As many people have pointed out the security permissions model in android is very good.
you cant have fantastic apps without allowing them access to other data. And so thats why the security permission authorization screens are there.
Its so dumb this article, because you cant have your cake and eat it too.
It pisses me off when journalists write a piece like this LL because it gets headlines. Hey CNet, get a life and stop taking backhanders from Apple or Microsoft. Just a ridiculous article in the first place.
It seems to me that expecting the average consumer to know or care about security settings in their applications is something I find to be unrealistic at best.
As far as most consumers are concerned if you want to use a piece of software you have to agree to whatever terms or conditions the software requires you to in order to use and way too many people I've seen will simply click install no matter what the software asks to be able to access because they see any alternative but to do so in order to use it and don't know (or choose to not care because they don't see an alternative in order to be able to use the software) about the possible security consequences to themselves.
I would kind of equate to clicking the agree button on a software EULA in order to install it, as the more you do it, the more you stop caring about what the terms are because you have to accept them in order to use the software you want to use so most people just choose not to even bother reading what they're agreeing to because they can't change it and they don't want to worry themselves (and they don't want to OD on reading that much legalize;)
Seriously though, how many people do you know even here on Slashdot who read the EULA for every piece of software they install on their computers/laptops/phones/etc?
As for your whole blame Apple and Microsoft for the article rant, I haven't seen anyone provide any evidence that either of them were involved in the publication of this article; it was actually quoted in the article as being from a security software company blog so I love how you go on this hysterical rant about Apple and Microsoft being behind this to spread FUD when it seems to me the only one spreading FUD here is you by pushing the idea that either of them were behind this article...
...Real Apple users like myself have already started camping out in the closest athletic equipment store so we can beat the stampade when the mall opens on release day! I'd continue commenting further but I have to yell at some more kids to get off my display tent's fake lawn!
...Please RTFLA before stating how "open" it is compared to the iPhone SDK:
http://www.android.com/market/terms/developer-content-policy.html
With that said there are two problems I have with the FSF commentary:
1. I know people love to use the car metaphor but I feel it's an apples and oranges comparison because the average can open up their car hood check and refill the oil without causing the engine to stop running, whereas the average user of a computer cannot be expected (or trusted) to do the same. Apple allows people to use the Terminal for command line troubleshooting which frankly is more powerful than the average user should have. I love how the FSF always implies a certain level of arrogance by Apple in locking down certain portions of the operating system but personally I think it implies more arrogance the FSF's part by assuming that people are willing to take a bunch of time to learn (or for that matter care) about the difference between the GPL and proprietary software licensing. I appreciate Free and/or Open Source as the ideal software development method, but I'm realistic enough to realize that unless the GUI and for that matter, the overall user experience for Linux and other GPL projects improve to where the average user can use it Linux is going to remain a tech enthusiast and corporate server level OS. If and when that day comes I will happily switch but for the moment I find the user experience on my Mac to be less of a headache than the alternatives for personal use and I know many feel the same way.
2. Regarding the whole H.264 verses Theora debate, Steve Jobs is pushing the HTML5 standard as a flash alternative, and while I don't have enough hands on experience with as a method of streaming (seeing as few sites use it as of yet) to offer an educated opinion on how well it works, if the FSF has a problem with the H.264 codec as part of the HTML5 standard specs they should be taking it up with the WHATWG which is the organization responsible for drafting the specs, not Apple. If anything given the proprietary licensing of Flash coupled with the fact that to the best of my knowledge there is no existing free/open development tools for Flash if anyone is being hypocritical here it's the FSF for giving Apple flack for trying to push HTML5 as an open web standard alternative to Flash!
As a side note I know people have been phobic about H.264 particularly where license fees are concerned (and I'd be lying if I didn't say I shared some of those concerns) but IMHO I have been using it for video work with both open source and proprietary software both types of which have existed without licensing and revenue problems to date, so if that does become a concern then I expect an alternative (such as Theora) will emerge into widespread usage as necessity dictates but until then, I'm realistic enough to expect the majority of users and developers to push H.264 as a part HTML5 because the majority of users already have it. Personally in the end I think mass usage is still the ultimate standard regardless of what any interest or organization may try to dictate and while I may not always agree with the majority of users and try to educate them about better alternatives to me that's still the true freedom of the web...
If I learned anything from watching Doctor Who...
on
Gardening On Mars
·
· Score: 1
...it's this: when you're visiting Mars don't drink the water (or use martian water for your gardens)!
...Everyone who is in the US and saw the premiere last night please raise your hand now in a two fingered salute to whoever the executives are that have decided they still can't give us same day showing of Doctor Who on BBC America!
...Charles Widmore must have been monitoring ABE when it somehow found the Island. I expect we'll see a fake press release showing ABE's resting place any time now.
I used to collect Popular Mechanics and Popular Science in the days of my misspent youth, but after a few years I noticed that the technologies and products that they covered had a habit of never actually being implemented/practical in real life (kinda reminds me of Wired and Omni in that fashion as well)...
The anti-gravity technology article [http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1281736.html] was the last straw and after that I gave up reading PM and PS altogether....
After canceling I began to favor magazines of a much more technical and sophisticated field and by that I mean video gaming...Although, come to think of it, after Duke Nukem Forever's cancellation was announced I've been thinking about canceling my PC Gamer too...
When Advent was ported to the iTunes application store a while back I first discovered the magic of text adventures.
Eventually I graduated to Frotz and since then I have spent the majority of my time during business meetings playing it nonstop!
It's good fun and at the same time so insanely frustrating that it makes me want to kill my co-workers (even more than usual that is) which as we all know are the typical signs of any great iPhone application!
Check it out here:
http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=287653015&mt=8
...Rather the stigma of a tech support background I suspect. Nowadays the focus is so much more on the almighty dollar that support is deemed to be a demeaning almost blue collar janitorial level job even among the IT community itself. That reminds I need to empty the trash in my cubicle before I leave...
A more wretched hive of geeks and horde not found
on
Blizzcon Writeup
·
· Score: 2
Ahh, Blizzcon,
You have never seen a more wretched hive of geeks and horde in your life.
As a longtime fan of Blizzard, (after all what other company does hybrid disks for both Macs and PCs, I ask you, now if only they supported Linux), I have to say it was wonderfully put together, and fully embraced the Blizzard style of not neccesarily adding anything new to a genre of gaming (or in this case a convention), but rather concentrating on polishing the elements; the bits and pieces of which the whole convention was made up of, to full diamondy perfection. Kudos to the inventation of Scott, Tycho and Gabe, whose witty dialogue made for a fun addition that wasn't necessarily fully related to WOW or any of the other franchises, but whose presence I felt added an icing on the provierable cake. The offspring concert was a grand send off and I hope fervently that Blizzard will try another effort such as this sometime in the future.
First Post, so please go easy on me...
Slashdot Mirror
Fear, Uncertainty & doubt is all this article is doing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt.
As many people have pointed out the security permissions model in android is very good.
you cant have fantastic apps without allowing them access to other data.
And so thats why the security permission authorization screens are there.
Its so dumb this article, because you cant have your cake and eat it too.
It pisses me off when journalists write a piece like this LL because it gets headlines.
Hey CNet, get a life and stop taking backhanders from Apple or Microsoft. Just a ridiculous article in the first place.
It seems to me that expecting the average consumer to know or care about security settings in their applications is something I find to be unrealistic at best.
As far as most consumers are concerned if you want to use a piece of software you have to agree to whatever terms or conditions the software requires you to in order to use and way too many people I've seen will simply click install no matter what the software asks to be able to access because they see any alternative but to do so in order to use it and don't know (or choose to not care because they don't see an alternative in order to be able to use the software) about the possible security consequences to themselves.
I would kind of equate to clicking the agree button on a software EULA in order to install it, as the more you do it, the more you stop caring about what the terms are because you have to accept them in order to use the software you want to use so most people just choose not to even bother reading what they're agreeing to because they can't change it and they don't want to worry themselves (and they don't want to OD on reading that much legalize ;)
Seriously though, how many people do you know even here on Slashdot who read the EULA for every piece of software they install on their computers/laptops/phones/etc?
As for your whole blame Apple and Microsoft for the article rant, I haven't seen anyone provide any evidence that either of them were involved in the publication of this article; it was actually quoted in the article as being from a security software company blog so I love how you go on this hysterical rant about Apple and Microsoft being behind this to spread FUD when it seems to me the only one spreading FUD here is you by pushing the idea that either of them were behind this article...
...Real Apple users like myself have already started camping out in the closest athletic equipment store so we can beat the stampade when the mall opens on release day! I'd continue commenting further but I have to yell at some more kids to get off my display tent's fake lawn!
...Please RTFLA before stating how "open" it is compared to the iPhone SDK: http://www.android.com/market/terms/developer-content-policy.html With that said there are two problems I have with the FSF commentary: 1. I know people love to use the car metaphor but I feel it's an apples and oranges comparison because the average can open up their car hood check and refill the oil without causing the engine to stop running, whereas the average user of a computer cannot be expected (or trusted) to do the same. Apple allows people to use the Terminal for command line troubleshooting which frankly is more powerful than the average user should have. I love how the FSF always implies a certain level of arrogance by Apple in locking down certain portions of the operating system but personally I think it implies more arrogance the FSF's part by assuming that people are willing to take a bunch of time to learn (or for that matter care) about the difference between the GPL and proprietary software licensing. I appreciate Free and/or Open Source as the ideal software development method, but I'm realistic enough to realize that unless the GUI and for that matter, the overall user experience for Linux and other GPL projects improve to where the average user can use it Linux is going to remain a tech enthusiast and corporate server level OS. If and when that day comes I will happily switch but for the moment I find the user experience on my Mac to be less of a headache than the alternatives for personal use and I know many feel the same way. 2. Regarding the whole H.264 verses Theora debate, Steve Jobs is pushing the HTML5 standard as a flash alternative, and while I don't have enough hands on experience with as a method of streaming (seeing as few sites use it as of yet) to offer an educated opinion on how well it works, if the FSF has a problem with the H.264 codec as part of the HTML5 standard specs they should be taking it up with the WHATWG which is the organization responsible for drafting the specs, not Apple. If anything given the proprietary licensing of Flash coupled with the fact that to the best of my knowledge there is no existing free/open development tools for Flash if anyone is being hypocritical here it's the FSF for giving Apple flack for trying to push HTML5 as an open web standard alternative to Flash! As a side note I know people have been phobic about H.264 particularly where license fees are concerned (and I'd be lying if I didn't say I shared some of those concerns) but IMHO I have been using it for video work with both open source and proprietary software both types of which have existed without licensing and revenue problems to date, so if that does become a concern then I expect an alternative (such as Theora) will emerge into widespread usage as necessity dictates but until then, I'm realistic enough to expect the majority of users and developers to push H.264 as a part HTML5 because the majority of users already have it. Personally in the end I think mass usage is still the ultimate standard regardless of what any interest or organization may try to dictate and while I may not always agree with the majority of users and try to educate them about better alternatives to me that's still the true freedom of the web...
...it's this: when you're visiting Mars don't drink the water (or use martian water for your gardens)!
...Everyone who is in the US and saw the premiere last night please raise your hand now in a two fingered salute to whoever the executives are that have decided they still can't give us same day showing of Doctor Who on BBC America!
...Charles Widmore must have been monitoring ABE when it somehow found the Island. I expect we'll see a fake press release showing ABE's resting place any time now.
...You mean it's not already dead?
I used to collect Popular Mechanics and Popular Science in the days of my misspent youth, but after a few years I noticed that the technologies and products that they covered had a habit of never actually being implemented/practical in real life (kinda reminds me of Wired and Omni in that fashion as well)... The anti-gravity technology article [http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/1281736.html] was the last straw and after that I gave up reading PM and PS altogether.... After canceling I began to favor magazines of a much more technical and sophisticated field and by that I mean video gaming...Although, come to think of it, after Duke Nukem Forever's cancellation was announced I've been thinking about canceling my PC Gamer too...
When Advent was ported to the iTunes application store a while back I first discovered the magic of text adventures. Eventually I graduated to Frotz and since then I have spent the majority of my time during business meetings playing it nonstop! It's good fun and at the same time so insanely frustrating that it makes me want to kill my co-workers (even more than usual that is) which as we all know are the typical signs of any great iPhone application! Check it out here: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=287653015&mt=8
...It's now an Xbox Wii60!
...Rather the stigma of a tech support background I suspect. Nowadays the focus is so much more on the almighty dollar that support is deemed to be a demeaning almost blue collar janitorial level job even among the IT community itself. That reminds I need to empty the trash in my cubicle before I leave...
Ahh, Blizzcon, You have never seen a more wretched hive of geeks and horde in your life. As a longtime fan of Blizzard, (after all what other company does hybrid disks for both Macs and PCs, I ask you, now if only they supported Linux), I have to say it was wonderfully put together, and fully embraced the Blizzard style of not neccesarily adding anything new to a genre of gaming (or in this case a convention), but rather concentrating on polishing the elements; the bits and pieces of which the whole convention was made up of, to full diamondy perfection. Kudos to the inventation of Scott, Tycho and Gabe, whose witty dialogue made for a fun addition that wasn't necessarily fully related to WOW or any of the other franchises, but whose presence I felt added an icing on the provierable cake. The offspring concert was a grand send off and I hope fervently that Blizzard will try another effort such as this sometime in the future. First Post, so please go easy on me...