Posts by Neil McAllister
11 posts • joined Friday 3rd August 2012 01:17 GMT
Re: You're joking, right?
No, it's you who are joking, right?
If you have access to the source code to some software, it's trivial to insert a backdoor and compile a binary from your modified source. You couldn't do that with software for which you only have binaries. There's nothing inflammatory about these facts.
The question is, how did these modified binaries replace the legitimate binaries on the infected servers? Presumably that requires root access. How it happened is what we don't know yet. They thought it was a cPanel vulnerability at first, but that no longer seems to be the case.
Re: The difference...
I don't know. Why do you expect me to be able to answer these questions today? When someone answers them, I'll let you know. In the meantime, are you telling me you think the right approach is to ignore the issue? That attitude seems strange to me.
Re: <Insert scaremongering Sun headline here>
"Where did Google ever claim that the device was unhackable with physical access."
That old koan that anyone can hack your machine if they have physical access is logical when you're talking about a computer that by rights should be secured behind multiple layers of card key locks, security guards, surveillance cameras and iron cages. But Glass users are going to be taking their devices everywhere -- to work, to school, to restaurants, to bars, to other people's houses. By definition, different rules apply. Glass needs to be at LEAST as secure as an Android phone, but as you'll see if you read the article, at present it's not. Right now, it's hackable in the time it takes you to go to the toilet.
The difference...
The difference between the last story and this one -- and maybe I should have made this more explicit in the story -- is that while Freeman did root his device, he did it WITHOUT unlocking the bootloader. He does explain how to unlock it in his post, but that was NOT how he got into his Glass.
Re: Lame interface(s)...
I work with the Ribbon minimized so I don't think I agree with your criticisms there. It's not distracting; in fact, it's practically invisible.
You can skip the Start screen, too. It's there by default, but you can configure it to go away. It's the very last check box under Options->General. That was a must for me.
Re: …And we still have no idea what these patents are
Rumor has it that all of these deals Microsoft has signed with device vendors involve patents on the FAT filesystem and later derivatives.
Presumably, Microsoft is not releasing this information because it wants the idea out there in the public consciousness that "Microsoft invented the technologies that Android uses." Also, by keeping the terms of its deal with one company vague, it can presumably negotiate a more favorable deal with the next company it goes after.
Post your comments here (don't ask, it's a bug)...
Re: 700MB download
The Office 2013 Preview was actually a preview of Office 365 with Office 2013. The thing you get from TechNet is Office 2013 Professional Plus, the kind you get in a box from the store. It's a subtle distinction, maybe, because the apps are supposed to be identical either way. The only real difference is in the new download method, which you only get with Office 365.
It makes sense if you think about it. When the new Office launches, if you subscribe to Office 365, you will be able to download the final version of Office 2013 using Microsoft's application streaming, the same way you did with the Preview. If you buy Office 2013 Professional Plus, on the other hand, you won't need to download anything, because you'll have a DVD.
If, on the other hand, you plan to get Office 2013 from MSDN or TechNet, then what you're getting is an .ISO file of the DVD, so you need to download the whole thing at once, as in this preview.
Re: The only use for java these days
The exploits are cross-platform, but the payloads only run on Windows -- so far, at least. So running Linux, for now, IS actually an effective shield. It would be more difficult to craft a payload that did anything harmful on Linux, too, compared to Windows XP, where everybody runs with administrator privileges.
Re: So...
I've had to re-activate Windows when I changed my hardware a few times. Once I had to do it on my mum's computer when I didn't change anything -- no explanation. In all cases, though, it was easy. They used to have you talk to a call center in India. The last time I read my key codes to a computer. In no case did it take five minutes.
Re: 2500 Apps in their app store
You're thinking too narrowly. Just because you play games on a Linux machine doesn't mean you have to do your spreadsheets on it also.
Making games for Linux desktop systems is the focus NOW, because that's what Valve is able to target today. But if Valve can prove that Linux is a viable gaming platform, the kinds of Linux systems most people end up playing games on could look very different than today's Ubuntu desktops.
Remember, Linux is free software. It runs on a variety of hardware and can scale even to very small embedded devices. Just like you don't care that your bank teller machine is running Windows Embedded today, at some point in the future you won't need to know that your gaming machine is running Linux. All you'll care about is that the machine cost less than the games you play on it.
The work Valve is doing today will definitely help toward that goal, IMHO.
