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Comment Re:Do a test to find the psychopaths/sociopaths... (Score 2) 204

by damnal (#37431892) Attached to: Evaluating the 'Doofus Factor' In Corporate Governance
If I recall the one study correctly it was that successful CEOs often display some of the traits of an anti-social personality. Let me point out one thing, the moral ambivalence, from an anti-social personality, tends to lend itself well to strategic decisions. The risk-reward equation is much simpler when there isn't an emotional factor.
Blackberry

Submission + - The (Big) Problem with RIM

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Research in Motion, by all accounts, had a terrible week. But things might get even worse.
The Canadian technology company posted dismal quarterly earnings numbers, missing revenue and sales targets, while margins continued to shrink.
Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis conceded the PlayBook had been thwarted by a lack of apps and content, not necessarily by a weak platform. Like Apple with its iOS, and Microsoft with Windows, creating a successful platform will be dependent on the eco-system it supports, but RIM hasn't shown ability to foster that.
Portables (Apple)

Submission + - iPod sex toy arouses Apple's ire

Submitted by yorktimsson
yorktimsson writes: In the Age[theage.com.au] today is a story about the best iPod accessory yet — the iGasm by Anne Summers. The only problem is that Apple thinks the advertising is a rip-off and should be pulled (from where, they don't say!)

From the article:
' "Go at it hard and fast with a pounding drum and bass track or chill with the ambient classic," reads a marketing brief for the £30 ($72) iGasm, which plugs into any music player and vibrates in sync with the beat. Apple says the iGasm ads, which show a female silhouette listening to an iPod with a cord snaking into her underwear, are a rip-off of its own iPod ads.'
Security

Submission + - Build Security In

Submitted by
Aging_Newbie
Aging_Newbie writes: "The Department of Homeland Security working with the Software Engineering Institute's (SEI) well known CERT organization has created a very large and growing resource for software developers and others who are concerned with secure software systems. The result is titled Build Security In (BSI) and is a source of much of what we need to make software more secure.

Every Patch Tuesday there are repeated discussions on Slashdot of how software vulnerabilities have inconvenienced and endangered us. But a quick perusal of the (currently) 173 coding rules identifying exploits in commonly used programming languages should show most any developer that insecure code is everywhere. Moore's law has continued unabated, functionality and power in our systems have grown, and our development methods and disciplines have not kept up.

So, what to do? Most of us are at least familiar with Software Engineering. You know, that is the area that arguably started with NATO in 1968 and, as a professional subject area, has an almost unmatched track record of being both critically important and uniformly ignored. With security, cyber-warfare, and other daily threats and nuisances we are facing yet another circumstance in which the lessons of Software Engineering are about to be experienced again (and again, and again ...) .

Build Security In focuses on a relatively new area called Software Assurance.

"BSI content is based on the principle that software security is fundamentally a software engineering problem and must be addressed in a systematic way throughout the software development life cycle. BSI contains and links to a broad range of best practices, tools, guidelines, rules, principles, and other knowledge that can be used to build security into software in every phase of its development." (from BSI website)

IEEE created the SoftwareEngineering Body Of Knowlege to provide a foundation for the practice of Software Engineering. Similarly, Build Security In is reviewing a similar document, Security in the Software Lifecycle which is just coming out of review but pretty useful in its current version. Even if you just pick a chapter and scan it, it will give you an idea of the scope and solutions to the problem.

Sadly, Software Assurance is already suffering the same fate as Software Engineering. Robust software development processes, secure products, and quality software systems are forced to take a distant second place to speed and cost. Maybe the site's Risk Management articles will help Slashdotters' management understand the problem. Maybe the business justification articles will help. It is worth pursuing because when we develop secure software it just so happens that it is better software too, because we are paying more attention to software quality."
IBM

Submission + - IBM: Couldn't Fire 150K US Workers If We Wanted To

Submitted by
theodp
theodp writes: "In an e-mail worthy of the Dilbert Hall of Fame, IBM execs responded to Robert X. Cringely's Project LEAN layoff rumors, reassuring employees by pointing out that they've already wiped out too many U.S. jobs to be able to lay off another 150,000. Big Blue's employment peaked around 1985, when it had about 405,000 workers who were acclimated to a long tradition of lifetime employment. IBM puts its current global workforce at 355,766, with a 'regular U.S. population' of less than 130,000."

Comment Documentation (Score 1) 523

by damnal (#15244745) Attached to: FOSS Is Not Free if It's Not Free From Complexity
I would tend to say that complexity isn't a downfall in FOSS. Documentation can help many end users deal with complex software functions, even if they do not possess the knowledge of how the functions work.

The arguement TFA provides seems to come up fairly often, as it was already here awhile ago.

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