A flaw in IE6 that requires a patch to Windows Server 2003 is rated as “moderate” with the logic that servers would rarely need a browser. Oh, come on! Too funny!
Update: Okay, that’s overstated. It turns out that IE on Win2K3 ships in a highly secure mode not vulnerable to the patch’s target. However, the security mode may need to be downgraded in order to access some content, so the threat is still there.
Windows Server 2003 gets first patch. “Microsoft says the flaw’s details are a positive sign for “Trustworthy Computing,” despite the embarrassment of releasing a patch barely two months after the OS launch.” From CNET News.com
Archive | 2003
It’s not a bug, it’s a feature?
I’m not sure I’d tick off a guy who blogs under the nom de plume of Ernie the Attorney. Here’s his story: It’s raining inside my car – I wonder if that is the sign of a major design flaw?. Well the drought finally ended last night, and it looks like we got about 2 inches of rain. I know this because I measured the rain collection in my BMW X5’s center console cup holder. So how could I be so stupid as to leave all four of my windows and the sun roof open during a major downpour?
Believe me I didn’t. Here’s what happened. Last night, during the rain storm, the car spontaneously lowered all of the windows and opened the sun roof. Really.
And this is not a design flaw, or a bug. It’s a feature.
Here’s how it works: BMW makes their ignition keys so that you can wirelessly lower the windows to your car by holding down a button on the key. It takes a good 30 seconds of holding to open all of the windows, but you can do it just by holding down that button. Obviously, the problem occurred not because of a key button being held down, but because of some stray electrical signal in the car’s vicinity (perhaps from the electrical storm).
So I asked the service manager (after I explained this problem, which apparently has occurred before) if he could disable the “feature.” He said “it can’t be done.” I asked him if he thought it was a good idea for a car to be susceptible to opening all of the windows because of some freak electrical activity in the car’s vicinity. He made an effort to understand my point, but obviously I’m biased. He said most people like the ability to open the windows with their key. So he didn’t think there was any sort of design flaw.
Oh, and any damage that might have occurred won’t be covered by the BMW warranty. Remember, guys, this is not a bug it’s a feature. And a mandatory feature.
So what if, while parked outside a downtown restaurant, the car decides to open all the windows and invite a few thieves to get inside and poke around, where they can find the valet key and drive away? (hint to the thieves: bring a bathing suit)
I can’t wait to talk the boys from BMW NorthAmerica and commend them on their fine engineering. I am definitely going to ask them what frequency their key system operates on.
Visual FoxPro 8.0 Fix List
From Garrett Fitzgerald’s Blog: “Visual FoxPro Fix Lists. These are the most extensive fix lists I’ve seen out of the Fox Team in a long time. 🙂 Thanks, guys!”
In Visual FoxPro, there are three ways do to anything,…
… or no way at all. I don’t know if I actually coined that in the Hacker’s Guide, or if I was just passing on a meme of the community, but here’s a sterling example. How do you force the Visual FoxPro Report Writer’s Preview window to maximize on display? MaximizePrintPreview from FoxForum Wiki
Lies, Damned Lies, and… PowerPoint?
Edward Tufte skewers the Boeing presentations that purported to show little danger of Columbia tile damaga, but in fact stated that their tests had no relevance to the question. This is criminal.
http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001yB&topic_id=1&topic=Ask+E%2eT%2e [Updated]
The Power of the Web
Had a humbling reminder today. I was looking for a little utility, PFE32, a “Professional File Editor,” highly recommended if you’re swapping files from Unix to PC, because of it’s automatic CR – to – CRLF translations. I knew it was somewhere on my hard drive, since I had copied backups of my last two machines (2 Gb and 6 GB, respectively) onto it. But Microsoft search was taking forever to plow through even the small subset of folders where I suspected it to be. Google to the rescue! “PFE32” and I was pointing to the web site, clicked through some links to a local download site, and I had the 700+ kb file unzipped before Search had finished, even though I’m dialed up on a pitiful 26.4 kbps connection. There’s a lesson in there somewhere. Maybe I should get my stuff better organized. Maybe I should enable Indexing Services on my local machine.
Petition for a return of the Public Domain – Please Sign!
Do you have one minute to web-surf for the Public Domain?. Larry Lessig needs your help to preserve the Public Domain:
“We have launched a petition to build support for the Public Domain Enhancement Act. That act would require American copyright holders to pay $1 fifty years after a work was published. If they pay the $1, the copyright continues. If they don’t, the work passes into the public domain. Historical estimates would suggest 98% of works would pass into the pubilc domain after 50 years. The Act would do a great deal to reclaim a public domain. This proposal has received a great deal of support. It is now facing some important lobbyists’ opposition. We need a public way to begin to demonstrate who the lobbyists don’t speak for. This is the first step. If you are an ally in at least this cause, please sign the petition. Please blog it, please email it, please spam it, please buy billboards about it — please do whatever you can. And most importantly, please help us explain its importance. There is a chance to do something significant here. But it will take a clearer, simpler voice than mine.”
Click here to sign the petition. It takes less than a minute to sign. Thanks.
[Ernie the Attorney]Sobig-C virus
“VX writers release sequel to infamous Sobig worm. Spoof from bill @ microsoft spreading rapidly” from The Register.
Look out for “Please see the attached file” messages. One more time:
- NEVER open files from untrusted sources
- There are NO trusted sources.
Change Of Plans: Microsoft To Put Reporting Services Into SQL Server 2000
From Computer Reseller News:
http://www.crn.com/sections/BreakingNews/breakingnews.asp?ArticleID=42275
A Universal RDF browser?
The MIT Haystack project released some preliminary code. If RDF is a grand unified theory of information, Haystack is the universal RDF browser. The Eclipse-like UI eschews dialog boxes for an array of panes; this cleverly eliminaties modality. It’s also surprisingly polished for an academic research project. Potential hackers beware; I suspect much of the code is written in Adenine, the secret love-child of Python and RDF. [Hack the Planet]