Archive for the ‘computers’ tag
OS Nostalgia and Disappointment
Ten years ago, when I was starting my computer science training, I was a major fan of OpenVMS. OpenVMS, of course, will not run on my laptop, so I needed a solution to run on my standard-issue laptop. Linux was still in its infancy, especially on laptop hardware, so I began to play around with other operating systems. Eventually, a friend of mine turned me on to an operating system called BeOS. Superfast to boot, BeOS was based around a microkernel and a strong graphical user interface (“GUI”) design philosophy.
Today, the original BeOS project is defunct. A group of dedicated enthusiasts are working to bring the project back under the new name of HaikuOS. While Haiku continues to be as fast and lightweight as the old BeOS was, I can’t help but think that the GUI is stuck in the distant past.
After I overcame my nostalgia for BeOS, I started thinking that GUI operating systems have not done much to evolve in the past 25 years.
FCC Inquires About Google Voice App Rejection
TechCrunch is reporting that the FCC has sent letters of inquiry to Apple, AT&T and Google regarding the rejection of Google Voice related apps from Apple’s app store. In the letters, the FCC is asking both Apple and AT&T about their levels of decision making in approving/rejecting apps.
AT&T has maintained that it has no involvement in the approval process, although their loosely-written press release gives a wide latitude for interpretation.
I suspect that the FTC and DoJ may get involved next, given the administration’s strong antitrust policy.
[From FCC Takes On Apple And AT&T Over Google Voice Rejection]
Pros and Cons of Asymmetric Cryptography
Quick disclaimer: I love cryptography. I don’t fully understand the math that goes into it, but I love it all the same.
Something that has baffled me for quite some time is why we don’t see more cryptography in consumer computing. Passwords, simple authentication tokens, are ubiquitous, even on single-user Windows computers. Real encryption, on the other hand, in virtually non-existant.
Why?
The Network Really is the Computer
Sun Microsystems, one of the stalwarts of the computing industry, has a simple motto: “the network is the computer.” Yesterday, Google took that motto to an entirely new level with the announcement of it’s Chrome OS.
Details on Chrome are sparse (which has not stopped technology writers from writing ad nauseum about all the features it will have). What it appears from Google’s press release, however, is that Chrome will be an incarnation of the old “network computer” (NC) concept, where the bulk of the computing will be conducted on centralized servers. Rebranded “cloud computing”, this server-centric model is the latest fad.
NCs have a significant limitation not found in personal computers: to fully function, an NC requires a constant, reliable network connection. Chrome will likely utilize Google’s “Gears” framework. Even so, the dramatic push of an entire operating environment to the web seems both radical and unwise. When Gmail went down for several hours earlier this year, the world panicked. The harm caused by a Gmail outage will be miniscule compared to an outage of thousands of computers.
It is far too early to tell if Chrome will be a mere dumb terminal or something far more sophisticated. A number of important questions also remain to be answered, such as how open the Chrome platform will be, the willingness of people to adopt a new operating platform, and the response of the existing operating system developers.
In the Clouds
Recently, my hosting company, Laughing Squid, established a new cloud hosting service dubbed “Ultra Squid“. Today, for essentially the same cost I’ve been paying, I now get over three times the storage, two and half times the bandwidth, more databases, and tons of email storage space.
I’ve been using LS for years and found it to be the most reliable hosting company I’ve ever used. Hopefully that trend will continue with this new service. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it all.
Time to scheme…
Interview With Dino A. Dai Zovi
Tom’s Hardware has a great interview with Dino A. Dai Zovi, computer security researcher. The interview does a nice job of covering topics such as OS and browser security, internet fragility, and concepts in computer security.
[From Security Threat Analysis: Interview With Dino A. Dai Zovi : Introduction - Review Tom's Hardware]
Monetizing the Crowd
This is part two of a multi-part series on the next generation of internet communications. In this article, I will be exploring the problems with internet business models.
Unless you are a multi-national bank, there is something seriously wrong with having a business model that does not produce any income. Running a business or organization requires money and, although profit is not always the motive, some form of revenue is important for sustaining almost any endeavor.
The exception to this rule is, of course, the internet. Throughout its commercial history, profit has been an sufficient, but not necessary, condition to the perpetuation of cyberspace.
Les différents types de cyberattaques
A fun infographic from the French newspaper Le Monde describing the different types of computer malware.
