Comment Thanks to... (Score 1) 88
Thanks to Carbs on Security for keeping us posted
Comment More complex? (Score 1) 371
Backend work "more complex"?
I've been doing it for 20+ years, once I mastered my first programming language moving data from one place to another became just, well, labor...
Backend work and MQ became boring tasks for me years ago.
Frontend is the only place left where there's still real challenge for me. Even after you get past the technical challenges described in the OP such as multiple screen sizes etc. -
Creating a proper emotional experience is the only real challenge left in programming.
The rest is API Mambo jumbo which will probably be done by machines in 10-15 years.
Submission + - Oreo means no going back (androidpolice.com) 1
jbernardo writes: Google is using the boiling frog method to exclude power users and custom ROMS from android.
A new feature in Android 8.0 Oreo, called "Rollback Protection" and included in the "Verified Boot" changes, will prevent a device from booting should it be rolled back to an earlier firmware. The detailed information is here.
As it rejects an image if its "rollback index" is inferior than the one in "tamper evident storage", any attempts to install a previous version of the official, signed ROM will make the device unbootable. Much like iOS (without the rollback grace period) or the extinct Lumias. It is explained in the recommended boot workflow and notes below, together with some other "smart" ideas.
Now, this might seem like a good idea at first, but let's just just imagine this on a PC. It would mean no easy roll back from windows 10 to 7 after a forced installation, and doing that or installing linux would mean a unreasonably complex bootloader unlocking, with all your data wiped. Add safetynet to the mix, and you would also be blocked from watching netflix or accessing your banking sites if you dared to install linux or rollback windows.
To add insult to injury, unlocked devices will stop booting for at least 10 seconds to show some paternalist message on how unlocking is bad for your health — "If the device has a screen and buttons (for example if it's a phone) the warning is to be shown for at least 10 seconds before the boot process continues."
Now, and knowing that most if not all android bootloaders have vulnerabilities/backdoors, how can this be defended, even with the "security/think of the children" approach? This has no advantages other than making it hard for users to install ROMs or to revert to a previous official ROM to restore missing functionality.
A new feature in Android 8.0 Oreo, called "Rollback Protection" and included in the "Verified Boot" changes, will prevent a device from booting should it be rolled back to an earlier firmware. The detailed information is here.
As it rejects an image if its "rollback index" is inferior than the one in "tamper evident storage", any attempts to install a previous version of the official, signed ROM will make the device unbootable. Much like iOS (without the rollback grace period) or the extinct Lumias. It is explained in the recommended boot workflow and notes below, together with some other "smart" ideas.
Now, this might seem like a good idea at first, but let's just just imagine this on a PC. It would mean no easy roll back from windows 10 to 7 after a forced installation, and doing that or installing linux would mean a unreasonably complex bootloader unlocking, with all your data wiped. Add safetynet to the mix, and you would also be blocked from watching netflix or accessing your banking sites if you dared to install linux or rollback windows.
To add insult to injury, unlocked devices will stop booting for at least 10 seconds to show some paternalist message on how unlocking is bad for your health — "If the device has a screen and buttons (for example if it's a phone) the warning is to be shown for at least 10 seconds before the boot process continues."
Now, and knowing that most if not all android bootloaders have vulnerabilities/backdoors, how can this be defended, even with the "security/think of the children" approach? This has no advantages other than making it hard for users to install ROMs or to revert to a previous official ROM to restore missing functionality.
Comment Nikola? Really? (Score 1) 264
As they say in the parlance of our time - so sad.
Comment goto (Score 1) 118
Code is extremely readable.
Haven't seen a goto statement in 2 decades.
Comment BASIC FTW! (Score 1) 633
It was BASIC, then Pascal, then C.
Perl when I was older, nowadays it's Node.
Comment What a great story! (Score 1) 748
Honestly, interesting and lots of food for thought.
Been missing those on SD.
Comment Khaleesi!!!! (Score 1) 148
AAAAHHH!!!111
Comment Ardour (Score 4, Informative) 223
Great mutlitracking software, simple enough and straightforward if you know your way around other DAW environments like Pro-Tools or Cubase, keyboard shortcuts can be easily customized.
Comment Gentoo server, Desktop MUST just work (Score 1) 965
Iv'e been using Gentoo on my servers for many years now and I can't even imagine trading that for even another Linux flavor. No other system gives me the flexibility I need for development and the power tools to back it with, it is BY FAR the best tool for my job, the way I see it.
That said, my desktop environments HAVE to just work, I learned that the hard way after fighting a rather ugly system upgrade my Gentoo desktop required after I've mistakenly updated a configuration file - which cost me an expensive half day of work.
That's why on my desktop there's only one choice - Kubuntu. For me it's not plausible to use OSX or Windows, they just don't do the stuff I need them to do and their UI doesn't and CAN NOT (nor is it designed to) work the way I want to work. KDE4 on Ubuntu makes the most sense. Everything hardware-wise just works perfectly, package management is a breeze and KDE is the right power tool for the job.
I'm sorry, but as much as I try I just can't figure out how OSX is an acceptable solution. Other than utilizing the hardware right it pretty much does everything WRONG for me.
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