N7YHL - Geekspace

Most of my blogging can now be found at http://tragicallyleet.com.  I will continue to post news links here and anything related to my amature radio activities.

So I have a new project based on some of the things I need to manage Angela’s website. I am calling it Streetcar.

Can you tell the difference between the kind of person that writes programming languages and the kind of person that kills multiple people? Test your skills here: http://www.malevole.com/mv/misc/killerquiz/

“What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.”

- Herbert Simon, “Computers, Communications and the Public Interest”

So I have a server that was out of disk space. Since it held a database I did not want to have to rebuild it, plus I am lazy so there had to be an easier way. The drives were mirrored using the md driver under linux. This was my chance to figure out how to rebuild a mirrored drive.

Read the rest of this entry »

While I have been lax of late I will be posting in the New Year. Keep your eyes open.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by a programmer who sued his former employer for changing his programs’ source code.

High court won’t hear programmer’s appeal | CNET News.com

This is an interesting case. The three criteria specified as making it legal to make changes to software is:

1. you own a physical copy of the program,
2. changes constitue “an essential step in the utilization” of the program, and
3. the software is used “in no other manner”.

So does this mean we can reverse engineer Windows and fix the bugs ourselves?

Telecommuters employed by a company outside their home state may be at risk of having to pay extra taxes unless Congress adopts a bill protecting them, experts said Tuesday.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the appeal of a Tennessee computer programmer who claimed that New York was violating his constitutional rights by forcing him to pay taxes on income he earned in his home state while telecommuting.

Telecommuters: Beware the tax man | CNET News.com

Three organizations have partnered to offer corporate customers some insurance against the legal risks that can stem from the use of open-source software.

Insurance underwriter Kiln, which is a Lloyd’s of London division, and Miller Insurance Services on Monday said they will offer open-source compliance insurance. New York-based Open Source Risk Management will be the exclusive risk assessor.

Insurer launches $10 million open-source policy | Tech News on ZDNet

Microsoft Corp. has threatened to withdraw its Windows software from South Korea if the country’s antitrust agency orders it to unbundle its Instant Messenger and Media Player from the operating system.

Microsoft threatens to withdraw Windows in S. Korea | Reuters.com

I am of two minds. On one side if MS wants to pack up and go home then that is there choice. Apple and Linux will step into the gap. On the other side, if MS is able to pressure the South Korean government with this, then they must have the monopoly they are accused of. - JH