1. User initiated the action, so it should be allowed.
2. Software on local system initiated the action, should be allowed. Potential security risk maybe, but not unforgiveable.
3. Seriously annoying and a major problem.
4. See 2. This is useful for corporate intranet sites, which should be the only ones marked Trusted.
I agree that sites will use Active X to try and get popups into the consumers view. However, I do not agree that all of the cases you listed are problems.
I wholeheartedly agree with the first portion of your argument, but I have to disagree on the second.
The prevalent consumer operating system in use today (I'm extrapolating) is moving toward a more task-based user interface with it's next release cycle. I think we'll see that trend continue, since the same company has the marketing clout to convince the largest number of consumers that is what they want. I think on the more high-end, professional systems (and on hobbyist systems), we'll see a CLI, but it hasn't evolved much, if any, since its early days (just some new programs and scripts to run) and there aren't too many directions it can evolve in.
We'll see the percentage of non-newbie computer users creep up, but I suspect that we'll have more specially-programmed-but-otherwise-general-purpose handheld devices (ie., a Palm with a special set of software) to fit new users needs.
Essentially, we'll be keeping the guys at Gizmodo busy with gadgets. I just don't see the CLI becoming the predominant interface again.
But I could be wrong. Worse things have happened.
PS: The person who writes Clippy 3000 will be hunted down like a terrorist madman.
Hollywood isn't about technical accuracy - it's about making the stuff on the screen interesting by use of special effects, tricks, gags, mummery, and occasionally acting.
When you stare at the production script, there isn't a whole lot of detail there. The things like how many times a gun fires and damage effects and whatnot are not up to the writer in most cases. It's all decided by whoever they've hired to handle effects, or sometimes the director, and occasionally by someone with real expertise in the field, but more likely enough expertise in the field, but more expertise in keeping it interesting.
Or to put it another way
Technical accuracy is boring to most theatre-goers.
The real question is, is the ACU in 50 years going to be just as clueless as to how a computer operates as they are today? I certainly hope not, because that would mean that we are not progressing.
No, the real question is: if the average computer user in 50 is as clueless as today, will the computer be smart enough to help them figure out what they need to do? 50 years is plenty of time to develop a smarter computer that's relatively weak by the standards of it's time. If we have not done so by then, then programming and it's related fields are not progressing.
This type of attack is nothing new, and this vulnerability may be an indication that security isn't being taken seriously.
Or possibly that these developers are delving into a new area where they don't have all the answers yet. I expect that there will be many more security issues found - it's the nature of the game when building something new or something old in a new way. It happens; you fix it and move on.
Or you take the Max alternative - burn your bridges and execute any developer and his/her family and friends as they try to escape.
Then the trick is to make sure that whoever buys it is absolutely and totally aware that they are buying poison. Too bad the GPL can't be altered to specifically exclude any and or currently covered code from ever touching a SCO software product.
Inside of the the continental US, you cannot get 15 miles from a road, period. There is no location, anywhere outside of Alaska, which is 15 miles from a road in the USA.
Ever look at a map of West Texas? I'm betting that you live somewhere on the East Coast and have never had to deal with some of the "prodiginous" distances we have to travel here, especially in West Texas. Central and East Texas are pretty well congested (15-20 m. separation between towns in some cases), but West Texas has many small towns an hour from anywhere.
Of course, in one sense, you could be right - the definition of road is pretty flexible in a state that drives a lot of pickups and vehicles that otherwise would be considered SUVs, but are a necessity for a rancher.
It wasn't just AOL's stock price that screwed TW, though. There were allegations of shaky accounting in both real dollars from advertising revenue and in customer accounting. These things were not apparent at the time of purchase.
It's more a case of corporate culture clash than anything else. TW had no clue what they were getting into, and neither did AOL, I suspect. I tend to think of it more as an experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong than anything else.
I have no vested interest in either one, except making sure that I never use an AOL disk again nor allow any of my friends to do so.
Why bother linking to the Texas government site? Is it such a big deal that this was produced in Texas that there has to be a link? Good gravy, people. We make good stuff down here all the time.
You can bluescreen Win2K, but I've found it pretty difficult using most of the general release software out there. There's probably some specialized stuff that can bluescreen it in a heartbeat.
It may have something to do with which VM you're using. Sun's VM has never bluescreened and neither has Microsoft's on my systems (because I immediately load Sun's).
Other than that, your registry is probably fried.
Just thought I'd get a reasonable answer in before someone flames the living hell out of you.
We simply don't know enough to know what we have to do to minimize the impact of mistakes, malice and general human stupidity.
And I would argue that you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. Caution is definitely a good thing, but without taking some risks we cannot advance. Mistakes, malice and stupidity are something we are stuck with regardless of any advance planning.
The psychotic four-year-old in me says "let's make everything as dangerous as possible!" That way a mistake, malicious or stupid act will only occur once on the part of any given individual.
Note: I said species, not race. More and more, the definite racial disctinction is blurring, either through mating or scientific revision.
Like it or not, we're all Homo sapiens here. That includes me, you, and the Jews, too. History is filled with, nay, mostly composed of, man's inhumanity toward fellow mankind in some form or fashion, and NO race is exempt from that.
When the bulk of the government is controlled by Republicans insisting on ramming their neoconservative ideology down the throat of the world at gunpoint, I think it's safe to say "Bush's Government".
When Republican elected officials will violate longstanding tradition to redistrict the opposition party out of existence, I think it's safe to say "Bush's Government".
When the government assumes the right to jail citizens without trial or access to defense, and it occurs under the purview and at the request of President Bush, I think it's safe to say "Bush's Government".
Sorry, but I look at Washington and I see no little or no conscientious dissent from ANYONE there, and I get more than just a little pissed. We've lost the last shreds of our honor to the despicable actions of a few terribly-misguided individuals and no one is pissed?
I'm definitely laying this one on Bush. As Chief Executive, it is his duty to provide a vision and a direction for the nation, but so far he has been myopic and misdirected. I think it's definitely safe to say "Bush's Government".
Man, you are just twelve kinds of optimistic, aren't you? Let's review - noted spam software supplier buys anti-spam service supplier. I'm sorry, I just don't see an up side here.
How is this different from Microsoft buying out some small business to acquire their technology?
What baffles me is why crackers go after targets like this.
Because some individuals are asshats, that's why. You could create the cure for cancer and some asshole would try to shoot it down just because it's there. After all, we are the same species that nailed some poor bastard to a cross just because he said we should all get along for a change.
Yeah, I fucking saw that, ya fucking AC. But the fucking point of the fucking question was, what the fuck does Microsoft have to fucking do with this, you stupid fuck? Fucking Microsoft didn't fucking make the fucking decision, the fucking contractor did, so fucking grow the fuck up and try to use that fucking brain once in a fucking while instead of throwing up the first fucking kneejerk reaction that crosses your little fucking mind.
And try a little fucking civility once in a fucking while. It fucking works fucking miracles in daily fucking life.
Bitch.
********** - eleventy-billion karma for egregious use of the "f" word.
I understand Dell's liability concerns regarding EULA's they know nothing about, but it smacks of cowardice when a corporate behemoth is afraid to give decent tech support.
Spyware companies can afford better and noisier lawyers than Mary Sue Honeyhole from Texarkana, Texas and Dell is one damn big target. This is a case of CYA, which given the litigious environment we now live in, is probably the smart thing for Dell, if not for the customers.
I'll bet that 75% or more of the home user customer base isn't even aware of spyware or would willingly install it for whatever "convenience" it provides.
The ones complaining about spyware AREN'T the clueless users, it's the technocrats. The CL's aren't even aware that spyware is part of the problem - they just know "Tha intarweb's bustid, Paw!"
1. A PDF is in many ways, more appropriate for many forms of documentation that are based on printed material. Theoretically, someone has given enough consideration to layout and information design for the printed version that production of an HTML version of the same document is irrelevant. Reality frequently fails to meet theory, but nonetheless, layout really does matter.
2. For many sources, dual production, especially for documents whose nature is essentially fixed (trade brochures, marketing materials, etc.), is a waste of time. The end user loses little or nothing since PDF is almost as ubiquitous as HTML.
3. For many sources, PDF better meets the needs of providing both information and marketing to the audience. Cry as much as you like over the commercial nature of the internet, it's here and it's going to stay.
4. PDF preserves the original intent of the designer as to the layout of information published for what is still very much a print-based world, while at the same time providing enough utility in an electronic world to be usable (not in the sense of accessibility), but still usable.
It's an imperfect compromise between information suppliers and information consumers, but there are few, if any, perfect compromises, considering the multitude of output devices currently extant.
----
I defend the PDF format because production of certain types of documents in that format, requiring some specialized tools not readily usable by the average person due to either complexity or time factors, occasionally pays for the occasional meal or rent. It's all about the money, man. It's all about the money.
My solution is much simpler: simply stop consuming music produced by artists affiliated with RIAA companies or their subsidiaries. In some cases, it's impossible to avoid (music licensed for movies, etc.) but in most cases, I don't miss it.
I have a large backlog of CD purchased before this whole debacle got started, and I'm content to go through that to sort the wheat from the chaff. RIAA and any company or artist associated with it will not get any money from me. If that means some really good artists go down the tubes, then so be it.
Slashdot Mirror
The first two instances should be legal
1. User initiated the action, so it should be allowed.
2. Software on local system initiated the action, should be allowed. Potential security risk maybe, but not unforgiveable.
3. Seriously annoying and a major problem.
4. See 2. This is useful for corporate intranet sites, which should be the only ones marked Trusted.
I agree that sites will use Active X to try and get popups into the consumers view. However, I do not agree that all of the cases you listed are problems.
I wholeheartedly agree with the first portion of your argument, but I have to disagree on the second.
e handheld devices (ie., a Palm with a special set of software) to fit new users needs.
The prevalent consumer operating system in use today (I'm extrapolating) is moving toward a more task-based user interface with it's next release cycle. I think we'll see that trend continue, since the same company has the marketing clout to convince the largest number of consumers that is what they want. I think on the more high-end, professional systems (and on hobbyist systems), we'll see a CLI, but it hasn't evolved much, if any, since its early days (just some new programs and scripts to run) and there aren't too many directions it can evolve in.
We'll see the percentage of non-newbie computer users creep up, but I suspect that we'll have more specially-programmed-but-otherwise-general-purpos
Essentially, we'll be keeping the guys at Gizmodo busy with gadgets. I just don't see the CLI becoming the predominant interface again.
But I could be wrong. Worse things have happened.
PS: The person who writes Clippy 3000 will be hunted down like a terrorist madman.
Hollywood isn't about technical accuracy - it's about making the stuff on the screen interesting by use of special effects, tricks, gags, mummery, and occasionally acting.
When you stare at the production script, there isn't a whole lot of detail there. The things like how many times a gun fires and damage effects and whatnot are not up to the writer in most cases. It's all decided by whoever they've hired to handle effects, or sometimes the director, and occasionally by someone with real expertise in the field, but more likely enough expertise in the field, but more expertise in keeping it interesting.
Or to put it another way
Technical accuracy is boring to most theatre-goers.
The real question is, is the ACU in 50 years going to be just as clueless as to how a computer operates as they are today? I certainly hope not, because that would mean that we are not progressing.
No, the real question is: if the average computer user in 50 is as clueless as today, will the computer be smart enough to help them figure out what they need to do? 50 years is plenty of time to develop a smarter computer that's relatively weak by the standards of it's time. If we have not done so by then, then programming and it's related fields are not progressing.
My iBook looks quite nice on my folding conference table desk next to the pile of buggerall and the AMDWinbox. Designer apartment? Hardly.
This type of attack is nothing new, and this vulnerability may be an indication that security isn't being taken seriously.
Or possibly that these developers are delving into a new area where they don't have all the answers yet. I expect that there will be many more security issues found - it's the nature of the game when building something new or something old in a new way. It happens; you fix it and move on.
Or you take the Max alternative - burn your bridges and execute any developer and his/her family and friends as they try to escape.
Then the trick is to make sure that whoever buys it is absolutely and totally aware that they are buying poison. Too bad the GPL can't be altered to specifically exclude any and or currently covered code from ever touching a SCO software product.
Don't get mad. Don't get even. Just destroy them.
Utterly and completely.
If I nominate about half of the projects on Sourceforge?
OK, I don't own a TI calculator (got a superslim Casio back in 85) and I don't ever plan on owning one, so forgive my ignorance, please.
FLASH? Are we talking Macromedia Flash applications on a calculator? Or is this something else entirely different?
Sounds like some sort of caching strategy to deliver content faster
If it's anything like their integrate-on-your-nerves interface, they just do recompression on the graphics until they look like crap.
Inside of the the continental US, you cannot get 15 miles from a road, period. There is no location, anywhere outside of Alaska, which is 15 miles from a road in the USA.
Ever look at a map of West Texas? I'm betting that you live somewhere on the East Coast and have never had to deal with some of the "prodiginous" distances we have to travel here, especially in West Texas. Central and East Texas are pretty well congested (15-20 m. separation between towns in some cases), but West Texas has many small towns an hour from anywhere.
Of course, in one sense, you could be right - the definition of road is pretty flexible in a state that drives a lot of pickups and vehicles that otherwise would be considered SUVs, but are a necessity for a rancher.
It wasn't just AOL's stock price that screwed TW, though. There were allegations of shaky accounting in both real dollars from advertising revenue and in customer accounting. These things were not apparent at the time of purchase.
It's more a case of corporate culture clash than anything else. TW had no clue what they were getting into, and neither did AOL, I suspect. I tend to think of it more as an experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong than anything else.
I have no vested interest in either one, except making sure that I never use an AOL disk again nor allow any of my friends to do so.
It's not the penis enlargement pills sales they're after, it's that handy little credit card number that accompanies it.
Why bother linking to the Texas government site? Is it such a big deal that this was produced in Texas that there has to be a link? Good gravy, people. We make good stuff down here all the time.
You can bluescreen Win2K, but I've found it pretty difficult using most of the general release software out there. There's probably some specialized stuff that can bluescreen it in a heartbeat.
It may have something to do with which VM you're using. Sun's VM has never bluescreened and neither has Microsoft's on my systems (because I immediately load Sun's).
Other than that, your registry is probably fried.
Just thought I'd get a reasonable answer in before someone flames the living hell out of you.
We simply don't know enough to know what we have to do to minimize the impact of mistakes, malice and general human stupidity.
And I would argue that you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. Caution is definitely a good thing, but without taking some risks we cannot advance. Mistakes, malice and stupidity are something we are stuck with regardless of any advance planning.
The psychotic four-year-old in me says "let's make everything as dangerous as possible!" That way a mistake, malicious or stupid act will only occur once on the part of any given individual.
Note: I said species, not race. More and more, the definite racial disctinction is blurring, either through mating or scientific revision.
Like it or not, we're all Homo sapiens here. That includes me, you, and the Jews, too. History is filled with, nay, mostly composed of, man's inhumanity toward fellow mankind in some form or fashion, and NO race is exempt from that.
When the bulk of the government is controlled by Republicans insisting on ramming their neoconservative ideology down the throat of the world at gunpoint, I think it's safe to say "Bush's Government".
When Republican elected officials will violate longstanding tradition to redistrict the opposition party out of existence, I think it's safe to say "Bush's Government".
When the government assumes the right to jail citizens without trial or access to defense, and it occurs under the purview and at the request of President Bush, I think it's safe to say "Bush's Government".
Sorry, but I look at Washington and I see no little or no conscientious dissent from ANYONE there, and I get more than just a little pissed. We've lost the last shreds of our honor to the despicable actions of a few terribly-misguided individuals and no one is pissed?
I'm definitely laying this one on Bush. As Chief Executive, it is his duty to provide a vision and a direction for the nation, but so far he has been myopic and misdirected. I think it's definitely safe to say "Bush's Government".
Man, you are just twelve kinds of optimistic, aren't you? Let's review - noted spam software supplier buys anti-spam service supplier. I'm sorry, I just don't see an up side here.
How is this different from Microsoft buying out some small business to acquire their technology?
What baffles me is why crackers go after targets like this.
Because some individuals are asshats, that's why. You could create the cure for cancer and some asshole would try to shoot it down just because it's there. After all, we are the same species that nailed some poor bastard to a cross just because he said we should all get along for a change.
Yeah, I fucking saw that, ya fucking AC. But the fucking point of the fucking question was, what the fuck does Microsoft have to fucking do with this, you stupid fuck? Fucking Microsoft didn't fucking make the fucking decision, the fucking contractor did, so fucking grow the fuck up and try to use that fucking brain once in a fucking while instead of throwing up the first fucking kneejerk reaction that crosses your little fucking mind.
And try a little fucking civility once in a fucking while. It fucking works fucking miracles in daily fucking life.
Bitch.
**********
- eleventy-billion karma for egregious use of the "f" word.
I understand Dell's liability concerns regarding EULA's they know nothing about, but it smacks of cowardice when a corporate behemoth is afraid to give decent tech support.
Spyware companies can afford better and noisier lawyers than Mary Sue Honeyhole from Texarkana, Texas and Dell is one damn big target. This is a case of CYA, which given the litigious environment we now live in, is probably the smart thing for Dell, if not for the customers.
I'll bet that 75% or more of the home user customer base isn't even aware of spyware or would willingly install it for whatever "convenience" it provides.
The ones complaining about spyware AREN'T the clueless users, it's the technocrats. The CL's aren't even aware that spyware is part of the problem - they just know "Tha intarweb's bustid, Paw!"
What, exactly, does this have to do with Microsoft? Look, I know they're evil and all, but isn't that remark a bit of a stretch?
1. A PDF is in many ways, more appropriate for many forms of documentation that are based on printed material. Theoretically, someone has given enough consideration to layout and information design for the printed version that production of an HTML version of the same document is irrelevant. Reality frequently fails to meet theory, but nonetheless, layout really does matter.
2. For many sources, dual production, especially for documents whose nature is essentially fixed (trade brochures, marketing materials, etc.), is a waste of time. The end user loses little or nothing since PDF is almost as ubiquitous as HTML.
3. For many sources, PDF better meets the needs of providing both information and marketing to the audience. Cry as much as you like over the commercial nature of the internet, it's here and it's going to stay.
4. PDF preserves the original intent of the designer as to the layout of information published for what is still very much a print-based world, while at the same time providing enough utility in an electronic world to be usable (not in the sense of accessibility), but still usable.
It's an imperfect compromise between information suppliers and information consumers, but there are few, if any, perfect compromises, considering the multitude of output devices currently extant.
----
I defend the PDF format because production of certain types of documents in that format, requiring some specialized tools not readily usable by the average person due to either complexity or time factors, occasionally pays for the occasional meal or rent. It's all about the money, man. It's all about the money.
My solution is much simpler: simply stop consuming music produced by artists affiliated with RIAA companies or their subsidiaries. In some cases, it's impossible to avoid (music licensed for movies, etc.) but in most cases, I don't miss it.
I have a large backlog of CD purchased before this whole debacle got started, and I'm content to go through that to sort the wheat from the chaff. RIAA and any company or artist associated with it will not get any money from me. If that means some really good artists go down the tubes, then so be it.
Frankly, I hope they do.