Shellblock disables the shell: scheme that was the cause of the vulnerability. If I understand the issue right, opening a shell: URI would pass commands straight to the Windows XP shell. The problem is similar on Windows 2000 but the article doesn't go into detail other than noting that it doesn't use the shell: scheme.
That's a slippery-slope argument. I'm not saying it won't happen but your conclusions don't follow logically from your premises. It's not inevitable that the RIAA/MPAA will go after Bram Cohen, although I wouldn't take bets on it if the law is passed.
Furthermore, many people browse at public libraries or similar places where installing software isn't an option.
So lobby the head librarian. Put together a list of all the reasons they shouldn't be using Internet Explorer (spyware's a really good one to mention, as are popup ads). Mention all the cool features that your FOSS browser of choice has. Include a CD with the latest stable versions.
My mother works at a library and she forwarded my letter to the person in charge who read it, considered it and rejected it. Now I hear three months later they may be putting Firefox on all the computers because they've heard about problems the users are having with spyware.
General Motors has been migrating to Windows 2000 on the desktop site-by-site. I think they're probably finished by now. The site I worked at migrated in late 2002 / early 2003. I don't believe there are any NT 4 servers left there.
South-Western Ontario. I don't know about the municipality I'm in now but in my parents' municipality the local elections had touchscreen as an option. The election officials were pressuring me to use the touchscreen but I refused. Actually I made quite a scene as soon as I saw it was a Diebold machine.
Well... That's not entirely true. Most applications can be run as an Administrator while you're logged in as the user.
Shift-Right-Click=>Run As...
Unfortunately there's quite a few programs that won't work if you use that particular shortcut. Trying to visit Windows Update as an Administrator using this trick doesn't work, for example.
I was ecstatic when I discovered that the TweakUI control panel lets you turn on tab completion under Win2K and XP. It makes the Windows command prompt much more usable. I also recall reading an article some time ago that Microsoft is supposedly putting a powerful CLI into Longhorn. If they ever finish it, I guess.
One of the comments I saw attached to the article was something along the lines of "Given enough time and money, Microsoft will eventually invent Unix".
Blogs are free to read, often have discussions associated with them, and touch on subjects that mass media just don't bother with (because they are trivial in a world sense). Personally I'd like to see this "fad" become a norm. People sharing stories and information is not a common thing these days!
A thousand years from now when the Archeologists dig up the LiveJournal servers and figure out how to extract the information from them, they're going to be ecstatic - one of the hardest aspects of human history to learn anything about is the mundane, day to day detail of a person's life. Not very many people write that kind of stuff down. Or at least they didn't. Sure people kept diaries but it's not quite the same as a public journal and certainly not as widespread.
So yes, I agree with you completely, being a bit of a History junkie.
Maybe one day people will realise that EVERYONE listens to music somewhere and at some point, and will simply tax everyone for the privilege of being able to get and hear it.
It's a crummy and unfair compromise for sure... but at least that way the RIAA, MPAA and everyone else will shut the hell up and let everyone have unfettered access to culture.
Well, I'm sure the RIAA would love that compromise. But will it shut them up? If I buy Audio CD-Rs I pay a tax on them that goes straight into the Music Industry's coffers never to re-emerge. Has that shut the Canadian equivalent of the RIAA up? Hell no! They're pulling some of the same bullshit here (suing their customers, "copy protecting" their audio discs, etc.) as the RIAA is in the States.
The Ctrl-Enter behaviour in Firefox works the way it does for the same reason Options is in the Tools menu. That's what Internet Explorer does. It's a shortcut that I used frequently when I was still using Internet Explorer for anything but Windows Update bitch. Actually, that was my friend's biggest gripe about (then) Phoenix and why he uninstalled it. A couple of versions later he came around.
I really only use gestures for Forward and Back; I don't find them to be that useful otherwise, myself but they are useful for quick navigation without reaching for the back button. The first time I used them, I hated "rockers" where you click right-then-left or left-then-right but after using them for a while I find I have difficulty living without them.
Problem #1: when people contribute, they do so on corporate sites. Epinions. Livejournal. Even Photo.net is a perfect example of the clustering that happens, as is mp3.com...
I agree with the premise but disagree with LiveJournal as an example of the problem - at any time I choose, I can slurp my journal in a number of different formats - HTML, RSS, plain text, etc.. All it takes is the motivation. The majority of the LiveJournal code is Licensed under the GPL and all of it is open for review (though the site specific enhancements can only be used on development servers). Anyone who feels the desire can download and install the code to set up their own journal site.
I use(d) it. It's far, far too slow to use with terminal services which is why I don't use it much anymore. When I did use it, I hotkeyed the desktops to Ctrl-Alt-F1 - Ctrl-Alt-F4; not cycling exactly but much quicker than clicking on the little toolbar buttons.
I'd agree with your assessment that it's not as robust as the OSS version.
As long as Americans are willing to believe that politics is over their heads and that they shouldn't worry about what goes on in Washington, the way is wide open for some dynastic madman to install himself in the White House without even being elected, and start waging unprovoked wars in countries most Americans can't recognize on continents most Americans can't name.
Inside every small problem is a large problem struggling to get out. Not very many projects start out large. When you start to run into the limitations of the "small" language, you have to rewrite everything.
Perl can be very well written if the time is taken to do it right.
Too bad the first user that signs in is an admin by default in XP Professional. Quite a few programs I've run across won't work unless you're signed in as an administrator.
Giving yourself root permissions (at least on OpenBSD) still requires you to use sudo or su to execute a command using those permissions.
I think your shooting victim analogy is flawed - I believe a more appropriate analogy would be blaming a shooting victim for putting a gun that somebody had given them to their head and pulling the trigger, assuming the safety was on.
People need to be taught that you never assume the safety is on or the weapon is not loaded.
Slashdot Mirror
Shellblock disables the shell: scheme that was the cause of the vulnerability. If I understand the issue right, opening a shell: URI would pass commands straight to the Windows XP shell. The problem is similar on Windows 2000 but the article doesn't go into detail other than noting that it doesn't use the shell: scheme.
That's a slippery-slope argument. I'm not saying it won't happen but your conclusions don't follow logically from your premises. It's not inevitable that the RIAA/MPAA will go after Bram Cohen, although I wouldn't take bets on it if the law is passed.
So lobby the head librarian. Put together a list of all the reasons they shouldn't be using Internet Explorer (spyware's a really good one to mention, as are popup ads). Mention all the cool features that your FOSS browser of choice has. Include a CD with the latest stable versions.
My mother works at a library and she forwarded my letter to the person in charge who read it, considered it and rejected it. Now I hear three months later they may be putting Firefox on all the computers because they've heard about problems the users are having with spyware.
General Motors has been migrating to Windows 2000 on the desktop site-by-site. I think they're probably finished by now. The site I worked at migrated in late 2002 / early 2003. I don't believe there are any NT 4 servers left there.
If you're using the composer, why not just use Mozilla?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't NTUSER.DAT the User hive of the registry?
South-Western Ontario. I don't know about the municipality I'm in now but in my parents' municipality the local elections had touchscreen as an option. The election officials were pressuring me to use the touchscreen but I refused. Actually I made quite a scene as soon as I saw it was a Diebold machine.
Hmmm...
Come to Canada where they use Diebold machines to count the paper ballots and have started using Diebold touchscreens in the municipal elections.
I've written to the municipality to express my concerns.
You are questioning the system! Orange flag warning! You will not question the system!
Yeah... I can see where this is going...
Well... That's not entirely true. Most applications can be run as an Administrator while you're logged in as the user.
Shift-Right-Click=>Run As...
Unfortunately there's quite a few programs that won't work if you use that particular shortcut. Trying to visit Windows Update as an Administrator using this trick doesn't work, for example.
General Projection Fault doesn't read hard drives; You must be thinking of General Failure.
Ah, but balance is everything - the mouse user develops a strong and nimble scroll-wheel finger.
I was ecstatic when I discovered that the TweakUI control panel lets you turn on tab completion under Win2K and XP. It makes the Windows command prompt much more usable. I also recall reading an article some time ago that Microsoft is supposedly putting a powerful CLI into Longhorn. If they ever finish it, I guess.
One of the comments I saw attached to the article was something along the lines of "Given enough time and money, Microsoft will eventually invent Unix".
Read about the people attacking Bowling for Columbine
They have an agenda.
A thousand years from now when the Archeologists dig up the LiveJournal servers and figure out how to extract the information from them, they're going to be ecstatic - one of the hardest aspects of human history to learn anything about is the mundane, day to day detail of a person's life. Not very many people write that kind of stuff down. Or at least they didn't. Sure people kept diaries but it's not quite the same as a public journal and certainly not as widespread.
So yes, I agree with you completely, being a bit of a History junkie.
Well, I'm sure the RIAA would love that compromise. But will it shut them up? If I buy Audio CD-Rs I pay a tax on them that goes straight into the Music Industry's coffers never to re-emerge. Has that shut the Canadian equivalent of the RIAA up? Hell no! They're pulling some of the same bullshit here (suing their customers, "copy protecting" their audio discs, etc.) as the RIAA is in the States.
The Ctrl-Enter behaviour in Firefox works the way it does for the same reason Options is in the Tools menu. That's what Internet Explorer does. It's a shortcut that I used frequently when I was still using Internet Explorer for anything but Windows Update bitch. Actually, that was my friend's biggest gripe about (then) Phoenix and why he uninstalled it. A couple of versions later he came around.
I really only use gestures for Forward and Back; I don't find them to be that useful otherwise, myself but they are useful for quick navigation without reaching for the back button. The first time I used them, I hated "rockers" where you click right-then-left or left-then-right but after using them for a while I find I have difficulty living without them.
I agree with the premise but disagree with LiveJournal as an example of the problem - at any time I choose, I can slurp my journal in a number of different formats - HTML, RSS, plain text, etc.. All it takes is the motivation. The majority of the LiveJournal code is Licensed under the GPL and all of it is open for review (though the site specific enhancements can only be used on development servers). Anyone who feels the desire can download and install the code to set up their own journal site.
Sorry but I don't see how "The tarball is here." is a better description than "The tarball is here.", I really don't.
I use(d) it. It's far, far too slow to use with terminal services which is why I don't use it much anymore. When I did use it, I hotkeyed the desktops to Ctrl-Alt-F1 - Ctrl-Alt-F4; not cycling exactly but much quicker than clicking on the little toolbar buttons.
I'd agree with your assessment that it's not as robust as the OSS version.
Wait... Didn't that happen already?
Inside every small problem is a large problem struggling to get out. Not very many projects start out large. When you start to run into the limitations of the "small" language, you have to rewrite everything.
Perl can be very well written if the time is taken to do it right.
Too bad the first user that signs in is an admin by default in XP Professional. Quite a few programs I've run across won't work unless you're signed in as an administrator.
Giving yourself root permissions (at least on OpenBSD) still requires you to use sudo or su to execute a command using those permissions.
*shrug*
I think your shooting victim analogy is flawed - I believe a more appropriate analogy would be blaming a shooting victim for putting a gun that somebody had given them to their head and pulling the trigger, assuming the safety was on.
People need to be taught that you never assume the safety is on or the weapon is not loaded.