that!
I'd have to say that you have it completely ass backwards. Probably because you want to define yourself as a geek without feeling bad about it.
Both geeks and nerds are obsessive, but about different subjects. Geeks are obsessed with liberal arts topics, like films, books and other media. Nerds are obsessed with more technical concerns, such as science, math, and computers. There's a lot of crossover.
The obnoxious factor has nothing to do with being a geek or a nerd. Either can be quite cool...for example, Henry Rollins is a major geek, and Steve Jobs is a big nerd. Somebody who's obsessed with something to the point of obnoxiousness is a DORK. And you have to admit, there are dorks in all walks of like, not just geeky or nerdy fields. I've met dorky religious folks, dorky jocks, and plenty of dorky musicians.
Dorks like to refer to themselves as geeks because it's not cool to be obnoxious. You know, unless you're a stand up comic or a republican.
That's because UNIX is a tool of DORKS.
Even nerds have standards, man.
Fuck, that explains it!
/porn share so full!
I thought it might be paralyzing social fear. But it's the karma whoring that leaves my dance card so empty, and my
I spent two days as an engineering major at my school. My doctoral student TA was trying to teach us how to install a logic IC in a circuit board. It took about an hour to realize he didn't know how to do it. Neither did the TA he called for help.
It was at this point that I said, "hey, I already know how electronics work. I don't know how humans work." Presto! 4 sweet years of sociolinguistics, psychology and rhetorical theory...and I got $10 an hour to take other people's logic design tests.
Piss off. Tools don't make the 'tronics nerd, because real nerds use their TEETH. I kept my braces two years longer than I needed to because they were perfect for stripping kevlar insulated 16 guage single strand. You know. For 'boxing. The ironic skill, because if you're an effective 'boxer, you get free phone calls, and then have nobody to call.
And as for respectable nerds knowing less than 10% of the names...this is utter rubbish. Hello? Harry Knowles? Comic Book Guy? Trekkers who know all the guest stars and their entymology? IMDB itself is an extension of nerd aprocrypha.
I do own a pocket protector. Several, and a slide rule. I wore them in middle school as a badge of courage. I figured if I was going to get beat up for being on the math team (they still display the plaque from the 1991 Math Olympiad...Props to my homies from Team Graymalkin), I might as well solidify my identity.
Yeah. I have to find newer, geekier media to stay ahead of the norms and their "they might be giants" cds. Have you heard of Atom and his Package? MC Chris? B.E.N.E.F.I.T? Man, I'm on that hard ass Judy Tenuta shit now. Don't talk to me about the new O.K. Go or whatever. I don't care about your corporate geek rock!
Come back when you've read Miracleman and watched Mospeadea in the original Japanese. Poseurs.
Fuck you, man. I'm not gonna change. I was a nerd BEFORE it was cool!
Actually, the idea of this is that IE is not a program any more. It is a rendering engine with a front end. Since the rendering engine is a terribly useful thing, it SHOULD be part of the OS.
I believe they should remove the reliance on the front end (which is really where your viruses and exploits come from, anyway...the rendering engine doesn't do any more damage to your computer than any other set of widgets would). But removing "IE" because you don't want to get viruses is like removing the chassis of your car because your tires are flat. Get your ass some new tires and your problems are already solved. No registry hacking required.
which the short-sighted think are only to do with web browsers
You mean, like, half of the tin hats posting replying to this article?
Seriously, guys. Just because you don't read a patent and don't understand what you read doesn't mean they just patented basica algebra or something. MS had what in 1999 was a cool idea (whoa...like...programs in HTML...), patented it, and since then have improved on their own idea a dozen times. Or at least I think they call that "XP" mess an improvement...
Wow, what a meaningless post. You've effectively euphamized yourself into obscurity. Maybe you should take up marketting?
;). Basically, any time you're writing an application that has more logic for display than it has for control, you'd be best served by writing it in HTA.
;).
See, this is a patent on building a regular everyday desktop application that USES html as its interface and a form of scripting as its control. Why do that? Because HTML is a VERY effective and customizable information layout system. You can just stick bits and pieces any old place, and it looks good. Plus a lot of people know HTML...people who know know how to build a windows app
This doesn't give them the right to hunt people down. It just gives them a tiny little good idea in their pocket. Don't like it? Then make your HTML scripted desktop apps out of XML instead
Well, with all the kickass controls, flexibility, reliability and small footprint of apps written under the .NET framework, why would you bother writing something in HTA?
The other posters are right when they it's "another VBScript." They just don't understand why. See, the reason VBScript under Windows Scripting Host (that's what those "Kournikova.jpg..vbs" file run under) was so dangerous on the desktop was that it had a tiny footprint and could do extraordinary amounts of damage due to accessibilitity of the API. It was a very very useful little tool, because it could essentially access any part of the operatings system in a efficient fashion and did not need to be compiled. However, it didn't do much that you couldn't already do in VB in about the same amount of time, so it really didn't have a whole lot of popularity among programmers.
VBScript really only appealled to two sorts of people: those who needed a lot of powerful API access in a small footprint (e.g. virus writers and some really cunning IT folks), and those who already knew VBScript from its initial incarnation in ASP. In fact, you could actually get most of your ASP scripts to run on the desktop simply by changing a few of the references and the I/O method. Neat, huh? Well, it was neat back in 1998.
People who think VBScript was dangerous because of something inherent to the language don't really understand what it is. VBSCript is no more powerful, nor more dangerous, than perl or tcl or any scripting language in a unix like language. The difference was that when VBScript viruses were making their headway, most Windows PCs had been configured with the user running priviliged. And most users hadn't been trained NOT to open every attachment that came to them. Linux is quite vulnerable to these types of things...or would be, if 95% of the market used it and all of them were running as root.