keeping simple

Author: yodaiken

  • GPL Interface arguments and proprietary kernel modules

    (rewritten for clarity Aug 21, 22, 2007) Changing interfaces of GPL software is permitted under the GPL. The license specifically permits anyone to make any changes in the code. There is no limitation concerning the intentions of the coder or the desires of the code “maintainer”. The entire project of marking certain interfaces in Linux…

  • Easy patent solution: Exponential method

    Suppose that we said each year, each person named as an inventor or each company or person named as an assignee on a patent  qualified for a rolling fee. Say $200 for the first patent, $1000 for the next, $5000 for the third and $25000 for the fourth – 200×5^N.  Nice and simple. And to…

  • Notes on unintended security effects

    I’ve been complaining about the security implications of DRM and “trusted computing” and “safe boot” for some time now. Susan Landau points out that the expansion of wiretapping has the same effect. Such threats are not theoretical. For almost a year beginning in April 2004, more than 100 phones belonging to members of the Greek…

  • notes on fault tolerance

    Patent1 Patent2 Nonstop kernel. Suggestions? Something brilliant must have been discovered in 20 years? No?

  • Building what customers want

    Visting LinuxWorld in San Francisco reminded me that one of the advantages Apple has in the cell-phone market is that it can set design goals to be “what people who buy cell phones want”. While you might think this would be the obvious choice, many players in the market are trying to build what the…

  • DRM and Trusted Boot: is Sili valley following Detroit?

    The trend in standard processor boards is truly an example of the tail wagging the dog. Consumer demand for locking down their PCs to make them slower, more vulnerable to viruses, more expensive, and less capable, is not high. And consumers includes both home computer purchasers and business computer purchasers. What I expect the vendors…

  • Specifying the UNIX file system

    The UNIX file system design is one of the most brilliant constructions in programming with a combination of conceptual simplicity, utility, and suitability for implementation that is hard to match. (Note: this last quality is something that is prized in all engineering disciplines, but we don’t even have a standard term for it in programming.)…

  • Formal methods for doing what?

    John Regehr’s question below gets to one of the basic problems I see in the field of “formal methods” – the general failure of researchers in the field to look at experimental data and the operation of actual systems. The normal operation of science in, say physics or biology or even analysis of algorithms, involves…

  • Chapter 2: liveness and scheduling

    Draft is available https://www.yodaiken.com/papers/rec.html

  • They took all the water, what could I do?

    We’re in process of moving to Austin Texas where the humidity should help ripen new ideas.