Oh my goodness school

[yamikonumber7]

I suppose I should follow suit and put up a schedule for peoples:

MONDAY:
Work (Campus Operator): 9-Noon
Writing For Technology: Noon-2
Choir: 4-6
Thesis Class: 6-10

TUESDAY:
Internship: 8-5
Randomizer: Sometime in the PM

WEDNESDAY:
Choir: Noon-2
Work (Writing Center): 2-5:30
Work (Campus Operator): 6-Midnight

THURSDAY:Work (Campus Operator): 9

Comments

[sbcpanuru]

Java and Flash, once you have them installed, serve effectively as a local troupe of actors to put on plays using the stage and lighting of your local computer. This saves a lot of time and effort on the part of the servers that host webpages. Instead of putting on the whole play themselves, which they always did back when CGI (Common Gateway Interface) was the only thing around, now remote servers just get to send over the script and say "I don't care how you do this, but do this." The servers don't get overloaded, and people are rarely using all the free CPU cycles of their own computer, so everyone's happy.

The security concerns crop up because you don't want to have your own computer running arbitrary scripts, like "Overwrite the boot sector" or "Look for credit card numbers and send them to this remote server." That would be like having a play where the protagonist shoots half the audience in the face in Act II. The job of Sun and Macromedia (developers of Java and Flash, respectively) is to say things like "Okay, but you only get styrofoam guns as props." This is almost always enough to keep you safe. The exceptions are usually things pretending to be Java or Flash that really aren't--for instance, clicking on a video that gives you a dialog, "Do you want to run [program name]?" Which is like inviting a troupe of actors to perform Hamlet who are all wearing ski masks and carrying assault rifles.

From a development standpoint, the real innovation is having Java and Flash plug in (hence the term "plugin") to browsers, which means they only have to communicate with a tiny range of other programs, instead of having several versions for each operating system. Much easier to maintain. So the answer to the question--"Why won't YouTube play right after an OS reinstall?"--is that you only have your browser up and running. You need to reinstall your plugins, too.