The Code Cave

This is one of the must usful features when using skype for business. Especially with an organization the size of b5media. I use shared groups to deploy blogger skype contacts to all of the b5media bloggers, the b5media Toronto Office and b5media Tech Team amoungst others. The blogger group is great becase when a new blogger comes on they instantly have access to dozens of other b5bloggers through skype.

I have personal Skype groups for b5 Third Party Contacts, for Rhett and Link, and others. The third party group is great because it contains both normal phone numbers and skype contacts. Since I have skype out, my laptop is my work phone.

This screencast demonstrates some of the features and asks some questions I don’t have the answers to:

Previous in series

I found this in a friend’s 404.html file:

< !--
- Unfortunately, Microsoft has added a clever new
- “feature” to Internet Explorer. If the text of
- an error’s message is “too small”, specifically
- less than 512 bytes, Internet Explorer returns
- its own error message. You can turn that off,
- but it’s pretty tricky to find switch called
- “smart error messages”. That means, of course,
- that short error messages are censored by default.
- IIS always returns error messages that are long
- enough to make Internet Explorer happy. The
- workaround is pretty simple: pad the error
- message with a big comment like this to push it
- over the five hundred and twelve bytes minimum.
- Of course, that’s exactly what you’re reading
- right now.
–>

Does anyone know if that is still the case? I haven’t come across this before, but it is sure worth knowing about even if it is ie6 specific…

Microsoft scrambles quickly backwards away from a GPLv3 and checks its loafers to see exactly what it just put its $500 loafers into…  Still “As always, Microsoft remains committed to working with the open source software community”.

Microsoft Statement About GPLv3

A Microsoft statement about GPLv3.

Published: July 5, 2007

Microsoft is not a party to the GPLv3 license and none of its actions are to be misinterpreted as accepting status as a contracting party of GPLv3 or assuming any legal obligations under such license.

While there have been some claims that Microsoft’s distribution of certificates for Novell support services, under our interoperability collaboration with Novell, constitutes acceptance of the GPLv3 license, we do not believe that such claims have a valid legal basis under contract, intellectual property, or any other law. In fact, we do not believe that Microsoft needs a license under GPL to carry out any aspect of its collaboration with Novell, including its distribution of support certificates, even if Novell chooses to distribute GPLv3 code in the future. Furthermore, Microsoft does not grant any implied or express patent rights under or as a result of GPLv3, and GPLv3 licensors have no authority to represent or bind Microsoft in any way.

At this point in time, in order to avoid any doubt or legal debate on this issue, Microsoft has decided that the Novell support certificates that we distribute to customers will not entitle the recipient to receive from Novell, or any other party, any subscription for support and updates relating to any code licensed under GPLv3. We will closely study the situation and decide whether to expand the scope of the certificates in the future.

As always, Microsoft remains committed to working with the open source software community to help improve interoperability for customers working in mixed source environments and deliver IP assurance. Our partnerships with Novell and other Linux platform and desktop providers remain strong and the IP bridge we built with them, embodied in our collaboration agreements, remains intact. In particular, our technical and business collaboration with Novell continues to move full steam ahead, including our joint development work on virtualization, standards-based systems management, identity interoperability and document format translators. In addition, the patent covenants offered by Microsoft and Novell to each other’s customers are unchanged, and will continue to apply in the same way they did previously.

Since the rumors are pretty much confirmed that Google has bought Feedburner for $100 million in an all cash deal, it begs the question of how well Feedburner will integrate into the Google culture and treat Feedburner’s loyal customer base. With their track record, it is not just will they be a evil, but will they be a good partner?

read more | digg story

Long time readers of mine my might have had a suspicion.  You see when I have something big that I can’t talk about, I get severe writers block.  I can’t talk about what I want to talk about so I go from a one to two quality post a day period down to NOTHIN’ for three weeks!

Well this time it was VERY big!  After a 17+ year career as a Delphi programmer, I’ve started a new carreer.  Today was my first day working for b5media.  I am now one of an ever increasing number of professional making my living off WordPress, PHP and other Open Source programming. So, at the end of the day, I’m breaking the day of silence in the blogosphere with a post about joy and success.  That seems a more fitting remembrence.  Progress and fullfilment rather than silence.

You can read the official announcement here: “Brian Layman Joins Tech Team“.  It all started just over four weeks ago when I got a call from Aaron Brazell.  It was a fast whirlwind since then.  I’ll tell you all about my trip to Canada, dozen or so trashed cars, the flaming car of doom, all about b5media and other exciting goodies over the next few days.  There have been loads of firsts and progress being made on the Delphi for PHP front over the last two weeks that I’ll post about too.

For now, though, I just wanted to share the good news!

And Oh yes, I let my wife scoop the story.  She was soo excited about the chance to get a scoop!  No, Aaron, that pic wasn’t from today, but a month or so ago.  But I’m not making any promises I won’t be out there sometime…

See also: My interview with b5media

I read in the Newsgroups today that there is a new patent that’s been filed that affects what Borland can do with Object Pascal.  According to this patent application, Mirkazemi; Aram; (Lindisfame, AU) ; Besharati; Shahram; (Kingston Beach, AU) would have a US patent upon producing JavaScript code from Delphi’s Object Pascal and several other languages

Who knows if this will fly, but the idea of restricting what a company can do with the product they’ve made is just….  irratating!

A key quote from the patent application:

9. A method for producing a web application that runs natively in a browser, comprising: writing in a high-level language to develop a source file; parsing the source file to produce a semantic map; and processing the semantic map by emitting browser-side JavaScript comprising at least one dispatcher having a set of parameters to invoke a code segment utilizing the same set of parameters.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the high-level language comprises a high-level language from among the programming languages consisting of Ada, C, C++, C#, COBOL, ColdFusion, Common Lisp, Delphi, Fortran, Java, Object Pascal, SmallTalk, Visual Basic, and Visual Basic.NET.  

So, this program will take all Delphi source code and forms and convert them to a web app in javascript.

 First, I think it is hilarious to hear javascript described as a low level language, but that’s beside the point.

If Borland wanted to provide javascript as a target, as they do .NET and W32, they SHOULD be allowed to.  It is THEIR product.  They of course would have to do the work themselves, but it is a programming language they’ve made.  Why should they be restricted?  Especially when they’ve been nice folks and allowed programs like Free Pascal the benifit of the Delphi’s innovation.

 BAH!  It’ll probably pass with a rubber stamp of approval.

Marco caught an interesting story in InfoWorld, today.

As EWeek says:

Borland Software’s CodeGear development tools unit has changed leadership, naming Jim Douglas, a veteran of the high-tech industry, to the position of chief executive officer.

Jim Douglas will be replacing former CEO Ben Smith who guided CodeGear into existence.  EWeek continues:

Smith, who was brought on for his ability to foster startups through their initial phases and broker deals, has decided to step aside to return to the private equity, acquisition and venture arena, CodeGear officials said. Smith had been onboard with the CodeGear team, then known as “DevCo” internally, in a consulting capacity since February 2006.

About Douglas they say: 

Douglas most recently was president and CEO of ReShape, an electronic design automation startup backed by the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates. Douglas led the company’s transition from an engineering-services firm to a software-business model. These efforts resulted in the sale of the company to Magma Design Automation.  

So, Smith was there to start CodeGear up, and Douglas is now there to guide CodeGear into the future.  I wonder what other changes are in the wind.  Obviously, with this new quarter, there’s going to be a new set of challenges that Douglas is believed to be the right man to face.  Obviously this sort of thing doesn’t happen overnight.  So, my question is what’s the next thing we will see as CodeGear marches forward?

I’d already decided not to post about this, but then learned more.  There is no fix.  No work around. I’m vulnerable and at this point, I can’t do anything about it.  Even on Vista, just pre-viewing an HTML email in Outlook 2002+ means you are vulnerable.   An that’s not just OE but the REAL Outlook used is offices everywhere.  You can’t turn off Java Script, or Active X or anything.  You don’t even crash.  Your system is just pwned…

What does MS have to say?

Microsoft is investigating new public reports of attacks exploiting a vulnerability in the way Microsoft Windows handles animated cursor (.ani) files. In order for this attack to be carried out, a user must either visit a Web site that contains a Web page that is used to exploit the vulnerability or view a specially crafted e-mail message or email attachment sent to them by an attacker. [...] Upon completion of this investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate action to help protect our customers. This will include providing a security update through our monthly release process or providing an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs.  Microsoft is actively monitoring this situation to keep customers informed and to provide customer guidance as necessary. - http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/003973.html

For Outlook, the only fix Microsoft has is “read all e-mail in plain text rather than HTML”.  I know Outlook REALLY well, but I don’t remember a setting that does that.  There’s no solution for Internet Explorer.  Basicaly any application, even ones that you might have written in Delphi that happen to have a TBrowser component in them that is allowed access to the outside world, is vulnerable.  So if you have any custom email programs you’ve written, watch out!

The basic avenue of attack  is to display a customized animated cursor.  Once you open that email or browse through that site,  they gain access to your computer.  There is no crash, it just instantly happens.  The code can then promote the Limited Access account you are using (because we all only use admin accounts when we need to… Yeah, right!) to an Adminstrator account, and then do whatever they please, from rootkits to personal webservers.  Oh! and of course don’t forget that an “animated” cursor can appear to be static. It can look exact your normal cursor. 

In the article “ Windows Zero-Day Flaw ‘Very Dangerous,’ Experts Say Bug affecting IE and Windows is potentially very damaging, and there’s no quick fix in sight. “, by Gregg Keizer of Computerworld, there are a couple of good quotes.

“This is a good exploit,” Roger Thompson, CTO of Exploit Prevention Labs

“According to Adrian Stone, an MSRC program manager, Outlook 2007 is invulnerable, as is Vista’s Windows Mail–as long as users don’t reply or forward the attacker’s messages. The SANS Institute’s testing, however, contradicted Microsoft; by SANS’ account, Outlook Express in Windows XP, Windows Mail in Vista, and Outlook 2003 in any version of Windows puts users at risk when they simply preview a malicious message. They don’t have to actually open the message to be in danger of an infection.”

“Worse, we know there are vulnerabilities that can be exploited in Vista to escalate privileges,” said Brown. “All you need is access to the system, which this [animated cursor] provides.” Once inside, said Brown, the attacker could up rights from even a safer local user to administrator privileges. “Then, all bets are off.”

UPDATE:

 It seems that eEye Digital Security is taking advantage of the situation and has release a patch if you have their 1 year free personal addtion intrusion software:

Patch Location: Download Now!
Patch Version: 1.0
Patch Source Code: View

The patch prevents the loading of any non local ani files.  Well, my intrusion software is somewhat out of date anyway.  I’ll give it a try.  I’ll let you know if this is another “Scare you till you upgrade” program that is hard to remove.

UPDATE #2: eEye Digital Security is incredible.  At first glance, it seems to be professional and high-level.  I think it is actually meant to protect your system and not scare your Aunt Martha into buying more and more additions to it.  I’m impressed.  I’m also sad to say that for the second time since 1985ish when I first got a PC clone (a Compaq Portable Plus with Compaq Dos 2.12 and 10mb HD, if you must know), I actually had a virus detected on any disk or computer in my home.  It was one just reported in the wild for the first time at the end of Feb.  So my current antivirus software, somewhat out of date, hadn’t picked up on it.  Still I guess 2 viruse detections out of all of the stuff I’ve done and all the disks I’ve used and stuff I’ve downloaded, is a pretty good safety record for 2.2 decades.

I reading the news articles right on the CodeGear home page, and in the first one, “CodeGear Announced General Availability of Delphi for PHP (March 27, 2007)”,  I happened to see a name that looked somewhat familiar!

Sometime after what turned out to be the mid-way point in the field test period, we are given an oportunity to submit testimonials about our experience with the Delphi for PHP field test so far. I figured it would go in the scrolling banner on the CodeGear home page or in a email to CodeGear customers, but what do you know, there it is in plain site on the home page! Nifty!

CodeGear™ Announces General Availability of Delphi® for PHP

Developers Say Delphi’s Rapid Application Development Environment Makes It Easier and Faster to Build PHP Web Applications

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. – March 27, 2007 – CodeGear, a leader in developer tools, today announced that Delphi® for PHP – an integrated visual Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment for the popular PHP Web development language – is now shipping worldwide.
Delphi for PHP brings the RAD productivity benefits that Delphi users have enjoyed for years to PHP Web developers. PHP, designed to allow Web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly, is the most prominent dynamic Web language today and has become one of the top 10 programming languages overall. The new product from CodeGear can allow developers to be more productive as they write rich, database-driven Web applications in PHP.In addition to a RAD environment for PHP, key features of Delphi for PHP include: VCL for PHP, an open-source PHP 5 visual component library with more than 50 reusable components and seamless AJAX integration; out-of-the-box integration with InterBase®, MySQL, Oracle®, Microsoft SQL Server, and other popular databases; an integrated PHP debugger; drag-and-drop database application development using the Data Explorer for InterBase and MySQL; and a code editor with Code Insight, Code Explorer, and Code Templates.  Deployment options include Windows, Linux, Solaris and other platforms.Developers who have used a pre-release version of the new product said they experienced significant productivity improvements.

“Because Delphi for PHP can debug existing PHP projects as easily as it creates new ones, it instantly starts paying for itself. With contract work costing between $80-$100 per hour, if Delphi for PHP saves you just 3 hours, it’s already paid for itself.  It can do that with your first project. I’ll never use “Echo” or “Print” as a debugging tool again,” said Brian Layman, an Akron, Ohio-based software engineer.

“As a web designer, you’re judged on the quality of your work and how soon it’s completed.  When Delphi for PHP allows you to offer better products on a time scale your competition can’t touch, your services will be in great demand,” said Layman.

Delphi for PHP is part of a family of products from CodeGear that includes Delphi 2007 for Win32, Delphi for .NET, Turbo™ Delphi, C#Builder®, C++ Builder®, JBuilder® and InterBase.
U.S. Pricing
The product is available for an introductory price of $249; special academic pricing is also available. For more information on system requirements, languages and pricing, visit www.codegear.com/products/delphiforphp. About CodeGear
CodeGear from Borland Software Corporation (NASDAQ: BORL) delivers innovative, high-productivity development tools for a wide spectrum of software developers ranging from individuals to enterprise teams. CodeGear products enable developers to freely develop on their platform of choice while focusing on simplifying complex technologies and tasks so they can concentrate on application design, not infrastructure, to enable on-time project delivery. To learn more about CodeGear and its products, visit www.codegear.com. CodeGear. Where Developers Matter.CodeGear, Delphi, Turbo Delphi, C#Builder, C++Builder, JBuilder, InterBase, and all other CodeGear brand and product names are service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of Borland Software Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Microsoft, and Windows Vista, and all other Microsoft brand and product names are service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.Safe Harbor Statement:
This release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined under the U.S. Federal Securities Laws, including the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is subject to the safe harbors created by such laws. Forward-looking statements may relate to, but are not limited to, the features available in, and the potential benefits to be derived from, CodeGear products and solutions, and the release dates, plans and market acceptance of such products and solutions, including the CodeGear Delphi product line. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of uncertainties and risks that may cause actual events or results to differ materially. Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially include, among others, the following: rapid technological change that can adversely affect the demand for CodeGear products, shifts in customer demand, shifts in strategic relationships, delays in CodeGear’s ability to deliver its products and services, software errors or announcements by competitors. These and other risks may be detailed from time to time in Borland Software Corporation periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its latest Annual Report on Form 10-K and its latest Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, copies of which may be obtained from www.sec.gov. Borland is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Information contained in our website is not incorporated by reference in, or made part of this press release.

Well, it’s been a Busy,  three weeks here.  Things are finally falling into place.

Sometimes that just happens. 

You swing into these intense periods where things go 90 mph.  

It all started when my wife’s latest commissions check on her book buys her a sweet tablet PC, gets me a motorcycle and now (if it ever stops raining and snowing) I’m back on two wheels after 11 years! (pics soon!!!).  (All you Delphi knitters go and buy her book please!  I know you are out there!) 

Then CodeRage goes into full swing and starts vying for my attention.   Oh, and I also signed the papers refinacing the house.  Then my yard collapses into a giant cess pool, only to be replaced by a mud bog the following week.  Then I’m approved as a Google Summer of Code WordPress mentor and suddenly I’m back to reviewing resumes and project propsals!   It’s like I’m back in my old role of Director of Software Development again.

And then I land the after-hours job of converting CodeGear’s 90 blogs over to WordPress MU.   Yes, you can pinch me, I’m working for the Borland Corporation. 

THEN on Friday the Delphi for PHP field test ends and D4P is been released!  (If you are interested in the product, you can download a 1 day trial here. )  Well, that means it’s time to announce something else I’ve had in the works for a while. 

Coinciding with the release of Delphi for PHP, I’m announing an upcoming community site called “Designed for PHP” at http://www.D4PHP.com.  The tagline for the site is:

Designed for PHP - Bringing the Delphi mindset to PHP development.

This site, created using Delphi for PHP, will not only host a VBulletin  forum but will include articles, reviews, and product announcements pertinent to the soon to be thriving Delphi for PHP community.  I’m in the process of connecting with authors, moderators and administrators who are intersted in joining me in this venture.

 Now, obviously I’ve got some things that will be taking up my free time over the next couple weeks.  But I still hope to get some feed back from you all as to what you’d like to see at the site.  Some ideas from people I’ve already discussed this with include:

1. Community forum - Software has been purchased, the forum is up and being configured.
2. Integration with the NewsGroups - This idea fed off of a question from Serge Dosyukov and I know just how to pull it off.  The Delphi for PHP newsgroups will be part of the Forum and if all goes well (my host sometimes has restrictions on comunication with outside servers) they will be fully integraed with the ability to post to the groups directly from the site under your own login name.
3. Component & Component package reviews
4. Plenty of user created demo videos - it’s easy to do and free!
5. ???

and THAT’s why I am announcing this before it is fully up and running.  I want to know what else YOU’D like to see out of the site.  Do you have any thoughts or suggestions?  I’ll be doing work off and on with the site over the next two weeks and working with some interested parties who can get the ball rolling, but we need ideas and a goal for when, in about a month, I can give it some dedicated attention.

 So, do you want to see on D4PHP.com?  Does anyone remember “The Delphi Super Page”?  If you do, what made THAT page so great?  Pre-2000, there was no where else a Delphi programmer needed to go.   Why was that?  Any thoughts?

 Jot them down here or wander over to http://www.D4PHP.com/forum and express yourself!  Let’s see what this can turn into!