Try reading the article:. Since you're obviously too lazy, I'll post some of the essential points:
"The Bush administration is clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, who study everything from caribou mating to global warming, subjecting them to controls on research that might go against official policy."
The communications office must be notified "of findings or data that may be especially newsworthy, have an impact on government policy, or contradict previous public understanding to ensure that proper officials are notified and that communication strategies are developed.'
and finally....
"In 2002, the USGS was forced to reverse course after warning that oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would harm the Porcupine caribou herd. One week later a new report followed, this time saying the caribou would not be affected."
1. Don't confuse "Computer Science" with commercial programming. They are NOT the same thing.
2. You will soon realize that coding is a far smaller portion of your job then you expect. The coding portion decreases as you move up the food chain.
3. Do not ignore the business/finance side of your job. The business side keeps you employed.
4. As you learn more, you will realize how little you actually know.
5. Your current position is nothing more than a software assembly line job. All of those "cool" technologies are being developed by more experienced engineers.
6. "Engineering" software and "programming" are more different than you realize.
7. Coding is the easy part. You can teach a cat to bang out code. It takes an artist to design good software.
8. You have one of the best jobs in the world. Your technology base allows *you* the ability to build wondrous applications. Use it!
9. Have fun coding. Make it a personal challenge. Reallize a job is just for paying the bills. Your much more free than you realize.
1. Buy a mac or other non-windows machine 2. Use a browser with pop-up and ad blocking capablility. 3. 4. Profit from the wealth of information on the web.
This is not a virus, nor is it an exploit. Please use something close to proper definitions. T=Someone has root level access to your machine and is running a rather basic (but interesting) script. The owner of this machine is, most likely, the problem.
As a programmer of 8 years with a CS from a major university, I have news for you: writing software is EASY. Designing and managing software proejcts is difficult. THAT is why coding is being out sourced. It is relatively straight forward once a good design is in place. Coding is easy...design is tough.
Friedman may not, "know them," but you most certainly don't either.
The Cayman Islands have a favorable tax structure for financial institutions, but few others. For most companies (including those in the financial markets), the Bahamas and the state of Delaware can be more favorable (just to give 2 examples).
Can you please give an example of a major company executive who lives in the US illegally?
If a country, like the US, has a warped tax system, companies will incorporate elsewhere. This also happens in the US. No major company will incorporate in California because the tax system there is set up to screw corporations (this includes small businesses). The result? They go to Delaware, or FLorida, or Montana, or Colorado, etc...
If it is cheaper to manufacture a product 5000 miles away, package it for transport, put it on a ship, sail it across the ocean, unload it at an over-priced dock on the West coast, and ship it to distributrion points than it is to build it in the US, companies will do just that. The fact that it *IS* cheaper to transport a product across the globe (literally) than build it in the US really says saomething about the typical US manufacturing worker: they are paid too much for the global economy.
Similar to software developers....the world has figured out that *writing* (notice that I did not say *designing*..big difference)code isn't that hard (I know...I am one). It's not rocket science. Much of it is basic manufacturing...perfect for export to other, cheaper countries.
If I were to receive one of these letters, the first thing I would be asking myself is, "how can certify that I am "not using Unix code in Linux" if I don't know what that code may be. I think they would have to provide me with examples from the latest kernel. Only then could I be sure.
Anyone familiar with government IT personnel will have the slightest bit of surprise at this report. Most government IT people are poorly trained, lack the required knowledge and would never cut it in the private field.
With proprietary software, forking generally does not take place since development is centralized within a firm and disciplined by market forces.
One only needs to look to MS Visio, Project, Visual Studio, Word and other major application to see feature/function "forking" which makes the "new" software uncompatible with previous releases.
The Proprietary vs Open Source argument doesn't work here.
The "increasing narrow" claims are as absurd (and as nearly as broad) as the first.
From the last claim: "A method of providing customized documents to multiple users on client computers; the method comprising the steps of:
obtaining customization information from a first client computer;
..."
This isn't broad? That's huge.
And patents effectively give the holder a monopoly on the idea. "The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" the invention in the United States or "importing" the invention into the United States."
Strange...they were looking for commmon applications. They choose MS Word, Premiere, Photoshop and Quake. However, they also tested the 64-bit Windows on Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Unreal Tournament 2003. However, they didn't test the G5 with these apps. How come? See: chart
Further the PC World tests run here are much different than the tests run against the G5. This is no explaination of this.
We're speed testing 64-bit chips using (old) 32-bit applications
Premiere runs in Classic Mode. It's not even running in OS X. This should not have been used.
One of the appplications tested was Microsoft Word. I won't even comment on that one.
"All machines were tested with 1GB of RAM and the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card; the Mac version of the graphics card has a maximum of 128MB of RAM, while the high end for PCs is 256MB."
"Most of the PCs used dual, RAID-striped hard drives; the Apple systems did not."
Most of these tests (including, possible, the Quake test) are restricted not by processor speed but by a memory bottleneck. The G5 (and most likely the AMD) processors were data starved. This is espicially true in the Microsoft Word and Premiere test. This is more of a test to see how well the applications are writtem to maximize cache loading and memory transfer. The Photoshop test has the same problem.(if using the default memeory and scratch disk values).
Further, their tests of Quake didn't amtch those Apple performed. I doubt that the Quake applicaiton was compiled on the G5. It most certainly wasn't optimized for the G5 (Apple did this and the results beat those of the AMD machines...using the same type of graphics cards) See http://www.apple.com/powermac/graphics.html
The bottom line: This test is more of a memory and disk access test. There is not a single tet here that stressed the speed of the processor. Not one. What we need are applications tested on compiled on each machine and stress CPU (rather than memory) performance.
I just hope you don't store personal information in that database.
The database isn't secure or encrypted. The operating system the database is running on is almost certainly insecure (or will be tomorrow). And no coding ability will enable you to secure those two gaping holes.
Then [Asia] can tell intel to conform to their standards or risk losing a giant revenue stream.
Exactly. This is the only reason Barrett has taken this position. This has nothing to do with Intel's worry about "proprietary" anything or their concern for Asian software markets. Intel is only worried they will have to adapt to the (massive) emerging market in Asia.
"...efforts to use local standards to protect and nurture local technology companies had been tried before and produced only short-term results."
and
"...is there an advantage to having a proprietary standard in your country?"
It worked nicely for Intel and Microsoft. This is exactly why these companies dominate their markets. They have forced standards. They are doing the same thing now by forcing DRM on consumers (and YES, DRM will be forced..just watch).
So instead, Barrett expects Asia to allow Intel and Microsoft to create standards for them? Zzzzzt.
It is absolutely clear why Barrett is taking this position: "By 2010, Intel said, China would be the single largest market for its PC and communications chips." If Asia goes off, builds their own OS to their own standards, Intel and Microsoft will be threatened.
Build away Asia! This will force change and flexibility on the industry. Stagnation only benefits those that are intrenched.
"In September of 2002, JetBlue Airways secretly gave the Transportation Security Administration the full travel records of 5 million JetBlue customers. This sensitive travel data was then turned-over to a private security contractor for analysis, the results of which were presented at a security conference earlier this year and then posted on the Internet.
Anyone who flew JetBlue on or before September of 2002 should assume that all information given by them to JetBlue, including credit card numbers, is in the possession of both the TSA and Torch Concepts. Furthermore, Torch Concepts (now doing business as Torch Technologies obtained the Social Security number, date of birth, and associated credit histories of many of the 5 million passengers in the JetBlue database. Some of this information, including SSNs, was posted by Torch Concepts to the Internet. The document was freely available for download on the Internet for over six months and was taken down on the 17th of September, 2003. The full document is available for download here.
The 5 million JetBlue records handed over to TSA appear to have been used to test off-the-shelf technologies to improve aviation security. These tests occurred prior to the formal announcement of CAPPS II, but it is obvious from the Torch Concepts presentation that a CAPPS II-like system was the goal...."
I work for the DoD as a 2210 (Information Technology position). Coming from the private sector, I can assure you that the level of expertise within the military and DoD is, on average, far below what you will commonly find elsewhere.
One of the major problems is that IT/Computing decisions made by the DoD and government in general, are made by people with zero IT/Software/Computing experience. It's a marketing game and nothing more.
If you took the time to finish reading my comment, you would have found the final sentence:
Now...if they changed and perhaps opened a department to port their applications to linux or decided to open source their operating system, I might change my mind."
Slashdot Mirror
"The Bush administration is clamping down on scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, who study everything from caribou mating to global warming, subjecting them to controls on research that might go against official policy."
The communications office must be notified "of findings or data that may be especially newsworthy, have an impact on government policy, or contradict previous public understanding to ensure that proper officials are notified and that communication strategies are developed.' and finally.... "In 2002, the USGS was forced to reverse course after warning that oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would harm the Porcupine caribou herd. One week later a new report followed, this time saying the caribou would not be affected."
A few suggestions:
1. Don't confuse "Computer Science" with commercial programming. They are NOT the same thing.
2. You will soon realize that coding is a far smaller portion of your job then you expect. The coding portion decreases as you move up the food chain.
3. Do not ignore the business/finance side of your job. The business side keeps you employed.
4. As you learn more, you will realize how little you actually know.
5. Your current position is nothing more than a software assembly line job. All of those "cool" technologies are being developed by more experienced engineers.
6. "Engineering" software and "programming" are more different than you realize.
7. Coding is the easy part. You can teach a cat to bang out code. It takes an artist to design good software.
8. You have one of the best jobs in the world. Your technology base allows *you* the ability to build wondrous applications. Use it!
9. Have fun coding. Make it a personal challenge. Reallize a job is just for paying the bills. Your much more free than you realize.
Good luck.
1. Buy a mac or other non-windows machine
2. Use a browser with pop-up and ad blocking capablility.
3.
4. Profit from the wealth of information on the web.
Once again America has elected a nearly illiterate moron. I never thought I would say this, but today, I'm embarrassed to be an America.
Check out these too. Ol' Jeff I'm-a-moron Merkey pissed on the wrong people.
http://iluvducks4.mybesthost.com/ http://iluvducks3.mybesthost.com/
This is not a virus, nor is it an exploit. Please use something close to proper definitions. T=Someone has root level access to your machine and is running a rather basic (but interesting) script. The owner of this machine is, most likely, the problem.
As a programmer of 8 years with a CS from a major university, I have news for you: writing software is EASY. Designing and managing software proejcts is difficult. THAT is why coding is being out sourced. It is relatively straight forward once a good design is in place. Coding is easy...design is tough.
They said the same thing about personal jet packs and flying cars. I don't have my personal jet-pack yet and haven't seen many flying cars around....
Friedman may not, "know them," but you most certainly don't either.
The Cayman Islands have a favorable tax structure for financial institutions, but few others. For most companies (including those in the financial markets), the Bahamas and the state of Delaware can be more favorable (just to give 2 examples).
Can you please give an example of a major company executive who lives in the US illegally?
If a country, like the US, has a warped tax system, companies will incorporate elsewhere. This also happens in the US. No major company will incorporate in California because the tax system there is set up to screw corporations (this includes small businesses). The result? They go to Delaware, or FLorida, or Montana, or Colorado, etc...
If it is cheaper to manufacture a product 5000 miles away, package it for transport, put it on a ship, sail it across the ocean, unload it at an over-priced dock on the West coast, and ship it to distributrion points than it is to build it in the US, companies will do just that. The fact that it *IS* cheaper to transport a product across the globe (literally) than build it in the US really says saomething about the typical US manufacturing worker: they are paid too much for the global economy.
Similar to software developers....the world has figured out that *writing* (notice that I did not say *designing*..big difference)code isn't that hard (I know...I am one). It's not rocket science. Much of it is basic manufacturing...perfect for export to other, cheaper countries.
If I were to receive one of these letters, the first thing I would be asking myself is, "how can certify that I am "not using Unix code in Linux" if I don't know what that code may be. I think they would have to provide me with examples from the latest kernel. Only then could I be sure.
Anyone familiar with government IT personnel will have the slightest bit of surprise at this report. Most government IT people are poorly trained, lack the required knowledge and would never cut it in the private field.
One only needs to look to MS Visio, Project, Visual Studio, Word and other major application to see feature/function "forking" which makes the "new" software uncompatible with previous releases.
The Proprietary vs Open Source argument doesn't work here.
Semantics. The "embodiment of an idea" is effectively monopolized. In this case, the "embodiment of an idea" is a broadly used communication scheme.
Put me on the patent too. We'll sue MS as soon as they connect 4 or more computers. We'll make $millions.
In other news: Microsoft patents communication. All of it. Licenses can now be obtained by selling your soul.
From the last claim: "A method of providing customized documents to multiple users on client computers; the method comprising the steps of:
obtaining customization information from a first client computer;
This isn't broad? That's huge.
And patents effectively give the holder a monopoly on the idea. "The right conferred by the patent grant is, in the language of the statute and of the grant itself, "the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling" the invention in the United States or "importing" the invention into the United States."
Further the PC World tests run here are much different than the tests run against the G5. This is no explaination of this.
We're speed testing 64-bit chips using (old) 32-bit applications
Premiere runs in Classic Mode. It's not even running in OS X. This should not have been used.
One of the appplications tested was Microsoft Word. I won't even comment on that one.
"All machines were tested with 1GB of RAM and the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card; the Mac version of the graphics card has a maximum of 128MB of RAM, while the high end for PCs is 256MB."
"Most of the PCs used dual, RAID-striped hard drives; the Apple systems did not."
Most of these tests (including, possible, the Quake test) are restricted not by processor speed but by a memory bottleneck. The G5 (and most likely the AMD) processors were data starved. This is espicially true in the Microsoft Word and Premiere test. This is more of a test to see how well the applications are writtem to maximize cache loading and memory transfer. The Photoshop test has the same problem.(if using the default memeory and scratch disk values).
Further, their tests of Quake didn't amtch those Apple performed. I doubt that the Quake applicaiton was compiled on the G5. It most certainly wasn't optimized for the G5 (Apple did this and the results beat those of the AMD machines...using the same type of graphics cards) See http://www.apple.com/powermac/graphics.html
The bottom line: This test is more of a memory and disk access test. There is not a single tet here that stressed the speed of the processor. Not one. What we need are applications tested on compiled on each machine and stress CPU (rather than memory) performance.
The database isn't secure or encrypted. The operating system the database is running on is almost certainly insecure (or will be tomorrow). And no coding ability will enable you to secure those two gaping holes.
Exactly. This is the only reason Barrett has taken this position. This has nothing to do with Intel's worry about "proprietary" anything or their concern for Asian software markets. Intel is only worried they will have to adapt to the (massive) emerging market in Asia.
It worked nicely for Intel and Microsoft. This is exactly why these companies dominate their markets. They have forced standards. They are doing the same thing now by forcing DRM on consumers (and YES, DRM will be forced..just watch).
So instead, Barrett expects Asia to allow Intel and Microsoft to create standards for them? Zzzzzt.
It is absolutely clear why Barrett is taking this position: "By 2010, Intel said, China would be the single largest market for its PC and communications chips." If Asia goes off, builds their own OS to their own standards, Intel and Microsoft will be threatened.
Build away Asia! This will force change and flexibility on the industry. Stagnation only benefits those that are intrenched.
Check out the wired article here
One of the major problems is that IT/Computing decisions made by the DoD and government in general, are made by people with zero IT/Software/Computing experience. It's a marketing game and nothing more.
They fail to mention if the 'successful and verifiable digital attacks' were caused by a flaw in the software or by poor system administration.
Without more information, we don't learn much. Has anyone run across the original report?
Now...if they changed and perhaps opened a department to port their applications to linux or decided to open source their operating system, I might change my mind."