WTF!?
Re. Microwaving the MacBook laptop. Why didn't they put the battery back in and try to reboot it after it cooled down? That would show whether or not it was "toast"! :-)
293 publicly visible posts • joined 15 Aug 2008
Everything that MS server and client software can do, Linux can also. So, if you are a medium sized company with 1000 or so users, a single Windows server w/ enough CAL's for all the systems will cost in excess of $70,000USD. Linux? $0USD. Thanks, I'll take that $70K now and buy some neat x-mas presents for the gang!
They forgot the kick the equipment on the proper spot when it refused to fire up. Don't they know that staple technique of all SciFi thrillers, that if your boffin-built kit doesn't work when the enemy missiles (or other threat) is on the way you are supposed to kick, pound, or otherwise whack the offending gear in the appropriate spot (varies with equipment and failure mode)? Man, what Bozos!
The fact of the matter is that I would not have purchased a smart phone until something that is (mostly) open source like Android was widely available and functional. So, count me in as one who shunned the iPhone (too closed), Symbian (too niche), et al. MeeGo may be an alternative for me in the future. As for advertising, I have not found it too intrusive (yet) on the Android, and in reality, my Nexus One works a treat!
I have given up on any device or software that doesn't support Linux, or at least runs well in the Wine environment. Fidelity is about to lose my brokerage business and 401K account because of this. Sparx Enterprise Architect is a UML modeling and design application I use for significant software engineering purposes which while Windows-only at least it runs well with Wine, so it will stay on my list of acceptable tools.
As for hardware diagnostics, the bare minimum of acceptable tools will have at least the ability to boot and run from CD or USB thumb drive. Seagate does this for their drives, as does Intel for its motherboards.
Most of these SCADA systems are running on Windows. Gee, I wonder why they are vulnerable to viruses, worms, et al? I spent many, many years developing similar software using hardened real-time operating systems, which are used to run much more sensitive installations, such as nuclear power plant control systems, avionics manufacturing lines for the F117 stealth fighter, etc.. Anyone that uses Windows-based software for safety or security-critical systems should be sued into the poor house, and then put in jail for another 100 years - just my humble opinion. Witness the fiasco caused by using Windows for the Denver International Airport baggage handling system - $100's of millions were thrown away because of such boneheaded decisions.
Merlin
"Stupid humans. Too bad they are so primitive they need computers to talk to us! Oh well, give them a few more thousand millennia and they might become an interesting species, if they don't wipe themselves out first. Oh, and thanks for all the fish. The oil we can do without..."
So, what is the value of the free distributions of Linux and BSD that were installed on these servers that were shipped? I know that in the financial services market, a great percentage of servers are running CentOS, Fedora, et al. The managers of these systems don't need MS, Red Hat, or IBM support to keep their systems running - they can probably teach them a thing or three...
Slovakia's interior minister, Robert Kalinak, said: "What happened at Poprad airport was a stupid human error. It is clearly an individual error not a system failure. Disciplinary proceedings against the policemen responsible are underway."
This is so short-sighted. When people are part of the system, then individual errors ARE system errors, and have to be accounted for in the planning of the system. This just proves that there is NO foolproof way to stop determined (and "lucky") terrorists from getting thru security with dangerous substances. Place a few ounces of semtex in a rubber, place it up where the sun don't shine, take a shower to clean off any residue, and you have a high-probability chance of passing airport security. That's the point - the system has failed not in detecting the explosive. It has failed in not knowing who is MOST likely to want to blow themselves and a lot of innocent people up, and keeping them away from the airport in the first place.
Normally, diesel vapor needs to be compressed w/ oxygen in order to explode. However, liquid diesel fuel burns quite nicely. Many years ago while working in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to clear huge snags of trees piled up by bulldozers clearing the forest for a new interstate highway we would use diesel as an accelerant to help burn 50 ft. tall piles of green wood. Probably the most dangerous job I ever had - climbing 50 ft up on a pile of trees with a honkin' big chain saw to cut up the trees to drop them into the fire in the center of the pile. The pay was good, and I was a 20-something in my "immortal" youth, but looking back in hindsight I think I must have been out of my bloomin' mind! :-)
Re. The whole business brings to mind a comment attributed to Bismarck: "Laws are like sausages – it's best not to watch them being made."
As a vegetarian, I can say without qualification that neither the making nor the eating is palatable in the case of these crypto-restriction laws.
I think that the problem with the Kindle and similar devices isn't whether or not the service provider (Amazon in the case of the Kindle) does remove content, but whether or not they CAN remove content. Just having that ability is unacceptable to me and the sole reason why I will not purchase and use one of these devices. Though I would like the bigger format that the Kindle provides, I am perfectly happy using my Palm TX as an ebook reader.
I think TI is going to very shortly learn what The Streisand Effect means. They should fire their lawyers who are pushing folks to remove this information from the net, and TI should remove the need for digital signing of software to run on their calculators. My guess is that they will sell a LOT more calculators if they simply open source the software and let people build/install specialized software that meets their needs.
As Bruce Schneier would say, this is nothing but Security Theater, and does nothing to make applications more secure or safe. Unless the underlying code of memcpy_s can validate the passed size with the real size of the target buffer, this is no more secure than memcpy itself. It is the programmer's responsibility to verify that buffers are of sufficient size to handle the data being copied to it. In any case, this is one of those situations where I prefer C++ to C because if the target object has been coded correctly, an assignment will "do the right thing", even if it is a bit less efficient than a raw memcpy, which is often optimized for the hardware the program is running on.
Everyone makes mistakes from time to time - perfection is to be striven for, but likely never attained. What differentiates the good from the bad is how one deals with ones mistakes. To accept the blame and work diligently to rectify the situation speaks of someone who is of the former rather than the latter class of person. Now, if everyone concerned will just take a breath, communicate, and figure out how to deal with the natural conflicts in a way that benefits all users of these add-ons, then we are all the better for it. FWIW, I use all of the mentioned Firefox add-ons except NoScript, which I stopped using a couple of months ago because it was causing the browser to hang too frequently.
Boy, does this article bring back memories! I worked at ComputerLand in Los Altos in the early to mid-80's where we sold Cromemco's, CCS, and other S-100 bus systems, along with IBM PC's, Apple II, III (there was a dog!), and later the Lisa and finally the Macintosh.. I learned WordStar on an S-100 system belonging to my good friend Bruce Ravenel (one of the architects of the 8086/8087 processor family) in Mountain View. All that great stuff helped me segue into software engineering where I have developed a very satisfying career over the years. In those days, the Silly Valley was the place to be if you were into computing.
There are distinct advantages to eSata vs. USB 3.0. Speed is not the only criteria. Besides the fact that the internal drive cannot sustain either eSata or USB 3.0 data rates, eSata is IMO much better suited for external drives that are continuously (mostly) attached to a system, and especially for external RAID arrays. You can add a nice 4 port eSata RAID controller to a system for under $50 USD these days (25 quid?) that will provide you with a very nicely performing backbone for RAID 5/10 enclosures. So, for a total of under $1000 USD you can put together a 4.5 TB array (6 TB including parity) that takes up about as much space as a shoe box.
I'll admit, I do like USB drives for data that I want to sneaker-net between systems. If it's under 16GB, I'll use a thumb drive. If more, then a nice USB enclosure with a high capacity HD is ideal. Unfortunately, it will be some time before USB 3.0 is as ubiquitous as USB 2.0, so even if one has a USB 3.0 drive, it still be limited to the speed of the system to which it is attached.
That said, I will admit that I will likely be the first person on my block to buy a USB 3.0 drive and controller for my workstation, and possibly a controller for my laptop as well.
First off, I will not purchase any consumer product that requires DRM. Second, I will not purchase any consumer product that locks me into one platform. Third, well I'm thinking about that. In any case, it's this sort of cruft that will keep me from purchasing a Kindle, ever - at least until Amazon realizes that they are only shooting themselves in the foot and alienating their customers. I buy several hundred U$D of ebooks yearly - none of them are DRM-encumbered, and in the future, none of those will come from Amazon... So, to you Amazon, I say :-(>
IMO, when the police, acting under the Color of Authority, misuse their power, the sanctions must be immediate, severe, and painful to not only the perpetrator, but also to their superiors. This could include major monetary damages payment to the abused. This is the ONLY way to make sure that the authorities keep their activities under control and appropriate to the situation. I used to love visiting England and lived and studied in London for a year in my youth, and a number of members of my family have lived there for decades and contributed materially to the life and culture of Britain. Given its current totalitarian climate, I will not visit, pass thru, or otherwise place myself under the control of the British authorities ever again. I know that my sister, formerly a member of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, is considering similar sanctions.
Back in '81-'82, before I became an engineer, I was a corporate sales rep. at ComputerLand in Los Altos, CA. In that capacity, I got to know Robert Metcalf and Howard Charney at 3Com when I sold them their first 100 IBM PC's. I later met up with Robert in Boston at some IEEE meetings and dinners. I will always admire and respect him and his straight-forward manner. He is truly someone who can tell when "the emperor has no clothes"!
Pertaining to the closing sentence "But once the authorities start to dictate what books or documents we may possess, we are on a slippery slope". It is clear to me that (formerly) Great Britain has already slid well down that slope, and fallen over the precipice. The US is also falling, hand-in-hand, with GB over that edge. Too bad, as I used to have a great deal of respect for the British people, but you seem to have let the inmates take over the asylum.