even software alone consist of so many layers ( from the spreadsheet software program that we use, to the device drivers, the OS, to the embedded firmwares residing inside the chips, to the myriad mix of software that keep the Net humming.
Don't forget the compilers and linkers that build the software. The source may look fine, but where did the compiler come from?
Or will hot air prevail on Capitol Hill? (Insert your methane joke here.)"
FTFY
Chris Roberts, who created the well-known Wing Commander series in 1990, managed to raise millions of dollars on Kickstarter last fall for his upcoming Star Citizen, eventually collecting so much money from individual backers that he could return the budget he'd taken from "formal" investment firms. "Even nice investors, they want a return at some point. They have a slightly diff agenda than I do," Roberts told Slashdot. "My agenda is to build the coolest game possible."
Herein lies the difference. Kickstarter backers are not seen as actual investors in the project by the project owners, but rather as a way to informally fund games that the developers want to work on without feeling like there is any real obligation to those who funded it. To paraphrase what Chris Roberts stated, he couldn't care less if it ever makes any money as long as he gets to build the "coolest game possible". Without the incentive/pressure of investors looking for a return however, there will always be "just one or two more things" to finish up and the game will never actually get released.
It would be so fun to see this argument play out in court.
It would be fun for about the first five minutes. The next twelve hours would be pure hell as lawyers try to explain to the jury what a reference frame is. Keep in mind that both groups still have VCRs that blink 12:00.
And Mrs. Sham was out shopping with friends.
Really? Mrs. Sham? Wow.
Can you give a glimpse at the process this requires? I assume it has to be algorithmic in some way but it's still baffling to me how it's done. What sort of errors happen?
Absolutely. You can find a good explanation here.
Install Firefox. And if Firefox adopts it, patch and rebuild it.
This. Google can develop all of the proprietary shit it likes, but if it only works in Chrome then all they will manage to to is kill Chrome in the marketplace.
Where're(sic) the prosecutors with the balls to hold the watchers accountable?
They've all been sent mp3s of their latest phone calls to their bookie/mistress/whatever as a reminder.
This of course permits the NSA to do a classic Man-In-The-Middle attack. They give your browser the fake certificate chain and a copy of the website login page, you type things in, they decrypt them, and use them to log in to the real website, they get the results back from the real website, re-encrypt them with the fake certificate chain, and send them back to you. As far as you know you're using the real website, as far as the website server knows they're speaking with a normal browser, but the NSA is capturing everything either side transmits in clear text and can inject fake content in either direction whenever they want.
This is why there are browser addons such as Perspectives which allow you to verify the certificate and will notify you if a certificate's signature changes at any time.
With your bare hands?!?