attivissimo.blog/

POVCOMP 2004: Hall of Fame

Impressionante per realismo e senso estetico.

Microsoft: To secure IE, upgrade to XP | Tech News on ZDNet: "Microsoft currently commands about 94 percent of the worldwide operating system market measured by software shipments, according to IDC. (That number factors in revenue-producing copies of the open-source Linux operating system, but not free ones).

Of Microsoft's approximately 390 million operating system installations around the world, Windows XP Pro constitutes 26.1 percent, Windows XP Home 24.7 percent, IDC said.

The remaining 49.2 percent is composed of Windows 2000 Professional (17.5 percent), Windows 98 (14.9 percent), Windows ME (6.5 percent), Windows 95 (5.4 percent), and Windows NT Workstation (4.9 percent). That 49.2 percent of Windows users are left out in the cold when it comes to significant updates to IE and other software."

Integration of Internet Explorer and Windows: Information From Answers.com: "There are a number of significant vulnerabilities in technologies relating to the IE domain/zone security model, local file system (Local Machine Zone) trust, the Dynamic HTML (DHTML) document object model (in particular, proprietary DHTML features), the HTML Help system, MIME type determination, the graphical user interface (GUI), and ActiveX. … IE is integrated into Windows to such an extent that vulnerabilities in IE frequently provide an attacker significant access to the operating system."

Anche il resto dell'articolo, tratto da Wikipedia, contiene spunti interessanti su come si può, almeno entro certi limiti, rimuovere IE da Windows XP e da altri Windows.

Microsoft PressPass - Microsoft Asks Court to Dismiss Government Lawsuit: "First, as the June 23, 1998, Appeals Court decision made clear, Internet Explorer technologies are an integrated element of the Microsoft Windows operating system.
# Second, as the Appeals Court stated, the integration of these technologies into the operating system provides clear benefits to consumers and software developers."

"Clear benefits"? Nel senso che un browser che porta dritto al cuore del sistema operativo è un "beneficio"? ActiveX è un "beneficio"? Un dialer è un "beneficio"? Mah.

Microsoft Support Lifecycle: "Microsoft Support Lifecycle

Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle policy provides consistent and predictable guidelines for product support availability at the time of product release. The Support Lifecycle policy took effect October 15, 2002 and applies to most products currently available through retail purchase or volume licensing and most future release products. New enhancements for the Support Lifecycle took effect June 1, 2004."

Slashdot | No IE7 For 2k, Now In Extended Service: "Looks like MS will not support IE7 on Windows 2000. 'It should be no surprise that we do not plan on releasing IE7 for Windows 2000... [S]ome of the security work in IE7 relies on operating system functionality in XPSP2 that is non-trivial to port back to Windows 2000.' While security fixes will still be available until 2010, I guess that means the only browsers with tabs for W2k will be Opera and Firefox."

Slashdot | Kazakhstan's Spaceship Junkyard: "What happens to the booster stages of rockets? They fall back to earth, and in most cases into the oceans. But not in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, where the first stages fall over populated farmland. The locals have become rich dealing in the titanium-rich scrap metal as this article and this remarkable photo essay show. So far the only casualties seem to have been a few dead cows.'"

BBC NEWS: Machines' way with words: "Generally, the tests show that people are less persuaded by female voices than by male ones, though people are more likely to be antagonised by a male voice. On the up-side, male-voiced machines are perceived to have energy and authority."

E ci sono differenze fra i vari paesi. Il sessismo, volontario o involontario, non conosce frontiere :-)

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Crazy Frog hops to chart success

Con link al sito originale e all'autore della suoneria... Inquietante.

Slashdot | Intel Adds DRM to New Chips: "'Microsoft and the entertainment industry's holy grail of controlling copyright through the motherboard has moved a step closer with Intel Corp. now embedding digital rights management within in its latest dual-core processor Pentium D and accompanying 945 chipset. Officially launched worldwide on the May 26, the new offerings come DRM -enabled and will, at least in theory, allow copyright holders to prevent unauthorized copying and distribution of copyrighted materials from the motherboard rather than through the operating system as is currently the case...' The Inquirer has the story as well."

Mac users discover Tiger's hidden Booleans | The Register

Mac OS X 10.4 'Tiger' in depth | The Register

Qualche trucco e tecnica.

Slashdot | The Future of Linux on Laptops: "CoolTechZone discusses the future of Linux on laptops after HP and Ubuntu's recent announcement. 'What would be even more exciting for Linux is if other OEMs, similar to HP, took the same approach by partnering with selected distributions of consumer friendly Linux and started offering an alternative not only in third world regions, but also in the United States."

Slashdot | 2-Year OpenOffice High School Case Study: "a 2-year OpenOffice case-study on a Detroit high school who switched from Windows NT and MS Office 97 to Linux and OpenOffice. The results? Better than expected. In 2003, the school, who saved over $100,000 in the process, converted 110 Windows NT machines to Linux with OpenOffice. After several surprising developments, including OpenOffice's ability to open old Word documents that even the new Word versions were having troubles with, the school now uses it almost exclusively, has classes on it's use, and encourages students to use it whenever possible."

Slashdot | Another Star Wars Prequel?: "'George Lucas said he was finished with the Star Wars movies, but it seems George Lucas has an idea for another add-on to the Star Wars movie series: a prequel to The Phantom Menace. The story would follow the Jedi regaining control of the universe from the many Dark Lords some 88 years before Anakin Skywalker ever graced the universe. Yoda, who, according to Lucas, was instrumental in the effort, would apparently have a headlining role. However, Lucas, now age 60, says he won't be captaining such a ship if it ever happens.'"

E se Lucas non lo dirige, potrebbe anche essere un bel film.

Già disponibile un'estensione per Mozilla.

Slashdot | Security Skins: Single Sign-On with Images: "'Berkeley researchers propose a Mozilla extension to stop phishing. They claim that users only need to remember one password and one image for their lifetime to securely log in to any number of sites. They also use uniquely generated visual hashes to 'skin' trusted windows and webpages, which is harder to spoof than the SSL lock icon. To verify that the skin is legit, the user has to compare two images, which is easier for novices than verifying a certificate.'"

BBC NEWS | Americas | Bid to save nearly-lost language: "It is spoken by only a handful of people but, after 5,000 years, a rare native American language is to get its own dictionary. Some 300 people, descendants of a Native American people in west Canada, still speak Nuuchahnulth. But almost no young people in the community on Vancouver Island know the ancient language...

He said linguists found the language fascinating because of its complexity. 'Entire sentences can be built up into a single word,' Dr Stonham said. 'But there are also some concepts that can be encapsulated in a single syllable. A single sound describes the state of remaining in seclusion when the husband goes out to hunt, for example.'"

Nokia intros Linux wireless device

Nokia announced the 770 Internet tablet, a Linux-native wireless device combining functions of a PDA,media player, and web browser.

The 770 weighs 230 grams and is 141 mm X 79 mm and 19 mm thick, a true handheld device. The matte-black unit has a removable and reversible silver cover which protects the 800X480 4.13"-wide color display.

Sixties City - Ladies of Star Trek - The Original Series

A conferma che quando pensi di essere un po' troppo fan, c'è sempre qualcuno che lo è di più.

Microsoft halves R&D spending, posts record profits | The Register

...ma Office e Windows restano le voci fondamentali:

But as ever, the divisions responsible for the Windows desktop client and Microsoft Office, the latter Microsoft calls "Information Worker" - remain the breadwinners. The Office division cleared a cool $2bn profit in quarter for the first time on revenues of $2.77bn. Client recorded a net income of $2.53bn, up from $2.095bn in the same period last year, on revenues of $3.22bn, up from $3.059bn.

Make money out of Skype: "Skype has announced today at the VON Europe show that it has launched an affiliates programme. So instead of getting enthusiasts to 'evangelize' to their friends and get them to sign up for free, web sites can now earn a 10 per cent commission on new memebers."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Film | Revenge of the Sith leaked online: "the first episode of the latest Doctor Who series appeared on the internet on March 7, three weeks before the series started on BBC One.

The BBC did not provide details about the individual responsible for the leak who was sacked two weeks later, saying only that the person worked for a 'third-party company in Canada'."

Digital Noise Reduction: Where'd That Cartoon Go?: "As film is output to tape, DVNR's algorithms are designed to compare frames in the same scene and pick out unwanted noise such as grain, dirt and scratches. Once picked out, the system selectively replaces the unwanted parts of the image with parts from the previous and subsequent frames. The system's level of intensity is controllable thereby making it more or less sensitive to the noise on screen. Certain complications arise however when DVNR is used with animation. In animation, DVNR easily confuses the high contrasts and thin black lines commonly found in cartoons, and mistakes them for dirt"

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Music | Crazy Frog 'heading for top spot': "A popular ringtone track is set to scoop the top spot in the UK singles chart, on course to beat Coldplay's comeback to number one on Sunday.

The Crazy Frog's Axel F is currently outselling the Brit-winning band's new single Speed of Sound, according to early retail reports....

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said Crazy Frog would be the first hit ringtone to cross over into the singles charts in this way.

"

Microsoft’s old enemies come out of the shadows: "Sun, Novell and industry association the CCIA, withdrew their support for the EC charges after Steve opened his chequebook and paid them millions to go away.

However it seems that another enemy has stepped into the breach. ECIS, the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, has members which include IBM, Nokia, Oracle, RealNetworks and Red Hat.

It has announced that it is helping the EU against Microsoft's attempt to reverse its antitrust conviction.

The European Court of First Instance has told the group that it is allowed to assist to the EC, which widens the role it had before."

PI: OpenOffice? Un formato �standard: "Il formato dei documenti definito nella specifica Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) 1.0, lo stesso implementato nell'imminente OpenOffice 2.0, �divenuto ieri uno standard ufficiale dell'OASIS."

Slashdot | Bram Cohen to Release BitTorrent Search Engine: "Within two weeks, a BitTorrent search engine will be available at BitTorrent.com. From the Wired News article: 'Bram Cohen and a small cadre of developers and entrepreneurs are in the final stage of launching an advertising-supported search engine dedicated to cataloging and indexing the thousands of movies, music tracks, software programs and other files for download over Cohen's popular BitTorrent protocol."

Slashdot | Google Map Hack & Chicago Crime Data: "...He's merged Google map data with Chicago crime data to present a once a day updated crime map of the entire city, including some really nice summarized data. Adrian calls the project Chicagocrime.org. How long till we have real time crime data showing up on Google's map? Pull open HousingMaps next to Chicagocrime.org and figure out if that low rent apartment is truly worth it."

Rai.it: "l mondo digitale ha la sua 'costituzione'

P.a. digitale, i punti salienti del Codice

Dal gennaio prossimo le pubbliche amministrazioni dovranno adeguarsi alle nuove regole

I nuovi diritti dei cittadini
- i cittadini e le imprese hanno diritto di usare le moderne tecnologie informatiche per tutti i rapporti con qualsiasi amministrazione dello stato. Non sara' piu' possibile quindi per un'amministrazione o per un gestore di pubblico servizio obbligare i cittadini a recarsi agli sportelli per presentare documenti cartacei, per firmare fisicamente domande o istanze, per fornire chiarimenti: per tutto questo deve essere sempre e dovunque disponibile un canale digitale sicuro, certificato e con piena validita' giuridica che permetta di dialogare con la pubblica amministrazione dal proprio computer..."

E sarà tre volte Natale.

Qui il comunicato stampa del nuovo parto del ministro Stanca. Datato Novembre 2004?

William Shatner: Captain of the Starship: "...check out this other Shatner LP, an ultra-rare two-record set recorded live in 1978. It's a recording of an appearance at some kind of a Star Trek convention just before the first Star Trek movie came out (probably the lowest point in Shatner's career). Half of it consists of Shatner answering questions from the audience (where was the bathroom on the Enterprise?) and recalling inane stories from his career. On the other half, he performs dramatic poetry interpretations, including 'Earthbound', 'The Flight of Man' and a reading from H.G. Wells' 'War of the Worlds'.

On the artwork for Transformed Man, Shatner appeared as Captain Kirk, in his full starfleet uniform. Here, however, licensing restrictions prevented Imperial House records from using any actual Trek material. Notice how Shatner is the captain of the 'Starship', not the 'Enterprise', and how his shirt, while similar to the one he wore on TV, lacks the official Star Trek insignia. If you look closely you might also notice that the space rifle he's wielding is actually an upside-down camera tripod -- talk about your low-budget photo shoots!"

Slashdot | MPAA Blames BitTorrent for Star Wars Distribution: "'Slyck News reports on the MPAA's press release (.doc) blaming the BitTorrent protocol for the leak of Episode III. MPAA President and CEO Dan Glickman: 'There is no better example of how theft dims the magic of the movies for everyone than this report today regarding BitTorrent providing users with illegal copies of Revenge of the Sith. The unfortunate fact is this type of theft happens on a regular basis on peer to peer networks all over the world.''"

Primo: non è furto, è violazione di copyright. Secondo, da quando si incolpano gli strumenti invece delle persone che li usano?

Captain Kirk meets Intel in quest to understand toilets: "He's co-written a book, called I'm Working on That, in his attempt to understand technology and science. That led him to comment that he'd sat down for the keynote and was completely baffled by the subject.

'You guys speak a different language,' he said. 'I don't understand what you're talking about. In fact, he said, he didn't understand any technology at all, but wanted to. When the plumber came to his house, for example, he wanted to know as much as the plumber.

He said: 'How does the toilet really work? I don't know. There are other forces at work. Who invented the toilet, and what gave him the idea?'

In the course of writing the book, he had talked to Ray Kurzweil, the father of voice recognition technology. While he was dictating a sentence something like 'I have just talked to Ray Kurzweil,' the speech recognition engine translated Ray Kurzweil to Pakapakapaka.

He said he asked Ray what he should do about that and Kurzweil said, 'Just say delete'. But when he said delete, it didn't delete Pakapakapaka but just pasted delete after it. So he said delete again and now there were two deletes."

Ho provato e recensito due programmi da aggiungere a Firefox (per Windows, Linux e Mac) per rivelare più facilmente i siti-trappola usati dai criminali dediti al "phishing", ossia alla creazione di siti apparentemente uguali a quelli di banche o negozi in Rete, usati per rubarvi i codici d'accesso al vostro conto corrente e simili.

Se vi interessano i dettagli, li trovate qui:

http://www.zeusnews.it/index.php3?ar=stampa&cod=4151


__Siti per bambini?___

Sto facendo un po' di ricerche per una trasmissione televisiva, e vorrei chiedervi, se avete bambini, quali sono le vostre scelte riguardo Internet: li lasciate navigare liberamente? Li sorvegliate? Avete installato programmi-filtro? Li trovate efficaci?

Soprattutto, quali siti italiani fate visitare ai vostri figli piccoli, e quali sono quelli che piacciono loro di più?

Grazie e ciao da Paolo.

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(C) 2005 by Paolo Attivissimo (www.attivissimo.net).
Distribuzione libera, purché sia inclusa la presente dicitura.

In tantissimi mi avete segnalato di aver ricevuto un e-mail in inglese che sembra provenire da Banca Intesa e vi chiede di cliccare su un link per reimmettere i vostri dati personali.

E' una trappola, secondo la tecnica del cosiddetto "phishing": il link conduce al sito dei truffatori. Se abboccate (e ovviamente se avete un conto presso Banca Intesa e avete i codici di accesso per gestire il conto via Internet), regalate i vostri codici segreti ai criminali che hanno organizzato questo raggiro, che saranno quindi ben lieti di vuotarvi il conto.

L'e-mail sta arrivando a tantissimi utenti, anche non correntisti di Banca Intesa: è un attacco a tappeto, in stile spamming.

L'unica cosa da fare è ricordarsi, come già consigliato dal mio piccolo dodecalogo di difesa informatica, di non cliccare sui link nei messaggi quando ci sono di mezzo dei soldi.

Se vi interessano altri dettagli, date un'occhiata all'articolo che ho scritto qui per Zeus News:

http://www.zeusnews.it/index.php3?ar=stampa&cod=4149


__Apparizioni mistiche: demo di Skype___

Anche Beppe Grillo è lanciatissimo con Skype, il programma che consente di parlarsi gratis via Internet e di telefonare anche ai numeri di rete fissa e mobile, quasi sempre con tariffe più convenienti di quelle degli operatori tradizionali. La televisione svizzera di lingua italiana ha realizzato un servizio molto interessante a questo proposito, e indovinate chi hanno preso per fare una dimostrazione di Skype?

Il filmato è disponibile via Internet: la mia piccola demo inizia a 12:10 e finisce a 14:15.

Come se non bastasse, dovrei infierire sulle vostre visioni notturne anche su mamma Rai: sono stato intervistato da Galatea, in onda ogni giovedì alle 24 circa: mi dicono, ma non posso confermare, che l'intervista andrà in onda questo giovedì (26/5).

Per chi è dalle parti di Bolzano, inoltre, ricordo che il 26 maggio prossimo (dopodomani, insomma) sarò all'Auditorium Battisti del Centro di formazione professionale della Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano per due incontri, alle 15.30 per parlare di come si migra da Windows a Linux e alle 17.30 per presentare l'Acchiappavirus. Porterò con me un po' di copie di entrambi i libri. Maggiori informazioni, indicazioni stradali e contatti sono disponibili qui:

http://www.cts-einaudi.it/progetti.php?show=4

Ciao da Paolo.

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(C) 2005 by Paolo Attivissimo (www.attivissimo.net).
Distribuzione libera, purché sia inclusa la presente dicitura.

Slashdot | Software Glitches Stall Toyota Prius: "CNN/Money/Tech reports that 2004 and early 2005 Toyota Prius models have software bugs that cause them to stall while traveling at highway speeds. While no accidents were reported to have been caused by the software glitch, could we be heading into an era where our automobiles will require software updates and fixes to keep them from literally 'crashing'?'"

Scusatemi se non mi faccio vivo da un po', ma mi sono piombati addosso alcuni guai. Niente di grave, ma mi stanno portando via molto tempo.

Riassumo un po' quello che ho combinato e scritto nei giorni scorsi. Prima di tutto, se siete perplessi dai messaggi in tedesco che vi stanno intasando la posta, niente panico: è un sottoprodotto di Sober.Q, un virus a sfondo xenofobo. I dettagli freschi freschi sono qui:

http://www.zeusnews.it/news.php?cod=4133


__Mac: prova e recensione di Tiger___

Per gli utenti Mac, ho acquistato e installato Tiger, la nuova versione del sistema operativo Apple. E' bello vedere che la macchina diventa più veloce, e Spotlight (praticamente Google sul proprio disco) è strepitoso specialmente se usate Mail (il programma di posta di Apple), ma il mio consiglio è di spendere i 129 euro del prezzo di Tiger per un Mac nuovo, sul quale lo trovate preinstallato gratuitamente. Chi ha acquistato un Mac poco prima del 29 aprile può comunque avere Tiger a 18 euro, come dettagliato sul sito Apple.

Se vi interessa una mia breve recensione, la trovate qui:

http://www.zeusnews.it/index.php3?ar=stampa&cod=4095&numero=999

A proposito di Mail: sto meditando seriamente di adottarlo al posto di Thunderbird, perché a quanto pare Thunderbird non può essere integrato nella ricerca istantanea di Spotlight a causa della struttura dei file in cui tiene i messaggi (Mail usa un file per ogni e-mail, Thunderbird usa un file unico per tutti i messaggi di una casella). Però ideologicamente mi scoccia non poco lasciare un programma open source e multipiattaforma per legarmi a un programma chiuso e disponibile soltanto per Mac. Sapete se Thunderbird ha in progetto di rendersi compatibile con Spotlight? Avete qualche esperienza negativa con Mail che mi possa trattenere dal fatale abbraccio?

Sempre per gli utenti Mac, segnalo un plug-in Spotlight eccezionale per chi usa OpenOffice.org o Neooffice: si chiama Neolight, e indicizza letteralmente in tempo reale i documenti scritti appunto con OpenOffice.org o Neooffice. Spettacolare. Lo trovate qui:

http://neowiki.sixthcrusade.com/index.php/NeoLight


__Playstation Portable già craccata___

Non è ancora in vendita in Europa, ma già si è scoperto come superarne i sistemi anticopia, anche se per ora il problema della pirateria non si pone:

http://www.zeusnews.it/index.php3?ar=stampa&cod=4102&numero=999


__Aiuto, c'è una rana nel computer!___

Molti di voi mi stanno scrivendo chiedendo lumi su un allarme per un messaggio che infetterebbe irrimediabilmente i computer e conterrebbe un salvaschermo con le rane della Budweiser.

E' una vecchia bufala, ma occorre comunque cautela:

http://www.zeusnews.it/news.php?cod=4106


__Garantito: meno schermate blu nel prossimo Windows____

Infatti saranno ROSSE!

No, non è uno scherzo: è proprio così. La storia è qui:

http://www.zeusnews.it/index.php3?ar=stampa&cod=4109&numero=999


__Utenti Mac bidonati dall'antivirus Symantec___

Un aggiornamento fallato di Symantec ha messo in crisi molti utenti Mac, cosa alquanto ironica, dato che gli antivirus per Mac servono a tenere a bada i virus per Windows...

http://www.zeusnews.it/news.php?cod=4113


__Microsoft sospende il quiz a premi sulla sicurezza: è insicuro___

Figura barbina per zio Bill e il suo quiz per smanettoni: dopo pochi giorni si è scoperto come alterare i risultati.

http://www.zeusnews.it/news.php?cod=4116


__Tempo di pezze per iTunes e Firefox___

Questi due popolari programmi hanno rivelato delle falle gravi di sicurezza ed è quindi indispensabile scaricare e installare subito le loro versioni aggiornate:

http://www.zeusnews.it/news.php?cod=4122


__Chi ha detto che il P2P fa male alla TV?___

La BBC (sì, la seria e posata BBC) sfrutta la "pirateria" dei programmi televisivi per far pubblicità ai propri telefilm? Lo sospettano in molti dopo l'ennesima fuga di un programma seguitissimo, Doctor Who, prima della messa in onda. Intanto, in America un telefilm ha un boom di ascolti perché circola su Internet.

http://www.zeusnews.it/news.php?cod=4131


Infine, colgo l'occasione per ringraziare chi è venuto alla Fiera del Libro a salutarmi e a partecipare all'incontro che ho moderato con alcuni dei personaggi più in vista del progetto Creative Commons, ossia una forma alternativa (e legale) di diritto d'autore che concede maggiori diritti agli utenti.

Appena ho il permesso del fotografo, pubblicherò anche le immagini della mia esibizione su un letto di chiodi presso lo stand del Cicap alla Fiera. Confesso, non ho saputo resistere.

Ciao da Paolo.


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(C) 2005 by Paolo Attivissimo (www.attivissimo.net).
Distribuzione libera, purché sia inclusa la presente dicitura.

About:config entries - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

Molto comoda, in inglese.

StartupSound.prefPane 1.0.3 - MacUpdate

Vi da' fastidio il suono che fanno i Mac quando (raramente) li riavviate? Questa utility gratuita risolve il problema. Zittisce o riduce il volume del "bong" o "chime" dei Mac direttamente dalle Preferenze di Sistema.

Slashdot | BBC Launches APIs: "'The BBC is opening up a slew of APIs to its content and applications via a new site, backstage.bbc.co.uk, and actively encouraging users to remix, mashup, and otherwise play with their content to create new applications. Already there's a few cool featured apps, my own BBC News wikipedizing proxy, and a del.icio.us-enabled version of BBC News 'Use our stuff to create your stuff' is their slogan. Could a commercial broadcaster ever take a step like this?'"

Microsoft is starting an anti-virus and security service for PC users.

The service would be on a yearly subscription basis, just like other anti-virus protection services.

Called Windows OneCare, it is to be tested by the software giant's employees, before a trial release for the rest of the world later this year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4544547.stm

Forse un nome più adatto sarebbe stato Windows Won't Care :-)

BBC NEWS | Technology | BBC eases rules on news feed use: "The BBC has opened up its content more so that people can use news stories and headlines on their own sites via RSS.

Revised licence terms mean other sites can integrate RSS feeds from the BBC without offline contract negotiations, as was previously the case.

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It is a way of keeping automatically aware of website updates.

BBC News and Sport have made their content available for online news reader programs via RSS since 2003."

...perché non si parla mai dei costi amministrativi legati alla gestione complicatissima delle licenze?

Microsoft streamlines licensing | The Register: "'Licensing was too complex and confusing... we had to drill down and find out where the confusion and difficulty was,' Sunny Charlebois, product manger for worldwide licensing, told The Register."

Slashdot | UK Schools Told to Dump Microsoft: "'The current issue of the Times Educational Supplement is running an article in which they cite a report by the British Educational Communications and Technology Association telling primary and secondary schools in the UK to dump Microsoft Operating systems and products in order to save millions. In a report to be published next week, obtained by The TES, Becta will highlight schools which have turned to free software instead of the market leader's products. Becta does not name Microsoft in its analysis. But almost all schools use some of the company's products. Their conclusion? Schools running OSS are saving 24% on average per pc versus those running proprietary systems.'"

Slashdot | Longhorn: Fewer BSODs, More RSODs: "'Windows Loghorn will present you less BSOD. Joi Ito reports that Windows Longorn will get additional ROSD (red screen of death) for 'really bad errors.' So you will get less BSOD but some new RSOD. You can find a ROSD screenshot in a virtual machine in his weblog entry.'"

Missing Mars lander shows up in old pics | The Register: "An imaging scientist believes that he has found NASA's failed Mars Polar Lander after re-examining pictures of the Martian surface taken in 1999-2000.

The likely crash site was found by scientists at Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), the company that operates the main camera on board the Mars Global Surveyor.

Michael Malin, president and chief scientist of MSSS, has published the findings in the July issue of Sky and Telescope Magazine. "

Firefox exploit targets zero day vulns | The Register: "Security researchers have discovered two unpatched vulnerabilities in Firefox, the popular alternative web browser. The security bugs affect even the latest version of Firefox (version 1.0.3) and create a means for attackers to seize control of vulnerable systems using cross-site scripting attacks.

One vulnerability enables arbitrary JavaScript code with escalated privileges to be executed via a specially crafted JavaScript URL. Successful exploitation requires that a site is allowed to install software (default sites are 'update.mozilla.org' and 'addons.mozilla.org'). This would normally drastically reduce the scope for mischief - but for a second security bug, involving 'IFRAME' JavaScript URLs, which creates a means to execute arbitrary HTML and script code in the context of an arbitrary site...."

BBC NEWS | Technology | Ticket trap snares Windows users

Sober, nella sua ennesima variante, inganna gli utenti promettendo biglietti per il campionato FIFA 2006. E ovviamente trova un vasto parco di utenti interessanti quanto impreparati.

BBC NEWS | Technology | How to escape the phishing nets: "The Anti-Phishing Working Group reports that the average monthly growth rate in phishing sites between July 2004 and February 2005 was 26%."

L'articolo della BBC riassume le principali tecniche di sopravvivenza per l'utente comune.

ChoicePoint tricked into disclosing info on 140,000 people - Feb. 17, 2005

Servono info dettagliate su una persona, sufficienti ad impersonarla? Facile: basta creare una ditta fittizia, abbonarsi al servizio Choicepoint, e si ha accesso a 19 miliardi di dati pubblici, coi profili di quasi tutti i consumatori USA, comprese le liste dei criminali ricercati e degli individui sospettati di terrorismo.

Facile come rubare caramelle a un bambino.

Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger : Page 2

Decisamente completa al punto di essere un tantinello prolissa.

Slashdot | Bank Of America Loses 1.2 Million Customer Records: "C|Net is reporting that Bank of America lost 1.2 million customer records when some backup tapes went missing while being shipped to a backup center. The lost records mainly effect U.S. government employees involved in the SmartPay program."