| The shape of things |
[May. 31st, 2009|12:26 pm] |
Watching Gibson yesterday he said at some point that humans were motivated to find the shape of things, and likened it to a character in one of novels trying to find the shape of cyberspace. I understand what he meant by that, because I was motivated, at least in part, to research finance/economics because I was interested in the shape of the system itself.
However, it wasn't until I read Tim O'Reilly's write-up of Google's Wave demo that it really chimed with me. The first thing that came to mind was a documentary I saw about modern Jazz and the affect that Ornette Coleman's album The Shape of Jazz to Come had on the Jazz world. Or indeed, the Amen Break which spawned an entire subculture. It's about the affect something can have on living and growing system, like a phase change.
I expect in the months coming up to launch, you will see a lot of FUD and delaying tactics by people with vested interests to protect. So you better see what all the fuss is about, and then read Tim's Post if you want to have an idea of what comes next.
You can read Tim's post right here. Get to it! |
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| Imaginary spaces |
[May. 31st, 2009|01:49 am] |
I've just watched No Maps for These Territories which is an odd documentary film about the science fiction author William Gibson. I've read most of his books, and was strangely disappointed recently to find that he's on twitter. It's nothing to do with ethos so much as it works better if he's this gnome like creature from a bygone era writing stories about places he's never been and things he doesn't understand. It means he's not faking it, and he really is just making it up.
I mention this because in the film he mentions the day that his dad brought home an early television, only there was no TV at the time, then there was a test card at odd hours, then there were live broadcasts. The eagle had landed.
I remember when there was no internet, hell I remember when there were no computers or computer magazines. I remember going to ad-hoc computer fairs. These were not places to buy stuff, no, these were a motley selection of people who had brought their computers in and had them running odd programs on pasteboard tables. So the public could crowd round and have a look. Only there were never any crowds, just people who thought it was a jumble sale, and the odd proto geek like me, who at least knew what a computer was, and wanted to look at a few in the flesh so to speak. I still have the original copies of Personal Computer World where they did the first reviews of the Sinclair Spectrum and the Apple Lisa, the progenitor of the first Macintosh.
I remember compiling Mosaic from source on a UNIX box and surfing the entirety of the internet, (as it existed back then) in one evening. There used to an email that listed new sites as they became available. There was no google. I remember hearing about Netscape for the first time and switching to it as it allowed you to have background wallpaper. I preferred the terminal lab for internet work before the web existed as it was quieter, and I knew how to access everything from Archie & FTP, to WAIS and gopher, etc. via email.
I recently told somebody that I built my first computer with a soldering iron, and they replied, "and you think that's something to be proud of?"
The world has changed, if you want to know where it goes next look at this, now try to imagine life without gmail.
Like the man is reputed to have said, "the future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed" |
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| Tired. |
[May. 24th, 2009|02:51 am] |
I remember reading long ago, in the footnotes of Wired magazine, a lament for the departing editor, then the magazine changed. It used to be this amazingly vibrant and offbeat thing. Like somebody had taken lightning and bottled it. I used to buy it in a drab art supplies shop in Lincoln. It was amazing.
“We decided to put the Internet-founding subculture behind us, and be more mainstream with technology. We banned Burning Man and drug culture and the letters TCP/IP,” he said.
Which would account in no small measure for the car & clothes adverts and for why it sucked so hard, the more awards it won. There are high crimes and misdemeanors, the destruction of the old Wired is one of the former, the "relaunch" of Wired UK in the current economic environment is one of the later.
If Wired in it's current form is killed by that which spawned it, it's not a tragedy, just the natural order re-asserting itself. I figure I better stop here lest I say harsh things. |
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| On the cards |
[May. 14th, 2009|06:34 pm] |
Frankly amazing article about customer profiling by credit card companies at the NYT. Like this bit:
But giving credit cards to riskier customers posed a problem: How do you know which cardholders will pay something each month, providing fat profits, and which will simply run up a huge tab and then disappear?
The Ph.D.’s arrived at two solutions. The first was to create thousands of new kinds of cards with their own credit limits, terms and interest rates. Such a strategy theoretically protected companies by limiting how much a cardholder could buy and by charging sufficiently high interest rates to ensure that if a few cardholders walked away, the companies still made plenty of money.
The other solution was learning to predict how different types of customers would behave. Card companies began running tens of thousands of experiments each year, testing the emotions elicited by various card colors and the appeal of different envelope sizes, for instance, or whether new immigrants were more responsible than cardholders born in this country. By understanding customers’ psyches, the companies hoped, they could tell who was a bad risk and either deny their application or, for those who were already cardholders, start shrinking their available credit and increasing minimum payments to squeeze out as much cash as possible before they defaulted.
There are some real gems in the article, long but definitely worth it, go read. [HT Radar]
This article however, is complete tosh, if LLL is such a savvy user why is he not following basic computer security, you know, anti-virus, anti-spyware & firewall? The tag line for the article:
In short, alongside the ethical considerations surrounding casual piracy, there are also very good technical reasons why people should not try this at home
Is IMO a bit of blatant scare mongering propaganda, courtesy of FAST. If you read as many computer magazines as I do, you get used to the industry line. But it's never OTT. Things must be getting desperate if they're fostering such pseudo technical tosh onto otherwise respectable newspapers. |
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| The once and future king |
[Apr. 25th, 2009|10:34 pm] |
A productive day of sorts. Finally got OSX installed on the new system, including network, audio and most importantly, my graphics card, all working. The odd twinge here and there but I'm sure I can smooth that out given time. She who must be snuggled had a fit when I brought back a retail copy a while back. But if you're going to use it, it's the reasonable thing to do. Looking forward to Snow Leopard to be honest. Looks like they're working on some really slick technology under the hood. as well as being a 64 bit release.
Now I just need anti-virus and decent outgoing firewall and I may be able to move in. Will need a new mouse though, since the Pro Mouse I have was misbehaving. Keyboard's OK though, if a little spongy. Need to get used to where the keys are, (US layout) keep hitting \ when I go for the delete key. May have to see if I can't find a UK keyboard. Speech marks are a bit awkward.
Minor problem with the screen since I've reached the limits of how far I can expand the image, and it's still has black bars. Will have to look into that. But overall fairly pleased. |
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| Getting the message |
[Mar. 30th, 2009|08:55 am] |
I was looking forward to Spore, in fact the reason I bought the components I did for this PC, and didn't wait a few months for the i7 "Nehalem" was because of the release deadline for Spore. So on the day I bought the "galactic" edition, and the book, and went home happy. Then, as is my usual MO, prior to installing the game I went online to check out the reviews, looked for any patches etc. It was only then that I discovered the DRM, so Spore, in it's large box, sits unloved, (and uninstalled) on the floor somewhere, in fact after a quick rummage I can't even find it. I suspect it's buried under the avalanche of FT's behind me. Needless to say it caused an outcry, and was probably responsible for the record setting piracy rate for Spore. Which depending who you listened to at the time reached into the millions, while EA themselves in a bid to downplay the significance claimed it was "only" 500,000, Which is kind of amusing when you consider that DRM (invasive and insidious as it is) was used to prevent piracy of their big name IP brands.
It really pissed me off. So much so that I refused to install Spore on principle, and I've religiously checked all subsequent games I've bought for DRM and online activation. If I find any case that says it requires internet access and isn't clear why, it stays on the shelf. I bought a couple of games recently, Empire Total War & Dawn of War II, and while they do contain online activation, they do it via Steam. Which I'm OK with for two reasons:
1) Steam is a service, it has value add.
2) You need only activate once and then you can turn it off.
However, it would appear that EA, (unscrupulous, money grubbing bastards that they are) has finally gotten the message. As those who know me will tell you, I'm a big fan of the Sims. So I've been looking forward to the Sims 3, and EA have just announced this:
The game will have disc-based copy protection – there is a Serial Code just like The Sims 2. To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed.
We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution that makes it easy for you to play the game without DRM methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorization server access in the distant future.
There's nothing like being magnanimous in defeat :) Like many others however, I'll be checking reviews ahead of time, "just in case" but it would appear I may actually get to play this one. Cheers EA! |
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| The joy of tech |
[Mar. 28th, 2009|04:37 pm] |
Coming back from an evening of financial hackery and discussion, I dropped into Smiths late at night, and found that there was a new edition of CustomPC, (the best hardware magazine in the UK) available. They're doing processors, which means it's time for benchmark porn, and going through them looking for your processor to see if it's still competitive. (It is, very :) but the good thing about the stats is that it gives you a way to compare. Especially in esoterica like power drain and other such obscure metrics, as well as how far your CPU can be clocked, nominally.
Then while reading this weeks Micro Mart I came across an advert from my favourite hardware shop, Yoyotech House of technology. Where there were advertising a homebrew box that had been pre-clocked for a very reasonable £750, given the contents. However the really interesting thing was the advert for one of these a Domino A.L.C by a company called coolit systems. Which is nothing less that a pre-sealed water cooling loop, in a very nice package, for very little money. In general such stuff is mediocre to abysmal in use, which is why people build their own. However Guru3D decided to do some destructive testing, by exposing it to a Quad Core QX9770 Extreme, clocked to 4Ghz. This is a CPU with a list price north of £1k it's stupidly fast and stupidly hot, more so when you clock the bollocks off it. (oh good, the grape has been found, I can now put it back in my ear :)
Somewhat surprisingly, the CPU cooler did not explode, melt, or cause the chip to go into thermal shutdown to save it's expensively doped silicon. No, it passed with flying colours. Which through the wonder of stats porn we know was sucking up 400W of juice at peak, with a heat output to match. Given that my Quad, takes 300W at load, it should be good for more heat, not to mention I found a review with it clocked a touch higher than mine where it was only at 50C load, while I'm on 70C on air, it should make for a much quieter & cooler experience.
Then of course I discovered that they've made a water loop using the same system for my GPU, one of these which is good as it's a separate loop and the GPU makes the sound like a hurricane in a box when it first winds up, God knows what it sounds like at load.
So, I'm thinking "yeah!" to both. :o) |
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| Get Miro! |
[Feb. 15th, 2009|12:30 pm] |
The new version, (2.0) of Miro is out, it's very slick, I spent an evening into the wee small hours, watching TED, with it, a few of which were really good. Especially Elizabeth Gilbert talking about creativity. However, if you only watch one, then this is just fucking amazing, I watched it several times, and saved it for later. Miro lets you do that :) |
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| It wasn't me :) |
[Feb. 15th, 2009|11:51 am] |
Hot on the heels of the news below that Microsoft is getting increasingly desperate to recoup some of it's investment in the expensive boondogle that is Vista. Comes the news that the former software giant, is being sued for predatory pricing & anti-competitive behaviour over charges to downgrade Vista to XP :)
Quoth Bloomberg:
Microsoft is trying to salvage Vista, which businesses and consumers panned after it went on sale in 2007. With the economy shrinking, companies are putting off new projects and technology purchases. Windows sales declined 8 percent last quarter, compared with Microsoft’s forecast for growth of as much as 10 percent.
Microsoft charged consumers $104 for the downgrade, and extended the offer to July, “likely due to the tremendous profits that Microsoft has reaped from its downgrade option,” according to the complaint.
It charges businesses considerably more in the UK. One of the managers at work spent a week pulling his hair out, being bounced from pillar to post to find out if this was even possible. Basically you have to buy "software assurance" for each license then you have to pay for the downgrade. Presumably to Windows Fundamentals. For legacy PC's apparently :)
Though I do find it odd that every Microsoft page I visited above contained an image of an assertive "ethnic" female. I don't doubt there are women in PC support, I've just not met many of them. :) |
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| A good day |
[Jan. 22nd, 2009|10:53 pm] |
Not because Sony took a beating, (along with the banks) no, that was just icing :)
I actually got to play with new hardware, one of these, a sun M4000. At first blush it looked like it might be a bit dull, but once you get inside the thing, (metaphorically speaking) it's a whole new world. I'm used to virtualised platforms, normally they abstract the hardware through software, or specialised subsystems in the hardware. This is broadly how Sun's Zones technology works. as well as Virtualbox. But the M400 is an enterprise class data server, an entirely different animal. I guess I should have realised there was something odd about it when my colleague couldn't even get the machine to boot normally, though there is allegedly an OS installed.
So I jumped in with my boots on, and quickly found myself out of my depth, or at least confused enough to RTFM, which in itself was cryptic. So I started digging, and it appears that there is a whole other OS inside this thing. Including a complete private internal network, and another form of "virtualisation" only at a hardware level, (which I had expected, but not understood) where you can flexibly segment the whole thing, even to the level of PCI slots. The things that appear to be virtualised, at last for the second domain are the drives. It appears these have to be configured much the way you'd configure the graphics card in software virtualisation. You also have to power them on individually, and can force them to panic etc. It's really rather odd. It's nothing so much as a different way of thinking.
It's only at that point do you go back to a small paragraph you'd ignored, that tells you you have to configure it, you always have to configure it. That you realise what that small paragraph is actually telling you. Then the task morphs from the normal walk in the park, to a journey through Terra Incognita, which is far more interesting. It's good to be surprised once in a while and reminded why you started doing the job in the first place.
Makes for a life less ordinary. |
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| Who do you trust? |
[Jan. 13th, 2009|06:41 pm] |
For years I've been telling people that wireless networking is dangerous, (WEP can be broken in real-time on a 386, the drivers are vulnerable to direct attacks, and the signal can be spoofed) Ordinary people are often surprised, but other geeks think I'm a crank or paranoid, the standard response is "well yes, but the chances of that are low, and who's going to bother?" The answer would appear to be government, if you live in a developed nation, your government.
To conduct the remote hacking, police can send an e-mail containing a virus to the suspect's computer, break into a residence to install a keystroke logger onto a machine or simply place a surveillance van in the vicinity of a wireless network to intercept the traffic.
You may think it's just the security geeks at wired being alarmist, but they're linking to a London Times article as backup. It's not yet law, but it soon will be, and it came via the European Union:
Under the Brussels edict, police across the EU have been given the green light to expand the implementation of a rarely used power involving warrantless intrusive surveillance of private property. The strategy will allow French, German and other EU forces to ask British officers to hack into someone’s UK computer and pass over any material gleaned.
A remote search can be granted if a senior officer says he “believes” that it is “proportionate” and necessary to prevent or detect serious crime — defined as any offence attracting a jail sentence of more than three years.
This stuff's been hush hush for years, but this is the first I've heard of such public overt action.
This is also why I've been saying for years that you should install a firewall on your PC, not to stop things getting in, (use a hardware "appliance" for that) but so you know what's going out. I also make it a habit to know what's going on on my PC down to the process level. But then I figure this is aimed at computer illiterate low hanging fruit, and/or the general public, as opposed to people like me. Most people have no idea what's on their machine and run with the default/loosest of settings, except if I've set it up for them.
Your best bet is of course to not use Windows, since it's 90% of the market, it's unlikely they'll even bother with unusual Operating Systems like custom distros of Linux and other smaller OS' though I imagine they'll try to do something for OSX eventually, primarily I think they'll rely on wireless sniffing for that as wireless is a big feature of the hardware. However on most PC laptops of modern vintage there is usually a switch to turn of the WiFi radio transmitter, (to improve battery life) That's always good, no radio, no problem, unless you're dumb enough to leave your laptop unattended, use Outlook or open email attachments.
What to do about a desktop is more "hands on" in extremis you could glue your keyboard and mouse cables to the box, that would stop them fitting a keylogger manually. Always check if you see anything out of place, and make sure you know where your cable runs, and your router is in plain sight. Most physical attacks of this kind are hard to hide. Make sure also that you understand your router, change the default password too, that goes for everything.
Knowledge is power. |
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| A good review |
[Jan. 11th, 2009|10:23 pm] |
Just occasionally you read a review that doesn't suck:
I don't know; maybe the best thing to do is not to ask too many questions about why you want it but just buy it anyway. If I may be French about it for a moment, it will complicate your life, like having a beautiful mistress as well as a beautiful wife. But it will be an enjoyable complication.
I won't tell you what for, because you'd only be disappointed, but I thought it was a great review nonetheless. :) |
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| The Zen of User Interface Design |
[Jan. 6th, 2009|09:21 pm] |
I run Firefox as my primary web browser, (though I do use Opera too) in both cases my browsing experience is heavily modified, I use 40+ extensions, one theme, and customise my tool & tab bars in ways that I find pleasing & efficient. I had added "fast dial" to Firefox, which provides a version of Opera's "speed dial" functionality. It was OK, I added a few commonly used tabs and used it on occasion. Today, when I loaded Firefox it asked me if I wanted to update "fast dial" I said yes, and then all hell broke lose.
My browser opened up with a whole load of new toolbars, the size of my tabs tippled, it hijacked my search engine & inserted icons in odd places. I wasn't informed this would happen, so it came as somewhat of a surprise. I'm not alone in this.
I then tried to change the new stuff, I closed the tool bars, and the new icon was annoying. Instead of opening in a new tab as I have it set, it overlaid the existing tab. The next insult was it had added "partner sites" before mine, which meant I had to remove them, and then reorder my sites. Nor could I find an easy way to return my tabs to normal size. That pissed me off, so it's time to say goodbye to "fast dial".
There are said to be three basic rules to user interface design, namely:
1. Place Users in Control.
2. Reduce User's Memory Load.
3. Make the Interface Consistent.
Continuity in this regard is important, as is not ****ing with the interface I've spent a long time customising, providing me with simple way to remove your crap, and not forcing me to learn a new way of doing something without my explicit consent.
This can be summed up in a simple phrase, "When I want your opinion I'll ask for it" failure to obey these simple rules will get your ass **** canned real quick. |
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| Control |
[Dec. 8th, 2008|07:44 pm] |
Schneier is on a roll, in I've Seen the Future, and It Has a Kill Switch, he says the following:
The possibilities are endless, and very dangerous. Making this work involves building a nearly flawless hierarchical system of authority. That's a difficult security problem even in its simplest form. Distributing that system among a variety of different devices -- computers, phones, PDAs, cameras, recorders -- with different firmware and manufacturers, is even more difficult. Not to mention delegating different levels of authority to various agencies, enterprises, industries and individuals, and then enforcing the necessary safeguards.
Once we go down this path -- giving one device authority over other devices -- the security problems start piling up. Who has the authority to limit functionality of my devices, and how do they get that authority? What prevents them from abusing that power? Do I get the ability to override their limitations? In what circumstances, and how? Can they override my override?
To which I can only laugh. First because I'm imagining the sort of fun I could have with fucking with such a system. Second because it doesn't apply to me.
I remember watching this snippet of future history a few years ago, about a mythical "Googlezon" (a hybrid of Google and Amazon) and thinking "that would be great" and indeed watching it again just now I could really use it, as my tab count climbs inexorably, and I find myself spending longer and longer at work to avoid the self imposed distractions of home. Trying to make sense of an overwhelming sea of data. But I will be one of the people for who the system works. My data stream will be fabulous.
For most people however, people who don't understand technology or have any interest in molding it to their will, their data stream will be mush, and If not Microsoft, then some other company, will have enslaved them behind bars of their own making.
The system will work for me because I know that control is an illusion, because I understand it, and I have always found ways to work with it or around it.
Schneier is right of course, it is dangerous, but only in the right hands :) Speaking of which, cop for this You can thank me later. |
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| Desire |
[Oct. 16th, 2008|06:09 pm] |
You have to hand it to Apple, besides having the world's best industrial design department, they really know how to inspire geek lust. It's almost insanity to build a laptop out of block of aluminium. It's especially redolent to me as I used to be a precision engineer in a previous life. I may have to go have a fiddle.
You can read about the hands-on experience here and here should you have money to burn. |
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| Stability |
[Sep. 29th, 2008|08:19 am] |
So I took my own advice at the weekend, and took a walk in the sun, read my book, drank coffee. Then on the way back bought cheap frying steak in Aldi and found a single case of Franziskaner, from which I liberated a single bottle. A hot pan turned once, and we have a rare steak and hefe-weissen.
Also, after I had to clear the CMOS as the box refused to POST, I changed only the FSB ratio and the multiplier and the DRAM voltage. Finally, after sleeping on it, it's prime stable. Memory speed is still off, and at 72C it's hotter than I'd like but I imagine I can cool that by reducing the vcore, at least until it becomes unstable again. Apparently if left to it's own devices the vcore is 1.4v, funny that.
In other news, The Paulson Plan (amended) goes before the house today, hopefully the Republicans won't kill it. Watching the Republican press statement yesterday though, I don't think even they are too sure of that.
Oh, and Bungle bank is no more. |
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| The Anti Geek |
[Sep. 10th, 2008|07:53 pm] |
It's a disturbing sign, as everyone else in the team was watching the ignition of the Large Hadron Collider, before work this morning. I was watching Jean Claude Trichet (head of the ECB) give a boring speech to the European Parliament. Woe is me, etc. "What are you doing to yourself?" :)
This comment on Alphaville about Lehman really tickled me though:
Posted by hockey mom on crackberry
no hail mary pass, just a lot of hail marys... |
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| Fat, unfunny with purple hair. |
[Aug. 21st, 2008|06:48 pm] |
That's actually a description from a personal ad I came across years ago, one that I sent a mix tape to. In casting around for a title it occurred to me that that could equally describe Vista, Microsoft's unwanted progeny. I suspect that were it a red-headed step-child Microsoft wouldn't need to co-opt Jerry Seinfeld to inject some much needed personality into it.
Quoth the WSJ:
The software has sold well, and Microsoft retains an overwhelming share of the market for operating system software over Apple. But Apple's computer sales have been rising, and Vista is dogged by the notion that it has technical shortcomings and is hard to use. Apple's latest Mac vs. PC ads take swipes at Vista. Microsoft says early problems with Vista have been largely alleviated.
If by "sold" you mean to distributors and OEM's I wouldn't argue. But to business' and customers? Hardly. Dogged is an interesting word. Though I think savaged, is probably more accurate. When even your friends & natural constituents disparage your efforts, you're obviously doing something wrong:
According to the Office performance benchmarks, Windows XP SP3 is also considerably faster than Vista SP1. "None of this bodes well for Vista, which is now more than two times slower than the most current builds of its older sibling," said Barth
Also:
Dell, Intel and their partners announced last week new technologies that represent major leaps forward for mobility. The companies seem to have discovered the secret to making such bold leaps: Cut Microsoft out of the deal.
I could ramble at length about why Vista is so underwhelming, and why IMO, OS X, Linux, even XP, are better. Instead I'll just refer you to a far superior explanation, from the MGBs, Tanks, and Batmobiles section of Neal Stephenson's seminal work, In the Beginning was the Command Line. Which I come back to time & time again, it really is a must read for anyone who uses a computer regularly.
In retrospect, this was telling me two things about people's relationship to technology. One was that romance and image go a long way towards shaping their opinions. If you doubt it (and if you have a lot of spare time on your hands) just ask anyone who owns a Macintosh and who, on those grounds, imagines him- or herself to be a member of an oppressed minority group.
The other, somewhat subtler point, was that interface is very important. Sure, the MGB was a lousy car in almost every way that counted: balky, unreliable, underpowered. But it was fun to drive. It was responsive. Every pebble on the road was felt in the bones, every nuance in the pavement transmitted instantly to the driver's hands. He could listen to the engine and tell what was wrong with it. The steering responded immediately to commands from his hands. To us passengers it was a pointless exercise in going nowhere--about as interesting as peering over someone's shoulder while he punches numbers into a spreadsheet. But to the driver it was an experience. For a short time he was extending his body and his senses into a larger realm, and doing things that he couldn't do unassisted.
As far as I can see Microsoft, in reaching for the stars, fell to Earth, much the same way Apple did with Copeland, but rather than biting the bullet and buying in something better, as Apple did. Microsoft kept on reaching, until simple market forces, caused them to gut most of the new stuff, (WinFS, the new Kernel, etc.) and release something. Which leaves a few tweaks, some bolt-on software and the shiny interface. All of which requires beefier hardware, and runs on average 13% slower than XP.
Still, if the adverts are funny they may be worth watching, I can't imagine they'll do much for Microsoft's image, which is right up there with housework, taxes, and D.I.Y, beloved of a few fanatics & professionals, but loathed by the multitude. It's probably an ad man's dream.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Seinfeld declined to comment. A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on details of the campaign.
In an email to Microsoft employees in July, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer wrote, "Now it's time to tell our story."
He added: "In the weeks ahead, we'll launch a campaign to address any lingering doubts our customers may have about Windows Vista." He said that later in the year the company will roll out "a more comprehensive effort to redefine the meaning and value of Windows for our customers."
Good luck with that. |
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| RBA |
[Aug. 18th, 2008|07:47 pm] |
Now this is a story all about how, my life got flipped turned upside down, and I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there, to tell you about how my bosses boss nearly drove himself nuts talking to Microsoft about downgrading Vista to XP. True Story. He was randomly babbling/ranting to anyone who would listen for a good two weeks.
After XKCD Though Sinfest was especially good at the weekend too. The man's a genius. |
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| old tricks |
[Aug. 11th, 2008|05:44 pm] |
Microsoft tried to make nice to the geeks and coders at OSCON this year, everyone wondered why. After years of spurning Linux why they were suddenly so friendly? What did they want? Consensus seemed to gravitate towards the idea that they were just desperate for programmers and wanted to gain some mind share. Needless to say that after years of FUD, nobody took them seriously.
Now it would appear despite anti-trust judgments and who knows what else, they're still up to their, old tricks and as usual, playing dirty ably abetted by Intel.
It seems like they're looking to "embrace and extend" once more, in this case Adobe/Macromedia flash, even as they tried to kill the One Laptop per child project:
Microsoft, makers of most of the computer software in the world, tried to kill it with words, and Intel, maker of most computer chips, tried to kill it with dirty tricks. Of course, they don’t admit to being attempted murderers. And when I introduce you to Intel’s lovely spokesperson, Agnes Kwan, you’ll realise how far their denials go. But the truth is the two mightiest high-tech companies in the world looked on Negroponte’s philanthropic scheme and decided it had to die.
So while the economist is reporting Microsoft's attempt to put lipstick on the pig that is Vista. It makes me really happy to point to this and laugh:
Researchers who have read the paper that Dowd and Sotirov wrote on the techniques say their work is a major breakthrough and there is little that Microsoft can do to address the problems. The attacks themselves are not based on any new vulnerabilities in IE or Vista, but instead take advantage of Vista's fundamental architecture and the ways in which Microsoft chose to protect it.
"The genius of this is that it's completely reusable," said Dino Dai Zovi, a well-known security researcher and author. "They have attacks that let them load chosen content to a chosen location with chosen permissions. That's completely game over.
Internet Explorer is chronically insecure at the best of times, on Vista however, it's lethal. The sooner somebody puts the old dog out of it's misery the better.
"I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning." |
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