» ‘Microsoft Surface: A Tale of Two Computers’
Writing for TidBITS, Julio Ojeda-Zapata has a very thorough look at the Surface:
Like many Apple stalwarts, I have long regarded the Windows world as a foreign land — an intriguing, exotic destination suitable for a bit of sightseeing, but the sort of place that suffers from too many problems for me to want to live there.
Surface, Microsoft’s line of hybrid computers that are part tablet and part Windows PC, has me rethinking this position.
Spoiler, though: He still runs into problems and still sticks with the Mac. But, he finds the Surface better than expected.
You can get a refurbished Surface Pro for $480 and this week Microsoft is offering $40 off its keyboard covers. At these prices can you afford not to get one?
Well, probably, yes. But if you needed to run some Windows applications, that’s a cheap way to do it.
» New categories vs. ecosystem development
Jean-Louis Gassée wonders if Apple might be massaging its business model:
Putting hopes for Apple’s future on a magical New Category misunderstands the company’s real direction. Instead, Apple stays the course and continues to play its Ecosystem Game. Many interpret this as a company in death throes.
I’ll be very surprised if new hardware lines aren’t coming some time, but why wouldn’t it also broaden its ecosystem through new channels?
» iOS 7.1
By now you’ve no doubt heard that iOS 7.1 has hit the digital streets. Macworld’s Dan Moren details the changes.
I was interested to see that it listed performance improvements for the iPhone 4. I happen to have one lying around so I tried it out for a while and it does seem snappier. I could even turn the motion effects back on without it seeming like a complete dog and by that I mean slow and I’d like to apologize to dogs everywhere for my speciesist speech.
You should note that for some reason Apple turns Bluetooth back on after the update by default.
» Still waiting
Peter Cohen at iMore:
Boy, MFi game controller support on iOS 7 hasn’t worked out the way I hoped it would. Right now, it’s a mess.
The devices aren’t great, they cost too much and Apple hasn’t done anything to promote games that use them.
» Skype Vs. FaceTime Audio
If you’re in podcasting, you’ve probably toyed with the idea of switching to FaceTime Audio as Skype continues to be Skype. Stephen Hackett gave it a try and is sticking with Skype for now.
Pie-eyed platform enthusiasts
Ars Technica reports that Linux has a similar bug to Apple’s SSL bug of last week.
Critical crypto bug leaves Linux, hundreds of apps open to eavesdropping (via Daring Fireball)
Hundreds of open source packages, including the Red Hat, Ubuntu, and Debian distributions of Linux, are susceptible to attacks that circumvent the most widely used technology to prevent eavesdropping on the Internet, thanks to an extremely critical vulnerability in a widely used cryptographic code library.
The bug in the GnuTLS library makes it trivial for attackers to bypass secure sockets layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) protections available on websites that depend on the open source package.
…
Matt Green, a Johns Hopkins University professor specializing in cryptography, characterized the vulnerability this way: “It looks pretty terrible.”
Now, it is a popular thing amongst open source proponents to say that their platform is inherently more secure because open software benefits from having more eyes looking at it, whereas Apple’s software is insecure because only Larry looks at it. Or something to that effect. They don’t always name Larry.
Witness Katherine Noyes, formerly of PCWorld, arguing why Android is inherently more secure than iOS (seriously):
More “eyeballs” studying the code means problems are caught more quickly.
Here’s Cory Doctorow lauding Linux in the Wall Street Journal:
I use Ubuntu ( ubuntu.com ), a free operating system. Because the code is open to scrutiny to all, security vulnerabilities are rooted out quickly.
(Emphasis Doctorow’s.)
This SSL bug may have been in the code for nine years. Please, tell me again that trope about how Mac users blindly think their computers are invulnerable to attack. And it’s not like it’s the only one the platform’s had.
I’m not saying Macs are more secure than Linux. I really wouldn’t know and I firmly believe Apple has not paid enough attention to Mac security throughout the past decade. I’m certainly not arguing that security through obscurity is better. What I am saying is that Linux’s security fortunes have more to do with the same thing that kept Macs more secure for years than the inherent awesomness of “open sauce”: its low market share. One only has to look at Android to prove the point (high market share, low practical security).
The protection of low market share is still a selling point (or would be if Linux were actually sold for currency) and open software is an important part of computing as we know it. I personally support mandating that all voting machines be based on open-source software. But the Linux community isn’t being done any favors by its boosters talking up how open makes it better protected. Based on observation, this theory seems to not hold up in practice.
UPDATE: Watts Martin has a similar reaction:
And no one—not even the most passionate open source developer—ever says something like, “You know what I’d like to do tonight? Give GnuTLS a code security audit.”
» You can’t disclose my terms. Only I can disclose my terms.
FOSS Patents brings us the latest in Apple’s move to sanction Samsung for the disclosure of the terms of Apple’s licensing deal with Nokia. The court had decided to sanction Samsung’s law firm but not Samsung. Now this:
Here’s the latest, absolutely stunning development: Apple actually filed the terms of its Nokia license (as well as the terms of a license agreement with NEC) on a publicly-accessible court docket last October, where it remained for about four months until it was finally removed.
That does kind of take the oomph out of Apple’s argument.
(Via The Verge)
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» Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer to Retire at the End of September
Controller Luca Maestri will take his place. Cue speculation on WHAT THIS COULD MEAN.
» Podcast Thing
If you’re having trouble sorting through the morass of content that is modern day podcasting, Max Temkin and Veronica Corzo-Duchardt have compiled a fine list of recommend podcasts.