Why is it every nearly Linux flaw is locally exploitable, where as every nearly every Windows flaw is remotely exploitable?
This is because there are so many holes in Windows command line it would be impossible to find them all. This is not a joke, if you can get any kind of executable access on Windows you can get admin.
In reading the replies to this post it is clear there are two camps. One which says they were stupid to get caught and the other that has no pity.
Remember, these turncoats gladly accepted a pay cheque to be a representative of their company. Their actions could cause the company to lay off people, perhaps you if it causes financial harm.
I for one would not look forward to calling one of these turncoats a friend. It would only be a mater of time before they framed me for their own gain.
where he described anyone who doesn't support ever-increasing intellectual property laws as "communists".
Does this make Bill Gates a communist? Xerox and Apple had windows before Microsoft. TCP was borrowed from Digital. Sun for RPCs and J#. Supercalc and other had spead sheets before Microsoft. Does work perect or others get roaylties rom Word for the word processor?
In fact, Linux uses X for it's windows which predates Microsoft. Maybe Microsoft should pay royalties to commercial UNIX and Linux for the RTU of Windows.
And look at Microsoft's legal track record.
This was obviously a hypocritical comment on Bill's part. A typical reaction to a monoplistic looser.
Hence grandmas in Best Buy staring at the computer described as "P4 3.0 GHz 256 DDR 40.0 GB DVD/CD-RW" when all she wants to know is whether she can check email and view photos of the grandkids. Marketers forget to empathize with the customers.
Tactics like this and others go back as far as I can remember. The only difference in the.com/2000 bubble was that a large group of business people believed it and spent billions on vaporware promises of profits with no fundamentally sound reason. I guess they don't teach MBAs how to calculate profits and do basic business marketing analysis first.
Grandma's in the mean time are looking at sub $500 solutions that does not require the maintenance of Microsoft Windows and with players like SAM's club are now selling alternatives. The real big kick will come from the Chinese as "toaster like" computers come in even cheaper and more reliable.
A very large part of this is due to businesses laying off the older experienced types and promoting those well past their level of experience and capability. We often think this is just a problem in I/T, but in actuality it is a problem in business in general as it is out with the baby boomer and in with the "never had to really work hard for a buck" generation.
This industry of computing is going to continue to evolve, it happened before with IBM and mainframes, now defunct Digital VAX, commodore PET, TRS-80, Apple, Apple II, Mac then PC. Next will be the standards based and open appliance.
Why anyone would ever actually believe that you couldn't return an LCD (or laptop) with a dead pixel.
I was probably one of the few that insisted on reading the warenty on this and in indeed many do specify what is acceptable. So I taked to friends.
I knew of no one at the time that had a dead pixel they noticed on a Samsung. One said they had a few when they opened up the box but brushed it carefully and hadn't seen them since.
So I bought a Samsun 191T two years ago. Like my froend, I had to brush out a few but haven't seen them since. In fact, I just tested it will all black and all white -- no defects. This last fall I needed a second monitor and got the 17" version of the 19". It was flawless.
Maybe I am lucky. But I showed my XYL a DVD movie on the 19" in HDTV format see said our next TV is a Samsung LCD FP --- now just have to wait until they make a 46" that is priced for mere mortals like me.
There is no doubt distributing material which you do not have the rights to do is theft. This is wrong and illegal behavior. But like prohibition, when enough people do it the only answer is to make it legal to do it, but the key is to profit and control it. Liquor stores and distilleries now pay taxes. And in most US states (but not Kanada) it is legal to distil for personal use. The rum runners and gangsters, even the Kennedy's went legit.
So why does the industry not allow us to download movies in an open format that works on Linux, OS X and Windows? Perhaps sign our name into the copy on download and allow us to download it for the cost of a DVD rental and allow coping to a PC or video player as needed providing it is for your own use? And do it so the customers like it. Hey, this maybe good for another useless patent?
RIAA and MPAA SS tactics only cost money and keep lawyers and macavellian types happy but is doomed to fail because it does not address the social causes of the issue. And they are not always right. If they detect a lot of VPN traffic from my system and I copying as video or uploading a Linux or Solaris ISO images?
But the whole industry needs to look at why people are doing this and adapt their marketing model to suit. Might I suggest plain old ISO DVD images or MPEG for download? You could have an image and stego the licensee into it and in years to come players could display the "Licensed to John W Smith... report violations to 1-800-123-MPAA". I sure would not let my images get out as I could loose my download privileges.
Make it attractive. I hate going to Blockbuster when it is -29 degrees Celsius and snowing to return videos or eat late fees. My bet is if I could download first run movies for $5.00 and get older ones for $1.50 to $2.50 then I would call it my movie source of choice. It would also be worth $12 to download a season of Star Trek. Keep in mind, SBC and others make money at nicles but billions in the bank as so many us it.
Change the business model
So maybe upper management will outsource management as they can no longer blame the American worker. Poor I/T and computer management practices are not problems of the workers, it is a problem of management and H1 visa have really nothing to do with it. But poorly skilled American workers need to hone their skills even if the company train programs don't exist as many are poorly skilled for their job titles. I actually met a Senior Web Developer that didn't know which part was the host and domain of a URL and they were American. You can go overseas and get this cheaper.
I blame the software. Sounds like a more likely culprit than the OS, even if it is Windows.
I don't doubt it was the software but the real cause was the management of that software component. Was it tested or to save a few bucks was testing avoided to save money. Or were the testers telling management what they wanted to hear rather than the truth. Or perhaps they needed bigger computers or smarter software developers but they got them cheap.
Don't know Comair too much but it is safe to say they should be looking at the management practices that lead to this if they really want to fix the problem.
But it is easy to blame the software as it is not vspsblr of Lie a Lot, denial and usually deals poorly with irrational behavior and input.
This would be a good thing if it's accurate, that would mean that close to half of all spam would be under US jurisdiction, which means they can be sued and shut down in the US./p?
It is true. Americans generate the problem to sell products to solve the problem.
The legal system in the US is not interested in enforcing SEC regulations, fraud laws or business licensing issues with regards to spam. You can't put 80% of the business in court for being spammers. The company you work for might be a spammer - they just quietly outsource it.
When developing code we often forget the longer-term impacts that often hinder us later.
Take Java versus.NET. If I develop in Java then I don't have to worry about doctors who might want to use it on a Apple OS/X. If the world goes Linux it runs on Linux. Or perhaps some new tablet PC is running BSD or Linux. It may not even seem important now but going.NET limits you.
Very few programming projects are truly unique, as they often borrow source or copy the logic of existing systems. Would it not be nice if you could share the source code between Windows, Linux, OS/X, AIX, Linux, BSD, HP-UX and Solaris? If your shop only runs Windows now can you say this will be true for 2, 5 10 years down the road?
Even if you are a Microsoft only shop, you can borrow source code from Open Source Java Linux projects to help with the coding..NET does not allow you this.
Having such a broad range of platforms it runs on generally means the programmers are more skilled and more source code is available. More skilled programmers often produce programs that crash less lowering maintenance and increases user service..NET does not offer any of this.
Why.NET then? It's best redeeming value is that it takes lower skilled programmers and locks in that you must use Windows to run it. Although the product is OS bound and perhaps even less reliable you may have the skill sets to do it faster. If Microsoft jumps the price of their products you're stuck with it as you would not want to pay the price of re-coding all your projects. Techno-lock in if you will.
In a hospital, information security must be an issue. If you go just by the numbers on CERT or other vendor independent source.NET and Windows itself are relatively insecure when compared to other options. Java is by no means 100% secure, but at least it began its life with security as part of its design. In Java, security was not an afterthought or refit.
Historically languages like Java will last a lot longer than.NET. This lends longevity to code and effort. From your career point of view, would you rather hedge your skills on something that is OS independent or sink your precious learning time into a vendor slotted technology where if they fail you have to re-learn something else. We often forget it takes years of effort to become really good at a programming language.
Java offers a lot. If your manager does not use Java over.NET then he should have to back it up with some good reasons beyond his knowledge that one of his mutual funds just happens to own some MSFT stock.
The US has to get their patent system in order or it will collapse. The only real purpose for the patent system with software is to employ lawyers in the software business and to harass innovative companies competing with larger companies. Both are counterproductive in developing computer technologu and for that mater mankinds development.
The EU wants to develop their software business and do not want to let the likes of Microsoft come in and stifle growth with legal harassment. Even if you do no infringe, the mere fact a small company or individual is legally challenged is enough to put them out and under. The EU is doing it right by not letting in US legal problems into their system. A good recent example is how long and how far can SCO go before someone puts the execs in jail for extortion? Or perhaps the SEC for stock manipulation.
And since most software patents can find their root in previous works or ideas developed in public universities and not really inside the business they originated in, most are fraudulent patents. Patents were meant to protect the original developing company from infringement. Microsoft didn't invent windows, XEROX/PA did. MIT did X before Microsoft had an OS. So So by rights, any patent on Windows by Microsoft is derived work and not an original invention. These patents should be rejected.
Unless Canada and the US revise the law, I figure in 3-5 years most of our software will come from EU, India or China. Want a software development job, go to EU, India or China. Poland has the right idea, it will develop and keep their people at home.
but why the hell are we focusing on things that are so ridiculous when there are a LOT of things that Microsoft does that are really worth antitrust litigation?
Good point. Why worry about the OS internals when the real issue is that you can't buy a Dell Inspiron without an OS because you want to run Linux on it. The real problem is vendors believe they get preferred treatment from Microsoft because they close out other OSes. So like it or not, Linux users who want Dell machines must unwillingly pay Microsoft Tax.
Microsoft Tax hinders anyone else in competing. Try to explain to your boss that you want to buy Red Hat after the PC you just got came with Windows.
What should be done is force hardware manufacturers to un-bundle the OS from the hardware. Allow the consumer the choice. Offer the OS as a add on, just like MS Office, Norton and others. The consumer would likely choose a different market mix if given a choice as most people to do not build their own systems to avoid Microsoft Tax.
But the reality is there is nothing happening in north america to change this.
So you look forward to the day your dvd refuses to load becauase your not using a DRM enabled drive I see;)
The solution then is simple, return if for a refund. If they want to rip you off it is unlikely you will go to court over such a small amount. However the consumer will no longer pay for the services. Producers know this as there is no money in this.
Because this is one consumer, and I suspect one of many that isn't going to go out and buy a $1200 DVD DRM II player any time soon. If it fails to play on my player then they did not deliver what I paid for.
Making Microsoft unbundle components of the OS is a weak solution. Microsoft will do that but so something like like ask the user every week if they want to install it.
The real solution would be to force all PC vendors to include a option to buy the hardware without a OS and when doing so it must be listed with full credit of the OEM cost of Windows. So when a vendor says it includes $200 of software, I should be able to get $200 off if I buy it without an OS. Vendors could also offer Linux and BSD options. Make Microsoft contracts with the hardware vendors void as they are anti-competative.
Because one of the big problems is that vendors like Dell, Sony and others do not give us a choice. For those running Linux or a BSD, you still have to buy a product that pays Microsoft extortion.
And if the US courts had any guts they would pass such a judgement instead of folding up like a house of cards
Why would I do that? If I use BitTorrent for legitimate uses - does that make me guilty of something? What if I download a legitimate Linux distro... or other open source? Can't get my Debian otherwise. Microsoft might like that but I don't.
Do we jail people who make kitchen knives, guns, baseball bats, axes, tanks, planes or cars? All can be used to kill people. No we don't. But we do condemn behavior.
To the behavior part. What you are really seeing is the same thing that happened with prohibition and other imposed legislation against public will. The entertainment industry is in collusion. Take your local cable company. Do you have a competitive alternative to wired cable as you might with the telephone?
If you are like many of the people the RIAA is chasing, you have had it with monopolistic and anti-competitive entertainment options. I deal with it by renting DVDs as it costs $4 and not $25 for the original. But in reality I should be able to just download it to my computer from Sony for $2. I choose to resist using BitTorrent to rip movies but I can't say I haven't considered doing otherwise.
In fact, this Internet is something the entertainment industry fears. You or I could start our own Internet television station and they don't get their cut. Sites like http://mediahopper.com/ will prevail in time. Note the absence of Canadian and US stations when compared to smaller markets.
Sooner or later the RIAA and cable monoplies are going to evolve or loose. But the cable companies realize this and that is why they are proving much of the Internet access.
Interesting, if you do a google search on "itanic" it asks you "Did you mean: itanium
With IBM and Sun continuing their RISC chip developments and HP's sinking UNIX/RISC market share they might be changing their marketing strategies (again). I wonder if HP is going to revive PA/RISC development and perhaps a dual core version like Sun and IBM's?
Yeah, sure, if starting the computer is human error. It takes what, five minutes or less, for an XP box to get riddled with viruses, Trojans, etc.? The error is Microsoft didn't ship an operating system that could remotely be considered secure. You can't connect to the network to download SP2 without risking the computer. Where's the sense in this? Where's the user error?
That simple piece of rational logic is why users should forget a Microsoft security solutions outright. The best choices are a Linksys, Netgrear, SMC or some other hardware based router that costs some $49. The best part about the hardware is if your next PC is a Mac or runs Linux it still works. And these devices require little maintenance compared to Windows. It also protects other devices that might plug into the network like a media center.
... Is this the Canadian government deliberately being contrary?;;;
Most Canadian's don't know how controlled they are. The federal government sponsors the national broadcast system called CBC and has a regulatory branch called the CRTC that actively controls what Canadians can see and hear. Just like Outer Limits but this for real.
There is a national private station called CTV, but with the CRTC government regulation of them they are also limited to providing biased "government knows best" journalism.
Do a google search on "DirecTV CRTC" and you will see how the Canadian government uses it's resources to control Canadians.
And any Canadian that has seen both SciFi and Space for science fiction can tell you that Space is lousy compared to SciFi. In fact, I can see the current season of the Canadian made SG-1 on SciFi in the US but not Space on Canadian cable.
CRTC sponsors a closed anti-competitive market giving the two major cable operators a monopoly over their areas and Bell Canada control over the satellite option. All of which are more expensive than the US.
We do have a great comedy channel. The parliament, similar to the congress is broadcast to Canadians. Canada does not have a functional senate. The prime minister gets to put whomever they want in there for life as long as they vote for the reigning government. The amount of mindless irrational bickering is quite humorous. And often half the members don't even show up.
There are many Canadian's who would like to get DirecTV or Road Runner but can't afford the legal costs of fighting the government controls.
How will canadian artists and record companies stay in business if everybody is going to rip them off...
Actually it is the Canadian artists who are doing Canadian's the injustice. Lets talk about how much the government of Kanada sponsored CBC? I know it is over a billion dollars that some 10 million workers have to fund. Yes, Kanada - that is what some government artist put in the Calgary Airport.
I feel like moving south to the U.S
You should actually do that. Americans would have a revolt on their government for placing the controls and entertainment taxes Canadian's have to live with. If you told Americans they could not use DirectTV in Chicago they might all drop local cable and get dishes just to protest.
Canadian's are far too passive with the CRTC and they need to be castrated.
kept logs of all your telephone conversations, would you? Or how about if they PUBLISHED the logs?
If someone sat down and were to listen to my conversations they would go to sleep. You make it sound like the average person is so exciting that publishing their phone calls could make the next hit TV show.
This isn't to say if the person is with in the bounds of the law that publishing shouldn't be permitted. It could be as simple as publish with probable cause.
My real point is that in order to have a safe society, why should't any public avenue be recorded? I believe the UK is doing this in crime problem areas and it has reduced crime. It works for shop lifters too in most retail stores and banks.
Sure, we have all seen video showing a cop kicking the crap out of someone, and we have all seen the criminal saying they were mistreated when in actuality they spit and kicked the cop and yet were treated with courtesy and handcuffs. Peoples perceptions are usually pretty good when watching a video or seeing a picture of an event but not so on here-say..
So should it be quite OK to make it safe for muggers, thugs, robbers and killers to escape justice to satisfy the insecurity of a few? I think not.
Now if the government wanted to put a CCD inside my house... then I would be conccerned. This is the real threat but I don't see it here.
This is a good idea. Any "honest" type wouldn't mind. Especially since if you are at the ATM and the robber types know they would get there mug shots while in the act of crime, they might just leave you alone.
So say "cheese" next time your infront of the machine and for gods sake keep the zipper up and the shirt on.
Companies will try harder and harder to make sure DRM exists in all these formats and is ever more restrictive ("Oh, well with our new Super-Duper Audio Discs, you can only play it 5 times on one single device.")
All the while, prices for these new formats will either stay the same, or go up, due to "increasing costs of production" and stay that way.
Precisely why I will not buy this "new" technology. It is just a money grab. I never did buy the CDs available that I used to have in record and tape media. Heck, it is only now I plan on getting a TV-DVD now that the prices are down below $100.
They will do whatever the conumer will let them do. If we all banded together and didn't buy a CD or DVD for a minth we would make them shake.
And if they put copy protection against the owner, I will not buy it.
Bought a VCR the other day, might be hard to get soon and they do record the shows well so you can skip the 30 minutes of adds in a 60 minute show. Tapes are almost free at Costco and reusable.
They just don't get it, a DVD aught to be sold for $6 and most would buy them like popcorn. In essence people are downloading the movies because the pricing is stupid.
How did these employees get into the company door in the first place?
The problem isn't just with writing skills, the chances are the boss and others are unable to read it even if it was perfectly written.
I only know of one manager I deal with that has good writing and reading skills. Peers often are technical, but literate and although grammar suffers the communications are generally effective. But help desk and business users in my books can't read effectively. It is amazing how they know to download spyware.
But this is the tip of the iceberg. Each morning millions of us read 40-200 mail messages in our in-box of which maybe 5 to 10 have real business value to us. It wastes a lot of time. Microsoft in it's lack of wisdom abandoned news groups with subscription capability and article threading for Outlook. (Yes, I know Exchange has news groups, but compared to threaded readers and NNTP is is a dysfunctional dinosaur and no one is encourages to use it)
One thing that would help is if a NNTP/news like system was integrated with Outlook. And if a person needed to send a message to more than 5 people then they would have to post it to a threaded news group. Let the one sender sort it and not 200 recipients.
In short there is a lot of room for improvement in today's email process. As we do need more than the Microsoft Pied Piper approach as it simply is not working.
PS: Microsoft, no - I don't need to hear them via mail. All that whining will cause serious damage to I/T support. Design the tools to be process friendly and skip the bells and whistles that hackers so much love.
Slashdot Mirror
Why is it every nearly Linux flaw is locally exploitable, where as every nearly every Windows flaw is remotely exploitable?
This is because there are so many holes in Windows command line it would be impossible to find them all. This is not a joke, if you can get any kind of executable access on Windows you can get admin.
In reading the replies to this post it is clear there are two camps. One which says they were stupid to get caught and the other that has no pity.
Remember, these turncoats gladly accepted a pay cheque to be a representative of their company. Their actions could cause the company to lay off people, perhaps you if it causes financial harm.
I for one would not look forward to calling one of these turncoats a friend. It would only be a mater of time before they framed me for their own gain.
Let these turkeys fry
where he described anyone who doesn't support ever-increasing intellectual property laws as "communists".
Does this make Bill Gates a communist? Xerox and Apple had windows before Microsoft. TCP was borrowed from Digital. Sun for RPCs and J#. Supercalc and other had spead sheets before Microsoft. Does work perect or others get roaylties rom Word for the word processor?
In fact, Linux uses X for it's windows which predates Microsoft. Maybe Microsoft should pay royalties to commercial UNIX and Linux for the RTU of Windows.
And look at Microsoft's legal track record.
This was obviously a hypocritical comment on Bill's part. A typical reaction to a monoplistic looser.
Hence grandmas in Best Buy staring at the computer described as "P4 3.0 GHz 256 DDR 40.0 GB DVD/CD-RW" when all she wants to know is whether she can check email and view photos of the grandkids. Marketers forget to empathize with the customers.
Tactics like this and others go back as far as I can remember. The only difference in the .com/2000 bubble was that a large group of business people believed it and spent billions on vaporware promises of profits with no fundamentally sound reason. I guess they don't teach MBAs how to calculate profits and do basic business marketing analysis first.
Grandma's in the mean time are looking at sub $500 solutions that does not require the maintenance of Microsoft Windows and with players like SAM's club are now selling alternatives. The real big kick will come from the Chinese as "toaster like" computers come in even cheaper and more reliable.
A very large part of this is due to businesses laying off the older experienced types and promoting those well past their level of experience and capability. We often think this is just a problem in I/T, but in actuality it is a problem in business in general as it is out with the baby boomer and in with the "never had to really work hard for a buck" generation.
This industry of computing is going to continue to evolve, it happened before with IBM and mainframes, now defunct Digital VAX, commodore PET, TRS-80, Apple, Apple II, Mac then PC. Next will be the standards based and open appliance.
Why anyone would ever actually believe that you couldn't return an LCD (or laptop) with a dead pixel.
I was probably one of the few that insisted on reading the warenty on this and in indeed many do specify what is acceptable. So I taked to friends.
I knew of no one at the time that had a dead pixel they noticed on a Samsung. One said they had a few when they opened up the box but brushed it carefully and hadn't seen them since.
So I bought a Samsun 191T two years ago. Like my froend, I had to brush out a few but haven't seen them since. In fact, I just tested it will all black and all white -- no defects. This last fall I needed a second monitor and got the 17" version of the 19". It was flawless.
Maybe I am lucky. But I showed my XYL a DVD movie on the 19" in HDTV format see said our next TV is a Samsung LCD FP --- now just have to wait until they make a 46" that is priced for mere mortals like me.
There is no doubt distributing material which you do not have the rights to do is theft. This is wrong and illegal behavior. But like prohibition, when enough people do it the only answer is to make it legal to do it, but the key is to profit and control it. Liquor stores and distilleries now pay taxes. And in most US states (but not Kanada) it is legal to distil for personal use. The rum runners and gangsters, even the Kennedy's went legit. So why does the industry not allow us to download movies in an open format that works on Linux, OS X and Windows? Perhaps sign our name into the copy on download and allow us to download it for the cost of a DVD rental and allow coping to a PC or video player as needed providing it is for your own use? And do it so the customers like it. Hey, this maybe good for another useless patent? RIAA and MPAA SS tactics only cost money and keep lawyers and macavellian types happy but is doomed to fail because it does not address the social causes of the issue. And they are not always right. If they detect a lot of VPN traffic from my system and I copying as video or uploading a Linux or Solaris ISO images? But the whole industry needs to look at why people are doing this and adapt their marketing model to suit. Might I suggest plain old ISO DVD images or MPEG for download? You could have an image and stego the licensee into it and in years to come players could display the "Licensed to John W Smith... report violations to 1-800-123-MPAA". I sure would not let my images get out as I could loose my download privileges. Make it attractive. I hate going to Blockbuster when it is -29 degrees Celsius and snowing to return videos or eat late fees. My bet is if I could download first run movies for $5.00 and get older ones for $1.50 to $2.50 then I would call it my movie source of choice. It would also be worth $12 to download a season of Star Trek. Keep in mind, SBC and others make money at nicles but billions in the bank as so many us it. Change the business model
But management saved 13.7% by hiring H1-Visas
So maybe upper management will outsource management as they can no longer blame the American worker. Poor I/T and computer management practices are not problems of the workers, it is a problem of management and H1 visa have really nothing to do with it. But poorly skilled American workers need to hone their skills even if the company train programs don't exist as many are poorly skilled for their job titles. I actually met a Senior Web Developer that didn't know which part was the host and domain of a URL and they were American. You can go overseas and get this cheaper.
I blame the software. Sounds like a more likely culprit than the OS, even if it is Windows.
I don't doubt it was the software but the real cause was the management of that software component. Was it tested or to save a few bucks was testing avoided to save money. Or were the testers telling management what they wanted to hear rather than the truth. Or perhaps they needed bigger computers or smarter software developers but they got them cheap.
Don't know Comair too much but it is safe to say they should be looking at the management practices that lead to this if they really want to fix the problem.
But it is easy to blame the software as it is not vspsblr of Lie a Lot, denial and usually deals poorly with irrational behavior and input.
This would be a good thing if it's accurate, that would mean that close to half of all spam would be under US jurisdiction, which means they can be sued and shut down in the US./p?
It is true. Americans generate the problem to sell products to solve the problem.
The legal system in the US is not interested in enforcing SEC regulations, fraud laws or business licensing issues with regards to spam. You can't put 80% of the business in court for being spammers. The company you work for might be a spammer - they just quietly outsource it.
When developing code we often forget the longer-term impacts that often hinder us later.
Take Java versus .NET. If I develop in Java then I don't have to worry about doctors who might want to use it on a Apple OS/X. If the world goes Linux it runs on Linux. Or perhaps some new tablet PC is running BSD or Linux. It may not even seem important now but going .NET limits you.
Very few programming projects are truly unique, as they often borrow source or copy the logic of existing systems. Would it not be nice if you could share the source code between Windows, Linux, OS/X, AIX, Linux, BSD, HP-UX and Solaris? If your shop only runs Windows now can you say this will be true for 2, 5 10 years down the road?
Even if you are a Microsoft only shop, you can borrow source code from Open Source Java Linux projects to help with the coding. .NET does not allow you this.
Having such a broad range of platforms it runs on generally means the programmers are more skilled and more source code is available. More skilled programmers often produce programs that crash less lowering maintenance and increases user service. .NET does not offer any of this.
Why .NET then? It's best redeeming value is that it takes lower skilled programmers and locks in that you must use Windows to run it. Although the product is OS bound and perhaps even less reliable you may have the skill sets to do it faster. If Microsoft jumps the price of their products you're stuck with it as you would not want to pay the price of re-coding all your projects. Techno-lock in if you will.
In a hospital, information security must be an issue. If you go just by the numbers on CERT or other vendor independent source .NET and Windows itself are relatively insecure when compared to other options. Java is by no means 100% secure, but at least it began its life with security as part of its design. In Java, security was not an afterthought or refit.
Historically languages like Java will last a lot longer than .NET. This lends longevity to code and effort. From your career point of view, would you rather hedge your skills on something that is OS independent or sink your precious learning time into a vendor slotted technology where if they fail you have to re-learn something else. We often forget it takes years of effort to become really good at a programming language.
Java offers a lot. If your manager does not use Java over .NET then he should have to back it up with some good reasons beyond his knowledge that one of his mutual funds just happens to own some MSFT stock.
The US has to get their patent system in order or it will collapse. The only real purpose for the patent system with software is to employ lawyers in the software business and to harass innovative companies competing with larger companies. Both are counterproductive in developing computer technologu and for that mater mankinds development.
The EU wants to develop their software business and do not want to let the likes of Microsoft come in and stifle growth with legal harassment. Even if you do no infringe, the mere fact a small company or individual is legally challenged is enough to put them out and under. The EU is doing it right by not letting in US legal problems into their system. A good recent example is how long and how far can SCO go before someone puts the execs in jail for extortion? Or perhaps the SEC for stock manipulation.
And since most software patents can find their root in previous works or ideas developed in public universities and not really inside the business they originated in, most are fraudulent patents. Patents were meant to protect the original developing company from infringement. Microsoft didn't invent windows, XEROX/PA did. MIT did X before Microsoft had an OS. So So by rights, any patent on Windows by Microsoft is derived work and not an original invention. These patents should be rejected.
Unless Canada and the US revise the law, I figure in 3-5 years most of our software will come from EU, India or China. Want a software development job, go to EU, India or China. Poland has the right idea, it will develop and keep their people at home.
but why the hell are we focusing on things that are so ridiculous when there are a LOT of things that Microsoft does that are really worth antitrust litigation?
Good point. Why worry about the OS internals when the real issue is that you can't buy a Dell Inspiron without an OS because you want to run Linux on it. The real problem is vendors believe they get preferred treatment from Microsoft because they close out other OSes. So like it or not, Linux users who want Dell machines must unwillingly pay Microsoft Tax.
Microsoft Tax hinders anyone else in competing. Try to explain to your boss that you want to buy Red Hat after the PC you just got came with Windows.
What should be done is force hardware manufacturers to un-bundle the OS from the hardware. Allow the consumer the choice. Offer the OS as a add on, just like MS Office, Norton and others. The consumer would likely choose a different market mix if given a choice as most people to do not build their own systems to avoid Microsoft Tax.
But the reality is there is nothing happening in north america to change this.
So you look forward to the day your dvd refuses to load becauase your not using a DRM enabled drive I see ;)
The solution then is simple, return if for a refund. If they want to rip you off it is unlikely you will go to court over such a small amount. However the consumer will no longer pay for the services. Producers know this as there is no money in this.
Because this is one consumer, and I suspect one of many that isn't going to go out and buy a $1200 DVD DRM II player any time soon. If it fails to play on my player then they did not deliver what I paid for.
Making Microsoft unbundle components of the OS is a weak solution. Microsoft will do that but so something like like ask the user every week if they want to install it.
The real solution would be to force all PC vendors to include a option to buy the hardware without a OS and when doing so it must be listed with full credit of the OEM cost of Windows. So when a vendor says it includes $200 of software, I should be able to get $200 off if I buy it without an OS. Vendors could also offer Linux and BSD options. Make Microsoft contracts with the hardware vendors void as they are anti-competative.Because one of the big problems is that vendors like Dell, Sony and others do not give us a choice. For those running Linux or a BSD, you still have to buy a product that pays Microsoft extortion.
And if the US courts had any guts they would pass such a judgement instead of folding up like a house of cards
Two words - avoid BitTorrent.
Why would I do that? If I use BitTorrent for legitimate uses - does that make me guilty of something? What if I download a legitimate Linux distro... or other open source? Can't get my Debian otherwise. Microsoft might like that but I don't.
Do we jail people who make kitchen knives, guns, baseball bats, axes, tanks, planes or cars? All can be used to kill people. No we don't. But we do condemn behavior.
To the behavior part. What you are really seeing is the same thing that happened with prohibition and other imposed legislation against public will. The entertainment industry is in collusion. Take your local cable company. Do you have a competitive alternative to wired cable as you might with the telephone?
If you are like many of the people the RIAA is chasing, you have had it with monopolistic and anti-competitive entertainment options. I deal with it by renting DVDs as it costs $4 and not $25 for the original. But in reality I should be able to just download it to my computer from Sony for $2. I choose to resist using BitTorrent to rip movies but I can't say I haven't considered doing otherwise.
In fact, this Internet is something the entertainment industry fears. You or I could start our own Internet television station and they don't get their cut. Sites like http://mediahopper.com/ will prevail in time. Note the absence of Canadian and US stations when compared to smaller markets.
Sooner or later the RIAA and cable monoplies are going to evolve or loose. But the cable companies realize this and that is why they are proving much of the Internet access.
Interesting, if you do a google search on "itanic" it asks you "Did you mean: itanium
With IBM and Sun continuing their RISC chip developments and HP's sinking UNIX/RISC market share they might be changing their marketing strategies (again). I wonder if HP is going to revive PA/RISC development and perhaps a dual core version like Sun and IBM's?
Why wait? AMD has this now and it appears Intel is now following AMD in this direction.
AMD Press Release
Yeah, sure, if starting the computer is human error. It takes what, five minutes or less, for an XP box to get riddled with viruses, Trojans, etc.? The error is Microsoft didn't ship an operating system that could remotely be considered secure. You can't connect to the network to download SP2 without risking the computer. Where's the sense in this? Where's the user error?
That simple piece of rational logic is why users should forget a Microsoft security solutions outright. The best choices are a Linksys, Netgrear, SMC or some other hardware based router that costs some $49. The best part about the hardware is if your next PC is a Mac or runs Linux it still works. And these devices require little maintenance compared to Windows. It also protects other devices that might plug into the network like a media center.
Most Canadian's don't know how controlled they are. The federal government sponsors the national broadcast system called CBC and has a regulatory branch called the CRTC that actively controls what Canadians can see and hear. Just like Outer Limits but this for real.
There is a national private station called CTV, but with the CRTC government regulation of them they are also limited to providing biased "government knows best" journalism.
Do a google search on "DirecTV CRTC" and you will see how the Canadian government uses it's resources to control Canadians.
And any Canadian that has seen both SciFi and Space for science fiction can tell you that Space is lousy compared to SciFi. In fact, I can see the current season of the Canadian made SG-1 on SciFi in the US but not Space on Canadian cable.
CRTC sponsors a closed anti-competitive market giving the two major cable operators a monopoly over their areas and Bell Canada control over the satellite option. All of which are more expensive than the US.
We do have a great comedy channel. The parliament, similar to the congress is broadcast to Canadians. Canada does not have a functional senate. The prime minister gets to put whomever they want in there for life as long as they vote for the reigning government. The amount of mindless irrational bickering is quite humorous. And often half the members don't even show up.
There are many Canadian's who would like to get DirecTV or Road Runner but can't afford the legal costs of fighting the government controls.
How will canadian artists and record companies stay in business if everybody is going to rip them off ...
Actually it is the Canadian artists who are doing Canadian's the injustice. Lets talk about how much the government of Kanada sponsored CBC? I know it is over a billion dollars that some 10 million workers have to fund. Yes, Kanada - that is what some government artist put in the Calgary Airport.
I feel like moving south to the U.S
You should actually do that. Americans would have a revolt on their government for placing the controls and entertainment taxes Canadian's have to live with. If you told Americans they could not use DirectTV in Chicago they might all drop local cable and get dishes just to protest.
Canadian's are far too passive with the CRTC and they need to be castrated.
kept logs of all your telephone conversations, would you? Or how about if they PUBLISHED the logs?
If someone sat down and were to listen to my conversations they would go to sleep. You make it sound like the average person is so exciting that publishing their phone calls could make the next hit TV show.
This isn't to say if the person is with in the bounds of the law that publishing shouldn't be permitted. It could be as simple as publish with probable cause.
My real point is that in order to have a safe society, why should't any public avenue be recorded? I believe the UK is doing this in crime problem areas and it has reduced crime. It works for shop lifters too in most retail stores and banks.
Sure, we have all seen video showing a cop kicking the crap out of someone, and we have all seen the criminal saying they were mistreated when in actuality they spit and kicked the cop and yet were treated with courtesy and handcuffs. Peoples perceptions are usually pretty good when watching a video or seeing a picture of an event but not so on here-say..
So should it be quite OK to make it safe for muggers, thugs, robbers and killers to escape justice to satisfy the insecurity of a few? I think not.
Now if the government wanted to put a CCD inside my house... then I would be conccerned. This is the real threat but I don't see it here.
This is a good idea. Any "honest" type wouldn't mind. Especially since if you are at the ATM and the robber types know they would get there mug shots while in the act of crime, they might just leave you alone.
So say "cheese" next time your infront of the machine and for gods sake keep the zipper up and the shirt on.
Too bad Sprint didn't learn from NorTel, ATT, Compaq, HP and others. The best way to get to be bigger is to grow a company not in aquiring others.
Another CEO mistake.
Companies will try harder and harder to make sure DRM exists in all these formats and is ever more restrictive ("Oh, well with our new Super-Duper Audio Discs, you can only play it 5 times on one single device.")
All the while, prices for these new formats will either stay the same, or go up, due to "increasing costs of production" and stay that way.
Precisely why I will not buy this "new" technology. It is just a money grab. I never did buy the CDs available that I used to have in record and tape media. Heck, it is only now I plan on getting a TV-DVD now that the prices are down below $100.
They will do whatever the conumer will let them do. If we all banded together and didn't buy a CD or DVD for a minth we would make them shake.
And if they put copy protection against the owner, I will not buy it.
Bought a VCR the other day, might be hard to get soon and they do record the shows well so you can skip the 30 minutes of adds in a 60 minute show. Tapes are almost free at Costco and reusable.
They just don't get it, a DVD aught to be sold for $6 and most would buy them like popcorn. In essence people are downloading the movies because the pricing is stupid.
How did these employees get into the company door in the first place?
The problem isn't just with writing skills, the chances are the boss and others are unable to read it even if it was perfectly written.
I only know of one manager I deal with that has good writing and reading skills. Peers often are technical, but literate and although grammar suffers the communications are generally effective. But help desk and business users in my books can't read effectively. It is amazing how they know to download spyware.
But this is the tip of the iceberg. Each morning millions of us read 40-200 mail messages in our in-box of which maybe 5 to 10 have real business value to us. It wastes a lot of time. Microsoft in it's lack of wisdom abandoned news groups with subscription capability and article threading for Outlook. (Yes, I know Exchange has news groups, but compared to threaded readers and NNTP is is a dysfunctional dinosaur and no one is encourages to use it)
One thing that would help is if a NNTP/news like system was integrated with Outlook. And if a person needed to send a message to more than 5 people then they would have to post it to a threaded news group. Let the one sender sort it and not 200 recipients.
In short there is a lot of room for improvement in today's email process. As we do need more than the Microsoft Pied Piper approach as it simply is not working.
PS: Microsoft, no - I don't need to hear them via mail. All that whining will cause serious damage to I/T support. Design the tools to be process friendly and skip the bells and whistles that hackers so much love.