(funny) a case for case sensitivity

don't read if you're sensitive to certain kinds of jokes :)

http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1204955&cid=27644305

(funny) cartoon on Sun's business strategy

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/04/oracle-acquires-sun-ars-explores-the-impact-on-open-source.ars

quite hilarious (didn't read the article though -- just the cartoon!)

truecrypt and it's dangerous license

http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.freedesktop.distributions/275

Note especially the last few paras, in particular, "Our counsel advised us that this license has the appearance of being full of clever traps, which make the license appear to be a sham (and non-free)."  That's pretty strong language for a lawyer to make!  Also read the analysis of the simple clause: "NOTHING IN THIS LICENSE SHALL IMPLY OR BE CONSTRUED AS A PROMISE, OBLIGATION, OR COVENANT NOT TO SUE FOR COPYRIGHT OR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT"

My advice: use the normal Linux mechanisms -- dm-crypt, cryptsetup, and LUKS.

Forget about plausible deniability -- that's a load of fertiliser these days, since that feature has been touted so often in so many fora that the fact that you have truecrypt installed can mean they ask you for your second password :-)

If you're on Windows, buy a commercial license (although I suspect that may also have the same clause in it!), or use some competing product, or forget about encryption.

Or use Windows bitlocker :-)  Your data will be very safe.  If your hardware changes in any way, it will be safe even from you :-)

why people pirate movies

http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1204023&cid=27635245

Nice reasoning and analogy

python moves to Hg (surprise!)

No surprise, but here's has a real surprise:

quote: As git proponent, I had placed some comments in the usage scenarios explaining what was happening, and got a *lot* of pushback.  The basic workflow should involve *no* thought *at all*, that was a common position.  Even comments on theory of operation are a bad sign.  The closer the workflow scenarios approximated "no change in thinking" (== no thought at all in the ideal), the better.  People didn't even care to find out if it *was* complex, the mere scent of complexity put them off.

wow...!  Why even bother to convert from SVN then?  As someone who's trying to propagate git in $DAYJOB, I can understand this sort of reaction, but from a FOSS project?

And I didn't see a rebuttal of this post in the rest of the thread either...

(MBA) 360 Degree Feedback Survey for someone joining ISB

I did someone's "evaluation" for admission into ISB (actually the person has already got admission so this is somewhat less critical).

One of the questions was: "To sum up, what advice would you have for this individual on becoming more effective as a leader?".  Now, the person in question is a very soft-spoken, unaggressive, person (as far as I can see -- I could be wrong), so here's what I wrote:

My answer:  as an MBA, he may be called upon to take decisions that he will later have to defend (like perhaps why he voted a certain way in a certain board meeting ;-)  Even if he's right, he has to be able to defend his stance against more outspoken people.  Defending himself if he's actually wrong could be the next step.

:-)

B-schools don't teach ethics anyway, so hopefully they have at least developed a thick skin...

(funny quote) Dorothy Parker on some book...

"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

(standards/drivers) new hardware and linux

http://blogs.gnome.org/dcbw/2009/03/20/thats-when-i-reach-for-my-revolver/

This is a very entertaining article on why your new hardware sometimes doesn't work in Linux, written by one of the guys in charge of the "NetworkManager" applet.

Even if you're not a techie, you can still read it to get a flavour for the kind of problems these guys have supporting the same basic thing in a dozen different ways!

(funny) six of one and a half-dozen of the other

Today's Story

via Jokes2Go Daily Humor on 3/21/09

Recently, when I went to McDonald's. I saw on the menu
that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken
McNuggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. "We
don't have half dozen nuggets", said the teenager at
the counter. "You don't?" I replied. "We only have
six, nine, or twelve," was the reply "So I can't
order a half-dozen nuggets, but I can order six?"
"That's right." So I shook my head and ordered six
McNuggets.

(funny) Look Out, Firefox 3 --- IE8 Is Back On Top For Now

Look Out, Firefox 3 — IE8 Is Back On Top For Now

All alone
by AKAImBatman (238306)

IE8 Is Back On Top For Now

You know that kid who rushes to the top of the hill, just knowing that he's finally going to win King of the Hill for the first time ever? Then when he gets to the top of the hill, he's elated when he realizes he's at the top... only to realize a few moments later that all the other kids ran up a different hill?

That's Microsoft.