And of course, when dinner is served, the person eating the food is going to ignore the eating instructions, stab themself in the face with their fork, throw their food all over the place, and complain to you about it.
"When crap products like Windows, IE, WMP, Visual Studio, etc. dominate the market, it leads to inefficiencies and hinders growth."
Windows? OK, older versions sucked, but 2000, 2003, and XP are stable and I haven't had problems since getting off of 98/Me.
IE? I'll give you this one. I think it's an ok browser, though I do prefer Opera.
WMP... uh, really? A crap product? Let's look at our alternatives. Realplayer? No thanks. Quicktime? It freezes all the time. (I didn't have the DivX codec installed and an avi wouldn't play in WMP, which gave me an error message about the codec but still played the audio, and quit gracefully. Quicktime froze my system when I tried to open it.) iTunes? It stores all of my songs in an xml file and for whatever reason, forgets where they are all the time. WMP never loses my files, it plays everything well, and gracefully shows an error message when it can't play something. It's a great product.
Visual Studio? OK, you've got to be sarcastic. I have never used a better tool for development. I've never seen anything that comes close. It's got everything that you need for development integrated - you can set up database connections and write stored procedures in it. Debugging is a snap. Hell, if you're working on an ASP.NET site, you can deploy it with a few clicks. And if you hate using stuff within Visual Studio, just switch to Enterprise Manager or manually deploy your files.
You're just spreading FUD. I can do this too: "I hate Apple because all of the following suck: iPod, OS X, Safari, iTunes, Quicktime, etc." If you can't back up what you're saying, I won't believe you. It sounds like you hate Microsoft for the sake of hating Microsoft.
No, the problem isn't Windows vulnerabilities, it's uneducated users. My Windows PC is on all the time, connected to the internet, and it's behind a firewall. It hasn't ever been hit by any of these problems that slashdotters ever claim "just happen" to Windows PCs.
Look at it this way. If Linux was the dominant platform, the issue would still exist. Let's assume for a second that Linux is 100% secure. The user will still see something online that says "Click here for free screensavers!" and guess what, they'll click there for free screensavers. The typical, uneducated user, would run as root all the time and install every piece of trash software they could.
This is a Windows problem because of the users, not because of Windows.
Sure did. Formal education is lagging in teaching new concepts and applicable practices.
I know I'll get a lecture on the value of education and that job training isn't the goal, but in terms of preparing students for programming jobs, the academic programs are inadequate. I've received instruction on how to do things that are all wrong - things like dynamic SQL queries without escaping or parameterizing user input, most recently.
I also just finished a COBOL class, required for ALL CIS majors. I'm never going to use it, it has a stupid structure, and it's just impractical. If I wanted to do COBOL professionally, make it an optional class.
The worst programmers I've worked with are college graduates. Anecdotal, I know. But I've gotten three articles posted on The Daily WTF about one in particular that has a master's degree.
I'm not saying college is absolutely detrimental to one's ability to write software, but perhaps enrollment in degree programs is down because future developers want to learn newer technologies like.NET and such.
Good point. Also, does the definition of "attack" extend to attempted attacks, or does it only apply to successful attacks? If I tried to punch you, but missed, I still attacked you, so I'd say attempts count.
Plus, out of curiousity, I've tried some SQL injection attacks on web sites. Never anything malicious, just changing selection criteria to see if the site made any attempt to escape quotes and such for SQL parameters. Should those count?
Re:Tell me more about yourself
on
Google Calendar
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
"And this is different from iCal or Outlook how?"
Outlook files are stored on your PC. When you enter someone's contact information, it's not sent back to Microsoft.
iCal files (iCal as in the Apple software, not the standard (stupid Apple)) are stored on your Mac. They are not sent back to Apple.
Everything you enter in Google is stored and kept by Google. They know everyone you email from you gmail account (as well as everything you've said to them), they will know roughly where you'll be at any given time with this new calendar software, they know what you search for and can pretty accurately extrapolate your profession and interests from it.
I know we're all supposed to have a lovefest for Google, but that's a little scary.
That's all well and good, but MySQL isn't a good choice for large systems. A few reasons off the top of my head:
Its processing of subqueries sucks. Most database systems can handle a SELECT * FROM X WHERE Y IN (SELECT Y FROM Z) gracefully. It'll execute the subquery once, then evaluate the... uh... supquery(?) using the subquery data. In MySQL's case, it'll evaluate SELECT Y FROM Z for every row that it evaluates the SELECT * FROM X part. I can't count how many times this has frozen our server, because we're used to databases that can handle this much better.
It allows invalid data to be added. You can, for example, enter a date of 2006-02-31. Sure, there are people that will say your program logic should validate the data before it goes in to the DB, which is true, but the database SHOULD reject data that are absolutely invalid.
MySQL's handling of foreign keys (at least in 4.1, I haven't tried 5.0) sucks. I was adding foreign keys to tables, which required me to change the table driver. Once I changed the table driver, though, I lost the ability to create fulltext indexes, which I needed because the tables were to be searchable. I shouldn't have to choose between referrential integrity or fulltext indexes, I should have both.
I'm signing my karma death warrant here, but MySQL isn't good for production systems yet.
I'm not trying to be racist, funny, or both, but I noticed that the only people that asked to be driven to KFC were the black guys in the game. Am I the only one that noticed this?
For a class on human sexuality I took, I ordered a book called "Coming out Straight" that was about how to make gay people straight, which I read and wrote a paper about. Now half.com thinks I'm gay and really wants me to order more books to make me ungay.
Bolt Thrower doesn't make SYL sound like wimps. Listen to some Aborted, Vile, or Cryptopsy, who make Bolt Thrower sound like wimps. SYL is pretty fucking heavy most of the time.
PS - King Crimson kicks ass. Check out The Power To Believe if you're into metal, it's about as heavy as KC gets.
A slashdotter's wet dream - a server room with no Windows boxes.
Re:Must... edit... post... must... edit... post...
on
The Lost Final Fantasy
·
· Score: 2, Funny
I agree with your comment that you posted on the article, but had there been no article, you wouldn't have made a comment. Since there was, however, an article, you posted a comment on it that I agree with. Because there was an article, you could post a comment, and you did, and the comment in question is one that I agree with.
An idea I abandoned was a video game consignment shop. Suppose someone brings in a bunch of games for trade in. Start them off just below full retail price, but every week, bring them down 10%. Split it 50/50 with the person selling the game. That way they're not screwed by the 90/10 that EB/Gamestop will give them, thus giving them a reason to sell used games there, and then the games go for a fair price. Plus, you'll constantly be moving inventory (which is a huge problem that EB/GS have) and you'll get lots of repeat customers because you'll always have new deals and new games coming in.
I was going to open a store like this a while ago, but I abandoned the idea because I don't have the initial capital. You already have stores, though, so it's definitely worth a shot!
The most public recently was when Microsoft made some kind of an arrangement with Claria, and then with the next month's release of Microsoft's anti-spyware they had "downgraded" the default settings for Claria from "threat" to "ignore".
Wrong. Microsoft lists the things that cause software to be classified as spyware. Claria (or Gator, or whatever) changed the way their software works in order to remain just this side of Microsoft's definition of spyware.
Have you ever looked at the source, too? It's a maze of include files. That, and, at least in the MySQL version, there's no referrential integrity in the database.
Man, Hungarian notation drives me up the wall. A few of the developers where I work insist on bringing it to the data layer. It's bad enough in languages where variables are strongly typed, but in the database, when the table reads like "strusername, intnumber, datdate, struserlastname," I start tearing my hair out. For fuck's sake, strings aren't even a datatype!
Can you imagine if people advActually vrbTalked prepLike nnThis?
Slashdot Mirror
And of course, when dinner is served, the person eating the food is going to ignore the eating instructions, stab themself in the face with their fork, throw their food all over the place, and complain to you about it.
640 mL of water ought to be enough for anybody.
Note: I know the Bill Gates quote is fake.
"When crap products like Windows, IE, WMP, Visual Studio, etc. dominate the market, it leads to inefficiencies and hinders growth."
Windows? OK, older versions sucked, but 2000, 2003, and XP are stable and I haven't had problems since getting off of 98/Me.
IE? I'll give you this one. I think it's an ok browser, though I do prefer Opera.
WMP... uh, really? A crap product? Let's look at our alternatives. Realplayer? No thanks. Quicktime? It freezes all the time. (I didn't have the DivX codec installed and an avi wouldn't play in WMP, which gave me an error message about the codec but still played the audio, and quit gracefully. Quicktime froze my system when I tried to open it.) iTunes? It stores all of my songs in an xml file and for whatever reason, forgets where they are all the time. WMP never loses my files, it plays everything well, and gracefully shows an error message when it can't play something. It's a great product.
Visual Studio? OK, you've got to be sarcastic. I have never used a better tool for development. I've never seen anything that comes close. It's got everything that you need for development integrated - you can set up database connections and write stored procedures in it. Debugging is a snap. Hell, if you're working on an ASP.NET site, you can deploy it with a few clicks. And if you hate using stuff within Visual Studio, just switch to Enterprise Manager or manually deploy your files.
You're just spreading FUD. I can do this too: "I hate Apple because all of the following suck: iPod, OS X, Safari, iTunes, Quicktime, etc." If you can't back up what you're saying, I won't believe you. It sounds like you hate Microsoft for the sake of hating Microsoft.
No, the problem isn't Windows vulnerabilities, it's uneducated users. My Windows PC is on all the time, connected to the internet, and it's behind a firewall. It hasn't ever been hit by any of these problems that slashdotters ever claim "just happen" to Windows PCs.
Look at it this way. If Linux was the dominant platform, the issue would still exist. Let's assume for a second that Linux is 100% secure. The user will still see something online that says "Click here for free screensavers!" and guess what, they'll click there for free screensavers. The typical, uneducated user, would run as root all the time and install every piece of trash software they could.
This is a Windows problem because of the users, not because of Windows.
"Did I leave anything out?"
.NET and such.
Sure did. Formal education is lagging in teaching new concepts and applicable practices.
I know I'll get a lecture on the value of education and that job training isn't the goal, but in terms of preparing students for programming jobs, the academic programs are inadequate. I've received instruction on how to do things that are all wrong - things like dynamic SQL queries without escaping or parameterizing user input, most recently.
I also just finished a COBOL class, required for ALL CIS majors. I'm never going to use it, it has a stupid structure, and it's just impractical. If I wanted to do COBOL professionally, make it an optional class.
The worst programmers I've worked with are college graduates. Anecdotal, I know. But I've gotten three articles posted on The Daily WTF about one in particular that has a master's degree.
I'm not saying college is absolutely detrimental to one's ability to write software, but perhaps enrollment in degree programs is down because future developers want to learn newer technologies like
Me too, it's so blogstrating to read words like "blogosphere."
Good point. Also, does the definition of "attack" extend to attempted attacks, or does it only apply to successful attacks? If I tried to punch you, but missed, I still attacked you, so I'd say attempts count.
Plus, out of curiousity, I've tried some SQL injection attacks on web sites. Never anything malicious, just changing selection criteria to see if the site made any attempt to escape quotes and such for SQL parameters. Should those count?
"And this is different from iCal or Outlook how?"
Outlook files are stored on your PC. When you enter someone's contact information, it's not sent back to Microsoft.
iCal files (iCal as in the Apple software, not the standard (stupid Apple)) are stored on your Mac. They are not sent back to Apple.
Everything you enter in Google is stored and kept by Google. They know everyone you email from you gmail account (as well as everything you've said to them), they will know roughly where you'll be at any given time with this new calendar software, they know what you search for and can pretty accurately extrapolate your profession and interests from it.
I know we're all supposed to have a lovefest for Google, but that's a little scary.
- Its processing of subqueries sucks. Most database systems can handle a SELECT * FROM X WHERE Y IN (SELECT Y FROM Z) gracefully. It'll execute the subquery once, then evaluate the... uh... supquery(?) using the subquery data. In MySQL's case, it'll evaluate SELECT Y FROM Z for every row that it evaluates the SELECT * FROM X part. I can't count how many times this has frozen our server, because we're used to databases that can handle this much better.
- It allows invalid data to be added. You can, for example, enter a date of 2006-02-31. Sure, there are people that will say your program logic should validate the data before it goes in to the DB, which is true, but the database SHOULD reject data that are absolutely invalid.
- MySQL's handling of foreign keys (at least in 4.1, I haven't tried 5.0) sucks. I was adding foreign keys to tables, which required me to change the table driver. Once I changed the table driver, though, I lost the ability to create fulltext indexes, which I needed because the tables were to be searchable. I shouldn't have to choose between referrential integrity or fulltext indexes, I should have both.
I'm signing my karma death warrant here, but MySQL isn't good for production systems yet.I was thinking more along the lines of people giving weapons to hot grandmas.
Sure. http://www.google.com/
I'm not trying to be racist, funny, or both, but I noticed that the only people that asked to be driven to KFC were the black guys in the game. Am I the only one that noticed this?
Is it safe to assume that only male players can commit a rape, or is it possible for female characters to rape the other players?
For a class on human sexuality I took, I ordered a book called "Coming out Straight" that was about how to make gay people straight, which I read and wrote a paper about. Now half.com thinks I'm gay and really wants me to order more books to make me ungay.
Bolt Thrower doesn't make SYL sound like wimps. Listen to some Aborted, Vile, or Cryptopsy, who make Bolt Thrower sound like wimps. SYL is pretty fucking heavy most of the time.
PS - King Crimson kicks ass. Check out The Power To Believe if you're into metal, it's about as heavy as KC gets.
"I hdva bewn psink thns ntw k3ybderd fgr tge lezt twd wqeks, snd I cvn hqnfstly sny twat ft hdz grwbhly omprpved py twpvng spwed mnd ackuraly."
...bvy trypingg withj mny ddickj!
(man, that Shift-1 was tough for the exclaimation point)
"a server room without windows"
A slashdotter's wet dream - a server room with no Windows boxes.
I agree with your comment that you posted on the article, but had there been no article, you wouldn't have made a comment. Since there was, however, an article, you posted a comment on it that I agree with. Because there was an article, you could post a comment, and you did, and the comment in question is one that I agree with.
"I think if everyone used proper spelling and grammer, computer comprehension (and filtering) would be able to improve."
What is this "grammer" you speak of?
An idea I abandoned was a video game consignment shop. Suppose someone brings in a bunch of games for trade in. Start them off just below full retail price, but every week, bring them down 10%. Split it 50/50 with the person selling the game. That way they're not screwed by the 90/10 that EB/Gamestop will give them, thus giving them a reason to sell used games there, and then the games go for a fair price. Plus, you'll constantly be moving inventory (which is a huge problem that EB/GS have) and you'll get lots of repeat customers because you'll always have new deals and new games coming in. I was going to open a store like this a while ago, but I abandoned the idea because I don't have the initial capital. You already have stores, though, so it's definitely worth a shot!
The most public recently was when Microsoft made some kind of an arrangement with Claria, and then with the next month's release of Microsoft's anti-spyware they had "downgraded" the default settings for Claria from "threat" to "ignore".
Wrong. Microsoft lists the things that cause software to be classified as spyware. Claria (or Gator, or whatever) changed the way their software works in order to remain just this side of Microsoft's definition of spyware.
You're just spreading FUD.
[obvious]Dude, I've been slapping the monkey since I was 13! I didn't know I was supposed to get free iPods from it![/obvious]
On the flip side, I wish IE would pick up the tag, which is supported by FireFox and Netscape.
Have you ever looked at the source, too? It's a maze of include files. That, and, at least in the MySQL version, there's no referrential integrity in the database.
Man, Hungarian notation drives me up the wall. A few of the developers where I work insist on bringing it to the data layer. It's bad enough in languages where variables are strongly typed, but in the database, when the table reads like "strusername, intnumber, datdate, struserlastname," I start tearing my hair out. For fuck's sake, strings aren't even a datatype!
Can you imagine if people advActually vrbTalked prepLike nnThis?