Slashback: Dell, 800, Disclosure

Slashback this evening brings you an update on the (departed, or departing) Bleem; an open letter from Dell on Linux support for some of its line; another creative way to fight spam; and some gaming updates for everyone whose thumbs still function.

Spinning so had they can feel it in Ft. Worth. L-Wave writes: "This Story is running on linux.com. Apparently Dell has written an open letter toLinux users. 'Dell has published an open letter to its Linux customers "clarifying" its position as regards the insurgent OS. Actually, the letter is headed "Clarifying Dell and Linux," but either of these would be a massive task, and we think we know what they meant to say.'"

Please note that all Dell is saying here is that they will load customer-specified software at the factory -- it's probably convenient for some customers, but nothing new for Dell. In the case of software with expensive licenses, it means some simplified paperwork. With Free software, it just means convenience. The letter is therefore rather lukewarm, but at least a lot better than refusing to install software that doesn't include a licensing markup.

Brush up on your polite conversation skills. doublem writes: "This site lists the toll-free numbers of known Spammers, so they can be called, harassed and otherwise vented against for their crimes. Something tells me the ./ crowd will like this sort of thing as evidenced by this recent article. I'd like to add 1-888-288-9043 as the number for the well-known VORTEX SUPPLIES, a collection of jerks who refuse to take me off their mailing lists." I started doing the same a few months ago, but this guy has me beat by miles, even if he doesn't list Miss Cleo's number thanks to Psychic spam that knew I'd react with a call.

Yessir, our team goes into action right after the first fortnight. jeffy124 writes "Microsoft has admitted knowledge of an IE bug a full week before a security firm announced it. Turns out sec firm Online Solutions privately informed MS of the bug Nov. 1, but MS initially said they first heard of it Nov. 9 after Online made the find public the same day. MS claims standard procedure of allowing themselves two weeks in order to make sure someone's not cryin wolf and write a patch. They also claimed that no breaches occured during that wait. MS says that Online acted responsibly in their actions, and "'apologizes for innacurate statements.'"

You mean the lawsuits didn't kill it? Far from certain conpiracy theories advanced after Bleem published their own epitaph ShadeEagle writes: "Here we find out that Sony didn't know about Bleem's death until they were asked about it. Gamespot has more relevant information as to the possible (or impossible) future of Bleem." And another gaming note: mickeyreznor writes "According to this article on CNet, Sega appears to be in good financial shape despite the trouble they've had with the dreamcast. In addition, 60 games are being planned for X-box and PS2 over the next year. Sega's future looks bright, and that can only be a good thing for gamers."

Comments

A couple of notes

[Legion303]

Regarding the tollfree spam site: he mentions that you should *67 first to disable Caller ID. 800 numbers, as he almost mentions, use ANI to track calls. Call these spamming motherfuckers from payphones unless you want them to have your home phone.

Also, he talks about some 800 lines being on a flat monthly rate. Don't let that stop you from calling up and wasting their time anyway (or calling and setting the phone down for the 3-minute message). When 10,000 bored Slashdot readers call these guys and rack up the minutes, believe me, the phone company will notice. Enough calls might be enough to make the telco selling a flat rate line think twice about renewing a contract.

-Legion

Law

[VA Software]

Autodialing laws by state.

If you are so inclined ....

lets cost the spammers some real money!!!

[4444444]

got to http://www.goto.com and do a search for "bulk email" each link you click will cost the spam companys up to several dollars per click It's a great way to fight back it would be nice to /. their bank account

Disloyal Dell

[jeffphil]

Dell has been losing face for a while IMHO.

First they jumped on the almighty Linux bandwagon a few years ago, claimed open source this and that, but in reality they never did anything to help the cause.

In fact, when they were selling linux on machines you could configure two exact systems - one with linux and one with windows, and the windows box was always around $200 less than the same linux box! It makes economic sense to buy the window box then wipe the drive and install your own linux. No wonder they had no demand.

Dell does not give a sh*t about their customers, their employees, or GNU/Linux.

there is a script

[4444444]

There are a couple scripts and other ideas here

http://www.lenny.com/spam/

My beef with Dell (somewhat offtopic)

[zeno_2]

There is a problem that the new Dell machines are having, they won't admit it, but it is there.

If you have a newer dell machine that has Windows (tm) on it, check the uptime of the os (seems to be only machines that were built before may of 2001). If you are unsure on how to do this, just go to download.com, search for windows uptime, and download the Windows Uptime 1.3.3, its a tiny download, but you will be able to check this quickly... The problem with these machines is that they are not reporting a correct uptime of windows. I am not sure if this happens with other os's, my job only lets me see these that have Windows on them.. I saw a dell machine last week, it was a week old, but reported an uptime of 40 days. Ive seen another dell machine that said it had a 6 hour uptime on a fresh boot, and an hour later it says 30min uptime.

Dell isn't taking any responsibility in this.. I am really not too sure if it is Dell's fault, but it is only happening on new Dell machines. I have had 4 people call them up, and ask them why their machine does this, and they get one of 2 answers:

1 - We have never heard of this problem before, but don't worry about it

or

2 - This is a Windows problem, call Microsoft

Soo.. if you do have one of these newer dell machines, try looking at the uptime for windows. Heck, if it has linux on it, check it too. I know of a few games that will base their internal clock off of the Windows Uptime (dont ask me why, im really not too sure why they use windows uptime, Links 2001 is an example of a game that will use the uptime for the internal clock.) If you have a machine with this problem, document it and send the info to dell. They do have responsibility over the OS that ships with a new machine, but they are just pawning it off and screwing customers over.

Well there is my rant, I used to like dell quite a bit but lately their support is just utter crap. I am really suprised that if someone spends 3 grand on a machine, and then gets that from dell when asked about the problem, I would take the machine back myself..

If anyone knows/has a fix, or knows why this might be happening, please reply back, im kinda dying to know you could say =)

Zeno

One word about Dell Linux

[beefstu01]

First and foremost, I would like to say that it was good when Dell offered Linux on their machines, I got my Inspiron 8000 and GX1 for about $200-500 less than a windows version.

-BUT-

The installations REALLY sucked. I had to go back and re-install Linux on both. On top of that, I also needed to dload the newest Linux (at the time, Dells shipped w/ RH7.0, when Red Hat had been shipping 7.1 for a long time). The problems ranged from not being able to have the CD drive toast CD's, or even read stuff to having the computer randomly lock up. All problems were fixed upon the re-installation, but it was a (minor) inconvience. I think that all Dell did was make one install image and then use them for all the machines, from laptop to desktop. I seemed to have fewer problems on the OptiPlex...Oh well

Just letting the public know about how *much* Dell cares about Linux. Next time I want a computer, I'll just buy the parts. (I would have done that, but these damned grants don't let you do that, now do they?) If people are really interested in getting a quality linux box, they should go to Penguin Computing at . My buddy just got a machine from them, and he tells me that they are the Alienware of the linux world.