Google Summer of Code – Payments Rolling In
Yep, the title says it all. Today I have received my shiny new VISA from Citibank with the initial $505 loaded on it. The other kewl stuff in the envelope included a neat, Google-branded, moleskin and two GSoC 2009 stickers. One's going on my laptop, if I can gut it!
Well, I'll leave you with some photos now!
The Mozilla Mystery
Howdy readers,
Today I bring you one of the long time mysteries for me. Why in heavens does Mozilla insist on making different menus for Firefox and Thunderbird depending on whether you're using it on Linux or Windows? Seriously, I just can't figure out the reason for this... the Options menu sits in the Tools toolbar in Windows, whereas in the Linux version, it goes under Edit. But WHY?!
'Till the next time!
Master’s Degree
Alright people, this is really happening 
. Today, I got the final acceptance letter from Leicester's Postgraduate Department. They provided me with a conditional offer where the only condition is that I finish my degree with at least 65% of overall grade average. This is totally feasible since my grade average, last I checked, was of 14 marks in a 20-point scale, which rounds to roughly 70% in a loose conversion.
Cool, hey? Now let's just hope those money leechs at the bank will loan me the money I need!
Just on a little background, I'll be taking the Advanced Software Engineering (MSc) course at the University of Leicester, with a start date of September 28th 2009. When I'm done, I'll finally be a jack of all trades and a Master of Advanced Software Engineering 
Office 2007 SP2 reduces interoperability – tough luck?
Jeremy Allison over at ZDNet has just posted an article where in a nutshell he states that Microsoft broke the interoperability of the ODF format between Office 2007 and other implementations of this format. According to this gentleman, the guys over at Microsoft are mean little bastards because they implemented the ODF standard verbatim. Whoa, whoa, whoa little Timmy!
Last I checked, there was a war going on towards Microsoft because they were mean chauvinistic bastards who insisted on not making Internet Explorer more standards compliant, because the standards were the way to go and anything other than the standards just breaks pages on browsers that implement the standard. I totally agree with this point, but by the same measure, I have to disagree with this ODF quarrel.
With SP2, Microsoft implemented the ODF specification to its fullest. Then there are other implementations like OpenOffice's that have additions to the specification, but that aren't part of the standard! Yet, it is Microsoft that people come out to the streets to criticize, and not the people who engineered a poorly designed standard. Please, don't take me wrong. I am also against OOXML, but that doesn't mean that the alternatives are perfect and perhaps Microsoft is just proving a point amongst narrow-minded people who don't care for a little reasoning.
Want spreadsheets to properly support formulas in ODF? Make it part of the friggin' standard! Don't expect Microsoft to deviate from the standard for interop's sake, especially now when you have before criticized the company for not being standards-compliant.
My bottom-line is: who is to decide whether a standard should be implemented in a strict manner or not? And to which extent should interop efforts be made? All in all, if Microsoft designs interoperability towards OpenOffice, it might just break things with another Office Suite that decided to implement things differently.
The First Flaw in Windows 7
Hold your horses, this isn't a flaw per se. There isn't a massive hole in Windows 7 that allows the execution of malicious code. Instead, there's a legacy feature that has been around ever since Windows 98 (maybe even 95, but that I do not know for sure) that is used by virus writers to fool users into executing their viruses.
The feature I am talking about is the ability to hide the extension for known file types. This comes enabled by default on XP and Vista and it was not addressed in Windows 7. Basically, as Adrian over at ZDNet reports, with this feature enabled, a file with 'double extension' can easily be fooled for its fake extention. For example, a file named Report.txt.exe will automatically have the '.exe' extension hidden, and to the eyes of the less computer-savvy it can easily be mistaken for an innocent Report.txt file. Moreso when the creator of the virus is careful enough to add an innocent notepad icon to the malevolent application.
To be perfectly honest, I agree with Adrian. This is a feature that I disable right after I install Windows. More often than not I find myself having to change the extension of a file, and it's impossible to do so with this feature enabled and without resorting to the command line.
This feature is dangerous and it has been the gateway for many viruses to spread. Adrian also suggests adding some sort of overlay to the icons of executable files that aren't digitally signed - this is an incredibly good idea. Maybe something glarey as the icons of running applications on the new Windows 7 start bar. If properly done, this could be flashey and would cause a good impression on end-users, both visually and safety-wise. Personally, I would remove the feature altogether and leave it off - and please, without the possibility of working around it on the registry - but that's just my two pennies worth of opinion.
Have a good one.