Bluecobra - Slashdot User

Submission + - Is the Era of Personal Computing Over?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 02, 2007 @10:43AM

An anonymous reader writes: In a discussion that seems to have been triggered by Yahoo!'s Jeremy Zawodny, the question is being asked whether we are witnessing the death of Personal Computing, as Social Computing widens and deepens its footprint? In Zawodny's original blog, he asked What the heck is Web 2.0 anyway? and received a set of responses reminiscent of those garnered by The Reg back in 2005, which famously concluded, based on its readers' responses, that Web 2.0 was made up of 12% badger's paws, 6% JavaScript worms, and 26% nothing. Social computing it seems is already fast becoming an academic field of study.

Soldiers Can't Blog Without Approval 358

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday May 02, 2007 @10:41AM from the how-else-will-we-know-what-they-ate-for-lunch dept.

denebian devil writes "Wired.com has obtained a copy of updated US Army rules (pdf) that force soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages without first clearing the content with a superior officer. Previous editions of the rules asked Army personnel to "consult with their immediate supervisor" before posting a document "that might contain sensitive and/or critical information in a public forum." The new version, in contrast, requires "an OPSEC review prior to publishing" anything — from "web log (blog) postings" to comments on internet message boards, from resumes to letters home. Under the strictest reading of the rule, a soldier must check with his or her superior officer before every blog entry posted and every email sent, though the method of enforcing these regulations is subject to choices made by the unit commanders. According to Wired, active-duty troops aren't the only ones affected by the new guidelines. Civilians working for the military, Army contractors — even soldiers' families — are all subject to the directive as well, though many of the people affected by these new regulations can't even access them because they are being kept on the military's restricted Army Knowledge Online intranet. Wired also interviewed Major Ray Ceralde, author of the new regulations, about why this change has been made."

Why Microsoft Will Never Make .NET Truly Portable 293

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday May 02, 2007 @10:08AM from the write-once-run-everywhere-that-is-windows dept.

Michelle Meyers writes "Just days before Microsoft claimed to be making parts of the .NET CLR "available" to other platforms, NeoSmart Technologies had published an article bemoaning and blasting Microsoft's abuse of it's developers by pretending .NET was a true cross-platform framework when they're doing everything in their power to stop it from being just that. Of interest is NeoSmart's analysis of how Microsoft has no problem making certain portions of .NET available to Mac users — just so long as its distributed under an "open source" license that forbids any and all use of the code except for educational purposes — yet are terrified of the very thought of .NET being available to *nix users, even if that's to the benefit of .NET developers everywhere. Even more interesting is one of the comments on that article linking to legal documents in which Microsoft employees discuss the (im)possibility of creating a cross-platform code and UI framework, years before the .NET project even started!"

Submission + - Windows Longhorn Beta 3 Review

Submitted by

Jason Jacobs

on Wednesday May 02, 2007 @09:49AM

Jason Jacobs writes: "Most IT administrators are familiar with Windows 2000 and 2003 server. Server 2003 is still relatively new and was a leap in technology over 2000 server offering significant advances in terminal services and Active Directory support over its older Windows 2000 brother. Window Server code name "Longhorn" offers a similar advancement in technology over Server 2003. As the successor to Windows Server 2003 the new Windows Server "Longhorn" will be known as Server 2007/2008 depending upon its actual release date. We installed "Longhorn" on two servers using the minimum and recommended hardware and bring you close look at the OS, its functionality, advancements, and overall viability as a replacement OS for server 2003. Read our review to find our initial observations, screenshots, and how we feel Longhorn stacks up against other OS's. Windows Server code named "Longhorn" at TechwareLabs"

Submission + - Army to Soldiers: Don't Blog Without Approval

Submitted by denebian devil on Wednesday May 02, 2007 @08:41AM

denebian devil writes: Wired.com has obtained a copy of updated US Army rules (pdf) that force soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages without first clearing the content with a superior officer. Previous editions of the rules asked Army personnel to "consult with their immediate supervisor" before posting a document "that might contain sensitive and/or critical information in a public forum." The new version, in contrast, requires "an OPSEC review prior to publishing" anything — from "web log (blog) postings" to comments on internet message boards, from resumes to letters home. Under the strictest reading of the rule, a soldier must check with his or her superior officer before every blog entry posted and every email sent, though the method of enforcing these regulations is subject to choices made by the unit commanders. According to Wired, active-duty troops aren't the only ones affected by the new guidelines. Civilians working for the military, Army contractors — even soldiers' families — are all subject to the directive as well, though many of the people affected by these new regulations can't even access them because they are being kept on the military's restricted Army Knowledge Online intranet. Wired also interviewed Major Ray Ceralde, author of the new regulations, about why this change has been made.

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