Hopefully the setting (if they make it available) will be locked down with a jumper on the mainboard, or a DIP switch, or something that is inaccessible to software.
The amount of stuff happening in changable storage makes me nervous with UEFI.
Similar thing here. If you want stuff to be private, don't tell third party companies about it
Problem is, in todays world that's pretty damn hard. No online shopping, no telephone service, no credit cards, no internet, no car insurance.. the list goes on and on. You can barely buy a pack of gum these days without providing all your info and signing some "I give up my basic consumer rights" agreement. Just about everyone sells your information. They don't even really hide it any more because they know people have little choice but to bend over and take it.
It's not impossible, you can live a cash only existance.. but it's not really living.
I haven't given too much thought into how well this would actually work or how we would get to this point, but I can envision a system where there are a set of laws that cover both parties interests to a certain level that society as a whole can agree on (good luck with that, I know..). Kind of a global TOS. You buy a product or service, and are just implicitly bound by these terms. Companies would need to justify having their own TOS and justify what's in it, and there would be laws in place that severely limit what can be signed away in a TOS.
Right now as you said, we have very little say in the TOS and EULAs that we sign, and unfortunately unless you live out in the forest off the land, you really can't avoid these "click here to sign away your rights" type agreements that are required for just about every basic product and service we rely on.
We are already heading in the right direction, with some laws showing up limiting what rights a person can sign away.. so maybe someday:)
As I understand it, information _about_ you isn't owned by you. Even if it was, companies would just put a clause in their TOS/EULA/Contract/whatever wherein you grant them full and unrestricted use of your information. You could of course refuse these terms, but unless you are prepared to live in the woods somewhere off the land.. good luck with that.
Article was a little too light on technical details for me. This article read like something you might find in an “intro to computers” textbook. Vague somewhat-technical description of what it does and a few somewhat unclearly described differences.
Not necessarily a bad article, just wasn't what I was hoping for:(
Agree that headline is over the top and inflamatory. At the same time, given Microsofts history of using the sort of tactics people are envisioning, I do see this ending badly.
As it stands right now, Microsoft offers price breaks to people who will sign a Microsoft only contract. I've been told that "we can't sell you a PC with no OS, we have a contract with Microsoft to include windows on every PC we sell."
I can definitely see Microsoft making deals/pressuring OEMs to not include the ability to install another OS.
Sounds great in theory, but I've never seen it actually work out. I think it's the tactile feedback you get with pencil and paper.. but I've never been able to quickly make "normal sized" notes on any kind of tablet. Maybe it's a skill thing more than a technology thing. I see kids thumb-typing faster than I can type on a keyboard.. maybe with practice the current generation will be able to make a stylus and tablet do what I can do with paper through sheer practice.
I find when working on a complex design project, being able to see more information at once is important. I'll often have hand-drawn diagrams which span over multiple sheets.. and while once it's finished I can plug it into the computer and it's plenty usable, I find scrolling around rapidly trying to see the big picture just doesn't work for me.
At the very least, as you said, the ability to compare two sheets is useful.
Totally agree (even said it in some other post).. for quick free-form note taking, especially when say someone drops by your desk and starts spouting information at you, nothing has even approached paper in utility or speed.
On the topic of note taking, real-estate is another big issue. When I am working on a complex design, I like to spread papers out over a huge table surface... even with 3 monitors nothing beats having a huge surface to spread your work (and thoughts) out over.
Unless I missed something in the article, the analogy here makes absolutely no sense. Security researchers aren’t injecting the bugs into software and then “discovering” them. I can’t “breed” a bug into firefox only to turn it in for a profit. Unless they are claiming inside devs are introducing bugs for outside researchers to find and then splitting the profit, which isn’t how I read it (and probably wouldn’t work for too long anyway).
But it turns out that he knows more about security than one would think. Maybe even more than he might think.
Or perhaps not? This comes across as exactly the kind of outsider without a clue looking in type perspective that is described at the start of the article. Sometimes outside perspectives are useful, but this whole article is mostly pointless (besides the interesting story about rat farming).
The only potential point I can see (which they didn’t try to make, so I’m probably imagining it) is that by having these bounty programs, bugs are discovered that otherwise might not have been looked for. Very thin.
These are the issues I hit up against when trying to envision a paperless office.
I agree, there are some things that paper just plain does better. Marking up a document, taking quick notes at a meeting (I've yet to see something that beats a simple notepad for free-form note taking), objective evidence (digital files can be tampered and altered.. and while I suspect there are solutions, paper with someones signature on it still means a lot).
I think if we are ever going to get to a paperless office, it won't only be by making technology do the things we can do so well with paper, but it will be by re-thinking how we do things such that we no longer need the functionality paper provided.
if he got rid of all of a major government department's printers.
That's the only way to get to the "paperless office"... remove the ability to use paper.
Keep any around, and it won't work. Lots of people with kick and scream and need to be drug into this. There are lots of things tablets and the like suck at that paper is good at. To move forward we have to find alternatives to those things that do work well in a paperless environment, but there are lots of people (I used to be one of them) who will decry that "your tablet sucks at " and use it as a reason to use paper.
Transactions are good for handling this, but if you already have a large code base using MySQL (and as such are probably not using transactions) then there is a point there about migration not being all that simple.
Yup, velcro costs a bit more upfront, but pays off big time when you need to move something (which always happens more than you predict!).
I actually replicate an idea I saw in an (overpriced) commercial product in my wannabie server room. I basically fold one end of a velcro, and secure to desk/walls/a 1x3 laid down on the floor with screws and washers (2 for each strip).
Keeps everything ultra neat and separated (I'm one of those keep the different cables seperated types), but the big bonus is that moving something or adding something is very simple, because you undo one at a time, and all the other cables stay in place.
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It's supposed to signify something. That's the whole point of having a major and minor (and build) number.
<something big changed and may require config changes>.<something relatively minor has changed and I should just be able to keep working>
I have no idea what the purpose of this whole versioning/rapid release scheme is... but from my vantage point it looks very silly.
Hopefully the setting (if they make it available) will be locked down with a jumper on the mainboard, or a DIP switch, or something that is inaccessible to software.
The amount of stuff happening in changable storage makes me nervous with UEFI.
Similar thing here. If you want stuff to be private, don't tell third party companies about it
Problem is, in todays world that's pretty damn hard. No online shopping, no telephone service, no credit cards, no internet, no car insurance .. the list goes on and on. You can barely buy a pack of gum these days without providing all your info and signing some "I give up my basic consumer rights" agreement. Just about everyone sells your information. They don't even really hide it any more because they know people have little choice but to bend over and take it.
It's not impossible, you can live a cash only existance .. but it's not really living.
I honestly think the answer is
c) mostly non-existant
I haven't given too much thought into how well this would actually work or how we would get to this point, but I can envision a system where there are a set of laws that cover both parties interests to a certain level that society as a whole can agree on (good luck with that, I know..). Kind of a global TOS. You buy a product or service, and are just implicitly bound by these terms. Companies would need to justify having their own TOS and justify what's in it, and there would be laws in place that severely limit what can be signed away in a TOS.
Right now as you said, we have very little say in the TOS and EULAs that we sign, and unfortunately unless you live out in the forest off the land, you really can't avoid these "click here to sign away your rights" type agreements that are required for just about every basic product and service we rely on.
We are already heading in the right direction, with some laws showing up limiting what rights a person can sign away.. so maybe someday :)
Boycotting every company that does something immoral or unethical doesn't leave you with much.
Unless one chooses to live as a hermit off the land out in the woods somewhere. For the rest of us, we just have to bend over and take it.
As I understand it, information _about_ you isn't owned by you. Even if it was, companies would just put a clause in their TOS/EULA/Contract/whatever wherein you grant them full and unrestricted use of your information. You could of course refuse these terms, but unless you are prepared to live in the woods somewhere off the land.. good luck with that.
And it replaces the bios and indeed runs ontop of the bios! That part seemed especially confusing and vague.
My thought exactly.
A good article for an intro to computers course, but I was hoping for some "how it actually works" details.
Article was a little too light on technical details for me. This article read like something you might find in an “intro to computers” textbook. Vague somewhat-technical description of what it does and a few somewhat unclearly described differences.
Not necessarily a bad article, just wasn't what I was hoping for :(
Much as I love java, doing serial port comms with it sounds downright painful. I'd be using c/c++ for that if at all possible (and not through JNI ;p).
Agree that headline is over the top and inflamatory. At the same time, given Microsofts history of using the sort of tactics people are envisioning, I do see this ending badly.
As it stands right now, Microsoft offers price breaks to people who will sign a Microsoft only contract. I've been told that "we can't sell you a PC with no OS, we have a contract with Microsoft to include windows on every PC we sell."
I can definitely see Microsoft making deals/pressuring OEMs to not include the ability to install another OS.
Mainly because it never took off. Doesn't mean it wasn't scary, nor does it mean that it shouldn't be fought if it comes back for round 2.
Personally I'm waiting for the clipper chip idea to come back.
That distinction seems scarily thin.
If Microsoft demands it, I imagine PC's could quickly go from "general purpose" to "entertainment device".
Kind of a stretch from what was actually said in the article, but I can see that point.
Sounds great in theory, but I've never seen it actually work out. I think it's the tactile feedback you get with pencil and paper .. but I've never been able to quickly make "normal sized" notes on any kind of tablet. Maybe it's a skill thing more than a technology thing. I see kids thumb-typing faster than I can type on a keyboard.. maybe with practice the current generation will be able to make a stylus and tablet do what I can do with paper through sheer practice.
I find when working on a complex design project, being able to see more information at once is important. I'll often have hand-drawn diagrams which span over multiple sheets .. and while once it's finished I can plug it into the computer and it's plenty usable, I find scrolling around rapidly trying to see the big picture just doesn't work for me.
At the very least, as you said, the ability to compare two sheets is useful.
Totally agree (even said it in some other post) .. for quick free-form note taking, especially when say someone drops by your desk and starts spouting information at you, nothing has even approached paper in utility or speed.
On the topic of note taking, real-estate is another big issue. When I am working on a complex design, I like to spread papers out over a huge table surface ... even with 3 monitors nothing beats having a huge surface to spread your work (and thoughts) out over.
Unless I missed something in the article, the analogy here makes absolutely no sense. Security researchers aren’t injecting the bugs into software and then “discovering” them. I can’t “breed” a bug into firefox only to turn it in for a profit. Unless they are claiming inside devs are introducing bugs for outside researchers to find and then splitting the profit, which isn’t how I read it (and probably wouldn’t work for too long anyway).
But it turns out that he knows more about security than one would think. Maybe even more than he might think.
Or perhaps not? This comes across as exactly the kind of outsider without a clue looking in type perspective that is described at the start of the article. Sometimes outside perspectives are useful, but this whole article is mostly pointless (besides the interesting story about rat farming).
The only potential point I can see (which they didn’t try to make, so I’m probably imagining it) is that by having these bounty programs, bugs are discovered that otherwise might not have been looked for. Very thin.
This is probably one of the main reasons I still use paper/print stuff under certain circumstances.
Even with 3 monitors, nothing beats a huge table to shuffle papers around on and mark up when trying to design something complicated.
Readers choice.
Pick whichever makes you feel happier inside, and go with it.
Have a great life!
These are the issues I hit up against when trying to envision a paperless office.
I agree, there are some things that paper just plain does better. Marking up a document, taking quick notes at a meeting (I've yet to see something that beats a simple notepad for free-form note taking), objective evidence (digital files can be tampered and altered.. and while I suspect there are solutions, paper with someones signature on it still means a lot).
I think if we are ever going to get to a paperless office, it won't only be by making technology do the things we can do so well with paper, but it will be by re-thinking how we do things such that we no longer need the functionality paper provided.
How we actually do this is anyones guess.
if he got rid of all of a major government department's printers.
That's the only way to get to the "paperless office" ... remove the ability to use paper.
Keep any around, and it won't work. Lots of people with kick and scream and need to be drug into this. There are lots of things tablets and the like suck at that paper is good at. To move forward we have to find alternatives to those things that do work well in a paperless environment, but there are lots of people (I used to be one of them) who will decry that "your tablet sucks at " and use it as a reason to use paper.
Transactions are good for handling this, but if you already have a large code base using MySQL (and as such are probably not using transactions) then there is a point there about migration not being all that simple.
That said, I don't really get the agile argument.
Idealism crashing against practical application.
At this point, I'm just happy that we are moving in the right direction.
Yup, velcro costs a bit more upfront, but pays off big time when you need to move something (which always happens more than you predict!).
I actually replicate an idea I saw in an (overpriced) commercial product in my wannabie server room. I basically fold one end of a velcro, and secure to desk/walls/a 1x3 laid down on the floor with screws and washers (2 for each strip).
Keeps everything ultra neat and separated (I'm one of those keep the different cables seperated types), but the big bonus is that moving something or adding something is very simple, because you undo one at a time, and all the other cables stay in place.