Re:Microsoft has finally been forced to innovate
on
IE7 Details Emerge
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· Score: 1
Funny... for me it was _always_ the other way around. I can't stand vi or emacs (I've recently learned enough weird, hard-to-find commands to _tolerate_ vi, but I wouldn't say I like it), but I always liked edit.com. On Linux, I use pico or a graphical editor wherever humanly possible.
Of course, saying that round these here parts may get yourself lynched.
So you expect an clueless computer user, who's just learning about this interweb, to understand the importance of trust when downloading software?
Even ignoring people who've never used a computer before, a lot of people are, unfortunately, very trustworthy.
Having partly software-verifiable certificates (i.e. signed by Verisign instead of self-signed) goes a long way to helping a browser tell a user whether or not they should be able to trust this mysterious "gator.exe" (of course, people will always find ways around it).
The VM has no mechanism to protect itself from a JNI application it is running.
I'm not sure if this counts, but only trusted software is allowed to call VM code. In particular, no applet will ever be allowed to even load a DLL, let alone call its native methods.
If software in a Java Web Start application tries to use JNI (e.g. OpenGL programs using JOGL), the platform will ask the user whether or not to allow it.
From the Java API:
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/lang/ Runtime.html#loadLibrary(java.lang.String)
First, if there is a security manager, its checkLink method is called with the libname as its argument. This may result in a security exception.
I'm pretty sure.NET has the same thing. In either case, it ultimately comes down to trust.
Re:Exactly the problem that a lot of people have
on
Does Linux Have Game?
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· Score: 1
Unless or until the gaming industry and the companies involved decide to develop a common language assembly and provide versions of their libraries in this assembly...
If I recall, Microsoft has been working on this problem: XNA, which is the catalyst for a new ecosystem of interchangeable, interoperable software tools and technologies from Microsoft, middleware and game development companies. The idea being to create a common platform, like Java (or more likely.NET) which runs on top of game platforms.
Oddly enough, Sony is also quietly working on a similar idea, probably with the idea of beating MS to the punch.
Of course, either way, it's probably going to be very proprietrary and open-source-unfriendly.
I've been happily using Linux on my home PC for about 4 years, but the filesystem layout has always been an annoyance.
Without a package manager, it's practically impossible to remove a program; even with a package manager, you can't even determine how big a given package is! (if you know how to with Portage, I'd like to know). A better filesystem layout (perhaps the way MacOSX, GoboLinux or RoX does it) would make package managers obsolete.
A lack of standard configuration layout is another thing: why should people have to learn hundreds of config file formats? Yes, comments help, but it'd be nice if they weren't needed. Why not come up with one standard text-based config format/filesystem layout and get everyone to use it? This would also save programming time, as you could create a library (with a name like libconfig or something similar) and not have to worry about parsing configuration settings. The Windows Registry Hell can be avoided by using a text-based format(e.g. like Java properties files or XML).
A standard configuration layout (with suitable metadata) would also go a long way to allowing a standard graphical system configuration utility (Whatever happened to linuxconf? I loved that app!), making Unix/Linux that much more accessible to ordinary people.
Slashdot Mirror
You mean there's an XP Doesn't Suck Edition?
Thank you, I'll be here all night.
Funny... for me it was _always_ the other way around. I can't stand vi or emacs (I've recently learned enough weird, hard-to-find commands to _tolerate_ vi, but I wouldn't say I like it), but I always liked edit.com. On Linux, I use pico or a graphical editor wherever humanly possible.
Of course, saying that round these here parts may get yourself lynched.
So you expect an clueless computer user, who's just learning about this interweb, to understand the importance of trust when downloading software?
Even ignoring people who've never used a computer before, a lot of people are, unfortunately, very trustworthy.
Having partly software-verifiable certificates (i.e. signed by Verisign instead of self-signed) goes a long way to helping a browser tell a user whether or not they should be able to trust this mysterious "gator.exe" (of course, people will always find ways around it).
I'm not sure if this counts, but only trusted software is allowed to call VM code. In particular, no applet will ever be allowed to even load a DLL, let alone call its native methods.
If software in a Java Web Start application tries to use JNI (e.g. OpenGL programs using JOGL), the platform will ask the user whether or not to allow it.
From the Java API:/ Runtime.html#loadLibrary(java.lang.String)
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/lang
First, if there is a security manager, its checkLink method is called with the libname as its argument. This may result in a security exception.
I'm pretty sure .NET has the same thing. In either case, it ultimately comes down to trust.
Mod parent up!!
I've been happily using Linux on my home PC for about 4 years, but the filesystem layout has always been an annoyance.
Without a package manager, it's practically impossible to remove a program; even with a package manager, you can't even determine how big a given package is! (if you know how to with Portage, I'd like to know). A better filesystem layout (perhaps the way MacOSX, GoboLinux or RoX does it) would make package managers obsolete.
A lack of standard configuration layout is another thing: why should people have to learn hundreds of config file formats? Yes, comments help, but it'd be nice if they weren't needed. Why not come up with one standard text-based config format/filesystem layout and get everyone to use it? This would also save programming time, as you could create a library (with a name like libconfig or something similar) and not have to worry about parsing configuration settings. The Windows Registry Hell can be avoided by using a text-based format(e.g. like Java properties files or XML).
A standard configuration layout (with suitable metadata) would also go a long way to allowing a standard graphical system configuration utility (Whatever happened to linuxconf? I loved that app!), making Unix/Linux that much more accessible to ordinary people.
Replies, flames, etc.