Recent Posts
It would be so easy to cut off spammers if the first post was vetted by mods.-nosh (June 06, 2012, 02:03 AM)
You're right. I need to rephrase my opinion then. I think certain features are so essential nowadays that they should be in VS Professional, most importantly Code Coverage.-phitsc (June 05, 2012, 04:07 PM)
So no...it's not exactly up to the manufacturer not to implement it if they plan on shipping machines with Windows pre-installed (OEM) - or if they want to even have Windows on an ARM based device.-40hz (June 01, 2012, 04:21 PM)
If the system ships with a UEFI-compatible OS, system firmware must be implemented as UEFI and it must be able to achieve UEFI boot mode by default. Such a system may also support fallback to legacy BIOS boot on systems with OS which do not support UEFI, but only if the user selects that option in a pre-boot firmware user interface. Legacy option ROMs also may not be loaded by default.
"Explicit User Action" means that end user (or in case of enterprise customer, the IT pro) must manually access the pre-boot firmware configuration screen and change the setting. It may not ship in the BIOS mode by default and programmatic methods which can be attacked by malware are not acceptable.
The problem isn't how much or who pays for it. The problem is that UEFI drives a wedge down the middle of what was formerly an open hardware ecosystem. Now there are "Windows PCs" and "non-Windows PCs" on the hardware level. Microsoft has used its numbers to effectively get its own proprietary hardware platform (like Apple) without actually having to manufacture it. Which is the best of all possible worlds in that they can control a huge segment of the mobo/CPU market without having to "own" anything. A very handy argument to make when accused of anticompetitive business practices in the USA.
This could, of course, be easily eliminated as a problem if all the PC manufacturers would include a simple mechanism (a switch on the back of the case or a jumper on the mobo) to turn off UEFI without having to go through heroics. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting to see that happen. I'm sure there will be some purely token hand wringing and breast beating on the part of certain manufacturers (Dell et al.) over this. But nothing of substance will emerge from it.-40hz (June 01, 2012, 11:34 AM)
- UEFI allows firmware to implement a security policy
- Secured boot is a UEFI protocol not a Windows 8 feature
- UEFI secured boot is part of Windows 8 secured boot architecture
- If desired, Windows 8 utilizes secured boot to ensure that the pre-OS environment is secure
- Secured boot doesn’t “lock out” operating system loaders, but is is a policy that allows firmware to validate authenticity of components
- OEMs have the ability to customize their firmware to meet the needs of their customers by customizing the level of certificate and policy management on their platform
- Microsoft does not mandate or control the settings on PC firmware that control or enable secured boot from any operating system other than Windows
The Windows SDK no longer ships with a complete command-line build environment. The Windows SDK now requires a compiler and build environment to be installed separately. If you require a complete development environment, including compilers and a build environment, Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Beta is available for download.
That's legal theft.-zridling (May 23, 2012, 02:13 PM)
I know this is an old thread but that book looks awesome, even for non-10 year olds, and now there's a sequel that delves more into pygame. Being able to dive right into small real-world applications is a great motivator.
I was considering using this book myself except that it is using Python 3 which is not the "status quo" yet according to python.org, and Python 2 seems to be used for any program I've seen that uses Python as its scripting language (Calibre, Plex, etc.). However that should give the book some nice longevity.-daddydave (May 24, 2012, 09:10 AM)
They're probably anticipating the downfall and mad rush away from Windows 8-4wd (May 23, 2012, 08:50 PM)
AFAIK, in a stable system (nudge, wink) as long as the binary is compiled correctly and calls the right versions of supporting libraries (which can be statically linked, if need be) then it'll work just fine.
I have, in times of desperation, used Red Hat and Slackware binaries on my system when Debian didn't have what I needed, without serious repercussion.
So, it's very possible, but one can fairly reliably predict a new Steam/Valve forum section dedicated to posts like "[game] isn't working on [Linux distro]"...-Edvard (May 24, 2012, 09:10 AM)
Gabe Newell has already trashed Windows 8 in the press!
Interesting if Left4Dead is going to be the first port to Linux - why wouldn't they choose some of there most recent games first?-Carol Haynes (May 24, 2012, 03:39 AM)
Right now the game they have been working on the most for their Linux client is Left 4 Dead 2. Why L4D2? Basically because it is a stable code-base to do for their initial porting.
