That's right, the two go hand in hand. You can't use the software for production, and therefore, anyone accessing MSDN servers software must also be a valid MSDN users, using the software under the terms (e.g., for development.)
The purpose of MSDN is to provide cheap software to developers working on Windows-based software, to develop on and to test their software against.
There is another option though: It's called the "Microsoft Action Pack". This is an MSDN-like package with regular updates containing virtually every piece of Microsoft software made. It is only around $200 per year, unlike MSDN which costs thousands, and the EULA in fact grants permission to use much of the software for internal or production use.
It seems silly that MS would practically give away tens of thousands of dollars worth of software, but not just anyone can buy this. You have to fill out a lenghtly form and qualify as the right type of company. The definitions are a little loose and the form accepts relatively small development firms that work on Microsoft-related software. Much of the packaging is aimed at companies that are reselling Microsoft software, with beefy training kits with cross-selling strategies and such material.
If you manage to qualify though, you'll save tens of thousands of software, and it's 100% legal.
As an MSDN subscriber and software license manager at my company, I actually read the EULAs that govern the use of MSDN licenses for products like the OS, Office, and everything else. It is not legal to use them for commercial purposes.
Leave Paul's little 'oversight' with MCE 2005 aside. He states in his article that he generally uses MSDN for all of his software. Given that he runs a site about MS stuff and is clearly a big user of their software, it stands to reason that he uses Windows servers, XP workstations, SQL, Frontpage for site authoring, Office for email and all sorts of other things. None of this is legal under the terms of the MSDN license.
I don't have the EULA handy, and there are many subscription types, but all that I have seen clearly state that it cannot be used for commercial purposes, or to develop/maintain your own IT systems.
I did a long experiment and paper about this very subject. I call it an XP "Chopper" like the bikes, as they (at least originally) had parts chopped as they broke during races, starting a minimalist bike trend called Choppers.
Kind of a dumb reason to avoid the PS3, considering that it was Sony BMG, wholly unrelated to the Sony games division, responsible for the rootkit. It's a huge company responsible for all kinds of technology, and to boycott Sony entirely would be like avoiding all GM for one mistake, made by one group of people, in a single Pontiac model car. Especially for a device like the PS3 which you can buy in cash, leave the online component alone and use it in total secrecy while wearing your tinfoil hat.
A day? Where's the hack for the ever-annoying StarForce 3 that is the copy protection of King Kong and the new POP game, among many others? It's been seemingly months without a workable hack in sight. The StarF**k and SFNightmare are total failures and the only workaround is to disable your friggin' optical drive. Sad times ahead, the enemy is getting cleverer by the hour and it's only gonna get worse for us.
mwave.com is a good store. i've been there for pickup too - they have a small 50'x50' will call room, very well kept and clean with terminals for buying at the store, and then about 9 billion square feet of warehouse. prices are quite good, decent selection.
Jesus. That is the most frightening thing I've ever read. I mean, I've heard of people selling UO property or accounts on ebay, but this is just ridiculous. I played There for about 5 minutes. Stupidest thing ever.
SecondLife sounds like the result of a bunch of wannabe real-estate moguls creating a virtual landmass to extract money from players who think they're actually accomplishing something.
I read a great quote somewhere:
"Don't waste your time trying to show how great your are and succeed in a virtual world... that's what real life is for"
I'm right in the middle of the exact same situation.
For those of you who think compromise is out of the question... well, there's always going to be at least a little compromise.
If the girl is living with you, the only thing you can do is play late, late into the night and forego sleep entirely.
BUT...
If she's NOT living with you, there's some things you can do to maximize game time, and minimize relationship stress:
MAKING TIME -----------
* Say "I'm concerned that you're not having enough fun on your own, away from me. You should really go out with your friends tonight. I don't mind, really."
* Pretend you have something really man-oriented and boring that you have to do, that she hates. Such as: Buying stuff for work at the electronics store, taking the car in for service, helping a friend fix his car, or building a spice rack for her. She'll leave on her own. Be sure to buy a spice rack in advance.
* If you play online games, try to get a friend to "prep" your account before you play to maximize your in-game time doing what you want to do (and not reequipping, etc.)
* Determine the minimum number of hours you can sleep. Obvious.
* Eliminate all of your friends and other unnecessary distractions.
* Buy the fastest motorcycle you can get. They're cheap and great on gas. This minimizes commuting time. Also, move closer to work.
* Buy groceries online. Shopping is a horrible timekiller. Buy foods that can be prepared quickly.
* Hire a maid if you can afford it for the cleaning.
* For the remaining chores: Many guys do chores and other boring stuff after the girl leaves. Screw that. Get that stuff out of the way while she's still there. When she leaves, you're not doing dishes/laundry, you're gaming!
* Feed her turkey and insist that you really want to see that three hour Senate lecture on CSPAN. When she falls asleep, game time!
* Find out the latest possible reservation you can make at a nice restaurant. Say, 8:30pm. Around 5:00pm, say, "I've got reservations to a great place. You'll love it. But I need to finish this. Don't worry, we have time." Works well. When she harasses you about it, say "soon... soon..." Easily stretchable to 3 hours.
GUILTING FOR TIME -----------------
* I have actually used this line, and it has worked. "Babe, if I don't get at least 3 hours of gaming each day, I get really cranky. I don't want to take that out on you." It actually worked, she occasionally just says "why don't you go play your game for a while."
* Explain that since you dumped all your friends (for her of course), that your online buddies are "your real friends, who I've known for years. It's the same as if a friend asked me to go bowling or something, you can't ask me to cut them off. Besides, I promised earlier I'd help my friend learn..."
* Hooking the girl on her own game doesn't work. Period. If they're already a gamer, you probably don't have too much of a problem, assuming they like to play what you play, which is very unlikely. Such toys only hold their interest so long (usually a few minutes) to non-gamers. However, girls LOVE to chat. You may have luck hooking her into your buddies via IRC. She's somewhat "involved" with what you're doing, lessening the problem, yet, she's not gaming.
EXCUSES -------
* Anytime she wakes up and says "why are you playing that again", three magical words: I COULDN'T SLEEP.
* Seeing a doctor to help keep up the insomnia charade is quite effective.
* My friend called before you arrived/woke up and asked me to help him with something really fast. It'll just be a few minutes.
* "A few minutes always turns into an hour on the computer babe!"
* "I just logged into to check something real quick, and my buddy desparately needed my help. I can't let him down! It'll just be a few minutes."
All of this stuff should get you an average of 3 hours of gaming per day. If you need more than that, you need to dump the girl.:)
Hey man, the whole concept of a desktop is stupid anyway. The screen of any OS doesn't really resemble a real desk, just because it's contents loosely resemble little folded papers and manila folders.
You just learn to say things like "In the upper left corner of your screen, which is also known as the desktop, is a picture with the words "My Computer" under it. By the way, that picture is called an icon. (Now you just taught them something.) Right-click the icon and you'll see a box with choices appear. That's called a context menu, by the way, in case you didn't know. If you did I apologize, I just like to help people out. Click the Properties option on that context menu."
If people get confused on the technical terms like desktop, icon, or context menu after that point, it's their fault and they deserve to be placed on hold until the world ends.
Best support story: I did support for an Encyclopedia program, and other software for other companies. The Encyclopedia software line was closed for a holiday, but not other lines so we were working. Encyclopedia line rang cuz someone forgot to put it to voicemail. Guy gets put on hold. We figure he'll hang up eventually. 9 hours later someone finally decided to pick up the phone. The guy was chipper and happy as could be, had a simple question solved in 2 minutes, thanked us and hung up.
If you read the PDF brochure, it explains that there is a regular disk inside as well. The device is constantly backing up the DRAM contents to disk, and the device contains battery power which guarantees that in the event of a power outage, there is enough time to fully back up the DRAM contents. So power outages won't hurt it (unless maybe you average more than outages per hour.)
Below is a repeat of one of my old posts on this topic. Like I say - every few months one of these comes along. I think this is the exact same one actually...
--
I hate to be the one to say this, but this is such a load. I see a story like this every few months. It's the product of nerds trying to validate their existence.
I am a nerd myself. I'm a programmer, computer enthusiast, video gamer, star trek fan, and lanky white guy whose social skills are always in question.
However, I have no illusions about what I am.
Nerds are relative to non-nerds. You can call them Jocks, but that's not the whole of it - Nerds are compared against anyone who is not a nerd. Yes, Geeks count. You are not special just because you change the word.
I'm sure everyone is wondering what a non-nerd is. It's easy to say someone who is jock-ish, works out and is well built, good with the ladies, has some fashion and hygiene sense, works a blue-collar job that makes them dirty every day, and doesn't flinch at loud noises. Add a general lack of intelligence, and you've got yourself a non-nerd, right?
That is an insufficient description of a non-nerd, however. Some nerds work out (usually in a martial arts class) and have good fashion sense. It's simpler to define it as someone who exhibits fewer nerd-like properties than the nerd they are comparing themselves against.
Take two seemingly identical nerds. When they argue, whoever wins by pounding the other with logic and refusing to stop arguing is the bigger nerd. Whichever one has less muscle, and/or is less tan than the other guy is the bigger nerd. Whichever one likes Star Trek more is the bigger nerd. See how simple it is?
And the funny thing is, whichever one considers himself "less" nerdy than the other guy, no matter how nerdy he is, is still a big nerd - however, he does get bragging rights to call the other guy a nerd and proclaim that he is not one himself.
So let's just stop already. We're all nerds, if you want to get technical about it (and if you do, you're a big nerd) but some of us are far less nerdy than others. Those people have every right to call the nerds nerds, beat them up, laugh at them, and assault their self-esteem.
It's your job as a nerd to either accept your place in the pecking order as a nerd and forget about it, dealing with the occasional wedgie or insult now and then, or try to make as many other people as possible look more nerdy than you.
This question sounds like, "If I drink, will I have a car accident?" Well yes, but only if you're stupid and drive after you drink.
Adding easy usability is not a direct cause of poor security, rather, an indirect cause. Increasing usability usually means pre-configuring options and features for the user. As Microsoft has learned with XP-SP2, the defaults are a big part of it.
It's difficult to imagine all of the permutations of configuration a user might do, while believing it to be secure, and then to code that to configure everything the way they want, and to keep it secure at the same time. However, if you're going to expose these abilities to the user through a simple user interface, difficult or not, you have to plan for it.
When there is no UI, the documentation is the authority on whether the user is secure or not. The user has to follow the directions, config themselves, and if they mess up, it's their fault. Creating simple UIs to do this for the user means you are expecting them to do more while reading less documentation.
This does not make the user more liable for his stupidity, instead it makes the programmer more liable for the security.
The moral is: Don't add the UI unless you've considered all of the possible configuration and security side effects and you're willing to deal with them. It can be as simple as error messages that explain to the user that certain combinations of choices creates an insecure condition and a suggestion to RTFM before continuing. That puts the liability back on the user.
Another viewpoint is that adding easy UIs to a program that previously had none should make it more secure - because the UI provides the opportunity to proactively warn the user before they do something stupid. It's up to the programmer to take advantage of that opportunity. Having only a binary, documention, and config files means the user must be proactive and read the docs.
Bottom line: The UI can't possibly create more security vulnerabilities than no UI whatsoever already afforded the user. The only way it does that is by encouraging a clueless user to touch something they wouldn't otherwise touch. And that's a conscious desicion the programmer made and didn't bother to plan for in the form of security warnings attached to bad configuration choice events.
Windows is a victim of it's own simplicity. Microsoft can only combat this with better default settings, better UIs with more knowledge being passed to the user, and lots and lots of security patches.
First your message should say "This message is part of your Whatever.com subscription, which you signed up for on mm/dd/yyyy." If you have anything else than this as the first line of your message, you're asking for it.
But this is nothing. I run a mail server and I set up accounts which auto forward to AOL accounts. The users would spread their address everywhere, and when spammers would spam it, it would forward to AOL and they'd mark it as junk, and AOL would block ME since *I* sent it to them - makes no sense. I stopped forwarding to AOL (or to anyone, really.) POP or Nothing.
I see where you're coming from here. However, there's other considerations. Some of us must operate Windows boxes, so we must deal with it.
Obviously the "security-by-news-alert" method of keeping your systems secure is stupid. We must still update our AVs and Spy cleaners and run them regularly. If we do that, we'll get almost every virus and spyware and never have to worry.
But some of like to know what the virus writers are doing. Trends in the virus business, as they evolve.
Some of us may have firewalls that we might wish to alter based on major recent virus activity. I'm sure the Blaster variants caused several admins to alter the RPC port configuration of their firewalls.
Isn't it better to be proactive rather than reacting to a virus-based DOS?
I agree, of course, that people shouldn't email their buddies "OMG VIRUS ALERT!!!111one!!11" as we are able to keep up on virus news ourselves. We don't need these emails.
The value of Slashdot posting a breaking story about a virus is early-warning in the event that we're sitting around reading Slashdot instead of doing our jobs and monitoring the other virus news systems.:)
There is no question this is a poor attempt at extortion. There's only a few possible explanation scenarios and they're all BS:
Perhaps the site really did cost 8k/mo to host. From the beginning? If so, projections would have easily revealed he would be broke soon. But, he offered to do it for free - did he pay this amount out of his pocket? Unlikely. It's unlikely there was ever this much traffic.
If there was that much traffic after the first few months, did he send logs to the Sheriff's dept with an explanation that these logs represent doom for the site without a major cash infusion? Do such logs exist - not likely. If so, why did he sit on three years worth of logs?
Perhaps he felt he deserved compensation for time spent operating the site, and that came to 8k/mo. Why did he wait three years to ask for it?
Perhaps he didn't wait three years at all. Perhaps after the first two months of pro-bono hosting, he decided he needed compensation. Perhaps he asked the Sheriff's Dept and got stonewalled. Perhaps he continued asking for three years. If he knew he was getting burned the whole time, did he ever keep records of his requests from the Sheriff's dept for compensation? With itemized bills and proof of hits so that he could sue them later in civil court? Who would do that?
There are so many holes in this story, it's not even funny. Clearly this is some guy hosting a site in his basement for nothing on his cable modem. (anyone have old DNS data for this domain?) Later, he tries to extort money from the worst possible source. This isn't much different than people calling the cops to report their crack pipes stolen.
Of course, he had a "company", Running Wolf Inc - meh - he probably had a $100/mo managed server with l33ts3rv3rs.net which he hosts 50 other sites on. Google for "running wolf inc hosting" returns nothing.
I have to agree with the original poster. It's seamless, simple, kiosk-like software that makes a computer into an appliance. Form factor and cool knobs are a start, and have the potential to allow an enthusiast to turn it into an appliance, but it sure isn't an appliance out of the box.
After I complete my Mandrake installation, how do I instruct my non-techie brother to copy a video he downloaded to the appliance, and then play it on the TV? I have to write some script to monitor a folder for new videos and play them automatically. Same for pictures? Need some sort of folder monitor and slideshow. Not to mention I have to set up the shares. Forget it.
A true appliance won't even need a keyboard or mouse. It's front panel would have all the controls you need and well documented usage instructions. I don't have to telnet to my microwave, nor do I have to telnet to my complicated DVD and surround sound equipment, which supports VCDs and the like. I put them in and they start. I put food in, press a button, and it gets hot.
Since this is a computer-based appliance, it should have the option for remote configuration. Perhaps I'd name my machine Linguo. I'd expect to dump a video to \\linguo\Play_Video and press a video button on the front panel. When it's done, it would archive it into a DVR-like system that I could call up and play later using http://linguo from any computer in the house.
I'd dump a picture to \\linguo\Pictures and press a picture button on the front panel and it would start a slideshow. Another front panel button would flip it into thumbnail mode (like my digital camera) and a few arrow keys and the picture button would let me view the pictures.
I'd dump an MP3 to \\linguo\Music and press a music button on the front panel. It would start playing the first track and would have two buttons - album select, track select. If I had 4000 MP3s up there, I might choose to visit http://linguo and ask it to play a specific song.
Of course, a standard tv-style remote control unit should eliminate the need for even the web server, though it should maybe stay for the "select one song from 4000" example, where a PC interface is simply the most efficient.
Ideally, I'd never even install the OS, and wouldn't even know or care what it was running. All I know is that it creates shares on my network compatible with Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux, and it works.
You know, the two most recent versions of Office (XP and 2003) do not require a reboot on a Windows XP system. A progress bar moves, then says it's done, and that's it.
These don't look suspicious. They look like part of the Windows Resource Kit or Windows PowerToys. I remember reading that these were tools that Microsoft had wanted to get into the core OS, but for whatever reason didn't make it (no GUIs, etc.) However, they wanted to.
The fact that these are in an alpha folder supports the idea that they were trying to get these in, and simply didn't. These probably never got built.
The apache_install.eml is odd. However, elsewhere in the filelist are many.eml files. It appears that developers would dump an email they got from someone in the directory where things were built. Probably some primitive way of communicating stuff about that folder to anyone looking inside it.
That's just that. But I'm still strongly leaning toward "hoax" myself. The filelist may even be legit, but that may be all there is.
I think it's great that the world, and Microsoft, will be publicly discussing and simply thinking about the ramifications of a windows source leak.
I don't see how Ms. Tauber could make that statement, that computers behave illogically without seeing the irony and stupidity of the statement. Perhaps she does realize that they are extremely logical and precise, and even when it appears that they are behaving illogically, it's the users lack of knowledge that is concealing the highly logical reason for whatever behavior she is seeing.
Of course, just the idea that anyone would treat a computer like a person has a problem.
I think it all comes down to "people persons" and "thing persons". We are all "thing persons" of course, we work well with things and take the time to learn the minutae necessary to understand them. Ms. Tauber and others like her can only relate well with people but cannot bring themselves to care enough about "things" to learn them properly.
Slashdot Mirror
That's right, the two go hand in hand. You can't use the software for production, and therefore, anyone accessing MSDN servers software must also be a valid MSDN users, using the software under the terms (e.g., for development.)
The purpose of MSDN is to provide cheap software to developers working on Windows-based software, to develop on and to test their software against.
There is another option though: It's called the "Microsoft Action Pack". This is an MSDN-like package with regular updates containing virtually every piece of Microsoft software made. It is only around $200 per year, unlike MSDN which costs thousands, and the EULA in fact grants permission to use much of the software for internal or production use.
It seems silly that MS would practically give away tens of thousands of dollars worth of software, but not just anyone can buy this. You have to fill out a lenghtly form and qualify as the right type of company. The definitions are a little loose and the form accepts relatively small development firms that work on Microsoft-related software. Much of the packaging is aimed at companies that are reselling Microsoft software, with beefy training kits with cross-selling strategies and such material.
If you manage to qualify though, you'll save tens of thousands of software, and it's 100% legal.
As an MSDN subscriber and software license manager at my company, I actually read the EULAs that govern the use of MSDN licenses for products like the OS, Office, and everything else. It is not legal to use them for commercial purposes.
Leave Paul's little 'oversight' with MCE 2005 aside. He states in his article that he generally uses MSDN for all of his software. Given that he runs a site about MS stuff and is clearly a big user of their software, it stands to reason that he uses Windows servers, XP workstations, SQL, Frontpage for site authoring, Office for email and all sorts of other things. None of this is legal under the terms of the MSDN license.
I don't have the EULA handy, and there are many subscription types, but all that I have seen clearly state that it cannot be used for commercial purposes, or to develop/maintain your own IT systems.
Just thought I'd point this out.
I did a long experiment and paper about this very subject. I call it an XP "Chopper" like the bikes, as they (at least originally) had parts chopped as they broke during races, starting a minimalist bike trend called Choppers.
http://knepfler.com/chopper/
only for the Best Collegiate prize, the others have no such restriction (link and point if you still think you're right)
Kind of a dumb reason to avoid the PS3, considering that it was Sony BMG, wholly unrelated to the Sony games division, responsible for the rootkit. It's a huge company responsible for all kinds of technology, and to boycott Sony entirely would be like avoiding all GM for one mistake, made by one group of people, in a single Pontiac model car. Especially for a device like the PS3 which you can buy in cash, leave the online component alone and use it in total secrecy while wearing your tinfoil hat.
A day? Where's the hack for the ever-annoying StarForce 3 that is the copy protection of King Kong and the new POP game, among many others? It's been seemingly months without a workable hack in sight. The StarF**k and SFNightmare are total failures and the only workaround is to disable your friggin' optical drive. Sad times ahead, the enemy is getting cleverer by the hour and it's only gonna get worse for us.
Sorry, but what's an "american accent"?
I thought an accent was any difference in the way someone speaks compared to american english. If it sounds like american english, it's not an accent.
I'm from canada myself, but what I'm saying still applies, doesn't it ay?
mwave.com is a good store. i've been there for pickup too - they have a small 50'x50' will call room, very well kept and clean with terminals for buying at the store, and then about 9 billion square feet of warehouse. prices are quite good, decent selection.
Jesus. That is the most frightening thing I've ever read. I mean, I've heard of people selling UO property or accounts on ebay, but this is just ridiculous. I played There for about 5 minutes. Stupidest thing ever.
SecondLife sounds like the result of a bunch of wannabe real-estate moguls creating a virtual landmass to extract money from players who think they're actually accomplishing something.
I read a great quote somewhere:
"Don't waste your time trying to show how great your are and succeed in a virtual world... that's what real life is for"
Yeah, it's almost all lying.
I left off the obvious one where you say "I'm going to play for a while" and finish when you damn well feel like it.
Seriously though, I generally don't play at all when my girlfriend is over. What else can you do? Are games better than sex? Give it up.
I'm right in the middle of the exact same situation.
..."
:)
For those of you who think compromise is out of the question... well, there's always going to be at least a little compromise.
If the girl is living with you, the only thing you can do is play late, late into the night and forego sleep entirely.
BUT...
If she's NOT living with you, there's some things you can do to maximize game time, and minimize relationship stress:
MAKING TIME
-----------
* Say "I'm concerned that you're not having enough fun on your own, away from me. You should really go out with your friends tonight. I don't mind, really."
* Pretend you have something really man-oriented and boring that you have to do, that she hates. Such as: Buying stuff for work at the electronics store, taking the car in for service, helping a friend fix his car, or building a spice rack for her. She'll leave on her own. Be sure to buy a spice rack in advance.
* If you play online games, try to get a friend to "prep" your account before you play to maximize your in-game time doing what you want to do (and not reequipping, etc.)
* Determine the minimum number of hours you can sleep. Obvious.
* Eliminate all of your friends and other unnecessary distractions.
* Buy the fastest motorcycle you can get. They're cheap and great on gas. This minimizes commuting time. Also, move closer to work.
* Buy groceries online. Shopping is a horrible timekiller. Buy foods that can be prepared quickly.
* Hire a maid if you can afford it for the cleaning.
* For the remaining chores: Many guys do chores and other boring stuff after the girl leaves. Screw that. Get that stuff out of the way while she's still there. When she leaves, you're not doing dishes/laundry, you're gaming!
* Feed her turkey and insist that you really want to see that three hour Senate lecture on CSPAN. When she falls asleep, game time!
* Find out the latest possible reservation you can make at a nice restaurant. Say, 8:30pm. Around 5:00pm, say, "I've got reservations to a great place. You'll love it. But I need to finish this. Don't worry, we have time." Works well. When she harasses you about it, say "soon... soon..." Easily stretchable to 3 hours.
GUILTING FOR TIME
-----------------
* I have actually used this line, and it has worked. "Babe, if I don't get at least 3 hours of gaming each day, I get really cranky. I don't want to take that out on you." It actually worked, she occasionally just says "why don't you go play your game for a while."
* Explain that since you dumped all your friends (for her of course), that your online buddies are "your real friends, who I've known for years. It's the same as if a friend asked me to go bowling or something, you can't ask me to cut them off. Besides, I promised earlier I'd help my friend learn
* Hooking the girl on her own game doesn't work. Period. If they're already a gamer, you probably don't have too much of a problem, assuming they like to play what you play, which is very unlikely. Such toys only hold their interest so long (usually a few minutes) to non-gamers. However, girls LOVE to chat. You may have luck hooking her into your buddies via IRC. She's somewhat "involved" with what you're doing, lessening the problem, yet, she's not gaming.
EXCUSES
-------
* Anytime she wakes up and says "why are you playing that again", three magical words: I COULDN'T SLEEP.
* Seeing a doctor to help keep up the insomnia charade is quite effective.
* My friend called before you arrived/woke up and asked me to help him with something really fast. It'll just be a few minutes.
* "A few minutes always turns into an hour on the computer babe!"
* "I just logged into to check something real quick, and my buddy desparately needed my help. I can't let him down! It'll just be a few minutes."
All of this stuff should get you an average of 3 hours of gaming per day. If you need more than that, you need to dump the girl.
Hey man, the whole concept of a desktop is stupid anyway. The screen of any OS doesn't really resemble a real desk, just because it's contents loosely resemble little folded papers and manila folders.
You just learn to say things like "In the upper left corner of your screen, which is also known as the desktop, is a picture with the words "My Computer" under it. By the way, that picture is called an icon. (Now you just taught them something.) Right-click the icon and you'll see a box with choices appear. That's called a context menu, by the way, in case you didn't know. If you did I apologize, I just like to help people out. Click the Properties option on that context menu."
If people get confused on the technical terms like desktop, icon, or context menu after that point, it's their fault and they deserve to be placed on hold until the world ends.
Best support story: I did support for an Encyclopedia program, and other software for other companies. The Encyclopedia software line was closed for a holiday, but not other lines so we were working. Encyclopedia line rang cuz someone forgot to put it to voicemail. Guy gets put on hold. We figure he'll hang up eventually. 9 hours later someone finally decided to pick up the phone. The guy was chipper and happy as could be, had a simple question solved in 2 minutes, thanked us and hung up.
If you read the PDF brochure, it explains that there is a regular disk inside as well. The device is constantly backing up the DRAM contents to disk, and the device contains battery power which guarantees that in the event of a power outage, there is enough time to fully back up the DRAM contents. So power outages won't hurt it (unless maybe you average more than outages per hour.)
Below is a repeat of one of my old posts on this topic. Like I say - every few months one of these comes along. I think this is the exact same one actually...
--
I hate to be the one to say this, but this is such a load. I see a story like this every few months. It's the product of nerds trying to validate their existence.
I am a nerd myself. I'm a programmer, computer enthusiast, video gamer, star trek fan, and lanky white guy whose social skills are always in question.
However, I have no illusions about what I am.
Nerds are relative to non-nerds. You can call them Jocks, but that's not the whole of it - Nerds are compared against anyone who is not a nerd. Yes, Geeks count. You are not special just because you change the word.
I'm sure everyone is wondering what a non-nerd is. It's easy to say someone who is jock-ish, works out and is well built, good with the ladies, has some fashion and hygiene sense, works a blue-collar job that makes them dirty every day, and doesn't flinch at loud noises. Add a general lack of intelligence, and you've got yourself a non-nerd, right?
That is an insufficient description of a non-nerd, however. Some nerds work out (usually in a martial arts class) and have good fashion sense. It's simpler to define it as someone who exhibits fewer nerd-like properties than the nerd they are comparing themselves against.
Take two seemingly identical nerds. When they argue, whoever wins by pounding the other with logic and refusing to stop arguing is the bigger nerd. Whichever one has less muscle, and/or is less tan than the other guy is the bigger nerd. Whichever one likes Star Trek more is the bigger nerd. See how simple it is?
And the funny thing is, whichever one considers himself "less" nerdy than the other guy, no matter how nerdy he is, is still a big nerd - however, he does get bragging rights to call the other guy a nerd and proclaim that he is not one himself.
So let's just stop already. We're all nerds, if you want to get technical about it (and if you do, you're a big nerd) but some of us are far less nerdy than others. Those people have every right to call the nerds nerds, beat them up, laugh at them, and assault their self-esteem.
It's your job as a nerd to either accept your place in the pecking order as a nerd and forget about it, dealing with the occasional wedgie or insult now and then, or try to make as many other people as possible look more nerdy than you.
# Erik
This question sounds like, "If I drink, will I have a car accident?" Well yes, but only if you're stupid and drive after you drink.
Adding easy usability is not a direct cause of poor security, rather, an indirect cause. Increasing usability usually means pre-configuring options and features for the user. As Microsoft has learned with XP-SP2, the defaults are a big part of it.
It's difficult to imagine all of the permutations of configuration a user might do, while believing it to be secure, and then to code that to configure everything the way they want, and to keep it secure at the same time. However, if you're going to expose these abilities to the user through a simple user interface, difficult or not, you have to plan for it.
When there is no UI, the documentation is the authority on whether the user is secure or not. The user has to follow the directions, config themselves, and if they mess up, it's their fault. Creating simple UIs to do this for the user means you are expecting them to do more while reading less documentation.
This does not make the user more liable for his stupidity, instead it makes the programmer more liable for the security.
The moral is: Don't add the UI unless you've considered all of the possible configuration and security side effects and you're willing to deal with them. It can be as simple as error messages that explain to the user that certain combinations of choices creates an insecure condition and a suggestion to RTFM before continuing. That puts the liability back on the user.
Another viewpoint is that adding easy UIs to a program that previously had none should make it more secure - because the UI provides the opportunity to proactively warn the user before they do something stupid. It's up to the programmer to take advantage of that opportunity. Having only a binary, documention, and config files means the user must be proactive and read the docs.
Bottom line: The UI can't possibly create more security vulnerabilities than no UI whatsoever already afforded the user. The only way it does that is by encouraging a clueless user to touch something they wouldn't otherwise touch. And that's a conscious desicion the programmer made and didn't bother to plan for in the form of security warnings attached to bad configuration choice events.
Windows is a victim of it's own simplicity. Microsoft can only combat this with better default settings, better UIs with more knowledge being passed to the user, and lots and lots of security patches.
First your message should say "This message is part of your Whatever.com subscription, which you signed up for on mm/dd/yyyy." If you have anything else than this as the first line of your message, you're asking for it.
But this is nothing. I run a mail server and I set up accounts which auto forward to AOL accounts. The users would spread their address everywhere, and when spammers would spam it, it would forward to AOL and they'd mark it as junk, and AOL would block ME since *I* sent it to them - makes no sense. I stopped forwarding to AOL (or to anyone, really.) POP or Nothing.
if ($emailaddress =~ /aol.com/i) {
&RejectAddress();
}
I see where you're coming from here. However, there's other considerations. Some of us must operate Windows boxes, so we must deal with it.
:)
Obviously the "security-by-news-alert" method of keeping your systems secure is stupid. We must still update our AVs and Spy cleaners and run them regularly. If we do that, we'll get almost every virus and spyware and never have to worry.
But some of like to know what the virus writers are doing. Trends in the virus business, as they evolve.
Some of us may have firewalls that we might wish to alter based on major recent virus activity. I'm sure the Blaster variants caused several admins to alter the RPC port configuration of their firewalls.
Isn't it better to be proactive rather than reacting to a virus-based DOS?
I agree, of course, that people shouldn't email their buddies "OMG VIRUS ALERT!!!111one!!11" as we are able to keep up on virus news ourselves. We don't need these emails.
The value of Slashdot posting a breaking story about a virus is early-warning in the event that we're sitting around reading Slashdot instead of doing our jobs and monitoring the other virus news systems.
There is no question this is a poor attempt at extortion. There's only a few possible explanation scenarios and they're all BS:
Perhaps the site really did cost 8k/mo to host. From the beginning? If so, projections would have easily revealed he would be broke soon. But, he offered to do it for free - did he pay this amount out of his pocket? Unlikely. It's unlikely there was ever this much traffic.
If there was that much traffic after the first few months, did he send logs to the Sheriff's dept with an explanation that these logs represent doom for the site without a major cash infusion? Do such logs exist - not likely. If so, why did he sit on three years worth of logs?
Perhaps he felt he deserved compensation for time spent operating the site, and that came to 8k/mo. Why did he wait three years to ask for it?
Perhaps he didn't wait three years at all. Perhaps after the first two months of pro-bono hosting, he decided he needed compensation. Perhaps he asked the Sheriff's Dept and got stonewalled. Perhaps he continued asking for three years. If he knew he was getting burned the whole time, did he ever keep records of his requests from the Sheriff's dept for compensation? With itemized bills and proof of hits so that he could sue them later in civil court? Who would do that?
There are so many holes in this story, it's not even funny. Clearly this is some guy hosting a site in his basement for nothing on his cable modem. (anyone have old DNS data for this domain?) Later, he tries to extort money from the worst possible source. This isn't much different than people calling the cops to report their crack pipes stolen.
Of course, he had a "company", Running Wolf Inc - meh - he probably had a $100/mo managed server with l33ts3rv3rs.net which he hosts 50 other sites on. Google for "running wolf inc hosting" returns nothing.
"Like Perl but readable" is an oxymoron. If it's readable, then it's not like Perl.
I have to agree with the original poster. It's seamless, simple, kiosk-like software that makes a computer into an appliance. Form factor and cool knobs are a start, and have the potential to allow an enthusiast to turn it into an appliance, but it sure isn't an appliance out of the box.
After I complete my Mandrake installation, how do I instruct my non-techie brother to copy a video he downloaded to the appliance, and then play it on the TV? I have to write some script to monitor a folder for new videos and play them automatically. Same for pictures? Need some sort of folder monitor and slideshow. Not to mention I have to set up the shares. Forget it.
A true appliance won't even need a keyboard or mouse. It's front panel would have all the controls you need and well documented usage instructions. I don't have to telnet to my microwave, nor do I have to telnet to my complicated DVD and surround sound equipment, which supports VCDs and the like. I put them in and they start. I put food in, press a button, and it gets hot.
Since this is a computer-based appliance, it should have the option for remote configuration. Perhaps I'd name my machine Linguo. I'd expect to dump a video to \\linguo\Play_Video and press a video button on the front panel. When it's done, it would archive it into a DVR-like system that I could call up and play later using http://linguo from any computer in the house.
I'd dump a picture to \\linguo\Pictures and press a picture button on the front panel and it would start a slideshow. Another front panel button would flip it into thumbnail mode (like my digital camera) and a few arrow keys and the picture button would let me view the pictures.
I'd dump an MP3 to \\linguo\Music and press a music button on the front panel. It would start playing the first track and would have two buttons - album select, track select. If I had 4000 MP3s up there, I might choose to visit http://linguo and ask it to play a specific song.
Of course, a standard tv-style remote control unit should eliminate the need for even the web server, though it should maybe stay for the "select one song from 4000" example, where a PC interface is simply the most efficient.
Ideally, I'd never even install the OS, and wouldn't even know or care what it was running. All I know is that it creates shares on my network compatible with Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux, and it works.
That's an appliance.
You know, the two most recent versions of Office (XP and 2003) do not require a reboot on a Windows XP system. A progress bar moves, then says it's done, and that's it.
These don't look suspicious. They look like part of the Windows Resource Kit or Windows PowerToys. I remember reading that these were tools that Microsoft had wanted to get into the core OS, but for whatever reason didn't make it (no GUIs, etc.) However, they wanted to.
.eml files. It appears that developers would dump an email they got from someone in the directory where things were built. Probably some primitive way of communicating stuff about that folder to anyone looking inside it.
The fact that these are in an alpha folder supports the idea that they were trying to get these in, and simply didn't. These probably never got built.
The apache_install.eml is odd. However, elsewhere in the filelist are many
That's just that. But I'm still strongly leaning toward "hoax" myself. The filelist may even be legit, but that may be all there is.
I think it's great that the world, and Microsoft, will be publicly discussing and simply thinking about the ramifications of a windows source leak.
I agree, that line was especially irritating.
I don't see how Ms. Tauber could make that statement, that computers behave illogically without seeing the irony and stupidity of the statement. Perhaps she does realize that they are extremely logical and precise, and even when it appears that they are behaving illogically, it's the users lack of knowledge that is concealing the highly logical reason for whatever behavior she is seeing.
Of course, just the idea that anyone would treat a computer like a person has a problem.
I think it all comes down to "people persons" and "thing persons". We are all "thing persons" of course, we work well with things and take the time to learn the minutae necessary to understand them. Ms. Tauber and others like her can only relate well with people but cannot bring themselves to care enough about "things" to learn them properly.
Yeah, I say "Arborist" myself. I'm not sure why, I just like the sound of the word.
Occasionally though, I get "Hey, you know something, I have this sick tree in my yard..."