Talk to us when the Libertarians actually have a seat, or better yet, a majority, in either house of Congress. Until then, they will always be also-rans.
Oh, absolutely. And that makes me think the data these consultants were working with probably wasn't Top Secret in the "government secrets" sense of the term, since that would typically involve storage of computers' hard drives in a vault when the employees weren't physically at their workstations.:)
I recently came into contact with a similar policy at a consulting firm that was concerned that top-secret information might escape through my USB watch, and made me leave it at the front desk every day.
That's actually pretty generous if you're actually serious about the information the consultant handled being Top Secret. Even if it isn't, that's a much better alternative (for you) than being "let go" because you continued to wear a prohibited device after being told not to.
That's all good. . . it's his company, and there's only so much a subordinate can do. If he's that determined to walk into a proverbial minefield, he can't say no one warned him.
Try arguing that to the CEO, who is seeing his marketshare drop by 25% to his competitors, because his development team needs 2 extra months to ensure the security is top-notch.
Easy. "Sir, we can spend two months making sure this product is secure when it ships, or we can spend two months and millions of dollars in losses when the flaws we haven't had time to locate make our software unusable for 30% of the PCs on the market."
I do most of my good dev alone in a room. I even make deadlines! I used to work for someone who used to work at JPL in the 1970s managing software development. One developer would ride his Harley Davidson wearing a cape and goggles and lock himself in a room with the necessary hardware and ask that Twinkies and Coke be left outside the door. They didn't see him for a week, but the code was good. It was for the Voyager program, so we know it was good.
It worked, and that is good. But was it easy to understand for the programmers after him who maintained it?
No, it does not, but thank you for displaying your ignorance of software engineering principles. A defect is not just a bug; rather, it's a bug that has been found, documented, and fixed using a software engineering process. Not all defects are fixed every time a piece of software goes out the door--think of triage. Is the fact that the buttons render 15 pixels apart instead of 14 going to break the software when it goes out to market?
The "bugs" referred to in the article are software issues that haven't been found, which is why the article warns developers not to assume that "zero defects means zero bugs."
Its not free, true, but costs about the same as a pop-up blocker for Internal Exploder...
Windows XP SP2 has a built-in pop-up blocker for IE. It's a free download; and while it's currently only in Release Candidate status, it's just as stable as you can ask Windows to be.
This is kinda off-topic, but I wouldn't have even bothered attending that conference if it hadn't been mandatory for military personnel assigned to SSG. What a joke.
Truly, I think that's only half the equation. It's cheaper for Intel to produce one chip architecture and then lock it down at slower speeds than it is for them to provide multiple chip architectures for various speeds. That may be part of why they feel they have to lock down the chips--because otherwise someone who wanted a 3.0 GHz processor might only pay for a 2.6 GHz processor (the horror!) and overclock it.
According to the article, SP2 will not install on copies of Windows XP that have known "pirated" registration codes. Since computers running illegitimate copies of XP (such as those in Asia, again according to the article) won't get the benefits of SP2's security features, how much "security" will this really provide to the 'Net in general?
Only when you consider browsers that let you reject cookies, such as Firefox. But then, that's more the web developer's problem than mine, since I'd just as soon remain anonymous.
Alternately, you could download and install TweakUI for whatever version of Windows you're running and disable autorun from there. It's safer than going directly into the registry, and easy enough that even a common joe can do it.
Well-said! I noticed that rather glaring contradiction as well, and wondered who else may have done so.
I don't mind sharing anonymous demographic data. Zip code is fine, because that's not linked to me. Year of birth is a bit limited for my taste, though I'm happy to provide an age range. But you don't need to know what I do for a living or how much I make per year; and you sure as hell don't need my E-mail address.
Re:TechnoAntiBlogDystopia
on
Meet Joe Blog
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Done venting? Good. Now, get over it.
All that "CSS this, or XML that," RPC, SOAP, etc., is writing. It's not creative writing, granted; but technical writing has just as much of a place on the internet as yet another LOTR slash-fic, insightful political commentary, or anything in-between. The web is just another medium. What writers choose to write is their business; and what you choose to read is yours. But don't try to pretend that you, or your chosen style of writing, has any sort of exclusive right to this medium; for that assumption is as mistaken as it is arrogant.
Re:journalists
on
Meet Joe Blog
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· Score: 4, Interesting
After all, who is Joe Public going to trust the most, a fully professional New York Times employed scribe, or "Zergrush_7" ranting on his Livejournal.
That depends on how often "Zergrush_7" scoops the New York Times. I would err on the side of the professional publication as well, but there're some bloggers out there who might as well be professionals. Matt Drudge comes to mind, though there are probably better examples.
Slashdot Mirror
Talk to us when the Libertarians actually have a seat, or better yet, a majority, in either house of Congress. Until then, they will always be also-rans.
Oh, absolutely. And that makes me think the data these consultants were working with probably wasn't Top Secret in the "government secrets" sense of the term, since that would typically involve storage of computers' hard drives in a vault when the employees weren't physically at their workstations. :)
I recently came into contact with a similar policy at a consulting firm that was concerned that top-secret information might escape through my USB watch, and made me leave it at the front desk every day.
That's actually pretty generous if you're actually serious about the information the consultant handled being Top Secret. Even if it isn't, that's a much better alternative (for you) than being "let go" because you continued to wear a prohibited device after being told not to.
Actually, this week, I'm calling it "FireMicrosoft."
That's all good. . . it's his company, and there's only so much a subordinate can do. If he's that determined to walk into a proverbial minefield, he can't say no one warned him.
Try arguing that to the CEO, who is seeing his marketshare drop by 25% to his competitors, because his development team needs 2 extra months to ensure the security is top-notch.
Easy. "Sir, we can spend two months making sure this product is secure when it ships, or we can spend two months and millions of dollars in losses when the flaws we haven't had time to locate make our software unusable for 30% of the PCs on the market."
I do most of my good dev alone in a room. I even make deadlines! I used to work for someone who used to work at JPL in the 1970s managing software development. One developer would ride his Harley Davidson wearing a cape and goggles and lock himself in a room with the necessary hardware and ask that Twinkies and Coke be left outside the door. They didn't see him for a week, but the code was good. It was for the Voyager program, so we know it was good.
It worked, and that is good. But was it easy to understand for the programmers after him who maintained it?
Wow, your use of the language is almost as much fun as Microsoft's. Bugs, defects, software issues?
That's what I said. The article's intended audience is professional developers and software engineers, which evidently does not include you.
That means every piece of software has an infinite number of bugs, by your definition.
Oh, nonsense. Software would have to have infinite complexity to have an infinite number of bugs. Now you're just blowing smoke.
No, it does not, but thank you for displaying your ignorance of software engineering principles. A defect is not just a bug; rather, it's a bug that has been found, documented, and fixed using a software engineering process. Not all defects are fixed every time a piece of software goes out the door--think of triage. Is the fact that the buttons render 15 pixels apart instead of 14 going to break the software when it goes out to market?
The "bugs" referred to in the article are software issues that haven't been found, which is why the article warns developers not to assume that "zero defects means zero bugs."
Its not free, true, but costs about the same as a pop-up blocker for Internal Exploder...
Windows XP SP2 has a built-in pop-up blocker for IE. It's a free download; and while it's currently only in Release Candidate status, it's just as stable as you can ask Windows to be.
And just WHY should CNN, or any other news service, "push" one product over another? What possible interest could they have?
A commercial interest. AOL/Time Warner owns both CNN and Netscape.
Sorry there, but besides Fud, what has ESR brought to the Open Source community ?
The aqueduct. . . and the sanitation! And the roads. . .
This is kinda off-topic, but I wouldn't have even bothered attending that conference if it hadn't been mandatory for military personnel assigned to SSG. What a joke.
Truly, I think that's only half the equation. It's cheaper for Intel to produce one chip architecture and then lock it down at slower speeds than it is for them to provide multiple chip architectures for various speeds. That may be part of why they feel they have to lock down the chips--because otherwise someone who wanted a 3.0 GHz processor might only pay for a 2.6 GHz processor (the horror!) and overclock it.
According to the article, SP2 will not install on copies of Windows XP that have known "pirated" registration codes. Since computers running illegitimate copies of XP (such as those in Asia, again according to the article) won't get the benefits of SP2's security features, how much "security" will this really provide to the 'Net in general?
It was overrated when Apple told its users, "deal with it." And it's overrated now. If you want backwards compatibility, use a Win2k emulator.
Only when you consider browsers that let you reject cookies, such as Firefox. But then, that's more the web developer's problem than mine, since I'd just as soon remain anonymous.
This isn't "informative," it's a migraine waiting to insult someone. At least learn how to format your posts before you engage in your karma-whoring!
Alternately, you could download and install TweakUI for whatever version of Windows you're running and disable autorun from there. It's safer than going directly into the registry, and easy enough that even a common joe can do it.
Police forces can quickly and efficiently deal with dissenters without sparking media attendtion!
Ouch. With puns like this, governments don't need stun guns.
MOO!
What does Master of Orion have to do with this?
Well-said! I noticed that rather glaring contradiction as well, and wondered who else may have done so.
I don't mind sharing anonymous demographic data. Zip code is fine, because that's not linked to me. Year of birth is a bit limited for my taste, though I'm happy to provide an age range. But you don't need to know what I do for a living or how much I make per year; and you sure as hell don't need my E-mail address.
Done venting? Good. Now, get over it.
All that "CSS this, or XML that," RPC, SOAP, etc., is writing. It's not creative writing, granted; but technical writing has just as much of a place on the internet as yet another LOTR slash-fic, insightful political commentary, or anything in-between. The web is just another medium. What writers choose to write is their business; and what you choose to read is yours. But don't try to pretend that you, or your chosen style of writing, has any sort of exclusive right to this medium; for that assumption is as mistaken as it is arrogant.
After all, who is Joe Public going to trust the most, a fully professional New York Times employed scribe, or "Zergrush_7" ranting on his Livejournal.
That depends on how often "Zergrush_7" scoops the New York Times. I would err on the side of the professional publication as well, but there're some bloggers out there who might as well be professionals. Matt Drudge comes to mind, though there are probably better examples.
The more society will rely on technology, the more freedom we can get. Freedom will be "underground" though...
It's not freedom if not everyone has it.