but don't complain at me about crashes and viruses.
It's precisely this arrogance from inexperienced computer users that sends shivers down the spine of a security consultant like me.
Dear fanbois, let's get one thing clear from the outset - the iPad is a computing device that both sends and receives information from the Internet. Therefore, it is perfectly possible for it to receive a piece of malware that does stuff you don't want it to do.
On a normal open platform PC, one good defence you have against malware is being able to change what software you are running, whether it's a new virus checker or deciding not to run an insecure web browser like Safari. Likewise, to apply a security update will probably only need you to download a file of a few megabytes and reboot, not purchase the latest embedded OS version from Apple and re-flash the whole system.
Erm, sorry to urinate on your roman candle but it's precisely because of free software that Apple can take a BSD UNIX core and put it at the heart of OS X.
Not to mention that you can happily run the likes of Firefox, The GIMP, OpenOffice.org and many other apps on your Windows, OS X, BSD UNIX, Linux, Solaris and many other OSes.
In future, please engage brain before opening mouth.
Viruses happen because they can spread quickly across a large number of similar computing devices that are running similar software - if that software has security holes in it, then all the better for the spread of the virus. This is precisely the reason why viruses are so prevalent on Windows - a lot of x86 PCs running the same OS which has certain security holes that allow the virus to get good enough permissions on the system.
However, it's also true that if you stop using some of the deeply embedded software in Windows, like Internet Explorer or Outlook, and change them for Firefox or Thunderbird (or indeed most third-party browsers/email clients), then you risk of getting any viruses decreases considerably; likewise if you run an up-to-date virus checker and install security updates as soon as they are released.
Any OS, including my own beloved Linux, is susceptible to viruses and exploits is someone takes enough trouble to write them and inexperienced users don't defend themselves against them.
Apple has a very poor track record for security in Safari, and the fact that OS X hasn't seen much in the way of viruses has something to do with the security model it uses (as in any OS with a UNIX-like core) but mostly because virus writers would rather inconvenience millions of Windows users than a few thousand OS X (or indeed Linux) users.
But rest assured, if enough iPads sell then it will become a target for virus writers, and the fact that it is SO locked down and that you MUST use Safari, not to mention the fact that most of its users will be inexperienced computer users, means that it is potentially very open to virus attack - so please do not get complacent about that fact.
Tell me, do you think that anywhere in their advertising and marketing material, Apple have once mentioned the fact that it's a closed system, that the only software you can install on it is what is available on the Apple store?
Take something like the iPod Touch. Ask an average person in the street what he thinks an iPod Touch is, and he or she is going to say "a music player". Yes, it's a music player that also let's you connect to the Internet, write emails & play games, but it's core purpose is a music player and, as such, most people won't think about putting their own software on it.
But now ask people what an iPad is... they're going to say "tablet PC". Immediately that implies being able to put your own software on it.
The point I'm trying to make is that the iPad is aimed at people who might otherwise carry a laptop or netbook with them - and therefore it's fair to make the point that in comparison to those devices, you cannot install what you want on it.
I don't pirate games, I buy maybe 2 or 3 new games and a handful of used ones from eBay over the course of a year - otherwise I'm revisiting old titles from my collection, installing mods, updated engines, etc. I'm currently having a great time replaying Duke Nukem 3D and additional episodes with eduke32, runs nice on Windows & Linux...
However, copy protection isn't just about piracy, piracy just gives the games companies an excuse to foist the protection on everyone.
In reality, this is because a whole heap of very rich people don't like the fact that you or I *own* stuff, they'd much rather we *rent* stuff, set up a nice bank debit to pay them some money each month and threaten to stop the stuff working if we stop paying them.
The games companies are now also starting to hate the PC. The combinations of different hardware and OSes make games more difficult to produce than on a "same the world over" console, plus the fact that the PC is an open platform means you can install all manner of applications to crack their games open.
It's quite obvious that the current strategy is to make life as uncomfortable as possible for PC gamers so that they give up PC gaming, buy consoles and get their games fix on those instead.
This is the very same government that yesterday wasted £3,000,000 of British tax payers' money by releasing a pamphlet instructing men on how to be good fathers - with recommendations that they are present at the births of their children and ensure their wives/partners are kept nutritionally well fed.
One wonders if any man that needs to read the pamphlet should be a father in the first place...
Actually, you'd need to break into an arcade machine museum to play them since I doubt many amusement arcades would hold such games as original Space Invaders, Defender, Mr. Do, etc.
Incidentally, the reason why there is a demand for retrogaming is because of the people who give their time freely to making emulators like MAME, UAE (for the Commodore Amiga) and many others, as well as those who dump old arcade ROMs and old home computer tapes & disks.
Yes, it's probably "illegal" in the strictest definition but they are also preserving old stuff that just isn't sold any more - and because of the interest they've created in the first place, this allows the likes of Microsoft to charge for it.
I really liked the clip & I really quite like the idea of seeing a full length movie based on it - personally, I don't care whether the clip is genuine or viral, it's piqued my interest so it's done what it's supposed to.
So it's derivative of "War Of The Worlds" or "Independence Day". So what? I don't need to have my intellect stretched every time I go and see a movie, sometimes I just want to sit there like the fat consumer I am, pay some money and just be *ENTERTAINED*.
If anything the movie industry is so scared of itself that most of it tries too damned hard to churn out blockbuster after blockbuster, sequel after sequel, when sometimes an enjoyable "B" movie is all that's needed - exactly why a director like John Carpenter can stay relatively independent & just put out movies based on stories he wants to tell and will be a bit of good fun to watch.
So please don't spend too much time analysing it because you're wasting your time - all that matters is whether or not you enjoyed it and if it becomes a full length movie then either go see it or don't go and see it.
You're correct about the online cheating & patches that are prevalent on many PC games, I don't know how much of the same exists on consoles because apart from a Wii in the house that the missus plays Wii Fit on & I play the occasional drunken party game on with friends, I don't use a console.
But it may come as a surprise to you to learn that as an avid PC gamer, I've not yet once played in a single MMORPG, simply because I want to buy games, rather than subscribe to them, and I don't want to be constantly hassled online by bored teenagers. (I have a close group of friends who do play WoW and Champions Online.)
No, I'm quite happy playing solo games like Fallout 3 or going online for the occasional bout of UT2004, Quake Online or World Of Padman. Yes, in the latter case, it's quite obvious that on some servers, people are even playing those games with cheats activated - if that's the case, I just logoff and find another server. But it doesn't bother me, because with the wealth of PC games there are, much of them free to download and play, I've plenty of choice.
And while we're on the subject of patches, let's be a little more clear about those. It is highly unlikely that a 2.50GB patch contains just bug fixes. In all likelihood, it contains new textures, maybe a few new levels and game enhancements - so the fact is, by downloading it you are probably getting some extra content for the game. Yes, we can argue until we're blue in the face about why games are rushed out and why that stuff wasn't included on the original DVD but that's a fact.
So, for me, PC gaming is about freedom, I can play pretty much what I want to when I want to, if I want to have a LAN party with a few friends, I can do that.
Do I think console gaming is dying? I don't know, I do think the entire games industry is collapsing under its own weight due to bloated mega-sequels that require film production budgets to be made in the first place, yet I remember a time a quarter of a century ago when a bedroom programmer could produce a game that was also, at the time, the most amazing game anyone had ever made.
Personally, I'm more than happy to see a return to simpler games on mobile platforms - even better, on open mobile platforms so anyone who has a desire to create a great game has the chance to do so.
Dont you mean kill off a once profitable and good game developer that they took over?
Why does that matter to a paying customer? The only criteria is whether or not something is worth the money you paid for it, who gives a stuff if the developer goes out of business?
...with Windows' lax control of permissions allowing just about anybody to run as a super user, surely they should have a patent for "sudon't" which would probably be infinitely more useful?
I don't do that much in the way of web development myself but it certainly made me realise how important web site layout is for the blind, as well as for sighted people.
Please excuse my total ignorance but how do you navigate around Slashdot as a blind person?
I can understand that text on the screen can be "read" to you by a program that turn text to speech, but how are things like the position of a, say, "Reply to This" button conveyed to you so that you know it's there on screen in the first place where a sighted person would just click with the mouse pointer?
Yes, all of those... but not necessarily more than once.
Although for the award for "the album which sounds most like a metal dustbin rolling down some stone steps", Master Of Puppets definitely comes closest.
Please go to a site called Google and type in the words "online compact disc retailers".
I suspect that from most of these retailers, you can buy the music of The Beatles a pre-recorded disc format which you can then insert into the CD (Compact Disc) drive of your PC (Personal Computer) and use a "ripping" program to transfer the music to files on your HD (Hard Disk).
You may find this to be an easier way to get the music of The Beatles, with the added advantage that you have an automatic backup of your music when you buy the disc, thus having no need to go down on Steve Jobs when your HD (Hard Disk) bombs in order to let iTunes let you redownload your music.
Paranoid security people like you normally get chewed up and spat out by knowledgeable security people like me.
As someone who works as a security consultant for a hardware vendor, I meet you types on my customer sites every day of my life. You're the arrogant, mouthy type of security person that I find it very easy to make look like the total idiot you are.
I work with great security people both within my company and with my clients - these are people that listen to others, contribute their knowledge and learn something new every day.
You are just a walking mouth who has elevated himself to his own little throne - I'm so pleased you're an AC because I'm not sure I'd like you very much if I actually knew you.
One thing I have learnt as I get older is to chill out about things and not take life so seriously.
Even though I'm British and proud of what we (and all the Allied forces) did during WW2, I actually thought U-571 was just a fun, "turn your brain off" movie that was good entertainment. It's not as though the film opened or close with the lines "This film accurately depicts real events during WW2" after all.
And if people are concerned that kids go see these movies and think that's what really happened, then maybe history teachers need to do a better job and maybe parents should be showing their kids how to take reference books out the library or how to search for factual information on the Internet.
Slashdot Mirror
but don't complain at me about crashes and viruses.
It's precisely this arrogance from inexperienced computer users that sends shivers down the spine of a security consultant like me.
Dear fanbois, let's get one thing clear from the outset - the iPad is a computing device that both sends and receives information from the Internet. Therefore, it is perfectly possible for it to receive a piece of malware that does stuff you don't want it to do.
On a normal open platform PC, one good defence you have against malware is being able to change what software you are running, whether it's a new virus checker or deciding not to run an insecure web browser like Safari. Likewise, to apply a security update will probably only need you to download a file of a few megabytes and reboot, not purchase the latest embedded OS version from Apple and re-flash the whole system.
My netbook is also a recreational device, it gets information to me.
I happen to dual boot mine with both Windows XP and Linux, I watch movies on planes with it as well.
But I can also put what software I want to use on it, rather than what I'm told I have to use.
Erm, sorry to urinate on your roman candle but it's precisely because of free software that Apple can take a BSD UNIX core and put it at the heart of OS X.
Not to mention that you can happily run the likes of Firefox, The GIMP, OpenOffice.org and many other apps on your Windows, OS X, BSD UNIX, Linux, Solaris and many other OSes.
In future, please engage brain before opening mouth.
Viruses happen because they can spread quickly across a large number of similar computing devices that are running similar software - if that software has security holes in it, then all the better for the spread of the virus. This is precisely the reason why viruses are so prevalent on Windows - a lot of x86 PCs running the same OS which has certain security holes that allow the virus to get good enough permissions on the system.
However, it's also true that if you stop using some of the deeply embedded software in Windows, like Internet Explorer or Outlook, and change them for Firefox or Thunderbird (or indeed most third-party browsers/email clients), then you risk of getting any viruses decreases considerably; likewise if you run an up-to-date virus checker and install security updates as soon as they are released.
Any OS, including my own beloved Linux, is susceptible to viruses and exploits is someone takes enough trouble to write them and inexperienced users don't defend themselves against them.
Apple has a very poor track record for security in Safari, and the fact that OS X hasn't seen much in the way of viruses has something to do with the security model it uses (as in any OS with a UNIX-like core) but mostly because virus writers would rather inconvenience millions of Windows users than a few thousand OS X (or indeed Linux) users.
But rest assured, if enough iPads sell then it will become a target for virus writers, and the fact that it is SO locked down and that you MUST use Safari, not to mention the fact that most of its users will be inexperienced computer users, means that it is potentially very open to virus attack - so please do not get complacent about that fact.
It's an appliance designed to replace carrying a netbook or notebook PC around with you.
Therefore it's entirely fair to point out that you cannot install the same applications that you can on a netbook or notebook.
Tell me, do you think that anywhere in their advertising and marketing material, Apple have once mentioned the fact that it's a closed system, that the only software you can install on it is what is available on the Apple store?
Take something like the iPod Touch. Ask an average person in the street what he thinks an iPod Touch is, and he or she is going to say "a music player". Yes, it's a music player that also let's you connect to the Internet, write emails & play games, but it's core purpose is a music player and, as such, most people won't think about putting their own software on it.
But now ask people what an iPad is... they're going to say "tablet PC". Immediately that implies being able to put your own software on it.
The point I'm trying to make is that the iPad is aimed at people who might otherwise carry a laptop or netbook with them - and therefore it's fair to make the point that in comparison to those devices, you cannot install what you want on it.
...wake me up again when there's one I can put the software I want to on it, not what Apple wants to.
I don't pirate games, I buy maybe 2 or 3 new games and a handful of used ones from eBay over the course of a year - otherwise I'm revisiting old titles from my collection, installing mods, updated engines, etc. I'm currently having a great time replaying Duke Nukem 3D and additional episodes with eduke32, runs nice on Windows & Linux...
However, copy protection isn't just about piracy, piracy just gives the games companies an excuse to foist the protection on everyone.
In reality, this is because a whole heap of very rich people don't like the fact that you or I *own* stuff, they'd much rather we *rent* stuff, set up a nice bank debit to pay them some money each month and threaten to stop the stuff working if we stop paying them.
The games companies are now also starting to hate the PC. The combinations of different hardware and OSes make games more difficult to produce than on a "same the world over" console, plus the fact that the PC is an open platform means you can install all manner of applications to crack their games open.
It's quite obvious that the current strategy is to make life as uncomfortable as possible for PC gamers so that they give up PC gaming, buy consoles and get their games fix on those instead.
This is the very same government that yesterday wasted £3,000,000 of British tax payers' money by releasing a pamphlet instructing men on how to be good fathers - with recommendations that they are present at the births of their children and ensure their wives/partners are kept nutritionally well fed.
One wonders if any man that needs to read the pamphlet should be a father in the first place...
Actually, you'd need to break into an arcade machine museum to play them since I doubt many amusement arcades would hold such games as original Space Invaders, Defender, Mr. Do, etc.
Incidentally, the reason why there is a demand for retrogaming is because of the people who give their time freely to making emulators like MAME, UAE (for the Commodore Amiga) and many others, as well as those who dump old arcade ROMs and old home computer tapes & disks.
Yes, it's probably "illegal" in the strictest definition but they are also preserving old stuff that just isn't sold any more - and because of the interest they've created in the first place, this allows the likes of Microsoft to charge for it.
...on a fantastically lean, mean & slim Microsoft Windows OS?
You know something?
I really liked the clip & I really quite like the idea of seeing a full length movie based on it - personally, I don't care whether the clip is genuine or viral, it's piqued my interest so it's done what it's supposed to.
So it's derivative of "War Of The Worlds" or "Independence Day". So what? I don't need to have my intellect stretched every time I go and see a movie, sometimes I just want to sit there like the fat consumer I am, pay some money and just be *ENTERTAINED*.
If anything the movie industry is so scared of itself that most of it tries too damned hard to churn out blockbuster after blockbuster, sequel after sequel, when sometimes an enjoyable "B" movie is all that's needed - exactly why a director like John Carpenter can stay relatively independent & just put out movies based on stories he wants to tell and will be a bit of good fun to watch.
So please don't spend too much time analysing it because you're wasting your time - all that matters is whether or not you enjoyed it and if it becomes a full length movie then either go see it or don't go and see it.
Let me think what I've done on my PC the past week or so:
1. Done a mail merge and printed address labels for my Christmas cards.
2. Ripped a load of DVD movies to put on my PC media server in the lounge.
3. Checked email, ordered presents on line, browsed Slashdot.
4. Ripped a couple of new CDs to FLAC and MP3, and played them.
5. Booted up in Linux, wrote a few shell scripts to do some automated tasks.
6. Had a Spanish/English exchange session with a Spanish colleague using Skype.
7. Edited some photos that were taken at a Christmas party last weekend.
8. Sync'ed my mobile phone to it.
9. Remotely accessed my sister's PC using Hamachi & VNC to fix a problem she had.
10.Burnt a Linux distro onto CD for a friend of mine who was asking for one.
Oh, and found time to play a couple of quick games of Azgard Defence as well.
You're correct about the online cheating & patches that are prevalent on many PC games, I don't know how much of the same exists on consoles because apart from a Wii in the house that the missus plays Wii Fit on & I play the occasional drunken party game on with friends, I don't use a console.
But it may come as a surprise to you to learn that as an avid PC gamer, I've not yet once played in a single MMORPG, simply because I want to buy games, rather than subscribe to them, and I don't want to be constantly hassled online by bored teenagers. (I have a close group of friends who do play WoW and Champions Online.)
No, I'm quite happy playing solo games like Fallout 3 or going online for the occasional bout of UT2004, Quake Online or World Of Padman. Yes, in the latter case, it's quite obvious that on some servers, people are even playing those games with cheats activated - if that's the case, I just logoff and find another server. But it doesn't bother me, because with the wealth of PC games there are, much of them free to download and play, I've plenty of choice.
And while we're on the subject of patches, let's be a little more clear about those. It is highly unlikely that a 2.50GB patch contains just bug fixes. In all likelihood, it contains new textures, maybe a few new levels and game enhancements - so the fact is, by downloading it you are probably getting some extra content for the game. Yes, we can argue until we're blue in the face about why games are rushed out and why that stuff wasn't included on the original DVD but that's a fact.
So, for me, PC gaming is about freedom, I can play pretty much what I want to when I want to, if I want to have a LAN party with a few friends, I can do that.
Do I think console gaming is dying? I don't know, I do think the entire games industry is collapsing under its own weight due to bloated mega-sequels that require film production budgets to be made in the first place, yet I remember a time a quarter of a century ago when a bedroom programmer could produce a game that was also, at the time, the most amazing game anyone had ever made.
Personally, I'm more than happy to see a return to simpler games on mobile platforms - even better, on open mobile platforms so anyone who has a desire to create a great game has the chance to do so.
Dont you mean kill off a once profitable and good game developer that they took over?
Why does that matter to a paying customer? The only criteria is whether or not something is worth the money you paid for it, who gives a stuff if the developer goes out of business?
...with Windows' lax control of permissions allowing just about anybody to run as a super user, surely they should have a patent for "sudon't" which would probably be infinitely more useful?
Thanks, the video made for interesting viewing.
I don't do that much in the way of web development myself but it certainly made me realise how important web site layout is for the blind, as well as for sighted people.
Please excuse my total ignorance but how do you navigate around Slashdot as a blind person?
I can understand that text on the screen can be "read" to you by a program that turn text to speech, but how are things like the position of a, say, "Reply to This" button conveyed to you so that you know it's there on screen in the first place where a sighted person would just click with the mouse pointer?
...as this methodology finally proves that nothing on the X-Factor sounds anything like music.
Yes, all of those... but not necessarily more than once.
Although for the award for "the album which sounds most like a metal dustbin rolling down some stone steps", Master Of Puppets definitely comes closest.
It is a methodology of making something sound like it's coming from somewhere other than where its really coming from
So when my wife gives me a rude stare for passing wind and I blame the dog, using this methodology she will believe me? Cool, tell me more!
Please go to a site called Google and type in the words "online compact disc retailers".
I suspect that from most of these retailers, you can buy the music of The Beatles a pre-recorded disc format which you can then insert into the CD (Compact Disc) drive of your PC (Personal Computer) and use a "ripping" program to transfer the music to files on your HD (Hard Disk).
You may find this to be an easier way to get the music of The Beatles, with the added advantage that you have an automatic backup of your music when you buy the disc, thus having no need to go down on Steve Jobs when your HD (Hard Disk) bombs in order to let iTunes let you redownload your music.
Hope this piece of advice helps!
Metallica make music? When did that start then?
Paranoid security people like you normally get chewed up and spat out by knowledgeable security people like me.
As someone who works as a security consultant for a hardware vendor, I meet you types on my customer sites every day of my life. You're the arrogant, mouthy type of security person that I find it very easy to make look like the total idiot you are.
I work with great security people both within my company and with my clients - these are people that listen to others, contribute their knowledge and learn something new every day.
You are just a walking mouth who has elevated himself to his own little throne - I'm so pleased you're an AC because I'm not sure I'd like you very much if I actually knew you.
One thing I have learnt as I get older is to chill out about things and not take life so seriously.
Even though I'm British and proud of what we (and all the Allied forces) did during WW2, I actually thought U-571 was just a fun, "turn your brain off" movie that was good entertainment. It's not as though the film opened or close with the lines "This film accurately depicts real events during WW2" after all.
And if people are concerned that kids go see these movies and think that's what really happened, then maybe history teachers need to do a better job and maybe parents should be showing their kids how to take reference books out the library or how to search for factual information on the Internet.