Just use the mac OSX version of the software. A mac can get the pictures off without making you run with special privileges.
It's people who put up with shoddy work like this that promotes the problem.
Ok, this post is going to be off topic. It's ok. I can afford the karma.
You know stuff about HPC. That's cool.
I've been reading some of your older posts. You seem like a smart guy. Even about non-tech stuff like http://www.mosesmi.org/ (who could use a new webmaster, btw).
I still disagree with you about GPGPU and HPC. For HPC interconnect is king and you can't get any better than being on the same die. Yes, compiler complexity bites, and it will get worse before it gets better. Naturally the ideal is an absurdly large address space of shared memory, but the reality is that no real processor can even CRC 2^40 bits of address space in real time. The rest of it can and should be abstracted at a level above the CPU.
We're programming down to the bare metal right now because that's how you get the answers in something close to real time with the available equipment. From an analyst point of view some of this stuff (granularity, interconnects, task sequencing) can and should be done by the OS or the compiler, and that's how it's going to work out in the long run.
We'll know when Intel has got it when they realize the infinite possible permutations of special purpose cores on one chip means a great deal of marketing advantage.
Of course that solution includes a great deal more compiler complexity than even massively parallel GPGPUs. It is unfortunate that HPC is going to have this shakeout in programmers who know what they're doing, vs template geeks. Unfortunate for the template geeks, that is. Real programmers code with the tools at hand and solve the problems they have.
GPGPU owns the HPC high ground for 2007. Let's see if Intel can repurpose some of those 80 cores they showed off to do video encoding, random number generation and massively parallel floating point before we call the race in 2010. Oh, and of course to be relevant the compiler has to be GCC. No serious scientist would use a closed source compiler.
most of my servers are way over-powered for what they're doing (even an old 550MHz Sun V100 is more than enough to run DNS, internal mail, etc)
Sure, some services need bulletproof servers that are never updated and never crash. That's what BSD is for. And with it you don't have to deal with a user interface from the 70's.
BTW, internal mail is ok with anything stable, but for edge mail you'll need something fast for your Bayes and RBLs.
By a "small bit of performance" I'm sure you meant "some reasonable performance", and yes, the defining parameter for a successful IT solution is that it works. Unless your server has some headroom above its load, it will accrue undone work until it fails. It does not matter how well a solution does half the job.
GPGPU vs Cell: Right now you can buy off the shelf a pair of GPGPU cards that slot into one motherboard. That gives you 1024 math units, at least six GPU units, and the whole thing drives off of one single, dual or quad-core cpu, that fits in 4u. Sure they don't do dual precision yet, but that requirement is not universal. IBM may have some good stuff with the Cell, but it won't be 2007 when they begin to compete with that, and who knows what's in the graphics card manufacturers pipeline? They're a typically closed-mouth bunch.
Transcoding: You're right most people don't know the word. You are quite wrong that they don't want it. When I show someone a commercial DVD playing on my Treo phone they squeal with delight. It's what closes the ring of having content and not being able to play it when and where you want. MythTV is a killer program, and when you can put the video into the format you want, suddenly you have the power to enjoy what you paid for in new ways. People want it desperately. Also, Hi-def monitors were flying off the shelves of every store I went to this year. Consumers are going to want content, and the DRM is a roadblock people are willing to learn some technology to get over.
Somebody find this guy a cluestick and beat him with it.
Microsoft will make billions on vista. duh.
Itanic is still dead. Wow. What a revelation.
Cell takes over HPC. Not gonna happen. See GPGPU for why.
Slowaris wins out over linux. Literally when pigs fly.
How many trite phrases can you fit in one blog post? "structural convergence" "Web 2" "SOA" "Googlemania" "YouTube"
OK, Here's my set of predictions.
Lots of folks will make money -- in old realiable and new creative ways. Some of them will go to jail for it eventually. Most will not.
Transcoding video is the killer app for multicore and beyond. The studios aren't coming to market fast enough to deliver the universally playable content that users want, and users are ready to pay thousands for a pc that converts the media they already have.
Linux and OSX will continue to take share from the Borg, slowly. More slowly than they should.
Vista will be revealed to be as buggy and spyware prone as every other MS OS, for the same reason -- it's developed by the same braindamaged marketdroids who brought us all the others. Microsoft is lucky most of us have no other choice.
A great many flackalysts will comment on the invincibility of Vista, Microsoft, IBM, Sun and every other major vendor, and their paid commentary is worth exactly what the company's glossy fliers are -- not even useful as toilet paper.
The winner in the Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD wars will be... Monitor makers. Your powerpoint never looked so lovely as it does in 1080p.
And so of course the light bulbs and digiwidgets are all providing heat too, reducing the need for heat production from your heater. If you don't have air conditioning, light bulbs can make a great space heater. If your lights and render farm aren't putting out the watts because you turned them off then the heater will take more power, yielding a zero sum.
Novell was already in a world of hurt. Loans being called over a delisting threat for restated earnings because of options investigations, Linux business flatlining, Unix business a zombie shell of its former self, etc, etc.
The brass needed a golden parachute because they were flaming out. Along came a charming gentleman with a fat wad of cash and a deal that's too good to be true... There's only one string attached... They just have to screw everybody who does business with them until the sherriff padlocks the doors. Do that and they get great personal wealth to comfort them for the loss of their once great company. Shareholders and creditors get zilch, like always. Customers are left hanging. What employees are left at the end get away with neither their self respect nor a decent separation package.
This deal looks like SCO redux because that's what it is. There is nothing new or subtle about this plot.
MS says patent infringements are in linux, implying SuSE. Novell says they didn't admit to it -- not the same thing as denying it. They took the money, and the public assurances from MS that they won't sue the customers. Implied here is that Novell is performing a service for their $300M, to wit: inserting patented methods into their linux products. More than implied, it's directly stated with their immediately following project announcements. The point of the secret agreement is to provide a five year window where Novell linux products have enhanced features for integration with MS platform of products to the detriment of other Open Source companies. After the five years, just when Novell's linux products are really taking off, MS gets to nix the renewal and eat Novell's corpse, to the detriment of everyone else on the planet except Microsoft's lawyers.
There is no guilt money here, no peace offering. This is the basic sale of soul for brief wealth and certain damnation deal popular in classical fiction and Microsoft business strategy. It keeps working because after four years of phenomenal returns the C?Os get to exercise huge options and retire; their long term strategy doesn't require the survival of any of the other players.
In short, nobody wise would have anything to do with any of these people. They have made a secret agreement between them not to bargain with us in good faith.
The moment they signed this secret deal to insert MS patented IP into their Linux software all their products became toxic. They can't undo it. They've taken the money and signed a pact in conflict with the well being of their customers. All balking from the deal would do now is make them dishonest both ways. Stick a fork in them. They're done.
Ina remarkable case of technology amnesia, the same idiots that standardized on FAT for flash media for devices are now touting the amazing formatting capacity of FAT32 - An astonishing 32GB! As if in four years that's going to be a lot for flash media you don't have to handle with tweezers.
So run out, children, and buy your SD 2.0 standard devices while they're not yet obsolete. That way you can buy your camera again and again for no good reason.
Most servers on the Internet run Linux. Problems are rare.
Linux is not the most common desktop platform but it is not the least common either. It's more popular than Mac OS-X.
Linux is not a monolithic platform. Each distro has quirks that distinguish it and those quirks make it harder to build spyware that works on every linux box. Boxes where the software fails spectacularly become red flags that alert people to the presence of malware, as developers attempt to figure out why it failed.
Many novices are running linux now with no problems. Some default configurations leave little to attack - no remote services listening for example, no software installation unless you've been prompted, etc.
It's hard to hide the kind of junk referred to in TFA into the source code. You might get it accepted to someone's project or repository, but when word got out their project or repository would become instantly unpopular, so I imagine they check pretty thoroughly.
In comparison, in the Windows environment creeps can and do hide anything they want behind "Close this dialog box? Yes / Accept / OK." It takes articles like this or extreme hackers to find out that a major corporation has been installing rootkits in millions of PC's. There have been so many of these articles that one has to wonder exactly how many Windows boxes aren't compromised yet. Because you don't get the source code with anything, you're not suspicious about what they're hiding from you.
Isn't it sad that poor Windows users have to put up with this nonsense to get a "free" program? It's so much nicer just to click add/remove software and search for the program I want to use. It must be awful not to be able to trust the people who make your software when any one bad program eventually will give away your banking information and you would never know until UPS contacts you to get directions to your Lithuanian address.
Windows users: when you use linux, a program that does just what you need is almost always just a few clicks away, is free, and doesn't have toxic junk like this attached to it. Usually linux comes with your choice of industrial-strength database servers and clients, web servers and scripting languages, a complete software development kit for the whole thing in dozens of programming languages, a choice of office suites and so much more that it's just amazing. One of the nicer things about it is that you can throw out that filing cabinet with the installlation CDs , packaging and license agreements that came with every piece of hardware and software because you just don't need it. You can replace it with a nice japanese fountain and improve your Feng Shui.
Katana are popular ornaments in the US. I don't have them on display in my home, but in my family I am unique in this way. I'm glad you find the liberties you do have comforting though.
There is some difference between the law and practice in the US. While possessing blow while visiting a prostitute is illegal, prominent video of being arrested doing it is no bar to public office. Generally most people go about their business without much thought to the law, but more to what seems right socially. I think this is because there's just too much law to keep up with in any case.
4. In law, arms are any thing which a man takes in his hand in anger, to strike or assault another.
While liberals often trot out the nuclear weapon strawman when discussing the second amendment, it can be argued that the occurrence of misuse of real military weaponry among the people is exceedingly rare. Nobody ever robs a 7-11 with a real cannon. Prohibiting the ownership of real arms serves no social purpose.
Yes, the real weapons you list and many you didn't are legally owned by a considerable number of Americans, and they don't run around abusing them.
Slashdot Mirror
Poor choice of word. I meant a reasonable time. Real time has a rather specific meaning I did not intend. Sorry.
As to the rest of it, you're right of course. And you would know better than me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the subject.
Now I wish I could mod you up.
My point is that a real scientist doesn't use instruments calibrated by the flying spaghetti monster.
Just use the mac OSX version of the software. A mac can get the pictures off without making you run with special privileges. It's people who put up with shoddy work like this that promotes the problem.
I find your thoughts intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
You know stuff about HPC. That's cool.
I've been reading some of your older posts. You seem like a smart guy. Even about non-tech stuff like http://www.mosesmi.org/ (who could use a new webmaster, btw).
I still disagree with you about GPGPU and HPC. For HPC interconnect is king and you can't get any better than being on the same die. Yes, compiler complexity bites, and it will get worse before it gets better. Naturally the ideal is an absurdly large address space of shared memory, but the reality is that no real processor can even CRC 2^40 bits of address space in real time. The rest of it can and should be abstracted at a level above the CPU.
We're programming down to the bare metal right now because that's how you get the answers in something close to real time with the available equipment. From an analyst point of view some of this stuff (granularity, interconnects, task sequencing) can and should be done by the OS or the compiler, and that's how it's going to work out in the long run.
We'll know when Intel has got it when they realize the infinite possible permutations of special purpose cores on one chip means a great deal of marketing advantage.
Of course that solution includes a great deal more compiler complexity than even massively parallel GPGPUs. It is unfortunate that HPC is going to have this shakeout in programmers who know what they're doing, vs template geeks. Unfortunate for the template geeks, that is. Real programmers code with the tools at hand and solve the problems they have.
GPGPU owns the HPC high ground for 2007. Let's see if Intel can repurpose some of those 80 cores they showed off to do video encoding, random number generation and massively parallel floating point before we call the race in 2010. Oh, and of course to be relevant the compiler has to be GCC. No serious scientist would use a closed source compiler.
BTW, internal mail is ok with anything stable, but for edge mail you'll need something fast for your Bayes and RBLs.
By a "small bit of performance" I'm sure you meant "some reasonable performance", and yes, the defining parameter for a successful IT solution is that it works. Unless your server has some headroom above its load, it will accrue undone work until it fails. It does not matter how well a solution does half the job.
I can't believe I clicked it.
AJAX rocks. It won't cure cancer, though.
Java probably will take off some in noughtseven.
GPGPU vs Cell: Right now you can buy off the shelf a pair of GPGPU cards that slot into one motherboard. That gives you 1024 math units, at least six GPU units, and the whole thing drives off of one single, dual or quad-core cpu, that fits in 4u. Sure they don't do dual precision yet, but that requirement is not universal. IBM may have some good stuff with the Cell, but it won't be 2007 when they begin to compete with that, and who knows what's in the graphics card manufacturers pipeline? They're a typically closed-mouth bunch.
Transcoding: You're right most people don't know the word. You are quite wrong that they don't want it. When I show someone a commercial DVD playing on my Treo phone they squeal with delight. It's what closes the ring of having content and not being able to play it when and where you want. MythTV is a killer program, and when you can put the video into the format you want, suddenly you have the power to enjoy what you paid for in new ways. People want it desperately. Also, Hi-def monitors were flying off the shelves of every store I went to this year. Consumers are going to want content, and the DRM is a roadblock people are willing to learn some technology to get over.
Somebody find this guy a cluestick and beat him with it.
How many trite phrases can you fit in one blog post? "structural convergence" "Web 2" "SOA" "Googlemania" "YouTube"
OK, Here's my set of predictions.
Don't like my list? You do better.
That our re-introduction to accountability for socially inappropriate public behavior would be brought to us by MySpace and Google?
You are
You will be.
The benefits you see are the bait. The patents are the hook. The line is currently four years and ten months long. The death of Novell is the sinker.
If people trust this deal, they're going to feel a lot of pain getting uncommitted.
Thereby violating various methods patents owned by everybody's favorite megacorp.
In some cases you can even cook with a light bulb. http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_ id=5030827
Wait. That would be treble use. Never mind.
The brass needed a golden parachute because they were flaming out. Along came a charming gentleman with a fat wad of cash and a deal that's too good to be true... There's only one string attached... They just have to screw everybody who does business with them until the sherriff padlocks the doors. Do that and they get great personal wealth to comfort them for the loss of their once great company. Shareholders and creditors get zilch, like always. Customers are left hanging. What employees are left at the end get away with neither their self respect nor a decent separation package.
This deal looks like SCO redux because that's what it is. There is nothing new or subtle about this plot.
There is no guilt money here, no peace offering. This is the basic sale of soul for brief wealth and certain damnation deal popular in classical fiction and Microsoft business strategy. It keeps working because after four years of phenomenal returns the C?Os get to exercise huge options and retire; their long term strategy doesn't require the survival of any of the other players.
In short, nobody wise would have anything to do with any of these people. They have made a secret agreement between them not to bargain with us in good faith.
The moment they signed this secret deal to insert MS patented IP into their Linux software all their products became toxic. They can't undo it. They've taken the money and signed a pact in conflict with the well being of their customers. All balking from the deal would do now is make them dishonest both ways. Stick a fork in them. They're done.
Good luck getting a nonstandard format to work in your camera. Let us know how it works out.
So run out, children, and buy your SD 2.0 standard devices while they're not yet obsolete. That way you can buy your camera again and again for no good reason.
Most servers on the Internet run Linux. Problems are rare.
Linux is not the most common desktop platform but it is not the least common either. It's more popular than Mac OS-X.
Linux is not a monolithic platform. Each distro has quirks that distinguish it and those quirks make it harder to build spyware that works on every linux box. Boxes where the software fails spectacularly become red flags that alert people to the presence of malware, as developers attempt to figure out why it failed.
Many novices are running linux now with no problems. Some default configurations leave little to attack - no remote services listening for example, no software installation unless you've been prompted, etc.
It's hard to hide the kind of junk referred to in TFA into the source code. You might get it accepted to someone's project or repository, but when word got out their project or repository would become instantly unpopular, so I imagine they check pretty thoroughly.
In comparison, in the Windows environment creeps can and do hide anything they want behind "Close this dialog box? Yes / Accept / OK." It takes articles like this or extreme hackers to find out that a major corporation has been installing rootkits in millions of PC's. There have been so many of these articles that one has to wonder exactly how many Windows boxes aren't compromised yet. Because you don't get the source code with anything, you're not suspicious about what they're hiding from you.
Windows users: when you use linux, a program that does just what you need is almost always just a few clicks away, is free, and doesn't have toxic junk like this attached to it. Usually linux comes with your choice of industrial-strength database servers and clients, web servers and scripting languages, a complete software development kit for the whole thing in dozens of programming languages, a choice of office suites and so much more that it's just amazing. One of the nicer things about it is that you can throw out that filing cabinet with the installlation CDs , packaging and license agreements that came with every piece of hardware and software because you just don't need it. You can replace it with a nice japanese fountain and improve your Feng Shui.
There is some difference between the law and practice in the US. While possessing blow while visiting a prostitute is illegal, prominent video of being arrested doing it is no bar to public office. Generally most people go about their business without much thought to the law, but more to what seems right socially. I think this is because there's just too much law to keep up with in any case.
Yes, the real weapons you list and many you didn't are legally owned by a considerable number of Americans, and they don't run around abusing them.