Heh. That was funny. But still, it was little inaccurate. Finnish lower court has decided that holding down a shift is not a measure that circumvents effective copy protection mechanism (meaning that any copy protection that counts on autorun isn't effective) so that is totally legal thing to do:)
I've noticed that when you make kind of a deal with your kid(s) like "you can play X amount of time, OK" they tend to agree better. They know the rule, how long they can play and sometimes they are even capable of planning ahead of like what to do next. If on the other hand you go in the middle of the game and say "okay, time's up, shutdown the console" kids can get very offended because you lay abritrary rules on them.
This kind of functionality is great I'd say! I might even use it myself on myself:) You make the deal and agree on the play time, you set it to the Family Timer and when the time is up, console asks to save the game and shuts down. And then it's time to do something else.
But here I see a possible problem. Console enables parents to "offload" their responsibilities. I think it's okay to use the Family Timer but after that you should check your kids to see how they are doing and possibly ask what they are going to do next. To be with them at least for that little time. I can see some lazy-ass parents using this as a way to be rid of their kids, to let machine do their parental job and concentrate on their own selfish needs. Sorry for writing harshly but I can't stand those kind of "parents".
In other words, Microsoft considers itself to be acting within the law. Since this is Nigerian law, I am not sure this is saying much
When in Rome... Of course you are supposed to follow the local laws! Nigeria isn't part of United States you know. If MS followed Nigerian law and possible international treaties then everything is by the books, no matter what some law in some other country says.
Vista upgrade was nice enough to inform me that there's some incompatibility issues with some software in my system and asked me to remove those before I proceed upgrade. This makes update safer but it is a risky call since if there would have been some stuff that would prevent Vista from booting and upgrade software didn't warn me about it, I would have blamed both MS and software vendor for this.
His point isn't that he couldn't figure it out, it's just that things were "arbitrarily different"
Different than what? Wasn't this comparison between Vista and Ubuntu? Why is he comparing Vista to XP then? Or did he pusposedly wanted to lower Vista's points by making arbitrary compares...
And no, I didn't read the fricking article. I hate these comparisons. Why is Linux folk always comparing Linux to Windows? Can't they live and develop their stuff on their own? Why is it that every time there is a problem with Linux they go out like "but it's worse in Windows!" And why are people making these stupid arguments:
I installed XP on a machine for my sister 3 weeks ago and it took 4 hours worth of downloading drivers and updates
How long it takes to install Linux from year 2000 and update it to it's current state?
But the best post here in Slashdot was that somebody's Linux was able to download and install network card driver for his network card from internet automatically. Wow! I just couldn't figure out how his Linux was able to do that since he didn't have driver for that network card in the first place...
a) record something using either USB or built in mic's. Record something in windows without messing with a control panel.
I've never even touched control panel when I've done recording in Windows (and I've recorded and edited quite a few hours of live music for my own fun) so I really don't know what the heck you are talking about. Care to elaborate?
Yes, Express editions are somewhat limited but they are still very usable. I've made several apps and websites using them. I like the Professional edition better of course and I like to have MSDN on my local hard drive but I can manage with Express and online MSDN.
And for database stuff you can use SQL Server Management Studio Express, which is also free and freely downloadable (as is SQL Server Express edition).
So if you have Windows license your development costs are only limited to your own personal time, electric and internet bill.
Well, you would need either write access to code section or execute access to data section (stack or heap). "Normal" way would be, if I understand correctly, to overwrite some library function. Without memory randomization the base address of library is known and so is function's address. With randomization attacker will have to make a wild guess (in 32 bit system possibilities are billions, in 64 bit... I can't even count so far:) which will in 99,9999999999% of cases lead to crash-bang-boom.
So Linus could be right in theory but that theory is really thin one in this particular case. In almost any other security-through-obscurity case I would take side with Linus. And of course you shouldn't use this as only security measure.
What I understand it is and it is not security through obscurity. Let me try explain with my little knowledge.
So the memory addresses are randomized. This prevents the situation where attacker writes some part of memory through direct memory pointer. unsigned char *bptr = EVIL_MEMORY_ADDRESS; WriteEvilStuffToAddress(bptr); And Evil Stuff gets executed when program execution reaches EVIL_MEMORY_ADDRESS. Now the obscurity comes where attacker doesn't know the exact address where writing should occur. If attacker writes to invalid access program crashes.
Think about some web service or server which has this kind of voulnerability. With address space layout randomization we reduce almost every attack from abritrary code execution to plain old DOS. No Evil Stuff, just a crash.
Now where the non security through obscurity comes is that server admin check (hopefully) logs and sees that there's some service that is constantly crashing. He checks for logs what's going on and sees that he has voulnerable service running in the system and takes necessary actions to fix the situation.
So it's not a perfect security scheme but I'd like to think it is a pretty good one combined with all the other thing stuffed into kernel.
And, please, anyone, correct me if I'm wrong here. I'm no security expert afterall:)
Hi. I'm replying to you because you seem to have the lowest user ID:)
This is propably a dumb question but it has been bugging my mind for some time. Let's take GPL (any version will do) for example. GPL doesn't affect the use of software but the distribution. So if I don't accept GPL I can't distribute the software.
Am I correct so far?
But if I don't accept the GPL what gives me the right to use the software then? And in fact, if GPL doesn't affect the use, what gives me the right to use the software even if I accept the license?
This is confusing since our copyright laws states that I'm not supposed to even make a copy of a software to my local hard drive if I don't have license for that. And of course the use of software is prohibited without a valid license. So what gives me the right to use the software if I don't accept the license (and I'm not distributing it)?
And it seems that at least one troll around here has a bad eye sight. Right click on desktop, choose Personalize and click that "Adjust font size" link at the left hand side of the window.
You forgot MS CRM and SharePoint Services and integration between those two, office apps and Outlook.
Quite frankly I don't see what's so big deal with Thunderbird when it is just a email client. I've always used Mutt instead of TB in *nix systems and will do so in the future.
Databases should run on a server.
There are some valid use cases where database must be on client, offline use for instance. But Access.. I'd rather chew my arms of! Luckily there are some really nice free tools like SQL Server Express and Firebird. So there are valid uses for client-side databases but not for Access:)
And since other things than just pure eye candy is offloaded to GPU to save CPU time I see your post only as more disinformation. And what comes to your Ubuntu... I couldn't fricking care less. We are talking about Windows here in case you missed it.
I can seem to hold my guitar just fine while tapping strings with my left hand even without the belt. And my guitar isn't one of the lightest ones... So I don't see any problem here.
In fact you can try with CD container. Hold it between your palms and drum it with your fingers:)
mother of a 13-year-old girl who said after installing Vista on her daughter's computer she decided only two days later to switch back to XP because Vista was so difficult
Translation: Her daugther is.. I'd like say moron but that would be very insulting. But let's put it this way: My 4 year old son is able to use Vista. He can start IE, Counter Strike and Serious Sam (he likes to play both games and is able to use favorites in IE) with zero problems. He can even start fricking Live Messenger for me! He was able to to all this in XP also.
So I really don't know what's so fricking hard in Vista. Is it UAC? (hint: if UAC keeps bugging you, you are doing something terribly wrong) Is it search? (hint: search field is in the top right corner of the search window, XP has it in left size of the window) Everything else is almost the same as in XP for normal user.
Mod me down but these are the facts. I have 3 computers here, one with Vista, one with XP, one with SuSE and know what I'm talking about.
For beginners exiting simple text editor (vi comes to mind) is sometimes impossible task. But servers aren't for beginners. They are pretty advanced stuff.
Shell is neccessary part of the whole thing that some might call Operating System. Maybe Sumdumass meant console instead of shell. Or like friend of mine puts it: black thing with gray text on it.
And if this is the same article I just read elsewhere (I don't have the time to read TFA now) MS didn't threaten anyone. All they said was basically "if you sue us for patent infringment, why don't you sue open source gang also?" So no threats, they are just asking that others should also suffer because of stupid patents.
Windows has a second problem that isn't shared by other desktops, in that the mechanism used to call a program is more like the UNIX "system" API than the UNIX "exec" API... and the calling application has to guess how the called application will interpret things like quotes.
I have never thought that it is UNIX way to not to check and sanitize input. Have I done wrong all these years when I've checked everything that user, be it real person or another app, inputs?
Slashdot Mirror
Heh. That was funny. But still, it was little inaccurate. Finnish lower court has decided that holding down a shift is not a measure that circumvents effective copy protection mechanism (meaning that any copy protection that counts on autorun isn't effective) so that is totally legal thing to do :)
Just a point of view, not mine...
Is SETI worth all that energy consumption in the light of ecology?
Ah, yes. You are right. Didn't consider that point.
I've noticed that when you make kind of a deal with your kid(s) like "you can play X amount of time, OK" they tend to agree better. They know the rule, how long they can play and sometimes they are even capable of planning ahead of like what to do next. If on the other hand you go in the middle of the game and say "okay, time's up, shutdown the console" kids can get very offended because you lay abritrary rules on them.
This kind of functionality is great I'd say! I might even use it myself on myself :) You make the deal and agree on the play time, you set it to the Family Timer and when the time is up, console asks to save the game and shuts down. And then it's time to do something else.
But here I see a possible problem. Console enables parents to "offload" their responsibilities. I think it's okay to use the Family Timer but after that you should check your kids to see how they are doing and possibly ask what they are going to do next. To be with them at least for that little time. I can see some lazy-ass parents using this as a way to be rid of their kids, to let machine do their parental job and concentrate on their own selfish needs. Sorry for writing harshly but I can't stand those kind of "parents".
They're always after me precious vodka!
Humour is a defence mechanism, even here in Finland ;)
When in Rome... Of course you are supposed to follow the local laws! Nigeria isn't part of United States you know. If MS followed Nigerian law and possible international treaties then everything is by the books, no matter what some law in some other country says.
Cosmic radiation coming this way?! OMG! It's the rise of the Silversurfer!
Vista upgrade was nice enough to inform me that there's some incompatibility issues with some software in my system and asked me to remove those before I proceed upgrade. This makes update safer but it is a risky call since if there would have been some stuff that would prevent Vista from booting and upgrade software didn't warn me about it, I would have blamed both MS and software vendor for this.
Different than what? Wasn't this comparison between Vista and Ubuntu? Why is he comparing Vista to XP then? Or did he pusposedly wanted to lower Vista's points by making arbitrary compares...
And no, I didn't read the fricking article. I hate these comparisons. Why is Linux folk always comparing Linux to Windows? Can't they live and develop their stuff on their own? Why is it that every time there is a problem with Linux they go out like "but it's worse in Windows!" And why are people making these stupid arguments:
How long it takes to install Linux from year 2000 and update it to it's current state?But the best post here in Slashdot was that somebody's Linux was able to download and install network card driver for his network card from internet automatically. Wow! I just couldn't figure out how his Linux was able to do that since he didn't have driver for that network card in the first place...
Please, mod me as a troll. I have karma to burn.
I've never even touched control panel when I've done recording in Windows (and I've recorded and edited quite a few hours of live music for my own fun) so I really don't know what the heck you are talking about. Care to elaborate?
Yes, Express editions are somewhat limited but they are still very usable. I've made several apps and websites using them. I like the Professional edition better of course and I like to have MSDN on my local hard drive but I can manage with Express and online MSDN.
And for database stuff you can use SQL Server Management Studio Express, which is also free and freely downloadable (as is SQL Server Express edition).
So if you have Windows license your development costs are only limited to your own personal time, electric and internet bill.
Well, you would need either write access to code section or execute access to data section (stack or heap). "Normal" way would be, if I understand correctly, to overwrite some library function. Without memory randomization the base address of library is known and so is function's address. With randomization attacker will have to make a wild guess (in 32 bit system possibilities are billions, in 64 bit ... I can't even count so far:) which will in 99,9999999999% of cases lead to crash-bang-boom.
So Linus could be right in theory but that theory is really thin one in this particular case. In almost any other security-through-obscurity case I would take side with Linus. And of course you shouldn't use this as only security measure.
What I understand it is and it is not security through obscurity. Let me try explain with my little knowledge.
So the memory addresses are randomized. This prevents the situation where attacker writes some part of memory through direct memory pointer. unsigned char *bptr = EVIL_MEMORY_ADDRESS; WriteEvilStuffToAddress(bptr); And Evil Stuff gets executed when program execution reaches EVIL_MEMORY_ADDRESS. Now the obscurity comes where attacker doesn't know the exact address where writing should occur. If attacker writes to invalid access program crashes.
Think about some web service or server which has this kind of voulnerability. With address space layout randomization we reduce almost every attack from abritrary code execution to plain old DOS. No Evil Stuff, just a crash.
Now where the non security through obscurity comes is that server admin check (hopefully) logs and sees that there's some service that is constantly crashing. He checks for logs what's going on and sees that he has voulnerable service running in the system and takes necessary actions to fix the situation.
So it's not a perfect security scheme but I'd like to think it is a pretty good one combined with all the other thing stuffed into kernel.
And, please, anyone, correct me if I'm wrong here. I'm no security expert afterall :)
Hi. I'm replying to you because you seem to have the lowest user ID :)
This is propably a dumb question but it has been bugging my mind for some time. Let's take GPL (any version will do) for example. GPL doesn't affect the use of software but the distribution. So if I don't accept GPL I can't distribute the software.
Am I correct so far?
But if I don't accept the GPL what gives me the right to use the software then? And in fact, if GPL doesn't affect the use, what gives me the right to use the software even if I accept the license?
This is confusing since our copyright laws states that I'm not supposed to even make a copy of a software to my local hard drive if I don't have license for that. And of course the use of software is prohibited without a valid license. So what gives me the right to use the software if I don't accept the license (and I'm not distributing it)?
And it seems that at least one troll around here has a bad eye sight. Right click on desktop, choose Personalize and click that "Adjust font size" link at the left hand side of the window.
You forgot MS CRM and SharePoint Services and integration between those two, office apps and Outlook.
Quite frankly I don't see what's so big deal with Thunderbird when it is just a email client. I've always used Mutt instead of TB in *nix systems and will do so in the future.
There are some valid use cases where database must be on client, offline use for instance. But Access.. I'd rather chew my arms of! Luckily there are some really nice free tools like SQL Server Express and Firebird. So there are valid uses for client-side databases but not for Access :)
So do you mean that we should stick with Ubuntu XP and not upgrade to Ubuntu Vista? ;)
And since other things than just pure eye candy is offloaded to GPU to save CPU time I see your post only as more disinformation. And what comes to your Ubuntu... I couldn't fricking care less. We are talking about Windows here in case you missed it.
I can seem to hold my guitar just fine while tapping strings with my left hand even without the belt. And my guitar isn't one of the lightest ones... So I don't see any problem here.
In fact you can try with CD container. Hold it between your palms and drum it with your fingers :)
Translation: Her daugther is .. I'd like say moron but that would be very insulting. But let's put it this way: My 4 year old son is able to use Vista. He can start IE, Counter Strike and Serious Sam (he likes to play both games and is able to use favorites in IE) with zero problems. He can even start fricking Live Messenger for me! He was able to to all this in XP also.
So I really don't know what's so fricking hard in Vista. Is it UAC? (hint: if UAC keeps bugging you, you are doing something terribly wrong) Is it search? (hint: search field is in the top right corner of the search window, XP has it in left size of the window) Everything else is almost the same as in XP for normal user.
Mod me down but these are the facts. I have 3 computers here, one with Vista, one with XP, one with SuSE and know what I'm talking about.
Ah, yes. The first rule of Slashdot: if that I happen to like is critized, move focus to MS.
For beginners exiting simple text editor (vi comes to mind) is sometimes impossible task. But servers aren't for beginners. They are pretty advanced stuff.
I was going to make the same joke :)
Shell is neccessary part of the whole thing that some might call Operating System. Maybe Sumdumass meant console instead of shell. Or like friend of mine puts it: black thing with gray text on it.
And if this is the same article I just read elsewhere (I don't have the time to read TFA now) MS didn't threaten anyone. All they said was basically "if you sue us for patent infringment, why don't you sue open source gang also?" So no threats, they are just asking that others should also suffer because of stupid patents.
I have never thought that it is UNIX way to not to check and sanitize input. Have I done wrong all these years when I've checked everything that user, be it real person or another app, inputs?