Java Vulnerability

After learning about Java vulnerability from the Department of Homeland Security's United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), I checked all my browsers in all computers: Ubuntu Linux, Apple Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows to make sure Java is disabled. To test whether Java is working on my computer, go to this URL http://java.com/en/download/testjava.jsp

Here are the screenshots from my Windows computer:

Java was disable on Google Chrome 23 on Microsoft Windows. Oops. I need to update Google Chrome to the latest version Google Chrome 24. Always keep your browser up to date.

'No working Java was detected on your system.' Good. Java was disabled on Mozilla Firefox 17. Again. I will update Firefox to version 18. On Ubuntu, it was 'Something is wrong. Java is not working'.

Java was disabled on Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.

Next, I went to Control Panel to update Java to the latest version Java 7 update 10 and unchecked the check box 'Enable Java content in the browser'.

 Before clicked the 'Apply' button

After clicked the 'Apply' button

Unchecked the 'Keep temporary files on my computer'

Internet Explorer after unchecked the check box 'Enable Java content in the browser'

Java was disabled on Opera ran on Ubuntu 12.10

Java was disabled on Safari ran on Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 

Should Developer Tools Free?

Last week, Microsoft announced the next free version of Visual Studio 2012 (or Visual Studio 11) will not free for develop desktop applications. "To create desktop apps in Visual Studio 2012, you need to use Professional 2012 or higher." Other Express versions used to develop Metro, web or mobile applications still free. It's not a good decision. After a strong objection from developers, Microsoft reversed its early plan.

Actually, I do not care whether Microsoft provides free tools for developer or not. If I need a tool, my company will pay for that. The last time, I developed Windows desktop applications twelve years ago. After that, I spent most my time for web applications. Now, I'm learning to develop mobile application in my spare time. 

I'm enjoy to use free and open source development tools such as Eclipse IDE, MonoDevelop, gedit, Notepad++, WinMerge, Git, Apache, PHP, MySQL, Sqlite, Python, Ruby, JavaScript... for both web and mobile developments in Ubuntu Linux and Microsoft Windows environments. If I need to develop in Mac platform, I can get Xcode 4 for free from Mac App Store. 

Today, it's not make sense to charge developer or anyone interest in programming for development tools. 

My New Toy

My new toy is a 13-inch MacBook Pro. It took me a lot of time to think over which Mac (Mac Mini, MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, or 15-inch MacBook Pro) would be my next working computer. I needed a new computer with a bigger hard drive, longer battery life, and support Intel Virtual Technology. I also needed to familiarize myself with Mac OS X as more people are using Mac OS and iOS. I would have preferred a 15-inch MacBook Pro but I did not want to overspend on a Mac product. Yes, Apple products are high quality but they are too expensive.

My first impression with my MacBook Pro: I can utilize second band 5GHz wireless network (801.11a / 801.11n). Next, it just had only one or two updates, which took a few minutes to install after I initialized the new computer. My Dell Windows 7 took an hour to update. After a system update, I installed Adobe Flash, Java Development Kit SE, LibreOffice, Android SDK, and Eclipse IDE, and Virtual Box. Last, after learning how to use the Multi-Touch track pad, I really like it.

How about the boot time? It is fast but it still cannot beat Ubuntu 11.10 running on a slower CPU, Intel Pentium Dual-Core 2.3GHz.

My Next PC

My next Personal Computer (PC) will be a Mac. The first PC I used was an Apple computer, Apple II, when I was in college. After a quarter of a century using Microsoft Operating Systems (DOS, Windows), I'm switching to Linux. I'm so happy with Ubuntu and Open Source applications. I pick Mac not because it's better than Microsoft Windows PC or Linux PC. Mac is so expensive! The lowest MacBook is $999 while the you can get the Microsoft Windows PC for about $400. With a MacBook Pro, I can program or test number of difference projects: iPhone mobile applications, Android mobile applications, PHP web-based applications, Python programs, mySQL,... Using VirtualBox on MacBook Pro, I can run Windows and Linux applications on guest machines. I must buy a Mac machine because Mac/OS license is not allow to run on virtual machine. It must run on Apple hardware.