heck let me shamelessly reply to myself and throw in another question:
It sure is good to replicate a user's experience of the most widely used OS (if not the most popular), but wouldnt innovation demand doing something that it doesn't already provide? Why not invest the same collective OSS impetus and skill in building a UI? Given the OSS track record, I'm positive such an initiative would not only beat competition, but also come up with an interface that user's will find more easy to use and adapt.
Couple this with the *nix platform, and only then shall we have a wide acceptance and use of the OS that we all so love and promote!
Spybot removal software is one thing, but is there a real solution to this problem?
User's will continue installing software they think is cool, or hear about from their friends/colleagues - be it bonzi buddy, kazaa or anything else. Pretty soon they'll start facing problems - the computer would begin to be unresponsive since kazaa is eating all the cpu, searches in google fail because IE is redirected to SearchScout, or whatever else you have/
Cure is one thing, what's the prevention for all this? And I ask this, not for informed, knowledgeable users, but naive home users who don't know any better?
No M$ bashing please. I have heard of several tools that keep track of what's installed and the changes to registry, but haven't come across anything will a simple interface and a "knowledge" of most common spyware (possibly updated frequently from a public server). Such a tool would at least make the customer support job easier!
hmm... I've seen a lot of posts where ppl have expressed their fears (or beliefs, whichever way you look at them) of telework jobs being outsource-able (did i just invent a new term?!), or being distracted with other toys/gadgets at home or about having to bear the cost of broadband connectivity at home, etc.
All genuine FUD, I admit. But if one steps back and examines these fears in light of where technology is leading us to, it seems to be a natural progression. Haven't we used telephone for..what almost half a century now? Havent we all called up customer service/specialists at some point for a problem resolution (and in most cases, the specialists walk us through something we are stuck at) - isn't that same in a lot respect as teleworking, except with teleworking you are remote all day?
1. I believe, over time as broadband becomes cheaper and faster, a high-speed connection at home will be one of the perks of the job.
2. Companies will have "special" days when the employees will come in and mingle with each other and enjoy a "normal" interaction
3. It's a fallacy that telework=outsource-able job. Accept it. How many dbas, network security admins, architecture specialists have you seen outsourced? On the other hand, how many have you called up and asked advise from and had to pay for (your company, if not you)?. The big myth with outsourcing that refuses to go away is that all jobs will be outsourced. Do you see business planners, analysts being outsourced? As someone else pointed out, low-level, production jobs mostly of rote are being outsourced. For now. Outsourcing industry/concept will change as well. I'm sure more and other jobs shall be outsourced too, but at the same time, the cost of getting these jobs done outsourced will increase as well and finally a balance will be reached.
4. Finally, just as we have had to acclimatize ourselves to other new technologies, we shall have to get used to working at home. I think it's yet another step towards being more organized and focused = not just as individuals, but as a society as well.
I'm not sure where this is leading to. Certainly other/.'ers haven't said much about this. Yet.
Education is declared a human right in several countries, specifically the developing countries, but do they get it? Even with government-funded schools and subsidies? Isn't this a case of stuff-in-your-face?
OTOH, it's good to have Wi-Fi access points at as many places possible. This is truly a step towards the ever-shrinking, connected, global society. But then again, what would be the impacts? How will such a culture change us? With easier and faster access, it isn't far when the only sport would be "surfing" - and the one that doesn't involve any boards !
First off, this isn't a flamebait or an all-out attack on Microsoft
However, it seems that software vendors are somehow let off much easily by the law, than say, electrical equipment manufacturers. If someone is electrocuted by say a faulty electrical appliance which was a) interfaced with a third party device/switch, b) caused electrical spikes because of some malicious hacker load shedding/spiking the electrical supply in the local powerhouse, then wouldn't the company be liable for damages if the device fails to withstand such spikes/surges (within a range, of course)?
I agree there is a flaw in this reasoning - it wasn't the original device that was faulty, or that the device was interfaced/affected by a third party with an intent to harm. However, aren't all products made with such situations in mind? If a car skids and causes fatal injuries to drivers and passengers, aren't the car companies responsible (and thus coming up with safer cars or with better anti-skid features)?
I don't deny that Linux is rising. Hurrah to open source and down with evil corporations and PHBs!(err, assuming they don't exist in OSS)
However, $12 mil is too small in today's world. The LinuxCare website does not have any customer testimonials listed. Neither is the website itself too impressive - gives you the impression of a startup. Will it crawl, walk and run? Only time will tell.
But what's important is the disparate, yet collective impetus for individuals and organizations far and wide, into a solution that doesn't exist as a single dominant entity, but feeds upon the ever-increasing converts (or zealots).
Let's hope, with time, not only is Linux's use spreads to corporations, but also it becomes usable and acceptable by newbie users. We all know how great and brilliant Linux is, but the true acceptance will come the day first time computer buyers will go and buy a Linux pre-installed PC.
If Google provides a calendar, it will be indexed, searchable and you will get ads of comely women ready to meet you online (or real life) next to your meeting appointment.
If M$ provides a calendar, there are flash and other rotating ads surrounding your calendar, you can add only entries for only the next 20 days but you can upgrade for better (and slower) version for only $19.99 per month.
However, if there's an open source calendar, you get a webpage saying there's a calendar version 0.0.0.xx, no documentation, requires in-depth knowledge about your OS and several other scripts for it to even compile, does not actually work but ahh! keeps the nerd community happy!
the proposed pictures show a very "complete" and structurally intact stonehenge.
I believe, for it to generate enough public interest, the structure has to have enough signs of wear and tear - be it caused by time, or annexes/captures/attacks by helpful enemies.
Without that sign of missing elements, wear and tear, and a well-rounded story (or myth) to go with it, there'd be very less talk to go about with at the pub with a pint of the best local bitter!
...third largest supercomputer on the planet if you count the number of processors: 3300.
..
The ones that beat Weta are the Japanese Earth Simulator (5120 processors) and Los Alamos National Laboratory's supercomputer (8192 processors).
Doesn't mention the actual processing power. Neither does it mention the individual processing power of each processor. Or what technologies were used to create the digital characters. Or how this "third-largest supercomputer" works...
Oh and it was fun to read Houston's comment: "We needed another 1,000 processors and we had nowhere to put them" - Someone must have surely commented "Houston, we have a problem!":-)
The problems are hardware inconsistency, that makes it very hard to provide non-proprietary drivers
With pre-packaged systems from a specific vendor, couldn't the Linux distro-company get drives from the OEM? Surely there has to be a provision in the contract clauses somewhere enabling them to get their hands on the drives for compatibility etc?
If not, then it's a very disheartening in-fight within the ranks of the vendor selling the Laptops, and you know that wouldn't take them too far!
I'm not particularly in touch with this aspect of Linux, but I've heard that power management features haven't been all that great in Linux...and if that's true, then it comes as no surprise that there isn't a "sleep" function.
For linux acceptability and use to grow, as others have been mentioning, it has to have other, not-so-geek important features that ordinary users will keep asking for
if this study/research was sponsored by a large, evil corporation planning to ride the panic buying wave for their all new, shower-curtain cleaner+disinfectant - that they know will be induced after this story is read by the masses?
Refactoring is a disciplined technique for restructuring an existing body of code, altering its internal structure without changing its external behavior. Its heart is a series of small behavior preserving transformations. Each transformation (called a 'refactoring') does little, but a sequence of transformations can produce a significant restructuring. Since each refactoring is small, it's less likely to go wrong. The system is also kept fully working after each small refactoring, reducing the chances that a system can get seriously broken during the restructuring. ...
Having worked in America, UK and India, I can certainly relate to the findings of the report. Here are some of my personal experiences:
- In America, they are in a tearing hurry to produce a prototype/model/proof of concept, which of course forms the basis of initial release ("it works, doesn't it? so why re-write it?")
- Gathering requirements is a pain in the wrong end - I've seen all sorts of instances - CFO disagreeing with CTO and re-writing everything, PO Manager introducing something new that CFO promptly over-rules. At the end of the allocated gatherings period you have a hash of what each stakeholder at the company wants. Needless to say, there is a lot of fun in ensuing months
- Most American customers do not like to spend time on discussing/analysing progress or answering questions during the development (yes, I agree they shouldn't crop but, but most times they do).
- As a natural progression, the aspirations change over time. By the time it's written and demo-ed they want it to do 10 different things and pipe-up about how they had "already" mentioned they wanted this cool new feature. The signed copy of requirements specifications sure helps:-)
- In Britain though, they pore over every single email the PM/Team Lead sends. Tremendous emphasis at every single aspect ("We are bloody payin you for this, aren't we?")
In India though, life is Sh*t. The documentation team, the process team and the internal audit teams sort of join hands to drown you in sh*tload of paperwork. It's good to have processes, but IMHO, they just get carried away and want copious detailed documents about everything and anything...Unless they develop tools to automate and regulate the processes, it is gruelling and something no-one looks forward to...err, except the audit team:-)
Interestingly, Cusumano and Selby observed a decade ago that Microsoft programmers in general did not write detailed designs, but went straight from a functional specification to coding in order to save time and not waste effort writing specs for features that teams might later delete [9, 14].
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly my point. I fail to understand this whole OSS need to make a desktop, an interface and file manager that "just looks like MS!". Why is is to?
Or is it that they all accept deep down that MS has an interface that's hard to top?
heck let me shamelessly reply to myself and throw in another question:
It sure is good to replicate a user's experience of the most widely used OS (if not the most popular), but wouldnt innovation demand doing something that it doesn't already provide? Why not invest the same collective OSS impetus and skill in building a UI? Given the OSS track record, I'm positive such an initiative would not only beat competition, but also come up with an interface that user's will find more easy to use and adapt.
Couple this with the *nix platform, and only then shall we have a wide acceptance and use of the OS that we all so love and promote!
I had a quick look at the Xandros OS screenshots, since I hadn't heard of it before (sheepish grin).
Most of it seems to be an exact replica of MS look and feel - the same start button, the task bar, task trays, heck even the colour variations!
Why is this deemed "intuitive" then? Isn't this just another attempt to replicate MS experience on another OS? Or am I missing something?
Spybot removal software is one thing, but is there a real solution to this problem?
User's will continue installing software they think is cool, or hear about from their friends/colleagues - be it bonzi buddy, kazaa or anything else. Pretty soon they'll start facing problems - the computer would begin to be unresponsive since kazaa is eating all the cpu, searches in google fail because IE is redirected to SearchScout, or whatever else you have/
Cure is one thing, what's the prevention for all this? And I ask this, not for informed, knowledgeable users, but naive home users who don't know any better?
No M$ bashing please. I have heard of several tools that keep track of what's installed and the changes to registry, but haven't come across anything will a simple interface and a "knowledge" of most common spyware (possibly updated frequently from a public server). Such a tool would at least make the customer support job easier!
hmm... I've seen a lot of posts where ppl have expressed their fears (or beliefs, whichever way you look at them) of telework jobs being outsource-able (did i just invent a new term?!), or being distracted with other toys/gadgets at home or about having to bear the cost of broadband connectivity at home, etc.
..what almost half a century now? Havent we all called up customer service/specialists at some point for a problem resolution (and in most cases, the specialists walk us through something we are stuck at) - isn't that same in a lot respect as teleworking, except with teleworking you are remote all day?
All genuine FUD, I admit. But if one steps back and examines these fears in light of where technology is leading us to, it seems to be a natural progression. Haven't we used telephone for
1. I believe, over time as broadband becomes cheaper and faster, a high-speed connection at home will be one of the perks of the job.
2. Companies will have "special" days when the employees will come in and mingle with each other and enjoy a "normal" interaction
3. It's a fallacy that telework=outsource-able job. Accept it. How many dbas, network security admins, architecture specialists have you seen outsourced? On the other hand, how many have you called up and asked advise from and had to pay for (your company, if not you)?. The big myth with outsourcing that refuses to go away is that all jobs will be outsourced. Do you see business planners, analysts being outsourced? As someone else pointed out, low-level, production jobs mostly of rote are being outsourced. For now. Outsourcing industry/concept will change as well. I'm sure more and other jobs shall be outsourced too, but at the same time, the cost of getting these jobs done outsourced will increase as well and finally a balance will be reached.
4. Finally, just as we have had to acclimatize ourselves to other new technologies, we shall have to get used to working at home. I think it's yet another step towards being more organized and focused = not just as individuals, but as a society as well.
I'm not sure where this is leading to. Certainly other /.'ers haven't said much about this. Yet.
Education is declared a human right in several countries, specifically the developing countries, but do they get it? Even with government-funded schools and subsidies? Isn't this a case of stuff-in-your-face?
OTOH, it's good to have Wi-Fi access points at as many places possible. This is truly a step towards the ever-shrinking, connected, global society. But then again, what would be the impacts? How will such a culture change us? With easier and faster access, it isn't far when the only sport would be "surfing" - and the one that doesn't involve any boards !
First off, this isn't a flamebait or an all-out attack on Microsoft
However, it seems that software vendors are somehow let off much easily by the law, than say, electrical equipment manufacturers. If someone is electrocuted by say a faulty electrical appliance which was a) interfaced with a third party device/switch, b) caused electrical spikes because of some malicious hacker load shedding/spiking the electrical supply in the local powerhouse, then wouldn't the company be liable for damages if the device fails to withstand such spikes/surges (within a range, of course)?
I agree there is a flaw in this reasoning - it wasn't the original device that was faulty, or that the device was interfaced/affected by a third party with an intent to harm. However, aren't all products made with such situations in mind? If a car skids and causes fatal injuries to drivers and passengers, aren't the car companies responsible (and thus coming up with safer cars or with better anti-skid features)?
It actually scans on port 445, not 1068.
Not really. Again to clarify the confusion, its the darned LSASS.EXE that listens on 445, while the worm scans 1068 upwards.
Oh and it exploits a vulnerability in LSASS.EXE causing a buffer overflow and thus crashing it and XP is fused to reboot if LSASS.EXE crashes!
I don't deny that Linux is rising. Hurrah to open source and down with evil corporations and PHBs!(err, assuming they don't exist in OSS)
However, $12 mil is too small in today's world. The LinuxCare website does not have any customer testimonials listed. Neither is the website itself too impressive - gives you the impression of a startup. Will it crawl, walk and run? Only time will tell.
But what's important is the disparate, yet collective impetus for individuals and organizations far and wide, into a solution that doesn't exist as a single dominant entity, but feeds upon the ever-increasing converts (or zealots).
Let's hope, with time, not only is Linux's use spreads to corporations, but also it becomes usable and acceptable by newbie users. We all know how great and brilliant Linux is, but the true acceptance will come the day first time computer buyers will go and buy a Linux pre-installed PC.
It acts as an FTP server, to copy itself, again...
FTP server - can then be used to copy files onto the infected server as well.
The remote shell is presumably to allow access to the infected machines and execute copied programs for further alterations/destruction?
You mean other than scanning random IP addresses on successive TCP ports starting at 1068 and making copies of itself?
Well, it also acts as an FTP server on TCP port 5554, and creates a remote shell on TCP port 9996.
It further makes copies of itself in the %Windows% directory.
Oh and finally, it causes LSASS.EXE to crash, and by default this causes your system to reboot. Repeatedly.
If Google provides a calendar, it will be indexed, searchable and you will get ads of comely women ready to meet you online (or real life) next to your meeting appointment.
If M$ provides a calendar, there are flash and other rotating ads surrounding your calendar, you can add only entries for only the next 20 days but you can upgrade for better (and slower) version for only $19.99 per month.
However, if there's an open source calendar, you get a webpage saying there's a calendar version 0.0.0.xx, no documentation, requires in-depth knowledge about your OS and several other scripts for it to even compile, does not actually work but ahh! keeps the nerd community happy!
the proposed pictures show a very "complete" and structurally intact stonehenge.
I believe, for it to generate enough public interest, the structure has to have enough signs of wear and tear - be it caused by time, or annexes/captures/attacks by helpful enemies.
Without that sign of missing elements, wear and tear, and a well-rounded story (or myth) to go with it, there'd be very less talk to go about with at the pub with a pint of the best local bitter!
omg! How is this different than posting a link? It is utterly unbelievable to find someone actually copied and pasted the entire text!
/. mods!
But even amazing is the fact that this copy and paste was awarded an "Informative" +2 rating by our good ol'
Oh and it was fun to read Houston's comment: "We needed another 1,000 processors and we had nowhere to put them" - Someone must have surely commented "Houston, we have a problem!"
The problems are hardware inconsistency, that makes it very hard to provide non-proprietary drivers
With pre-packaged systems from a specific vendor, couldn't the Linux distro-company get drives from the OEM? Surely there has to be a provision in the contract clauses somewhere enabling them to get their hands on the drives for compatibility etc?
If not, then it's a very disheartening in-fight within the ranks of the vendor selling the Laptops, and you know that wouldn't take them too far!
I'm not particularly in touch with this aspect of Linux, but I've heard that power management features haven't been all that great in Linux...and if that's true, then it comes as no surprise that there isn't a "sleep" function.
For linux acceptability and use to grow, as others have been mentioning, it has to have other, not-so-geek important features that ordinary users will keep asking for
if this study/research was sponsored by a large, evil corporation planning to ride the panic buying wave for their all new, shower-curtain cleaner+disinfectant - that they know will be induced after this story is read by the masses?
This should, by far, be the most dodgy story on slashdot.
:-)
/. will think of next...
News for Neds. Stuff that matters
Perhaps it was just an attempt to incite ppl to post on a slow day.
If it was, then knowing our nerdy community, it might just work
Though I seriously wonder what these eds at
mostly a lot of spyware and adware.
From Refactoring.com
What is Refactoring?
Refactoring is a disciplined technique for restructuring an existing body of code, altering its internal structure without changing its external behavior. Its heart is a series of small behavior preserving transformations. Each transformation (called a 'refactoring') does little, but a sequence of transformations can produce a significant restructuring. Since each refactoring is small, it's less likely to go wrong. The system is also kept fully working after each small refactoring, reducing the chances that a system can get seriously broken during the restructuring.
...
So not really...
Having worked in America, UK and India, I can certainly relate to the findings of the report. Here are some of my personal experiences:
:-)
:-)
- In America, they are in a tearing hurry to produce a prototype/model/proof of concept, which of course forms the basis of initial release ("it works, doesn't it? so why re-write it?")
- Gathering requirements is a pain in the wrong end - I've seen all sorts of instances - CFO disagreeing with CTO and re-writing everything, PO Manager introducing something new that CFO promptly over-rules. At the end of the allocated gatherings period you have a hash of what each stakeholder at the company wants. Needless to say, there is a lot of fun in ensuing months - Most American customers do not like to spend time on discussing/analysing progress or answering questions during the development (yes, I agree they shouldn't crop but, but most times they do).
- As a natural progression, the aspirations change over time. By the time it's written and demo-ed they want it to do 10 different things and pipe-up about how they had "already" mentioned they wanted this cool new feature. The signed copy of requirements specifications sure helps
- In Britain though, they pore over every single email the PM/Team Lead sends. Tremendous emphasis at every single aspect ("We are bloody payin you for this, aren't we?")
In India though, life is Sh*t. The documentation team, the process team and the internal audit teams sort of join hands to drown you in sh*tload of paperwork. It's good to have processes, but IMHO, they just get carried away and want copious detailed documents about everything and anything...Unless they develop tools to automate and regulate the processes, it is gruelling and something no-one looks forward to...err, except the audit team
Interestingly, Cusumano and Selby observed a decade ago that Microsoft programmers in general did not write detailed designs, but went straight from a functional specification to coding in order to save time and not waste effort writing specs for features that teams might later delete [9, 14].
Cue a lot of M$-related jokes and M$ bashing!
Its cut-throat, b0rk-your-opponent politics, in a world of zombies...
I have found that most things that start with "F" and that too in caps, tend to make a lot of noise.
:-
Change your driveletter, for fast results!