Bush should get a job of some kind :-)

A suggestion [rec.humor.funny]

Very funny. But very true. And therefore very tragic.

Oh well...

(criminal) Sony malware summary

As usual, my favourite site, LWN has an excellent summary of the Sony fiasco so far.

LWN: Sony's rootkit: an update

(wow) High-end synth runs Linux!

oreilly.com: Inside a Luxury Synth: Creating the Linux-Powered Korg OASYS

In fact, Linux's greatest success on the OASYS project may be that it's almost entirely invisible, letting Korg's designers focus on their proprietary sound engine. That was a big part of the appeal to Korg. "You can change things easily in Linux," says Phillips. "There's more granularity when you compile the kernel."/

Check out the picture of the machine toward the beginning of the article -- "sexy" is the only word that comes to mind, if you like such things at all.

And if you really like such things, check out the larger picture at http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/images/oreilly/digitalmedia/2005/11/oasys-on-white-pop.jpg

(malware) Does Visual Studio Rot the Mind?

Let's face it. GUI tools rot the mind, and that it's worse if the mind they're rotting is of a programmer as opposed to a mere user. Us macho programmers who've been coding for more than 20 years (wow, I'm that old?) or younger kids who have somehow resisted being lured into the dark side and are working in sane environments (which means anything Unix-like) will also agree. There's nothing new there.

What's new is to hear stuff like this from Charles Petzold, who's written more books on Windows programming and for a longer time than you'd imagine if you hadn't heard of him!

Does Visual Studio Rot the Mind?

Visual Studio can be one of the programmer's best friends, but over the years it has become increasingly pushy, domineering, and suffering from unsettling control issues. Should we just surrender to Visual Studio's insistence on writing our code for us? Or is Visual Studio sapping our programming intelligence rather than augmenting it?

More choice comments from the article:

(criminal) EULA gives Sony right to install backdoors on your PC!

People have often heard me say Sony is the "Microsoft of consumer electronics", which is a very serious insult, if you know anything about me! But this was always in the context of being "pretty but no use for experts", and having too little "bang for the buck".

But it seems the similarities between Microsoft and Sony go much further than that!

(criminal) another anti-DRM article

Seems like DRM screws everyone, including the artists whose income it is supposed to be protecting. But then we knew that already, so what's new... :-)

The Big Picture: DRM Crippled CD: A bizarre tale in 4 parts

DRM is now being used as a competitive economic weapon -- not as an anti-piracy tool.

As a music consumer, I find this ridiculous. Why I cannot use a legally purchased CD -- because Sony is miffed at Apple for creating the 2000's version of their Walkman -- is beyond absurd. I am very, very annoyed at this.

In fact, I am so perturbed at this act of wanton stupidity, that two imminent purchases -- a Sony Bravia LCD big screen TV and the Sony Vaio notebook -- are now put on hold.

(criminal) Sony, Rootkits and Digital Restrictions Management Gone Too Far

For anyone who still thinks DRM is a good idea, here's what a security researcher found: his system had been infected by a "rootkit" simply because he happened to purchase a copy-protected CD from Sony!

Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far

Last week when I was testing the latest version of RootkitRevealer (RKR) I ran a scan on one of my systems and was shocked to see evidence of a rootkit. Rootkits are cloaking technologies that hide files, Registry keys, and other system objects from diagnostic and security software, and they are usually employed by malware attempting to keep their implementation hidden. The RKR results window reported a hidden directory, several hidden device drivers, and a hidden application.

Another excerpt, from the end of the article:

The entire experience was frustrating and irritating. Not only had Sony put software on my system that uses techniques commonly used by malware to mask its presence, the software is poorly written and provides no means for uninstall. Worse, most users that stumble across the cloaked files with a RKR scan will cripple their computer if they attempt the obvious step of deleting the cloaked files.