Slashdot Mirror

http://esj.com/articles/2010/1...

Oct 19, 2010

" This week the company updated its Libra and Dorado mainframe lines, touting a new all-Intel architecture,"

The company I work for sells far too many AIT, DDS and DLT drives than is healthy for the customers, but they just don't see the importance upgrading, as you say.

However, disk is expensive. Even iSCSI. Contrary to popular belief, tape is not dead. Tape is also a tenth to a fifth of the cost of disk. Adding more drive arrays is far less cost effective than tape.

Co-lo failover systems have their place, but trying to run a backup over the internet is going to be painful. A single LTO3 drive writes at about 70MB/sec, that's 560 Megabits/sec. Effectively, an OC-12. Those aren't cheap. I regularly deal with tape libraries that can hold 20 to 24 LTO3 drives. That's a lot of bandwidth. Granted, your SAN better have the balls to keep up, or you've got bigger problems.

An L700 equipped with 20 LTO3's can backup half a petabyte (500TB) in about seven and a half hours. And, no matter what Hollywood may think, four hard drives in a briefcase, just won't cut it. ;-)

where does the ieee point this out? Ive been looking for it and ive only found things like http://www.stargazettenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic le?AID=/20070225/BUSINESS02/702250319 http://esj.com/it_info_center/article.aspx?Editori alsID=27 that say its been going up. If it is just survey of IEEE members... eh. Here at least (rochester mn) CS majors (good ones, C and D students obviously has a harder time) are getting paid more out of college then nursing(mayo) students.

Need to quit being so greedy and expecting 300k for a job that is not really that hard. Dont be a emo, quit whining!

Overall, things are more clear-cut for financial services firms, especially when it comes to individual brokers' and dealers' e-mails and IMs. Per NASD Conduct Rule 3010, financial firms must archive them. Then according to SEC Rule 17a, financial firms must keep all business records--which the NYSE defines as including e-mails and IMs--readily accessible for at least two years, and all transaction-related communications for seven years. Organizations must also produce such communications quickly as part of a court-ordered discovery process.
http://esj.com/enterprise/article.aspx?EditorialsI D=1545
and more
In particular, the law "says that any client of a public accounting firm may be required to produce documents related to audits or investigations," notes Rugullies. In the future, "it is conceivable that these items could include e-mails and IMs."

>don't make me fucking laugh.

You're laughing? More like living in denial.

• Microsoft continues to gain share in the web server market, chipping away at Apache's commanding lead
• Microsoft Corp. continued to grow its share of the relational database market in 2005
• Windows narrowly bumped Unix in 2005 to claim the top spot in server sales for the first time

But, hey, who needs facts for that "5" rating, when you just tell most slashdotters what they want to hear?

No, with all due respect, you are very much mistaken. Javascript has had horrible security issues, which keep popping up (pun intended). Not quite as bad as MS Windows, but certainly a contender.

"Show me an attack vector that works with just javascript."

Ok, since you didn't qualify your statement, here are a few from a quick google search, since I'm lazy. Note the email-related ones. Study the issues around javascript (including its architecture) if you want more information.

http://www.anu.edu.au/mail-archives/link/link9704/ 0016.html
http://www.peacefire.org/security/hmattach/
http://esj.com/security/article.asp?EditorialsID=8 95
http://www.opera.com/support/search/supsearch.dml? index=781

"but for the adverage person, remote is better"

I've already mentioned that what most people do leaves them open. Most people don't understand security. And most people really don't care. Your original question was directed towards myself. Anyone calling themselves a security expert who blindly lives by depending on remote maintainence is one who is an easy target. Knowledgeable users know how to protect themselves. And the best actually do, since the loss of reputation capital is significant (see how Kevin Mitnick got taken down the last time).

Not knowing that ms "innovated"/"invented" terraserver, I tried to "google" for "microsoft buys terraserver" and "microsoft acquire terraserver" but stumbled upon this:

microsoft acquire terraserver:

http://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+acquire+t erraserver&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N

microsoft buys terraserver:
http://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+buys+terr aserver&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

http://www.esj.com/Features/article.aspx?Editorial sID=90

"BARC was chartered to develop scalable server technology, and its most visible product was the Microsoft TerraServer. Launched in 1998, TerraServer, which currently runs on a Windows 2000 SQL Server cluster, is existing proof that Windows can reliably serve terabyte datasets to a worldwide audience."

Now, this second bit (excerpts from Dan Gillmor of SJ Mercury News:) is slightly off-topic or dated, but it talks about ms competing with Google and settling (cumulatively $3 billion) with companies it "trampled over"..:

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/bus iness/columnists/dan_gillmor/10179377.htm

"Linux and other open-source software remain the best hope for actual competition, at least in more traditional computing markets. More and more corporate customers are finding open-source at least a plausible alternative.

Microsoft has been forced to lower its prices and offer cheaper versions of its products in several countries where Windows and Office are prohibitively expensive in local terms. If this spreads, it's a good sign. China's Linux push, meanwhile, is adding some pressure."

Now, see:

http://www.jackphelps.net/

which is a CC (Creative Commons) site that has a blurb on Google buying some technology named "dodgeball"...

AND, see:

http://www.broward.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/ special_packages/11622441.htm

"Microsoft in deal to launch MSN China"

wherein ms buys "certain technology" from China...

"Microsoft already offers its MSN Messenger instant messaging service and the MSN Hotmail e-mail service in Chinese, but said the new venture will deliver more comprehensive communications and information for the 94 million Chinese who were online in 2004."

I wonder how much of this deal includes a demand to embed citizen tracking technologies into cellphones beyond what is normally possible for cell carriers. PRC might be "PeepHole Remote Control" (pun...intended...)

Bon Read-a-tit...(pun... intended...)

One of the major problem with patents (in my mind) is the fact that patent holders are permitted to sit on their patents and do nothing, even when they are aware of infringing acts. Then, 10 years down the road, they spring out of nowhere with the infringement suit. This is what Unisys did with GIFs [burnallgifs.org]. Unisys allowed the web to become addicted to GIFs, without filing any suits. No, no... they bided their time! Wait until everyone is dependent on GIFs, THEN spring the trap; that's the key! I find this behavior to be underhanded and repugnant. UNISYS HAD TO KNOW! As if they were not aware that GIF was the image format of choice on the web. It's impossible.

It's interesting how Unisys showed up in Microsoft's camp about the same time, with their joint "we have the way out" campaign, plus the "Windows mainframe" attempt. Both of which fizzled :-) Anyway, why does everything evil in the high tech world seem to somehow link back to Microsoft?

But Unisys now seems to realize that Microsoft is no way out, far from it. They appear to be quietly stepping back from the dud Windows concept and re-rolling their mainframe offerings around a Linux base.

the background image shows what appears to be a way out of a window, whereas the whole point of the site is to show you a way into Windows (TM).

I'd guess that they tried a deal with Microsoft and eventually figured it wasn't getting them where they wanted to go.

Unisys joining the bandwagon is a measure of the strength of that bandwagon. Real life experience with Linux on a mainframe, Case Study: zLinux Cuts Costs at Controller's Office, gives a taste of the future. What works is slowly, carefully testing the waters, making progress, and consolidating the position. Not fast. Not easy. But quite doable, even with no prior experience.

"Like many Big-Iron Linux adopters, Idaho's initial deployment plans were relatively limited in scope and ambition. For example, says George Judge, a deputy controller in the Idaho State Controller's Office, his organization was looking for a way to streamline its highly distributed Intel-based infrastructure. "I was very concerned about the proliferation and the cost of the little ... [Intel] boxes and the utilization of same," he confirms."

"Now finished and in production, Idaho's new zLinux-based Web publishing system taps a .PDF reporting format, PHP coding, and a MySQL repository. Best of all, says Marchant, it's both user-friendly and user-empowering: "We've been able to build user interfaces where report-owners actually perform all of the maintenance activities that will trigger their reports to be pushed [from] the mainframe to the application running on zLinux," she observes"

"Idaho's MySQL repository current stores almost 2.9 million pages, all of which are accessible from the Web, according to Judge. The new application currently supports as many as 600 concurrent users, a number that's expected to continue to grow as the Idaho State Controller's Office rolls the application out to a broader audience, such as vendors who provide goods and services to the state. "Our authentication database has 26,000 active users [state employees and others] over the course of a year, and any of those users are eligible to view online reports," notes Marchant."

From a cast-off P2 to a new z800 mainframe there are similarities and there are differences. The similarities are easy to spot. The differences are not easy to spot and cannot be seen or comprehended from the low-end. Those experienced on the high-end maybe have a clue. That's why big customers will pay good money to IBM and Red Hat and Novell and now apparently Unisys.

Small sample:

1. Air New Zealand replaces 150 Compaq servers with a single mainframe running zLinux.
2. Telia Net replaces 70 UNIX servers with a single mainframe running zLinux.
3. Banco Mercantile Venezuela replaces Windows and UNIX servers with zLinux mainframe.
4. SAIC moves application to Linux on the mainframe, for the stock exchanges.

Gartner says IBM had over 100 new mainframe customers in 2002 (according to one report I saw). Haven't seen 2003 data yet.

Check this out

Compare Apache's webserver market share to that of Microsoft IIS. Compare the number of exploitable vulnerabilities in those products, and the severity of the results.

Compare Sendmail's SMTP server market share to that of Microsoft Exchange. Compare the number of exploitable vulnerabilities in those products, and the severity of the results.

Compare Oracle's (or IBM's) SQL RDBMS market share to that of Microsoft SQL Server. Compare the number of exploitable vulnerabilities in those products, and the severity of the results.

Deduction: Microsoft manages to lead in introducing exploitable vulnerabilities to market segments, with severe results, even in segments where they do not enjoy market share leadership.

Now that's innovation! :)

To be blunt and honest, Microsoft designed and maintained its operating system product(s) in ways that failed to take security (and multiple users, and networking, and...) into consideration for far too long, and now finds itself in the unenviable position of being the only operating system vendor most people have even heard of that doesn't have a properly secure operating system.

-Dan (whose new "cheesegrater" G5 has fewer holes than Windows)

MS have released broken patches in the past you moron. Hence big businesses doesn't usually let admins apply patches to production machines without regression testing, hence my question. That's one reason why it takes so long for patches to get applied.

Also, I wasn't comparing any OS with any other, so leave out the 'Linux is just as bad' rant. How old are you?!

J.

Among other things, McBride says: "I'm not trying to screw up the Linux business,"

Oh really? Then could Mr. McBride please explain why I hear things like, "SCO to Linux Users: Cease and Desist" and "SCO delivers a warning"?

Sounds to me like Mr. McBride is trying to make up for the self-hurt caused by his company's own arrogance. What better way to ruin your competitor than by scaring the shit out of their users?

Check out this article for some political background on Netbeans vs. Eclipse. Does not go into technical details unfortunately.

According to an article reported by Slashdot recently, the limit in storage density on a magnetic medium is 150Gb/in2. So with a 1.8in disk, this little PCMCIA hard-disk could contain a whopping 848Gb a few years from now !