Looking at the screenshots, Columba appears to be a clone of Micosoft Outlook. I guess it will be easy for Microsoft users to move to a different application, hopefully it doesn't suffer from the same security flaws & bloat.
This could lay the foundation for Google to introduce paid services. It would certainly ease them into it if people already use Google Cash.
It's also nice to see some competition to Paypal. Ebay has done a pretty good job with it IMO, but too much of a monopoly for me to be comfortable with.
Reading this article and checking out the main site gives me the impression the author's age is inidicated in the domain. It would be nice if the Slashdot editors would look at what their putting up. A renouned news site is posting a comparative review of OpenOffice written by a 13 year old, great.
Here, Word was significantly slower bacause it had to "save changes to normal.dot". I didn't change normal.dot! I didn't even type anything!
This sounds like he has a virus infecting Word's default template. This is a perfect real world example! With such a high market concentration and Microsoft's historically lax security many people will experience the same thing. Yay for alternatives.
Hacking was never about malicious behaviour, it was about learning and understanding. Granted, much of what one learned could be applied in malicious ways, but that wasn't the goal. Coding contests whether they be geared towards obfuscation or speed are still learning endeavors.
Who is behind this and what is their motivations? What will they do with the ideas submitted in this contest? In a day of professional computer hackers, this is not a contest to have.
Slashdot Mirror
For those who read the article,
The students *didn't* take their findings to the press. They turned their findings into the Commerce Commission who launched an investigation.
Looking at the screenshots, Columba appears to be a clone of Micosoft Outlook. I guess it will be easy for Microsoft users to move to a different application, hopefully it doesn't suffer from the same security flaws & bloat.
Not according to the website. Columba is the correct name.
This could lay the foundation for Google to introduce paid services. It would certainly ease them into it if people already use Google Cash.
It's also nice to see some competition to Paypal. Ebay has done a pretty good job with it IMO, but too much of a monopoly for me to be comfortable with.
Reading this article and checking out the main site gives me the impression the author's age is inidicated in the domain. It would be nice if the Slashdot editors would look at what their putting up. A renouned news site is posting a comparative review of OpenOffice written by a 13 year old, great.
Here, Word was significantly slower bacause it had to "save changes to normal.dot". I didn't change normal.dot! I didn't even type anything!
This sounds like he has a virus infecting Word's default template. This is a perfect real world example! With such a high market concentration and Microsoft's historically lax security many people will experience the same thing. Yay for alternatives.
Hacking was never about malicious behaviour, it was about learning and understanding. Granted, much of what one learned could be applied in malicious ways, but that wasn't the goal. Coding contests whether they be geared towards obfuscation or speed are still learning endeavors.
Who is behind this and what is their motivations? What will they do with the ideas submitted in this contest? In a day of professional computer hackers, this is not a contest to have.