A Google engineer has published a detailed exposé on how Microsoft
Windows handles file and directory pathnames (as opposed to how it is
documented to handle them)
<http://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-definitive-guide-on-win32…>
(found from
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/01/windows_path_hacks/>). Most of
it, it could be argued, makes some sort of sense from a
backward-compatibility rationale. Except for the reserved device names
(PRN, NUL, CON etc):
Now if just specifying these paths explicitly was all that this
process handled it would be annoying but not the end of the world.
However it’s much worse. The conversion process actively tries to
convert any path with the device name last, even if the path is a
Drive Absolute path. To make matters even worse the device name can
have arbitrary trailing characters as long the trailing characters
are separated from the device by a dot or a colon. The name can
then also have trailing spaces.
...
Why it does the check is beyond me as it seems to serve no actual
purpose. Also note the removal of trailing suffixes, which can come
in handy if something is actively trying to guard against this
behavior. For example, if an application was mindful and was
checking for a filename that matched one of the reserved names you
can just bypass that check by appending an arbitrary suffix.
'W3Counter's stats for June 2016 are in, and Linux desktop accounts
for 2.48% of all web visits from tracked websites... (Android is
counted separately from "Linux desktop.")
Meanwhile, NetMarketShare shows Linux with a 2.02% share of the
desktop market. And StatCounter shows a more detailed breakdown of the
top 7 operating systems, with Windows 7 at 42.02%, Windows 10 at
21.88%, OSX at 9.94%, Windows 8.1 at 8.66%, Windows XP at 6.5%, and
another 4.06% for "Unknown" (which is roughly tied with "Other") --
beating Windows 8.0 at 3.52%. In May they also reported another
thought-provoking statistic: that Firefox's browser usage had
surpassed that of IE and Edge combined for the first time.'
-- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/16/07/02/184229
Cheers, Peter
--
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
'A few days ago I wrote about Microsoft's revival of Skype for Linux.
I called it "a big deal" -- less because of Skype itself and more
because it signified Microsoft's recognition that Linux is a platform
worth supporting... Now the company has done it again. At Node Summit
this week, Microsoft announced the availability of ChakraCore for
Linux. ChakraCore is the core part of the Chakra JavaScript engine
that powers Microsoft Edge and Universal Windows Platform. With this
move, Microsoft is putting one of its core technologies on a competing
platform. This, more than any other Linux-friendly move the company
has made, is a clear departure from the Microsoft of Gates and Ballmer
that used its technologies to lock users into Windows...
While Ubuntu is the primary Linux distribution that Microsoft is using
to showcase its ChakraCore technologies, the company said that the
support should easily translate to other modern Linux distributions. '
-- source: https://apple.slashdot.org/story/16/07/31/151240
Cheers, Peter
--
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
'"Does your web browser have a unique fingerprint? If so your web
browser could be tracked across websites without techniques such as
tracking cookies..." warns a new site created by the University of
Adelaide and ACEMS, adding "the anonymization aspects of services such
as Tor or VPNs could be negated if sites you visit track you using
your browser fingerprint."'
-- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/16/07/31/1357234
Cheers, Peter
--
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
Interesting concept:
'A new crowdfunding campaign by Rhombus Tech "introduces the world's
first devices built around the EOMA68 standard," which separates a
"modular" CPU board from the rest of the system so that it can be
easily used in multiple devices and upgraded more simply. Rhombus Tech
is now offering a 15.6-inch laptop, a laser-cut wooden Micro-Desktop
housing, and two types of computer cards, both using A20 dual-core ARM
Cortex A7 processors. The cards are available with four flavors of the
GNU/Linux operating system, and they're hoping to receive RYF
certification from the Free Software Foundation.
"No proprietary software," explains their campaign's video. "No
backdoors. No spyware. No NDAs." They envision a world where users
upgrade their computers by simply popping in a new card -- reducing
electronic waste -- or print new laptop casings to repair defects or
swap in different colors. (And they also hope to eventually see the
cards also working with cameras, phones, tablets, and gaming
consoles.'
-- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/07/31/0323255
Cheers, Peter
--
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
Hi everyone
William suggested a topic for our next meeting in August:
"An introduction to Linux - features, history, examples of popular
flavors (Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat etc). Advantages and disadvantages to
Windows."
Meetup link:
http://www.meetup.com/WaikatoLinuxUsersGroup/events/232676239/
He volunteered to cover a bit of the history (if I remember
correctly), but we need others as well to fill in the rest!
What do you think?
Cheers, Peter
--
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
