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Ted's Radio Weblog
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Wednesday, August 31, 2005 |
Glad to hear Ernie the Attorney made it out of Nola safe and has been reunited with his kids:
But they don't fully grasp the enormity of this catastrophe. Probably they don't want to. This is not the sort of thing that the human mind can assimilate in just a few hours, or even a few days.
Ernie The Attorney
2:12:01 PM 
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Yesterday, I "attended" a web seminar put on by the MySQL folks titled "MySQL for DBAs:
How to be Successful as a Scale-Out MySQL DBA" It was an excellent overview of the many ways in which MySQL can be configured with different data engines, settings, configurations, replication or clusters for various High Availability (HA) situations using OnLine Transaction Processing (OLTP) or Data Warehousing scenarios. The web seminar was put on using WebEx, which gave the presenters the opportunity to maintain a Q&A and Chat off to the side during the presentation. WebEx supports Java clients in most browsers: I used Safari on my iMac. Audio, though, isn't streamed, but rather delivered via a toll-free telephone connection. Overall, it was a good use of an hour of my time, getting me some good information and pointers on where to learn more. Sort of like a vendor presentation at a user group, but without the hours of driving on either end.
MySQL archives these presentations and makes them available at http://www.mysql.com/news-and-events/on-demand-webinars/
1:21:52 PM
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Living not far from a large flood control project, Laura and I observe every spring that it's not the rains and snow melt here that are the problem, but the many, many acres of upstream lands that drain through our nearby river.
10:09:00 AM
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Doc has an extensive commentary on The Katrina Tsunami. Key points: the networks aren't reporting anything new or timely and the commercials are more obnoxious than usual. We knew what the potential catastrophe would be like years ago and Doc points to some recent computer modeling that's chillingly accurate.
Want to help? Send money to the Red Cross if you can (1-800-HELP-NOW), or volunteer or give blood.
9:07:47 AM
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The Mercury MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) satellite took some spectacular pictures through the rear view window on the way to Mercury. On the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory site:
The Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft captured several stunning images of Earth during a gravity assist swingby of its home planet on Aug. 2, 2005. Several hundred images, taken with the wide-angle camera in MESSENGER[base ']s Mercury Dual Imaging System (MDIS), were sequenced into a movie documenting the view from MESSENGER as it departed Earth.
Check out the movies here
8:52:06 AM
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InfoWorld: Top News notes Microsoft offers preview of next Windows Server release. "(InfoWorld) - Microsoft on Tuesday made available yet another in a seemingly endless stream of interim product updates with the release of Windows Server 2003 Release Candidate Zero (RC0)."
Love the snarky "seemingly endless" - how is it the press can complain when Microsoft ships something and complain when they don't? Even worse, this isn't really *shipping* anything - it's just a beta.
It's a beta of an "R2" product - Windows 2003 Server Release 2, apparently not deserving of it's own year moniker (hey, how about Server 2005?) because Microsoft doesn't want to take heat from the folks who don't want to upgrade their servers every two years, but they still have features to ship, especially with Longwait, er, Vista Server, scheduled for 2007. Maybe.
R2? What's the client going to be named? C3P0?
8:18:05 AM
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Tuesday, August 30, 2005 |
Useit.Com: Open New Windows for PDF and other Non-Web Documents. "All these guidelines stem from the same underlying phenomenon: the non-Web documents are native PC formats. These formats have their own applications, each of which gives users a set of commands and navigation options that are completely different than the ones for browsing websites." Liked via Tomalak's Realm
5:50:42 PM
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OSNews points to Five Reasons NOT To Use Linux. "Linuxwatch.com is running a great story called "Five Reasons NOT To Use Linux." It includes a nice list of reasons why one might want to steer clear of Linux, along with a nice comparison to how easily these reasons are addressed in Microsoft Windows."
I always suspected that Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols was secretly a Linux-hater.
3:55:01 PM
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Slashdot reports Creative Zens Ship with Worms. An anonymous reader writes "Engadget reports about 3700 Creative Zen "Neeons" shipped with a virus. The virus in question was the W32.Wullik.B@mm worm. Creative released a statement today to help consumers pinpoint the possibly effected devices." From the linked Babelfish-translated press release:
With the defectiveness of our company, we apologize the fact that very much annoyance was applied the customer and to the related everyone deeply.
I'm sure we all share those feelings.
9:54:02 AM
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Monday, August 29, 2005 |
At Shedding Some Light, Rick Schummer blogs "Then it hits me. They finally fixed this little useful tool after it was broken for a long time. Now I know how a couple of the ViewEditor alpha testers felt last week when I finally tracked down and fixed the sorting bug in the list of tables and views when picking columns to be copied to the clipboard. Finally!"
9:09:31 PM
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Slashdot posts What's the Point of IT Certifications?. erica_ann asks: "Fact: You can have the knowledge without having to pay to be Certified when it comes to computers. Another fact: Just because you have the certification does not mean you actually know the material as well as someone who is not certified. You might just be good at taking tests. So what is the point of getting IT Certifications? To have a piece of paper?"
Always a good question. A couple easy answers come to mind:
1. Marketing: for SMB, having a logo on your business card or website implies *something*. That you made the effort to show your abilities. That you want to be recognized for your achievements. Or that you're trying to bluff your way into something you're not qualified to do.
2. Self-education. As I mentioned, I pass the MySQL Core Certification last week. As part of six or eight weeks of evening studying for the exam, I ran across little niches of information about MySQL I hadn't had a need to learn up to that point. So I know more now.
3. Passing the HR filter: As some posters in the Slashdot article mention, there are HR departments that separate resumes into degreed/certified and not. The "not" basket is circular. I'm not saying this is the right thing to do (I don't think it is in most cases), but it is the reality of the business.
4. Qualifications: Some day, legislators are going to get sick of IS screw-ups and require licensing of computer professionals (maybe). Engineers, lawyers, doctors, plumbers, electricians, beauticians and automobile drivers all have to get licensed. A computer professional with a string of certs is more likely to get grandfathered in or earn some sort of partial credit for the credentials. I hope.
A number of folks seem to react over-defensively to testing, and there are a lot of good reasons to do so. Any program can be corrupted. Some people test more poorly than others, but may be very skilled at their jobs. Most tests test how well you can take a test, and only reflect to some extent how well you can do the job the test is supposedly for. Certificates should be viewed as only one aspect of many in determining the competence of a professional. Remember, "What do they call the guy who graduates at the bottom of his med school class?"
"Doctor."
3:35:07 PM
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Saturday, August 27, 2005 |
I use an HP OfficeJet d145 for very rare color printing: ERDs, business cards, the occasional map. When I do, invariably, the magenta ink irregular, leaving a green cast to the pictures. Using the supplied HP utilities to print a couple of test pages, print head alignment tests and inkjet purges, I can get great results, but at the cost of 10% of the $40 cartridge. Pretty expensive printing.
To save the costs, I'm looking at less expensive ink refill kits. Any advice or observations would be appreciated. Here's a few links I've spotted:
Resetting Your Hewlett Packard Printer's Estimated Ink Level http://www.cartridgerefills.co.nz/ink_cartridge/tech_support.php#b6
HP OfficeJet d145 Printer Ink Cartridges HP OfficeJet d145 ink refills kits discount http://www.ask4ink.com/printers.asp?PrinterID=987
THE FIRST GUIDE IN TAKING BACK YOUR HP OFFICEJET! http://www.fixyourownprinter.com/forums/inkjet/27744
3:52:05 PM
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Friday, August 26, 2005 |
Slashdot notes BSD Certification Group Releases Roadmap. Jeremy C. Reed writes "The BSD Certification Group announced on Thursday the release of their certification program roadmap. This publication introduces the Group's planned BSD system administrator certifications and the construction of the certification program. The press release is available, as well as the certification roadmap."
I've been a big fan of certification for a long time, as I think it shows a sincere interest in professional credentialling. There will always be "paper CNEs" -- fakers who memorize questions and answers and squeak through the exams, so the credential should never be considered alone.
I hope that certification will eventually lead to professional licensing of software developers and other IT professionals. While many see the downside of getting state regulatory agencies involved in the process of determining computer competency, there's an upside I hadn't considered. I was chatting about certification recently with a Professional Engineer. He explained that a P.E. receives a license from the state in recognition of study, practice and exam performance, and is required to maintain current licensure by documenting ongoing education. If accused in court, a P.E. is more likely presumed by professional standing to have performed correctly, and the burden of proof is on the other party to prove negligence, incompetence or malpractice. Compared to the current situation in software development, this would be a desirable stance.
2:50:18 PM
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I attempted to create an account on the Fawcette Technical Publications online (FTPOnline.com) web site to get a link to pass on about a recent editorial in Visual Studio Magazine. It prompted for the usual email address, password twice routine. I used my usual password technique, a scrambling of the site with punctuation and letters. It rejected my attempt with a little message "Password must be between 4 and 10 characters" -- okay, mine was eleven or twelve. I slimmed it down to nine, and .. "Password must be between 4 and 10 characters" -- now I eliminated all the numbers. Still... "Password must be between 4 and 10 characters" . Finally, I just made it a simple obscenity in all lowercase alphabetic characters. That it took. What kind of security does a site offer when you are limited to alpha-only entry? A simple dictionary attack (limited to 4 to 10 characters, of course) will crack this site. Why don't they bother to tell you what they require for password? They ought to be embarassed. And why do they do this? Is it harder to store a number than a letter? Does an exclamation take more storage than an alpha? Bozos!
1:22:59 PM
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Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley notes "Virtual Server 2005 R2 Due By Year-End. Microsoft is now going to release Virtual Server 2005 R2 (the product formerly known as Virtual Server 2005 Service Pack 1) before the end of this year."
Interesting that since Microsoft has gone to naming their software after calendar years (Windows 95, SQL Server 2005, etc.) that they can't release a DotFive version. So what do they do? Anything they want, as the joke goes. Windows 98 had a "Second Edition," Windows XP had a major makeover disguised as "Service Pack 2" and now we have the "R2" version of "Virtual Server 2005." Next, I hear VB.NET will be renamed "Visual Basic 9.0" dropping the pejorative DotNet and implying that you must have missed versions 7 and 8 as they built upon the success of 6.0, their most successful product ever discontinued, with which this language shares very little in common. What's in a name?
10:56:59 AM
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Tuesday, August 23, 2005 |
(InfoWorld) - IBM Corp. users expect compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley rules governing U.S. public companies to prove to be the least effective or the most wasteful use of their IT resources, according to the results of an online poll of Share members released late Monday.
Share, the oldest independent IBM user group, which is celebrating its 50th birthday this month, polled individuals between Aug. 4 and 15, who were preregistering for its Boston conference. The organization received 444 responses to a short online survey containing five questions. The conference is taking place in Boston through Friday Aug. 26.
One of the survey's questions asked respondents to imagine themselves being transported to 2015 and then looking back at 2005 and what they thought in retrospect would prove to be either an ineffective or wasteful use of their IT time. Twenty-eight percent of those polled cited Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, followed by deployment of unproven technologies (23 percent), purchase of unneeded technologies (19 percent), and continuing support for outdated technologies (17 percent). The fifth-rated bugbear cited by 10 percent of respondents was external consultants, with software upgrades only distressing one percent of those polled.
Read the entire article: Sarbanes-Oxley seen as biggest IT time waster.
9:12:52 AM
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Monday, August 22, 2005 |
IBM's LinuxLine free newsletter, produced by Database Trends and Applications, reports: "Linux Use Among SMB Developers Exceeds Enterprise Use".
The use of Linux is even stronger among developers working in small and mid-sized business than those working in larger enterprises, according to a new study by Evans Data Corp. In a survey of 500 SMB developers, the market researcher found that 19 percent have Linux running on their servers the majority of the time, compared to seven percent among enterprise developers. Twenty-seven percent of the developers in the SMB community anticipate running Linux the majority of the time next year compared to 10 percent in the enterprise arena.
The numbers are higher than I would have expected, but the real kicker is the number they don't point out: the self-predicted 30% growth year-over-year system admins are predicting in Linux adoption!
6:51:26 PM
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Andrew MacNeill - AKSEL Solutions points to Joel on Software - The Project Aardvark Spec with the note "Joel explains why XP isn't the answer to everything"
I can't tell you how strongly I believe in Big Design Up Front, which the proponents of Extreme Programming consider anathema.
That would be fine if Joel was making a fair comparison. He's not. He's in the camp of detractors who view eXtreme Programming (XP) as "Code Like Hell and We'll Figure Out What The Customer Wants Later" (CLHWFOWTCWL) which is certainly a less attractive acronym and idea. Reading through the rules and practices of XP, you'll see that Joel was following most of the tenets of XP is his analysis and design. Good XP practitioners design up front, a sufficient design necessary to begin work and work up a series of user stories just as Joel describes, identifying the overall design and likely architecture of the work before the coding begins. This is just a cheap shot, and far below Joel's usual outstanding efforts.
Joel's "Big Design Up Front" is a 20-page PDF espousing some general design principles, coding and naming standards, a quick text-based mockup of the user interface and an overview flow diagram. This is the perfect starting point for an XP project, but completely misses the target of "Big." Joel's doing some aspects of XP, he just doesn't know it.
4:58:04 PM
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On the MySQL developer's support site, Mike Hillyar has an article on hierarchies in relational databases. "Most users at one time or another have dealt with hierarchical data in a SQL database and no doubt learned that the management of hierarchical data is not what a relational database is intended for. The tables of a relational database are not hierarchical (like XML), but are simply a flat list. Hierarchical data has a parent-child relationship that is not naturally represented in a relational database table."
As I pointed out last week in Chris Date's interview, it may not be intuitively obvious that flat files linked with relations are appropriate for structures like this, but in fact this is what they were made for. Relational databases excel at storing complex structures, as long as the designer understands the structure they are trying to represent. Despite a questionable start, Mike goes on to write an interesting and insightful article.
1:51:56 PM
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Friday, August 19, 2005 |
Robert X. Cringely (the pseudonym not the registered trademark) writes in his weekly column, "Patently Absurd: Patent Reform Legislation in Congress Amounts to Little More Than a "Get Out of Jail Free" Card for Microsoft."
Late last month, shortly before the U.S. Congress shut down for its summer recess, the Senate Judiciary Committee's Intellectual Property subcommittee held an unusual hearing -- unusual because the only committee member attending the hearing was the chairman, Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Utah. Why would such a prestigious committee hold a hearing in Washington attended by only one member? To slam through some controversial legislation, of course. Senator Hatch was trying to pass a new law "reforming" the U.S. patent system and apparently felt it would all go much more smoothly without the presence of the other committee members.
Legislation to remove the rights of citizens and small businesses to innovate need to stop. Congress needs to get back to doing what the Constitution empowered it to do: "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"
4:29:20 PM
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Chris Date has an interview over on the O'Reilly site that's well worth the time to read. A favorite quote, one of many:
To a first approximation, "object/relational" just means the domains over which relations are defined can be of arbitrary complexity. As a consequence, we can have attributes of relations--or columns of tables, if you prefer--that contain geometric points, or polygons, or X rays, or XML documents, or fingerprints, or arrays, or lists, or relations, or any other kinds of values you can think of. But this idea too was always part of the relational model! The idea that the relational model could handle only rather simple kinds of data (like numbers, and strings, and dates, and times) is a huge misconception, and always was. In fact, the term object/relational, as such, is just a piece of marketing hype ... As far as I'm concerned, an object/relational system done right would simply be a relational system done right, nothing more and nothing less.
1:09:01 PM
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 I took the MySQL Core Certification exam yesterday, and passed. It was a tough exam, a bit too picky about edge cases, I think, but I passed. The NDA pretty much forbids me saying more about the exam. Fair enough. The exam is only valid if the Q&A aren't published, otherwise, the value of the exam and certification plummets, as happened with "paper CNEs" and "paper MCSEs".
The MySQL folks don't seem as constrained by the NDA, and post a "real life story" as well as point to two blog entries. That ought to give you a pretty good idea of what's involved. I'll wait a while before taking the Pro certification, as it'll require a few weeks of dedicated night and weekend studying, but I think that's the proper level of certification for a software development consultant like me to have.
11:19:18 AM
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Wednesday, August 17, 2005 |
Recorded at the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference in San Diego, California on March 15, 2005, and available for you to download and/or listen online at IT Conversations, Shirky cites several examples of why hierarchical representations of the web (Yahoo, dmoz) don't work as well as the freeform "tagging" of Google, del.icio.us or Flickr. Worth an attentive listen or two.
Database-centric application designers need to be thinking about this, too. We often present workflow and data entry entry that's linear or branching. Relational database design by its nature is hierarchical. Think about how flat tagging can apply.
5:42:49 PM
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OSNews reports Latest OS X Update Breaks 64-bit Support. "The most recent Mac OS X security update from Apple Computer includes a glitch that prevents users from running 64-bit applications on the company's new Tiger operating system, AppleInsider has confirmed." 64-bit apps are still rare in the Apple world, limited mainly to console or background tasks, according to the linked AppleInsider article.
2:06:37 PM
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InfoWorld: Top News reports Experts see new variants of Windows 2000 worm. (InfoWorld) - Security vendors have reported several new variants of the worm infecting PCs running Microsoft's Windows 2000 operating system. Groups of virus writers are competing to cause the most damage, according to one security company, although the worm appears less severe than some first feared.
So far. Many media outlets are reporting they were hit. It's hard to tell if we're at the crest of the wave just yet. In the meantime, ensure all machines are patched, scan all foreign machines coming into your network (laptops, VPN, etc.) and shut down any unnecessary services that require these ports open.
12:35:01 PM
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Computerworld News notes that Apple releases security update for Mac OS X. "Apple has released a security update for Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" that updates several of the components and technologies in the operating system." In Apple's Software Update, it goes on to say:
"Security Update 2005-007 delivers a number of security enhancements and is recommended for all Macintosh users. This update includes the following components: AppKit, BlueTooth, CoreFoundation, cups, Directory Services, HIToolBox, Kerberos, loginwindow, Mail, OpenSSL, QuartzComposerScreenSaver, Security Interface, Safari, X11, zlib For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798"
Yikes. Get patching
12:14:11 PM
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Monday, August 15, 2005 |
InfoWorld: Top News notes Hacker found guilty in massive data theft case. (InfoWorld) - "A Florida man was found guilty of stealing data from customer information management company Acxiom Corp. Friday. The prosecution estimates that Scott Levine and his defunct bulk e-mail marketing firm Snipermail.com Inc. stole more than 1.6 billion customer records by hacking into an Acxiom server."
... "Levine and other Snipermail staff downloaded around 8.2 gigabytes of personal data from the Acxiom server between April 2002 and August 2003, according to the DOJ.
... "Acxiom said in the statement... "There is no evidence that any individuals are at risk of harm due to the breaches. It is also important to note that only one external server was accessed, and there was no intrusion of Acxiom's internal security firewalls or internal databases."
Could someone please explain to me why Acxiom was storing 8.2 gigabytes of personal data in an external server!!!???
3:33:01 PM
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Over at InfoWorld: Application development, Steve Fox has a funny and true editorial on IT's seven dirty words. "Remember the George Carlin routine "The Seven Words You Can't Say on Television"?? (No, I'm not going to print them here; if you're really curious, Google 'em.) I got to thinking the other day that IT has its own set of dirty words. Try saying any one of these in polite IT company, and someone will hand you a bar of soap to wash your mouth out. My filthy seven:..."
1:42:17 PM
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Sunday, August 14, 2005 |
Over at Resigned to the Bittersweet Truth, Bill McGonigle posts InfoCon Yellow!. "The Internet Storm Center has declared InfoCon Yellow for the first time since May 2004. "
"Due to a number of very well working Windows exploits for this weeks patch set, and the zero-day Veritas exploit, we decided to turn the infocon to yellow.
Advice: Use the weekend to patch ALL ... read the rest at InfoCon Yellow!
4:49:05 PM
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Friday, August 12, 2005 |
Dan Bricklin asks What if VisiCalc had been patented?. "My name has been brought up a few times in the last few weeks with regards to software patents."
Dan's stance is interesting and pragmatic. Correction was: "He notes in the post that he just received a patent today, applied for in 1996 during the Trellix days." Should be: "Interland, the company that purchased the Trellix assets, received a patent today for the 1996 Trellix work." Congrats, Dan. Interland, use it wisely.
5:03:51 PM
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Slashdot post: Exploits Circulating for Latest Windows Holes. 1sockchuck writes "Exploits are already circulating for at least two (and possibly four) of the Windows security holes addressed in Microsoft's updates on Tuesday. Several working exploits have been released for a new vulnerability in Windows Plug and Play technology, which could be used to spread a worm targeting Windows 2000 machines, according to eEye security, which has released a free scanner to help network admins identify vulnerable computers."
Keep patching! If you were quick on the draw initially, you might have run into trouble as some of the patch files were corrupted, but Microsoft fixed that problem.
2:27:45 PM
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Thursday, August 11, 2005 |
I may have missed the initial announcement when these shipped, but browsing through a PC Connection catalog yesterday, I spotted the HP t5515 Thin Client Workstation on sale for a little over $300. This is a diskless PC with a Transmeta Crusoe CPU, 128 Mb RAM, Linux 2.4 burned into Flash RAM, video, audio, NIC, spare PCI slot and USB2. Looks cute, and I could see a lot of places where clients with browser-based data entry, mail and other processes could benefit from the small cost, form factor and power demands to make for a better, cheaper office. Hey, hang an external drive off the USB connection and you have a PC!
HP is a pretty open company and has been pushing Open Source solutions on many platforms. I was surprised to dig through the technical documentation to discover that the Linux image burned into Flash RAM can only be made with a proprietary toolkit from MetroWorks under a fee-based licensing scheme. This looks like a prime opportunity for someone to reverse-engineer the box and allow developers to customize the image to their own needs. The base image that ships with the HP Thin Client includes a proprietary Citrix client, Altiris image management tool, and other software that a developer could clear out, leaving room to customize the box. (The default image also ships with Mozilla, the Open Source rdesktop Windows RDP client, VNC client and VNC server.)
A local technician tells me that his past experiences with thin clients indicated that they should only be used in controlled and air-conditioned environments and that they would tend to overheat if left in a warm room. I'll be interested to follow how these devices fare.
Update: here's a review at OSNews.
3:55:58 PM
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Wednesday, August 10, 2005 |
Slashdot includes an interesting question on Sanely Moving from Word to the Web? where the poster asks how to convert Microsoft Word documents to clean and valid HTML files. HTML Tidy is a thing I've used in the past and is mentioned. A new one to me is the aptly-named demoroniser.
2:46:25 PM
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macosxhints points out 10.4: Print envelopes in Address Book. "Did you know you can print envelopes directly from Address Book in 10.4? According to the Address Book help, this is a new feature. I know I haven't seen it before." Spiffy.
2:38:58 PM
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Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley opines that Microsoft Needs to Come Clean About Vista. "Before Beta 1 went out, Microsoft officials would say little about the next Windows release. But now it's time to talk turkey... What is Microsoft gaining from hiding the fact that some of the features originally slated for Vista and Longhorn Server have been pulled from the products?"
As I pointed out last week, it's not a beta until it's feature-complete. Microsoft is showing off a prototype, a demo. When they have the new UI in place, and lock down the features they plan to actually ship, then it is time for beta evaluation and testing. At this point, it's just idle promises from a company that might ship something 16 months in the future...
11:36:18 AM
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 Internet Explorer (version 6.0.2900.2180.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519IC - I swear I am not making that up!) reports "Problems with this Web page might prevent it from being displayed properly or functioning properly. In the future, you can display this message by double-clicking the warning icon displayed in the status bar." The same page loads fine without error in FireFox 1.06, Mozilla 1.7.1, Opera 8.01 and Safari 2.0 (412.2). The page validates correctly using the W3C HTML validator as Transitional HTML 4.01. On Laura's machine, IE says there's an error on line 2, without further information. It seems suspicious that IE is the only one to detect an "error." Can anyone spot the error on this page? (Besides grammar, syntax and content, wise guys :)
UPDATE: Found it. Of course, it was a trick question. There was nothing wrong with the HTML. And it was nothing I changed that caused the problem to appear, despite the proximity of changes to the error being found.
There was a small JavaScript call at the end of the third column that looked like this:
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript" src="
http://technorati.com/embed/cddjc96gix.js">
</script>
And would generate a response that looked like this:
<!--
Profile not found or undisplayable
-->
All of the other browsers (FireFox, Safari, Opera 6 and 8, Camino, Mozilla 1.7.1 and 1.7.11) would gracefully ignore the comment and work fine.
IE, otoh, not only failed, but failed with a miserable error message that gave no clue what document had the error. If the error handler had indicated the JavaScript interpreter had the problem, I could have nailed this in a couple of minutes. Rack this up to lousy error messages, the bane of debugging everywhere!
9:58:44 AM
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Last night, Microsoft released its monthly batch of security patches. They include 3 Critical Updates, one Important and two Moderate Security Bulletins. They include:
CRITICAL
* MS05-038 - Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (896727) - Yet another security rollup for Internet Explorer, affecting Win2k and Up (and likely down)
* MS05-039 - Vulnerability in Plug and Play Could Allow Remote Code Execution and Elevation of Privilege (899588) - Puts a whole new meaning in "play," doesn't it?
* MS05-043 - Vulnerability in Print Spooler Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (896423) - Just when you thought it was safe to print...
IMPORTANT
* MS05-040 - Vulnerability in Telephony Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (893756)
MODERATE
* MS05-041 - Vulnerability in Remote Desktop Protocol Could Allow Denial of Service (899591)
* MS05-042 - Vulnerabilities in Kerberos Could Allow Denial of Service, Information Disclosure, and Spoofing (899587)
RE-RELEASES
Re-released this month, with updates for additionally affected platforms and updated patches are:
* MS05-023 - Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word May Lead to Remote Code Execution (890169) - noting that the Word 2003 Viewer is also in danger
* MS05-032 - Vulnerability in Microsoft Agent Could Allow Spoofing (890046) - Noting that there is a revised update available for x65-based systems.
So, the count is up to 43 Security Bulletins so far this year. It's the 33rd week of 2005. Trustworthy Computing continues...
Get details on all the latest bulletins and tools from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security -- and get patching!
8:15:28 AM
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Monday, August 8, 2005 |
OSNews posts Open Source Is a 'Velvet' Revolution. "There may not be fireworks. CIOs and IT directors may not be heaping their proprietary software on bonfires and dancing. Even so, the open source revolution is happening right now and will carry the day, said Bill Weinberg, open source architecture specialist and Linux evangelist for OSDL."
9:33:07 AM
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Netcraft notes that their Web Server Survey Turns 10 years old this month, finding 70 million registered domains, nearly 3 million more than last month. Almost 70% of the live web servers run Apache with Microsoft (20.5%), Sun (2.7%) and Zeus (0.9%) hardly in the running. The devils in the details. Read them here.
9:20:34 AM
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Friday, August 5, 2005 |
Ars Technica notes FCC likely to deregulate DSL. "The FCC appears set to change its classification of DSL as a telecommunications service. If that happens, expect to see a lot less choice when it comes to DSL service." By eric@arstechnica.com (Eric Bangeman).
That's a real disappointment. Failing to let providers compete in the marketplace drives up costs for businesses and providers alike, serving as a drag on America's competitiveness.
4:47:48 PM
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OSNews points in turn to a DevX article, Study: Linux Code Grows as Defects Decline. "Between December 2004 and July 2005, the "defect density" in the Linux kernel has fallen from 0.17 to 0.16 and all serious defects have been corrected, a new report out from code analysis firm Coverity asserts. Defect density declined by 2.2 percent."
How many defects are in the OS kernel you're using? Has the defect density gone up or down over time? Cars have satisfaction surveys. Consumer Reports lists pluses and minuses. Why don't we have a similar test for operating systems.
1:41:59 PM
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Thursday, August 4, 2005 |
Bill McGonigle, Chapter Coordinator for the Dartmouth - Lake Sunapee Linux User Group posts:
- Date: Thursday, August 4th, 7:00-9:00PM
- Place: Dartmouth College, Carson Hall Room L02
- Presenter: The Membership (that means you!)
- Topic: Nifties!
"It's Audience Participation Night at DLSLUG - time for you to get up and do something. We'll each take a turn at the projector showing something Neat or Nifty. It doesn't matter if it takes 2 minutes or 20 minutes to explain, just get up there and show us something. We all know something Nifty that's worth showing. We'll have a linux laptop to use, or connect remotely to your own. The meeting will run until we run out of Nifties, or we run out of time."
"It can be anything from a utility you just discovered to a neat piece of hardware we should know about to a worthwhile service on the 'net or maybe something you wrote that saves you hours of time. If you're new to Linux that doesn't matter - there must be something Nifty about it that got your interested - what is that? Found a good Linux/Unix book lately? Linux is about sharing, and this month it's your turn."
Hope to see you there.
10:03:09 AM
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What fun is having new hardware if you can't take it apart and see how it works. I'm curious about the speaker.
Ars Technica posts Dissecting Mighty Mouse. "Long-time Mac fans know the drill: a new, cool piece of hardware comes out, and generally within 48 hours a website (usually in Japan) springs up with pictures of the innards of the new device. This time, we thought we'd give it a try. Curious about the innards of Apple's new Mighty Mouse? Ars dissects Apple's Mighty Mouse to see what makes it tick click."
"The top half of the mouse contained the most interesting features to examine. There were touch sensors, the scroll ball assembly, connections for sensors and assembly that plug into the board on the bottom half of the mouse, and a copper grounding strip."
"We also settle the question of the "click" sound and used Xev to see how the Mighty Mouse actually interprets all the tapping, rolling, and clicking. Come inside and see the insides of the Mighty Mouse!"
9:59:13 AM
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Tuesday, August 2, 2005 |
Microsoft Watch from Mary Jo Foley posts Microsoft's CSS Plans for IE 7 Draw Cheers, Jeers. "Although it won't fix most of its CSS-related bugs until Beta 2, Microsoft is going public with what it expects to deliver, standards-wise, by the time Internet Explorer 7.0 ships. Acid2 test compliance isn't on the short list."
It's great to hear that IE 7 will attempt closer compliance with the standards. It means that those of us who surf with Safari, Konqueror, FireFox, Opera, Camino or other browsers will have a better chance of getting web pages that look right and work right. Microsoft won't promise 100% standards compliance; it's unlikely there is any browser that means that lofty goal. It's not even clear that experts agree on what 100% compliance is.
Seeing behavior from Microsoft that looks a lot like standards compliance raises hopes. Perhaps Microsoft can grow to assume the responsibilities it should shoulder as the industry leader and stop trying to monopolize markets with "Embrace-Enhance-Extend-Extinguish" tactics. Or perhaps I'm just a hopeless optimist...
10:01:45 AM
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Monday, August 1, 2005 |
OSNews posts The Whys, Whats and Whens of Vista. Head of all things Windows at Microsoft, Jim Allchin provides a heads up on the operating system formerly known as Longhorn: "Most of the stuff that we would expect that tech enthusiasts and consumers will be interested in will happen at Beta 2. Beta 1 is not what I would call deeply interesting unless you are a real bithead".
I probably haven't griped for 24 hours or so how wrong this is. Microsoft "ships" a product, in the sense that the reviewers (and likely anyone who cares) can evaluate it, and it's not even out the door before Microsoft is saying that none of this is final, that the "good bits" are in Beta 2, the UI comes later, you just wait, we'll get it right next time. They're just throwing it against the wall, seeing who says "ooh" and "ah" and then they'll ship another one. What's the point of wasting your time looking at something they promise isn't final?
5:42:40 PM
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The Eldred decision may rank as one of the dumbest Supreme Court decisions of our time, ruling that the owners of a copywritten piece of work, by the rights of their ownership could prevent the copying of the work for the purposes of preservation of the work for the good of ourselves, society and posterity, despite the fact that Article 1, Section 8 clearly states that "The Congress shall have Power ... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;"
Copyright protects for a limited time the right of the author to make a buck from copies of his/her works in order to motivate the author to go to the trouble of producing the work in the first place. Copyright does not protect an idea from being copied, only its expression. This allows the free exchange of ideas in society, for the greater good of all. However, when the owner of a copyright has the ability to prevent any copies from existing, by allowing the original to rot to dust, they are destroying not just their property, but the ability of future generations to ever see the work, clearly not what the framers of the Constitution intended "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts."
Doc wrote a great analysis on this case and that, too, was almost lost in the passing of a web site:
On The Doc Searls Weblog, Doc blogs "Recovery. On January 20, 2003, Lawrence Lessig wrote, Doc has a brilliant and absolutely correct diagnosis at the American Open Technology Consortium website about how we lost in Eldred. The link in that quote went to aotc.info, a site that no longer exists. Ever since aotc.info went down, I've regretted losing that one post."
"This was especially so yesterday, when I wrote Web 2.0, Free Markets and Free Culture, at IT Garage. While writing it I wished I could point back to whatever-it-was that Prof. Lessig found so agreeable. All I could remember was that it had to do with metaphor, also the subject of yesterday's post."
"Then, when I woke up at 4am, about 15 minutes ago, I thought: Duh! Archive.org and its Wayback Machine! Of course! So I checked, and found that much of aotc.info was backed up there. After digging around, I found the post in question. So, a big thanks Archive.org for doing its outstanding work."
3:33:18 PM
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Checking the price of ink cartridges on the (NEW! IMPROVED!) Staples web site, and check out the deal they offer: buy a two pack of ink cartridges and get an entire case of Staples paper for only ten million dollars! Wonder how cheap I could get it in bulk?
12:20:17 PM
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