This is good. Now if they can manage to keep paper shit out of my mailbox at home, then I'd be excited. Seeing a full waste basket of Walmart ads makes me ill.
But parts of me wonder if the FBI is really wasting their time and our money. Just like Windows viruses or drunk driving, the source of the problem is not actually solved. Just makes it less appealing to do wrong. I wish instead resources went into making email more secure. And just like file sharing, we risk driving spammers further underground where FBI can't go.
So far, all I've got out of Google ads are expensive commercial services where there were free (and better) alternatives in the next search page.
Really, when Google started, there were no ads. Then a small ad at the top of the search results. Then a list along the side. Then Google ads everywhere. Now, Images! Animated Gifs maybe?
I realize that Google now has to make considerable income to prove value to its new share holders, but they are slowly turning into the Lycos/Yahoo I don't regret leaving. Atleast they are targeted.
By the way... mailing lists?!? And RSS is gathering so much steam!
Microsoft may be famous for security issues and for usability, but they are certainly unrelated.
For example, if I create a control-panel application that modifies the Apache conf file and runs apachectl on Apply, have I introduced security holes? Ofcourse not. Even if a guest runs this program, the permissions to do anything don't exist and Apply has no choice but the throw an exception.
Instead of giving up on usability because of fear, try coming up with user interfaces that lower the learning curves. Put in smart, secure defaults. Have an basic/advanced option to cut down on choices presented to users. Build common interfaces so an administrator can learn a new tool quicker. And we are still talking about *nix here, none of these tools have to divorce the text files and command-line tools to do this. If you want to get really fancy, have a output window that shows the user what is being done in the background.
as long as shared libraries are handled properly, anybody can install apps without worring about getting the system clobbered (like in Windows), and runtimes don't makes assumtions about my OS or hardware, then SURE!
I always thought Sun's Java implementation not being open source was a mistake from the start. Really, Java was supposed to work consistently everywhere, and the more platforms it runs identically on, the better. Right? Why the heck not share the source?
So I say "whatever". If they don't care it doesn't run properly on my OpenBSD server, don't matter. Or on my Axim. Or on my toaster, refridgerator, whatever. But that's alright, eventually I'll get Mono working on my OpenBSD box.
Na, I think there should be a penalty for losing. Lets say loser pays for the court fees and the loser's lawyer not allowed to accept payment from the client.
This way nobody is going to risk taking someone to court unless they know they know they are right and there's no way in hell lawyers are going to waste time for a lawsuit if it's unsure.
Ofcourse you'd hate to lose when you deserve to win, but atleast stupid irrelevant shit like this wouldn't occur quite as often.
I dunno. I see advantages of all platforms and their OS's. Like Rim does battery life and wireless the best (nobody else can stay securely connected to an internal network for a week without recharging). WinCE + Clones appear to have the best support for new peripherals and has a powerful API (is multithread unlike Palm).
I do have a wish (listening Nokia?). Take a relatively small phone, doesn't have to be the size of Bic lighter, just reasonable. Add WiFi and VoIP so that it can access Internet and voice to bypass Telcos when at home or office (or coffee shop). Have the Internet functionality always on.
And don't say this is possible, everything I ask for has been done. Just nobody has put this into one device yet.
Ozwald
Re:Cost Could Be The Reason
on
Kylix in Limbo
·
· Score: 1
The open version is free, as long as the apps written are licensed under GPL. Funny how many people don't know even though Borland shouted it.
If you really want to know why it's not catching on, well, Linux has a minority of desktops (which Delphi is strong at) and Delphi for Windows is waning fast (which is unfortunate). A small percentage of a small percentage is a pretty small benefit for Borland.
I confess, I'm a screwed up individual (disclaimer?). But in my messed up world I'd go hells bells on.NET if I was MS. I'd replace all TCP/RPC services to SOAP. Other than a rare broadcast echo for discovery, SOAP is technically capable of doing everything that is integrated today. Trade in some performance for a lot less modules to critical update.
With a single Internet entry point into the system and hopefully a buffer overflow checking virtual machine, Windows should be much more secure than it is now at the cost of some performance and compatibility updates with older Windows and non-MS systems.
Using your (and seemingly everybody elses) logic, bandwidth really is free.
Ya it cost a pile of money to bury fibre, it costs piles of money to hire people to poke routers with a broom stick, and it costs money to do repairs and installations. But what does this have to do with megabytes?
Whoever buried that fibre out there is charging based on bandwidth, most likely to recoupe the cost. Then that $/mb is carried on with a markup until it gets to us chumps who pay a fixed price. In the end, the guys who initially charge per MB probably have wet dreams about people downloading mp3s.
Did I mention dark fibre yet? I suppose the only reason I can think of for charging per MB is because it's really the only way to charge big ISP's more than small ones.
I've found that most software, open and closed, has become so complicated that fixing problems has become a task better left to the writers. Sure you can fix it yourself, but open source stuff tends to get fixed pretty fast anyway.
I believe that the real advantange to open-source is that programmers (like me) can't get away with crap designs. When I design open source software, I know I can't get away with hard coded keys or fixed length buffers. Closed source tends to be safe from this kind of sloppiness and is unfortunately acceptable practice.
Ofcourse, my open-source mindset has helped make my closed-source designs much more secure. I can't speak for anyone else.
First, giving priority to the people to arrive first is discrimination. My only defence would be to stay all night and doze off on the keyboard so that all early rising jerks have to suffer with the cubes without windows.
I find I can be typing for hours on the only problem I notice is hamstrings getting shorter. This is with a standard keyboard, no wrist rests, and many years of long days and nights coding.
There is an exception. I find when playing an intense game, my death-grip on the mouse leaves my right hand as stiff as a board and hurting bad. After about an hour break, it's good as new.
Actually, STL is blistering fast and the size increase of marginal compared to a C equivelent. On some platforms (Linux being one), the STL code is in a shared library to reduce the executable size.
Instead, imagine what you are gaining. You get a good string class. No more worring about if the buffer is big enough or having to realloc/free memory when a string is appended or no longer required. It makes buffer overflows history.
Hash's and Trees: you can do this in C/Perl/Delphi/whatever, but STL's implementation is very easy to use and is optimized like crazy. The STL writers are very proud of their algorithms' performance. This may be one of the cases where it's impossible to write a faster C equivelent.
Portability. Anything written in ANSI C++ will compile anywhere as long as the compiler and libraries are up to date. A program I am working on will compile on C-Builder 4, Visual Studio, and GCC on Linux, without a single #ifdef or third party library.
The only downside I have experienced is that I needed to spend some money on books. STL has a learning curve and you might find yourself aging rapidly while fighting syntax errors that fill up the screen. But once you get the hang of it, STL is the easiest way.
After installation on my laptop, what would be cool for a new release of Mandrake is:
- better PCMCIA support, seems to hang in M 8.1
- support for Wireless network cards, it would be nice to have a handy Linksys rpm than having to midgit-net a tarball from another workstation.
Ozwald
Re:MS Windows vs. X, same hardware
on
Xfree86 4.2.0 Out
·
· Score: 1
I really don't think we want random code off the web automatically installed at application run-time.
You mean like Java?
Ozwald
Re:MS Windows vs. X, same hardware
on
Xfree86 4.2.0 Out
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Thanks, finally someone who understands compared to others assume suggesting COM is a trick to sneak MS technology into Linux.
I'm not for destroying extensibility. Instead, I would love to see a system where objects are installed onto the server, maybe even at run-time off the web if an application needs it. Even better, a system where a developer can extend an existing control to add new functionality or build a new control off of generic objects.
Just a suggestion, if you guys don't like my ideas, I won't lose any sleep. Just trying to help.
Oh, and the driver thing too, don't forget that.
Ozwald
Re:MS Windows vs. X, same hardware
on
Xfree86 4.2.0 Out
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Disclamer: I'm not a fan of MS, I'm a fan of whatever works the best for the job.
There are VERY obvious performance differences between any version of Windows and as new of version of X as you want. X Windows programs flicker like mad when moving or resizing, objects aren't responsive, the mouse frame rate is low, applications all have inconsistent look and feel, keyboard support is lacking... And if you say that I need to tweek it to get it as fast as MS, then MS wins.
I really want Linux and BSD's to thrive, but if they really want to become desktop operating systems, they need some fundamental changes to the GUI.
Here's what I suggest:
- Build new server built around a sort of COM (like ActiveX). If the COM objects are installed on the server instead of client, there will be less traffic going through pipes (less latency) and makes the GUI more object oriented at the root (remember NeXT?).
- Separate Server and graphics drivers. Why the frick is ATI Raedon changes in the X11 change log? They should be driver changes, not server changes.
- Design the GUI interfaces without a mouse. Everything should be accessible through a keyboard, no exceptions.
- And speaking of NeXT, they had some great ideas on how to take advantage of 8 of the 32-bits of color.
No, the point is that it's completely useless. Just like a shadow under the mouse cursor, semi-transparent windows do nothing but make the computer a little slower. I turned all that fluff off and you wouldn't believe how much faster everything runs.
Second, about the graphics card, it depends on drivers and hardware acceleration. Windows 2K always support this feature whether the graphics card supports it or not.
I've been monitoring my wireless (Linksys wireless switch) since I got it. For assumed security, I set up encryption features as documented. Looking at the logs, it appears that it has yet to be attacked in this manner. It does get attacked through port 80 a lot (there are no web servers on that segment) among about twenty other ports.
Is setting up encryption enough (as the article seems to suggest) or does an administrator have to get anal and allow specific MAC addresses only? Is encryption just a speed bump to crackers or a complete road block?
Slashdot Mirror
Comparing photos, the Colorado bridge crosses something not drivable too!
This is good. Now if they can manage to keep paper shit out of my mailbox at home, then I'd be excited. Seeing a full waste basket of Walmart ads makes me ill.
But parts of me wonder if the FBI is really wasting their time and our money. Just like Windows viruses or drunk driving, the source of the problem is not actually solved. Just makes it less appealing to do wrong. I wish instead resources went into making email more secure. And just like file sharing, we risk driving spammers further underground where FBI can't go.
Oz
So far, all I've got out of Google ads are expensive commercial services where there were free (and better) alternatives in the next search page.
Really, when Google started, there were no ads. Then a small ad at the top of the search results. Then a list along the side. Then Google ads everywhere. Now, Images! Animated Gifs maybe?
I realize that Google now has to make considerable income to prove value to its new share holders, but they are slowly turning into the Lycos/Yahoo I don't regret leaving. Atleast they are targeted.
By the way... mailing lists?!? And RSS is gathering so much steam!
Ozwald
Between file sharing with BitTorrent, the occasional CD that's actually good, and a Pocket PC, I say:
Meh.
Ozwald.
Microsoft may be famous for security issues and for usability, but they are certainly unrelated.
For example, if I create a control-panel application that modifies the Apache conf file and runs apachectl on Apply, have I introduced security holes? Ofcourse not. Even if a guest runs this program, the permissions to do anything don't exist and Apply has no choice but the throw an exception.
Instead of giving up on usability because of fear, try coming up with user interfaces that lower the learning curves. Put in smart, secure defaults. Have an basic/advanced option to cut down on choices presented to users. Build common interfaces so an administrator can learn a new tool quicker. And we are still talking about *nix here, none of these tools have to divorce the text files and command-line tools to do this. If you want to get really fancy, have a output window that shows the user what is being done in the background.
Not that any of this hasn't been done already.
Ozwald
as long as shared libraries are handled properly, anybody can install apps without worring about getting the system clobbered (like in Windows), and runtimes don't makes assumtions about my OS or hardware, then SURE!
I always thought Sun's Java implementation not being open source was a mistake from the start. Really, Java was supposed to work consistently everywhere, and the more platforms it runs identically on, the better. Right? Why the heck not share the source?
So I say "whatever". If they don't care it doesn't run properly on my OpenBSD server, don't matter. Or on my Axim. Or on my toaster, refridgerator, whatever. But that's alright, eventually I'll get Mono working on my OpenBSD box.
Ozwald
Na, I think there should be a penalty for losing. Lets say loser pays for the court fees and the loser's lawyer not allowed to accept payment from the client.
This way nobody is going to risk taking someone to court unless they know they know they are right and there's no way in hell lawyers are going to waste time for a lawsuit if it's unsure.
Ofcourse you'd hate to lose when you deserve to win, but atleast stupid irrelevant shit like this wouldn't occur quite as often.
Oz
I dunno. I see advantages of all platforms and their OS's. Like Rim does battery life and wireless the best (nobody else can stay securely connected to an internal network for a week without recharging). WinCE + Clones appear to have the best support for new peripherals and has a powerful API (is multithread unlike Palm).
I do have a wish (listening Nokia?). Take a relatively small phone, doesn't have to be the size of Bic lighter, just reasonable. Add WiFi and VoIP so that it can access Internet and voice to bypass Telcos when at home or office (or coffee shop). Have the Internet functionality always on.
And don't say this is possible, everything I ask for has been done. Just nobody has put this into one device yet.
Ozwald
The open version is free, as long as the apps written are licensed under GPL. Funny how many people don't know even though Borland shouted it.
If you really want to know why it's not catching on, well, Linux has a minority of desktops (which Delphi is strong at) and Delphi for Windows is waning fast (which is unfortunate). A small percentage of a small percentage is a pretty small benefit for Borland.
Ozwald
I confess, I'm a screwed up individual (disclaimer?). But in my messed up world I'd go hells bells on .NET if I was MS. I'd replace all TCP/RPC services to SOAP. Other than a rare broadcast echo for discovery, SOAP is technically capable of doing everything that is integrated today. Trade in some performance for a lot less modules to critical update.
With a single Internet entry point into the system and hopefully a buffer overflow checking virtual machine, Windows should be much more secure than it is now at the cost of some performance and compatibility updates with older Windows and non-MS systems.
Ozwald
Using your (and seemingly everybody elses) logic, bandwidth really is free.
Ya it cost a pile of money to bury fibre, it costs piles of money to hire people to poke routers with a broom stick, and it costs money to do repairs and installations. But what does this have to do with megabytes?
Whoever buried that fibre out there is charging based on bandwidth, most likely to recoupe the cost. Then that $/mb is carried on with a markup until it gets to us chumps who pay a fixed price. In the end, the guys who initially charge per MB probably have wet dreams about people downloading mp3s.
Did I mention dark fibre yet? I suppose the only reason I can think of for charging per MB is because it's really the only way to charge big ISP's more than small ones.
Ozwald
Having more than one computer sharing an IP address does not guarantee more bandwidth consumed. Kazaa does.
Ozwald
I've found that most software, open and closed, has become so complicated that fixing problems has become a task better left to the writers. Sure you can fix it yourself, but open source stuff tends to get fixed pretty fast anyway.
I believe that the real advantange to open-source is that programmers (like me) can't get away with crap designs. When I design open source software, I know I can't get away with hard coded keys or fixed length buffers. Closed source tends to be safe from this kind of sloppiness and is unfortunately acceptable practice.
Ofcourse, my open-source mindset has helped make my closed-source designs much more secure. I can't speak for anyone else.
Ozwald
But with a rock that big, we wouldn't need a space shuttle or space elevator to get into orbit. All we would need is a really big escalader.
Ozwald
First, giving priority to the people to arrive first is discrimination. My only defence would be to stay all night and doze off on the keyboard so that all early rising jerks have to suffer with the cubes without windows.
Ozwald
I find I can be typing for hours on the only problem I notice is hamstrings getting shorter. This is with a standard keyboard, no wrist rests, and many years of long days and nights coding.
There is an exception. I find when playing an intense game, my death-grip on the mouse leaves my right hand as stiff as a board and hurting bad. After about an hour break, it's good as new.
Ozwald
> What do you think?
Yep, this should easily delay the next Duke Nukem by 5 years.
Ozwald
Actually, STL is blistering fast and the size increase of marginal compared to a C equivelent. On some platforms (Linux being one), the STL code is in a shared library to reduce the executable size.
Instead, imagine what you are gaining. You get a good string class. No more worring about if the buffer is big enough or having to realloc/free memory when a string is appended or no longer required. It makes buffer overflows history.
Hash's and Trees: you can do this in C/Perl/Delphi/whatever, but STL's implementation is very easy to use and is optimized like crazy. The STL writers are very proud of their algorithms' performance. This may be one of the cases where it's impossible to write a faster C equivelent.
Portability. Anything written in ANSI C++ will compile anywhere as long as the compiler and libraries are up to date. A program I am working on will compile on C-Builder 4, Visual Studio, and GCC on Linux, without a single #ifdef or third party library.
The only downside I have experienced is that I needed to spend some money on books. STL has a learning curve and you might find yourself aging rapidly while fighting syntax errors that fill up the screen. But once you get the hang of it, STL is the easiest way.
Ozwald
After installation on my laptop, what would be cool for a new release of Mandrake is:
- better PCMCIA support, seems to hang in M 8.1
- support for Wireless network cards, it would be nice to have a handy Linksys rpm than having to midgit-net a tarball from another workstation.
Ozwald
You mean like Java?
Ozwald
Thanks, finally someone who understands compared to others assume suggesting COM is a trick to sneak MS technology into Linux.
I'm not for destroying extensibility. Instead, I would love to see a system where objects are installed onto the server, maybe even at run-time off the web if an application needs it. Even better, a system where a developer can extend an existing control to add new functionality or build a new control off of generic objects.
Just a suggestion, if you guys don't like my ideas, I won't lose any sleep. Just trying to help.
Oh, and the driver thing too, don't forget that.
Ozwald
Disclamer: I'm not a fan of MS, I'm a fan of whatever works the best for the job.
There are VERY obvious performance differences between any version of Windows and as new of version of X as you want. X Windows programs flicker like mad when moving or resizing, objects aren't responsive, the mouse frame rate is low, applications all have inconsistent look and feel, keyboard support is lacking... And if you say that I need to tweek it to get it as fast as MS, then MS wins.
I really want Linux and BSD's to thrive, but if they really want to become desktop operating systems, they need some fundamental changes to the GUI.
Here's what I suggest:
- Build new server built around a sort of COM (like ActiveX). If the COM objects are installed on the server instead of client, there will be less traffic going through pipes (less latency) and makes the GUI more object oriented at the root (remember NeXT?).
- Separate Server and graphics drivers. Why the frick is ATI Raedon changes in the X11 change log? They should be driver changes, not server changes.
- Design the GUI interfaces without a mouse. Everything should be accessible through a keyboard, no exceptions.
- And speaking of NeXT, they had some great ideas on how to take advantage of 8 of the 32-bits of color.
May the flames begin.
Ozwald
No, the point is that it's completely useless. Just like a shadow under the mouse cursor, semi-transparent windows do nothing but make the computer a little slower. I turned all that fluff off and you wouldn't believe how much faster everything runs.
Second, about the graphics card, it depends on drivers and hardware acceleration. Windows 2K always support this feature whether the graphics card supports it or not.
Ozwald
I've been monitoring my wireless (Linksys wireless switch) since I got it. For assumed security, I set up encryption features as documented. Looking at the logs, it appears that it has yet to be attacked in this manner. It does get attacked through port 80 a lot (there are no web servers on that segment) among about twenty other ports.
Is setting up encryption enough (as the article seems to suggest) or does an administrator have to get anal and allow specific MAC addresses only? Is encryption just a speed bump to crackers or a complete road block?
Ozwald