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Open Source

Free Software, a Matter of Life and Death 197

Posted by kdawson from the serious-as-it-gets dept.
ChiefMonkeyGrinder writes "Software on medical implants is not open to scrutiny by regulatory bodies. Glyn Moody writes: 'Software with the ability to harm as well as help us in the physical world needs to be open to scrutiny to minimise safety issues. Medical devices may be the most extreme manifestation of this, but with the move of embedded software into planes, cars and other large and not-so-large devices with potentially lethal side-effects, the need to inspect software there too becomes increasingly urgent.' A new report 'Killed by Code: Software Transparency in Implantable Medical Devices' from the Software Freedom Law Center points out that, as patients grow more reliant on computerized devices, the dependability of software is a life-or-death issue. 'The need to address software vulnerability is especially pressing for Implantable Medical Devices, which are commonly used by millions of patients to treat chronic heart conditions, epilepsy, diabetes, obesity, and even depression.' Will making the source code free to scrutiny address the issue of faulty devices?"

Submission + - Music while programming 6

Submitted by BubbaDoom
BubbaDoom writes: In our cublicle-ville, we have programmers intermixed with accounting, customer support and marketing. As a programmer, it is our habit to put on our headphones and listen to our portable music players to drown out all of the noise from everyone else. The boss recently sent an email just to the programmers demanding that we do not use our music players at work because he thinks it distracts us from our jobs and causes us to make mistakes. Of course we've explained to him that the prattle from the other people is much much more distracting but he insists his policy is the right one. What is the /. community's experience with music at work for programmers?
Idle

Canadian Blood Services Promotes Pseudoscience 219

Posted by samzenpus from the type-A-negative-personality dept.
trianglecat writes "The not-for-profit agency Canadian Blood Services has a section of their website based on the Japanese cultural belief of ketsueki-gata, which claims that a person's blood group determines or predicts their personality type. Disappointing for a self-proclaimed 'science-based' organization. The Ottawa Skeptics, based in the nation's capital, appear to be taking some action."
Google

Submission + - Google-Microsoft Crossfire Will Hit Consumers 1

Submitted by theodp
theodp writes: Newsweek's Dan Lyons doesn't know who will be the winner in Google and Microsoft's search battle, but that's not stopping him from picking a loser — consumers. As we head towards a world where some devices may be free or really cheap, consumers should prepare to be bombarded by ads or pay a premium to escape them. 'The sad truth is that Google and Microsoft care less about making cool products than they do about hurting each other,' concludes Lyons. 'Their fighting has little to do with helping customers and a lot to do with helping themselves to a bigger slice of the money we all spend to buy computers and surf the Internet. Microsoft wants to ruin Google's search business. Google wants to ruin Microsoft's OS business. At the end of the day, they both seem like overgrown nerdy schoolboys fighting over each other's toys.'

Comment Re:Go with Kiosk Enclosures (Score 1) 131

by rfreedman (#29991010) Attached to: On-Demand Video + CMS + Interactive Input For Museum?

I'll second this.

I worked in the exhibit department of a science museum for several years, and it's simply amazing how much abuse everything gets.

We did most of our exhibit building in-house, because contractors, even exhibit design firms, just couldn't be convinced of how bullet-proof museum exhibits need to be.

Besides making sure that you have robust infrastructure, make sure that your kiosks are designed for a war zone. And make sure that you have lots of spare parts.

Comment Re:Cross platform? USE JAVA, duh! (Score 1) 310

by rfreedman (#29714153) Attached to: Platform Independent C++ OS Library?

TFA - Whats the best hack for c++ to let it be cross platform?

Everyone - Use this mish-mash of open source libraries and/or reinvent the wheel when you have to with interfaces and separate code files for OS specifics.

Me - Use a language and SDK that is MADE FOR CROSS PLATFORM COMPATIBILITY. JAVA JAVA JAVA

JAVA has cross platform sockets
JAVA has cross platform threads
JAVA has cross platform gui

C++ has header files... F**K HEADER FILES
C++ has pointers to pointers... F**K MEMORY MANAGEMENT
C++ makes you feel smart when you get something to actually work correctly... F**K YOUR EGO

+1

Comment ...constant flow of new features (Score 1) 54

by rfreedman (#28632127) Attached to: Jazz Technical Lead Erich Gamma Answers Your Questions

To keep a software system interesting to users, you need a constant flow of new features.

No - that attitude is what is wrong with most software.
What users really want is for the basic functionality to work well, be stable and performant.
Only then should new features be considered, and considered carefully.

Comment Re:Mod parent up - blind search test is quite usef (Score 1) 560

by rfreedman (#28342909) Attached to: Does Bing Have Google Running Scared?

I tried out the search engine linked above (sitetruth.com).
I understand that it's alpha, but I'm seriously under-impressed. It gave my site a negative rating for two things. One - no street address on the site - there is actually a full address at the bottom of every single page on the site. Two - no valid secure certificate - Uh, yeah. I don't sell anything, nor do I collect any information from users. Why should I have an SSL cert? WTF?

I think that if you call it "sitetruth", it should have some truth in it.

Comment Re:hmm (Score 1) 188

by rfreedman (#28002057) Attached to: Finding a Personal Coding Trifecta

while the article is lame, the subject is not.

More important than what you need to get into your zone (because I think we all know how this works for our own needs), is how do you explain this to others who do not understand "the zone"?

The hardest part for me is getting others to respect my zone. They just don't understand. For kids, you can't really blame them. You just have to stay out of sight and out of mind. But for the adults, they often just don't get it.

The biggest "zone breakers" are interruptions of any kind or duration. Having to stop for even one minute to take a call or acknowledge a communication can break your flow completely and it can take time to get back into gear. I think there have even been studies showing it takes some 15 minutes average to get back.

And of course this applies to anyone doing something highly creative or thoughtful.

I used to work in a development shop where there was a single outside-facing phone number, and each person had an extension.

When a call came in for "Fred", the receptionist would use the intercom feature to loudly announce to Fred "you have a call", rather than just ringing his extension.

If Fred wasn't at his desk, she would just say "Fred...Fred...are you there Fred?" several times, until everyone in the vicinity of Fred's desk was interrupted (it was an open floor-plan).

When that didn't work, she would make the announcement on the PA system, thereby interrupting everyone in the building.

I tried to explain to the receptionist, and to the owners of the company, that interrupting every programmer (and having them take, on average 15 minutes to recover) every time a phone call came in was counter-productive. Of course, they just didn't get it.

Did I mention that I used to work there?

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