gdp's Comments

Scott Granneman's Classes : A Kfsource Interview with Mark Webbink, General Counsel for Red Hat

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:23:53 +0000

Forking, involving Oracle and OpenOffice: http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2011/04/o...

Scott Granneman's Classes : An Alternative to Microsoft Gains Support in High Places

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:12:28 +0000

This was really an interesting article. Since it's dated 2003, I searched for some updates and found some at http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/02/b.... It states that the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) "condemned" Indonesia for choosing open source software: "In its 301 recommendations for Indonesia, the IIPA demands that the government rescind its 2009 statement. According to the IIPA, Indonesia's policy "weakens the software industry and undermines its long-term competitiveness" because open source software "encourages a mindset that does not give due consideration to the value to intellectual creations [and] fails to build respect for intellectual property rights." " The article then states: "The IIPA's position is profoundly hypocritical, because many parts of the US government, including the Department of Defense, have issued their own memos endorsing open source software adoption." Interesting...

Scott Granneman's Classes : Experts: Reliance On Microsoft A Danger To National Security

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:02:26 +0000

‘We need operating system diversity,’ said John Quarterman, another of the report’s authors and the founder of InternetPerils, an Internet risk-management company. This article was written in 2003, and I wonder if the government has done anything since then to alleviate the risks.

Scott Granneman's Classes : A Kfsource Interview with Mark Webbink, General Counsel for Red Hat

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 22:00:15 +0000

I don't know if "forking" is as rare as Mr. Webbink claimed (perhaps at the time, it was), but it appears to happen when people become angry with one another and so break off to achieve a different objective. This seems to me to be a lot of wasted time in terms of duplication, but there might be some good results from it when it does occur. The open-source community so far, however, seems to have a pretty good reputation and track record of forking not happening wholesale. Again, I think Microsoft's ability to stay afloat is due to the nature of people (perhaps read "baby-boomers") to want something "built" handed to them and to avoid anything that sounds like it might change before they are ready to get another one. :) Microsoft will have to change one of these days to appeal to younger, more tech-savvy generations.

Scott Granneman's Classes : GNU General Public License

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:39:51 +0000

Yeah, this one is actually comprehensible. What I also like about it is the tone of it. Preamble included, it felt a bit more like a bill of rights than a legalistic scare tactic. I'm sure it was vetted by lawyers, but instead of figuring out how to handcuff the person agreeing to the terms, it's a nice, easily understood explanation of "how this works".

Scott Granneman's Classes : Why is Microsoft Attacking the GPL?

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:32:12 +0000

But they have changed their tune since then, haven't they? Isn't there a component of Windows 7 that originally violated GPL due to it being based on open-source, and they pulled it? Then I thought I heard that they re-issued it under GPL.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Bill Gates Gives Open Source a Boost

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:20:04 +0000

"A second advantage of open-source programs is that security and reliability problems can be fixed quickly..." This reminded me that I've recently been in a website about security, where some of the commenters have answered the question, "Why don't Macs get viruses?", with "Because there are less Macs out there." I like that open-source software is frequently changing. Cyber-criminals have to decide what to spend their time on.

Scott Granneman's Classes : An Open Letter to Hobbyists

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 21:05:01 +0000

"As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you steal your software...I would appreciate letters from any one who wants to pay up..." That letter made me laugh out loud. The funniest part is that I can see his point. But now, looking back on the history of his company, I find it difficult to muster any sympathy. "Hobbyists" all over are now writing and/or collaborating on software.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Linux Inc.

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:30:20 +0000

I can't count the number of people who have told me in the last few months that they have Linux at home for their families. And these aren't IT people, just people who have read that it's more secure. A friend of mine has Linux on his kids' laptops. Is this a newfound appreciation for Linux, or have improvements to Linux increased in the past year or so?

Scott Granneman's Classes : Leader of the Free World

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:39:23 +0000

I enjoyed this article. In fact, it was one more time this semester when I have thought, "These guys who created all of these 'strange' things are not the stereotypical geek or nerd." Torvald is interesting and funny, and I love his "I don't want to know" attitude. His letting other people finish his project for him made me think he is a Finnish Tom Sawyer.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Open-Source Software: What is it?

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:32:40 +0000

A few months ago I had the opportunity to speak with someone from the Kuali Foundation, which has an open-source software it offers to universities, but is going one step further and is creating a community with universities and businesses (and others) to sustain the software. It sounds wonderful, but the person really stressed that the ideal place for it is in an organization that has enough IT support -- in both headcount and time -- to make it live up to its potential.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Definitions of 'Open source' on the Web

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:22:43 +0000

Ha ha, and most of the links went to pages "not found".

Scott Granneman's Classes : The Open Source Definition, Annotated

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 23:02:26 +0000

I always think I understand what source code means, but then something will be said that makes me think I'm not locked on quite yet. When No. 2 says that "the program must include source code", I get confused because in the next sentence, it says that if part of the product is not distributed with the source code, it must be available at a reasonable cost. Would someone explain this to me?

Scott Granneman's Classes : Computer Languages History

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:11:20 +0000

I don't have a lot to say about this article, but one of the 'related articles' was very interesting. '10 Programming Languages You Should Learn Right Now' was pretty cool. Would you have to already have programming experience to learn Ruby on Rails? I took classes in C (or C+) years ago and liked it. Would the average person be lost in it, or is it a question of 'why would I spend the time learning it if I didn't want to be a professional programmer'?

Scott Granneman's Classes : Timeline of programming languages

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:00:02 +0000

The last one on this list and the original Wikipedia page is dated 2007. The revised link goes through 2010: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_programm... I'll make a guess that the "old" language doesn't immediately become obsolete because people still have to use it for certain things. For instance, if they go to update a program for an older computer, they might still have to use the previous version. Kind of like html, i.e., the older versions don't go away, but newer websites might be done in the newest html? But over time, it won't be used again and will become obsolete. Remember, that's a guess, so no yelling or making fun of me. :)

Scott Granneman's Classes : What is Programming

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:46:36 +0000

One of my earliest jobs was at a consulting firm that was using McAuto for programming. The output we wanted demanded that the data be put through some serious steps, so they used Fortran language. Part of my job was to keep our process diagrams up to date (like the illustrations above) so that we could just hand it to the programmers and they would write the language. I could do that easily, so the owners, hoping to save money, asked me to take a Fortran course. My head nearly exploded mid-way through the first night. I never went back, and when I showed my boss my textbook, she hugged me and laughed.

Scott Granneman's Classes : The botnet ecosystem

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:54:03 +0000

krebsonsecurity dot com has a couple of really great posts on this right now. Brian did some great reporting on it. Microsoft was one of the good guys in the story: "Earlier this month, Microsoft crippled Rustock by convincing a court to let it seize dozens of Rustock control servers that were scattered among several U.S.-based hosting providers." Very interesting (and a bit amusing) as to how they did it and what comes next. In another post, Brian quotes someone who is concerned about the seizure of "equipment" that is also a "repository of information". Interesting read.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Infected In Twenty Minutes

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:44:06 +0000

Because other expenses keep interfering with my long-planned Mac purchase, I run XP on my stuff at home. I have no intention of spending money for another Windows version. I keep everything updated, try to be careful, and subscribe to a good antivirus. I just don't want to spend any $ on another Windows product.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Infected In Twenty Minutes

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:42:57 +0000

McAfee is a system hog. I recently switched over to Webroot, and except for some settings I just need to get familiar with, I really like it. Scott, do you still use the free Avast? The first time I ever had malware download and the av not catch it and clean/quarantine it, I was using free Avast.

Scott Granneman's Classes : Virus Underground

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 22:24:03 +0000

It was the plot for Die Hard 4, and it is scary because there is no one as buff as Bruce Willis to save us. Except maybe Zac Efron, I'm not sure. I don't know if what happened in the movie could really happen, because I don't have any idea as to how security experts with power plants, airports, etc., have planned for something like that. But my biggest concern is that cyber attacks on institutions resulting in loss of money make the stock market drop. A couple of well-placed, well-timed (maybe even time-released) attacks could cause enough panic to crash the entire country.