If they did have the exploit (and they probably did) the issue is visibility - they know they have this exploit, and probably a lot more, that can be used to easily get access to a system. How do you only patch "friendly" computers? Alerting Microsoft that this issue exists means that they will push out the patch to everyone, they simply aren't going to write patches for "friendly" computers. There allegiance is to the market, not to the country.

That's probably the big problem the NSA has in general - they have all these great exploits, but others could have them as well. They are the method for being able to do some of the critical things they need to do to get access, especially abroad, but the second they disclose they potentially lose their ability to utilize them. It becomes a spy race at that point - get as much important data as you can while hoping the "bad guys" aren't doing the same or are slower at it.

I wonder if the NSA ever feels a little guilty, knowing they have these exploits and could get them patched, and ultimately one of the could be used to do something very, very bad.

According to the list, one of the translations of BFF is Big Fat Friend. Stephen Lynch would be proud.

Dammit, sorry, I fell asleep at my post. Long night playing Skyrim.

"I don't give a flying fuck why Windows..etc etc, I blame the big picture rather than what is wrong" is something non-techies do constantly. They only want to say it works or not at the 20,000 foot level, which equates to "Windows sucks" if it doesn't work. In reality it is probably that coupon app they loaded on their laptop that is causing the issue and has nothing to do with Windows or a server issue. It's important to look at where the problem is coming from; once you do that you not only understand the culprit but you can actually solve the issue (or have someone like us solve your issue). If you never take time to realize where issues are happening you'll just jump from one technology to another, but always have the same issues - throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Plain and simple, VMWare is pricey. I'd love to run them where I work, but it's extraordinarily expensive compared to Xen and Hyper-V.

Hyper-V is about 5 years behind and XenServer is about 3 years behind in terms of functionality and stability, mainly due to the fact that VMWare has been doing it for so long. VMWare is rock-solid and feature rich, and I'd love to use them. Currently we use XenServer, but with Citrix recently closing down their hardware API's and not playing nicely with anyone it looks like it is going to be the first casualty. I've been very upset by XenServer's HA so far, plain and simple it has sucked. I've had hosts reboot from crashes and the virtual machines go down, but the host thinks it has the machines and all of the other hosts think it has the machines. I've done everything XenServer has asked (HA quorum on a separate LUN, patches, etc), but it still just sucks. I've yet to see a host fail and the machines to go elsewhere, and the configuration is absolutely right and has been reviewed by Citrix. Maybe 6.0 will be better, but I just heard of major issues today with it. Hyper-V is really where the competition is going to come from, especially with how engrained it is in everything coming up. Want to run Exchange 2010 SP2? Recommendation is Hyper-V virtual machines.

God I miss VMWare.

The problem is that the system is only as good as the ruleset and detection; it's the same theory behind antivirus. If you have a zero-day exploit that acts differently it's going to get through, and if you have someone that figures out a different way to capture data then the leak will happen. Can the software detect someone taking a picture of a document on the screen with their camera? Can it detect getting booted from an OS CD? Can it stop a person from telling someone what they read? This is just more window-dressing to make the people in charge feel a little safer.

This is a great example of why I sincerely appreciate ./

Thank you not only for saying what I was thinking about how ridiculous this story is and giving a great technical example, but for the brilliant imagery of a truck driving down the road and passing cars getting sucked magnetically toward the load. I actually laughed out loud at that. That made a terrible Friday quite a bit better.

That's the best part though - I didn't have to bounce around! Most of the stuff was cheaper on the net, and most had free shipping. Also, Target, Best Buy, Kohl's, and Toys R' Us are within about a mile of each other here as well, and I'll bet that's the case with most places, so bouncing isn't that bad anyway.

Your comment is very apt though, retailers need to figure out that they need to offer more than just an item or two lower than competitors and move to a different model, as technology is breaking their current sales model.

I used my iPhone and the Red Laser app to scan all the toys my kids wanted. It shows all the prices for the stores around me, as well as online. I got approached by at least one sales person asking me what I was doing, and Toys R Us specifically was not happy. I got approached by a floor manager after the sales person approached me, and he asked to see the app. He looked none too happy. Why in the world would I not check if I had the ability??

Snake? Is that you?

Absolutely. I can't count the amount of times I rented StarTropics and Mega Man for the NES and then Final Fantasy 3 for the SNES. My friends and I would have sleepovers and PRAY for that copy of FF3 to be in for that weekend so we could be up for 24 straight hours trying to play through it, as your save would never be there next time.

Oh yeah, and ARE YOU LISTENING MUSIC INDUSTRY? Innovate or die.

That's where you are wrong. There is a lack of resources, funding, and computers cycles. There have been cycles running for years. I know cancer researchers, and I've donated time, money, and my computer cycles. Great job though moderators, bump up misinformation.

You'd rage too if you were 34 and had to deal with this shit. And watch, I'll get marked as Troll again, even though I'm not and have a great post history. Whatever.

Thank God! And cancer? Still unsolved. I'll bet computer time could be used for that too. (sorry, bullsh*t like this hits very close to home for me recently. Nothing like having people dying, and then hearing how we are using resources for utter crap)

It's not a matter of having a "Bank of America" or "FirstMerit" ATM in your living room, they don't make the ATM's. Banks buy ATM's to interface with their own network. If you would buy an ATM you'd need a banking entity, so you'd typically set up the account with the ATM manufacturer or a partner. For example, Triton sells those dinky little ATM's you see at gas stations. The gas station has an account with Triton, where Triton is the "banking entity" which is allowed to reach out into your bank's account, fills the ATM with money, collects the fees, etc.

You would be absolutely correct. I used to work for one of the largest ATM manufacturers, and I'm still very close with the people that designed most of the ATM's you see in banks and convenience stores. It's really just a branding thing, and even then there isn't much they do besides slapping a plastic faceplate on the ATM. You have to be one of the larger banks and have a very large exclusivity contract before they'll even start considering a design specific for your bank - I only saw one in five years of working there.

How did this bullshit troll article make the front page? C'mon editors, this is ridiculous.