Of course Bill is sorry. I mean, they've produced some of the most insecure and unstable code in that last couple of years and it's obviously hurt their business... wait.. that's what SHOULD be reality.
I agree with one thing - Microsoft introduced the masses to the concept of inept programming *AND* they made money from it. Good business, yes. A couple of blue-screens every now and then? Oh, that's a hardware problem.. or, perhaps, that's just "normal"..
I'd like to believe you and that Bill has been fretting over this for years. I doubt it though.
To quote a cliche, "Don't fix it if it ain't broken". I don't know - perhaps Bill tried to send out a similar email years ago and it got lost or something (I mean, it *IS* an Outlook/Exchange combination over there probably! )
Yes - Microsoft is a huge corporation with thousands of developers - with thousands of egos. But, if all it takes is Bill to send an email out to "remind" everyone to write secure and stable code, why didn't he do it years ago and save his stomach all the rolaids? Maybe it just wasn't that important to him... and to suspect any different now is just a 'bit hopeful I imagine. "Secure" Microsoft code is code that isn't broken in the press. To believe that Bill got involved in this "initiative" for any other reason than negative publicity is naive at best.
Yes - I *AM* a developer.. yes.. my management does often request features over security... but, at least I fight back. Perhaps Microsoft is so large that individuals can't do that - but given the history of their "Chief Architect", I suspect it's not a priority anyways.
Having erased my entire collection multiple times (read, too much free time), I finally decided on <A HREF="http://www.mpegplus.org">mpegplus</A&g t;. True, there are some licensing isssues with the encoder (still free right now), the quality does appear to be noticeably better (having compared 256kb ogg with '-insane' mpegplus - in fact, it appears better to my untrained ears than lame - though I no doubt subscribe to the inherent external placebo effect of reading mostly-unverified-external great reviews:) ). Unfortuntely, I'm left with incompatibilities abound (well, everything works fine other than the Audio Request I have - alas, I suspect I will be bound to making secondary encodings in MP3). If I had an external players (either portable or CD), I'd no doubt stick with LAME mp3 simply for the sake of compatibility. However, for now, and until I re-encode, ignorance is bliss.:)
I suspect there's a greater number of Windows pirated versions of any Loki port than Linux versions. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone that uses Linux is a 31337 h4x0r.;) I personaly own upwards of six Loki games (actual count questionable after this many beers.;)) - and the point of that statement is NOT to come across as some elitist view as 'well, i bought it, you didn't, nyah!', but to realize the point that many linux users buy the windows version because the windows version is simply available before any announcement of the linux verson (much less a release). Were there at least a notification of an upcoming port for Linux at/around the Windows release date (yes, I realize this might have happened already for at least some of the games - I don't pay that close of attention), I suspect many Linux users would postpone their purchase until the Linux port is ready (well, at least the 31337 h4x0r's.:)) However, gamers tend to have little patience when there's a perfectly available version out there and no knowledge of alternate versions. Luckily (I suppose), I don't have Windows partition (there's the aforemention elitist statement.;)) so I'm forced to wait for the (hopefully continuing) Loki ports. Alas, I went through this same scenario with BeOS.:(
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Of course Bill is sorry. I mean, they've produced some of the most insecure and unstable code in that last couple of years and it's obviously hurt their business... wait.. that's what SHOULD be reality.
I agree with one thing - Microsoft introduced the masses to the concept of inept programming *AND* they made money from it. Good business, yes. A couple of blue-screens every now and then? Oh, that's a hardware problem.. or, perhaps, that's just "normal"..
I'd like to believe you and that Bill has been fretting over this for years. I doubt it though.
To quote a cliche, "Don't fix it if it ain't broken". I don't know - perhaps Bill tried to send out a similar email years ago and it got lost or something (I mean, it *IS* an Outlook/Exchange combination over there probably! )
Yes - Microsoft is a huge corporation with thousands of developers - with thousands of egos. But, if all it takes is Bill to send an email out to "remind" everyone to write secure and stable code, why didn't he do it years ago and save his stomach all the rolaids? Maybe it just wasn't that important to him... and to suspect any different now is just a 'bit hopeful I imagine. "Secure" Microsoft code is code that isn't broken in the press. To believe that Bill got involved in this "initiative" for any other reason than negative publicity is naive at best.
Yes - I *AM* a developer.. yes.. my management does often request features over security... but, at least I fight back. Perhaps Microsoft is so large that individuals can't do that - but given the history of their "Chief Architect", I suspect it's not a priority anyways.
Like most sports, they're probably just checking for bawls
<rapidly subscribing to alt.binaries.dimascus.swords>
<browsing>
<ignoring thread>
<browsing>
<ignoring thread>
<sigh>
Ahhhh... apparently I want:
alt.binaries.sheathed.weapons
(oohh.. yes, I know... that was bad - ducking for
mod-related-repercussions)
Well, damnit, that link just didn't work did it? ;)
Alcohol mocks me yet again!
Yes... preview is overrated.
Having erased my entire collection multiple times (read, too much free time), I finally decided on <A HREF="http://www.mpegplus.org">mpegplus</A&g t;. True, there are some licensing isssues with the encoder (still free right now), the quality does appear to be noticeably better (having compared 256kb ogg with '-insane' mpegplus - in fact, it appears better to my untrained ears than lame - though I no doubt subscribe to the inherent external placebo effect of reading mostly-unverified-external great reviews :) ). Unfortuntely, I'm left with incompatibilities abound (well, everything works fine other than the Audio Request I have - alas, I suspect I will be bound to making secondary encodings in MP3). If I had an external players (either portable or CD), I'd no doubt stick with LAME mp3 simply for the sake of compatibility. However, for now, and until I re-encode, ignorance is bliss. :)
I suspect there's a greater number of Windows pirated versions of any Loki port than Linux versions. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone that uses Linux is a 31337 h4x0r. ;) I personaly own upwards of six Loki games (actual count questionable after this many beers. ;)) - and the point of that statement is NOT to come across as some elitist view as 'well, i bought it, you didn't, nyah!', but to realize the point that many linux users buy the windows version because the windows version is simply available before any announcement of the linux verson (much less a release). Were there at least a notification of an upcoming port for Linux at/around the Windows release date (yes, I realize this might have happened already for at least some of the games - I don't pay that close of attention), I suspect many Linux users would postpone their purchase until the Linux port is ready (well, at least the 31337 h4x0r's. :)) However, gamers tend to have little patience when there's a perfectly available version out there and no knowledge of alternate versions. Luckily (I suppose), I don't have Windows partition (there's the aforemention elitist statement. ;)) so I'm forced to wait for the (hopefully continuing) Loki ports. Alas, I went through this same scenario with BeOS. :(