I just lost an entry I was working on due to Firefox locking up so badly that I had to completely power off the laptop to get things back to normal. The reason it locked up? I accidentally managed to press CTRL-S and brought up the “Save Page As” file requester and when I clicked the Cancel button to dismiss that window it opted to totally fuck the OS instead of just closing back up and going away like it would on any other reasonable OS. That’s just dumb. There’s no excuse for that. Canceling a file requester should never totally lock up your system.

Whatever mojo it takes to run Linux in a stable fashion is apparently beyond my reach. I’ve managed to get things to a point where I only have to worry about applications quitting for no apparent reason as opposed to the whole system crashing for no apparent reason and I’ve been able to live with that fairly well, but when the system locks up because I canceled a file requester... I dunno. That just seems like asking a bit much.

I’ve been working on a project here at work converting the Internet kiosks we have set up for the folks out on the floor from Windows to Ubuntu. Recently someone pointed out that there’s some profiles for Kubuntu that would do most of the work for me so I downloaded the latest version (8.10) and installed it on the test machine I’ve been using. It installed fine, but when you login it never makes it through the whole login process without locking up completely. It starts showing the little icons starting with the hard drive and then as it’s fading the others in it just stops. If I install the previous version (8.04) it seems to let me login just fine. Does that make any sense to anyone? I’d expect that sort of problem if we were going from version 8 to version 9 or version 10, but we went up by .6 of a version number. That’d be like if you were running Windows XP and then installed Service Pack 2 and your system no longer let you login. Actually it’d be like you wiped the hard drive and installed Windows XP with Service Pack 2 already in it and it refused to let you login cause I did a clean install of 8.10 of Kubuntu. Hell, it seems like you’re rolling the dice just letting the system updater run.

And a lot of this is just my frustration venting at the moment. I don’t have a choice here at work. I’m going to have to work with this OS like it or not so I’ll sit down and pour through the dozens of log files in /var/logs and see if I can figure out which one might tell me what the fuck is going on and try to learn something, but I’m really starting to hate Linux. Or at least Ubuntu. Stupid shit happens that doesn’t make any damned sense on stuff that should be rock solid and trying to find out what’s going on and why is exceedingly difficult. It shouldn’t be that way. This is supposed to be the better OS.

If you’re a happy Ubuntu Linux fan then you’ll be pleased to hear that version 8.10 is now available to download or upgrade on your machine. The official press release can be read here and the folks at ArsTechnica.com have a brief writeup here:

Ubuntu 8.10 includes Xorg 7.4, which has improved support for input device hotplugging. This takes Linux one step closer to completely eliminating the need for Xorg configuration files. Network configuration gets a big boost in this release with the addition of Network Manager 0.7, which adds support for managing 3G and PPPoE connections and configuring static IP addresses. The new version of Network Manager also has a more complete end user interface that exposes a variety of other configuration features.

Ubuntu 8.10 also includes the Dynamic Kernel Module Support system, a framework created by Dell that will automatically recompile kernel modules when kernel packages are updated. This will hopefully reduce breakage of VirtualBox and other applications that rely on third-party kernel modules.

I should take a moment here to update you folks on my own experiences with Ubuntu as I’ve written at length on the troubles I’ve had with it. I recently restaged my work laptop once again with a fresh download of 8.04 after an experiment left my system hosed so badly that I didn’t know where to start to try and fix it. The first thing I did after the install was run the update manager and install all the patches and then run EnvyNG and have it install the ATI drivers for the Thinkpad’s video card. The only additional software I’ve added since, other than official patches, has been Adobe’s Flash plugin for Firefox. The result has been a very stable system, much more stable than in the past at least. Firefox will still lock up and “gray out” on me for short periods of time every now and then, but it isn’t crashing anywhere near as frequently and the crashes due to the video drivers seem to be a thing of the past. My already receding hairline is quite pleased by the lack of pulling it has had to endure as of late.

That said I’ll probably give it a few days, if not weeks, before attempting to upgrade to the 8.10 release. At the very least I want to be sure EnvyNG is available on the new version to ease the installation of the video drivers if it should be necessary to reinstall them. You folks who aren’t afraid to upgrade to 8.10 right away are welcome to report your experiences in the comments if you wish.

The folks over at ArsTechnica.com attended Windows PDC and got a good look at the next version of Windows:

At PDC today, Microsoft gave the first public demonstration of Windows 7. Until now, the company has been uncharacteristically secretive about its new OS; over the past few months MS has let on that the taskbar will undergo a number of changes, and that many bundled applications would be unbundled and shipped with Windows Live instead. There have also been occasional screenshots of some of the new applets like Calculator and Paint. Now that the covers are finally off, the scale of the new OS becomes clear. The user interface has undergone the most radical overhaul and update since the introduction of Windows 95 thirteen years ago.

First, however, it’s important to note what Windows 7 isn’t. Windows 7 will not contain anything like the kind of far-reaching architectural modifications that Microsoft made with Windows Vista. Vista brought a new display layer and vastly improved security, but that came at a cost: a significant number of (badly-written) applications had difficulty running on Vista. Applications expecting to run with Administrator access were still widespread when Vista was released, and though many software vendors do a great job, there are still those that haven’t updated or fixed their software. Similarly, at its launch many hardware vendors did not have drivers that worked with the new sound or video subsystems, leaving many users frustrated.

While windows 7 doesn’t undo these architectural changes—they were essential for the long-term health of the platform—it equally hasn’t made any more. Any hardware or software that works with Windows Vista should also work correctly with Windows 7, so unlike the transition from XP to Vista, the transition from Vista to 7 won’t show any regressions; nothing that used to work will stop working.

Which should do a lot to ease concerns about whether or not one should upgrade if you’re already running Vista. So what is changing? The user experience itself:

The biggest visible result of all this is the taskbar. The taskbar in Windows 7 is worlds apart from the taskbar we’ve known and loved ever since the days of Chicago.

Text descriptions on the buttons are gone, in favor of big icons. The icons can—finally—be rearranged; no longer will restarting an application put all your taskbar icons in the wrong order. The navigation between windows is now two-level; mousing over an icon shows a set of window thumbnails, and clicking the thumbnail switches windows.

Right clicking the icons shows a new UI device that MS calls “Jump Lists”.

[...] Jump lists provide quick access to application features. Applications that use the system API for their Most Recently Used list (the list of recently-used filenames that many apps have in their File menus) will automatically acquire a Jump List containing their most recently used files. There’s also an API to allow applications to add custom entries; Media Player, for example, includes special options to control playback.

That’s just one of many major changes to how the desktop works and, frankly, I think a lot of the changes are going to be very popular. They have several screenshots in the article so it’s worth a read just to see what’s changing. The ability to “peek” at windows and the desktop is very cool and I can already see it being useful when I blog.

Considering all the gruff Microsoft took over the name “Windows Vista” (including some gruff from me) it’s probably a smart move on their part to just go with something simple for the next major release:

Windows Vista Team Blog : Introducing Windows 7

And, as you probably know, since we began development of the next version of the Windows client operating system we have been referring to it by a codename, “Windows 7.“  But now is a good time to announce that we’ve decided to officially call the next version of Windows, “Windows 7.“

While I know there have been a few cases at Microsoft when the codename of a product was used for the final release, I am pretty sure that this is a first for Windows. You might wonder about the decision.

The decision to use the name Windows 7 is about simplicity. Over the years, we have taken different approaches to naming Windows.  We’ve used version numbers like Windows 3.11, or dates like Windows 98, or “aspirational” monikers like Windows XP or Windows Vista.  And since we do not ship new versions of Windows every year, using a date did not make sense.  Likewise, coming up with an all-new “aspirational” name does not do justice to what we are trying to achieve, which is to stay firmly rooted in our aspirations for Windows Vista, while evolving and refining the substantial investments in platform technology in Windows Vista into the next generation of Windows.

Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore “Windows 7” just makes sense.

As you know if you’re an SEB regular, I actually like Vista despite my initial dislike of the name itself. Which I suppose makes me a kind of maverick. Which I suppose makes me like John McCain. No wonder everyone hates me.

Anyway, I find the name Windows 7 to be very agreeable. It’s simple and doesn’t try to evoke a vaguely defined “experience” that the product will supposedly provide me. It’s Windows and it’s the 7th version. Short, to the point, and not wishy washy.

The folks over at LaptopMag.com have an interview with MSI’s Director of U.S. Sales Andy Tung about the new MSI Wind Netbook that’s been selling like crazy. One of the topics touched on is the high return rate of the MSI Wind and what the cause happens to be:

You mention the return rates being high. Has that been the case with the Wind as well?
We have done a lot of studies on the return rates and haven’t really talked about it much until now. Our internal research has shown that the return of netbooks is higher than regular notebooks, but the main cause of that is Linux. People would love to pay $299 or $399 but they don’t know what they get until they open the box. They start playing around with Linux and start realizing that it’s not what they are used to. They don’t want to spend time to learn it so they bring it back to the store. The return rate is at least four times higher for Linux netbooks than Windows XP netbooks.

Currently MSI is using SUSE for the MSI Wind and they’re looking at trying a couple of other distros including a tailored version of Ubuntu styled to look like Mac OS X to see if they’ll go over any better, but I found it interesting that a lot of the reason for the returns wasn’t that SUSE wasn’t working just that people didn’t want to learn it.

As an interesting side-note, the instructor for my college networking essentials class doesn’t like Ubuntu at all. He calls it “Dumbuntu” because he thinks it’s been dumbed down too much. As I recall he’s a big fan of SUSE.

According to this video (and this article), there are now services that can pinpoint exactly where a Google search is coming from, down to the exact address. While many of us have known that the search terms we enter in search engines aren’t exactly secret, there has always been the assumption (correctly?) that who is searching for something remains secret. Or at least wasn’t going to be shared with just anyone. Apparently, even that isn’t true anymore.

The ramifications are pretty significant. If you live in a house and not a big apartment building, your identity is pretty easy game with such a tool. Getting embarrassed by more or less targeted advertising (“We found from your searches that you are interested in naked teenagers wearing rabbit ears? Do WE have a deal for YOU!“) is almost the least worry (though if I got a call from the home business woman in the video clip, I’d be furious at having my privacy invaded, rather than show an interest in her stuff!) But there’s even worse possibilities - what if somebody finds our that you are looking for legal advice, or something similarly crucial to be kept private? Information about an illness, or depression for example?

At the moment, the searches seem to only allow tracking back from websites -> via search terms -> to the orignator of the query. But how long until the direction is reversible? Do we all have to become hackers and hide behind sophisticated software just to browse in peace?

Yes, I’m still struggling to make Ubuntu run properly on my work laptop. For awhile it seemed I had solved the crashing problem by installing, of all things, the BSOD screensaver. Of course that’s total nonsense, but for about four days I had no crashes to speak of and the only change I had made was installing said screensaver which I had done in a fit of pique. Then on Monday whenever I locked my screen forcing the screensaver to kick in I’d come back to my desk to find a login prompt staring at me as the GUI had apparently crashed and kicked me out to the login. I couldn’t even pull up the screensaver preferences to change it without it crashing out so I had to uninstall the screensaver completely.

I decided it must be the proprietary ATI drivers causing all the trouble so I went ahead and uninstalled those as well. The one good bit of news is that the default Ubuntu drivers are now able to detect my external monitor connected to the docking station, the bad news is it won’t allow me to run it at a higher resolution than the laptop without totally screwing up the screen layout. So I have this nice monitor that should be running at 1900x1200 running at 1280x1024 which is all kinds of distorted, but I’m living with it. This also seemed to fix my problem until tonight. Whilst browsing the web I was once again greeted with a GUI crash that kicked me out to the login screen.

So I’ve still not managed to figure out what the hell the problem is, but I have successfully lowered the incidence of it occurring. Instead of crashing eight to ten times a day it’s now crashing once or twice every other day and that, at least, is some improvement. Meanwhile the laptop I don’t touch all that often sitting right next to this one which has an absolutely base install of Ubuntu with nothing else added hasn’t crashed one me once since I set it up. I couldn’t tell you why.

Very, very frustrating.

I still have a big soft spot in my heart for my old Amigas. I’ve not used them in ages, but I still own my Amiga 1000, 3000, and 1200 (though I can’t locate the 1200 at the moment) and I have my buddy Karl’s old A500. My hope is to get my hands on a network card for the A3000 and get it running on the Internet someday.

Commodore has been dead for quite some time now and the Amiga assets have been sold and resold numerous times since then. That’s why hearing that a new version of the AmigaOS has just been released is so amazing. The folks over at ArsTechnica got their hands on it and have written up a review that makes me long for breaking out my old Amigas. Oddly enough the new OS wouldn’t run on any of the current hardware that I own as it’s aimed at the PowerPC based machines that were developed by Amiga Inc. and some partner companies long after Commodore went belly up and even that hardware isn’t being produced any longer. This poses an obvious question: Why is a company out there still producing this OS when the hardware for it isn’t even available anymore? Ars attempts to answer that question:

One might ask, and many people do, why anyone would bother putting so much effort into continuing AmigaOS when Windows, OS X, and Linux are already available and well-entrenched? Such a question betrays a lack of imagination about the computer industry and assumes that nobody will ever be interested in alternative platforms. The continued existence of OS X and Linux shows this to be an incorrect assumption.

[...] At the moment AmigaOS is still tied to the PowerPC, but that is not necessarily a bad thing: there is still a market (albeit a small one) of geeks who would be interested in a non-Intel platform, and the PPC continues to be developed in the embedded market. Embedded hardware is designed to be inexpensive to manufacture, and this allows products such as Genesi’s $99 Efika, a tiny motherboard and CPU combination that currently runs the work-alike AmigaOS clone MorphOS, but could easily be made to run OS 4.1. The PlayStation 3, PowerPC Macintoshes, and mobile devices are also viable OS 4.1 targets. A Hyperion developer told me that not only has the OS been run on a PS3, but they have even tested support for the seven SPU units in the Cell processor.

The thought of having an AmigaOS running on a PS3 provokes a Pavlovian reaction in me. I would have to save up enough money to purchase a second PS3 just to run AmigaOS on. As it stands there’s the potential for more hardware to be produced coming down the pike and the Amiga fan base, while not as large as it once was, is still very devoted. The new features in AmigaOS 4.1 is definitely impressive considering the small market it has. Who knows? Maybe it’ll make a comeback some day.

They have a lot of PCs and such available, mostly older Dell Optiplex GX260 Minitowers, but they’re also selling some older Macs. I’m tempted to pick one up as it seems reasonably cheap. Here’s the most expensive one they’re selling:

iMac G4
800MHz processors
60 GB Hard drive
512 MB Ram
Superdrive
OS X

They’re asking $75 for ‘em. Is it worth it? There’s also the following:

EMac G4
1 GHz
512mb
20 GB Hard Drive
Combo Drive
OS X
Monitor is part of the system.

It’s going for $50. Which seems odd considering it’s a faster processor, but then I’ve never heard of an EMac.

[Update:] OK the one I’m really thinking about now is:

Mac G4 Tower
867MHz processors
40 GB Hard drive
512 MB Ram
DVD/CDRW
Zip drive
OS X
CRT Monitor

Going for $70.

Here’s some more red meat for all you Linux fans to chew me up over. My Lenovo T60p laptop here at work continues to be annoyingly unstable and I can’t seem to figure out what the cause is. I’ve gone as far as to completely re-install Ubuntu adding in only the bare minimum of extra stuff to get it operational and yet it’s crashing to a black screen, which requires me to power off the machine to get it running again, upwards of 5 to 8 times in a day. In the two hours I’ve been here this morning I’ve had to reboot it four times and that’s just unreasonable. These crashes occur in one of two ways: 1) simply browsing the web and 2) logging out at the end of the day. And, before you ask, I have Desktop Effects totally disabled. The two things beyond the basic install that I put on were 1) ATI’s graphic drivers with the Catalyst Control Center and 2) Adobe’s Flash player. That is it.

I installed the ATI drivers because it’s the only way to get Ubuntu to work properly with the 22” HP monitor I have hooked to the docking station. The built-in screen resolution utility with the default drivers absolutely will not detect that I have two displays (laptop and external monitor) attached, though it will kind of clone the display to the second monitor. Nor will it let me set the external monitor to a resolution higher than what the laptop screen will handle. And I installed the Adobe Flash software because the other two options are not fully compatible and everything I’ve read says that version 9, which I’m using, should work just fine with Ubuntu. My guess is that there’s something wonky with the ATI drivers, but there’s nothing in the way of alternative drivers that works properly with the setup I have here.  Again I freely admit that my lack of Linux knowledge is a contributing factor to my troubles, but it really shouldn’t be this hard to get a stable system that actually does what it’s supposed to do with so little extra crap added to the box. Every now and then I’ll get lucky and Firefox will just quit for no apparent reason—no error messages, no “this application has to be shut down” dialogs, just gone—and I won’t be able to launch it again until I figure out how to kill the process or reboot the system, but those are rare compared to the black-screen-of-death crashes I’ve been getting.

I read an article recently that said Microsoft should be worried about Ubuntu because it “out Vista’s Vista” and I had to laugh. Here’s the relevant snippet:

Well Steve you forgot your biggest threat so far, forget Apple for the moment, they have a few problems of their own to worry about before they are any real threat, Google is so far in front of you at the moment that they possibly dont even consider you a threat yet and Yahoo, well the further you distance yourself from that, the better, you really need to worry about Linux, and Ubuntu in particular as the current version called Hardy Heron out Vista’s Vista. It out performs Vista on the same hardware and it works right out of the box without a drama, the inclusion of Wubi, thus giving it the ability to install within a folder on a Windows machine, yet run as a complete OS without having to fiddle with boot loaders and such will give a lot of die hard Windows users a look at just what Vista should have been, and maybe turn them towards open source.

Not from my experiences it doesn’t. I’ve been running 32 bit Vista Business Edition for quite some time now and it has been rock solid stable. Certainly much more stable than Windows XP was and a helluva lot more stable than even a minimal install of Ubuntu has been. Useless as it is I can enable full desktop effects on Vista without worrying if it’s going to crash my system, not true on Ubuntu 8.04. I can install the proper video drivers for my video card and access all the features without having to worry if it’ll make my system unstable. I can install Adobe’s Flash player and not have to wonder if it’ll make my system unstable. “Works right out of the box without drama”? From what I’ve seen it is to laugh. This became even more glaring to me when I consider the fact that literally all I do on my work machine 99% of the time is run Firefox. Compare that to my Vista box which I not only browse the web with, but edit videos, play system taxing 3D games, playback music, and a whole host of other much more intensive applications.

Let me reiterate that this may be entirely the fault of my own personal ineptitude at using Linux, but it seems like it’s a lot harder than it should be. Perhaps it’s the laptop I’m trying to run it on. I’m told that some Lenovos don’t play well with Ubuntu, but I don’t have a choice in the matter as it’s a work machine. The odd part to me is that I have two Lenovos sitting here - the aforementioned T60p and an older T43p - and Ubuntu works just fine on the older laptop, but then I hardly touch the older laptop during the day so it spends most of its time idling. I also haven’t installed

anything

extra on the older machine as compared to the two things I installed on the T60p. Is the message I’m supposed to take away from this that Ubuntu is great so long as you can live with the default install and hardly ever use the damn thing? That wouldn’t work for me because I’m an unabashed tinkerer. I’m always trying out new software and new things on my hardware. Am I foolish to expect that the OS should know how to handle dual monitors without barfing all over the place? Is it really too much to ask for a simple hardware interface that doesn’t require poring through obscure text files to change system settings in hopes it’ll solve the problem? Google searches turn up no end of suggestions all of them providing differing changes to be made to various system files and none of which seem to solve the problem. The point I’m trying to make, again, is the fact that I’m considered a “Computer Professional” and I’m having a hard time. Do you really think Linux in general and Ubuntu in particular can really steal Microsoft’s crown with the average computer user if I’m having this much trouble?

Let the gnashing of teeth begin.

Update @ 4:15PM: Well that didn’t take long. Google contacted the folks at ArsTechnica.com saying the EULA is a mistake and will be corrected ASAP and the changes will be retroactive for folks who have already downloaded the software:

Google’s Rebecca Ward, Senior Product Counsel for Google Chrome, now tells Ars Technica that the company tries to reuse these licenses as much as possible, “in order to keep things simple for our users.“ Ward admits that sometimes “this means that the legal terms for a specific product may include terms that don’t apply well to the use of that product” and says that Google is “working quickly to remove language from Section 11 of the current Google Chrome terms of service. This change will apply retroactively to all users who have downloaded Google Chrome.“

Kudos for a quick response, but it appears that this isn’t the only controversial aspect of the new browser:

The auto-suggest feature of Google’s new Chrome browser does more than just help users get where they are going. It will also give Google a wealth of information on what people are doing on the Internet besides searching.

Provided that users leave Chrome’s auto-suggest feature on and have Google as their default search provider, Google will have access to any keystrokes that are typed into the browser’s Omnibox, even before a user hits enter.

What’s more, Google has every intention of retaining some of that data even after it provides the promised suggestions. A Google representative told CNET News that the company plans to store about 2 percent of that data—and plans to store it along with the Internet Protocol address of the computer that typed it.

In theory, that means that if one were to type the address of a site—even if they decide not to hit enter—they could leave incriminating evidence on Google’s servers.

You can stop this behavior by turning auto-suggest off, using Incognito mode, or by not using Chrome.

This is a disappointing discovery. The folks over at Gizmodo have an article up about a detail in the End User License Agreement (EULA) for Chrome, Google’s fancy new web browser, that definitely appears to be an attempt to claim a license to anything you happen to create while using said browser:

11. Content license from you
11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the Services and may be revoked for certain Services as defined in the Additional Terms of those Services.

11.2 You agree that this license includes a right for Google to make such Content available to other companies, organizations or individuals with whom Google has relationships for the provision of syndicated services, and to use such Content in connection with the provision of those services.

11.3 You understand that Google, in performing the required technical steps to provide the Services to our users, may (a) transmit or distribute your Content over various public networks and in various media; and (b) make such changes to your Content as are necessary to conform and adapt that Content to the technical requirements of connecting networks, devices, services or media. You agree that this license shall permit Google to take these actions.

11.4 You confirm and warrant to Google that you have all the rights, power and authority necessary to grant the above license.

Needless to say that’s certainly a deal-breaker in a decision on whether or not to use Chrome anytime soon. Even though I use a Creative Commons license on my blog there’s still plenty of content I create in a web browser that I’d like to maintain control over the rights for and using a tool that automatically grants a license to any company is out of the question.

It seems pretty clear the intent behind this is to enable them to come up with marketing materials that say “See what folks are doing with Chrome!“, but there’s nothing stopping them from using it for other purposes should they suddenly choose to do so.

I have to admit that this ArsTechnica article surprises and angers me:

A study conducted by security company Cyber-Ark indicates that a significant number of corporate IT personnel snoop sensitive data, and nearly 9 out of 10 would take company secrets and remote access credentials with them if they were fired. This could pose a serious security risk for many companies and expose them to industrial espionage and other dangers.

The results of the Trust, Security and Passwords study are based on a survey of 300 system administrators at the Infosecurity 2008 event in Europe. Of the study respondents, 88 percent admitted they would take sensitive data with them when leaving their current place of employment, and approximately one-third said that they would abscond with company password lists. That could be a serious cause for concern for companies that have complex and loosely secured technological infrastructure.

Cyber-Ark claims that one-third of companies participating in the survey experience data breaches and theft on a regular basis. Information is leaked to competitors through a multitude of vectors, including e-mail, portable devices, and USB thumb drives. More than a quarter are also the victims of internal sabotage.

I have worked for two of the Big Three automotive companies (Ford and General Motors) as well as a number of other companies where I had access to all sorts of sensitive data and information and not once did I ever consider stealing any of it. Not because of any possible consequences of such an action, but because it would be wrong to do so. I’ve worked at the General Motors Design Center in Warren where I saw all manner of prototype vehicles that car magazines would love to get the details on ahead of time as well as the Milford Proving Grounds where the prototypes were put through their paces. I worked in the Alpha Building at Ford Motor Company where literally gigabytes of data on whole car lines were stored on various PCs and network shares. When I was laid off from Ford, twice, I was seriously upset, but not once did I consider the possibility of taking anything with me.

Sure both companies had policies in place meant to make such thefts harder - certain workstations GM blocked writing to USB devices of any kind - but nothing that I didn’t have knowledge of how to circumvent and certainly nothing proactive enough to have stopped me had I wanted to take any data. I suppose I’m just too honest to think of such things. I have a sense of honor at the idea that I’m entrusted with the care and support of such data. It angers me that so many others would violate that trust because, at a minimum, it makes my job that much harder. Stupid and ineffective restrictions, like the blocking of USB devices, just end up getting in the way of fixing machines and just the fact that so many others are untrustworthy means I’ll be looked at with suspicion by association. Hell, it means I’ll be looking at my fellow colleagues with suspicion as well and that’s just not the sort of work environment I want to be in.

The fact that this survey was done by a security company probably means it’s somewhat inflated, but if it’s even remotely close to the truth it’s very upsetting indeed.

Having four browsers to choose from (IE, Firefox, Safari, and Opera) not enough for you? Then you’re in luck as Google will be launching one as well:

The free browser, called “Chrome,“ is supposed to be available for downloading Tuesday in more than 100 countries for computers running on Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Google said it’s still working on versions compatible with Apple Inc.‘s Mac computer and the Linux operating system.

Google’s browser is expected to hit the market a week after Microsoft’s unveiling of a test version of its latest browser update, Internet Explorer 8. The tweaks include more tools for Web surfers to cloak their online preferences, creating a shield that could make it more difficult for Google and other marketing networks to figure out which ads are most likely to appeal to which individuals.

[...] Until now, Google had been trying to undermine Internet Explorer by supporting Firefox, a Web browser developed by the open-source Mozilla Foundation. Bolstered by an advertising partnership with Google’s search engine, Firefox ranks as the second most popular browser, with a market share of more than 10 percent. Google recently extended its advertising alliance with Firefox through 2011.

[...] “The Web gets better with more options and innovation,“ Sundar Pichai, Google’s vice president of product management, and Linus Upson, Google’s engineering director, wrote in the posting. “Google Chrome is another option, and we hope it contributes to making the Web even better.“

Microsoft brushed aside the threat in a statement Monday from Dean Hachamovitch, Internet Explorer’s general manager.

“The browser landscape is highly competitive, but people will choose Internet Explorer 8 for the way it puts the services they want right at their fingertips ... and, more than any other browsing technology, puts them in control of their personal data online,“ Hachamovitch said.

I was offline for most of the weekend so I didn’t see the news when it first leaked yesterday, though DOF was on the ball with a link to the online manual that uses a comic book format to explain why Google feels its new browser is different and better than the competition. Word has it that the news resulted in some network congestion for the folks at Google as parts of their network were overwhelmed by people looking for information on the browser.

I’ll probably download it later tonight to try it out after I get home from class. Yep, I start back to college tonight so I won’t get a chance to play with it until much later this evening.

The folks over at Wired.com have an entry up on how and why you should enable Gmail’s SSL feature that is worth a read:

Why? Because without it, anyone can easily hack someone’s account and in two weeks it is going to get even easier. Mike Perry, a reverse engineer from San Francisco, announced his intention to release his Gmail Account Hacking Tool to the public. According to a quote at Hacking Truths, Perry mentioned he was unimpressed with how Google presented the SSL feature as less-than-urgent. It is urgent, and here’s why.

The reason why is pretty simple. Without the SSL feature turned on Gmail only uses a secure connection for the initial login and then all session data is sent back and forth unencrypted. The problem with that is your session data includes your login information which kinda defeats the point of having it encrypted during the login. Someone sitting with a packet sniffer looking at your network traffic could snatch that info from the data stream and have full access to your account and all the archived emails. By turning on the SSL feature the entire session will be encrypted from beginning to end.

You can tell if your session is encrypted by looking at the address bar of your browser. If you see HTTPS: at the start of the address while reading your email then you’re encrypted. This feature is turned off by default so if you haven’t specifically turned it on then you’ll want to. You can do that by clicking on the SETTINGS link in the upper right corner of the Gmail screen and on the GENERAL tab (which should be the default that comes up) you scroll down to where it says BROWSER CONNECTION and click on the box for “Always use https.“ Then just press Save Changes to update your account. You may need to quit and login to Gmail again to make sure it’s working.

You won’t notice anything different about how Gmail works from before, but you’ll be a little better protected.