As a big fan of crypto, it has always rather amazed me that S/MIME hasn't had more success. We hear many accounts of users cannot handle the certificate management required to make something like PGP or S/MIME work. I have been doing some experiments and have concluded that we got it wrong; we are blaming the user when the right person to blame is ourselves. This post describes the first step of success, what it takes to "get a key".
Steve Ballmer is paraphrased in this ZDNet article saying "the company needs to ensure Windows Phone handsets can run Android apps". For a guy who spent more than 5 years writing system code for OS/2, the parallels to WinOS2 are pretty interesting. Here's the lesson: The operating system must stand on its own, or your just postpone it's death.
At the 2013 Masters Golf Tournament, Tiger Woods nearly holed an approach shot on the 15th hole – only to have it bounce off the flag and go back into the water. Tough break! A number of friends have asked me to explain the 3 strokes in penalty so I write it here for a wider audience. Below is a graphic of the Augusta 15th green along with a markers for the where the shot was taken, and available drop locations. The key point is that after the ball hit the flag, it did not bounce directly back toward the hitter, it went at an angle to the left and this changes the available drop locations.
Written December 1, 2008. I recently received an inquiry regarding how OS/2 interrupts are handled and what is the correct action of a device driver upon being called by the OS/2 kernel. My first response was, you have got to be kidding me, the operating system has been dead for 10 years. The second response was to tell them the answer and now I write this blog so other folks might find it useful.