You mean you can't image the drive if Ubuntu is already installed? That's news to me. Why don't you just buy a Dell with Ubuntu and then pretend there is no OS installed. Problem solved?
Did you RTFA? This is about using Open Office, or OO (WTF is OOO?), to replace Outlook by including Thunderbird within the OO distribution. You argue with the previous commenter but then admit you use Outlook? WTF! You really don't know what this discussion is about do you? This is about Thunderbird vs Outlook, who gives a damn what you open your text documents with?
As a programmer, it is your job to think about both aspects. Anyone can think about the "big picture" after spending a year or two at ITT Tech. Real programmers make the big bucks because they can translate that "big picture" into an algorithm that "moves individual bytes around". Good programmers make even more money if they can do this without crashing the system or running it low on memory while following a strict time schedule.
In reply to all of that... I would simply review the source code and circuit diagrams. The point of my post was that having an open system makes a system more reliable and improves secrecy, not the other way around. The post before mine was trying to imply that openness and secrecy were mutually exclusive. In any voting system, you should be verifying the system itself, not the act of voting. If you know everything about a computer system, then yes you can prove with mathematical certainty how it will behave. It's not a crystal ball, there actually is some science behind the curtain.
Computer systems are not verifiable? Since when? And why would we be doing a recount? A recount is performed when it's suspected that someone miscounted the votes. When you do a calculation in calc.exe, do you perform the calculation twice so that you can double-check the results? A recount on a computer-based voting system would be equally stupid. Uhh, how many files are in that folder? Better count again to make sure... sometimes the files stick together... Even assuming a recount is needed, what secret/private information would the computer recount need that the old-fashioned ballot recount didn't?
Everybody is just now emulating the iTunes software, but it's a little late. I remember when I first picked up my 32MB Rio, the software was a complete joke. Common sense would tell you that it shouldn't be too difficult to present a list of track to be copied to a USB device. After all the advances in USB, flash drives, hard drives and internet speeds it would appear to be a cinch to simply write software to copy tracks from one place to another. Wrong!
To fill my RIO, I had to create some idiotic "play list" containing a "database" and add tracks one by one. Ok, stupid but not too bad. Now I can see my tracks listed on one screen and my empty playlist on another but there's no way to simply copy from one screen to the other. I have to go to my playlist and locate every track all over again.
Now for the hard part. The dialogue for adding tracks to my database/playlist only shows the name of the song. No artist, no composer, no album name - only the track! I'm a big fan of classical and some of the track names are like "No 2 in a flat" or "allegro". How the f**k am I supposed to know what track I'm looking at?! I had to just start guessing. It literally took hours to fill up my measly 32MB.
When I finally got another player from a different brand (sanyo I think?), I was pissed to find out it included the same stupid software! To add insult to injury, the software started nagging me endlessly to actually PAY for an upgrade. Whoever created this ridiculous software, and you know who you are, please do the world a favor and find another line of work ASAP.
I don't agree with the differences between modules loaded via exec() and modules loaded with dlopen(). The author of a module can not control how their module is loaded. What difference does it make in terms of disclosure of source code anyway? If I code an entry point into my module one way vs another, then it makes no difference whatsoever in what code I'm required to disclose. The GPL should only apply to statically linked code. There's too many ways to execute a binary module for the GPL to go through each one and pick and choose which methods are ok and which are bad.
Why is there never any retaliation against the companies that produce this software? If someone overseas comes up with a way to play a DVD on his own computer then he's pursued endlessly. If someone puts out a warning about how Adobe's encryption is not so secure then they're drug over to the US for trial. But if someone writes malware that destroys thousands of computers, including government property, then absolutely nothing is done. It just seems a little odd to me.
You can buy a portable DVD player for around $100. And you don't have to buy a special version of every DVD.
Re:I guess that this article can be skipped
on
Sudo vs. Root
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· Score: 1
First of all, windoze does not have a "mandated GUI". You are free to write console-based apps in windows. I'm not sure what all of that "right click" and "run as" crap is either. Just drop to a console and type "runas/usr:admin ". You can use the switch "/profile" or "/noprofile" to control whether the "fancy stuff like desktop and registry" (which I'm assuming you mean the user's profile) are loaded. If you absolutely must use the mouse, then just create a script file and then create a shortcut to it on your desktop.
Second, how exactly do you define a privileged account? If you define it as the account responsible for running system-level processes, then it seems logically impossible to run a system process like XDM as anything but a privileged account. If you run XDM as "joe", then "joe" would implicitly become a privileged account.
On first glance, this site looks awefully phoney. However, it is linked to from TransUnion's site here so that gives it a little more credibility. Make sure to add the "s" to make your link secure: like this.
I like how they lump everyone into one big category. Unless you've been living in a cave for the past 5 years, it should be obvious who the biggest crooks are. Hint, they all have 3-letter acronyms for titles.
Sure, correct rendering is important, but the number of hours wasted to make this one little corner-case example work in the various browsers would probably be better spent improving CSS in general, rather than focusing on a super-specific example.
What's the point in having a specification at all if nobody is motivated to implement it in its entirety? If a feature is not implemented correctly then obviously that feature will become a "corner-case" regardless of how useful it may be to a web designer.
The l337 jargon has me confused . . .
on
A Look at GNOME 2.14
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· Score: 4, Interesting
From the article:
GNOME 2.14 should be called Searchable GNOME, with the addition of powerful new searching systems in Nautilus and Yelp. Both have a traditional search mode plus a fast, superhot mode for those of you who are Beagle-enabled!
Can someone put this into words that an average user can understand?
Yes, the whole idea of renting movies through the USPS totally sucks. I can't believe netflix is still suckering people in. I had netflix for a couple months and every single movie I ever returned to them had to be reported lost in the mail. You absolutely have to return the movie immediately after watching it or else you are getting ripped off. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you're watching between 6 and 9 movies a month for $20 then you can get better service at your local video store.
If they bundle virus protection (ie, "Make it part of the operating system"), they're accused of unfairly using their monopoly status.
You're generalizing the lawsuit and trying to make it look like Microsoft was sued simply for including IE with Windows. That is definitely not the case. Microsoft was sued for not allowing anyone to uninstall IE or replace it with a competitor's browser. As long as MS allows you to uninstall their software and install your own, then I can imagine anyone having any legitimate complaints.
What about the people who were tricked into or were forced by an employer into buying a license? Has SCO said whether they will refund the money?
What would happen if a car dealership stole a car from someone and then sold it to you for $699 more than what
the car is actually worth? Maybe the legal owner actually had the car for sale in their front yard for $1000 but you paid the crooked dealership $1699 because you were tricked. Do you think you would get a $699 rebate in that situation too? I don't see how it's any different. You saw something, felt it was worth $X dollars and you paid for it.
I'm not sure how anyone can trick you into spending that much money against your will. If your employer blackmailed and/or threatened you then that's a separate crime and you should be going after them instead of SCO.
That's great that their system will be open source, but that isn't quite enough. There are a few things that I think would make the systems more trustworthy in addition to the open source requirement:
Secure hashes on every single file on the system. A technician should be able to take a voting system and quickly determine if any files were modified (programs, shared libs, data, etc).
Reliable network security. No modems or network connectivity of any sort. Find some other way to tabulate the votes that doesn't compromise the integrity of the system.
More testing and absolutely no changes between testing sign-off and election day.
Other than voting, the system should be completely read-only. The voting should have some sanity checks as well. For example, votes can not decrease and only one vote can be made within a certain period of time.
The certifications themselves and testing results should be made public.
Any information should be available through the FOIA and should have a clear and concise retention policy. No more showing up at the election polls only to find workers forming an ant trail to the dumpster.
Newton's law of gravity is a law because it is a simple observation of matter. Objects tend to attract each other proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to their distance.
However, if you want to calculate the exact forces between interstellar objects that are moving at great speeds relative to each other, then you need to look at Einstein's theory of gravitation because it is much more accurate. Einsteins theory is a theory because it is more than just a simple observation of matter and involves complex calculations.
Slashdot Mirror
The infamous "Clinton did it!" defense. In record time, too!
You mean you can't image the drive if Ubuntu is already installed? That's news to me. Why don't you just buy a Dell with Ubuntu and then pretend there is no OS installed. Problem solved?
Did you RTFA? This is about using Open Office, or OO (WTF is OOO?), to replace Outlook by including Thunderbird within the OO distribution. You argue with the previous commenter but then admit you use Outlook? WTF! You really don't know what this discussion is about do you? This is about Thunderbird vs Outlook, who gives a damn what you open your text documents with?
People click "Yes" to lots of things without actually reading. That includes applets, spyware and even surveys.
As a programmer, it is your job to think about both aspects. Anyone can think about the "big picture" after spending a year or two at ITT Tech. Real programmers make the big bucks because they can translate that "big picture" into an algorithm that "moves individual bytes around". Good programmers make even more money if they can do this without crashing the system or running it low on memory while following a strict time schedule.
In reply to all of that... I would simply review the source code and circuit diagrams. The point of my post was that having an open system makes a system more reliable and improves secrecy, not the other way around. The post before mine was trying to imply that openness and secrecy were mutually exclusive. In any voting system, you should be verifying the system itself, not the act of voting. If you know everything about a computer system, then yes you can prove with mathematical certainty how it will behave. It's not a crystal ball, there actually is some science behind the curtain.
Computer systems are not verifiable? Since when? And why would we be doing a recount? A recount is performed when it's suspected that someone miscounted the votes. When you do a calculation in calc.exe, do you perform the calculation twice so that you can double-check the results? A recount on a computer-based voting system would be equally stupid. Uhh, how many files are in that folder? Better count again to make sure... sometimes the files stick together... Even assuming a recount is needed, what secret/private information would the computer recount need that the old-fashioned ballot recount didn't?
This is one of the most insightful comments in this thread. Too bad I don't have mod points available.
Slashdot will occasionally get out a story before anyone else. link
Everybody is just now emulating the iTunes software, but it's a little late. I remember when I first picked up my 32MB Rio, the software was a complete joke. Common sense would tell you that it shouldn't be too difficult to present a list of track to be copied to a USB device. After all the advances in USB, flash drives, hard drives and internet speeds it would appear to be a cinch to simply write software to copy tracks from one place to another. Wrong!
To fill my RIO, I had to create some idiotic "play list" containing a "database" and add tracks one by one. Ok, stupid but not too bad. Now I can see my tracks listed on one screen and my empty playlist on another but there's no way to simply copy from one screen to the other. I have to go to my playlist and locate every track all over again.
Now for the hard part. The dialogue for adding tracks to my database/playlist only shows the name of the song. No artist, no composer, no album name - only the track! I'm a big fan of classical and some of the track names are like "No 2 in a flat" or "allegro". How the f**k am I supposed to know what track I'm looking at?! I had to just start guessing. It literally took hours to fill up my measly 32MB.
When I finally got another player from a different brand (sanyo I think?), I was pissed to find out it included the same stupid software! To add insult to injury, the software started nagging me endlessly to actually PAY for an upgrade. Whoever created this ridiculous software, and you know who you are, please do the world a favor and find another line of work ASAP.
One, it's not a recipe. Two, the holes are not symetrical. At least you got the water part correct.
I don't agree with the differences between modules loaded via exec() and modules loaded with dlopen(). The author of a module can not control how their module is loaded. What difference does it make in terms of disclosure of source code anyway? If I code an entry point into my module one way vs another, then it makes no difference whatsoever in what code I'm required to disclose. The GPL should only apply to statically linked code. There's too many ways to execute a binary module for the GPL to go through each one and pick and choose which methods are ok and which are bad.
Why is there never any retaliation against the companies that produce this software? If someone overseas comes up with a way to play a DVD on his own computer then he's pursued endlessly. If someone puts out a warning about how Adobe's encryption is not so secure then they're drug over to the US for trial. But if someone writes malware that destroys thousands of computers, including government property, then absolutely nothing is done. It just seems a little odd to me.
You can buy a portable DVD player for around $100. And you don't have to buy a special version of every DVD.
First of all, windoze does not have a "mandated GUI". You are free to write console-based apps in windows. I'm not sure what all of that "right click" and "run as" crap is either. Just drop to a console and type "runas /usr:admin ". You can use the switch "/profile" or "/noprofile" to control whether the "fancy stuff like desktop and registry" (which I'm assuming you mean the user's profile) are loaded. If you absolutely must use the mouse, then just create a script file and then create a shortcut to it on your desktop.
Second, how exactly do you define a privileged account? If you define it as the account responsible for running system-level processes, then it seems logically impossible to run a system process like XDM as anything but a privileged account. If you run XDM as "joe", then "joe" would implicitly become a privileged account.
On first glance, this site looks awefully phoney. However, it is linked to from TransUnion's site here so that gives it a little more credibility. Make sure to add the "s" to make your link secure: like this.
I like how they lump everyone into one big category. Unless you've been living in a cave for the past 5 years, it should be obvious who the biggest crooks are. Hint, they all have 3-letter acronyms for titles.
What's the point in having a specification at all if nobody is motivated to implement it in its entirety? If a feature is not implemented correctly then obviously that feature will become a "corner-case" regardless of how useful it may be to a web designer.
From the article:
Can someone put this into words that an average user can understand?
Yes, the whole idea of renting movies through the USPS totally sucks. I can't believe netflix is still suckering people in. I had netflix for a couple months and every single movie I ever returned to them had to be reported lost in the mail. You absolutely have to return the movie immediately after watching it or else you are getting ripped off. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if you're watching between 6 and 9 movies a month for $20 then you can get better service at your local video store.
You're generalizing the lawsuit and trying to make it look like Microsoft was sued simply for including IE with Windows. That is definitely not the case. Microsoft was sued for not allowing anyone to uninstall IE or replace it with a competitor's browser. As long as MS allows you to uninstall their software and install your own, then I can imagine anyone having any legitimate complaints.
What would happen if a car dealership stole a car from someone and then sold it to you for $699 more than what the car is actually worth? Maybe the legal owner actually had the car for sale in their front yard for $1000 but you paid the crooked dealership $1699 because you were tricked. Do you think you would get a $699 rebate in that situation too? I don't see how it's any different. You saw something, felt it was worth $X dollars and you paid for it. I'm not sure how anyone can trick you into spending that much money against your will. If your employer blackmailed and/or threatened you then that's a separate crime and you should be going after them instead of SCO.
I didn't even notice until I read your follow-up.
That's great that their system will be open source, but that isn't quite enough. There are a few things that I think would make the systems more trustworthy in addition to the open source requirement:
Newton's law of gravity is a law because it is a simple observation of matter. Objects tend to attract each other proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to their distance.
However, if you want to calculate the exact forces between interstellar objects that are moving at great speeds relative to each other, then you need to look at Einstein's theory of gravitation because it is much more accurate. Einsteins theory is a theory because it is more than just a simple observation of matter and involves complex calculations.