Brad Ideas - Brad's Rant - Comments

don't think it will work

Anon Y. Mouse — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:24:02 -0700

Oh Grasshopper! You clearly have not achieved total oneness
with the higher consciousness known as Windows Mind.

Were Microsoft to implement such recommendations and warning
messages, there would undoubtedly be a backdoor or other way
to avoid them. Microsoft itself would use it for its products,
as would other ISVs, large and small, that either discovered
the methods on their own or paid to use the privileged APIs.
Soon things would be back to where they are now. Also, given
Microsoft's history, I suspect there would be ways to cause
mischief, both benign and malicious, with the master daemon.

To be sure, the proliferation of tasks running under Windows,
the difficulty in determining which program they are
associated with, and their necessity is a Windows annoyance.
It is just one of many, like the registry, the handling of
DLLs, and the use of the Windows directory for application
files. They are all design deficiencies that, even in the
case of the NT/2000/XP branch of the Windows' software tree,
have their root in Windows 3.x. Proposals like your master
daemon are just a patch over an OS that is flawed at its
core. As the Vista stumble is aptly demonstrating, Windows
is reaching the end of natural lifetime. It will keep going,
of course, kept alive by inertia and Microsoft's continued
willingness to expend resources on it.

Private program?

brad — Tue, 20 May 2008 18:31:49 -0700

Well, the main way this would be a success would be for Microsoft to do it, and to back-release it for all Windows back to 98.

However, it’s true any company could write it as long as it were free, so that software packages that drank the kool-aid could bundle this master daemon with their programs in case the user doesn’t already have it.

But for it to really win, it needs the iron fist of Microsoft, which might eventually start penalizing programs that don’t use the master daemon. For example, when you install them it should pop up a dialog “This program wants to run permanently, consuming system resources, in violation of Microsoft recommendations. Do you want to allow this?”

Of course users would get used to clicking yes, but it would cause enough support problems for the companies that they would switch to using the master daemon.

amen to master daemon

mwfair — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:45:39 -0700

I am compelled by the size of my taskmgr window to agree vociferously. It drives my crazy that I am able to realistically monitor and control the amount of memory and cpu that is used in the background on windows. I can't even really keep track of which things are running. I keep taskmgr open all the time, to be able to kill things that hang or see when something spikes the cpu. But it is almost unintelligable, since there are about 55 processes at any time, most starting at bootup. I have a new machine too, and haven't yet loaded a lot of things! I frequently kill things I think I don't need, but thats hard also, because XP allows them to have any name they want and hides the reference to the files or application, forcing me to search the drive or google the name. Worse, the XP services themselves are labeled svchost.exe. What is that?
Please get someone to create what you are talking about to bring some descoping and some rationality to all this crap that is constantly running. Why should I be forced to choose between itunes and not having both their daemons running all the time. Same for Adobe. Geez!

2-year contracts vs. Prepaid lines

David Monget — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:14:34 -0700

Brad, your blog is just terrific!
It's great the insight you made with the contracts. I have never signed a contract before, but I felt terrified already with the experiences some friends had with termination fees and other silly monthly charges. I found this webpage trying to get some advice from other users to get a plan without signing a 1 or 2-year contract with any company. I just don't like to surrender the freedom of choice and change. I have been used prepaid from T-Mobile To-Go so far, it works well but it's pretty pricey (around an additional 50-70% and there are no free wkds or nights).
Thanks again Brad for sharing this.

Oh how I hate when people stretch it

Anonymous — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:18:56 -0700

I can't stand it, but you know what. Most people don't even notice that it is stretched. They don't know, and can't see it, and even if you tell them, they can't see it. This is weird, coz I notice imediately and can't watch it.

What is even worse is that tv-stations do it too. It usually happens when they are sending a program in 16:9, in which they show clips (like in the news) from programs in 4:3, and then stretch those 4:3 pictures to 16:9.

Sometimes they will even send a 16:9 program, letterboxed into 4:3, and then again letterboxed into 16:9, so you on a 4:3 tv will have black borders on all 4 sides.

My inflated ego.

Skyler Delamater — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:19:11 -0800

I don't care if you don't watch my vlog. I used to blog but i've become a vlogger instead because it brings me more personal satisfaction. Call it ego if you want but vanity can have a very intoxicating effect, and I love it!!! I'm new to the whole vlogging community, but what i've learned so far is that with the right material and the right drive and creativity, a person can get loads traffic. It's fun, plain and simple. I agree with Shivering Timbers. No harm, no foul. So if you're against the idea of vlogging, dont tune in. Vloggers set themselves up for more criticism because your more likely to look like an idiot on a vlog than on a blog. For that we should be applauded for bravery. I believe that Vlogging is the wave of the future with or without voice to text applications. This lot is just an example of resistance to progressive change.

Overall...Teach a man to fish...

Anonymous — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:41:52 -0800

Hey folks, generalizations are great, but the main understanding that everyone is correct about is that people need to do their own math. Their own markets, their own situations, their own usage needs to be taken into account by anyone thinking of "paying to save".

For instance, my situation allows me to purchase a Prius purely based on the gas mileage savings (30-40K mileage per year @45 MPG with 2K tax break at a 4K initial purchase premium) versus buying a comparable model without the mileage/break. I do agree that the money wasn't the only influence over the price (I would like to encourage car manufactures to think a bit beyond looks and "power").

Just remember that the key point should be not be what technology is best, but to actually equipping others to determine the "whys" of a technology benefit in the future.

I would propose that the most costly liability of life is ignorance and dependence on others' ignorance.

As a Bostonian for almost 20

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 11:33:47 -0700

As a Bostonian for almost 20 years, I have to take exception to that last disparaging comment about old Beantown. We "rude, racist, stupid" residents voted in same-sex marriage and statewide universal health care! California put Arnold Schwarzenegger into office!

I'm also connected with MIT, so I speak with experience when I say that some of the most benighted, intolerant, hypocritical, narrow-minded people I have ever met are these university intellectuals that Anonymous speaks of. The tone of Anonymous's comment is typical of many students, secure in their immature convictions, who categorize and pass judgement summarily on others without any forethought, compassion, or attempt at understanding.

Why can't universities teach shades of grey rather than black and white? This is the kind of thinking that got Star in trouble in the first place!

great Brad idea

Sairy — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:44:06 -0700

I like this. It makes a lot of sense. And I think you're right on with the mobile point as well. I've run into that problem in the past especially when passwords have characters that aren't easy to find with mobile keyboard interfaces.

What irritates me (as a user) more than delays, FWIW, are the sites that assume your username is correct and default to telling you the password is wrong vs. noting that it could be either one. I've wasted much more time hammering on passwords when the username was incorrect than I have from typos in the passwords. (Not that the delays aren't a nuisance.)

My credit union has a simple

Charles Merriam — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:24:05 -0700

My credit union has a simple password. After three tries, you need to talk to the branch.

Yes, be careful

brad — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:44:34 -0700

Yes, I don't say one should not be careful in design of these systems. I just rant about making a choice that frustrates the legitimate user as well as the attacker, when there could be choices to only frustrate the attacker.

Keeping usernames secret requires a tradeoff. Doing so can frustrate users, who may think they have got their password wrong (and keep retrying it until they get locked out) when actually they have their userid wrong. On the other hand, attackers may have various easy methods available to test usernames independently on many of today's sites, in which case hiding them helps nothing. (Many sites will let you enter usernames to get the password emailed without also asking for the email, for example, or put usernames in public web pages and URLs. In addition, it is very, very common for users to keep the same username over many systems.)

Can be source of security vulnerabilities too

Tim Farley — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 04:26:55 -0700

If you're not careful how you implement the time delay, you can create a security vulnerability with this too.

There was an old version of Novell NetWare that would delay the reply packet if the request contained a bad password. However, it did NOT also do the same thing on bad username. As a result, you could brute-force a list of usernames for that server by simply watching for whether the delay occurred.

It's merely an information leak, but it could be an useful early step in an attack.

Not paying the power bill

brad — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:28:45 -0700

There is no interest on money "lost" by "not investing the monthly electric bill."

The comparison is as follows. You take $10,000. You could either put it into a solar
power system, or the S&P 500 (Annualized 11% return over its history.)

Put it into a 2000 watt solar system ($5/watt installed) and you will get about 4,000 KWH of power in a year here in California. You get those kwh without paying the $520 you would typically pay at 13 cents/kwh to the power company. However, you make no money. At the end of the year own a solar panel worth perhaps $9,500 (5% depreciation.)

In the stock market, at the end of the year you have stocks worth $11,000. You take out $520 and buy electricity from the power company. You now have stocks worth $10,480. (I have simplified this, payments are actually every month slightly reducing things but the main point remains the same.)

So two situations. One you have a non-liquid asset worth $9,500, and in the other you have a more liquid one worth $10,480.

After two years, with the solar panel you own a panel worth $9025, or you have stocks worth $11,113.

Do you see where this is going? The solar panel never "pays for itself" compared to putting the money into the market and buying off the grid, unless the grid goes way up.

Now if you don't trust the market, there's something far simpler, which is to consider your mortgage. Paying that down returns 7% guaranteed, though I am not counting for mortgage interest tax deductions which alter that.

A solar panel is an investment like any other. It "returns" the value of the electricty it generates, and it depreciates in a slightly harder to predict fashion. But even if it doesn't depreciate *at all* it still only returns the value of the electricity it generates.

Now there are complexities which change this equation, involving predictions of changes in the cost of grid power, taxes and rebates, and predictions of changes of the cost of solar panels. (If panels get cheaper, your panels immediately lose a lot of their resale value, perhaps almost all of it if the new tech obsoletes the old.) So no model can be perfect. But generally solar isn't there yet. It's getting there, and is close to being there with rebates and tax breaks. Indeed, it is there compared to California Tier III electricity rates and/or for corporations who can use all the tax breaks. It is not nearly there for ordinary home-owners paying anywhere near the USA average electricity rate of 9 cents/kwh. But it will be, some day.

This may be a waste,

Michael S. New — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 21:03:47 -0700

I guess this is old, but I must ask, since you are using the current cost of electricity in the analysis, how long will it take for that cost to " payback" How does one compare 20 years+ to NEVER? How does free after x or xx years compare to NEVER, NEVER, NEVER? And where is the interest you lost by not investing the monthly electrick bill? Lets see $XXX.00 @ 10% invested every 30 days for 20 years Hmmmmm
Also your " better" math seems to ignore the resale value of solar systems (even uninstalled) which is stunningly high, much better than any other home gizmo.
A little financial knowledge is a dangerous thing (trust me I have proven that one)
Thanks
Michael

Just Boston or the whole US?

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:46:03 -0700

Having installed a rouge electronic sculpture while at MIT, this was my reaction also. Well put Brad. What is the world coming to?

Really, Boston is a schizophrenic city. To caricature just a bit, the locals (who speak with a hideous accent) are rude, racist, and stupid. The foreigners (Americans and internationals who are there for the universities and then out again) are intellectual, tolerant, and blithely indulgent of the locals' lame culture. The whole place is corrupt, from tow-truck drivers on up. Having lived there, I recognize that this idiocy of threatening smart kids due to ridiculous self-important paranoia is real and quite dangerous.

Yet, I have been surprised by the number of people in California who chide me that you're just asking for trouble to walk around with any kind of home-built electronic wiring showing. Paranoia is the norm. Fortunately new doors are always opening for creative people, as existing ones slam closed.