Software is the term applied to any set of instructions carried out automatically by a computer. The most familiar type of software is a software application, which is a set of instructions, or a number of instructions sets used together, designed to meet a particular need or related set of needs ...
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10answers
5k views
Is closed-source code more secure than open-source?
My computing teacher told us that closed source software is more secure than open source software, because with open source "anyone can modify it and put stuff in." This is why they do not want to use ...
46
votes
2answers
2k views
Is DRM effective?
Reddit is all abuzz about DRM, piracy and all related topics. I don't really know much about the details in the technology here, but people were throwing around statements like these (all pulled from ...
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1answer
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Did COBOL have 250 billion lines of code and 1 million programmers, as late as 2009?
In 2009 COBOL turned 50 years old. It got some publicity with claims, which I find rather hard to believe:
"Cobol hits 50 and keeps counting" article in the Guardian.
According to David ...
29
votes
3answers
1k views
Can acts of IP piracy be more beneficial than harmful?
There are several claims that piracy of Intellectual Property (IP) can help sales more than it hurts them.
For example, Edmund McMillan of Team Meat states in an interview at IGN:
McMillen ...
23
votes
2answers
964 views
Was NASA’s Mars Climate Orbiter lost because engineering teams used different measuring units?
I read in a book that NASA's Mars Climate Orbiter was lost on September 23, 1999, at a cost of $125 million, because one engineering team used metric units, while another one used inches for a key ...
18
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1answer
552 views
Do software patents stifle creativity?
Is there any evidence to support the claim that software patents stifle creativity and put many people at risk of legal action?
If necessary refer to some background reading:
Seriously think ...
15
votes
2answers
912 views
Can Skype wiretap your calls?
The Skype-Open-Source Blog speculates that Microsoft have changed the architecture of Skype in order to facilitate wiretapping:
Two months ago, Skype replaces user-hosted P2P supernodes with ...
14
votes
3answers
1k views
Can Microsoft's success be attributed to their abuse of a monopoly
Can the success of Microsoft be attributed to their abuse of their operating system monopolies of MS-DOS through the various versions of Windows (and other related monopolies such as the Internet ...
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votes
2answers
1k views
Are individual watermarks widely used to fight piracy?
I have heard on some occasions that programs for digital media, such as Adobe Photoshop, embed hidden watermarks in the pictures that make it possible to spot a pirated copy and trace it to the person ...
10
votes
2answers
469 views
Does progress in algorithms beat progress in hardware?
A 2010 report to the U.S. President and Congress about past and future advances in information technology notes that:
While improvements in hardware accounted for an approximate 1,000 fold
...
10
votes
1answer
293 views
Do off-the-shelf software products which claim to “Clean Your PC” work?
It's these incessant commercials I always see on my TV. "Install our product, and we will make your PC up to 100% faster!" Then they usually go through a few customer use cases (typically involving ...
7
votes
1answer
582 views
Does having a specification result in better code?
From Joel on Software, 12 Steps to Better Code, Joel asserts that:
Writing specs is like flossing: everybody agrees that it's a good
thing, but nobody does it.
And:
Software that wasn't ...
7
votes
0answers
324 views
Did the Windows XP CD include Microsoft Bob?
Microsoft employee Raymond Chen says that an encrypted copy of Microsoft Bob is included on the Windows XP CD to take up space.
But Windows XP doesn't take up the entire CD; there is a lot of free ...
5
votes
1answer
316 views
Was a tech support call made, mid-coup, to help unlock an armoury?
I'm trying to verify an urban tech legend I heard a few years ago.
Some poor SuperMac TechSport got a call from some middle level official...
from the legitimate government of Trinidad. The ...
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vote
0answers
100 views
Has anyone done a scientific analysis of the “Ghost Radar” app for ios/android? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Can smartphone Apps detect EMF?
Hard to find anything scientific regarding this app on the interwebs... Almost seems like search results have been manipulated to lower ...
