Free Republic

In an attempt to pre-empt computer hackers, Microsoft is developing "virtual" PCs to scour the web for previously unseen attack code. At the software giant's Cybersecurity and Systems Management lab, based in Washington State, US, researchers are building a squad of the virtual PCs - created in software rather than hardware - to explore the darker corners of the world wide web. To any website they visit, the machines appear to be a normal home computer. But the PCs are seeking out code designed to attack a computer and will sound an alarm if any code is executed in contravention...

WASHINGTON -- Beijing's proposed government procurement policies are threatening U.S. software sales in China, and Congress wants something done about it. Just exactly what, however, remains to be seen. Although China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, it is not a member of the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. In order to gain access to the worldwide government sales market, Beijing passed a government procurement law and began drafting regulations. Its first set of regulations involved software sales to the Chinese government. According to U.S. officials, Beijing stacked the deck against American software companies. "We are concerned that...

I would like some advice on my rights as a contractor. I have been doing contract work based on a verbal contract for the last year for a small company. At the present time, we are completing a project. They have paid me for overtime according to my rate, but have not provided any vacation time. The CEO says they have given me vacation on the basis that one week I was not able to work due to connectivity issues (everyone else was gone) - nonethess I was asked to work, ready to work each day either remotely or on...

I would like some advice on my rights as a contractor. I have been doing contract work based on a verbal contract for the last year for a small company. At the present time, we are completing a project. They have paid me for overtime according to my rate, but have not provided any vacation time. The CEO says they have given me vacation on the basis that one week I was not able to work due to connectivity issues (everyone else was gone) - nonethess I was asked to work, ready to work each day either remotely or on...

"America is slipping!" It's become a standard lead, guaranteed to grab readers' attention. Add in a few alarmist quotes from self-serving lobbyists with hidden agendas, along with the obligatory conclusion that "Education is the answer," and you've got the economic horror movie that Americans love so much to watch. CNET News.com has got this formula down pat. Its piece, Can Johnny still program?, laments that in the annual collegiate programming contest held by the Association for Computing Machinery, the best that any American team could do this year was a miserable 17th place. The United States hasn't won a world...

Survey results from the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles (HERI/UCLA) show that the popularity of computer science (CS) as a major among incoming freshmen has dropped significantly in the past four years. Alarmingly, the proportion of women who thought that they might major in CS has fallen to levels unseen since the early 1970s. The percentage of incoming undergraduates indicating that they would major in CS declined by over 60 percent between the Fall of 2000 and 2004, and is now 70 percent lower than its peak in the early 1980s (Figure 1).Freshmen...

BANGALORE, India - China and India should work together to dominate the world's tech industry, bringing together Chinese hardware with Indian software, China's prime minister said Sunday. On a visit to India's southern technology hub of Bangalore, Premier Wen Jiabao said the two nations should put aside their historic rivalries for the venture and welcome a new "Asian century." "Cooperation is just like two pagodas (temples), one hardware and one software," Wen said. "Combined, we can take the leadership position in the world," he said. "When the particular day comes, it will signify the coming of the Asian century of...

This is a call to tech minded Freepers (everyone from software engineers to hobbyists) to contribute in some way to make FR better than it already is from a technical standpoint. FR (i think) uses a from scratch proprietary system so any improvements to the system would have to first have to suggested then petitioned to JimRob to look at the code. Bandwidth and other issues could most likely addressed by updating the FR system with valid W3C code and implementing various caching tricks. THIS IS NOT A CRITICISM OF HOW FR IS RUN NOW. We all enjoy FR and...

Symantec has reported glitches in its antivirus software that could allow hackers to launch denial-of-service attacks on computers running the applications. In a notice posted on its Web site this week, Symantec detailed two similar vulnerabilities found in its Norton AntiVirus software, which is sold on its own or bundled in Norton Internet Security and Norton System Works. The flaws, which could lead to computers crashing or slowing severely if attacked, are limited to versions of the software released for 2004 and 2005. The Information-Technology Promotion Agency of Japan, a government-affiliated tech watchdog group, identified the first instance of the...

WASHINGTON - When the Supreme Court justices were growing up, swapping music meant exchanging vinyl records. And sharing a movie involved walking someone to the cinema. Today many of the latest hit songs and movies are a few mouse clicks away on the Internet, and those same justices are being asked to settle a multibillion-dollar dispute about how such items are shared. Entertainment companies want the court to let them sue the manufacturers of file-sharing software that allows computer users to download music and movies from each other's computers. The companies say such downloads violate copyright protections and amount to...

WASHINGTON — Some homeland security experts and lawmakers are wondering how a post-Sept. 11 promise to improve the nation’s intelligence-gathering capabilities hit a monumental snag this month as the FBI announced it is scrapping a $170 million computer overhaul after nearly four years in the making. "If you can't get the simple things right and on time, what does that say about your ability to deal with the larger problem of defending the country against terrorists?" asked Charles Pena, director of defense policy studies at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. The FBI said it plans to scrap the multi-million...

This a.m., I have found a Harley Davidson motorcycle on my ebay account for sale which I do NOT own!I don't know how it happened and am in the process of contacting ebay. Any other ebay users need to check accounts immediately! I have no idea as to whom the motorcycle belongs or how to find out as my personal information is still on the account. Anyone else having problems?

Sketch artistry Boulder firm's software lets users design in three dimensions By Julie Poppen, Rocky Mountain News March 14, 2005 BOULDER - Architects, video-game and movie-set designers, people who make machines, graphic artists - even young students and their teachers - are gushing over SketchUp, @Last Software's sole product. Here's why: The software allows even technophobes to design in three dimensions with the push of a button or the swipe of a mouse. A user can impress a spouse with a home addition designed within minutes or wow a client with a video presentation of a walk-through of a botanic...

I have a DVD I need to salvage if possible. My kids have managed to scratch it (but it doesn't look horribly scratched, just superficial scuffs). I have heard there is programs that allow one to extract the infomation so I can record it (or just view it on my computer). I can watch about 2/3rds of the disk without problems then it starts lagging and eventually stops (and locks up). I have tried numerous players from my home tv dvd player to my two dvd players (one is a recorder) on my computer. All sources lock up about the...

Groove Founder Ray Ozzie Will Join Microsoft as New CTO BEVERLY, Mass., March 10, 2005 - Microsoft Corp. announced today that it will acquire Groove Networks Inc., a leading provider of collaboration software for the "virtual office." The deal unites two top innovators of technology that help geographically distributed workgroups be as productive as those that work in a single physical location. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The addition of Groove products to the lineup of Microsoft® Office System products, servers and services builds on the capabilities of Microsoft's current collaboration products, allowing Microsoft to better meet...

STRASBOURG, France (Reuters) - The European Commission will not propose a new law on the patenting of computer-related inventions if the European Parliament rejects the current controversial proposal, a top official said on Tuesday. "If the parliament decides to reject it, then the Commission will respect your wishes. I will not propose a new directive," EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy told lawmakers. "You can of course reject or substantially amend the proposal," he said. European Union ministers endorsed the disputed proposal on Monday, which critics say could stifle software development. That decision is seen as a boost for advocates...

Brussels, 28 February 2005 -- The Commission has turned down the European Parliament's request for a restart of the software patents directive. Despite a virtually unanimous vote in the European Parliament's responsible JURI Committee and a unanimous request by the whole European Parliament in plenary, the Commission's DG Internal Market is apparently determined to destroy the directive by trying to get the EP to massively reject the directive in second reading. The Commission's Directorate General for the Internal Market, which is responsible for the directive, has informed several parties today it has denied the EP's request for a restart of...

BANGALORE, India: India's export revenues from software outsourcing have exceeded targets and will reach US$17.3 billion (euro13.05 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 2005, the country's software trade body said Friday. In addition, the total number of people employed in India's outsourcing industry has reached 1 million for the first time, the National Association of Software and Service Companies said. "Our exports gained momentum this year with more companies realizing the value of global sourcing,'' the association's president, Kiran Karnik, told The Associated Press. In the year to March 2004, India's software exports stood at US$12.8 billion and the...

Translation software that develops an understanding of languages by scanning through thousands of previously translated documents has been released by US researchers. Most existing translation software uses hand-coded rules for transposing words and phrases. But the new software, developed by Kevin Knight and Daniel Marcu at the Information Sciences Institute, part of the University of Southern California, US, takes a statistical approach, building probabilistic rules about words, phrases and syntactic structures. The pair founded a company called Language Weaver in Los Angeles, US, to sell the software as an automated translation tool. They already offer technology that can translate to...

February 4, 2005 F.B.I. Director Faults Himself for Delays of Software By MICHAEL JANOFSKY ASHINGTON, Feb. 3 - "Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the F.B.I., told a Senate panel on Thursday that he and a federal contractor were to blame for agents still not having software that would allow them to file investigative and intelligence information directly into their computers.Appearing before an appropriations subcommittee whose Democratic members did little to shield their irritation, Mr. Mueller also said the failed efforts to develop the program, known as Virtual Case File, or V.C.F., would cost taxpayers as much as $105...