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8101

General Software Discussion / Re: Most Pirated Software?

« Last post by 40hz on February 24, 2011, 12:04 PM »

Umm...even if it was just a quick load/try/remove deal... do you think that's a wise or considerate thing to come right out and admit doing on the public forum of a highly visible site where a number of its members and visitors write licensed software for a living?

Just thinking out loud here.

Yeah. I don't see any problem stating that.

It's really up to mouser to moderate the posts

-Paul Keith (February 24, 2011, 10:47 AM)

Understood.

But I think if you read what I wrote you'd see I wasn't attempting to moderate. Nor did I suggest he shouldn't say what he did. Nor did I hit the 'report to mod' button. Nor in any other way do anything to imply he didn't have a 'right' (whatever that means in this context) to say what he did.

To do any of the above would have been me trying to bring about an outcome. Since there was no agenda behind my question, I didn't have an outcome in mind.

I was simply asking if he thought his comment was either wise or considerate in light of this site's demographic.

That's all.

The question has a purpose however, despite its complete lack of an agenda. I was attempting to get a better understanding of where the person was coming from, and what framework of conduct and etiquette he acts under.

Bit of a difference, as I'm sure you can see.

I think Mssr. Bamse understood where I was coming from in trying to get a better handle on where he was coming from.

And although his answer didn't really address my question, some of what he said gives me an inkling of which set of justifications and beliefs he uses when he downloads an unauthorized copy of something. (It's mostly the apologist or "yeah but" argument BTW)

I'm good with that. Next time he says something along those lines I'll better understand him even where I don't agree with him.

--------

Note: The arguments most downloaders use fall into general theory groups whose logic, ethics, and choice of words range from the deep and thought provoking to the completely childish and ludicrous. Read enough of them and you'll see the pattern.

Note too I used the terms downloaders and unauthorized copies rather than the usual pirates; or pirated/bootlegged/stolen software.

My word choice was deliberate because I make no judgments about people who download works from sources outside the creator's intended channels. People do what they do. And the only personal behaviors I ever presume to regulate or condemn are my own.
 

8102

General Software Discussion / Re: Most Pirated Software?

« Last post by 40hz on February 24, 2011, 10:14 AM »

40hz: I'm not saying all the 0day crackers are Robin Hood style saints, and I don't doubt the least that some of them are also doing nefarious deeds. All I'm saying is that if you get a 0day release from one of the reputable groups, and it hasn't been tampered with because you got it from a REALLY lousy place, it's almost guaranteed to be malware-free.

Why? Those people don't want to lose their prestige. And those that don't care that much about prestige don't want to lose access to their 0-second gigabit-pipe several-hundred-terabyte warez sites - simple as that

-f0dder (February 24, 2011, 10:04 AM)

Understood. Thx

8103

General Software Discussion / Re: Most Pirated Software?

« Last post by 40hz on February 24, 2011, 10:10 AM »

Yes, I did manage to get latest Photoshop + Elements. All in all it took may be 10 hours but then it was tested and "secure". Update proof? I doubt it. Uninstalled shortly after, worst crap I have ever seen. Most are more than happy with older and more proven to work versions.

-Bamse (February 24, 2011, 09:55 AM)

Umm...even if it was just a quick load/try/remove deal... do you think that's a wise or considerate thing to come right out and admit doing on the public forum of a highly visible site where a number of its members and visitors write licensed software for a living?

Just thinking out loud here.

8104

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu: Where Did the Love Go?

« Last post by 40hz on February 24, 2011, 09:41 AM »

Is this specific to corporate software?

From my personal knowledge as well as the software I have tried, I can't help but think there aren't any bigass apps anymore.

This doesn't mean there aren't any bloated software but setting aside "secret, only if you know about it" software like MS Office - I can't help but complain that often times all the bigass software I've used are well... not bigass but just wrongly bloated.

-Paul Keith (February 24, 2011, 09:10 AM)

Quick clarification. By "big ass" I meant "bloated."

I was trying to inject a touch of humor.

Apparently I've failed.

8105

General Software Discussion / Re: 20 New User Misconceptions about Linux

« Last post by 40hz on February 24, 2011, 09:33 AM »

17) Linux represents a specific political viewpoint.

Mostly agree with this one, but you can't deny that there is quite a lot of attitude in a lot of linux users, and it can be a pretty hostile place if you don't subscribe to their ideas, just like the Mac camp. Yes, you can obviously run into dsckheads everywhere, it just tends to happen more often when dealing with "niches" (whatever that be software, religion, politics or whatever). Fortunately this situation will grow better as more normal/sane/rational/pragmatic people adopt linux

-f0dder (February 24, 2011, 08:11 AM)

Boy did you ever hit the nail on the head with that one.

But it is true. As more and more regular users begin getting involved with Linux for their day to day computing needs, the pockets representing the "silo & bunker mentality" will, of necessity, go away. I'm already seeing it happen where I am.

The big challenge will be how not to become the new dickhead once the old dickhead gets dragged out from under his rock and shot. The trick is to discard the things from the past that are no longer working or have proven impractical, and retain the things that do work or show promise of working.

The absolute worst thing that can happen is for everything (i.e. the core beliefs and unwritten social contracts) that led up to GNU/Linux first coming into existence just be discarded - and for Linux to embark on a purely technical driven course of action. Because if it does, it will ultimately fractionate and fail.

In order to have a reason to exist, Linux needs to be something just a bit more than a piece of software. Because if it's just a piece of software, we already have plenty of perfectly usable commercial operating systems and apps - so why bother?

Should Linux finally fail, all that will be left to remember it by is the hard work of thousands of selfless and talented people, now sitting around just waiting to be exploited by purely commercial interests. And that will likely be the bitterest pill of all to swallow.

Shuttleworth's already in danger of starting Ubuntu down that road. Let's hope his impatience with consensus building - and his personal need (shades of Steve Jobs!) to feel he has a major development role - despite not being a coder -  doesn't pull Ubuntu out of the mainstream community.

Fingers crossed on that.

8106

General Software Discussion / Re: Most Pirated Software?

« Last post by 40hz on February 24, 2011, 08:42 AM »

reputable 0day groups,

-f0dder (February 24, 2011, 07:53 AM)

I'm gonna add that to my yogi-ism & oxymoron collection.

-40hz (February 24, 2011, 08:09 AM)

I was dead serious - I can't see the oxymoron there, honestly. There's some very talented people out there, and it's breeding ground for the next generation of serious security engineers

-f0dder (February 24, 2011, 08:17 AM)

And possibly the next generation of "serious" cyber-criminals and government black-ops operatives?

I'm not so sanguine as to believe they're all the cyber-equivalent of Robin Hood.

And they can be "gotten to" just like anybody else.

If they're that good - and they're smart enough to follow the money (or know when a threat made to them or their loved ones isn't a joke) - then I think the security industry just might miss the cut when it comes to making a career choice.

Don't forget, the 'bad guys' have talent scouts and recruiters too. You don't even need to speak Russian or Bulgarian to understand them any more.

 

P.S.

@f0dder - Quick note: I wasn't trying to mock your earlier comment. But I did find it a funny choice of words even if you were being dead serious about it. Honestly, I do understand what you're saying. And you do make a valid point even if I disagree to some extent about the likelihood of a "good outcome" resulting from your premise. No offense or criticism is intended.

8107

General Software Discussion / Re: Most Pirated Software?

« Last post by 40hz on February 24, 2011, 08:26 AM »

Including Asia does alter the equation a bit.

There's an old story about how Borland president Phillipe Kahn made a present of a copy of TurboPascal to a university professor friend when he visited China. Shortly after that, TurboPascal became China's single most popular program. Estimated deployment was in the hundreds of thousands.

Unfortunately, Borland never sold even a single copy of TurboPascal to a customer in China.

8108

General Software Discussion / Re: Most Pirated Software?

« Last post by 40hz on February 24, 2011, 08:09 AM »

reputable 0day groups,

-f0dder (February 24, 2011, 07:53 AM)

 

 

I'm gonna add that to my yogi-ism & oxymoron collection.

8109

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu: Where Did the Love Go?

« Last post by 40hz on February 24, 2011, 07:57 AM »

It's just me or every software after some time tries to come up with more complexity than simplicity, in the name of feature richness.

-mahesh2k (February 24, 2011, 05:21 AM)

It not just you.

It's a problem that has been dogging the entire end-user software industry for about 25 years now.

But it's mostly our own fault it's happening.

A little history:

Back around 1990, PC Magazine and others began what seemed to be an editorial policy of hand wringing over "feature bloat."

No matter how good or bad a product was, the reviewer always felt the need to wrap up by bemoaning how big and bulked up the product had become since it's original or previous release.

This went on for a couple of years until "bloat" started to become an industry buzzword. By the mid-90s almost everybody was complaining about feature bloat.

I'm not 100% sure who finally called them all to task in a guest editorial. But it was one of the biggies. I think it was Jim Manzi of Lotus Development Corp. (Everybody remember Lotus 1-2-3? They were bigger than Microsoft once!)

What he said was that software developers were caught between a rock and a hard place because the trade press and its readers were sending mixed messages. If a developer didn't add features to a new release, it got slammed in it's review. And that meant it received a lower 'ranking' than a product that had so many features it risked bursting its shrinkwrap. However, if a developer went ahead with a big "feature release," they then got slammed for feature bloat.

Manzi pointed out they couldn't have it both ways.

For those who don't remember the "golden age of computer magazines," maybe I should point out that this was a time when product showdowns and shootouts were a very popular type of tech article. Back then, receiving an Editor's Choice or Top Pick designation by a major magazine had a huge impact on sales. Especially if it was a "corporate" (i.e wp, spreadsheet, database) product you were selling.

Manzi went on to say that while everybody compained about bloated apps, it didn't actually seem to bother them all that much. Sorta like how most people tell TV polls they want more cultural and educational programming but rarely watch any of it once it's on. He also went on to say Lotus' sales research found that when given a choice between more features or less, customers picked the product with more features every time. Even if it meant paying more.

He wrapped up by saying products would stop experiencing feature bloat when the press and the people stopped penalizing the developers for not putting more and more in.

Shortly after that, feature bloat fell out of vogue as a soapbox issue for most magazines.

Unfortunately the bulk of the buyers still veer towards huge feature sets because "you just never know" when you're going to need something. That's one of the reasons why so many people still buy a full office suite when all they really need is a simple wordprocessor or basic spreadsheet. Same goes for servers. Tons of small businesses bring in a full server when all they really need is some network storage and a decent backup system.

I think the software market will eventually reach a higher level of sophistication and start moving away from huge products and opt for a more snap-in type computing environment. One where the end-user decides (and buys) what will be in there. In-app purchases are one manifestation of that trend. But it will be a while before it becomes the generally accepted way to purchase and install software. Customers are leery of being nickle-and-dimed. And the developers are hesitant to make any structural changes that could adversely affect sales or screw up their development roadmaps.

It will all get worked out eventually. But until then, "bigass apps" are something we'll have to live with.

8110

Official Announcements / Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 08:43 PM »

P.S. Ran into the same thing recently with a charitable group that was out selling raffle tickets. If you wouldn't take a ticket, they wouldn't take your money.

Did you know that in the UK, even if your working for a charity, you can carry those collection tins...but if you rattle them, you can get arrested as its then classed as "begging"  

-Stephen66515 (February 23, 2011, 08:06 PM)

Maybe they should hire Brittany. Every time she shakes her little "can" the dollars roll in.

8111

General Software Discussion / Re: Instantly Increasing Password Strength

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 06:40 PM »

FYI: a reliable and safe source for true random strings is www.random.org

-40hz (February 23, 2011, 05:10 PM)

I really wanted to make a joke here about random.org's satirical sister site - noentropy.net, but unfortunately it's offline.

It used to just return a string of 1's.

-Eóin (February 23, 2011, 06:19 PM)

Shouldn't be hard to redo and host here.  

So simple even I could probably code it.

Let's ask Mouser...

(Kidding...just kidding  )

8112

General Software Discussion / Re: Instantly Increasing Password Strength

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 05:53 PM »

The Geographic Coordinate Generator is great!

Do you realise how hard it is to determine what country to invade without a dart?


It's just too bad most of the planet seems to be covered with water....Curses!

-4wd (February 23, 2011, 05:29 PM)

Why be selective. Why not just invade all of them?

8113

General Software Discussion / Re: Instantly Increasing Password Strength

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 05:10 PM »

FYI: a reliable and safe source for true random strings is www.random.org

What's this fuss about true randomness?

Perhaps you have wondered how predictable machines like computers can generate randomness. In reality, most random numbers used in computer programs are pseudo-random, which means they are a generated in a predictable fashion using a mathematical formula. This is fine for many purposes, but it may not be random in the way you expect if you're used to dice rolls and lottery drawings.

RANDOM.ORG offers true random numbers to anyone on the Internet. The randomness comes from atmospheric noise, which for many purposes is better than the pseudo-random number algorithms typically used in computer programs. People use RANDOM.ORG for holding drawings, lotteries and sweepstakes, to drive games and gambling sites, for scientific applications and for art and music. The service has existed since 1998 and was built and is being operated by Mads Haahr of the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin in Ireland.

As of today, RANDOM.ORG has generated 935.5 billion random bits for the Internet community.

They offer some very useful free services:

Lists and Strings and Maps, Oh My!

• List Randomizer will randomize a list of anything you have (names, phone numbers, etc.)
• String Generator makes random alphanumeric strings
• Password Generator makes secure passwords for your Wi-Fi or that extra Gmail account
• iGoogle Password Generator is a handy tool for your iGoogle desktop
• Clock Time Generator will pick random times of the day
• Calendar Date Generator will pick random days across nearly three and a half millennia
• Geographic Coordinate Generator will pick a random spot on our planet's surface
• Bitmaps in black and white
• Pregenerated Files contain large amounts of downloadable random bits
• Pure White Audio Noise for composition or just to test your audio equipment
• Jazz Scales to practice improvisation for students of jazz guitar
• Samuel Beckett's randomly generated short prose

I'm particularly partial to their String Generator

I'll use it to "gin up" and download a few hundred 20-character strings at a pop. You can always merge or concatenate multiple lists to get longer strings or otherwise make a mess of things.

Check out the Beckett random prose while you're at it. It's a riot if you're a Beckett fan.

Great resource. Highly recommended. [/list]

8114

Official Announcements / Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 04:35 PM »

What do people *think* the pledging concept is?  

-wraith808 (February 22, 2011, 09:58 AM)

I see it as an incentive.

-40hz (February 22, 2011, 12:59 PM)

That's not what *I* see it as, which is maybe why we have a disconnect.

If you walk for the united way, and get pledges towards your miles walked or completing a walk, who is getting anything from that?  What's the incentive?  
 
...

That was my thought behind the idea.

-wraith808 (February 22, 2011, 01:48 PM)

It also provides a sense of shared purpose and community for people with a high personal need for affiliation.

Not necessarily a bad thing. But many times it engenders a false sense of "doing" that takes on a life of it's own if you're not careful.

In a city near where I live, there's this big drive to get all the kids under the age of ten photographed annually.
 
This is for identification purposes in the event one ever got kidnapped. They don't have many kids go missing there. And kidnapping has never been a common crime there either. But it's a hot button topic that caught the imagination of enough people that a non-profit got formed to make the "ID Your Child" thing happen.  

They solicit contributions to help keep the service cost down for everybody, and to provide ID photos for people who can't afford it.

But here's the problem. You can't just make a contribution to them. You have to "sponsor" one of their activity participants. When asked, I told them I wasn't interested in supporting their "walk" but that I'd be happy to contribute $20 to their cause. They refused it. I was told you had to sponsor a walker or they couldn't take the contribution.

Apparently, this walk was a big deal thing for them. So much so that they turned down a cash contribution to their cause because I didn't want to be "incentivized" to make it.

So tell me which was more important: making sure there were current ID photographs of the little kids on file in case (god forbid!) the police ever needed them - or - making sure everybody who donated was on the same page for how contributions should be solicited.

Like I said, these things sometimes take on a life of their own and get in the way of accomplishing the intended goal.

P.S. Ran into the same thing recently with a charitable group that was out selling raffle tickets. If you wouldn't take a ticket, they wouldn't take your money.

 

8115

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu: Where Did the Love Go?

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 04:18 PM »

None of this stuff is a Ubuntu invention.

-MilesAhead (February 23, 2011, 03:47 PM)

I don't see innovation as taking credit for other people's work.

-MilesAhead (February 23, 2011, 03:55 PM)

I understand what you're saying, although I don't completely agree.

Because in some respects, it misses the point of the 'open' software development model. The whole point is nothing belongs to any one distro, group, or individual.

And while it's all well and good to try to claim something as "my innovation," most of the Linux world has a very good idea of who the real "firsts" and innovators are, and consequently ignores the wannabes and claim-jumpers.

Now if the press could just exercise a little journalistic discretion and actually research some of the things they report instead of cribbing it directly off somebody's press release, a lot of misunderstanding could be avoided.

re:GF

I showed her Mandrake. She didn't like it. She prefers Gnome to KDE. From what I've seen, most Windows users do. At least initially. That's because Gnome works, it's pretty - and it feels familiar. So rather than opting for the supposed "best" or more powerful window manager, Ubuntu went with something almost as capable, but more likely to be quickly understood by someone coming over to it from Microsoft Windows.

I think therein lies Shuttleworth's real contribution. Not being a part of those of us who "came up" through the ranks, he ignored all the techno-political philosophies (and other baggage) and created something that he - a non-"old guard" nixer - liked and could work with. And most of the new adopters seemed to appreciate what he put together - and paid for - out of his own pocket. (Don't forget Ubuntu was the only distro that ever shipped free CDs, in quantity, to anybody that requested them.)

I guess the way I look at it is a paraphrase of a comment by Gerry Weinberg. Basically, he said:

There is no limit to how much you can accomplish, or the amount of good you can bring into this world - as long as you don't care who ends up getting the credit for it.

From what I can see, the people who do the most to contribute to Linux have all come to embrace that philosophy.

 

8116

Living Room / Re: Should I be concerned that my wife opened a Facebook account?

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 03:53 PM »

One trick is to deactivate your account, and only put it back up when you're logged into it. That's the only way AFAIK that you can completely control what gets put up on your page.

Supposedly this was first done by certain very public advocates of gay marriage as a technique to minimize some of the hate and phony postings that were showing up on their pages.

I believe you need to log on fairly regularly if you do this in order to avoid getting your account disabled by Facebook. Supposedly it works as long as you stay deactivated for less than one week at a stretch?

Any Facebookers out there know what the story is with this?

8117

General Software Discussion / Re: 20 New User Misconceptions about Linux

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 03:39 PM »

@PK: +1 with Z!

Finally got a chance to read all the way through it. Absolutely priceless in places. The rest is just plain funny.

Gonna have to drop this one however:

Quote
Make it known that $699 (the fee you legally owe SCO Novell if you use Lunix) is $300 more than the price Windows Server 2003 Web Edition, which has more features, greater stability, and has been shown time and time again to have a higher ROI.

On the plus side they can always add this press release from SCO (emphasis added):

LINDON, Utah, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The SCO Group, Inc., (Pink Sheets: SCOXQ), www.sco.com, a leading provider of UNIX® software technology, today announced that it is  pursuing a sale of substantially all of the assets of its UNIX® business, including certain UNIX system V software products and related services.  The asset sale will be free and clear of liens and encumbrances pursuant to Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.  Interested parties must submit a bid by close of business, October 5, 2010.  For information on the company or the sale, please contact Ocean Park Advisors, LLC, 6033 West Century Blvd., Suite 1290, Los Angeles, CA 90045, Attn: Bruce Comer, Managing Director, (310) 670-2721; Mark Fisler, Managing Director, (310) 670-2704.

"This asset sale is an important step forward in ensuring business continuity for our customers around the world," said Ken Nielsen, chief financial officer, The SCO Group.  "Our goal is to ensure continued viability for SCO, its customers, employees and the UNIX technology," said Nielsen.

The purchase price for the UNIX software assets will be determined in connection with the auction sale.  Any party wishing to submit an offer for the Software Business Assets must submit a non-contingent offer, marked Asset Purchase Agreement to show any revisions, and evidence of financial wherewithal to close on the transaction on or before October 5, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. (prevailing Eastern Time) to: (i) The SCO Group, Inc., 333 South 520 West, Suite. 170, Lindon, Utah 84042, Attn: Ryan Tibbitts; (ii) Blank Rome LLP, 1201 N. Market Street, Suite 800, Wilmington, DE 19801, Attn: Bonnie Glantz Fatell, Esq.; (iii) Ocean Park Advisors, LLC, 6033 West Century Blvd. Suite 1290, Los Angeles, CA 90045, Attn: Bruce Comer.

In case you haven't followed the whole SCO debacle, the courts had already rendered a final decision which determined SCO did not own the rights to any of the Unix System V software it was looking to sell.

Thank all that's holy the SCO legal team's dog & pony show is finally set to be shut down once and for all.

8118

Coding Snacks / Re: IDEA: Plain text checklist manager

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 03:18 PM »

Emacs Org Mode does something along those lines.

(Plus - being Emacs - about ten billion additional things most people couldn't care less about.  )

Might be worth looking at for ideas.

Non-technical intro article can be found here.

-40hz (February 23, 2011, 09:49 AM)

emacs is still around?  I used that in college for a programming class. 

-superboyac (February 23, 2011, 11:42 AM)

It's very much still around. Most of its fans are a little 'rounder' too. And they're more insane about their little pet than ever!

I wrote a bowling scoring program.

Well...I can't think of any task that could show it's able to do anything better than that. Bravo SB!

Seriously - that is pretty cool. How many apps out there are equally at home as a programming editor, an email client, an FTP client, a biorhythm calculator, an ASCII adventure game, a personal organizer - and a bowling score program?

I used to say EMACS wasn't a program - it was a geography.

Probably the only true virtual reality that ever ran completely in text mode.

8119

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu: Where Did the Love Go?

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 02:53 PM »

Holy smokes, you were in on it at the beginning! And I thought I was daring in '98 and then again in'01. Took me until '06 to make the full switch.

-zridling (February 23, 2011, 02:21 PM)

Don't be too impressed. It took me almost six months to get it to where I was happy with it. And about two years total before I began seriously thinking it might someday be the dominant future OS. 

...aaaand we never were able to get Fido working smoothly on it

Although other people apparently did.

(Or at least claimed they did. )

It wasn't until Knoppix 1.6 came out (2001? 2002?) that I became completely convinced we were really onto something.

---

That's why I had to ask MilesAhead why he felt the way he did.

Maybe it's just a matter of perspective based on where you started from - and where you're now standing.

If you started with SLS, Ubuntu was a major major major piece of innovation.

Much like an 18th century bricklayer would, no doubt, look at an electric cement mixer and an 8-hour workday and think he had seen the apogee of human progress and enlightenment.

It's all a matter of where you look and how you see it.

8120

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu: Where Did the Love Go?

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 02:37 PM »

I didn't see the innovation.

-MilesAhead (February 23, 2011, 02:18 AM)

I did.

I handed a copy of a Ubuntu 6.06 live CD to my GF Alexis who, though very bright (and not afraid of technology), is definitely not a "computer person" like most of us here are.

She got it installed with no help from me. And she used it regularly, with very little hand holding afterwards. And that included installing/upgrading software and sorting out the occasional "missing dependency" problem when not installing from a repository.

Wish I could say the same thing about her experiences with Windows 7 when it first came out.

Which is why I have so much trouble understanding some of the pith and grumping on the part of some DCers who apparently are having all sorts of problems with Linux.

If my non-tech GF was able to effectively use it - and roll with the punches when the occasional problem cropped up - why in the name of Buddah do these same tech-savvy people seem to act as though they're completely brought to their knees by it?

It's a bit of a mystery and a disconnect for me.

re: Hype

There was some, but everything I saw was mainly the tech press trumpeting the demise of Microsoft Windows. Which was weird since Shutteworth went to great lengths to argue (in my mind very sensibly) that a peaceful coexistence with Windows was not only possible - but desirable as well.

With the crash & burn that was Vista, Linux had one golden opportunity to unseat Microsoft. But that was not going to happen through anything the Linux camp could do by itself. The only way it might (only might) have happened would have been if Microsoft totally screwed up on Windows 7.

And to it's credit, Microsoft acquitted itself rather well. Windows 7 is a very nice desktop OS. No argument from anybody (including most of the saner Linux crowd) on that score.

Of course, now that it's fairly obvious there won't be a new king on the throne, the tech press is back to it's old tactic of ripping Linux for every single thing it gets wrong, no matter how small.

I find it very telling that many of the same pundits that heralded a new era of computing - one which didn't include Microsoft - turned into exceptionally harsh critics of Linux almost overnight.

I guess it's important to gauge which direction the wind is blowing if you write a column for a living. Probably right up there with knowing what to kiss - and when.

I wonder if that might have been because the US computer industry finally woke up and realized it wasn't in the best interests of their business for Linux to triumph over Windows?

Because as long as Windows is the de facto OS for desktop, the US computer industry is able to exert a larger influence over the technology and direction of the industry than would be the case if a non-American controlled OS were running on most PCs.

But either way it doesn't really matter. Linux will be around for a long time. And Microsoft isn't going anywhere either.

 

8121

Official Announcements / Re: March 2011 DonationCoder.com Fundraiser Celebration -- Pledges?

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 12:27 PM »

How come people aren't more excited about my new card game?  

-mouser (February 23, 2011, 11:19 AM)

Speaking only for myself, possibly because I have something like ten really cool games I've bought, over the last year or so, that are still sitting on the shelf (most in their original shrink-wrap) because I haven't found the time to get into them. And that's to say nothing of my own personal game dev projects, all of which are now languishing in various stages of abandonment and neglect.  

However, I'm very excited about that card creation library you mentioned. Put me on the waiting list to buy a license when it comes out.  

8122

General Software Discussion / Re: Instantly Increasing Password Strength

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 10:58 AM »

Many capable crack tools include multilanguage dictionaries and "quick parsers." Once their dictionary heuristic determines you're primarily using "real" words, they've got you regardless of passphrase string length. Most have tables of common word pairs and combos which can reduce the time to crack even more.

Swapping out lookalike numbers and punctuation is a well known "trick" which does little other than slow a cracker tool down a bit. And at today's CPU clock speeds, it doesn't amount to much of a delay.

If you really want secure, the only known way is a very long and genuinely random key.

Anything else done to reduce the complexity or length in order to make it more suitable for human use will reduce the level of security.

The real trick is to find the sweet spot where the convenience gained balances acceptably against the degree of security sacrificed. This can only be determined by knowing how secure you really need to be; and having a realistic idea of exactly how much of a threat you're up against.

For individuals, most only need to worry about the malicious. Genuine cybercriminals rarely bother targeting individuals unless they're involved with an institution or business they're trying to hack. And in those cases, they're only hoping to score unsecured data (password lists, login information, IT security memos, phone lists, etc.) that will aid them in cracking their real target.

Why bother hacking one person's PC for their bank accounts when you can crack the bank itself and gain access to all of them?
 

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Living Room / Re: Black ops: how HBGary wrote backdoors for the government

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 10:23 AM »

Be nice if some of them could do a little jail time.

That would give them an opportunity to further expand on their understanding of what being "backdoored" means.

And feels like...

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Living Room / Re: Power Ranger Punches Kid for Accusing Him of Stealing Gloves

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 10:15 AM »

Wow Paul!



40hz grits his teeth, closes his eyes, and waits for the inevitable firestorm to ensue, followed shortly after by a moderator locking out the thread.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Program to beautify crappy exports from other applications?

« Last post by 40hz on February 23, 2011, 10:04 AM »

You could copy to the clipboard, run PureText on it (which would strip out all the junk) and then paste in back into something like Word.

Once there, it should be relatively easy to create macros or a script to prettify it. I do this with a few things I'm responsible for where it's not worth the effort to pursue a more complex solution.

Not ideal, but it will give you something to use in the interim. Plus, copying to the clipboard gets around the hassles of trying to reverse engineer proprietary file formats so you can get at the underlying data.