1. what missing functionality? the article doesn't say.
Apparently this had something to do with OOo compatibility that could be fixed with a OOo update.
2. define 'usability.' is this another "it's not windows" whine fest? osx isn't windows either but you don't see many complaining about that. that's right, end users can't install that latest trojaned screensaver or other useless...
To be honnest I suspect it's something like that. "It's not Windows, I can't install my usual crap". Never mind that user's should NEVER EVER be allowed to do that on a sensitive, internal network (think US State Department computers)
3. interoperability with what exactly?
See 1.), it apparently was an office file format interop/compatibiltiy issue (from heise.de).
Ohwell I'm only paying for this SHIT with my tax Euro - wait, NOT, I'm currently paying for the SAME SHIT with my tax AU$...
Now compare this with iptables, one text file, just one, and it's a text file.
Of course, the time you spend learning the comically baroque iptables can account for a lot of clicking in Windows...
Then repeat that for another ten systems.
Or just copy the same file to all of them.
It wouldn't have been hard at all to clone an Amiga -- most of the hardware, as I understand it, is well documented.
Yes, the hardware interfaces was well documented. But since the Amiga was using custom chips (for sound and graphics, if not more) I doubt it would've been easy or cost effective to re-create those chips for a clone.
If you did do such a thing where would the RIAA send the notice?
Your last known ICBM address, derived via geo location? (Probably delivered that way too...)
* Learning: Pascal is fast. C++ is horribly slow. The rest are moderate.
* Compiling: While it can't beat "no compile", Pascal is shockingly fast for people used to something like C or Java. C++ is horribly slow.
* Start-up: Pascal again does fine. Here it's joined by C and C++. The interpreted stuff is typicallly an embarassment.
* Run-time: Pascal again does fine. Here it's joined by C. C++ can be fast if you treat it like C or if you're a God-like expert in compiler/library details that normal mortals don't understand. The interpreted stuff is typically an embarassment.
What I find interesting is that no one has mentioned that what's actually more important than the language itself is the available libraries/toolkit/frameworks that it comes with.
Let's face it, after you've learned a few languages it pretty much comes down to "what is printf called this week?" when you pick up a new language (functional languages aside). Getting familiar with frameworks is actually what takes the most time.
C++ and C are pretty bad in this department. STL is nice but only gets you so far. Threads? Nope (not yet). Sockets? No. XML/encryption/whatnot? Sorry. You have to write an awful lot of code to come up with this or find (and learn!) a support lib that does this. (I do C++ for a living.)
So I'd say: Python. Or C#/Mono (but that's not on the list, why?)
Even if you need to transfer data from an ext3 file-system to an MS Windows machine you can always get software that can read that file-system. Here is a MS Windows ext2/3 reader if you don't believe me. Even Mac's have software that can read and format ext3 file-systems. So were are the development costs since the products are already available and are, shock/horror free?
As much as I would like to have a universal non-proprietary file system this won't fly with users. Both options are read-only which means you can't even remove images from the media after you've copied it to your system.
AFAICS the Win solution that you ref'd is a standalone program, meaning it's not possible to use standard file I/O calls to read from the device. So the pipeline would be:
instead of
I, too, second the Science Museum.
Apart from, Forbidden Planet might be of interest.
I invented this method and has worked for me perfectly since then. What I did was to develop an algorithm by which I can reconstruct my passwords based on the website or account.
This is security through obscurity: you're relying on the algorithm being kept secret.
That being said, I used to do this as well for a while but started to move critical passwords away from it. Now I store them in my iPod instead, which has the drawback that I have no idea how I can recover my passwords when it dies. There are backups but no idea if I can actually get at the data. It would be useful to export them (as text or CSV) and encrypt that with GPG.
"That's great! The result is correct, and your app is also quite a bit quicker than my own implementation of the problem. Congratulations, I think you're the only one so far who managed to get the correct result so far."
I was so taken aback that I probably just stared at him for a few seconds. Then, I stupidly said "So... You want to see my code?" but he was like "No, the result is correct, and your implementation is very fast, so I don't need to see the code. Good job. Send in the next guy."
This is so sad. He notices your code is faster and he's not the least bit curious? (I presume he's some kind of CS prof.)
Anyway, good for you, but still...
Terrorists around the world were heard saying: "Curses, foiled again..."
I'd argue the exact opposite: now that we know for sure that iTunes can be used to these purposes (otherwise apple wouldn't have included it in the EULA, right?) they'll double their efforts to find out how...
And here's your first clue. Diebold is in the business of making ATMs.
Heise security has a story that there's malware around specifically targetting Diebold ATMs running Windows...
http://www.heise.de/security/Windows-Trojaner-auf-Diebold-Bankautomat--/news/meldung/134794 (in German)
http://www.sophos.com/security/blog/2009/03/3577.html (blog entry the article refers to)
"And remember: Evil will always prevail, because Good is dumb." -- Spaceballs
