Slashdot Mirror

Coryoth asks: "If you're taking computer science then getting as much mathematics as you can is probably a good idea. Ultimately, however, there are only so many math courses you an squeeze in. Given that, what areas of mathematics should we be teaching CS students for maximum benefit? Traditionally university math courses are structured around the needs of the physical sciences and engineering, which means calculus is what gets offered. While a decent calculus course can teach a certain amount of formality in reasoning, wouldn't CS students be better served with a course in mathematical logic and foundations with its greater degree of formal reasoning and obvious connections to fundamental concepts in computer science? Are courses in abstract algebra and graph theory going to be useful to CS students? Should courses in category theory (yes, it applies to computer science) be required of students going on in theoretical computer science? In short — what areas of mathematics are going to be the most useful and most applicable to computer science students? What courses were of the most value to you?"

philospher writes "Dorm students at Northern Illinois University are testing a legal file downloading service. It is made by Ruckus Network, and was developed by a group of MIT students. NIU pays 5$ a month per student, and the students can get music, movies, TV shows, local content and community features. Sounds a lot better than having the RIAA sending you a court summons."

Slashback tonight brings updates and followups on several recent Slashdot postings. Among other things, Linksys says they're not violating the GPL, and Tiger Direct says that Michael Robertson's claims about Microsoft targeting Lindows buyers are way off base. Speaking of which, Microsoft has decided it makes more sense to embrace schools than to alienate them with hard-nosed licensing policies on donated PCs. Also, a torrent file for the Red Hat 9 version of Ximian's latest desktop, and more. Read on for the details.

Fork carefully or be forked preemptively. BSD Forums writes "The leader of the open-source JBoss Java application server environment said that if the group of developers that left his organization attempts to splitâ"or "fork" as it's called in the industryâ"the JBoss code base, he would sue them. Marc Fleury, president of JBoss Group LLC, Atlanta, said he is prepared to take legal action if the group of developers who left the JBoss Group to form a new company, known as Core Developers Network LLC, attempts to diverge from the JBoss code base."

They can learn in the classroom, or outside it. MVP writes "Fridrik "frisk" Skulason, of F-Prot fame (you know, that good old DOS free for personal use antivirus, up-to-date & usable for windows), has a very acid reaction against the decision of University of Calgary to start teaching virus-writing classes (see previous Slashdot thread)."

Just let me control the textbooks ... After a few stories like this one, it may please some people to see at least a partial turnaround from Microsoft on computers donated to schools without Windows licenses. Patrick Cable II writes "I got an interesting letter from Microsoft today at work. Microsoft has started a "Fresh Start" program for educational instutions that basically makes it so schools who have had computers donated to them without licenses or media can get media and a letter stating the computer is licensed to use a Windows operating system (98 or 2000). More information can be found here. Anyone think they're trying to figure out a way to deal with the whole Linux thing?"

Software in the Public Interest has yet to respond with a lower licensing fee for Debian.

More fun than "The Winds of War." For fans of Kim Stanley Robinson, space exploration and colonization, space elevators et cetera, reader Unbeliever writes with new that Hurd will soon meet Mars. "No, not GNU/Hurd, but Gale Ann Hurd. Hurd just signed a deal with Sci-Fi to produce Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars as a Sci-Fi 6-hour miniseries. Red Mars is the first of the Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars Trilogy, an 'almost plausible sci-fi' future-history approach about Colonizing and Terraforming Mars. The trilogy looks at the technological, sociological, personal, and political challenges of terraforming a different planet. Also of interest to Slashdotters in general is Robinson's ideas on the growth of multi-national corporations into Meta-Nations, and their effects on world politics."

But doesn't that make it radio their way? In the recent Radio Your Way review, our reviewer said of the device that it had "[n]o off button! As far as I can tell, once you turn the device on there is no way to manually turn it off other than to wait for it to enter sleep mode after several minutes. Very annoying."

Another reader writes with this workaround: "In any mode, hold down the stop button (a little square under the play button) for 2-3 seconds to turn off the unit. This is listed in the manual, which you are right, is a very poorly done Korean effort."

Calm down that jerking knee, then apply ice. In response a post which raised the question of whether Linksys was in violation of the GPL by not distributing, nor offering links to, the source code for the software controlling their 802.11g base stations. A representative from Linksys-PR sent in this note about the "missing" source code:

Linksys is a strong proponent of both Linux and the Open Source movement. The code within our routers is using User Space code without linking dynamically or statically to any GPL (GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE) code. Any code which does not have a static or dynamic link to anything covered by the General Public License is not GPL'ed, and can be considered closed source.

We regret it took some time to respond to this posting. To assure timely responses to inquiries like this in the future, please use the following procedure which complies with the requirements of the General Public License:

1. Please put your request in writing or in an email addressed to info@Linksys.com
2. You have to request the code for the specific modules you want. It is not valid to issue a request for any "code you may be using."
3. Technically, you are also supposed to provide us with a self-addressed stamped envelope, along with funds to cover the cost of providing the code to you. But Linksys will handle requests on a case-by-case basis. Thank you."

Straight from the Tiger's mouth. Tiger Direct Executive Vice President Richard Wallet wrote to contradict Michael Robertson's claims that Microsoft was targeting Tiger Direct customers who purchased Lindows systems to offer them steep discounts on Windows XP. Wallet writes:

"TigerDirect is not selling any version of Windows for $50. We are selling Microsoft Windows XP just like any other reseller and we are in compliance with all of Microsoft's licensing agreements, no better, no worse, and no different.

TigerDirect does sell low-cost systems with the Lindows operating system. TigerDirect also sells low-cost systems with Microsoft Windows XP. TigerDirect even sells systems with NO operating systems. The only parties who can tell us which products are or aren't worth selling are our customers. Neither Microsoft nor Lindows has a significant influence on what we buy and sell. We aim to serve our customers with the products they want at the very best values available and world-class customer service.

TigerDirect did in fact perform a survey of its customers as it does on a regular basis. Contrary to the author's claim, this survey was not only sent to Lindows buyers. It was sent to everybody who bought systems from TigerDirect during a specific time period. The purpose of the survey was to help us better serve the needs of our customers by getting a better understanding of what they're using the systems for, what they're running on them, and why they purchased what they did. The result of the survey is going to be to help us better align our PC product mix to increase sales."

Many monkeys make slick visuals. IamTheRealMike writes "Hi all, there is a BitTorrent of the XD2 RPMs for Red Hat 9 available, please be gentle with it. It comes as a directory that contains a readme and an ISO - make sure you read the readme first as there is a bug in the installer you need to know about. When all is done and you've read the instructions, just mount the ISO using the loopback device and point the installer at it. For all those who have been trying and failing to get it using the mirror network, this might provide a useful alternative."

speby asks: "I am a CS student at Northern Illinois University and I recently compiled a working peer-to-peer file web-based file indexing system. I refused to sign their agreement that says I violated their Acceptable Use Policy because I sincerely believe I did not violate them. My system scans a large portion of my school's network hosts looking for openly accessible, anonymous Windows File Shares, and bandwidth usage is minimal. The AUP does not mention scans and I did not 'break' or 'crack' security in any way. I agreed to shut the service down for a period of time until I can figure something else out. I do not agree with their stance on this issue and I believe I have a right to design, implement, and make available such a service. I certainly did not see anything in their terms of service that would disallow such a system. Do these other universities that allow this kind of system care? Why can this system not exist here?" I have no problem with a student being told to shut down a homebrew service if they find it offensive, but I do have a problem with them treating said students like criminals, even when they do comply with their wishes. What should students do, when they are bullied by their colleges into signing violations that are more stringent than the situation merits?

"I was contacted by the IT department after a few weeks of its public running. I did not actively promote the system. It works in ways similar to the file search engines like the ones at Iowa State University and Georgia Technical Institute. In terms of programming, this idea is so trivial anyone could do it with the help of some simple scripting and a lightweight database."

iCEBaLM writes "According to this Excite article, attackers who stole sensitive defense and technical research documents from US Defence Department computers were traced back to the Russian Academy of Sciences, [which is] government funded and has ties to the Russian Millitary. It seems it doesn't stop there and that attacks from Russia are quite widespread against US government and corporate sites. From Russia with Love." No! No! It's state-sponsored Cyberterrorism! [ M.S. : I want to remind readers that there's some serious doubt that these attacks actually exist - see George Smith's Electronic Pearl Harbor for more information.]

Slashdot has received a number of submissions about FIDNET, so-called cyberwarfare, etc., since our first article about it two months ago. Here's a grab bag of more news about it -- Pro-, Neutral, and Anti-. Click below to read more.

Neutral: Foxxz writes "Shortly after the article ran on Slashdot about the FBI computer monitoring program called FIDNET, I wrote to my congressman. Finally I have received a response from him concerning FIDNET. Its not a very pretty picture for the internet; allowing email captures and the monitoring of remote logins. I took the time to type up the letter and post it. I hope to get the document scanned early this week." It's just a form letter, firmly in the middle of the road, but interesting anyway.

Pro: Effect sends this article from a legal publication. "The article is a little old, but a new example of how are tax dollars are spent is here. The rundown is on a new $1.5 billion dollar program to gauge the threat of cyberterrorism and looking for security breaches in critical networks like banks, telecoms and government nets. Any one else want the govenment poking their noses into their files looking for problems? Bear in mind that this is just a proposed start up cost, and the actual program will run much higher."

Anti: George Smith, of the Crypt Newsletter, has been debunking this for some years now. His articles include Electronic Pearl Harbor: A slogan for U.S. Info-warriors, An Electronic Pearl Harbor? Not Likely, a tale about how the FBI finds new computer threats (in April Fool's jokes about computer viruses), and a recent piece written for CyberWire Digest. Smith says, ""Clinton" [a fake virus] was an April Fool's joke published in a PC mag along with a number of similar tales, it was republished in an FBI paper on computer crime in 1996. While it's amusing that the FBI would be taken in by an April Fool's joke, it's rather confounding to realize that this was passed off as serious research. It's a great lesson in why it pays to be skeptical of our leaders when they talk of "cyberterror.""

Future: Johan writes "Jane's Intelligence Review is running an article about cyberwarfare for its next issue, which I'm editing at the moment. It has a number of broad assertions, including:

"For terrorists, CBRN/Cyber weapons provide the opportunity to cause death and disruption at unprecedented levels--resulting in thousands of casualties and billions of dollars in damages to critical infrastructure nodes."

"Acquiring a CBRN/Cyber capability requires extensive funding, an overt or covert acquisition capability, a technological research and development program to produce, weaponize and stockpile CBRN materiel (or the capability to purchase or steal ready-made weapons), and a level of technical expertise and logistical infrastructure that is appropriate to launch successful CBRN attacks..."

"Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software products can easily be obtained to conduct cyberterrorism, making CB/Cyber attacks much more feasible to launch than heretofore..."

Although 'cyberwarfare' is a bit of a cliche, given the IT-related nature of many of your readers, I wondered if any of them would like to comment on this, ie, is all this stuff really so?"

The floor is open. -- michael

Slashdot has received a number of submissions about FIDNET, so-called cyberwarfare, etc., since our first article about it two months ago. Here's a grab bag of more news about it -- Pro-, Neutral, and Anti-. Click below to read more.

Neutral: Foxxz writes "Shortly after the article ran on Slashdot about the FBI computer monitoring program called FIDNET, I wrote to my congressman. Finally I have received a response from him concerning FIDNET. Its not a very pretty picture for the internet; allowing email captures and the monitoring of remote logins. I took the time to type up the letter and post it. I hope to get the document scanned early this week." It's just a form letter, firmly in the middle of the road, but interesting anyway.

Pro: Effect sends this article from a legal publication. "The article is a little old, but a new example of how are tax dollars are spent is here. The rundown is on a new $1.5 billion dollar program to gauge the threat of cyberterrorism and looking for security breaches in critical networks like banks, telecoms and government nets. Any one else want the govenment poking their noses into their files looking for problems? Bear in mind that this is just a proposed start up cost, and the actual program will run much higher."

Anti: George Smith, of the Crypt Newsletter, has been debunking this for some years now. His articles include Electronic Pearl Harbor: A slogan for U.S. Info-warriors, An Electronic Pearl Harbor? Not Likely, a tale about how the FBI finds new computer threats (in April Fool's jokes about computer viruses), and a recent piece written for CyberWire Digest. Smith says, ""Clinton" [a fake virus] was an April Fool's joke published in a PC mag along with a number of similar tales, it was republished in an FBI paper on computer crime in 1996. While it's amusing that the FBI would be taken in by an April Fool's joke, it's rather confounding to realize that this was passed off as serious research. It's a great lesson in why it pays to be skeptical of our leaders when they talk of "cyberterror.""

Future: Johan writes "Jane's Intelligence Review is running an article about cyberwarfare for its next issue, which I'm editing at the moment. It has a number of broad assertions, including:

"For terrorists, CBRN/Cyber weapons provide the opportunity to cause death and disruption at unprecedented levels--resulting in thousands of casualties and billions of dollars in damages to critical infrastructure nodes."

"Acquiring a CBRN/Cyber capability requires extensive funding, an overt or covert acquisition capability, a technological research and development program to produce, weaponize and stockpile CBRN materiel (or the capability to purchase or steal ready-made weapons), and a level of technical expertise and logistical infrastructure that is appropriate to launch successful CBRN attacks..."

"Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software products can easily be obtained to conduct cyberterrorism, making CB/Cyber attacks much more feasible to launch than heretofore..."

Although 'cyberwarfare' is a bit of a cliche, given the IT-related nature of many of your readers, I wondered if any of them would like to comment on this, ie, is all this stuff really so?"

The floor is open. -- michael

Slashdot has received a number of submissions about FIDNET, so-called cyberwarfare, etc., since our first article about it two months ago. Here's a grab bag of more news about it -- Pro-, Neutral, and Anti-. Click below to read more.

Neutral: Foxxz writes "Shortly after the article ran on Slashdot about the FBI computer monitoring program called FIDNET, I wrote to my congressman. Finally I have received a response from him concerning FIDNET. Its not a very pretty picture for the internet; allowing email captures and the monitoring of remote logins. I took the time to type up the letter and post it. I hope to get the document scanned early this week." It's just a form letter, firmly in the middle of the road, but interesting anyway.

Pro: Effect sends this article from a legal publication. "The article is a little old, but a new example of how are tax dollars are spent is here. The rundown is on a new $1.5 billion dollar program to gauge the threat of cyberterrorism and looking for security breaches in critical networks like banks, telecoms and government nets. Any one else want the govenment poking their noses into their files looking for problems? Bear in mind that this is just a proposed start up cost, and the actual program will run much higher."

Anti: George Smith, of the Crypt Newsletter, has been debunking this for some years now. His articles include Electronic Pearl Harbor: A slogan for U.S. Info-warriors, An Electronic Pearl Harbor? Not Likely, a tale about how the FBI finds new computer threats (in April Fool's jokes about computer viruses), and a recent piece written for CyberWire Digest. Smith says, ""Clinton" [a fake virus] was an April Fool's joke published in a PC mag along with a number of similar tales, it was republished in an FBI paper on computer crime in 1996. While it's amusing that the FBI would be taken in by an April Fool's joke, it's rather confounding to realize that this was passed off as serious research. It's a great lesson in why it pays to be skeptical of our leaders when they talk of "cyberterror.""

Future: Johan writes "Jane's Intelligence Review is running an article about cyberwarfare for its next issue, which I'm editing at the moment. It has a number of broad assertions, including:

"For terrorists, CBRN/Cyber weapons provide the opportunity to cause death and disruption at unprecedented levels--resulting in thousands of casualties and billions of dollars in damages to critical infrastructure nodes."

"Acquiring a CBRN/Cyber capability requires extensive funding, an overt or covert acquisition capability, a technological research and development program to produce, weaponize and stockpile CBRN materiel (or the capability to purchase or steal ready-made weapons), and a level of technical expertise and logistical infrastructure that is appropriate to launch successful CBRN attacks..."

"Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software products can easily be obtained to conduct cyberterrorism, making CB/Cyber attacks much more feasible to launch than heretofore..."

Although 'cyberwarfare' is a bit of a cliche, given the IT-related nature of many of your readers, I wondered if any of them would like to comment on this, ie, is all this stuff really so?"

The floor is open. -- michael