If you find "problem solving" to be your passion then follow it, but try to make sure you don't follow something that will limit you later on: If you think Java is interesting then go ahead and learn it BUT make sure you learn the general skills in programming over the particular skills. Learn how to program then learn the language. That way if opportunities around Java go away, then you are set for what's next.
You may find that "problem solving" leads to programming now, but as you grow and develop new skills and interests it may lead to something else, then something else after that. If you can keep your passion then you will be motivated to keep going and learning new things.
There's a meme going around that "Fact is, you cannot make a secure product," is somehow a "Truth" that we all just have to accept.
This is just BS. Of course you can make a secure product. You just have to commit the time and resources to make security your top priority.
If you want to securely control your HVAC systems in your data centre, don't connect it to the Internet: Hire a person to operate it. If you want to securely control your nuclear reactor, don't connect it to the Internet but hire a staff to operate it using air-gapped systems.
If you want to save money on salaries by connecting your critical systems to the Internet using commodity CPUs that don't separate writable RAM from executable RAM, and operating systems designed for single user with poor security built in, and software written by the lowest bidder using languages that encourage lazy programmers to write buffer overruns, then you will save money but there's no way you can make a secure product. But don't pretend it's a universal fact that security is not possible: Recognize it's your own penny-pinching that is causing the problem.
"obvious: that 'every digital system has a vulnerability,' "
So far, this has been demonstrated (NOT proven) only in the current environment where hardware and software architects, developers and businesses can get away from product liability requirements by crafting toxic EULAs that dump all the responsibility for their crappy designs and code on the end user. If the people who create our digital systems had to face liability as a consequence of their failure to design a secure system, we may find they get off their a**es and do the job properly. Where's Ralph Nader when you need him?
And as the original poster noted, you CAN isolate the control systems from the Internet! Cut the wire and fire anyone who tries to fix it.
"analog protection systems have one big advantage over their digital successors: they are immune"
Nonsense! There were PLENTY of breakins by thieves into banks, runaway trains, industrial accidents and sabotage BEFORE the digital age. There was no "golden age" of analog before digital: That's just bullsh*t.
REAL northerners are NOT making fun of the grief and hassle that the good people of Atlanta are facing. We've all seen what happens when the weather gets bad, and we're having problems right now ourselves so we can all relate. See: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Ca...
So I wish you the best of luck and hope you get sorted out soon!
OK, so now that HP has pulled their head out of their *ss and realized that NO-ONE likes Win 8, are they going to release any drivers for those of us who bought their "Envy" systems and need the drivers for Win 7 so we can make those "Envy" systems work properly?
Or, since they already have our money, are we SOL?
At least have the decency to mention the important thing the Harper government got RIGHT: Limiting the scope of how hard the CRIA can screw the individual downloader. We see HUGE penalties in the USA for poor people getting nailed for "copyright infringement" but at least in Canada Harper has limited that to $5,000CDN for "all infringements involved" so no-one has to lose their house over downloading a few songs to listen to at home. That is a HUGE benefit and protection to the average person here in Canada who just wants to listen to music. It also forces the music labels to leave the music lovers alone and go after the commercial infringers, since they can't exploit individuals as a "cash cow".
Also note that these copyright changes are all REQUIRED under international agreements that Canada is party to, so you can blame Harper all you want but no-one else could have done any different. IMHO, I think he got the best deal possible out of a crappy situation!
(b) in a sum of not less than $100 and not more than $5,000 that the court considers just, with respect to all infringements involved in the proceedings for all works or other subject-matter, if the infringements are for non-commercial purposes.
If you give someone the opportunity to make money without holding them to account for the consequences of their actions, don't be surprised when they create, market and sell crappy insecure products to the public.
THIS is what Ralph Nader was talking about in his book "Unsafe At Any Speed". The car makers were putting unsafe, crappy cars (like the early Chevy Corsair) on the road to make money and deliberately rejecting any moral or legal responsibility to make the cars safe. It's happening again: Now we have software makers all over the world from the largest to the smallest that are making crappy insecure software and getting out of any responsibilities through EULAs that let them off the hook. And the software is insecure garbage that allows malicious attackers to screw with the gadget or computer you just bought, so they can rip you off or steal your identity or whatever they like.
And they are going to keep on doing this until there is legislative or other pressure put on them to take responsibility for their actions. You decide how likely that is.
The last time my 82 year old father-in-law visited, he wanted to check some web news sites so I handed him my netbook running Ubuntu. Half an hour later, I told him he was using a Linux system and he was happily surprised since he was used to Win7.
What I learned at that moment is that IF you provide a good system running Linux and presenting the apps a user needs in a usable way, THEN the user doesn't really care whether it's Linux or whatever. Firefox and Thunderbird and Libre Office really are good enough (or better) for any "normal" user doing "normal" things.
I haven't converted his home system yet, only because he has a son who does support for him, so it's Not My Problem.:)
According to the fine article,
"The Intel compiler occasionally âoecalls homeâ to an Intel-owned Website to check licensing information. When it does so, it prints out a message about when the current license expires. I didnâ(TM)t use the results when that happens, since it would add time and skew the timing results. "
WRONG. The tester should not have excluded these results where time was wasted with this nonsense: If WE the users have to put up with it, it SHOULD be included in the benchmarks.
This is probably not what the OP wants to hear (surprise! It's Slashdot after all) but I agree that a VERY good option is a Buffalo router. I bought a Buffalo WZR-600DHP running DD-WRT and it has been completely reliable in my SOHO environment. The feature set, tunability and capabilities of DD-WRT on this device are extensive and impressive.
I have tried DD-WRT on some older routers (Linksys) in the past and although the features were there the reliability and dependability were just not there. I had to reset every few weeks and reconfigure. So when I saw Buffalo was using DD-WRT I decided to try it and I have been very happy.
Would the wayback machine or something similar be able to retrieve the originals? Or, could you get a signed letter from the original client that this was your work? Then you could talk to a lawyer about copyright infringement.
If the original client won't cooperate, perhaps you could send a DMCA takedown notice asserting your ownership of the copyright for the original digital content.
Run away now. Run far! It will save you grief in the long run.
Managers who know nothing about IT are never going to learn enough about IT to make a decision: If they had the ability or inclination then they would have already done so and if they think they are then they are incompetent. There's nothing worse than a senior manager who knows just enough to be dangerous. Also known as "does not know what they do not know."
Should they ask a lawyer to teach them enough about the law to make a decision about a legal matter? No, they should understand that Law is a complex and difficult field that they know nothing about and it takes many years to master before they could possibly make an informed decision.
Should they ask a doctor to teach them enough about medicine to make a decision about a surgical procedure? No, they should understand that Medecine is a complex and difficult field that they know nothing about and it takes many years to master before they could possibly make an informed decision.
Should they ask a CPA to teach them enough about high-end accounting to make a decision about a compicated financial situation? No, they should understand that Business Finance is a complex and difficult field that they know nothing about and it takes many years to master before they could possibly make an informed decision.
So why do these "senior managers" think that they can somehow learn enough about IT to make informed decisions about complex IT matters? Do they really have so little regard for the professionalism and depth of knowledge of senior IT practitioners that they really believe they can learn all there is to know in a few short lessons? That is the apogee of hubris!
What you should do is:
1. It's much easier if you put together a list of possible solutions with a cost/benefit analysis of each, then they can make the decision. They get to stick to what they know and aren't required to think outside their comfortable little boxes.
2. Always give them several solutions to choose from. Then make sure that the solution YOU want has the best cost/benefit outcome.
1. Take a pile of the old tech manuals you have lying around (Venereal Basic for Dummies, Internet Exploder Resource Kit, Windows NT Networking Nightmare Guide, etc.)
2. Put this pile behind your laptop.
3. Put existing monitor stand on top of the pile.
4. Adjust height by removing/adding useless manuals as needed.
5. ???
6. Profit!!!!
The taser is a weapon that causes severe and debilitating pain from a short range with no risk to the user and a low but genuine risk of death to the target.
We've seen another weapon exactly like this before: It's called a bullwhip. Not the cool toy that Indiana Jones uses in the movies, but the brutal and vicious tool used by slavemasters to punish, abuse and control people since before written history. The only real difference between the taser and the bullwhip is that the taser is easier to use.
Here's a question: How would YOU feel if the police in your country were issued bullwhips to use on citizens? Would you still think of your country as a stable and mature liberal democracy with a history of respect for freedom and with a respected and authoritative "Charter of Rights and Freedoms"?
As a Canadian citizen, I'm appalled with what I saw in the video of the RCMP officers tasering the Polish immigrant in the video that was posted on the Internet: What the hell is wrong with a system that lets that happen?
I call for an immediate and complete ban on all tasers in Canada outside of the military. NO tasers should be in the hands of any citizen, police officer. Any civilian, security guard or police officer found with a taser should be subject to the same penalty as anyone possessing an illegal handgun.
Your management wants to reduce their risk. They've been sold FUD by MS sales droids, and they need to hear that they don't have the problem they think they have.
You need to pull together data that addresses their concerns and shows them that your current LAMP regime will save them money AND mitigate their risk. All of this info should already be available from the big Linux vendors: IBM and Red Hat should be able to provide you with lots of studies, white papers and data to show that their risk is already mitigated with LAMP and they will pay lots more for MS.NET. If they won't listen, go over their heads and make sure the extra cost of.NET is made very clear to the CIO/CFO.
Why not give IBM or Red Hat or Novell salespeople a call and let them know that you need their help to convince senior management? They should be happy to help, based on the hope of getting future support contracts.
Ah yes. We're all going to learn a whole new way of programming: To wit:
"If there is a law in computing, Abstraction is it, it is an essential piece of today's computing technology, much of what we do would not be possible without it. Cell however, has abandoned it. The programming model for the Cell will be concrete, when you program an APU you will be programming what is in the APU itself, not some abstraction. You will be "hitting the hardware" so to speak.'
So we're all going to go back to assembler? I don't think so.
"I'd have to say the original article is a stupid troll."
And you would be correct. The original author of this hatchet job "editorial" clearly knows very little about *BSD and didn't even bother to read the home pages for the projects.
Slashdot Mirror
Philosophy questions:
1. Why?
2. Why is life a living hell?
3. What did I do to deserve this?
CS questions:
1. Why?
2. Why is life a living hell?
3. What did I do to deserve this?
4. What evil b*st*rd wrote this g*d*mn*d compiler?
If you find "problem solving" to be your passion then follow it, but try to make sure you don't follow something that will limit you later on: If you think Java is interesting then go ahead and learn it BUT make sure you learn the general skills in programming over the particular skills. Learn how to program then learn the language. That way if opportunities around Java go away, then you are set for what's next.
You may find that "problem solving" leads to programming now, but as you grow and develop new skills and interests it may lead to something else, then something else after that. If you can keep your passion then you will be motivated to keep going and learning new things.
There's a meme going around that "Fact is, you cannot make a secure product," is somehow a "Truth" that we all just have to accept.
This is just BS. Of course you can make a secure product. You just have to commit the time and resources to make security your top priority.
If you want to securely control your HVAC systems in your data centre, don't connect it to the Internet: Hire a person to operate it. If you want to securely control your nuclear reactor, don't connect it to the Internet but hire a staff to operate it using air-gapped systems.
If you want to save money on salaries by connecting your critical systems to the Internet using commodity CPUs that don't separate writable RAM from executable RAM, and operating systems designed for single user with poor security built in, and software written by the lowest bidder using languages that encourage lazy programmers to write buffer overruns, then you will save money but there's no way you can make a secure product. But don't pretend it's a universal fact that security is not possible: Recognize it's your own penny-pinching that is causing the problem.
"obvious: that 'every digital system has a vulnerability,' "
So far, this has been demonstrated (NOT proven) only in the current environment where hardware and software architects, developers and businesses can get away from product liability requirements by crafting toxic EULAs that dump all the responsibility for their crappy designs and code on the end user. If the people who create our digital systems had to face liability as a consequence of their failure to design a secure system, we may find they get off their a**es and do the job properly. Where's Ralph Nader when you need him?
And as the original poster noted, you CAN isolate the control systems from the Internet! Cut the wire and fire anyone who tries to fix it.
"analog protection systems have one big advantage over their digital successors: they are immune"
Nonsense! There were PLENTY of breakins by thieves into banks, runaway trains, industrial accidents and sabotage BEFORE the digital age. There was no "golden age" of analog before digital: That's just bullsh*t.
REAL northerners are NOT making fun of the grief and hassle that the good people of Atlanta are facing. We've all seen what happens when the weather gets bad, and we're having problems right now ourselves so we can all relate. See: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Ca...
So I wish you the best of luck and hope you get sorted out soon!
OK, so now that HP has pulled their head out of their *ss and realized that NO-ONE likes Win 8, are they going to release any drivers for those of us who bought their "Envy" systems and need the drivers for Win 7 so we can make those "Envy" systems work properly?
Or, since they already have our money, are we SOL?
Hmph. SOL it is, then.
At least have the decency to mention the important thing the Harper government got RIGHT: Limiting the scope of how hard the CRIA can screw the individual downloader. We see HUGE penalties in the USA for poor people getting nailed for "copyright infringement" but at least in Canada Harper has limited that to $5,000CDN for "all infringements involved" so no-one has to lose their house over downloading a few songs to listen to at home. That is a HUGE benefit and protection to the average person here in Canada who just wants to listen to music. It also forces the music labels to leave the music lovers alone and go after the commercial infringers, since they can't exploit individuals as a "cash cow".
Also note that these copyright changes are all REQUIRED under international agreements that Canada is party to, so you can blame Harper all you want but no-one else could have done any different. IMHO, I think he got the best deal possible out of a crappy situation!
See: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca...
(b) in a sum of not less than $100 and not more than $5,000 that the court considers just, with respect to all infringements involved in the proceedings for all works or other subject-matter, if the infringements are for non-commercial purposes.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com...
If you give someone the opportunity to make money without holding them to account for the consequences of their actions, don't be surprised when they create, market and sell crappy insecure products to the public.
THIS is what Ralph Nader was talking about in his book "Unsafe At Any Speed". The car makers were putting unsafe, crappy cars (like the early Chevy Corsair) on the road to make money and deliberately rejecting any moral or legal responsibility to make the cars safe. It's happening again: Now we have software makers all over the world from the largest to the smallest that are making crappy insecure software and getting out of any responsibilities through EULAs that let them off the hook. And the software is insecure garbage that allows malicious attackers to screw with the gadget or computer you just bought, so they can rip you off or steal your identity or whatever they like.
And they are going to keep on doing this until there is legislative or other pressure put on them to take responsibility for their actions. You decide how likely that is.
What he said!!
What I learned at that moment is that IF you provide a good system running Linux and presenting the apps a user needs in a usable way, THEN the user doesn't really care whether it's Linux or whatever. Firefox and Thunderbird and Libre Office really are good enough (or better) for any "normal" user doing "normal" things.
I haven't converted his home system yet, only because he has a son who does support for him, so it's Not My Problem. :)
Good guy D-Link!!!! It's nice to see a manufacturer actually helping out their customers instead of just making them buy a new router.
According to the fine article, "The Intel compiler occasionally âoecalls homeâ to an Intel-owned Website to check licensing information. When it does so, it prints out a message about when the current license expires. I didnâ(TM)t use the results when that happens, since it would add time and skew the timing results. " WRONG. The tester should not have excluded these results where time was wasted with this nonsense: If WE the users have to put up with it, it SHOULD be included in the benchmarks.
I have tried DD-WRT on some older routers (Linksys) in the past and although the features were there the reliability and dependability were just not there. I had to reset every few weeks and reconfigure. So when I saw Buffalo was using DD-WRT I decided to try it and I have been very happy.
If the original client won't cooperate, perhaps you could send a DMCA takedown notice asserting your ownership of the copyright for the original digital content.
Should they ask a lawyer to teach them enough about the law to make a decision about a legal matter? No, they should understand that Law is a complex and difficult field that they know nothing about and it takes many years to master before they could possibly make an informed decision.
Should they ask a doctor to teach them enough about medicine to make a decision about a surgical procedure? No, they should understand that Medecine is a complex and difficult field that they know nothing about and it takes many years to master before they could possibly make an informed decision.
Should they ask a CPA to teach them enough about high-end accounting to make a decision about a compicated financial situation? No, they should understand that Business Finance is a complex and difficult field that they know nothing about and it takes many years to master before they could possibly make an informed decision.
So why do these "senior managers" think that they can somehow learn enough about IT to make informed decisions about complex IT matters? Do they really have so little regard for the professionalism and depth of knowledge of senior IT practitioners that they really believe they can learn all there is to know in a few short lessons? That is the apogee of hubris!
What you should do is:
1. It's much easier if you put together a list of possible solutions with a cost/benefit analysis of each, then they can make the decision. They get to stick to what they know and aren't required to think outside their comfortable little boxes.
2. Always give them several solutions to choose from. Then make sure that the solution YOU want has the best cost/benefit outcome.
1. Take a pile of the old tech manuals you have lying around (Venereal Basic for Dummies, Internet Exploder Resource Kit, Windows NT Networking Nightmare Guide, etc.) 2. Put this pile behind your laptop. 3. Put existing monitor stand on top of the pile. 4. Adjust height by removing/adding useless manuals as needed. 5. ??? 6. Profit!!!!
That would bring a whole new meaning to the term "You're Fired!".
When they get that built, they'll be able to build and launch the Project Orion spacecraft without getting all that fallout into the atmosphere. Whee!
We've seen another weapon exactly like this before: It's called a bullwhip. Not the cool toy that Indiana Jones uses in the movies, but the brutal and vicious tool used by slavemasters to punish, abuse and control people since before written history. The only real difference between the taser and the bullwhip is that the taser is easier to use.
Here's a question: How would YOU feel if the police in your country were issued bullwhips to use on citizens? Would you still think of your country as a stable and mature liberal democracy with a history of respect for freedom and with a respected and authoritative "Charter of Rights and Freedoms"?
As a Canadian citizen, I'm appalled with what I saw in the video of the RCMP officers tasering the Polish immigrant in the video that was posted on the Internet: What the hell is wrong with a system that lets that happen?
I call for an immediate and complete ban on all tasers in Canada outside of the military. NO tasers should be in the hands of any citizen, police officer. Any civilian, security guard or police officer found with a taser should be subject to the same penalty as anyone possessing an illegal handgun.
You need to pull together data that addresses their concerns and shows them that your current LAMP regime will save them money AND mitigate their risk. All of this info should already be available from the big Linux vendors: IBM and Red Hat should be able to provide you with lots of studies, white papers and data to show that their risk is already mitigated with LAMP and they will pay lots more for MS .NET. If they won't listen, go over their heads and make sure the extra cost of .NET is made very clear to the CIO/CFO.
Why not give IBM or Red Hat or Novell salespeople a call and let them know that you need their help to convince senior management? They should be happy to help, based on the hope of getting future support contracts.
And fourthed. (sorry) I've deployed OpenBSD firewalls for VPNs, DMZs, network protection yadda yadda yadda. It just works.
"If there is a law in computing, Abstraction is it, it is an essential piece of today's computing technology, much of what we do would not be possible without it. Cell however, has abandoned it. The programming model for the Cell will be concrete, when you program an APU you will be programming what is in the APU itself, not some abstraction. You will be "hitting the hardware" so to speak.'
So we're all going to go back to assembler? I don't think so.
Note: IANAL.
And you would be correct. The original author of this hatchet job "editorial" clearly knows very little about *BSD and didn't even bother to read the home pages for the projects.
Article: http://groups.google.ca/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8& selm=ucggua1ghi9ic1%40corp.supernews.com&rnum= 12