Communications of the ACM
The opinion archive provides access to past opinion stories from Communications of the ACM and other sources by date.
January 2011
From ACM Opinion
The Purpose of Science Fiction
How it teaches governments—and citizens—how to understand the future of technology.
From ACM Opinion
25 Years of Digital Vandalism
In January 1986, Basit and Amjad Alvi, sibling programmers living near the main train station in Lahore, Pakistan, wrote a piece of code to safeguard the latest version of their heart-monitoring software from piracy.
From ACM News
Dealing With Assange and the Secrets He Spilled
This past June, Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guardian, phoned me and asked, mysteriously, whether I had any idea how to arrange a secure communication. Not really, I confessed.
From ACM News
The Triumph of Hacker Culture
Stuxnet and the iconic, pioneering hacker Captain Crunch.
From ACM News
Social Media and Law Enforcement: Who Gets What Data and When?
This month, we were reminded how important it is that social media companies do what they can to protect the sensitive data they hold from the prying eyes of the government. As many news outlets have reported, the U.S. Department…
From ACM Opinion
Apple: Disrupt or Perish
While the secret for Apple's success seems patently obvious to most&meash;as obvious as the form and function of the iPhone 4—a more subtle reason is the company's counter-intuitive knack for disrupting its own product lines…
From ACM Opinion
Why Buying Coffee with Your Iphone Matters
Starbucks app Cash, credit, or gadget?
From ACM Opinion
Why You Should Never, Ever Use Two Spaces After a Period
Can I let you in on a secret? Typing two spaces after a period is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong. And yet people who use two spaces are everywhere, their ugly error crossing every social boundary of class…
From ACM News
Bending and Stretching Classroom Lessons to Make Math Inspire
At the aptly named Tiny Thai restaurant here, a small table, about two and a half feet square, was jammed with a teapot, two plates of curry, a bowl of soup, two cups of tea, two glasses of water, a plate with two egg rolls…
From ACM Opinion
Gayatri Buragohain on Women and Technology in India
Gayatri Buragohain, India’s ACM-W Ambassador, is an outspoken advocate for young women in India who are interested in technical careers but face an opportunity deficit due to legacy gender bias.
From ACM Opinion
Stuxnet Authors Made Several Basic Errors
There is a growing sentiment among security researchers that the programmers behind the Stuxnet attack may not have been the super-elite cadre of developers that they've been mythologized to be in the media.
From ACM Opinion
What Does Jobs' Absence Mean For the Future of Apple?
With Steve Jobs' third medical-related absence in six years, Silicon Valley must again confront one of its great mysteries: How much does Jobs matter to Apple?
From ACM News
Wolfram Education Apps Raise Teaching Dilemma
Wolfram Research, a software company with deep mathematical and scientific expertise, is expanding to the broad education market with a range of mobile apps.
From ACM Opinion
Rahul Arya: The Way Forward For Electronic Design Automation
India's design industry is facing a "quality gap" with regard to talent, says Rahul Arya of Cadence Design Systems Inc. in Bangalore, India.
From ACM Opinion
Wikipedia Turns 10, Eyes Developing World
Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia that anyone can edit, celebrates its 10th anniversary on Saturday.
From ACM News
Nsa's Home Base May Have Crappiest Web Site Ever
Through the gates of Fort George Meade pass the most powerful technical minds that the government employs. But Fort Meade's website contains pixelized, faux-shaded green fonts and a two-column descending-text template not seen…
From ACM Opinion
Success of Verizon's Iphone Will Depend on Cdma Network Performance
Professor P.K. Kannan at the University of Maryland, says the success of the iPhone 4 released by Verizon boils down to one word: "performance. That is, the performance of iPhone 4 on Verizon's CDMA wireless communications…
From ACM Opinion
Shigeru Miyamoto: Master of Play
The many worlds of a video-game artist.
From ACM Opinion
The Case Against the Consumer Electronics Show
A year ago, Steve Ballmer took the stage of the Consumer Electronics Show to tout a technology that he promised would change the world: the Windows operating system. Newcomers to CES might have been baffled by this choice;…
From ACM TechNews
European Exascale Project Drives Toward Next Supercomputing Milestone
The goal of the European Exascale Software Initiative (EESI) is to help effect the migration from petascale to exascale systems over the next 10 years by bringing together industry and government organizations.
From ACM Opinion
Arm Ceo on Microsoft, Tech's Rise
ARM chief executive Warren East discusses major announcements from Microsoft, Nvidia, and Motorola involving his company and its chip architecture.
From ACM News
Hackers Find New Way to Cheat on Wall Street
High-frequency trading networks, which complete stock market transactions in microseconds, are vulnerable to manipulation by hackers who can inject tiny amounts of latency into them.
From ACM Opinion
Don't Track Me, Bro
Here is how Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, describes the current state of affairs on the Internet: "Say I’m walking through a mall. And there’s a guy following me. He doesn't know my name, but…
From ACM News
The American Wikileaks Hacker
Jacob Appelbaum fights repressive regimes around the world—including his own.
From Communications of the ACM
Google AdWords and European Trademark Law
Is Google violating trademark law by operating its AdWords system?
From Communications of the ACM
Reflections on the Toyota Debacle
A look in the rearview mirror reveals system and process blind spots.
From Communications of the ACM
An Interview with Frances E. Allen
Frances E. Allen, recipient of the 2006 ACM A.M. Turing Award, reflects on her career.
From Communications of the ACM
Don't Bring Me a Good Idea
You want to know how to get my attention?" Jason Kalich asked the audience rhetorically. "First off, don't bring me a good idea—I've already got plenty of good ideas."
From Communications of the ACM
Cloud Computing Privacy Concerns on Our Doorstep
Privacy and confidentiality issues in cloud-based conference management systems reflect more universal themes.
From Communications of the ACM
The Ephemeral Legion: Producing an Expert Cyber-Security Work Force from Thin Air
Seeking to improve the educational mechanisms for efficiently training large numbers of information security workers.