Actually, one of the barriers to mod_perl use is that mod_perl by default does *not* provide transparent wrapping of CGI programs. It can be made to do so using PerlRun modules but I think it's just a case that a documentation needs to be more prominent about this fact that vanilla Apache::Registry scripts behave significantly different from CGI. Perhaps the documentation should advertise more the PerlRun modules (etc) that do give transparent CGI wrapping. I like many others have fallen into the trap of just blindly switching a script from CGI to mod_perl and bitten by many of the (documented) issues if you bother to RTFM which of course I didn't at first =)
Now that I know mod_perl indepth, the parent is correct in the immense flexibility of mod_perl with its ability to directly interface with Apache. Something you won't be able to do ever with CGI or even PHP.
And about You can write whole content management systems using mod_perl, and in fact many have. Of course the CMS running here at Slashdot is powered by Slashcode which runs under Apache/mod_perl.
And the infamous anecdote is that any such ensign wearing RED is the one that inevitably gets killed! Don't believe me? Check those old TOS episodes again....
1) BBC in the UK have two channels (BBC1 and BBC2). IMHO, they are the best channels in the world in terms of content *and* they don't sport any commercials whatever. They make their money through television licenses. Whether this system is good for all or not is highly debatable (state run televsion) but is nevertheless a half option
2) What upsets many people is that people *pay* cable/satellite to view their television *and* be forced to watch ads. If ads disappear, the corollary is that subscription prices will increase in conformance with market forces to make up the revenue and cover costs. Some would say that's not a bad thing to pay just for the tele. Me, I don't mind watching television ads, there aren't so many in the UK (ads appear only every 15 minutes here for 3 minutes typically) and sometimes it is entertaining or I learn something. Of course, this latter point is highly subjective!
You're right in everything you say. Unfortunately, it's the Windoze code that is putting the text into the buffer when the WM_PASTE is issued, not you. You only get to know about it *after* it has been put into the buffer with some windows event.
If we wanna get real technical, Windoze *does* do a range check on the text box buffer on WM_PASTE... unfortunately, the previous window message set the buffer length to 4GB! You can't account for such code, hence it is not industry standard (or any standard for that matter) to check the text buffer on every change event since it is outside your code's juristiction
By the same token, is it a UNIX or Linux vulnerability if I run an insecure daemon suid root and someone buffer overflows it to get root privs? There is a similarity and a distinction. The similarity is that yes, Mc Afee shouldn't make its service interact with the desktop. (Sidenote: Coulda sworn you could disable desktop interactivity... maybe it should be forced). The distinction is that *any* such app, no matter how well written is vulnerable.
Maybe it's just me, but I automatically check length whenever I do ANYTHING with a buffer Same here but nobody a range check for *every* single text box you have on every *keypress* event. It's not even an industry standard to do that. That makes this buffer overflow is far more subtle than most.
Re:What a load of tripe.
on
Shattering Windows
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Sorry, I disagree with many of your comments here. While you've successfully tried to be objective without flamebait, some of the facts you have aren't true. I will try to be equally objective
This isn't a Win32 vulnerability, it's a Virusscan vuln It is a Win32 vulnerability in that it is even possible to have this kind of elevation of priveleges by "poorly written" services. Basically, any system service that interacts with the desktop is vulnerable (virus scanners). McAfee interacts with the desktop. This is bad too.
Viruscan's GUI is very poorly written and doesn't check for a maximum length on a text box's input It does, it has a set a maxlength of 4. Unfortunately, the vulnerability allows this to be bypassed. I'm sure the GUI will complain when you press the OK button but since we never get that far, the app never gets a chance to check the length change.
He then sends it a WM_TIMER message to trigger it... but, there's two simple ways to defend against it That's good practice but the real problem is where you comment yourself... And if I'm not using it, special-case it so that it doesn't fall through to DefWindowProc(). It's too much to ask any app that doesn't use WM_TIMER to put in this handler in all their apps. Further, I bet WM_TIMER isn't the only message he could use to trigger code.
Seriously, all this guy is doing is buffer overflowing a poorly written program to get Administrator privs Not any poorly written program but all desktop interactive services in existance.
Ya know, I can buffer overflow a poorly written suid app too Fortunately, the community tends to be able to fix these things by patching the source. There is no fix for this problem
This guy's just trying to sell himself OK, I will agree with you here... a little
Maybe I should write a system service that subclasses MSIE's WndProc No no no... you've cheated. As a system service, you already have priveleges. The exercise of this paper was to do with with Guest priveleges
Contrary to what the writer believes, all messages must go through the queue.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that PostMessage puts a message on the queue whereas SendMessage skips the queue and gets handled straight by the application without examination. Of course, an application could handle every message but in practice 99% of applications will leave the default windows handling of most messages. (Handling all manually is not feasible).
cap the WPARAM at some small value I think you misunderstand that. WPARAM is a fixed size double word (4 bytes). The problems is that it is often used as a pointer to a memory location. Obviously, you can't cap the target of a pointer since no information is possed in the length
Most applications won't use the callback feature of WM_TIMER anyway AFAIK, if you don't handle the callback feature (99% of apps), you get the default handling which is to execute the code as the article describes
Are you saying that instead of having one set of rules, we should have several that depend on the size of your organization and the amount of power it wields?
Yes!! And that is the way things work in most "free market" countries work. If an organisation has so much power that it is a monopoly (and there is usually a strict definition for that) then it comes under special monopoly rules. Such rules are in place because a monopoly has powers that normal competitors have not, such as forcing competitors out of a market using various tactics (loss leading etc)
I'm curious as to other's views on this - I've just come to associate use of regular expressions with flakey or hastily written software.
Hehe, ok, I'll be objective but some personal opinions reign. Must of this is from my personal experience, not text book stuff
Text processing - why isn't your text marked up?
Text processing forms the heart and soul of regexps. As you say, any brainful system should never pass text requiring regexps between systems (use markup, structs, whatever). However, at some point, there is usually raw input beyond your control, be it CGI input, keyboard input, non-markup input from a system beyond your control. That's where regexps are used the most (all of ?) the time for me.
Parsing - how many times have you encountered a HTML or XML parser written with a regexpr?
Parsing is the next level beyond regexps. You start with the specificatio and let the implementation arrive from it, like any much good development. Indeed, any "parsing" of large well specified documents (XML, HTML etc) are probably best done by proper parsers. But sometimes, you don't have well specified input at all, or you are just searching for bits out of a document. Now we are back to adhoc text processing where regexps rule. Also, parsers are overkill when we are doing small processing such as reading numeric input.
(My IMHO) Conclusion: There is some grey (and for me, not a thin) line between text processing and parsers, where you should use regexps or not.
Development
A good regexp programmer knows what he is regexping for before he starts. I invariably get things right first time. That they try to parse something that has a specification (email address) without reading the RFC is stupid.
Now here is the distinction. If something is well specified, there is invariably a perl module to handle it using whatever optimum (hopefully) method is available (XML::Parser, Email::Valid). Regexps are where we are not dealing with standard specifications, perhaps non-formatted data and thus where parsers may not work. And in those cases, withour regexps, you'd be in a very lost world and that's perhaps why they are preached so much.
This is complete news to me that my "oldworld" Power PC here is capable of running Linux! I was equally surprised the YDL is not unusual in supporting Macs but Mandrake and the like happily support PowerPC too.
I'm a happy Mandrake-on-intel-laptop user. So any suggestions on what I need to consider when deciding whether to put, say, Mandrake or YDL on this power pc? My only thoughts are that Mandrake has advantages in familiarity and it's well known user-friendliness wherease YDL gets the plus for being specifically targetted at the Macintosh and may be easier to set-up and use
Also bear in mind that I'll be half doing this to convert my mum to Linux. If I can do that, I know Linux will be ready for the "mum" world of users
I imagine there is virtually no contest between OSX and YDL. However, I have a PowerPC-8500/120 box with a G3 processor upgrade sitting next to me which I'm pretty sure can't run OSX
The poor thing runs Mac OS 8.1 and is horribly buggy and unstable. If YDL can run on this and still be able to access the scanner and network printer, I think this could be a definite upgrade! Of course, the downside is that the ole Mac apps like QuarkXPress and Photoshop (user is a semi-retired freelance art director) won't be able to run so if real work is needed, the ole dual boot may be needed
But please correct me if I'm wrong with any of this (or provide suggestions!)
... there was a great king who desired to give
a State Dinner for a few thousand of his closest friends. He called in his Chief Artisan
and informed him of the dinner plans. The king described how he wanted the finest table
settings, all in gold and encrusted with intricately carved jewels. The Chief Artisan did
some sketches and agreed with the king on what the settings would be like. They agreed to
meet again in a few weeks and look at the schedule for production of the table settings.
A few weeks went by, and the Chief Artisan came to report.
He showed the king a time schedule showing creation of prototype settings, review by the
king, and production of the final table settings. The schedule showed that the settings
would be finished in November, but the king preferred to have the party in October, when
the weather would still be fine. The Chief Artisan agreed to adjust things for completion
by October before the next meeting.
On schedule, the Chief Artisan appeared with prototypes, and
a revised schedule for production, showing completion by October. The Chief Artisan also
recommended that they meet at regular intervals to check progress. The king reviewed the
prototypes, which the Artisan had simplified because of the shorter deadline. The king
requested more cherubs on the plates, more beautiful carving on the embedded jewels, and
more complex scrollwork on the knives and forks. The Chief Artisan protested that these
new features would jeopardize the schedule, but the king reminded him who was king and who
wasn't. The Chief Artisan withdrew.
At the next project review, things were measurably behind.
There were too few jewels ready, so that the plates were not complete, and there were far
too few knives and forks done. The king demanded that the artisans work harder. The Chief
Artisan protested, but the king again reminded him of their relative positions. The king
demanded additional reviews, even more frequently than already agreed to.
At the next review, not much more was done. The king
insisted on visiting the shop to see what was being done. The next day he arrived. The
artisans were a bit nervous, but they knew their arts and mostly continued with their
normal efforts.
"What is that man doing?" asked the king, pointing out an obvious slacker.
"He is resting his eyes and hands, O King,"
replied the Chief Artisan.
"An egregious and insulting waste of Our time,"
declaimed the king. "They should rest at night, not while working."
"It shall be as you say, O King," answered the
Chief Artisan.
"And that man over there," asked the king,
"what is he doing?"
"He is sharpening his tools, O King."
"Again a waste of Our time. No wonder you are
accomplishing so little. Henceforth, tools are to be sharpened at night, not on the
job."
"As you wish, O King," sighed the Chief Artisan.
They parted until the next review.
Halfway to the next review, the Chief Artisan sent to the
Chief Steward, requesting some new apprentices to help with the work, specifically with
sharpening the tools. The Steward, mindful of the King's budget, solved the problem
in the age-old way of Stewards, by not replying to the request.
At the next review, more work was in fact completed. The
king inspected the pile of completed plates and utensils. At first he smiled in
satisfaction, but as he looked more closely his smile turned to a frown. "These
plates," he growled, "the cherubs are rough, not fine, as were the earlier
plates. Our guests will not be suitably impressed if this is the best you can do."
"The work is rough, O King, due to the use of dull
tools, as you commanded."
"We did not command you to do poor work, Artisan, We
commanded you not to waste time!"
"O King," the Artisan explained, "just as
Your Majesty cannot have a good party without good food and settings, my artisans cannot
create good art with dull tools."
"Must We tell you everything?" screamed the king.
"Have someone else sharpen the tools!"
"I have requested new apprentices for just that
purpose, O King, but the Steward has not responded to my request."
The king roared, "Do not bother Us with these internal
matters, Artisan. We are the king. Allow the artisans to sharpen their tools as needed:
but they must make up the time by working overtime."
"It shall be as you say, O King," responded the
Chief Artisan glumly.
The king returned to the inspection. Soon, he was again
enraged. "These plates, many of them do not yet have their carved jewels. What is
wrong here?"
"There has been increased spoilage of jewels, O
King," replied the Chief.
"What is causing this," boomed the king, "Are
your people so completely incompetent?"
"With all due respect, O King, jewel carving is a
delicate task. Without frequent rest periods, the carvers eyes tire and their hands shake,
resulting in spoiled work."
"You tiny fool," boomed the king. "you must
punish the workers who spoil my precious jewels. Clearly they are not being careful
enough."
"It shall be so," bowed the Chief Artisan.
At the next inspection, the king swept into the area filled
with suspicion and with a visible air of challenge. When he saw that quality was improved
in the carving he calmed a little, and when he saw that most of the plates had their
jewels, he became almost happy. Then, however, he counted the stacks of completed work and
found that while quality was up, not as much work was completed.
"What are you doing wrong now, Artisan? Must you
yourself be punished?"
"O King," replied the Chief, "several of my
key artisans have become ill from the punishments You ordered and cannot work. As well, a
few have left the kingdom and gone to the neighboring kingdom, saying that their work will
be more appreciated there. As a result, we have fewer workers and can produce less
work."
"We ordered that your artisans work overtime,"
roared the king, "has there been no improvement from this?"
"In fact the reverse has happened, O King. Again, there
have been those who have left the kingdom in search of a place where they will be more
appreciated. Those who remain are mostly from the lower ranks, and while they are
energetic, they lack the experience to do the work you require. And as they tire from
overtime, again there has been spoilage and lost work."
"This is unacceptable! We are most disappointed in you,
Artisan. Return to your quarters and await our decision as to your fate." The Chief
Artisan withdrew, certain that his days were at an end.
The king was mightily concerned. The Chief Artisan had
failed him, and surely must die. Yet the State Dinner was important and the settings must
be completed. And, though the king hated to admit it, the Artisan had tried mightily to do
as he was commanded. The king decided to consult his Wizard, who had been his mentor and
sounding board since his youth.
Before he could summon a messenger, a loud explosion and a
cloud of smoke announced the arrival of the Wizard. It was said that the Wizard always
knew when people thought upon him.
After jumping a bit, the king wasted no time. He described
the events surrounding the dinner, then stated his concern. "Wizard, it seems to me
that the Chief Artisan has disobeyed me and must die. And yet, do not We bear some of the
blame for the problem through Our inability to advise him properly? And in any case,
without the Chief, how can Our artisans possibly prepare for the dinner?"
The Wizard reached up and plucked a pigeon from thin air.
Drawing his dagger he contemplated viewing the pigeon's entrails for insight, only
just in time remembering that he was in the throne room. Stuffing the pigeon into one of
his capacious pockets, he instead snapped his fingers, producing a brief flash of flame
followed by a plume of smoke. He observed the smoke as it dissipated, discerning patterns
that only he could see. At last he turned back to the king.
"Majesty, I have long studied these problems and can
offer some insights. There are four, and only four, Aspects of work which we must
consider. And these I call Resources, Scope, Quality, and Time. Immutable laws of nature
relate these Aspects. Let us consider them and how they are related."
The Wizard went on: "I call the work Your Majesty
demands, the sum of all tasks, Scope."
"A curious name, Wizard, but I am familiar with your
arcane ways. Go on," said the king.
"Consider now the Resources: the number of artisans
Your Majesty has. If an artisan be lost, shall the work, or Scope, increase or
decrease?"
"It depends on whether the lost artisan be good or bad,
and what responsibility he has been given," answered the king.
"You are wise, O King. Yet Your artisans are quite
capable, as You justly require, and surely they divide responsibilities generally wisely.
That being so, what then shall be the result of reducing the Resources?"
"We still demand what We demand. And the work must be
of the highest Quality. Then it must take more Time," answered the king thoughtfully.
The Wizard nodded. "Just so, O King. If Scope and
Quality change not, and Resource is reduced, then Time will stretch out. Wise you
are."
The Wizard continued: "Now, O King, consider what must
happen if we hold the Resource constant and demand that the artisans produce the same work
in less time. What will then occur?"
"They will labor harder so as to please Our
Majesty?" the king asked hopefully.
"This has been Your Majesty's experience?"
asked the Wizard slyly.
"No," the king admitted, "although they
tried. At first it appeared to be working, but overall they got less done, and when We
demanded more output, the work itself was poor. Working them harder only resulted in poor
results, and some key artisans actually fled the kingdom."
"Can you put this in terms of Scope and Quality, O
King?"
"Let me think, Wizard. Ah, I see it... if Resource
and Scope remain the same and Time is reduced, then Quality must inevitably be
reduced."
"Yes, O King," agreed the Wizard.
"But this is unacceptable," cried the king.
"The goods we receive must be of the highest Quality!"
"Then, Majesty, what can be done?" asked the
Wizard.
Thinking, the king gazed out upon his kingdom. "Your
questions are challenging, Wizard. But let me think, I can see through this maze of yours.
Wait, I have it! You would have me realize that even I, your king, cannot dictate all four
of these Aspects. If I hold Resource, Time, and Quality to myself, then Nature controls
Scope. And yet if I hold Resource, Quality and Scope, then Nature must control Time. Is
this your lesson?"
The Wizard replied, "You speak wisely, O King. It is as
you say. Your artisans are serving you well within the limitations given. They will apply
their skills to their best ability at all times, but they cannot change this law of
nature."
"Can I then do nothing, can I have no idea what will be
accomplished, or when?" cried the king.
"Not so, O King. In his work, Your Artisan well
understands the relationship between the Aspects. If You will tell him Your wishes
regarding three, he can estimate the value of the fourth. And though events may change the
results in detail, he can keep You informed of progress against his estimate, in time for
You to prepare for the outcome. If You work with him on the Aspects, he can progress most
effectively, and You can guide him effectively to the best result."
"Well done, Wizard. You have assisted Your king, and in
the doing saved the life of the Chief Artisan."
With this, the king turned to dismiss the Wizard, only to
find that he was already gone. Shrugging, the king summoned the Chief Artisan.
The Chief Artisan entered the room expecting the worst, yet
knowing in his heart that he and his workers had been doing their best. Trembling but
erect, he awaited the king's word.
"Fear not, Artisan," the king began. "I now
see what you have been trying to tell me. I rely now upon you to tell me how best to
prepare for the dinner I have in mind. Be aware, however, that the invitations are out and
I cannot bend on the date. Would more artisans help?"
The Chief thought briefly, then produced his answer.
"We might improve by adding a small number of artisans, but this will have little
effect in the time left, or may even slow us down as we teach them our methods."
The king began to glower, then remembered what he had
learned. "What, then, do you recommend, Artisan. I know that you desire only to serve
as best you can."
"It is so, O King. Here is my solution. We cannot much
change our Resources, and the Time is given. Your Majesty must have the highest Quality,
which leaves us with only Scope to vary."
"You use terms which I have only today learned,
Artisan," remarked the king. "Have you been speaking with my Wizard?"
"Indeed, O King, he advises us often in how we do our
tasks, which he calls Work Process. He is strange, yet his ideas have worked a powerful
effect."
"Strange he is, Artisan, strange indeed. But go on,
what of Scope?" said the king.
"Here is what we can do. We can produce all the place
settings you need, of the highest quality, by reducing scope in any of these ways: we can
return to the simpler design of plates which we showed you, removing the cherubs; we can
provide simpler utensils, though still of the highest quality; or we can produce fewer
plates or utensils. Among these, Your Majesty may choose."
His Majesty thought, then pronounced his decision. "We
will have the appetizers during the tour of the Royal Zoo. I will have the cook produce
food that can be eaten in one bite, from the fingers. This food shall be served by the
loveliest maidens, who shall circulate through the guests with trays. Thus we will need
fewer dishes and utensils."
"It is good, O King," said the Artisan. "Yet
still the time will be tight. There remains a risk that we might not complete our task,
hard though we will try." The Artisan made to leave.
"Hold, Artisan, hast thou learned nothing? We have not
as yet done Our Royal Part, if there remains risk. We shall say further."
The Artisan waited.
The king continued, "Yes, We have it. You will carry
out all three of your suggestions, ensuring the best possible result for the State Dinner.
You will make fewer plates and utensils as We have already commanded. Those which you
make, you will make simpler, yet still as high in Quality as We deserve. Can this be
done?"
"Of course, O King," said the Artisan, now almost
calm. "If I may suggest, we might lavish the bulk of our effort on the dinner plates,
leaving the other dishes simpler, as a frame for the main course. And similarly we will
keep the utensils simple, again setting off the beauty of the dinner plates."
"Yes, Artisan, this will suffice," said the King.
"Is there anything else?"
"If I may, O King, two things. First, should anything
go wrong, I crave permission to change the details of the designs to ensure delivery. I
will of course inform Your Majesty immediately to be sure you agree."
"Good, Artisan. But more: you must call upon Us for
further creative reduction of your effort if it is needed. Just as We can change the
appetizers, We can change the desserts if need be."
"You are wise and powerful, O King. It shall be as you
say."
"And the second thing, Artisan?"
"It is too soon to be certain, O King, but it may be
that we shall exceed these goals rather than barely meet them. Should this be the case,
would you prefer that we enhance the designs accordingly, or perhaps you would wish some
small gifts for your guests?"
The king beamed. "Now you sound like Our true Chief
Artisan, supporting Us in every way. We see now that by releasing you from undue pressure
We free you to do more, not less, to please Us. But let Us not speculate now. When you
find that you can do more... wait, as the Wizard would say, when you find that Scope
can be increased... see Us then and together we will decide what to do. Perhaps we
will even give your people some time off... no, this is, after all, only the 10th
century. I am ahead of myself. Workers' rights are centuries away. In any case see
Us, and together we shall decide what to do."
"As you wish, O King," said the Artisan. "I
am now certain that we can serve Your Majesty as You deserve." He bowed and withdrew,
happy to have his head still on his shoulders, and confident that his artisans could
perform as the King required.
The dinner was a great success, and the Chief Artisan even
struck up a lively friendship with one of the serving wenches. As it turned out, they all
lived happily ever after.
I'm surprised not many of the normally astute/. readers have noticed but this is a an environmentalists nightmare!
The bacteria convert the oil to carbon dioxide and water... the same thing that happens when the oil is set on fire albeit in a more controlled reaction. If it's gonna be releasing the same CO2 pollutants anyway, I'd rather it be doing something useful in a power plant or moving cars about than just having it disappear
Ok, perhaps it is worth rewording but I'll put into perspective.
It absolutely is intrusive when a corporation can remotely activate and control a device in millions of households Equivalent to the owners adding another advertisement to the bottom of your Tivo menu... that you don't have to watch. That's no worse than banner ads on webpages except you only get text instead of flashing pictures
You may also want to take notice that in many cases this action was taken against the users wishes Yep, most users don't want to see ads or even ads of ads. But IMHO, it's a risk worth taking by the company as the level of intrusion is low enough to not turn more user revenues away than bring in revenues
On the energy bill, that's just speculation for now
Intrusive? Sure, it puts a hyperlink to an advert. I can live with that and so will most people. And there are more of those that are happy to live with that and earn more revenue to the company than there are revenue from users that will turn away and that is the key point. Otherwise, the company will have screwed up and will pull the plug on this operation
If you are put off then it is their loss and they will change. But if you read the article, you'll notice that in their "attempt to increase market share" they have made sure it is as uninstrusive as possible and are willing to compromise by listening to customers demands.
If you still can't stand them, you are of course free to cancel but IMHO, it would be for a very trivial reason
No it doesn't force you to play it. It doesn't even force you to *record* it. It will only record it if it's doing nothing else. It does not take up any recording space allocated to the user. In fact the only intrusion is that you get an extra choice in your menu of recorded programmes
Now, this is a scheme for them to make money with minimal intrusion. I honestly can't see anything wrong with this as it is not intrusive in the slightest
The cryptographical protocol would almost certainly rely on symmetric key crytography technology on which there is so much theory about block ciphers and cipher modes, the NSA is sure to make an uncrackable code.
The reason I can say this with such confidence is that when you get to implant both crypto hardware at both ends of the communications line, you are in a much better state compared to software encryption of your email with key exchange problems etc. etc.
Heck, who's to say they can't store a pair of one time pads at both controller and plane that has enough data to encrypt comms for a flight. After the flight, the one time pad is changed. That's uncrackable crypto
I'd just like to contend that Mathematica does actually handle documentation remarkably well. I've documented my entire Elementary Number Theory course using MMA including all the really really nasty formula (2^(p^(p-1.....))) in nice 2D. There is no performance loss in its display and creating them is such a breeze if you know the keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl^6 etc.). The Mathematica file format is based on Latex so anything you can do in Latex you can probably do in Mathematica too. (Well, enough anyway) I'll choose Mathematica whenever possible
Don't try serious number crunching with Mathematica. True! Tbe Runge-Kutta's and P-C methods for solving ODE's run about 100 times slower than the same in fortran. But it only took 10 lines of code so I didn't mind too much;)
Finally, for those who want to see just how good (better IMO) Mathematica is at WYSYWIG Latex like editing, check out my ccourse notes (800kbs gzipped postscript). It has impressive formatting
I guess it's a point of perspective. The ultimate core of any operating system is the kernel, in this case the Linux kernel. However, these days people look at the OS at a wider layer than just the kernel.
For example, all the wars about IE being part of the "Windows OS", one may wish to argue that the core of Windows is actually the windows kernels; that's ntdll or user32/kernel32/shell32 and that everything else is built on top.
If you regard the operating system as the layer(s) that allow applications, Windows or Linux based, to interface with memory, CPU and other hardware, then the end result appears that Lindows OS is indeed the core of the Lindows distribution. They've taken what were previously applications/emulators/applications (cf browsers/windows media player/explorer) and integrated it into the operating system to give a better (depending on your perspective) interface that is the operating system
Sometimes snail mail is the best policy
on
Disconnecting
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I had to disconnect our family dialup in the UK several years ago (from Compuserver I think). The ISP's lines were quite painless for the most part but the ultimate result was that we had to mail/fax a written letter to them explaining we wanted to cancel. The upshot of this is that one could copy the same letter to our bank thus terminating the payments they would be getting, in the event that cancellation wasn't working on Compuserve's side
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, one of the barriers to mod_perl use is that mod_perl by default does *not* provide transparent wrapping of CGI programs. It can be made to do so using PerlRun modules but I think it's just a case that a documentation needs to be more prominent about this fact that vanilla Apache::Registry scripts behave significantly different from CGI. Perhaps the documentation should advertise more the PerlRun modules (etc) that do give transparent CGI wrapping. I like many others have fallen into the trap of just blindly switching a script from CGI to mod_perl and bitten by many of the (documented) issues if you bother to RTFM which of course I didn't at first =)
Now that I know mod_perl indepth, the parent is correct in the immense flexibility of mod_perl with its ability to directly interface with Apache. Something you won't be able to do ever with CGI or even PHP.
And about You can write whole content management systems using mod_perl, and in fact many have. Of course the CMS running here at Slashdot is powered by Slashcode which runs under Apache/mod_perl.
They say the film runs around a spindle going 500 mph (!). Wouldn't that be prone to failure and use alot of energy?
Well, as the principle of the parent post is summarised in the famous quote:
"Never underestimate the bandwidth of a lorry full of tapes hurtling down the motorway"
And the infamous anecdote is that any such ensign wearing RED is the one that inevitably gets killed! Don't believe me? Check those old TOS episodes again....
Two things came to mind in response.
1) BBC in the UK have two channels (BBC1 and BBC2). IMHO, they are the best channels in the world in terms of content *and* they don't sport any commercials whatever. They make their money through television licenses. Whether this system is good for all or not is highly debatable (state run televsion) but is nevertheless a half option
2) What upsets many people is that people *pay* cable/satellite to view their television *and* be forced to watch ads. If ads disappear, the corollary is that subscription prices will increase in conformance with market forces to make up the revenue and cover costs. Some would say that's not a bad thing to pay just for the tele. Me, I don't mind watching television ads, there aren't so many in the UK (ads appear only every 15 minutes here for 3 minutes typically) and sometimes it is entertaining or I learn something. Of course, this latter point is highly subjective!
You're right in everything you say. Unfortunately, it's the Windoze code that is putting the text into the buffer when the WM_PASTE is issued, not you. You only get to know about it *after* it has been put into the buffer with some windows event.
If we wanna get real technical, Windoze *does* do a range check on the text box buffer on WM_PASTE... unfortunately, the previous window message set the buffer length to 4GB! You can't account for such code, hence it is not industry standard (or any standard for that matter) to check the text buffer on every change event since it is outside your code's juristiction
By the same token, is it a UNIX or Linux vulnerability if I run an insecure daemon suid root and someone buffer overflows it to get root privs?
There is a similarity and a distinction. The similarity is that yes, Mc Afee shouldn't make its service interact with the desktop. (Sidenote: Coulda sworn you could disable desktop interactivity... maybe it should be forced). The distinction is that *any* such app, no matter how well written is vulnerable.
Maybe it's just me, but I automatically check length whenever I do ANYTHING with a buffer
Same here but nobody a range check for *every* single text box you have on every *keypress* event. It's not even an industry standard to do that. That makes this buffer overflow is far more subtle than most.
Thanks, that all makes perfect sense now =)
Sorry, I disagree with many of your comments here. While you've successfully tried to be objective without flamebait, some of the facts you have aren't true. I will try to be equally objective
This isn't a Win32 vulnerability, it's a Virusscan vuln
It is a Win32 vulnerability in that it is even possible to have this kind of elevation of priveleges by "poorly written" services. Basically, any system service that interacts with the desktop is vulnerable (virus scanners). McAfee interacts with the desktop. This is bad too.
Viruscan's GUI is very poorly written and doesn't check for a maximum length on a text box's input
It does, it has a set a maxlength of 4. Unfortunately, the vulnerability allows this to be bypassed. I'm sure the GUI will complain when you press the OK button but since we never get that far, the app never gets a chance to check the length change.
He then sends it a WM_TIMER message to trigger it... but, there's two simple ways to defend against it
That's good practice but the real problem is where you comment yourself... And if I'm not using it, special-case it so that it doesn't fall through to DefWindowProc(). It's too much to ask any app that doesn't use WM_TIMER to put in this handler in all their apps. Further, I bet WM_TIMER isn't the only message he could use to trigger code.
Seriously, all this guy is doing is buffer overflowing a poorly written program to get Administrator privs
Not any poorly written program but all desktop interactive services in existance.
Ya know, I can buffer overflow a poorly written suid app too
Fortunately, the community tends to be able to fix these things by patching the source. There is no fix for this problem
This guy's just trying to sell himself
OK, I will agree with you here... a little
Maybe I should write a system service that subclasses MSIE's WndProc
No no no... you've cheated. As a system service, you already have priveleges. The exercise of this paper was to do with with Guest priveleges
Regards,
Contrary to what the writer believes, all messages must go through the queue.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that PostMessage puts a message on the queue whereas SendMessage skips the queue and gets handled straight by the application without examination. Of course, an application could handle every message but in practice 99% of applications will leave the default windows handling of most messages. (Handling all manually is not feasible).
cap the WPARAM at some small value
I think you misunderstand that. WPARAM is a fixed size double word (4 bytes). The problems is that it is often used as a pointer to a memory location. Obviously, you can't cap the target of a pointer since no information is possed in the length
Most applications won't use the callback feature of WM_TIMER anyway
AFAIK, if you don't handle the callback feature (99% of apps), you get the default handling which is to execute the code as the article describes
Yes!! And that is the way things work in most "free market" countries work. If an organisation has so much power that it is a monopoly (and there is usually a strict definition for that) then it comes under special monopoly rules. Such rules are in place because a monopoly has powers that normal competitors have not, such as forcing competitors out of a market using various tactics (loss leading etc)
Hehe, ok, I'll be objective but some personal opinions reign. Must of this is from my personal experience, not text book stuff
Text processing - why isn't your text marked up? Text processing forms the heart and soul of regexps. As you say, any brainful system should never pass text requiring regexps between systems (use markup, structs, whatever). However, at some point, there is usually raw input beyond your control, be it CGI input, keyboard input, non-markup input from a system beyond your control. That's where regexps are used the most (all of ?) the time for me.
Parsing - how many times have you encountered a HTML or XML parser written with a regexpr?
Parsing is the next level beyond regexps. You start with the specificatio and let the implementation arrive from it, like any much good development. Indeed, any "parsing" of large well specified documents (XML, HTML etc) are probably best done by proper parsers. But sometimes, you don't have well specified input at all, or you are just searching for bits out of a document. Now we are back to adhoc text processing where regexps rule. Also, parsers are overkill when we are doing small processing such as reading numeric input.
(My IMHO) Conclusion: There is some grey (and for me, not a thin) line between text processing and parsers, where you should use regexps or not.
Development
A good regexp programmer knows what he is regexping for before he starts. I invariably get things right first time. That they try to parse something that has a specification (email address) without reading the RFC is stupid.
Now here is the distinction. If something is well specified, there is invariably a perl module to handle it using whatever optimum (hopefully) method is available (XML::Parser, Email::Valid). Regexps are where we are not dealing with standard specifications, perhaps non-formatted data and thus where parsers may not work. And in those cases, withour regexps, you'd be in a very lost world and that's perhaps why they are preached so much.
Sounds painless enough as long as I get a separate HD installed (the 2Gb one currently there won't cut it with both OS's on it).
One final question... any joy with Mac on Linux? (http://www.maconlinux.org)
Indeed, as I have just found out. If it works, and I see no reason why it wouldn't, I'll be well impressed
This is complete news to me that my "oldworld" Power PC here is capable of running Linux! I was equally surprised the YDL is not unusual in supporting Macs but Mandrake and the like happily support PowerPC too.
I'm a happy Mandrake-on-intel-laptop user. So any suggestions on what I need to consider when deciding whether to put, say, Mandrake or YDL on this power pc? My only thoughts are that Mandrake has advantages in familiarity and it's well known user-friendliness wherease YDL gets the plus for being specifically targetted at the Macintosh and may be easier to set-up and use
Also bear in mind that I'll be half doing this to convert my mum to Linux. If I can do that, I know Linux will be ready for the "mum" world of users
I imagine there is virtually no contest between OSX and YDL. However, I have a PowerPC-8500/120 box with a G3 processor upgrade sitting next to me which I'm pretty sure can't run OSX
The poor thing runs Mac OS 8.1 and is horribly buggy and unstable. If YDL can run on this and still be able to access the scanner and network printer, I think this could be a definite upgrade! Of course, the downside is that the ole Mac apps like QuarkXPress and Photoshop (user is a semi-retired freelance art director) won't be able to run so if real work is needed, the ole dual boot may be needed
But please correct me if I'm wrong with any of this (or provide suggestions!)
Once upon a time ...
... there was a great king who desired to give a State Dinner for a few thousand of his closest friends. He called in his Chief Artisan and informed him of the dinner plans. The king described how he wanted the finest table settings, all in gold and encrusted with intricately carved jewels. The Chief Artisan did some sketches and agreed with the king on what the settings would be like. They agreed to meet again in a few weeks and look at the schedule for production of the table settings.
A few weeks went by, and the Chief Artisan came to report. He showed the king a time schedule showing creation of prototype settings, review by the king, and production of the final table settings. The schedule showed that the settings would be finished in November, but the king preferred to have the party in October, when the weather would still be fine. The Chief Artisan agreed to adjust things for completion by October before the next meeting.
On schedule, the Chief Artisan appeared with prototypes, and a revised schedule for production, showing completion by October. The Chief Artisan also recommended that they meet at regular intervals to check progress. The king reviewed the prototypes, which the Artisan had simplified because of the shorter deadline. The king requested more cherubs on the plates, more beautiful carving on the embedded jewels, and more complex scrollwork on the knives and forks. The Chief Artisan protested that these new features would jeopardize the schedule, but the king reminded him who was king and who wasn't. The Chief Artisan withdrew.
At the next project review, things were measurably behind. There were too few jewels ready, so that the plates were not complete, and there were far too few knives and forks done. The king demanded that the artisans work harder. The Chief Artisan protested, but the king again reminded him of their relative positions. The king demanded additional reviews, even more frequently than already agreed to.
At the next review, not much more was done. The king insisted on visiting the shop to see what was being done. The next day he arrived. The artisans were a bit nervous, but they knew their arts and mostly continued with their normal efforts.
"What is that man doing?" asked the king, pointing out an obvious slacker.
"He is resting his eyes and hands, O King," replied the Chief Artisan.
"An egregious and insulting waste of Our time," declaimed the king. "They should rest at night, not while working."
"It shall be as you say, O King," answered the Chief Artisan.
"And that man over there," asked the king, "what is he doing?"
"He is sharpening his tools, O King."
"Again a waste of Our time. No wonder you are accomplishing so little. Henceforth, tools are to be sharpened at night, not on the job."
"As you wish, O King," sighed the Chief Artisan. They parted until the next review.
Halfway to the next review, the Chief Artisan sent to the Chief Steward, requesting some new apprentices to help with the work, specifically with sharpening the tools. The Steward, mindful of the King's budget, solved the problem in the age-old way of Stewards, by not replying to the request.
At the next review, more work was in fact completed. The king inspected the pile of completed plates and utensils. At first he smiled in satisfaction, but as he looked more closely his smile turned to a frown. "These plates," he growled, "the cherubs are rough, not fine, as were the earlier plates. Our guests will not be suitably impressed if this is the best you can do."
"The work is rough, O King, due to the use of dull tools, as you commanded."
"We did not command you to do poor work, Artisan, We commanded you not to waste time!"
"O King," the Artisan explained, "just as Your Majesty cannot have a good party without good food and settings, my artisans cannot create good art with dull tools."
"Must We tell you everything?" screamed the king. "Have someone else sharpen the tools!"
"I have requested new apprentices for just that purpose, O King, but the Steward has not responded to my request."
The king roared, "Do not bother Us with these internal matters, Artisan. We are the king. Allow the artisans to sharpen their tools as needed: but they must make up the time by working overtime."
"It shall be as you say, O King," responded the Chief Artisan glumly.
The king returned to the inspection. Soon, he was again enraged. "These plates, many of them do not yet have their carved jewels. What is wrong here?"
"There has been increased spoilage of jewels, O King," replied the Chief.
"What is causing this," boomed the king, "Are your people so completely incompetent?"
"With all due respect, O King, jewel carving is a delicate task. Without frequent rest periods, the carvers eyes tire and their hands shake, resulting in spoiled work."
"You tiny fool," boomed the king. "you must punish the workers who spoil my precious jewels. Clearly they are not being careful enough."
"It shall be so," bowed the Chief Artisan.
At the next inspection, the king swept into the area filled with suspicion and with a visible air of challenge. When he saw that quality was improved in the carving he calmed a little, and when he saw that most of the plates had their jewels, he became almost happy. Then, however, he counted the stacks of completed work and found that while quality was up, not as much work was completed.
"What are you doing wrong now, Artisan? Must you yourself be punished?"
"O King," replied the Chief, "several of my key artisans have become ill from the punishments You ordered and cannot work. As well, a few have left the kingdom and gone to the neighboring kingdom, saying that their work will be more appreciated there. As a result, we have fewer workers and can produce less work."
"We ordered that your artisans work overtime," roared the king, "has there been no improvement from this?"
"In fact the reverse has happened, O King. Again, there have been those who have left the kingdom in search of a place where they will be more appreciated. Those who remain are mostly from the lower ranks, and while they are energetic, they lack the experience to do the work you require. And as they tire from overtime, again there has been spoilage and lost work."
"This is unacceptable! We are most disappointed in you, Artisan. Return to your quarters and await our decision as to your fate." The Chief Artisan withdrew, certain that his days were at an end.
The king was mightily concerned. The Chief Artisan had failed him, and surely must die. Yet the State Dinner was important and the settings must be completed. And, though the king hated to admit it, the Artisan had tried mightily to do as he was commanded. The king decided to consult his Wizard, who had been his mentor and sounding board since his youth.
Before he could summon a messenger, a loud explosion and a cloud of smoke announced the arrival of the Wizard. It was said that the Wizard always knew when people thought upon him.
After jumping a bit, the king wasted no time. He described the events surrounding the dinner, then stated his concern. "Wizard, it seems to me that the Chief Artisan has disobeyed me and must die. And yet, do not We bear some of the blame for the problem through Our inability to advise him properly? And in any case, without the Chief, how can Our artisans possibly prepare for the dinner?"
The Wizard reached up and plucked a pigeon from thin air. Drawing his dagger he contemplated viewing the pigeon's entrails for insight, only just in time remembering that he was in the throne room. Stuffing the pigeon into one of his capacious pockets, he instead snapped his fingers, producing a brief flash of flame followed by a plume of smoke. He observed the smoke as it dissipated, discerning patterns that only he could see. At last he turned back to the king.
"Majesty, I have long studied these problems and can offer some insights. There are four, and only four, Aspects of work which we must consider. And these I call Resources, Scope, Quality, and Time. Immutable laws of nature relate these Aspects. Let us consider them and how they are related."
The Wizard went on: "I call the work Your Majesty demands, the sum of all tasks, Scope."
"A curious name, Wizard, but I am familiar with your arcane ways. Go on," said the king.
"Consider now the Resources: the number of artisans Your Majesty has. If an artisan be lost, shall the work, or Scope, increase or decrease?"
"It depends on whether the lost artisan be good or bad, and what responsibility he has been given," answered the king.
"You are wise, O King. Yet Your artisans are quite capable, as You justly require, and surely they divide responsibilities generally wisely. That being so, what then shall be the result of reducing the Resources?"
"We still demand what We demand. And the work must be of the highest Quality. Then it must take more Time," answered the king thoughtfully.
The Wizard nodded. "Just so, O King. If Scope and Quality change not, and Resource is reduced, then Time will stretch out. Wise you are."
The Wizard continued: "Now, O King, consider what must happen if we hold the Resource constant and demand that the artisans produce the same work in less time. What will then occur?"
"They will labor harder so as to please Our Majesty?" the king asked hopefully.
"This has been Your Majesty's experience?" asked the Wizard slyly.
"No," the king admitted, "although they tried. At first it appeared to be working, but overall they got less done, and when We demanded more output, the work itself was poor. Working them harder only resulted in poor results, and some key artisans actually fled the kingdom."
"Can you put this in terms of Scope and Quality, O King?"
"Let me think, Wizard. Ah, I see it ... if Resource
and Scope remain the same and Time is reduced, then Quality must inevitably be
reduced."
"Yes, O King," agreed the Wizard.
"But this is unacceptable," cried the king. "The goods we receive must be of the highest Quality!"
"Then, Majesty, what can be done?" asked the Wizard.
Thinking, the king gazed out upon his kingdom. "Your questions are challenging, Wizard. But let me think, I can see through this maze of yours. Wait, I have it! You would have me realize that even I, your king, cannot dictate all four of these Aspects. If I hold Resource, Time, and Quality to myself, then Nature controls Scope. And yet if I hold Resource, Quality and Scope, then Nature must control Time. Is this your lesson?"
The Wizard replied, "You speak wisely, O King. It is as you say. Your artisans are serving you well within the limitations given. They will apply their skills to their best ability at all times, but they cannot change this law of nature."
"Can I then do nothing, can I have no idea what will be accomplished, or when?" cried the king.
"Not so, O King. In his work, Your Artisan well understands the relationship between the Aspects. If You will tell him Your wishes regarding three, he can estimate the value of the fourth. And though events may change the results in detail, he can keep You informed of progress against his estimate, in time for You to prepare for the outcome. If You work with him on the Aspects, he can progress most effectively, and You can guide him effectively to the best result."
"Well done, Wizard. You have assisted Your king, and in the doing saved the life of the Chief Artisan."
With this, the king turned to dismiss the Wizard, only to find that he was already gone. Shrugging, the king summoned the Chief Artisan.
The Chief Artisan entered the room expecting the worst, yet knowing in his heart that he and his workers had been doing their best. Trembling but erect, he awaited the king's word.
"Fear not, Artisan," the king began. "I now see what you have been trying to tell me. I rely now upon you to tell me how best to prepare for the dinner I have in mind. Be aware, however, that the invitations are out and I cannot bend on the date. Would more artisans help?"
The Chief thought briefly, then produced his answer. "We might improve by adding a small number of artisans, but this will have little effect in the time left, or may even slow us down as we teach them our methods."
The king began to glower, then remembered what he had learned. "What, then, do you recommend, Artisan. I know that you desire only to serve as best you can."
"It is so, O King. Here is my solution. We cannot much change our Resources, and the Time is given. Your Majesty must have the highest Quality, which leaves us with only Scope to vary."
"You use terms which I have only today learned, Artisan," remarked the king. "Have you been speaking with my Wizard?"
"Indeed, O King, he advises us often in how we do our tasks, which he calls Work Process. He is strange, yet his ideas have worked a powerful effect."
"Strange he is, Artisan, strange indeed. But go on, what of Scope?" said the king.
"Here is what we can do. We can produce all the place settings you need, of the highest quality, by reducing scope in any of these ways: we can return to the simpler design of plates which we showed you, removing the cherubs; we can provide simpler utensils, though still of the highest quality; or we can produce fewer plates or utensils. Among these, Your Majesty may choose."
His Majesty thought, then pronounced his decision. "We will have the appetizers during the tour of the Royal Zoo. I will have the cook produce food that can be eaten in one bite, from the fingers. This food shall be served by the loveliest maidens, who shall circulate through the guests with trays. Thus we will need fewer dishes and utensils."
"It is good, O King," said the Artisan. "Yet still the time will be tight. There remains a risk that we might not complete our task, hard though we will try." The Artisan made to leave.
"Hold, Artisan, hast thou learned nothing? We have not as yet done Our Royal Part, if there remains risk. We shall say further."
The Artisan waited.
The king continued, "Yes, We have it. You will carry out all three of your suggestions, ensuring the best possible result for the State Dinner. You will make fewer plates and utensils as We have already commanded. Those which you make, you will make simpler, yet still as high in Quality as We deserve. Can this be done?"
"Of course, O King," said the Artisan, now almost calm. "If I may suggest, we might lavish the bulk of our effort on the dinner plates, leaving the other dishes simpler, as a frame for the main course. And similarly we will keep the utensils simple, again setting off the beauty of the dinner plates."
"Yes, Artisan, this will suffice," said the King. "Is there anything else?"
"If I may, O King, two things. First, should anything go wrong, I crave permission to change the details of the designs to ensure delivery. I will of course inform Your Majesty immediately to be sure you agree."
"Good, Artisan. But more: you must call upon Us for further creative reduction of your effort if it is needed. Just as We can change the appetizers, We can change the desserts if need be."
"You are wise and powerful, O King. It shall be as you say."
"And the second thing, Artisan?"
"It is too soon to be certain, O King, but it may be that we shall exceed these goals rather than barely meet them. Should this be the case, would you prefer that we enhance the designs accordingly, or perhaps you would wish some small gifts for your guests?"
The king beamed. "Now you sound like Our true Chief Artisan, supporting Us in every way. We see now that by releasing you from undue pressure We free you to do more, not less, to please Us. But let Us not speculate now. When you find that you can do more ... wait, as the Wizard would say, when you find that Scope
can be increased ... see Us then and together we will decide what to do. Perhaps we
will even give your people some time off ... no, this is, after all, only the 10th
century. I am ahead of myself. Workers' rights are centuries away. In any case see
Us, and together we shall decide what to do."
"As you wish, O King," said the Artisan. "I am now certain that we can serve Your Majesty as You deserve." He bowed and withdrew, happy to have his head still on his shoulders, and confident that his artisans could perform as the King required.
The dinner was a great success, and the Chief Artisan even struck up a lively friendship with one of the serving wenches. As it turned out, they all lived happily ever after.
I'm surprised not many of the normally astute /. readers have noticed but this is a an environmentalists nightmare!
The bacteria convert the oil to carbon dioxide and water... the same thing that happens when the oil is set on fire albeit in a more controlled reaction. If it's gonna be releasing the same CO2 pollutants anyway, I'd rather it be doing something useful in a power plant or moving cars about than just having it disappear
And tomorrow you will not be able to find what you intended to record between all the 'Tivo enforced' recordings. Nuff said.
No, they aren't gonna be *that* stupid. Can't you give these guys *some* credit for being consumer friendly? Read the article....
Ok, perhaps it is worth rewording but I'll put into perspective.
It absolutely is intrusive when a corporation can remotely activate and control a device in millions of households
Equivalent to the owners adding another advertisement to the bottom of your Tivo menu... that you don't have to watch. That's no worse than banner ads on webpages except you only get text instead of flashing pictures
You may also want to take notice that in many cases this action was taken against the users wishes
Yep, most users don't want to see ads or even ads of ads. But IMHO, it's a risk worth taking by the company as the level of intrusion is low enough to not turn more user revenues away than bring in revenues
On the energy bill, that's just speculation for now
Intrusive? Sure, it puts a hyperlink to an advert. I can live with that and so will most people. And there are more of those that are happy to live with that and earn more revenue to the company than there are revenue from users that will turn away and that is the key point. Otherwise, the company will have screwed up and will pull the plug on this operation
If you are put off then it is their loss and they will change. But if you read the article, you'll notice that in their "attempt to increase market share" they have made sure it is as uninstrusive as possible and are willing to compromise by listening to customers demands.
If you still can't stand them, you are of course free to cancel but IMHO, it would be for a very trivial reason
No it doesn't force you to play it. It doesn't even force you to *record* it. It will only record it if it's doing nothing else. It does not take up any recording space allocated to the user. In fact the only intrusion is that you get an extra choice in your menu of recorded programmes
Now, this is a scheme for them to make money with minimal intrusion. I honestly can't see anything wrong with this as it is not intrusive in the slightest
Again, read the article
The cryptographical protocol would almost certainly rely on symmetric key crytography technology on which there is so much theory about block ciphers and cipher modes, the NSA is sure to make an uncrackable code.
The reason I can say this with such confidence is that when you get to implant both crypto hardware at both ends of the communications line, you are in a much better state compared to software encryption of your email with key exchange problems etc. etc.
Heck, who's to say they can't store a pair of one time pads at both controller and plane that has enough data to encrypt comms for a flight. After the flight, the one time pad is changed. That's uncrackable crypto
I'd just like to contend that Mathematica does actually handle documentation remarkably well. I've documented my entire Elementary Number Theory course using MMA including all the really really nasty formula (2^(p^(p-1.....))) in nice 2D. There is no performance loss in its display and creating them is such a breeze if you know the keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl^6 etc.). The Mathematica file format is based on Latex so anything you can do in Latex you can probably do in Mathematica too. (Well, enough anyway) I'll choose Mathematica whenever possible
;)
Don't try serious number crunching with Mathematica. True! Tbe Runge-Kutta's and P-C methods for solving ODE's run about 100 times slower than the same in fortran. But it only took 10 lines of code so I didn't mind too much
Finally, for those who want to see just how good (better IMO) Mathematica is at WYSYWIG Latex like editing, check out my ccourse notes (800kbs gzipped postscript). It has impressive formatting
I guess it's a point of perspective. The ultimate core of any operating system is the kernel, in this case the Linux kernel. However, these days people look at the OS at a wider layer than just the kernel.
For example, all the wars about IE being part of the "Windows OS", one may wish to argue that the core of Windows is actually the windows kernels; that's ntdll or user32/kernel32/shell32 and that everything else is built on top.
If you regard the operating system as the layer(s) that allow applications, Windows or Linux based, to interface with memory, CPU and other hardware, then the end result appears that Lindows OS is indeed the core of the Lindows distribution. They've taken what were previously applications/emulators/applications (cf browsers/windows media player/explorer) and integrated it into the operating system to give a better (depending on your perspective) interface that is the operating system
I had to disconnect our family dialup in the UK several years ago (from Compuserver I think). The ISP's lines were quite painless for the most part but the ultimate result was that we had to mail/fax a written letter to them explaining we wanted to cancel. The upshot of this is that one could copy the same letter to our bank thus terminating the payments they would be getting, in the event that cancellation wasn't working on Compuserve's side