Wednesday, August 18, 2004

BusinessWeek has done an interview with Linus you won't want to miss. [GrokLaw] Discuss: I think, fundamentally, open source does tend to be more stable software. It's the right way to do things. I compare it to science vs. witchcraft. In science, the whole system builds on people looking at other people's results and building on top of them. In witchcraft, somebody had a small secret and guarded it -- but never allowed others to really understand it and build on it. Traditional software is like witchcraft. In history, witchcraft just died out. The same will happen in software. When problems get serious enough, you can't have one person or one company guarding their secrets. You have to have everybody share in knowledge. I don't buy the parallel totally, but it is definitely an interesting claim for discussion. 6:03:52 PM

Mom and Dad have been designated for search, and the kids have not. So the security screener points to the family's pile of bags and asks which of the bags belong to Mom and Dad, because those are the ones that he is going to search. That's right: he asks the suspected bad guys (and they must be suspected, otherwise why search them) which of their bags they would like to have searched. Mom is stunned, wondering if the screener can possibly be asking what she thinks he's asking. [ATAC: Abusable Technologies Awareness Center] Another screening puzzle is the distinction between laptops and other electronics. It's hard for me to believe that my laptop has much greater potential for mischief than my iPod, my digital camera, my cell phone, their power bricks, or all of those together. Yet, laptops are singled out for individual X-raying, but none of the up to six pieces of electronics I may carry. The ultimate problem with security theater is that it seems aimed at relieving traveler anxiety, not at creating real uncertainty for potential attackers. Cynics might observe that attackers typically don't vote. 11:52:18 AM