The big question is, will the politicians get the message?

The public sent a loud and clear message to the politicians, that we are fed up with their wheeling and dealing and jostling for power.
Like all political parties, every party is made up of a group of people with similar views – “similar” – not exactly the same. Some are dictatorial while other are more democratic and although they all put up the same “united face” to the voting public, these “factions” do not actually all agree on everything. The leader of the party is supposed to have the support of all (or most) of the faction members. This means the factions can wield some power behind the scenes and they did!

In Australian politics these factions became drunk on their own power in both of the major political parties and lost sight of the voters. They were so busy swapping leaders, that they forgot how unstable this made both major parties look , from the public’s point of view.

On one side, the Liberals, they were so busy backstabbing the other faction’s top men, that they pushed forward a leader who had a poor image for his previous red necked comments. He had voiced a strong religious stance, was anti abortionist, didn’t believe in Global Warming and did not understand technology. His party had previously been in government and demonstrated a strong bias towards big business at the expense of the working masses and lower income earners. They introduced a system of workplace bargaining, called “Workchoices”, where employers could bargain using experts, with their  employees one by one. This ultimately meant that employees lost overtime, meal breaks and a host of other benefits – on a low wage, how can they afford industrial lawyers and expert negotiators?

On the other side, the Australian Labour Party, the factions sacked their leader literally over night. That is shocking enough but to make it worse, this sacked leader had been voted in a landslide election and enjoyed the highest popularity of any politician in 25 years. They went to bed with a Prime Minister and woke up with no-one in charge. To make it worse the  replacement had assured the public she supported the Prime Minister the day before, was a woman and we have never had a woman leader before.

As voters we saw two parties, equally inept. One with a bad reputation and a leader we didn’t trust and the other with a leader who was so new that the paint on her office door had hardly dried. We voted accordingly – between a rock or a hard place and the results show it.

The final outcome is that the few politicians who walked away from all the faction backstabbing and became independent now have the most say. These are people who gained power by staying in touch with their voters, who did what we elect people to actually do – represent us.

The public have said loud and clear – we want old fashioned ethical representation – we put you there and don’t you forget it!

Now comes the fun and games, watching the political party pawns bargain with  with the real leaders – those with the fortitude  to stand for what their electorate believes.

Mr Abbot (Liberal Party) has been told by the independents  to get proper costings for all his election promises and true to his past red necked behavour, has refused. If Tony Abbot doesn’t change his attitude, he will effectively hand the right to govern, to Julia Gillard and the Australian Labour Party.

Well time has a way of showing up  idiots – all we have to do is wait.

While the statisticians sift through their results, trying to make it all sound palatable there’s a few things that stand out:

We, the public have voiced our opinion – not the opinions that the spin doctors claimed  – but our own.
Because voting in Australia is compulsory, the number of invalid votes is a significant factor, at 5% of all votes. These votes either say the system in beyond the understanding of 5.64% of the population or that 5% really felt it didn’t make any difference who won.
Either way there is a problem!

We have a hung parliament – that means the population decided that both the main parties were so alike it didn’t matter which one won.
Now add that lot together with your invalid votes and it says that the entire populace felt it didn’t matter who won.

So lets look at the contestants:

The Australian Labour Party
On one side we had the  Australian Labour party who decided the population’s choice for leader was less important than the man (or woman) they wanted so they fired him. With no warning they back stabbed their own leader, who only a few months before had the highest popularity rating in Australian electoral history. Could you really do anything more to demonstrate your contempt for public opinion?
You let the Japanese slaughter whales illegally in our fishing management zone (mind you no-one can fish for Patagonia Toothfish there). You refuse to introduce any penalties for the big polluters in the form of carbon taxes.Is it any wonder as a population, we swung away from you?
Take a good hard look at yourselves Australian Labour Party, we voted for you  – not your factions who have behaved like spoiled brats and a kids birthday party.
You created a home insulation scheme that your own advisers warned you about but you ignored them and sent 14 young people to their death.
Do you realise that more young people died in rooves of Australian homes than died in the Australian Defence Forces in our Iraq campaign!
You proved how inept you were as an entire government again with the Building Education Revolution – more funds went to consultants than actual building the assets.
If there had been a decent contender you would have become Australia’s third party in this election.

The Liberal/National Coalition
On the other side we have a Party who screwed over every worker when they were in power with their Work Choices scheme. They gave employers cart blanch to trade off our overtime, convert our jobs to contracts written in legalese that the humble worker was supposed to decipher (of course the unemployed can all afford an industrial relations lawyer to explain their Workplace Agreements!). Even the International Cricket Association voted against your own leader.
While our mining companies send all our resources to China and clock up record profits, this party refuses to allow any increase in taxes, instead telling us we can’t afford to do anything about pollution. You support the top end of town, the CEOs and high income earners and grind the rest of us under your heel, with tax reforms that cut the top income earners  taxes while leaving the elderly too poor to afford to turn on a heater in winter or have three meals a day.
Then they head the Liberal Party (or is it the Miners and Employers Party) with a leader who denies global warming, while admitting he is technically inept, anti abortion and can’t understand the Internet (in other words is less informed that the typical 14 year old).
You make a big noise about stopping the boat people while you let 100 times ans many through the airports and as long as they can pay a legalised bribe – sorry, you call it a Visa and bond, into your coffers. Money talks louder than humanitarianism and you welcome them in. Alternatively you give them a work permit to work for wages below what our own people won’t accept so your business mates can keep raking in a fortune. To conceal their striking lack of policies, they claim a leak in the electoral office and refuse to lodge their costings for the few lame policies that do have. Effectively they could promise anything and not be scrutinised.
But even worse – this party wins more votes to advance from total losers to a hung government!

This election actually says you are all so hopeless that the Australian public couldn’t tell difference and the only reason you got any votes was because voting in Australia is compulsory.

One of our members downloaded the Kantaris media player from their web site www.kantaris.org.
She received an installation file that asked her to choose the options she wanted and amongst those options was a Malware scanner, which she also ticked. It was a viral marketing scam!

How the scam works

A few anti-virus and anti-malware software packages offer free scanners as a marketing ploy. These will sometimes really scan your computer but often they are a virus that puts up fake reports that you are under attack. You discover that you cannot remove these messages unless of course you buy the full software package. If you don’t buy the full package, you get bugged non-stop buy pop up screens and messages. Some will even turn your screen off or force your computer to restart.

Because they are based on a rootkit virus, you cannot remove them easily.
You can easily delete the actual file that is causing the pop-ups but next time you restart your computer, a “lookup” link in your computer’s registry will re-load the virus all over again. Often when it does this, it will make a new “lookup” link in your registry as well as new programs for the pop-ups. It will name these new entries and files with the name of a file already in the Windows system folder, making it even harder to delete the offending files. The offending files look so official that you are reluctant to erase them.

In this case she ended up with a screen load of pop-up windows saying she was under virus attack, even though she had an up to date virus checker. She continued to try and use her computer and the problem increased until the computer began to shut down.

She downloaded a free fix program for the scam malware “Rogue AntimalwareDoctor”  from MalwareBytes and it was a nightmare – 7 pages of removal instructions!

It wouldn’t run because the screen was too busy loading fake attack messages!

The solution was to load the fix software onto a USB memory stick. The USB loads a separate start-up window that forces the scam meassages to run in the background. This meant she could now select the fix software from the list of programs on the USB disk and run it. This enabled her to remove the links from the registry and locate the pop-up files from the Windows System folder. The next start up showed the old (pre-rootkit) screen free of any scam messages.

It was a real headache but we got there. The moral is, only tick the boxes you want. If you download a player, tick only the player boxes. Don’t tick any boxes for toolbars, scanners etc.

At the DefCon computer hackers conference in Las Vegas this week, (in July 2010), New Zealand researcher Barnaby Jack publicly showed off the “ATM jackpotting” technique of making ATM machines spit out cash or transfer funds remotely.

Careful not to divulge the actual code, he demonstrated how he could take over a stand alone ATM, miles away, using only his computer. His method bypasses the need for passwords or serial numbers to access the ATM remotely from any Internet connection.

He claimed that while banks have made a lot of noise about banking security, their efforts have largely been in the hardware area rather than in the software. They warn us of skimming devices, they added security cameras and some even enclose the user and ATM in a glass cubicle until the transaction is finished. What they have not done, is to proof the software they use to run the machines.

Stand alone machines (those that are found in non-bank stores) are remotely controlled by banks through online programming. Barnaby demonstrated to the conference, how easy it was to exploit flaws in this software to take complete command of the ATM. He proved his findings using two types of machine usually used un coner stores and bars but he also said that it was quite likely that similar flaws existed in “hole in the wall” ATMs at well known banks (Auto Teller machines at the bank branches).

“You don’t have to go to the ATM at all,” Mr Jack said. “You can do it from the comfort of your own bedroom.”

Using his software, he gains access to the ATM and once he is in the machines, he says he can command them to spit out cash or transfer funds, capture the magnetically read data from customer cards, even obtain customers PIN numbers as they are typed in.

Addressing the conference he challenged the banking sector, “This is the first time anyone has taken the approach of trying to attack the underlying software. It is time to find software defences rather than hardware defences.”

He was careful not to reveal any specifics of the attack code or procedures to hackers at the conference, but did tell ATM makers about the flaw so they could use the information to improve their ATM machine’s security.

“I might get my butt in hot water if I released the code,” he said. “I was careful not to release the keys to the kingdom.”

Give this some thought . . .

I was in a large computer store yesterday and it was advertising software.  Here are a few of their prices (keep in mind this is Melbourne Australia):
Windows 7  Home Premium Edition ……$299.00
Windows 7 Professional Edition…………. $349.00
Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition $174.00
Microsoft Office Professional Edition……… $838.00

So if I bought a fully equipped computer, ready to do school or business work,  the software for it would cost ($299 + $174 = $473) $473 for the basement priced edition or ($349 +838=$1187) for the Super Duper Deluxe version. I can do everything except edit graphic images and compose music.
We have a range from $473.00 to $1187.00 . . . . remember these figures.

If I bought a computer as a bare bones unit (no software) and added Ubuntu, I can download it free (or pay a massive $15.00 for a DVD). It comes complete with Open Office.

I have everything that my Super Duper Deluxe computer has and a few extras too:
- It runs faster and cooler because Ubuntu (and all other Linux operating systems) use less processing power.
- My Internet experience will be better because the sites load faster (there are no virus threats to Linux on the Internet so files are checked and loaded faster).
- There are forums with real people who speak my level of language, who can give me advice that I can actually understand. I don’t have to call a number in Sydney and quote a 24 digit code to get customer service.
- I can configure my computer, upgrade the disks, processor etc and reload my operating system and Office software as often as I like (Windows allows only twice).
- My operating system and Office software is not sending secret user information back to it’s vendors so they can sell me more stuff later.

I went to the counter and asked if they could supply a laptop and a desktop without any operating system and they said yes but they would have to get them from the warehouse so it would take up to two working days for delivery but the good part was they would drop the price by $200.00 and even install Linux for me!

I think if I had really pushed it, and shopped around I could have shaved another $100.00 off the price.

So you really have ask, what was that extra $300.00 paying for?

Ignorance – there are literally millions of people out there, who are paying for their ignorance.

How do you think it got that good?

Stop and think for a minute – do you really believe that some programmer slaved away one dark night over a keyboard and wrote it?

Software isn’t just designed then written on some keyboard – it evolves.

Let me illustrate:

If I want to write a program, I first have to write it for my computer – say a PC with an Athlon processor and heaps of RAM
Fred down the road, has a different computer – let’s say a PC with an Intel Duo processor and a wider screen.

If I want the “Freds” in the world to use my program, I have to write it to run on both types of computer.
There’s the “Bobs” with i5 processors, “Tony’s” with i7 processors, the “Janes” with Athlon Phenom processors, some have wide screens, some have normal screens, some have Nvidia graphics cards, others have theirs embedded. Then there’s the “Joes” who run laptops. The “A Type Joes” who use Intel processors and the “B Type Joes” who use AMD processors in their lap tops.

I’ll give the “Xaviers” using their MACs a miss. They are a small market share (a bit stubbornly weird) and need a completely different program code. (Also since Steve Jobs has forgotten about them since he launched the iPhone and the iPad, they will gradually get left behind and have to switch to a more mainstream brand anyway).

So my simple program has now had several rewrites and I haven’t catered for my customers with different system settings, less RAM, different video cards, running older operating systems and other variants of Linux etc.

The truth is, any software company needs people to prove out new software code over a wide range of computers. If it was left to corporations alone, half the software wouldn’t run on your computer and you would still be running a less buggy upgrade of Windows 98.

This is where the Open Source Community comes to the rescue.
I write my software program code and publish it on an Open Source Community site, like Sourceforge.net. I publish it without all the chrome trimmings of course. Other people will try it and give me feedback. Some folks are experts and will modify it, saving me the job. After a month or two, I retrieve the code, add the chrome trimmings and a fancy box, to flash it up and put it on the retail market. It is now reliable, having been tested on a wide range of computers. In return for their testing the people who use Sourceforge get free software -  everyone wins.

It’s not rocket science and it’s nothing new – without Open Source you wouldn’t have any new software. No corporation can afford to write software and test it on so many different variations of computers. Companies  like Microsoft, Adobe, Corel and a host of well known software names have all used open source to develop their code.

The Open Source Community even has a rating guide to let you know how far down the testing track the software has come:

Alpha means new code – best left to the expert programmers and developers.
Beta – this software has been tested on some machines and is cutting edge stuff but you may have problems. This is best left to the experts.
Stable – this has finished it’s testing and should work on your machine. This is the stuff less the chrome and fancy box (often it has the chrome too!)

Keep in mind that in return for getting the software free, you are part of the testing cycle and as such are obliged to report any glitches. After all it is a community and it’s success depends on all of us doing our share.

If you forked out for an Apple iPhone 4 , the latest, allow me to offer you some sympathy.

Firstly your phone has a design fault and a serious one – that stylish metal band.
If you hold the phone and make contact with the metal band, the metal acts like a Faraday cage and neutralises the incoming signal. The result is the call breaks off. Apple has received many complaints but that’s only half of the problem . . .

Why is it that smaller IT corporations nurse their customers and rapidly respond to complaints but when they get to the top of the ladder, they become arrogant. Apple is no exception. Rather than admit their latest product is actually flawed, they choose to accuse customers of holding their phone wrongly!

The whole idea of a mobile phone is ease of use. You shouldn’t  need lessons to know how to hold one!

So far Apple’s attitude is you, the customer, should adapt to compensate for their design fault or alternatively buy a genuine accessory – a cover for your iPhone. In other words, pay extra for an add-on to rectify a product fault. Apple you’ve lost the plot – a successful design is one that meets the customer’s needs – the customer dictates the design. A poor design is where a product does not meet customer’s needs or requires additional training or modification before it meets customer’s needs (like a genuine cover?).

I can’t help wonder, when an accessory stops being an accessory and becomes a fix?

If you make a faulty product and it requires an insulating case for your product to be used successfully, then you should supply the case as a component for every phone.

Let’s get real folks, if Toyota had made the iPhone, it would have been recalled by now.

Maybe Toyota should run a customer satisfaction training course for Apple?

For illustration work, (or “graphics” if you want it in “Geek-speak”) I used to use Corel Draw which evolved into Paintshop Pro. At work I had to use Adobe which was very professional but for a lot of the jobs I was doing, it seemed very complicated compared to Paintshop Pro. That was until I stumbled onto the GIMP. It did everything that my high priced software did – for FREE!

Until recently the only thing I couldn’t do with my graphics software, was make Windows Icons. Most other graphics software I saw couldn’t do that either, except Ulead’s Photoimpact.

For a while I have been getting messages that there were updates available and I ignored them. Last night I decided to update my copy of The GIMP. I did a quick scan of a couple of the forums, found no negative comments and updated my GIMP software.

This morning I was working on some web graphics and went to save the file. I was surprised to see I could now save an image as an .ico file – used for Microsoft Icons.

Now my free edition of the The GIMP actually out-performs all the other bitmap graphics editors.

It doesn’t take up as much memory as Ulead’s Photo Impact or Adobe Photoshop but does everything they do.

Another point I like about The GIMP – I want a graphics editor and I get one. It doesn’t come with another photo album, video editor and a heap of other software that I didn’t ask for.

If software vendors stopped selling their products in bundles, the price could come down to more affordable levels.

The result is a massive improvement in security. Virus writers target the common operating systems – Windows is their prime target. Those viruses can’t work in Linux and in order to get a virus into my Windows system it has to go through Linux. I design the site in Windows, save the site and then use an FTP program from SuSe Linux to load the program to my web hosting account.

There’s a few other advantages too.

• My computer runs much smoother in Linux, than Windows. Linux uses less processor power to do the same tasks as Windows.
• My software is free. I saved over $400.00 just on my operating system and it’s more slick, secure, faster and customiseable than Windows 7!
• If I need help, I can get it in technical Geekspeak that is still not as baffling as Microsoft’s help messages but I can also get help from real people at my level of skill (or ignorance) in language I can understand.
• I have as many desktops as I want in Linux and using SuSe, with the KDE desktop, each one has a different wallpaper – no confusion.

One of four SuSe 11.2 Desktops

I heard that Microsoft was introducing more spyware into it’s Office Suite and started to examine the alternatives. I was surprised to find Open Office, which was actually better than the software I has been shelling out a small fortune for!

I had more colours to use for text and backgrounds than MS Office and the added bonus of files that anyone could open, whether they had the same software or not, (unlike Office 2007 files which won’t open in XP unless you get another add on!). This was a massive issue in the Education Industry. Some schools and Universities had updated to Office 2007, others had not and were mailing documents that others couldn’t open with their version of Office! I never had that problem – the Office 2007 files opened without the pretty formats but there was enough there to get the idea.The MS Office user got unknown format errors, (which makes you wonder what the MS marketing morons were thinking when they came up with that one!)

I discovered an added bonus, Open Office also has a native file format that MS Office cannot read. I can work on a document in this format and if I get interrupted or have to stop for added research, I can save it knowing no-one will alter it until I get back. When it is finished, I can publish it in the MS .doc or .xls format for public viewing.

I didn’t realise what a winner I was on until I bought my notebook.

I asked for one with no operating system at all, no MS Office trial version either. It took $150.00 off the price and now it runs SuSe 11.2 with Open Office. It does everything the others do and is noticeably faster than the same versions in the shop, running Windows 7.