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TrueCrypt és un software de xifrat, amb versions per a Windows 2000/XP/2003 i Linux. Permet crear un disc virtual, que es pot muntar per tal que aparegui com una unitat més (Windows) o un directori més (Linux).

Tot el que hi ha dins d'aquest disc virtual és automàtica xifrat. Això vol dir que, per xifrar un document, només cal copiar-lo (o desar-lo) dins d'aquesta unitat.

Aquetsa versió té una interessant novetat: la possibilitat de xifrar tot el disc dur, de forma que en iniciar la màquina calgui introduir la clau per poder accedir a qualsevol informació emmagatzemada (inclòs el sistema operatiu).

New features:

• Ability to encrypt a system partition/drive (i.e. a partition/drive where Windows is installed) with pre-boot authentication (anyone who wants to gain access and use the system, read and write files, etc., needs to enter the correct password each time before the system starts). For more information, see the chapter System Encryption in the documentation. (Windows Vista/XP/2003)
• Pipelined operations increasing read/write speed by up to 100% (Windows)
• Mac OS X version
• Graphical user interface for the Linux version of TrueCrypt
• XTS mode of operation, which was designed by Phillip Rogaway in 2003 and which was recently approved as the IEEE 1619 standard for cryptographic protection of data on block-oriented storage devices. XTS is faster and more secure than LRW mode (for more information on XTS mode, see the section Modes of Operation in the documentation).

  Note: New volumes created by this version of TrueCrypt can be encrypted only in XTS mode. However, volumes created by previous versions of TrueCrypt can still be mounted using this version of TrueCrypt.

• SHA-512 hash algorithm (replacing SHA-1, which is no longer available when creating new volumes).

  Note: To re-encrypt the header of an existing volume with a header key derived using HMAC-SHA-512 (PRF), select 'Volumes' > 'Set Header Key Derivation Algorithm'.

Improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements:

• The Linux version of TrueCrypt has been redesigned so that it will no longer be affected by changes to the Linux kernel (kernel upgrades/updates).
• Many other minor improvements, bug fixes, and security enhancements. (Windows and Linux)

  If you are using an older version of TrueCrypt, it is strongly recommended that you upgrade to this version.

Sun to sell Windows Server boxes… sí, sí… Sun vendrà màquines amb Windows Server!!!

Que lluny queda aquell any 1997 quan Scott McNealy (aleshores CEO de Sun) va prohibir l'ús de PowerPoint a Sun.

We had 12.9 gigabytes of Powerpoint slides in storage on our disk drives. Ha ha ha. It freaks me out just to think about. Do you how many person centuries that is? Of clip-art manipulations? I banned Powerpoint from our company — I just edicted it. […] if I just gave everybody overheads, you know, blank Mila overheads with all the free pens they wanted — I could drive productivity through the roof, as opposed to having — I mean you've all seen these overheads that have 14 pieces of clipart, 13 fonts, right hand justified, spell-check, 13 colours and you know your employee is exhausted by the time it finally comes off the printer. And do they communicate anything? No.

Per fi… després de provar molts programes d'escriptori virtuals per a Windows, n'he trobat un que funciona perfectament. És el Virtual Dimension, un projecte de codi obert i de molta qualitat.

És funcionalment equivalent a l'escriptori visual que incorpora des de fa anys l'X-Window… sense cap de les floritures d'altres programes que, sovint, no serveixen per a res o que només aconsegueixen fer alentir l'entorn.

Per a que serveix un escriptori virtual? Bàsicament és una funció que, un cop la fas servir, no pots viure sense ella. Et permet expandir l'escriptori de l'ordinador diverses vegades (el més normal és tenir-ne quatre) als que podem accedir des d'una petita finestra, o bé amb una combinació de tecles. Cada escriptori virtual mostra un entorn totalment independent de l'altra (o gairebé… Windows no està preparat nativament per als escriptori virtuals i alguns programes de vegades fan coses rares), amb programes i finestres obertes. D'aquesta forma l'usuari es pot personalitzar la forma de treball, agrupant programes i tasques en escriptoris separats.