Date: 08/02/05 (Security)    Keywords: software, microsoft

Software giant plans to invite hackers back for biannual meetings to show developers flaws discovered in Microsoft products.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Microsoft+wants+to+meet+more+hackers/2100-1009_22-5814161.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 08/01/05 (Open Source)    Keywords: software

I'd love to see a super-team of lawyers, using these tools, riding herd on every proprietary software outfit out there to make sure no GPL code gets into their stuff, ever again.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=395&part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdblog

Date: 08/02/05 (Java Web)    Keywords: software, java

Debugging guidelines for NetBeans and Sun Java Studio Enterprise. Debugging Tips for Applications Built With Sun Java Studio Enterprise 7 Debugging Java Software using NetBeans 3.6

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/debugging-java-software-using-netbeans-and-sun-java-studio-enterprise-7/

Date: 08/04/05 (Mozilla)    Keywords: software, browser, html, web, google

Hi Folks:

Mozilla was born as a grass-roots organization to design a product using the brainpower by thousands of users around the globe. It was not organized as a profit-oriented organization. Ever since its appearance in the spotlight at the end of last year, its star product Firefox, has enjoyed a tremendous acceptance in the browser community. Every month, Firefox has gradually gaining ground at the browser behemoth Internet Explorer. To date, the free software has been downloaded more than 75 million times and its market share is estimated to be approaching 10 percent.

In an effort to attend a new wave of users and its recent relationship with Google, Mozilla has organized a subsidiary under the name of Mozilla Corp. Mozilla Corp. will work mainly on developing and delivering free software products such as the Firefox browser and Thunderbird e-mail program. The foundation will manage projects, set policies and organize relationships among developers.

The new business will be based in Mountain View, as is the foundation. It is expected to have about 30 employees, compared with three or four at the foundation, Baker said. Its software will remain free.

Frank Hecker, director of policy for the Mozilla Foundation, said the for-profit arm will give the project more options. Already, Google Inc. (GOOG) pays Mozilla an unspecified amount to ship Firefox with a version of Google's search engine as the default home page.

Is something sniffing in the air? Is Mozilla preparing itself to enter the commercial field based on its success with Firefox? Who knows? Let's keep our radars active.

For more information, you can click on the following web-link:

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20050803/D8BOF6M00.html

Cheers,

Omar.-

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/mozilla/302541.html

Date: 08/04/05 (Mozilla)    Keywords: software, browser, html, web

c/n News.com reported yesterday August 3rd., that the IT industry has reacted positively to the Mozilla Foundation's decision to create a commercial subsidiary that will be responsible for the development and distribution of its open-source products.

James Governor, an analyst at RedMonk, praised this move and said it is likely to increase the use of Mozilla's open-source products, such as the Firefox browser, by businesses.

"I think it's a reasonably significant step. If Mozilla wants to do business with corporate entities, it needs to be a corporate entity--corporations want to do business with corporations," said Governor. "Almost all open-source organizations that are successful have some commercial organization around them."

However, everything is not a patch of roses. There are some worried faces among Firefox and Thunderbird users. David Hallowell, Mozilla contributor, was quick to say that any concerns that the organization may change the software's licences conditions are unfounded.

"I'm sure some people will be worried for the future of the Mozilla source code, but there is nothing to worry about in this case. The code is published under an open license with a huge number of contributors who would all have to give consent for the license to be changed," Hallowell said. Though some in the open-source community may have ideological issues with Mozilla's commercial move, RedMonk's Governor expects few will be critical. "I don't think many open-source geeks will hold up their hands in horror that Mozilla is going commercial," he said.

The Mozilla foundation has been fast to design a web page for Mozilla Corporation under the URL http://www.mozilla.com. To calm the choppy waters, Mozilla published yesterday a thorough explanation of the strategic move and a well written Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) concerning main issues.

If you are interested in following this exciting financial event, kindly click the following links:

1. Corporate Mozilla Gets Thumbs-Up From Industry: http://news.com.com/Corporate+Mozilla+gets+thumbs-up+from+industry/2100-1032_3-5817655.html?tag=nefd.top

2. Mozilla Foundation Announces Creation of Mozilla Corporation:
http://www.mozillazine.org/talkback.html?article=7085

3. Mozilla Foundation Reorganization (FAQ):
http://www.mozilla.org/reorganization/

Enjoy your reading,

Cheers,

Omar.-

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/mozilla/302658.html

Date: 08/05/05 (WebDesign)    Keywords: cms, blogging, software

I wrote this blog post about how I hate blogs (ironic?). It was a little more than that, I was actually talking/thinking about how a lot of content is put into a blogging format... content that could be best delivered other ways.

Usually when I vomit out ideas, I generally find that I'm well behind the curve. Thus, I was wondering... does anyone know of CMS software that exists that is taylored for E-Zines or an Essay Archive similar to the stuff I'd posted about?

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/webdesign/949280.html

Date: 08/05/05 (Mozilla)    Keywords: software, browser, web

If you are interested in putting more pep into your Firefox browser, start tweaking your software as follows:

1. Type "about:config" into the address bar and hit Return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

a. network.http.pipelining
b. network.http.proxy.pipelining
c. network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

Normally the browser will make one request to to a web page at a time. When you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. Alter above entries as follows:

a. Set "network.http.pipelining" to "true" (clicking the entry twice)
b. Set "network.http.proxy.pipelining" to "true" (clicking the entry twice)
c. Set "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" to some number like 8. This means it will make 8 requests at once. The default is 4. Do not exceed over 8, since this is the maximum allowed; a higher number will not make the browser any faster.

3. Lastly, right-click anywhere and select New->Integer. Name it "nglayout.initialpaint.delay" and set its value to "0". This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives. If you are using a broadband connection you'll load pages much faster now. For those of you who are using a dial-up connection you will notice a slight speed increase.

Drive carefully,

Omar.-

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/mozilla/303591.html

Date: 08/08/05 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: software

Does anyone know of any free (as in beer, preferably as in speech (i.e. Open Source) as well) software to handle time sheeting in a multi project/case environment? Basically what we need is something that will allow people to set up tasks and then log time against it so we can extract reports.

Thanks.

Edit to add

I thought I'd better give a more detailed description of what we're looking for.

It for a trade union office where we have a number of shopstewards (over 100) who work on cases on behalf of members. Cases broadly divide into Representations (representing members individually in displinary procedures, grievence procedures &c or assisting another steward in such tasks), Consultations (not representing any particular member but negotiating on behalf of the members as a group or a subset (e.g. everyone in a particular department) with management) or Administration (internal meetings, training &c). Each case involves a number of tasks such as meetings, preparing documents, training sessions &c. What we're looking for is somethng that will allow each steward to record their time against tasks in different cases so that we can report on how much time a particular steward has spent on union tasks, how much time as been spent on particular sorts of cases (e.g. grievences relating to racial harrassment, consultations on departmental restructuring &c) and whatever else we need to know about so that we can ensure that our time is being used effectively.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/744437.html

Date: 08/08/05 (Security)    Keywords: software

The operation is gathering personal data from "thousands of machines" using keystroke-logging software, Sunbelt Software says.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/ID+theft+ring+hits+50+banks%2C+security+firm+says/2100-1009_22-5823591.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 08/10/05 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: software

If I want to backup my windows box, what is the best way to do so? I don't want copies of just the files, but literally everything. A drive image of sorts. Although in this case, I want to burn it to DVD's.

There's about 16 gigs (documents and settings, program files, windows, etc) of data on the hard drive that I want to backup, and about 70 gigs of other files that I've already backed up by hand that I don't need to bother with.

What software would you recommend?




AMD 3200+ CPU
ASUS A7V880 mobo
1 gig PC3200 DDR ram
160 gig SATA hard drive
16x / 8x DVD burner (8x write)

50 or so DVD -R's

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/computergeeks/745900.html

Date: 08/10/05 (Security)    Keywords: software

Software giant will also give New York state some of the $ 7 million culled from the company's settlement with Scott Richter.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Microsoft+to+fight+crime+with+spammer%27s+money/2100-1009_22-5826561.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 08/11/05 (C Sharp)    Keywords: programming, software, xml, security, web, google

Hello all. First time posting -- I'm an executive/part owner of a small, 30-40 employee software development company in the US. Can't get any more specific, due to LJ drama that occurred in the past, from which I learned that my constant insistence upon plausible deniability is never a bad thing.

Anyway, all of our current contracts are in .NET, from winforms applications, to windows services, to webservices, to web applications. We write in C#.NET and VB.NET depending on the contract, application, and developer. We've been working with .NET for the past 2-3 years.

I don't do as much programming with my company as I did when I first started there as Lead Developer; a good deal of my responsibilities have changed to software design/architecture, scheduling, project management, and having my time wasted by as many meetings as possible, at the most inconvenient times.

So perhaps these latest developments will lend an excuse to the following ignorance. :)

I am writing an application for myself, completely unrelated to my company, in my "free time." It has a fairly eccentric variety of functionality, all of which is related in a certain way, but the functionality with which this post concerns itself is keypress logging.

I've written a class that uses the SetWindowsHookEx() WinAPI call to install a hook for keyboard events (using WH_KEYBOARD_LL). It sets up the hook, which simply raises an event (passing the keypress data along) before giving the keypress back to the system (which continues down the chain of installed hooks). I've written a parent class which attaches a method to the event that takes the useful information from the keypress data and stores it in a queue. The remainder of this parent class provides access to the queue, functionality to clear it, etc. The class that implements SetWindowsHookEx() is in a DLL (I wrote it as part of a separate application back when I was more comfortable with VB.NET, while the current project is in C#, thus the DLL), and the parent class (in C#) imports this DLL.

The class performs flawlessly in the Windows Forms application I wrote to test all of the classes destined to be part of the final solution. It properly logs all of the keypresses in its queue, its methods provide the proper access to the queue, and the test application could write the keypresses to a file, store them in an XML object, or whatever needed to happen. I was pleased, since the whole mess only took about 2 hours to develop and test.

However, the final application that will be doing the keylogging is a Windows Service. Now that I finished developing and testing all the classes I needed to use in the final application, I've begun building the service. I've got the service properly installing, starting, and logging to the system's event log, so I know the service itself is working. However, the keylogging class is not working. No exceptions are thrown, and the WinAPI call (from user32.dll) returns no error codes. However, the queue count remains at 0, and no keys are logged at all.

I've simply dragged the class from the test Winforms application into the Windows Service application, and used it in the same way. While keypresses were logged efforltessly in the Winforms application, not a single one is being logged in the Windows Service.

I have tried pretty much everything I can think of, from checking the "Allow this service to interact with the desktop" checkbox, to changing the account running the service (currently the Local System account). However, as I said above, programming is not a day-to-day thing for me anymore, so I am most likely ignorant of something here.

I've read many accounts via Google of people successfully using SetWindowsHookEx() in a Windows Service, so I know it can be done. What gives? Is this a permissions/security issue, and if so, why are no errors/exceptions being thrown? Do I need to register the DLL containing the class that calls SetWindowsHookEx() in the GAC for any reason?

Any information or help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance...!

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/csharp/32613.html

Date: 08/12/05 (Web Technology)    Keywords: software

Online retailer makes one-time payment to Soverain Software just days before the trial was set to begin.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Amazon+pays+%2440+million+to+settle+patent+dispute/2100-9588_22-5829193.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 08/12/05 (Mozilla)    Keywords: software, browser, html, linux, microsoft

Yesterday we commented that Firefox was receiving a push forward into corporate territory from Linux . The term we used was "piggyback". Well, today I read in CNET News.com, that thousands of secondary school students in the French region of Auvergne, will receive CDs containing free and open-source software when they return to school in September.

The local government of Auverne will distribute 64,000 packs of CDs in an effort to interest students and their families in free and open-source software. Every student between the ages of 15 and 19 attending a school in Auvergne will be given a pack containing two CDs. The first CD contains free software for Microsoft Windows and Apple Computer's Mac OS X, including the OpenOffice.org office productivity application, the Firefox browser and the GIMP image editing application. The second CD is a Linux Live CD, allowing pupils to try the open source operating system without installing it. The Linux Live CD is based on Kaella, a French derivative of Knoppix.

Here again, we are before another example of Linux and Firefox walking hand-in-hand. I think this is a good opportunity to promote Firefox among french students and their parents. At the same time, they are exposing themselves to the wide features of Linux. Who said penguins and foxes couldn't live in France?

To read the complete article, click here: http://news.com.com/Massive+Linux+handout+set+for+French+schools/2100-7344_3-5828644.html?tag=nefd.top

Cheers,

Omar.-

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/mozilla/305328.html

Date: 08/13/05 (Web Technology)    Keywords: software, web

Gripes about existing process, which requires downloading software, prompt work on a Web-based replacement.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Patent+Office+plans+new+e-filing+system/2100-9588_22-5830864.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 08/15/05 (Web Technology)    Keywords: software

Software maker's new product lets users create desktop-secured private or semi-private communities.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Imeem+dials+into+social+networking+craze/2100-9588_22-5830953.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 08/15/05 (Application Development)    Keywords: software

Commentary--Many software companies work in the same manner as they did years ago, and are not integrating quality assurance to reduce defects.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/Make+software+quality+the+rule/2100-9593_22-5829015.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 08/16/05 (Web Technology)    Keywords: software, web

Like software makers, Web sites are encouraging coders to build upon their data, giving users more-tailored services.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/From+Web+page+to+Web+platform/2100-9588_22-5833940.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=zdnn

Date: 08/16/05 (Java Web)    Keywords: software, java

Summary Java EE 5 (formerly J2EE 1.5) Unanimously Passes Public Review Ballot; Promises Ease of Use Java 1.3.1 and 1.4.2 Release 2 DP4 for Tiger Java Software is Carving a Niche in Critical Real-Time Applications Market Java EE 5 (formerly J2EE 1.5) Unanimously Passes Public Review Ballot; Promises Ease of Use JSR 244, the umbrella specification that defines what other [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/latest-news-in-java-software-world/

Date: 08/16/05 (Java Web)    Keywords: software, java

With tweaks and modifications, Java is finding a home in critical real-time applications ranging from the military to telecommunications For several years real-time versions of Java from smaller companies such as Aonix, Aicas and Apogee Software have jousted for market share. Now, large companies such as Sun Microsystems Inc. and IBM Corp. are starting to [...]

Source: http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/java-software-is-carving-a-niche-in-critical-real-time-applications-market/