Why Vista Isn't in .NET

"I believe that the government that governs best is the government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq. I believe in pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps ... I saw this guy do it once in Cirque du Soleil. It was magical." - Stephen Colbert

That guy has a brass pair. I posted the link to the torrent yesterday, and actually watched it later on, and the more I think about it today the more I giggle to myself. What a great way to prove yourself to the media. Anyway, the article that came out today that piqued my interest most was regarding why Vista was written in C++ rather than C# and .NET. Quite simply, it's a bunch of arrogant, lazy, close-minded programmers. Rather than take the chance to move to a platform with better security, they chose to stick with C++, which also looks more and more outdated by the day when you think of what else is out there. Granted, .NET has some slight performance issues, but they can be worked around, and Vista requires a beefed up system anyway so hardware resources presumably isn't an issue to the design team. Also, it wasn't designed with kernel development in mind, but when you're at the company that created it, how hard is it to instigate some changes in the next update? The fact of the matter is that since .NET is type-safe, you can't take advantage of the buffer overflow issues inherent in C++. For you non-techies: you can't give functions too much data, and have it spill over to places that could compromise your system, because .NET makes sure that it doesn't happen. It wouldn't be a bulletproof OS even in .NET, but it would be one step closer to being a more respectable OS, and could give OS X a run for its money (possibly).

So what's going on with Leopard, in the meantime? Supposedly, they're working on putting in encrypted torrenting so that people can share software updates and such to speed up downloads, and, in exchange, get discounts in the Apple store and free mp3s and such. It sounds like a pretty good idea to me, and maybe we'll actually learn more about it at WWDC. Speaking of mp3s though, Apple has renewed contracts with its four biggest labels setting iTunes pricing to stay at $0.99. Not sure how long those contracts will stay in effect for, but what a blow for those labels. Ouch. Oh well, yay for Jobs averting disaster for all of us (it would've become a slippery slope)! Oh, and once again, another analyst is supporting claims of new Nanos double the current generation's capacities, as well extending battery life in the normal iPod line. I expect some new products around the same time that the current ones drop in price. Still no buzz on a 12-inch MacBook Pro (or iBook, for that matter), which is a shame for Apple since pictures have already leaked of a 13-inch Dell XPS laptop, which is supposed to be released later this month. I like how it looks slightly better than other Dell laptops, but the real trick will be how they price it. However, we do know when the DS Lite will get its release date: this Friday. Speculation believe it'll launch next month for $200, which wouldn't be unreasonable if they believe demand is that high for it, but it could be as low as $150 (comparable to the price in Japan). ABC has finally made history by opening up its service to allow for free, commercial-supported streams of its best television shows. I'll watch the new Desperate Housewives (which I missed) on it and give you some more impressions, but it does allow for quick navigation within segments of the show, but to cross certain segments requires a 30 second commercial (still better than normal tv), and the quality is decent. Good job, ABC! Lastly, Alexa and A9 have both forsaken Google to support its searching in favor of Microsoft Live. Either Microsoft struck up some good deals, or they're looking to start a war with Google. Either way, at least it strikes up some interesting competition for us all to watch in the search engine market.

Not much movie news, but I do think it's awesome that they're going to remake Revenge of the Nerds! That movie is such a cult classic, and production on this new one could start this summer. IGN has a little promo for Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, which I only mention because Justin Lin is directing it, though it's hard for me to believe that it could actually be good even with him at the helm. They also have bits of Marvel movie news, with Iron Man and Hulk 2 apparently at the top of the production list. Oh, and there's an Iron Man blog now on, ugh, MySpace. MySpace is a skidmark on the underpants of the blogosphere. Lastly, there's a mildly funny trailer for Strangers with Candy on YouTube, which I only mention because it features a man not afraid to call out the East coast liberal media: Stephen Colbert.

New PostSecret postcards are up, and here's my favorite this week:



Now for some Monday Madness:

1. Sleeping in for me means sleeping until _____.
10:30 or 11:00 AM. Nowadays I'm used to getting up so early for school that I feel obligated to get up at a reasonable hour. Oh how I miss Freshman year when that time was like Noon.
2. Staying up late means I don't go to bed until _____.
3:00 AM would be pretty late in my world, but I've been known to sleep past 4:00 AM if I have a big test that morning.
3. I probably spend more time _____ than I would like.
Blogging. If I spent less time though, it would probably be lower quality, and no one wants that. Besides, I'll have more time for it in the summer anyway since school is almost over.
4. And I don't spend nearly enough time _____.
Focusing on actual study time. I get sidetracked way too easily, and don't start studying for stuff as early as I'd ever like to.
5. I have zero tolerance for _____.
Smoking weed. It's just stupid.
6. I have a lot of patience when it comes to _____.
Assignments in difficult classes. I don't mind getting pelted with dumb questions, because I know that I was once at that point.