Slashback: Snapshots, Amends, Bazaarity

Slashback brings you some follow-ups tonight about Gartner's recommendation to dump IIS, Charles Connell vs. Eric S. Raymond on Open Source project management, xStore and the GPL, and (yes) the results of Deep Space 1's latest Final Mission.

Microsoft is just as secure as the competition, says Microsoft. Jon_E writes: "According to this article Microsoft is responding to the Gartner Report which recommends that enterprises drop IIS by claiming unfair targeting due to their popularity."

Whether because of better-trained or more vigilant administrators, or some other factors, the Apache servers running many web sites certainly haven't seen the devastating outages in the past month (Code Red, Nimda) as certain large IIS installations have.

If animated, this might make a really good Saturday cartoon. cconnell writes "Last September, slashdot published my critique of Eric Raymond's essay The Cathedral and the Bazaar. There was a lively (and sometimes scorching) discussion that followed. Here is Eric's reply to my critique, which Slashdot readers might enjoy. And here is my reply to Eric."

This was not faked in the same studio as the "lunar landings." mrsmalkav writes "Deep Space 1 has passed by Comet Borrelly within 1400 miles and took some very pretty pictures of the comet's core, all while collecting lots of data about said comet. NASA's press release discusses some of the details and findings of the flyby.

This is actually really impressive given that there was very little hope for this mission. From the Mission Logs on DS1's site, '[T]o be honest, DS1's visit with the comet simply is unlikely to work as well as we hope. Many mission logs have described the difficulty of keeping this aged and wounded bird aloft, and the encounter with Borrelly will present Deep Space 1 with the greatest challenge yet in its historic trek through the solar system.'"

Saint Aardvark writes "Space.com has an article about the images taken by DS-1, and they're stunning." And eldurbarn points to the NASA Images of comet Borrelly online at JPL.

How to satisfy customers with license objections, Part II brtb writes: "Soon after Slashdot posted my DiscZerver-GPL writeup last week, xStore added a link in their Download section for information about the use of GPL software in their products. Below is the e-mail I received in response (address changed to protect the spamless). Congratulations to xStore for supporting Free Software and bringing the DiscZervers into compliance with the GPL.

From: "Support" [support@xstoreonline.com]
To: "brtb" [slashdot@brtb.org]
Subject: "RE: GPL SOURCE CODE"

xStore is committed to complying to the full letter and spirit of the GPL. We are currently investigating the allegations of non-GPL compliance and communicating with the GNU.ORG and Free Software Foundation on this issue. We will produce a response to your request that is mutually acceptable to the copyright holders of the programs we have used that fall under the GPL and xStore itself. Due to the recent acquisition of this product, we are still in the process of preparing the required source code for distribution. xStore is commited to bring the DiscZerver product into GPL compliance, if it is indeed found to be not in compliance.

In the meantime, please provide xStore with information so that we can send you, the user of this product, the package that you are entitled to. Please provide the serial number of your DiscZerver product and the 'system page' with your response. The 'system page' is located at [http://your_Zerver_name_or_IP_address/admin-cgi/s ystem]. In addition, please send us a self addressed stamped envelope suitable for mailing a CD-ROM along with $14.95 to:

xStore, Inc.
Federal Highway Center
1200 North Federal Highway
Suite 200
Boca Raton, FL 33432

After we receive your written request along with the above items, we will process it and promptly send you the disc when it becomes available.

This thanks to the mostly behind-the-scenes work of people at the FSF. Congratulations to xStore for respecting the intent of the programmers whose work they're consolidating and packaging.

Comments

Zimmermann Article

[fizban]

There's another article in the NYT about the encryption restrictions being brought up for debate and it includes a nice jab at the Washington Post for misquoting Zimmermann on his PGP interview. Check it out here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/25/technology/25COD E.html

Re:what does an ion engine do?

[Coniine]

An ion engine ionizes neural atoms then accelerates the charged particles and emits them as a high energy stream. The ship accelerates in the opposite direction of course. One potential source of atoms ( rather than carrying them along as a payload ) is to use a magnetic field to gather material that is just out ther in "space".

That conspiracy theory should really die

[Theodore Logan]

This was not faked in the same studio as the "lunar landings."

Before you flame: yes, I know that was meant as a joke, and yes, this post is more than slightly off topic (but Slashback threads often are), but this is probably going to be discussed here sooner or later anyhow so I might as well take some preventative measures.

The lunar landings were not fake. The "evidence" is poor at best, and just blatantly stupid otherwise. I won't reiterate all arguments against this silly conspiracy theorys validity, as you can read all about it, for example, here or here.

There are lots of nice conspiracy theories that really have some nice arguments that actually speak for them, but this is not one of those. This one should really die. Seriously, I'd go for Illuminati or Elvis any day of the week if this was my only alternative.

Re:what does an ion engine do?

[Danny Rathjens]

DS1 How the Ion Engine Works

Has a great description. It even has pretty pictures.

Interesting article on ION drive.

[bIOHZRd]

subject says it all.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/206711.asp

Re:$14.95

[andrewb]

Ah, yes. That would be a kibblesworth of 5c.

KIBBLESWORTH (n.):
The footling amount of money by which the price of a given article in a shop is less than a sensible number, in a vain hope that at least one idiot will think it cheap. For instance, the kibblesworth on a pair of shoes priced at £19.99 is 1p.
-- The Meaning of Liff, by Douglas Adams & John Lloyd

"Please provide the serial number"? NOT!

[StenD]

In the meantime, please provide xStore with information so that we can send you, the user of this product, the package that you are entitled to. Please provide the serial number of your DiscZerver product and the 'system page' with your response. The 'system page' is located at [http://your_Zerver_name_or_IP_address/admin-cgi/s ystem].

I hope you told them that they cannot limit their obligation to provide copies of the source code to those with DiscZervers. From the GNU GPL FAQ:

What does this "written offer valid for any third party" mean? Does that mean everyone in the world can get the source to any GPL'ed program no matter
what?

"Valid for any third party" means that anyone who has the offer is entitled to take you up on it.

If you commercially distribute binaries not accompanied with source code, the GPL says you must provide a written offer to distribute the source code later. When users non-commercially redistribute the binaries they received from you, they must pass along a copy of this written offer. This means that people who did not get the binaries directly from you can still receive copies of the source code, along with the written offer.

The reason we require the offer to be valid for any third party is so that people who receive the binaries indirectly in that way can order the source code from you.

Graham Clueless strikes back...

[Chagrin]

• Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos, is concerned that a mass move to alternative Web server software would cause more disruption than sticking with Microsoft IIS and patching it. "Code Red was less about the vulnerability of IIS, as all software has bugs, but more about system administrators ignoring the warnings that came well in advance of Code Red," said Cluley.

Hmm... where do I remember him from?

• "The average person in the street doesn't need to worry, as they would have to be specifically targeted," said Graham Cluley, an Internet security expert with antivirus firm Sophos.
  

Always nice to have a few staunch supporters ready to jump to your defense :)