False flag for those who do not know is what the government or any organization does to distract the not-so-smart people while a more sinister plan is enacted. In short: "Look a flying saucer!" meanwhile "BANG!" something blows up.

Sure

Did you even bother to read the article or is your head so far up Balmer's ass that you cant see the reality of his failures? Even the blurb describing the article clearly defines what the headline means...."Microsoft has had some trouble as of late getting adoption of their mobile products." Do you really think that WP9 will make any difference at all? Its still closed source and not at all developer friendly.

Do you have the authority to get on the military base where the pilot is hiding? Then it would be the pilot, but then you would be dead from all the bullets fired at you for not dropping your weapon.

If you don't have authority to get on the base...then you only have one other choice. And I highly doubt a .22 round will disable a Hellfire missile. Unless you are extremely lucky, and had flawless intelligence of where that Drone is at.

Um...The United States really isn't that glorified magical place they teach you about in school books. I've lived here since birth, and I can promise you that those who stand up and fight usually end up in jail or disappeared altogether. The leaders here are too stupid to be scared of the population, and a large majority of that population is even more stupid.

I don't know where or how you get this crazy idea about how the people put fear in the government...not even in France. I would be willing to bet that if the French government truly wanted to shut the people up, they could, and would.

Considering that the US 2nd Amendment -- you know, the amendment that everyone is misinterpreting right now -- was put in place so citizens could defend themselves from an attacking government (e.g. the British during the Revolutionary War). However, today, the argument is that people want the right to buy guns of the same size and magnitude the government has. Have you ever tried to take on a Drone armed with Hell Fire missile, using only a .22 Rifle? Doesn't work to good.

Stand up and do something....that is just wishful thinking.

Not to mention Balmer claiming things like "the iPhone is a fad", thus delaying M$ entry into the Phone/Tablet market. If I were a M$ employee, I would use this time to confront Balmer directly, tell him what a sweaty buffoon he is, then go clean out my desk and depart.

I thought there was an age limit requirement for posting to Slashdot....yeah like that could be enforced. But its clear that some of the replies on this story alone are being done by children who have no fucking clue what they are talking about.

Hey moron...The first D stands for Distributed. Do you know what Distributed means? It means your tiny, single computer connected to the Net won't do crap to another single computer connected to the Net...let alone a 1000 single computers connected to the Net. Anonymous Coward? More like Asinine Coward.

NOT INSIGHTFUL!! Geez, who is modding these posts? Really? Tell the ISP to yank literally 1000's of connections. And just how do you intend on black holing an ISP? Your minute little single internet connection isn't going to make a ripple on an ISP with a strongly connected backbone.

Not interesting --- INSIGHTFUL!!! When someone speaks the truth, the moderator needs to put the proper mod for them. +5 for stevegee58

anonymous COWARD

Dumb. I didn't even Smile A Little Then Stop. Because there are some who really don't know -- DOS means Denial of Service, usually from a single origin -- which is the closest relative of the DDoS, ala Distributed Denial of Service which stems from many different origins.

Facebook's 1 Billion Users is very simple -- There isn't 1 Billion (unique) Living, Breathing, Computer Using Humans on Facebook.

If you believe there are actually 1 Billion, completely unique users on Facebook, then I need to ask that each of you turn over your Internet Licenses, power down your computers, and find a new hobby. You are just to dangerous to be allowed on the Internet without adult supervision.

Ever hear of bot nets?

You know...all those virus infected zombie computers that have been using networks on IRC for years. Well...these bots are now using Facebook, Twitter, and probably any other social network now.

If you still refuse to believe the facts. Well...I guess you must be OK living your lives being gullible -- unable to reason or use logic to derive a truth that actually makes sense.

As for the author, Ashlee Vance -- you are a failure as a journalist. You fail, because you are unable to do any real research to uncover real information and only write stories that have potential for getting your story published and hopefully someone will noticed you and throw fame and fortune at you. Keep Dreaming!

The HackDefendr

Only gullible people fall for those websites or any social engineering ploy. Not everyone who thinks they are good at social engineering really are as good as they think. The truth is their targets are probably just gullible and are easily fooled anyway. I'll just say it...if you can socially engineer me, and get some really valuable information about me...then you are good at social engineering - period!

You make it sound so easy...which its not. Reverse engineering hashing algorithms still require a lot juice, and a lot of luck, and even more patience. For example:

A related-key attack can break up to 9 rounds of 256-bit AES. A chosen-plaintext attack can break 8 rounds of 192- and 256-bit AES, and 7 rounds of 128-bit AES, although the workload is impractical at 2128 - 2119. Basically you have a better chance of being struck by lightening, on the same day you win the Lottery, than being able to break it!

http://www.howsecureismypassword.net

It would take 631 thousand years to crack just one of my passwords - and considering you may need to crack at least one other before you got to that one, I would say, go ahead and try - I'll wait...........