Slashdot Mirror

This story ain't got nothin' on Illuminati Online of Austin, TX, aka IOCOM aka io.com. While still in operation, and after "hardening" their network so they could offer "security services" of some kind, they still featured a completely world-visible file browser and downloader for their system files and customer folders!

IOCOM is defunct now, but there's a mirror of their old website at io.fondoo.net

From the mirror website:
"Fun fact: you could telnet to password.io.com from anywhere in the world, and log on as guest. Lynx, a text-only web browser, was configured as the shell, and you would then be presented with a sparse version of the web-based customer account tools found at http://password.io.com/. This was so customers could reset their own password, update their address, set their PLAN file, etc.

IO forgot to disable browsing the filesystem (press g, period, enter). Also, IO never enforced uniform file and directory permissions or audited active accounts. As a result, through 2004, after IO was taken over by Prismnet (or later), you could roam around and directly view many customer's private files, email, and IO's sensitive system areas. You could also open the Lynx config to define a custom "editor" and thus actually edit files, or run executables. This was a direct back-door into everything! This continued a full two years after IOCOM "hardened" their network to sell network security services."

Whoever runs the mirror probably didn't enjoy working with all of their co-workers:
io.fondoo.net/io/staff.html
io.fondoo.net/home/lori/
io.fondoo.net/home/kitten/

I'll just leave this here:
http://io.fondoo.net/

"Fun fact: you could telnet to password.io.com from anywhere in the world, and log on as guest. Lynx, a text-only web browser, was configured as the shell, and you would then be presented with a sparse version of the web-based customer account tools found at http://password.io.com/. This was so customers could reset their own password, update their address, set their PLAN file, etc.

IO forgot to disable browsing the filesystem (press g, period, enter). Also, IO never enforced uniform file and directory permissions or audited active accounts. As a result, through 2004, after IO was taken over by Prismnet (or later), you could roam around and directly view many customer's private files, email, and IO's sensitive system areas. You could also open the Lynx config to define a custom "editor" and thus actually edit files, or run executables. This was a direct back-door into everything! This continued a full two years after IOCOM "hardened" their network to sell network security services."

Do you really want a data center where the temperature quite often approaches 110 degrees?

Sure. Here's one. Take a tour. They have a facility in Scottsdale, too. Other companies host here, also. Digital Realty has nearly 1 million square feet of data center space in the county.

Why not Idaho? Cooler weather, low taxes, and cheap real-estate.

Idaho has a single tier-3 data center. Compared to Phoenix, I'm sure the major difference is the concentration of top-tier networks already here in Phoenix. I doubt there are as many top-tier networks running through Idaho. We also have cheap power and land, but I'm sure the prices in Idaho aren't very high either. Then again, there aren't many people in Idaho and it pays to locate your equipment near to the population centers. The population of all of Idaho is about 1.6 million, while about 4.5 million live in metro Phoenix. Intel, Motorola, and Honeywell also have a lot of major facilities here, I'm sure for many of the same reasons as the data centers.

Do you really want a data center where the temperature quite often approaches 110 degrees?

Sure. Here's one. Take a tour. They have a facility in Scottsdale, too. Other companies host here, also. Digital Realty has nearly 1 million square feet of data center space in the county.

Why not Idaho? Cooler weather, low taxes, and cheap real-estate.

Idaho has a single tier-3 data center. Compared to Phoenix, I'm sure the major difference is the concentration of top-tier networks already here in Phoenix. I doubt there are as many top-tier networks running through Idaho. We also have cheap power and land, but I'm sure the prices in Idaho aren't very high either. Then again, there aren't many people in Idaho and it pays to locate your equipment near to the population centers. The population of all of Idaho is about 1.6 million, while about 4.5 million live in metro Phoenix. Intel, Motorola, and Honeywell also have a lot of major facilities here, I'm sure for many of the same reasons as the data centers.

In 1994, BBSs were still the dominant experience for the common man. However, the University had a dial-up line that was configured to use a Gopher client as shell, for purposes of searching an online card catalog for one of the libraries. I found I could use the search engines of the day, Archie and Jughead (and Veronica?) to find hosts offering free access to Lynx (the text-only browser) and even Telnet "gateways". Cyberspace.com was offering free trial Unix accounts, literally with no verification. They offered Pine, storage space and plenty of other things. I could now surf the whole existing web, Gopherspace, read Usenet and download files and warez from there. Since Zmodem was borked by the Gopher client I was connected through, I couldn't download directly. So, I used Pine to re-mail them to myself at a local BBS which had a nightly UUCP connection where it exchanged email (with bangs as well as @) and updated it's select Usenet posts.

At one point, I struggled to run DOSSLIP and DOSLYNX directly on my PC, but this never compared to just using a BBS dialup program and doing things on the terminal. I still use Lynx and (Al)Pine several times a week!

Another Lynx trick came in handy 5 years later: You could telnet to password.io.com from anywhere in the world, and log on as guest. Lynx was configured as the shell, and you would then be presented with the minimalist web-based customer tools found at http://password.io.com/ to reset your password, update your address, etc. IO forgot to disable browsing the filesystem (press g, period, enter). Also, IO never enforced uniform /home/user/ directory permissions or audited active accounts. As a result, through 2004, when IO was taken over by Prismnet (or later), you could roam around and directly view many customer's private files, email, and IO's sensitive system areas. This was a direct back-door into everything! That was a full two years after IOCOM "hardened" their network to sell network security services.

The Illuminati Online website is archived by an old employee here: http://io.fondoo.net/

This already is available. Just use a free tracking software program like Orbitron (www.stoff.pl) and download a timely version of the element set of classified satellites here: http://www.io.com/~mmccants/tles/index.html And rest assured that the Russians, Chinese, etc., don't need this element set because they already have it from their own tracking networks.

He failed to create the kernel because he believes in a misguided idea from academia called the micro kernel. This allowed Linux Torvalds to create the Linux kernel "just for fun". Torvalds is a talented kernel engineer, but he does not have the vision necessary to create the GPL or the GNU project. Witness the Bitkeeper Debacle.

Gates on the otherhand, is a money grubbing horse thief, that has screwed a long list of people and companies on his way to becoming a billionare. His company is a convicted monopolist. Almost everyone that has anything to do with computers (that is everyone, whether they know it or not,) has been hurt by Bill Gates.

History of free software

Meaning of free software history

Mirco kernel debate

He failed to create the kernel because he believes in a misguided idea from academia called the micro kernel. This allowed Linux Torvalds to create the Linux kernel "just for fun". Torvalds is a talented kernel engineer, but he does not have the vision necessary to create the GPL or the GNU project. Witness the Bitkeeper Debacle.

Gates on the otherhand, is a money grubbing horse thief, that has screwed a long list of people and companies on his way to becoming a billionare. His company is a convicted monopolist. Almost everyone that has anything to do with computers (that is everyone, whether they know it or not,) has been hurt by Bill Gates.

History of free software

Meaning of free software history

Mirco kernel debate

He failed to create the kernel because he believes in a misguided idea from academia called the micro kernel. This allowed Linux Torvalds to create the Linux kernel "just for fun". Torvalds is a talented kernel engineer, but he does not have the vision necessary to create the GPL or the GNU project. Witness the Bitkeeper Debacle.

Gates on the otherhand, is a money grubbing horse thief, that has screwed a long list of people and companies on his way to becoming a billionare. His company is a convicted monopolist. Almost everyone that has anything to do with computers (that is everyone, whether they know it or not,) has been hurt by Bill Gates.

History of free software

Meaning of free software history

Mirco kernel debate

Want to see a photo of a far smaller hydrazine tank, and some other unidentified tanks, AFTER they landed in Florida? http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/s3.htm http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank1.jpg http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank2.jpg http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank3.jpg Most interestingly, these bits of spacecraft look completely uncharred, unmelted, almost new except for a lack of paint.

I call shenanigans! Those are obviously weather balloons! *ducks*

Want to see a photo of a far smaller hydrazine tank, and some other unidentified tanks, AFTER they landed in Florida? http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/s3.htm http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank1.jpg http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank2.jpg http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank3.jpg Most interestingly, these bits of spacecraft look completely uncharred, unmelted, almost new except for a lack of paint.

I call shenanigans! Those are obviously weather balloons! *ducks*

Want to see a photo of a far smaller hydrazine tank, and some other unidentified tanks, AFTER they landed in Florida? http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/s3.htm http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank1.jpg http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank2.jpg http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank3.jpg Most interestingly, these bits of spacecraft look completely uncharred, unmelted, almost new except for a lack of paint.

I call shenanigans! Those are obviously weather balloons! *ducks*

Want to see a photo of a far smaller hydrazine tank, and some other unidentified tanks, AFTER they landed in Florida? http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/s3.htm http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank1.jpg http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank2.jpg http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank3.jpg Most interestingly, these bits of spacecraft look completely uncharred, unmelted, almost new except for a lack of paint.

I call shenanigans! Those are obviously weather balloons! *ducks*

>Still wanna try to claim that tank would survive reentry?

Absolutely I would claim that.

Hydrazine is a solid below about 1 deg C. This was a dead satellite. No heat, no power supplies. In other words, you have an insulated pressure vessel (fairly well-built) containing 1,000 lb of hydrazine ice at roughly -273 deg C. That's a LOT of thermal mass; the ice inside the tank would absorb a lot of the reentry heat, preventing the metal from melting for quite some time. Did you ever do that science experiment where you try to burn a paper cup containing water? Doesn't work until you boil off all the water. Same thing here, but we're talking about metal which is even more thermally conductive than paper.

Furthermore, a lot of the surrounding structure must ablate or melt away before the tank can be directly affected by the reentry.

Also, in case you want to compare a thousand-pound meteorite to this satellite: a satellite does not orbit as fast as your typical meteor reentry speed, so you cannot compare the reentry energy to a typical meteorite ablation rate.

If you need proof, consider that hydrazine tanks from the Space Shuttle Columbia accident DID impact in some Florida woods. They were NOT cold-soaked at absolute zero for two years - they were prepped for flight, heated, etc., and wrapped in far more spacecraft structure than this satellite. And they were not full, like these tanks were. That should demonstrate the reality of this risk.

Want to see a photo of a far smaller hydrazine tank, and some other unidentified tanks, AFTER they landed in Florida? http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/s3.htm
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank1.jpg
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank2.jpg
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank3.jpg

Most interestingly, these bits of spacecraft look completely uncharred, unmelted, almost new except for a lack of paint.

>Still wanna try to claim that tank would survive reentry?

Absolutely I would claim that.

Hydrazine is a solid below about 1 deg C. This was a dead satellite. No heat, no power supplies. In other words, you have an insulated pressure vessel (fairly well-built) containing 1,000 lb of hydrazine ice at roughly -273 deg C. That's a LOT of thermal mass; the ice inside the tank would absorb a lot of the reentry heat, preventing the metal from melting for quite some time. Did you ever do that science experiment where you try to burn a paper cup containing water? Doesn't work until you boil off all the water. Same thing here, but we're talking about metal which is even more thermally conductive than paper.

Furthermore, a lot of the surrounding structure must ablate or melt away before the tank can be directly affected by the reentry.

Also, in case you want to compare a thousand-pound meteorite to this satellite: a satellite does not orbit as fast as your typical meteor reentry speed, so you cannot compare the reentry energy to a typical meteorite ablation rate.

If you need proof, consider that hydrazine tanks from the Space Shuttle Columbia accident DID impact in some Florida woods. They were NOT cold-soaked at absolute zero for two years - they were prepped for flight, heated, etc., and wrapped in far more spacecraft structure than this satellite. And they were not full, like these tanks were. That should demonstrate the reality of this risk.

Want to see a photo of a far smaller hydrazine tank, and some other unidentified tanks, AFTER they landed in Florida? http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/s3.htm
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank1.jpg
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank2.jpg
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank3.jpg

Most interestingly, these bits of spacecraft look completely uncharred, unmelted, almost new except for a lack of paint.

>Still wanna try to claim that tank would survive reentry?

Absolutely I would claim that.

Hydrazine is a solid below about 1 deg C. This was a dead satellite. No heat, no power supplies. In other words, you have an insulated pressure vessel (fairly well-built) containing 1,000 lb of hydrazine ice at roughly -273 deg C. That's a LOT of thermal mass; the ice inside the tank would absorb a lot of the reentry heat, preventing the metal from melting for quite some time. Did you ever do that science experiment where you try to burn a paper cup containing water? Doesn't work until you boil off all the water. Same thing here, but we're talking about metal which is even more thermally conductive than paper.

Furthermore, a lot of the surrounding structure must ablate or melt away before the tank can be directly affected by the reentry.

Also, in case you want to compare a thousand-pound meteorite to this satellite: a satellite does not orbit as fast as your typical meteor reentry speed, so you cannot compare the reentry energy to a typical meteorite ablation rate.

If you need proof, consider that hydrazine tanks from the Space Shuttle Columbia accident DID impact in some Florida woods. They were NOT cold-soaked at absolute zero for two years - they were prepped for flight, heated, etc., and wrapped in far more spacecraft structure than this satellite. And they were not full, like these tanks were. That should demonstrate the reality of this risk.

Want to see a photo of a far smaller hydrazine tank, and some other unidentified tanks, AFTER they landed in Florida? http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/s3.htm
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank1.jpg
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank2.jpg
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank3.jpg

Most interestingly, these bits of spacecraft look completely uncharred, unmelted, almost new except for a lack of paint.

>Still wanna try to claim that tank would survive reentry?

Absolutely I would claim that.

Hydrazine is a solid below about 1 deg C. This was a dead satellite. No heat, no power supplies. In other words, you have an insulated pressure vessel (fairly well-built) containing 1,000 lb of hydrazine ice at roughly -273 deg C. That's a LOT of thermal mass; the ice inside the tank would absorb a lot of the reentry heat, preventing the metal from melting for quite some time. Did you ever do that science experiment where you try to burn a paper cup containing water? Doesn't work until you boil off all the water. Same thing here, but we're talking about metal which is even more thermally conductive than paper.

Furthermore, a lot of the surrounding structure must ablate or melt away before the tank can be directly affected by the reentry.

Also, in case you want to compare a thousand-pound meteorite to this satellite: a satellite does not orbit as fast as your typical meteor reentry speed, so you cannot compare the reentry energy to a typical meteorite ablation rate.

If you need proof, consider that hydrazine tanks from the Space Shuttle Columbia accident DID impact in some Florida woods. They were NOT cold-soaked at absolute zero for two years - they were prepped for flight, heated, etc., and wrapped in far more spacecraft structure than this satellite. And they were not full, like these tanks were. That should demonstrate the reality of this risk.

Want to see a photo of a far smaller hydrazine tank, and some other unidentified tanks, AFTER they landed in Florida? http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/s3.htm
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank1.jpg
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank2.jpg
http://www.io.com/~o_m/clfaq/images/debris_shots/tank3.jpg

Most interestingly, these bits of spacecraft look completely uncharred, unmelted, almost new except for a lack of paint.

Basicly, the microkernel is a horrible example of bondage and discipline programming. In order to solve the low level problem of stray memory references, the professors from academia have come up with a low level solution, using the Memory Management Unit, (MMU) to prevent these errors. Unfortunately, this "solution" does high level collateral damage. By breaking the OS into a lot of little pieces, the u-kernels intoduce inefficiency. By putting constraints on how OSes are designed, ukernels make design, coding, and debugging more difficult. All of this to do checking, that at least in theory, could have been done at design, compile, or link time.

This error is basicly caused by wishfull thinking. The u-kernel advocates wish that Operation Systems design were less difficult. To Quote Torvalds:

So that 'microkernels are wonderful' mantra really comes from that desperate wish that the world should be simpler than it really is. It's why microkernels have obviously been very popular in academia, where often basically cannot afford to put a commercial-quality big development team on the issue, so you absolutely require that the problem is simpler.

So reality has nothing to do with microkernels. Exactly the reverse. The whole point of microkernels is to try to escape the reality that OS design and implementation is hard, and a lot of work. It's an appealing notion.

In 1992, Tanenbaum said "LINUX is obsolete" and "it is now all over but the shoutin'" and "microkernels have won". It is now 2008, and the micro kernel advocates still have nothing that can compete with LINUX in its own problem space. It is time for micro kernel advocates to stop shouting.

NASA has tried to develop a "patch kit", but has not been able to find anything that can easily be applied in vacuum and adhere well without damaging the surrounding tiles, insulates well, and is durable enough to survive re-entry. It's a tricky combination of requirements.

See the Columbia Loss FAQ web site.

Bondage and Discipline programming occurs when the smart people on the central committee decide that ordinary developers are not smart enough to decide how to code on their own. They create a "system" that won't let the ordinary developers make certain kinds of errors. Pascal is the canonical Bondage and Discipline language.

There are 3 flaws in B&D programming.

1. Bondage and discipline programming causes overhead and reduces your performance.
2. bondage and discipline programming won't let you choose the best method to achieve your goal, so your design becomes more difficult.
3. The smart people on the central committee, the creators of the B&D system, are not as smart as they think they are.

Linus Torvalds' criticism of ukernels ( Thread starts here. ) accuses them of the first 2 flaws, but he politely does not mention the third.

The tunes people also have a harsh criticism of ukernels . They accuse it of abstraction inversion There is less criticism of ukernels in academia where it might be a career limiting move (CLM). Bondate and discipline programming seems to be commonly advocated there.

I made a presentation to Austin Linux Group on Tanenbaum-Torvalds microkernel vs monolithic kernel Debate.

Both are sincere in their beliefs. RMS is accused of being idealogical and hard to get along with, however it was perspective and tenacious that created free software and the GPL in the first place.

RMS is the original author of GPL, gcc, bash, glib, emacs and many other important tools. No "normal" person would have had the vision or determination to do what RMS has done. He originally intended to create the compiler, the runtime library, the editor (emacs) and to OS. Only a person that was a little bit "crazy" would have even attempted to do this. The Free software world and the "open source" world are greatly indebted to RMS, no matter how hard to get along with he is, or what people may think of him. The vary characteristics that some people dislike, are exactly the characteristics that made it possible for RMS to achieve what he achieved. Without RMS free software would be nowhere. The GPL was introduced from the start, as being with a certain idealogical intent, the intent of the GPLv3 is in the same spirit as this intent.

It may be this idealogical attitude, together with acceptance of a faulty academic idea called the microkernel, that caused RMS to fail in creating a workable kernel to work with his other software. The HURD is nowhere.

What is called GNU/Linux and sometimes just Linux, is a merger between Linus' kernel and RMS' free software, and much other software.

Linus attitude is pragmatic. He uses the GPL as a tool just has he uses gcc. He is a great programmer and kernel hacker. He had the wit to reject the academic idea of the Microkernel which if adopted could have killed Linux just has it did the Hurd. There is no better person to lead the Linux kernel project.

If the BSDI USL lawsuit had not delayed the BSD project there would have been no Linux. Linus would have joined one of the BSD projects as just another BSD hacker. One of the BSDs would have become the dominant free software OS.

I believe that if this had happened, Microsoft would have destroyed BSD's commercial chances using "embrace and extend". They would have created a BSD/Windows hybrid that would have duplicated BSD's API. This would have happened because BSD lacks the GPL's so called "viral clause" that prevents embrace and extend. The existence of this hybrid would have been used by Microsoft to prevent the suits from even considering a move to free software.

Linus lacks the vision that RMS has. This has caused him to make several blunders such as the Bitkeeper Debacle. However the discipline implicit in the GPLv2 will prevent him from making any fatal mistakes. Were Linus to attempt to go in any totally insane direction, his project will fork. He knows this vary well.

I have given several presentations to Austin Linux Group from this perspective.

Free software history

Lessons of Free Software History

Tanenbaum-Torvalds microkernel vs monolithic kernel Debate

Both are sincere in their beliefs. RMS is accused of being idealogical and hard to get along with, however it was perspective and tenacious that created free software and the GPL in the first place.

RMS is the original author of GPL, gcc, bash, glib, emacs and many other important tools. No "normal" person would have had the vision or determination to do what RMS has done. He originally intended to create the compiler, the runtime library, the editor (emacs) and to OS. Only a person that was a little bit "crazy" would have even attempted to do this. The Free software world and the "open source" world are greatly indebted to RMS, no matter how hard to get along with he is, or what people may think of him. The vary characteristics that some people dislike, are exactly the characteristics that made it possible for RMS to achieve what he achieved. Without RMS free software would be nowhere. The GPL was introduced from the start, as being with a certain idealogical intent, the intent of the GPLv3 is in the same spirit as this intent.

It may be this idealogical attitude, together with acceptance of a faulty academic idea called the microkernel, that caused RMS to fail in creating a workable kernel to work with his other software. The HURD is nowhere.

What is called GNU/Linux and sometimes just Linux, is a merger between Linus' kernel and RMS' free software, and much other software.

Linus attitude is pragmatic. He uses the GPL as a tool just has he uses gcc. He is a great programmer and kernel hacker. He had the wit to reject the academic idea of the Microkernel which if adopted could have killed Linux just has it did the Hurd. There is no better person to lead the Linux kernel project.

If the BSDI USL lawsuit had not delayed the BSD project there would have been no Linux. Linus would have joined one of the BSD projects as just another BSD hacker. One of the BSDs would have become the dominant free software OS.

I believe that if this had happened, Microsoft would have destroyed BSD's commercial chances using "embrace and extend". They would have created a BSD/Windows hybrid that would have duplicated BSD's API. This would have happened because BSD lacks the GPL's so called "viral clause" that prevents embrace and extend. The existence of this hybrid would have been used by Microsoft to prevent the suits from even considering a move to free software.

Linus lacks the vision that RMS has. This has caused him to make several blunders such as the Bitkeeper Debacle. However the discipline implicit in the GPLv2 will prevent him from making any fatal mistakes. Were Linus to attempt to go in any totally insane direction, his project will fork. He knows this vary well.

I have given several presentations to Austin Linux Group from this perspective.

Free software history

Lessons of Free Software History

Tanenbaum-Torvalds microkernel vs monolithic kernel Debate

Both are sincere in their beliefs. RMS is accused of being idealogical and hard to get along with, however it was perspective and tenacious that created free software and the GPL in the first place.

RMS is the original author of GPL, gcc, bash, glib, emacs and many other important tools. No "normal" person would have had the vision or determination to do what RMS has done. He originally intended to create the compiler, the runtime library, the editor (emacs) and to OS. Only a person that was a little bit "crazy" would have even attempted to do this. The Free software world and the "open source" world are greatly indebted to RMS, no matter how hard to get along with he is, or what people may think of him. The vary characteristics that some people dislike, are exactly the characteristics that made it possible for RMS to achieve what he achieved. Without RMS free software would be nowhere. The GPL was introduced from the start, as being with a certain idealogical intent, the intent of the GPLv3 is in the same spirit as this intent.

It may be this idealogical attitude, together with acceptance of a faulty academic idea called the microkernel, that caused RMS to fail in creating a workable kernel to work with his other software. The HURD is nowhere.

What is called GNU/Linux and sometimes just Linux, is a merger between Linus' kernel and RMS' free software, and much other software.

Linus attitude is pragmatic. He uses the GPL as a tool just has he uses gcc. He is a great programmer and kernel hacker. He had the wit to reject the academic idea of the Microkernel which if adopted could have killed Linux just has it did the Hurd. There is no better person to lead the Linux kernel project.

If the BSDI USL lawsuit had not delayed the BSD project there would have been no Linux. Linus would have joined one of the BSD projects as just another BSD hacker. One of the BSDs would have become the dominant free software OS.

I believe that if this had happened, Microsoft would have destroyed BSD's commercial chances using "embrace and extend". They would have created a BSD/Windows hybrid that would have duplicated BSD's API. This would have happened because BSD lacks the GPL's so called "viral clause" that prevents embrace and extend. The existence of this hybrid would have been used by Microsoft to prevent the suits from even considering a move to free software.

Linus lacks the vision that RMS has. This has caused him to make several blunders such as the Bitkeeper Debacle. However the discipline implicit in the GPLv2 will prevent him from making any fatal mistakes. Were Linus to attempt to go in any totally insane direction, his project will fork. He knows this vary well.

I have given several presentations to Austin Linux Group from this perspective.

Free software history

Lessons of Free Software History

Tanenbaum-Torvalds microkernel vs monolithic kernel Debate

I would recommend the following resources:

1. Technical Writing Textbook, free online, which covers the basics.

2. Writing Technical Papers, also free online, a good introduction to the process.

3. Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, not free but very good on the details. Even if you hate Microsoft... they did a good job on this one. Maybe they did steal it from Apple. I don't know. I like this book.

4. IBM Style Guideliness, free on the web, see disclaimer above if AIX raped your dog.

5. Sun Style Guide, not free, but worthy. See disclaimer above if you call Solaris "Slowlaris."

I also maintain a blog called User Advocacy: Technical Writing and Technical Communications in which I detail links and other useful information for people wanting to get into technical writing.

For developers and others who want to explain things to people of varying technical ability, the skills of technical communications (the "new" name for technical writing) are invaluable. If you have any questions, please contact me through the profile link above.

Gawd, this could be shedding a pathetic light on the level of the American game player - otherwise, uh, maybe that's not because she's too busy, it's because Candyland is BOOOOORRRINGGGG!!!! C'mon, the poster can't compare Candyland in the same league as the German games (Carcassonne comes to mind, as well as games mentioned by other posters here: Settlers, Transamerica, etc) - hence his/her questioning the article. You're darn right.

The first real RPG I played was Ultima 3. The box art with the demon in fire was excellent. The box was solid with a nice glossy finish. The goodness didn't end on the outside. Inside the box you had a players manual, a wizard spell book, a priest spell book and the beautiful cloth map.
Denis Loubet did the cover illustrations as well as much of the artwork inside the player's manual. I think those images really helped bring the world of Ultima alive in my imagination. Which, considering the simple 8bit graphics was a good thing.

My favorite gaming year was 1985, but that's because I'm a writer, not really a gamer. I published Catacomb in Dragon, and been getting nice letters from real gamers since then. Thank you guys. Of course, since it was plain fiction, my visual effects were perfect, but let's not talk about how badly I predicted on-line gaming.

History: I've been thinking about this and related concepts from some experiments of my own. One way to build a more realistic setting includes large-scale "evolution" of societies. Create models of tribes that move around and interact, semi-randomly developing different cultural traits, eg. cultures that spend time in Steppe terrain sometimes get horses (Chocobos?) as domestic animals and are more likely to invent chariots and compound bows. Run the simulation for a while and you have a virtual guidebook to the world's cultures. Then, use that data combined with something like "Medieval Demographics Made Easy" to design and place some random cities and other structures, with data on the kinds of people present there. Then you can randomly generate specific locations within an area, specific quests etc. A really crude old demo of the kind of thing I mean is here, wrapping a dinky game around the world-viewer program.

Dialogue: From talking with fellow Loebner Prize Contest entrants, I get the impression that dialogue is very important to people's impression of a game world. In most RPGs, dialogue is severaly limited ("Welcome to our town!"), and even in "Morrowind" (haven't yet played "Oblivion") it all has to be written by a human. What if, instead, dialogue were generated by the AI, based on its own desires and experiences? If you used the "History" system above, that could also affect dialogue. "Long ago, it's said our people lived to the east..."

In general, what I want to see are characters that have their own motivations and are capable of learning and reasoning. This is more likely to be noticable among ally characters whom the hero can get to know over time, rather than enemies whose function is to die after a minute's struggle. One approach would involve lots of specialized "codelets" as in Hofstadter's Metacat program.

This isn't true. The original game developers of Famicom and NES games designed the graphics with the NTSC distortion in mind. Hence they used various dither patterns, which are only blended correctly, yielding the correct gradients and colors when viewed through NTSC distortion.

Check out these comparisons out. The left-side column is what the graphics are supposed to look like, while the right-hand column is what they look like in most emulators. Note the hood of the truck in "Snake's Revenge". The dither pattern is blended by NTSC distortion, yielding a better look of a dirty rusted metal truck, while the simple palette-based method used in most NES emulators yields something almost entirely different. Similarly, the grass in the same scene that surrounds the dirt patch is correctly blended under NTSC, yielding a more intricate looking texture.

The Metroid screenshots also demonstrate nicely how NTSC blending (on the left), blends dither patterns. This is evidence that the game designers made the game's art to take advantage of the distortion or blending of NTSC.

Yeah, you get weaker (which works off as you gain more xp), but you don't lose any items, so no need for body recovery, and even better - when you zone back to a city, the death penalty is erased.

In good sadness, though, I'm looking forward to the spell-checking in Vim 7.

I am running FreeBSD 5.4 on a Via Epia ME6000 mini-itx system that cost less than $350 for the motherboard, a half Gig of memory, and a case (all new parts). It has an old hard disk and uses about 40 watts running 24/7 as a mail server, web server, and radio time shifter (see http://www.io.com/~rotenber/ ).

When I wish I can fire up XORG, Xfce4, and Firefox to surf the web, and as far as I can tell this does not slow down any of the other services.

In my opinion this system is the perfect server, although I would probably choose a different case since both case fans died in the first year of service.

I am also running FC3 on a Epia ME10000, so I am pretty sure the ME6000 would run Linux as well (be sure to use the VIA video driver).

The current location of X is revealed every five-or-so turns, as are the travel tickets X uses (every however many turns, I forget). So the detectives can try to deduce where X could have gone next and have to ensure it's somewhere with fewer and fewer travel options (such as close to the Thames, or a corner). Eventually, X "could only have gone here, there, or there" and the three-to-one advantage leads to situations not entirely unlike that of a beleaguered chess king. Or something. This is me recalling a board game I played twenty years ago, so...

Informative review

Regardless, the RMS simply cannot be manouvered so the camera on the grappler end can see the underside from the proper angles to determine the depth of any damage. It simply lacks the joint structure and lengths to certain struts to allow for this.

"what are you saying? people should just sin to stay alive? I'm not fully familiar with the do's and dont's of most religions but your statements seems very ignorant to me..."

FF and Opera don't aren't religions yet, but http://www.io.com/~dierdorf/emacsvi.html
if the Churches of Emacs and Vi now live in peace, there's hope for everyone!

[Hand striking cheek] We all know that when the oxygen generators start failing, the carbon dioxide generators fail to operate as well. Isn't the ISS large enough that there is a Hollywood section developed by the gen-xers at NASA to house an Oxygen Bar stacked with hotties? Everytime you release carcinogens, god kills a rainforest cat.

FYI- it's H.L. Mencken

Yeah, it sounds like one hand clapping.

If you didn't want to paint it red, get one of these and put it under one of these.

Call it the "9-1-1 Emergency Phone" for the kiddies...

Let me describe a rotary-dial phone to you. It looks like this. The dial is spring loaded. You dial it by sticking your finger in the hole for each number, then turning clockwise until you reach the metal stop (making a "whis" sound). When you release the dial, it turns backwards at a constant speed, making a "click" sound every time it turns a distance of one number.

University of Texas School of Sociology, Post-Graduate Studies

http://www.io.com/~zikzak/troll_thesis.html

The last I heard was that Mr. Volkerding believed he suffered by Marfan syndrome has this shown to be false?

The perfect gift for the Settlers Ubergeek
3D Settlers Board

It's nice to see a traffic signal enhancement that will actually make driving more efficient and direct rather than the opposite.

Well, I built and flew both brands. But when it comes to cloning ancient out-of-production kits from my childhood, I build Centuri. The designs have a rakish retro charm.

Look at my recreations of an Aero-Dart, and a Hustler. These flew on honking big black-powder F motors that had to be delivered by Railway Express. I was about nine when these went out of production, and never thought I'd get 'em. As it was, I had to turn the balsa parts on a lathe and cut the decals from colored tape. (These flew on modern composite motors.)

StefanJ

Well, I built and flew both brands. But when it comes to cloning ancient out-of-production kits from my childhood, I build Centuri. The designs have a rakish retro charm.

Look at my recreations of an Aero-Dart, and a Hustler. These flew on honking big black-powder F motors that had to be delivered by Railway Express. I was about nine when these went out of production, and never thought I'd get 'em. As it was, I had to turn the balsa parts on a lathe and cut the decals from colored tape. (These flew on modern composite motors.)

StefanJ

What is the evil force behind all wrongdoing in the universe?

It never had a name. Until now. Until we identified it and studied it while making ready to destroy it.

Its name is VladeKua5y !

VladeKua5y (pronounced "Vladequacy") is the root of the problem. VladeKua5y is the root of all problems. VladeKua5y is the enemy. VladeKua5y is what must be destroyed.

Kuro5hin + Vladinator + Adequacy = VladeKua5y !!

Who is the enemy? VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y !

What must be destroyed? VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y !

Who is the enemy of all trollers evarywhere? VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y !

Here is some information on VladeKua5y . Expect more people like Rusty Foster to be added soon.

NAME: Burdge, Jonathan E-MAIL: jlb@io.com, jlbatdarc@w-link.net, elby@adequacy.org, darc@w-link.net ALIASES: lb, jlb, Elby

NAME: Casillas, Luis E-MAIL: casillas@stanford.edu, em@adequacy.org ALIASES: em, Estanislao Martinez, Sylvain Tremblay

NAME: Corrigan, Barry E-MAIL: barry@bjcorrigan.fsnet.co.uk, bc@adequacy.org ALIASES: bc, ktb (Kiss the Blade), Lover's Arrival, Euroderf, Erbert Paget-Paget, Anya

NAME: Dickson, Craig E-MAIL: crd@inversenet.com, mendaxveritas@yahoo.com, mendaxveritas@pacbell.net ALIASES: mv, Mendax Veritas

NAME: Flickinger, Dan E-MAIL: flikx@geekizoid.com, flikee@xmission.com ALIASES: flikx

NAME: Haberberger, George E-MAIL: ghaberbe@frontiernet.net, George.Haberberger@usa.xerox.com ALIASES: GeorgeHa, Hairy_Potter

NAME: Huston, Bill E-MAIL: bozoman@vlad.geekizoid.com, ALIASES: bozoman

NAME: Johnson, Peter E-MAIL: peter.johnson@voicestream.com, shoeboy@adequacy.org ALIASES: Shoeboy, Peter Johnson

NAME: Lockwood, Scott E-MAIL: wsl3@attbi.com, vlad@geekizoid.com ALIASES: Vladinator, Lonesome Cowboy Burt, Quick Star, Pinkerton Floyd, etc.

NAME: Linwood, Rob E-MAIL: rcl@cs.csoft.net, rcl211@is9.nyu.edu ALIASES: AuntFloyd, Con Troll

NAME: Mann, Warren E-MAIL: broken@warmann.com ALIASES: osm, OpenSourceMan

NAME: McPherson, Craig E-MAIL: craig@laceyonline.com ALIASES: craig, naked&petrified guy

NAME: Nelson, Brian E-MAIL: elenchos@adequacy.org ALIASES: Elenchos

NAME: Osborne, Michaell E-MAIL: osborm@yahoo.com, dmg@adequacy.org,

What is the evil force behind all wrongdoing in the universe?

It never had a name. Until now. Until we identified it and studied it while making ready to destroy it.

Its name is VladeKua5y !

VladeKua5y (pronounced "Vladequacy") is the root of the problem. VladeKua5y is the root of all problems. VladeKua5y is the enemy. VladeKua5y is what must be destroyed.

Kuro5hin + Vladinator + Adequacy = VladeKua5y !!

Who is the enemy? VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y !

What must be destroyed? VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y !

Who is the enemy of all trollers evarywhere? VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y ! VladeKua5y !

Here is some information on VladeKua5y . Expect more people like Rusty Foster to be added soon.

NAME: Burdge, Jonathan E-MAIL: jlb@io.com, jlbatdarc@w-link.net, elby@adequacy.org, darc@w-link.net ALIASES: lb, jlb, Elby

NAME: Casillas, Luis E-MAIL: casillas@stanford.edu, em@adequacy.org ALIASES: em, Estanislao Martinez, Sylvain Tremblay

NAME: Corrigan, Barry E-MAIL: barry@bjcorrigan.fsnet.co.uk, bc@adequacy.org ALIASES: bc, ktb (Kiss the Blade), Lover's Arrival, Euroderf, Erbert Paget-Paget, Anya

NAME: Dickson, Craig E-MAIL: crd@inversenet.com, mendaxveritas@yahoo.com, mendaxveritas@pacbell.net ALIASES: mv, Mendax Veritas

NAME: Flickinger, Dan E-MAIL: flikx@geekizoid.com, flikee@xmission.com ALIASES: flikx

NAME: Haberberger, George E-MAIL: ghaberbe@frontiernet.net, George.Haberberger@usa.xerox.com ALIASES: GeorgeHa, Hairy_Potter

NAME: Huston, Bill E-MAIL: bozoman@vlad.geekizoid.com, ALIASES: bozoman

NAME: Johnson, Peter E-MAIL: peter.johnson@voicestream.com, shoeboy@adequacy.org ALIASES: Shoeboy, Peter Johnson

NAME: Lockwood, Scott E-MAIL: wsl3@attbi.com, vlad@geekizoid.com ALIASES: Vladinator, Lonesome Cowboy Burt, Quick Star, Pinkerton Floyd, etc.

NAME: Linwood, Rob E-MAIL: rcl@cs.csoft.net, rcl211@is9.nyu.edu ALIASES: AuntFloyd, Con Troll

NAME: Mann, Warren E-MAIL: broken@warmann.com ALIASES: osm, OpenSourceMan

NAME: McPherson, Craig E-MAIL: craig@laceyonline.com ALIASES: craig, naked&petrified guy

NAME: Nelson, Brian E-MAIL: elenchos@adequacy.org ALIASES: Elenchos

NAME: Osborne, Michaell E-MAIL: osborm@yahoo.com, dmg@adequacy.org,

sure shows the appropriateness of a recent political cartoon from Ben Sargent.