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SAGE 1.5.0.2 releases
This blog would be even more boring if every SAGE release was properly announced. But this release is a really big one. SAGE 1.5 features a total rewrite of much of the basic arithmetic to make it both faster and better to understand. All matrix classes are now written in SageX/Pyrex/C such that they are much faster now. Givaro’s finite extension fields were included as the default implemention which also means a significant speed improvement. Also, SAGE now has some graph theory support.
SAGE may be downloaded here and tried online here.
apt-get update
There is some buzz going on about Vista being the last operating system (by Microsoft) of its kind. One of the new features the Gartner Group predicts is a subscription based operating system where non-critical parts may be updated more frequently than critical parts. One could say, this is like the Web 2.0 of operating systems, as “traditional” release cycles are no more.
However, don’t drink the Kool Aid: Debian has been doing this for years. Every Debian based Linux distribution (so as most RPM bases distributions, and all BSDs) offers the possibility to upgrade and install applications conveniently with one single command. So, if you want to be a real Tim O’Reilly switch to Debian. Actually, I never really got why people complain about the time between two Debian releases: If you stick to the testing distribution you are pretty much always up to date without a single re-install. Who needs releases, anyway?
Elsewhere:The interior secret agency of Germany is called “Verfassungsschutz” and its responsibilities and rights are regulated through “Verfassungsschutz” laws in each state. In the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen this law is about to be updated. Besides the fact that secret agencies are always somewhat scary this new law has something special to it: It is considered that the “Verfassungsschutz” may break into your computer remotely to gather information. One way, this is discussed to be accomplished is by injecting malware into your operating system update. So you press a “check for security updates” button and a very powerful adversary installs a Trojan on your computer. Most linux distributions offer a way around this, though. See for example http://wiki.debian.org/SecureApt. Is there any way for Windows or OSX users to verify system updates?
