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User: Ann+Elk

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Comments · 317

  1. Re:Well, yeah. on Morse Coders Beat SMSers · · Score: 0, Troll

    OK, who moderated my previous message as a troll? I was just stating a fact. I know a lot of people who prefer to use text messaging with people they don't know very well. It's a little less personal, and there is less commitment.

    But troll? Moi?

    Ja cie dam troll.

    • Vi rocks. Emacs sucks.
    • Fedora rules. Other distros (especially Gentoo) blow.
    • C is better than C++.
    • The Democratic Party, despite losing a series of rigged elections, is more dynamic, forward thinking, and deeply committed to the future health and prosperity of all Americans than the Republican Party.
    • If Linux was as popular as Windows, it would also be a juicy target for security attacks. Windows is just a victim of its own success.

    There. Now you can mark me as a troll.

  2. Re:Well, yeah. on Morse Coders Beat SMSers · · Score: 0, Troll
    Personally, I just don't understand the appeal of text messaging.

    Text messaging is for those people who fear the commitment of an actual conversation.

  3. Re:Oh come on, give us some proof... on Genetic Testing For Geekiness? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Many years ago (early 80's), I worked for Tandy Corporation. We had a meeting with Bill and a few other folks from Microsoft. Bill spent most of the meeting sitting sideways in his chair, rocking back and forth, chewing on the leather band of his wristwatch. He seemed to not be paying any attention, but it was obvious from the questions he asked that he was listening to everything.

  4. Re:Some known ways to sample random noise on When Is It Random Enough? · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, with hardware random number generators it is notoriously difficult to detect when they fail. Basically, the software needs to perform statistical analysis on the random stream and "cut it off" when it exceeds certain bounds.

    BTW -- The B1/B2 algorithm you describe was originally created by Alan Turing, IIRC.

  5. Re:And how's that different than Linux? on Windows Nearly Ready For Desktop Use · · Score: 1
    1. No argument.
    2. The problem here (as I see it) is the Linux philosophy that drivers belong in the mainline kernel source tree. This in itself is not a problem, but causes issues when companies insist on distributing binary drivers. If the ATI and NVIDIA drivers were open source and lived in the kernel source tree, this problem would disappear.
    3. The MS DDK consists of a) extensive documentation, and b) a set of carefully chosen sample drivers. The Linux "DDK" consists of a) some documentation, b) the source to a huge variety of real, production device drivers and file systems, and (most importantly) c) the kernel sources. Want to know exactly when the NT kernel will unload your driver? Read the documentation, or ask around the web forums. Want to know exactly when the Linux kernel will unload your module? Read the kernel source. Which would you trust to be 100% accurate?
    4. Do any Linux distributions still use XFree?
  6. Am I the only one? on McVoy Strikes Back · · Score: 1

    Whenever I read one of Larry's quote, I have the mental image of Simon the used car salesman (Bill Paxton's character from True Lies).

  7. Re:Bruce Schneier agrees on Write Down Your Passwords · · Score: 2, Informative

    PasswordSafe is basically a GUI wrapped around an encrypted file such as you describe. Unfortunately, it's Win32 only, but there are a few portable solutions available.

  8. Re:Finally! on Virus Hold Computer Files 'Hostage' for $200 · · Score: 1
    What will do that is a virus that replaces all .jpg files found with goatse, tubgirl and lemonparty.

    No! Don't replace the images on the local disk -- insert them randomly into outgoing email messages.

  9. AKA on Cockroach-Controlled Robot · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The Matrix, version 0.1 proof-of-concept

  10. Some times you feel like a nut... on OSS Projects Offer Bounties For Features · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...some times you don't.

    For those of you who don't get this, it's a reference to an old TV commercial for Bounty/Mounds chocolate candy.

  11. Re:Windows doesn't take advantage of the hardware on Is the x86 Architecture Less Secure? · · Score: 1

    Linux and BSD do not use x86 segmentation because the feature is not portable to other CPU architectures.

  12. Re:This guy doesn't know what he's talking about. on Is the x86 Architecture Less Secure? · · Score: 2, Interesting
    OSes like Linux or MacOS don't do them on any architechtures.

    Linux does support limited stack and library randomization. However, there are questions as to the effectiveness of these techniques.

  13. Re:Windows doesn't take advantage of the hardware on Is the x86 Architecture Less Secure? · · Score: 1
    "Too bad Microsoft doesn't use this feature. Windows has been plagued by buffer-overflow bugs that could easily be prevented by the processor's segmentation features. Alas, even though these features have been built into every x86 chip for more than 15 years, Microsoft has never used them. Instead, Windows creates a "flat" memory system with no segmentation, no tasking, no bounds checking, and no privilege protection, and then struggles to duplicate all those features in software. The result has been famously ineffective."

    Neither Linux nor the BSD variants use the x86 segmentation hardware, yet they are not "famously ineffective".

  14. Re:Ulterior motives on Microsoft States Full TCP/IP Too Dangerous · · Score: 1
    Except everyony does their daily work signed on as administrator...

    Precisely. And, since any member of the administrators group has sufficient privilege to load a kernel-mode driver, this flys in the face of Microsoft's claim that "...if malware did make it into the kernel of a Windows machine, the user would have more serious concerns than just SYN attacks launched from their machines."

  15. Re:32-bit Windows != 4 GB memory on Microsoft to Launch 64-bit Windows on Monday · · Score: 1

    Completely wrong? Did I misquote (aside from emphasizing the word virtual)?

    VM < phys is not completely useless, but it is terribly inconvenient.

  16. Re:32-bit Windows != 4 GB memory on Microsoft to Launch 64-bit Windows on Monday · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yes, I believe that's why the summary states "64-bit Windows will handle 16 terabytes of virtual memory, as compared to 4 GB for 32-bit Windows."

  17. Re:Why store the SSN? on Carnegie Mellon Says Computers Breached · · Score: 1

    Good point. A simple hash would not help that much. However, stretching the hash (repeating it several million times) would make each attempt take a few seconds (on today's hardware).

    You could also throw a salt into the mix, but this would complicate administration.

  18. Why store the SSN? on Carnegie Mellon Says Computers Breached · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why does a system like this even need to store the SSN? Why not a (md5/sha1/sha-256/whatever) hash of the SSN? This would still allow easy lookups and associations by SSN, but would not reveal the SSN to anyone who steals the data.

    I know, I know -- I shouldn't bother asking "why"...

  19. Re:How about a pot farm supertanker on Offshoring to a Ship in International Waters · · Score: 3, Funny

    Would that be a supertoker?

  20. Allow me to be one the first to say... on Finnish Firm Claims Fake P2P Hash Technology · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bullshit. "Virtual Algorithms" my ass.

  21. Re:I'm taking bets... on Texas Bill to Filter Highway Rest Stop Internet · · Score: 1

    A number of businesses around Fort Worth, TX provide free wireless access. Most of those use a transparent proxy to filter "objectionable" material. I have yet to find one that cannot be subverted by configuring a browser to use a normal HTTP proxy. There are lot of open HTTP proxys out there...

    P.S. That Texas wants to filter rest-stop internet content is not surprising at all. This is the state in which a woman was arrested last year for selling sex toys in her own home.

  22. Re:For Version 1.0.4 PLEASE on Firefox 1.0.3 and Mozilla Suite 1.7 Released · · Score: 1

    That settles it then -- it's definitely a bug.

  23. Re:For Version 1.0.4 PLEASE on Firefox 1.0.3 and Mozilla Suite 1.7 Released · · Score: 1

    FWIW: Moz 1.7.6 has the same feature/bug. Highly annoying.

  24. What about COMMAND.COM? on From Bash To Z Shell · · Score: 5, Funny

    Quickly runs out of the room and hides.

  25. Re:I'd Pay For This In The U.S. on France May Require Biometric ID Cards · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Exactly how would a National ID Card make people safer?