Security researchers have found a way to seize control of a laptop computer
They used an open-source 802.11 hacking tool...
Clearly the solution for stopping people finding security holes is to make distributing open source hacking tools illegal. Isn't this already covered by the DMCA or do we need a new law?
There is a really obvious flaw in the way these statistics are being interpreted that everyone seems to be ignoring. There are other flaws too, which have been mentioned, but the most important flaw is that the sample selection is not random nor representative of employees of the companies.
The site owner openly admits that 80% of the hits come from Google. This could be because his site is rated highly in Google. That's fine.
But if most of the sites visitors are using Google, it is hardly a surprise that the percentage of people in Microsoft using Google as their preferred search engine is estimated too high. The employees that do not use Google are not getting counted because their preferred search engine rates his site lower.
I meant that they should provide alternative browsers on the install disc.
But even if they removed Internet Explorer and provided Firefox instead, you would still have to download Internet Explorer anyway to use Windows Update. You are pretty much forced to use Internet Explorer even if you don't want to. That's why it's an abuse of their monopoly.
I am all for stopping that whole Microsoft Monopoly thing, but if they didn't include IE with windows... then how would one get the replacement browser
The same way as every other OS does it. Put it on the installation CD.
Plugging stuff into USB ports is too hard for you?
If you start sticking external devices into a laptop, you lose portability, which is one of the key advantages of a laptop. Without portability, you might as well get a tower PC.
If you bought the laptop for gaming (about the only reason you'd ever need to update the graphics card)
Actually I have both a laptop and a tower PC because they both have their advantages and disadvantages, but if there was a laptop that was as cheap and easy to upgrade as my tower PC (no easily broken external parts or dangling wires) I would ditch the tower for good. Obviously this means that add-on cards are going to have to be:
a) A lot smaller than they are today. (Probably will happen one day.) b) Standard for all laptops. (Yeah, right!!! In my dreams!)
I know it's not going to happen for a long time, but perhaps one day...
Laptops are great, they are so handy. I am sitting on the sofa writing this, something I can't do with my tower PC. The price of laptops is reasonable these days too.
Frome TFA: 'LIMITED CAPACITY TO CUSTOMIZE'
Agreed! The one thing that makes me still want a tower PC at times is that it is much cheaper and easier to upgrade a tower PC with the latest gadgets. Try upgrading the graphics card in a laptop computer, or installing a TV card... Ugh!
How about letting people decide for themselves what charity they want to donate to, instead of forcing you choice upon them? The simplest way to do this is to not take the money off them in the first place.
Everyone knows that you should not open attachments. Word is likely full of 1000s of exploitable holes. Excel too. Plus any other complex program.
Yes, OpenOffice will be full of holes as well.
Not news.
As for attacking just after the patch cycle, it's unlikely to mean anything. If I wanted to take advantage of a vulnerability for as long as possible, I would attack two or three days before the patch cycle. That will give people a couple of days to work out what happened and report the issue to Microsoft. After some initial analysis and prioritisation, a developer will be assigned to fix it. By that time it will have missed the boat for this month's patch day. Not that I would do this though.:)
When you commit copy-theft against a song, it makes the artistic owner of that song sad, and you can hear the sadness in their songs. Studies show that you can also hear the sadness in the original copy. The song didn't actually change of course, but it sounds sadder, because of all the crimes committed against it.
So copythieving does affect your ability to listen to songs.
You are right that 'identity theft' is a misleading and incorrect term. However, most people will just tell you 'I could care less.'
However, you are wrong that it is a victimless crime.
For example, if I use your Slashdot username to post troll comments under your name, it will negatively affect your karma, and not mine. Same thing applies with other forms of using someone else's identity, except instead of karma, think 'credit history', 'bank account' or 'criminal record'.
Thanks for the correction, though I hope you understand that the concern of accessibility I have is valid rather than dismissing it as a troll. It cannot compete with Web 2.0, but it can enable it, as other posts as well as yours have pointed out.
That sounds very exciting, but will.NET 3.0 actually embrace Web 2.0, and make it easier to write Web 2.0 applications? If not, then people who want to use Ajax will continue to switch to things like Ruby on Rails.
Almost everyone already has a Javascript enabled browser..NET 3.0 is likely to be a huge download and Joe User will not bother to download it. Only people that buy new computers with Vista Forever installed will be able to use Net 3.0 applications. Web 2.0 is available now. No large business targetting the general public will write web applications targetting.NET 3.0 for years.
Until then Web 2.0 will be picking up more and more steam.
Slashdot Mirror
Security researchers have found a way to seize control of a laptop computer
...
They used an open-source 802.11 hacking tool
Clearly the solution for stopping people finding security holes is to make distributing open source hacking tools illegal. Isn't this already covered by the DMCA or do we need a new law?
You're welcome!
;)
By the way, I didn't really RTFLTFLTFA. I already knew the stats were there, from reading about it on Digg.
There is a really obvious flaw in the way these statistics are being interpreted that everyone seems to be ignoring. There are other flaws too, which have been mentioned, but the most important flaw is that the sample selection is not random nor representative of employees of the companies.
The site owner openly admits that 80% of the hits come from Google. This could be because his site is rated highly in Google. That's fine.
But if most of the sites visitors are using Google, it is hardly a surprise that the percentage of people in Microsoft using Google as their preferred search engine is estimated too high. The employees that do not use Google are not getting counted because their preferred search engine rates his site lower.
If you had read TFA you would have found the link to the real article which links to the original source, and found this:
http://andrewhitchcock.org/companystats/
Firefox has just under 10% from Microsoft, and about 80% from Google.
If everyone blocked ads you'd have no internet to block ads from.
The Internet was here before advertising on web pages was used widely.
Sites like Wikipedia are extremely successful today even though they do not plaster their pages with pop-up adverts for porn and music CDs.
What what happen to it if it got hit by an SUV?
Then that would be using thier monopoly to promote something else and isn't that bad as well?
No. I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't be convicted under antitrust for helping a competitor.
Thanks for the info about Windows Update. Sounds like they are at least making an effort to remove the requirement of using Internet Explorer.
I meant that they should provide alternative browsers on the install disc.
But even if they removed Internet Explorer and provided Firefox instead, you would still have to download Internet Explorer anyway to use Windows Update. You are pretty much forced to use Internet Explorer even if you don't want to. That's why it's an abuse of their monopoly.
I am all for stopping that whole Microsoft Monopoly thing, but if they didn't include IE with windows... then how would one get the replacement browser
The same way as every other OS does it. Put it on the installation CD.
Plugging stuff into USB ports is too hard for you?
If you start sticking external devices into a laptop, you lose portability, which is one of the key advantages of a laptop. Without portability, you might as well get a tower PC.
If you bought the laptop for gaming (about the only reason you'd ever need to update the graphics card)
So I can assume that you have never heard of XGL?
Actually I have both a laptop and a tower PC because they both have their advantages and disadvantages, but if there was a laptop that was as cheap and easy to upgrade as my tower PC (no easily broken external parts or dangling wires) I would ditch the tower for good. Obviously this means that add-on cards are going to have to be:
a) A lot smaller than they are today. (Probably will happen one day.)
b) Standard for all laptops. (Yeah, right!!! In my dreams!)
I know it's not going to happen for a long time, but perhaps one day...
That's like saying Windows is Ultra Stable or Linux is Ultra Simple!
Good flames, but for the win you need to insult Windows, Linux and Mac all in one sentence. You only managed two out of three.
Laptops are great, they are so handy. I am sitting on the sofa writing this, something I can't do with my tower PC. The price of laptops is reasonable these days too.
Frome TFA: 'LIMITED CAPACITY TO CUSTOMIZE'
Agreed! The one thing that makes me still want a tower PC at times is that it is much cheaper and easier to upgrade a tower PC with the latest gadgets. Try upgrading the graphics card in a laptop computer, or installing a TV card... Ugh!
What the hell is wrong with NOT being wired for an hour or two?
Actually many films are three hours these days.
How about letting people decide for themselves what charity they want to donate to, instead of forcing you choice upon them? The simplest way to do this is to not take the money off them in the first place.
Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.
against an unnamed business
I think they should be more worried that they are the victim of identity theft .
Everyone knows that you should not open attachments. Word is likely full of 1000s of exploitable holes. Excel too. Plus any other complex program.
:)
Yes, OpenOffice will be full of holes as well.
Not news.
As for attacking just after the patch cycle, it's unlikely to mean anything. If I wanted to take advantage of a vulnerability for as long as possible, I would attack two or three days before the patch cycle. That will give people a couple of days to work out what happened and report the issue to Microsoft. After some initial analysis and prioritisation, a developer will be assigned to fix it. By that time it will have missed the boat for this month's patch day. Not that I would do this though.
When you commit copy-theft against a song, it makes the artistic owner of that song sad, and you can hear the sadness in their songs. Studies show that you can also hear the sadness in the original copy. The song didn't actually change of course, but it sounds sadder, because of all the crimes committed against it.
So copythieving does affect your ability to listen to songs.
- RIAA Anti Theft Squad
I don't care what MySpace get up to. They send me spam.
You mean you signed up for their daily newsletter? Try unsubscribing.
You are right that 'identity theft' is a misleading and incorrect term. However, most people will just tell you 'I could care less.'
However, you are wrong that it is a victimless crime.
For example, if I use your Slashdot username to post troll comments under your name, it will negatively affect your karma, and not mine. Same thing applies with other forms of using someone else's identity, except instead of karma, think 'credit history', 'bank account' or 'criminal record'.
From TFA:
'the development of KDE was part funded by the German government.'
That might have had something to do with it too.
And I was so sure they were using a team of trained pigeons...
Slashdot is my education!
Thanks for the correction, though I hope you understand that the concern of accessibility I have is valid rather than dismissing it as a troll. It cannot compete with Web 2.0, but it can enable it, as other posts as well as yours have pointed out.
Let's hope they can release something innovative.
That sounds very exciting, but will .NET 3.0 actually embrace Web 2.0, and make it easier to write Web 2.0 applications? If not, then people who want to use Ajax will continue to switch to things like Ruby on Rails.
Almost everyone already has a Javascript enabled browser. .NET 3.0 is likely to be a huge download and Joe User will not bother to download it. Only people that buy new computers with Vista Forever installed will be able to use Net 3.0 applications. Web 2.0 is available now. No large business targetting the general public will write web applications targetting .NET 3.0 for years.
Until then Web 2.0 will be picking up more and more steam.