This is neither a new problem nor an unsolved problem. This problem stems from using functions like strcmp, which return as soon as a difference is detected, and are thus unsuitable for password checks. Solution? Set a flag when the first difference is found, and continue checking subsequent characters.
"If people copy this, nobody will make it anymore!"
We keep hearing this, yet new music, movies, books, and software continue to be produced. Why do people continue spouting this crap? It is as if you are praying for it to happen just so you can say, "told you so!"
So that justifies MPAA lawyers ruining these students' lives? We are not talking about murder, vandalism, or theft here. We are talking about downloading. Why should a college student be forced to declare bankruptcy and ruin his credit rating and ability to move upwards in society, over something as trivial and harmless as downloading a movie?
At least they are trying to do something to make paying to see the movie worthwhile. They could just focus on bankrupting college students as a business, and not even bother to create an incentive to go to the theaters.
Same, I found some dirty magazines when I was about 9. An adult explained to me that grown-ups like to look at those images, but that I was not old enough to understand why. I basically shrugged and went right on being a 9 year old.
Re:I like holding the mouse over fake holding one!
on
The Mouse Vanishes
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Here here! Tactile feedback is actually important when it comes to being effective with your input device. The best use I can see for this technology is an interface in which the direction in which the mouse moves is the only thing that matters -- anything else will just be too confusing to our brains, and efficiency will be lost. I could be wrong, but that is what I make of all this.
"Cool" but not necessarily "useful." Case in point: the mouse in its present form gives tacticle feedback, which lasers do not. Likewise with keyboards: the physical feeling of pressing keys matters a lot.
Despite what they might have told you, humans do not have servomotors in their hands. We are pretty bad when it comes to making precise motions without any tactile feedback. This is why, for example, radial menus are so much better than linear menus -- you do not require highly precise motion, just a general direction.
Re:The Internet as a business
on
The End of Free
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· Score: 1
Nevermind that "The Internet" as opposed to "ARPANet" really began in the mid 80s when researchers outside of the military began connecting their networks.
Remind myself that at one time, Apple was viewed as liberators from companies who were trying to subvert their users? Remind myself that hackers used to view Apple as a friend who was ending the age of begging for computer time? Remind myself of the days when customers were not viewed as sheep whose wallets need fleecing, and when Apple employees were not tasked with finding ever more effective ways to extract money from the customers?
Maybe I would take notice that the Free Software Foundation mentions "Apple" before "Microsoft" when describing threats to user freedom. Perhaps I would take a moment to notice that Apple's own attempt at building a hacker community failed miserably because of the level of control that Apple insisted on.
If Apple has to censor its forums to maintain its image, they are in a very precarious position.
There are plenty of discussions about this issue on the Apple support boards which are not being removed.
So it is only censorship if they remove all discussions about the topic, rather than some of them? Note the second part of that definition of "censorship" which you posted.
The multiple posts about an external magazine review have been removed because discussing magazine articles is offtopic for a tech support board, just as discussing the latest Huffington Post article on Angelina Jolie is offtopic.
An article about a technical issue that users are experiencing is off topic in a technical forum? I am looking there right now, and half the topics are not specifically "tech support."
That depends on the circumstances. If you invite people to draw on your car, then restrict what they are allowed to draw, then yes, it is censorship. Apple runs a forum for its users, but removes critical threads from that forum -- how that is anything but censorship is a mystery to me.
What I found more hilarious is that many of these supposed cases of copyright infringement were small, two or three line functions. Most were nothing more than if/else statements. One of the supposed cases of "copying" shows if {...} else {...} from SVR4, and a ternary operator in Linux.
If there were something truly substantial here, maybe a 200+ identical lines, I might have raised an eyebrow. The only "substantial" cases I saw were dozens of crisscrossed lines pointing out one or two line groups that appear in both codebases. Only a complete moron would think that this was actually a case of copying.
The Internet as a business
on
The End of Free
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
If you want to know why the "Information wants to be free" attitude is dying, it is because the Internet has been taken over by business interests; the original network of academics and hackers is just a tiny fraction of what the Internet has now become. Most of the people on the Internet have no interest in freedom, they just want to go to some large business' website and do whatever it is that they do there.
Slashdot Mirror
This is neither a new problem nor an unsolved problem. This problem stems from using functions like strcmp, which return as soon as a difference is detected, and are thus unsuitable for password checks. Solution? Set a flag when the first difference is found, and continue checking subsequent characters.
People frequently mix it with harder drugs too!
Good point -- Avatar was produced after a full decade of people downloading unauthorized movies at an increasing rate.
Look there! At the flashy light and the monkey! Pay no attention to your iPhone's antenna!
"If people copy this, nobody will make it anymore!"
We keep hearing this, yet new music, movies, books, and software continue to be produced. Why do people continue spouting this crap? It is as if you are praying for it to happen just so you can say, "told you so!"
So that justifies MPAA lawyers ruining these students' lives? We are not talking about murder, vandalism, or theft here. We are talking about downloading. Why should a college student be forced to declare bankruptcy and ruin his credit rating and ability to move upwards in society, over something as trivial and harmless as downloading a movie?
At least they are trying to do something to make paying to see the movie worthwhile. They could just focus on bankrupting college students as a business, and not even bother to create an incentive to go to the theaters.
It used to.
Same, I found some dirty magazines when I was about 9. An adult explained to me that grown-ups like to look at those images, but that I was not old enough to understand why. I basically shrugged and went right on being a 9 year old.
You are probably doing more damage to your kids than if you send them to youporn.com.
I feel dirty just for knowing that reference.
Here here! Tactile feedback is actually important when it comes to being effective with your input device. The best use I can see for this technology is an interface in which the direction in which the mouse moves is the only thing that matters -- anything else will just be too confusing to our brains, and efficiency will be lost. I could be wrong, but that is what I make of all this.
"Cool" but not necessarily "useful." Case in point: the mouse in its present form gives tacticle feedback, which lasers do not. Likewise with keyboards: the physical feeling of pressing keys matters a lot.
Despite what they might have told you, humans do not have servomotors in their hands. We are pretty bad when it comes to making precise motions without any tactile feedback. This is why, for example, radial menus are so much better than linear menus -- you do not require highly precise motion, just a general direction.
Nevermind that "The Internet" as opposed to "ARPANet" really began in the mid 80s when researchers outside of the military began connecting their networks.
what would you do if you were Apple?
Remind myself that at one time, Apple was viewed as liberators from companies who were trying to subvert their users? Remind myself that hackers used to view Apple as a friend who was ending the age of begging for computer time? Remind myself of the days when customers were not viewed as sheep whose wallets need fleecing, and when Apple employees were not tasked with finding ever more effective ways to extract money from the customers?
Maybe I would take notice that the Free Software Foundation mentions "Apple" before "Microsoft" when describing threats to user freedom. Perhaps I would take a moment to notice that Apple's own attempt at building a hacker community failed miserably because of the level of control that Apple insisted on. If Apple has to censor its forums to maintain its image, they are in a very precarious position.
Sadly, the days of distributed discussion systems like Usenet are almost completely over.
Woz still worked for Apple in 1984.
There are plenty of discussions about this issue on the Apple support boards which are not being removed.
So it is only censorship if they remove all discussions about the topic, rather than some of them? Note the second part of that definition of "censorship" which you posted.
The multiple posts about an external magazine review have been removed because discussing magazine articles is offtopic for a tech support board, just as discussing the latest Huffington Post article on Angelina Jolie is offtopic.
An article about a technical issue that users are experiencing is off topic in a technical forum? I am looking there right now, and half the topics are not specifically "tech support."
It's only censorship when the government does it.
Funny, my dictionary does not include the word "government" in its definition of "censorship."
That depends on the circumstances. If you invite people to draw on your car, then restrict what they are allowed to draw, then yes, it is censorship. Apple runs a forum for its users, but removes critical threads from that forum -- how that is anything but censorship is a mystery to me.
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/new-sticker-results
One step ahead of you.
Who the hell modded this funny? Looks "insightful" to me.
What I found more hilarious is that many of these supposed cases of copyright infringement were small, two or three line functions. Most were nothing more than if/else statements. One of the supposed cases of "copying" shows if {...} else {...} from SVR4, and a ternary operator in Linux.
If there were something truly substantial here, maybe a 200+ identical lines, I might have raised an eyebrow. The only "substantial" cases I saw were dozens of crisscrossed lines pointing out one or two line groups that appear in both codebases. Only a complete moron would think that this was actually a case of copying.
If you want to know why the "Information wants to be free" attitude is dying, it is because the Internet has been taken over by business interests; the original network of academics and hackers is just a tiny fraction of what the Internet has now become. Most of the people on the Internet have no interest in freedom, they just want to go to some large business' website and do whatever it is that they do there.
To be fair, they were twits beforehand, who thought that signing petitions they would forget about 15 minutes later was fighting for some cause.