Tiki Wan

Exploiting Software

I just finished reading Exploiting Software this weekend, it is a really good book. It explain what a hacker do in real world.

After reading the book, I can't stop thinking that hacker is just a good specialized SDET, the major different between hacker and SDET is that hacker will use the bugs he found, but SDET will usually ask SDE to fix it.

For example, here are the things which are in common

   -- SDET will need to write a lot of automation to find bugs, hacker will need to write a lot of scanner and tools to find exploit

   -- SDET need wide knowledge on software to find bugs and understand the End to End user experience, hacker need wide knowledge (software & hardware) to know where the hole is.

   -- SDET don't believe there will have decent software which contains no bug, hacker believe all decent system will have hole which they can exploit

MS is recognize the important of QA, so, in recent year, I saw a lot more QA with senior or above title. I guess MS probably will set the trend of quality control in software industry. I believe one day QA will consider technically as strong as a "hacker".

C# case insensitve string replace?

private string ReplaceString(string inputStr, string searchStr, string replaceStr, int startIndex)

if (inputStr == null || inputStr.Length == 0 || searchStr == null || replaceStr == null || searchStr.Length == 0) return inputStr;

int searchIndex = inputStr.IndexOf(searchStr, startIndex, StringComparison.InvariantCultureIgnoreCase);

if (searchIndex == -1)

return inputStr;

else

return ReplaceString(inputStr.Remove(searchIndex, searchStr.Length).Insert(searchIndex, replaceStr), searchStr, replaceStr, searchIndex + replaceStr.Length);

Net PC

Woo, I can't really believe it when my college show me that his net book from Dell have dual core processor (or dual processor) with 2 GB of RAM and 80 G hard disk, and it is almost 60% big of my Eee PC.

Today technology is really amazing. One year ago, some of my friend are telling me that their net pc is using Linux because they think net pc is not powerful enough and can only run some basic stuff. Can't have the real experience a computer should have with window installed.

I have full faith in Microsoft if netbook is one of the reason why MS revenue/profit is dropping. Since, the situation should fully turnaround in our favor. It may become one of our mainstream income.

Let verify what I say here after a year. ^_^

TSQL XML query

I write my first TSQL XML query a long time ago, and I repeatedly run into the same problem every year. What is the syntax? 

 Let assume I am going to store my whole employee table in one giant XML and store it in the employee table with one row and one column,  here is the syntax to use XML.

SELECT T.c.value('@name', 'varchar(256)') AS [name]

FROM Employee

CROSS APPLY Sources.nodes('/Company/Department/Employees') AS T(c)

Hopefully, next time when I run into the same problem again, I don't need to search for TSQL syntax again.

Buying a new computer & TV

This year, all electronic stuffs seem cheap. I saw 42' LCD sell less than 1000 and a decent tablap PC is sell like 700 bucks.

I almost want to buy the stuffs home when I see the ad. However, after my buying urge is slow down. I already own like 4 laptops and I never really watch TV (I do use my old TV to play Wii). So, I stopped my buying urge.

Technology is really growing faster and cheaper, however, I still can't imagine how can they sell a laptop like 300-400 dollars. I am thinking the 15' monitor itself probably cost 100, and the harddisk cost 50, it is already half of the price. How can they buy the processor, mouse, keyword, memory, etc with 200 dollars.

To help the economy, I guess if I really need another laptop, I probably will buy it now instead of wait later. How can it go even cheaper.

Redmond is covered with snow

I have not blog for a long time... Why? It is because Redmond is covered with snow this year.

I had been here for 8 years, this year the snow is the most serious. I had been stuck in my house for more than 1 week now. Luckily, I am planning to clean up my house and already take vacation. Otherwise, I may need to drive to the office when the road is all covered with ice.

From the weather forecast, there will have rain for the next two days and I am hopping to go out for shopping after that. I am pity the retail company, because a lot of people is shopping online and now a lot of people get stuck in their house because of snow. In this economy, it is pretty bad. I am sure a lot of retail will closed down after this year. So, it is the best to do the shopping while we still can.

Sometime, I don't know whether internet and online shopping is a good thing. It make a lot of local store closed because of competition. The era had changed, I am hopping my son will still be able to enjoy shopping physically when they grow up.

Eee PC review Final

I have used my Eee PC for almost a month now. I guess I could give a reasonable overview feedback now.

In my opinion, Eee PC can't replace my notebook. For example, during the time on meeting, I would like to use a normal labtop instead of Eee PC because I can write email faster or TS into other machine and have a decent screen size to do real work.

To me, Eee PC is open up a new market like Wii or iPhone does, it is target to different type of customers.

The most attractive of PC is that I can run a full version of Window, big harddisk size and long batteries life. Which fit well for situation you don't want to bring a notebook but mobile phone probably can't serve your need.

My final recommendation is that it worth the money, conside if you are buying an external harddisk which doesn't need power cable, a DVD player for your kids in the car, and if you would like to check email or sync up work while in vacation, but don't want to do real work.

How MS can complete with Google Part IV?

MSFT is down to ~22 and GOOG is ~350, and Obama is the next US president. There is a lot of things changed during my last blog.

However, during this period of time, I do learn one thing from John McCain, we should think of way to create wealth. The pie is not fixed, why Microsoft need to complete with Google at all? The internet pie is very big and still have a huge upside potential. If Microsoft and Google work together, they probably can re-shape the internet and make something incredible for us. 

Eee PC review III

I have use my Eee PC for another week. As usual, this week my feedback is mix.

Since I am a developer and I need to run heavy application from time to time. So, I start to realize that I still need to use my another notebook fairly often. Also, my toshiba notebook is not heavier than Eee a lot. My Toshiba notebook is ~ 5.5 lb and the Eee PC is ~4 lb. so, it become less attractive.

However, there is one thing I like Eee very much. The long long battery life. I don't really need to bring a power charger and I am kind of confidence that the battery will be enough for the whole day.

Let me use it more and more often, I will be able to tell whether it is just a urge for me to buy a new toy (Eee), or the new toy is really worth it.

Eee PC review II

I had owned my EeePC for a week now.

My feeling of it is still mixed. Here is why I have this mixed feeling....

Cons:

• I am trying to upgrade my XP home to XP Pro, and without a CD ROM, it take a much longer time
• The resolution of the monitor is a little bit strange, when I trying to setup my wall paper, it stretch my photo

Pros:

• Long batteries -- I can use the computer for the whole day without re-charging. Since It is very easy to turn off the monitor screen....
  
• Very mobile and practical... I can browse the net almost anywhere when I am waiting

Eee PC review I

I got my Eee PC today. Yeah!

I always think those small sony notebook is cool and wanted to buy one, unfortunately, it is very expensive in the past. I really can't convince myself to spend money on it. With the new Eee PC, the price and the functionality look very reasonable to me.

I got my Eee PC with the following spec:

• 100H (10' monitor + WinXP)
• 160G harddisk

and it is less than 500 dollars included Tax.

I am planning to write a series of review for my Eee PC. So, if you are planning to buy one, it may be useful for you.

From my first test drive yesterday. My feeling is mixed and here is why

What I did:

• Install all window update
• un-install skype, build in antivirus software
• Install a lot of software...
  

Pros:

• Appearance of the machine look cool.
• Machine is reasonably fast, at least I feel it is faster than my wife machine.  
• It is window XP, I know how to use it
• It is the first time I am excited about a new computer.... (I have like at least 20+ computer before. Why? Because this computer look like a toy. ^_^)

Cons:

• Build in keyword is funny, I like to use the right "Shift" key when I am typing, now, I always accidentally hit the "Page Up" key when I am typing because the "Page Up" key is in the location of the "Shift" key.
• Build in mouse is too sensitive. Probably I have a big finger, the mouse seem to be moving around when I am trying to "click"
• The build in screen resolution seem to be the best one, when I trying to change it, I can't get a full screen...
  

 Planning to do?

• install onecare, defender, etc
• Configure the computer the way I like
  

Buying a new computer II

After being loyal customer to Dell for 10 years, I just brought my first PC/Notebook which is not from DELL.

I can't say how disappoint I was, but no matter how I search the DELL web site, I really can't find something that fit my need.

I believe I am a typical customers who own multiple PC/notebook at home. So, I don't really need anymore all -in - one laptop/PC, but I do want to upgrade my machine because some of the component in the computer is not up to date. For example, some computer is slow and some computer have a small harddrive. I just don't bother to replace component when computer nowaday is so cheap. 

Unfortunately, I am so sad that Dell is still selling all-in-one computer. Their default configuration is good if I only have 1 computer. However, when I have more than 1 computer. I need something different.

I am hopping I can be DELL customer again since I do have good experience in the past, except for the previous desktop I brought from it a year ago. It is start pusing Mini is a good sign. I hope it can make it even better.

Buying a new computer

I have not write blog for several weeks because of the economy and election news are overwhelming. Nevertheless, I am back blogging.

I am a long time Dell customer and I buy a new DELL computer almost every 2 years. This year, I am in pain. Why? I spend almost 1 month browsing DELL web page, and I found there is no good deal at all.

I am not sure whether I am a typical customer or not. The new computer I am looking for need a big big hard disk (500G above) and a lot of RAM (3G or more), and I am looking for reasonable processor. And I found there is no default config which did that and if I upgrade, I don't think the price is fair.

One thing I notice which probably is not DELL fault, it is more INTEL or AMD fault. I have no idea how fast is their processor by looking at their name, I remember the good old time (P IV 90, P IV 100, etc). I can base on the number to guess if I add a hundred dollars, how much I can expected in return. Now, I am confused by the number and I dont understand why there are so many different type of processor available. So, I am more tend to go for AMD processor because it had reputation of value. Unfortunately, DELL doesn't seem to have a lot of choice on AMD processor.

Because I still have some DELL gift card, so, even I can't find a computer I want, I am trying my best to look around to see whether there is anything I could buy, I almost wanted to buy a mini 9, but the small harddisk space is scaring me. If I search the net, I guess I am not worry much about processor speed, but I may download a lot of stuff. 16 G probably can't hold 1 month of stuff that I download and need me to do regular cleanup.

The worst is that when I look into HP computer, their configuration seem much better or fit my need, and also because my recent DELL desktop have a very bad video card/driver problem which hang my computer every 2/3 days, and I can't seem to get it fix by downloading tons of DELL update. I probably will need to change my habit and start buying from HP in this holiday seasion. 

So sad to see DELL go down like that, it really used to sell high quality computer with reasonable price. Now, I guess the company is focus more on look instead of the computer spec.

Google Chrome, Firefox and IE

Recently, Google had published the beta of their Internet browser. In a similar timeframe,  Firefox had release version 3 and IE 8 release Beta 2.

At a user, I don't think I will install all 3 different browsers into my computer. Probably, I will install 1 or 2. So, what will be my choice in sequence?

1. IE
2. Firefox
3. Google Browser -- Chrome

Why IE first? IE can do many things Firefox and Google Browser -- Chrome can't do. So, if I want a complete browser with full functionality and unified experience on window, I will definitely go for IE. Also, similar to open office stuff, when people wrote their resume, they probably will use Microsoft Office instead of some unknown open source office which they are not sure the other side can open it. IE simply give me confidence that it will be able to open almost all web page in the world.

Then,  why Chrome is my final choice? Because it is new, it is not proven. It is not a web page, it is an application installed in my computer... It is something I use to surf the web. How am I know whether it will have security bug or not? And how many security bug will it contains? Will I dare to fill in my credit card information in Chrome and hit the send button? However, if Chrome can survive the browser war and it can release something similar to Firefox to version 3, it will give me more confidence. 

How can Microsoft complete with Google Part IV?

Don't get me wrong, Google is a great company and I never say Microsoft had beat Google or going to beta Google. What I am trying to say is that Microsoft have its unique strength which make MS able to complete with Google.

From my previous blog, I have explained my view why Google is not prefect. So, if any company can override some of Google weakness, it may have a fighting chance to win over from Google.

The top 10 reasons which I think Microsoft may be the company which can win in long term are ...

1. Microsoft is the leading software company: I guess no people will deny Microsoft is the leading and the biggest software company in the world. When talking about building successful software, I guess no company can be more experience than Microsoft
   
2. Microsoft have a lot of smart people :  Which mean innovate idea can continue to come...
   
3. Microsoft have a lot of money : Which mean MS can continue to hire smart people....
   
4. Microsoft have proven history on taking over competitors (Novell, Netscape, Lotus, etc) which used to dominate at their area once time :
5. Microsoft have excellent management : Which mean we will continue to invest in our people, infrastructure and process
   
6. Microsoft have excellent infrastructure and processes: Inside Microsoft, we build a lot of process and infrastructure to keep up our engineering excellence effort. I recently attend blackhat conference in Las Vegas, I feel the infrastructure and process we have on security process (SDL) is significantly better than Google. How can they ignore a security bug for more than 4 years....
7. Microsoft is already started working on it : Live. It may not be better than Google in this moment, but we are focus and we have a sound long term plan to be one of the key player in the internet space
8. Microsoft listen to customer : We listen to our customer and constantly improve our software to correct our mistakes or provide new features to fit our customer need.
   
9. Microsoft have the brand name : People trust Microsoft.
   
10. Google has its own weakness (See my previous post)