The whole idea within Nokia was to move all their phones (low end to high end) to one platform: Linux + Qt. It did not make sense economically to keep supporting several platforms internally with different GUI tool kits, etc.

Time is always a factor in choosing the right algorithm. Security is a function of time: depending on how long you want to keep stuff secure, the price, complexity and key size increases to anticipate faster computing resources and advancements in cryptanalysis. There are various cryptographic algorithms already which will still be secure even if we have a practical quantum computer tomorrow.

"Just like you can never confirm the theory of evolution right?" A theory holds up for as long as the evidence matches the predictions of the theory. As soon as experimental evidence shows inconsistencies with the established theory, the theory is either modified, or a new theory is build up to explain the new phenomenon as well as the phenomena covered by the previous theory. The same happened to Newton's theories about motion: they make sense for day to day world objects and serves that purpose really well, but breaks down at e.g., speeds approaching the speed of light. This is why the theory of relativity was developed (and at the same time replacing an older theory called Galilean invariance). Another theory that was completely replaced was the one describing motion of planets, for example the one by Ptolemy "Geocentric Theory of Planetary Motion", which got replaced by Copernicus. Theories can only be disproved. Confirmation of a theory holds up when the experimental results and theoretical predictions match, and it is impossible to do this for all possible situations, so we can only augment, improve or replace theories based on experimental results to get the most accurate model possible.

I would argue that if the virus would end up on my computer (asked for or not), it was distributed to me - hence I have the right to ask for the source code under the GPL. Furthermore, I could have gotten the code from Kasperski Labs for instance for my research, and would also be able to ask for the code. Remember that the distribution of the binary does not necessarily need to be done by the original source - anyone receiving a GPL'd binary has the right to redistribute, under the same terms as the original.

If the library were under the LGPL, your statement would be correct. It is however licensed under the GPL, which means that even linking with the library would mean that the rest of the code is considered a derivative and would fall under the GPL.

It's actually not just a matter of the IDE alone. For me it's the combination of the IDE and Qt itself. People often forget Qt is not just a GUI toolkit - it provides a wealth of classes to implement really nice integrated applications.

Let me give one example to clarify this: suppose you want to write an application which needs to interact with web content, say, a map (Google Maps or OpenStreetMaps for instance). You want GUI controls on the C++ side which interact with markers on the map, you want to interact with the JavaScript in the map from your C++ code and pass data back and forth (like this: http://www.purplealienplanet.com/node/24). You want to integrate web content in your desktop application - It's all there.

Same if you want to use video, xml, link with a (embedded) database like SQlite, use GL content, use web services, gestures, (and many more: http://doc-snapshot.qt-project.org/4.8/classes.html), QtQuick for certain user interface (here: http://doc-snapshot.qt-project.org/4.8/qtquick.html), the signal/slot paradigm, the excellent documentation, etc. it's all there without having to go look for third pary libraries - plus it's all cross platform. You can take the same code, compile on Windows and move to Linux or Mac and it usually is just a matter of importing the project into Creator on the target platform and recompile it. All this is just fun to do with QtCreator because it is so well integrated and QtCreator is fine tuned for this.

When looking purely at the IDE, I guess both have their advantages and disadvantages - but the ease and speed with which Qt and Creator allow for the development of cross platform applications and the overall speed of Creator make it come out ahead of VS.

There is no reason you have to release your code under the GPL if you use the Qt libraries. Qt is licensed under the LGPL.

That's only applicable for curves over extension fields...

Saw Heather Knight at the recent Freescale Technology Forum here in San Antonio, TX. She's doing some really great work!

Same here I suppose: http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/05/12/cia.lawsuit.ap/i ndex.html