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

Re:A couple of notes

[bugnuts]

Yep. Consider an 800 number to be a collect call. You can't block the number, even if it's unlisted.

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

Dell and Linux kinda a big deal

[compugeek007]

Getting Dell to maintain installation of Linux is kinda a big deal. I scope out servers from Dell often for my job, and I know as well as any other sys admin that when a box comes with any OS pre-loaded the first thing to do is wipe it out, resetup your RAID set and reinstall.

The importance is not that they load the OS, it's that they are treating Linux the same as Microsoft. PHB's like to feel secure, and knowing that Dell, a major player in the OEM server / PC market, is offering Linux as a platform they stand behind just like Netware and NT/2000 - makes them feel secure. It all comes down to big management catch words like "Enterprise" "Scalable" and maybe even a little "TCO."

The fight for Linux is not a fight of technical profecciency, that is already achieved, it is a fight of making managers at 35,000 feet feel comfotable with it. (IMO)

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.

Re:why anti-MS?

[innocent_white_lamb]

"We are obviously not going to
respond instantly--we have to sieve the wheat from the chaff to determine how reliable the vulnerability warning is," said Neil Laver, Windows product marketing manager for Microsoft. "Until we can investigate the issue, we are not going to issue a bulletin, as that would create a crying wolf situation."

can anyone argue with this?

I can. It doesn't take a week to recreate an exploit like this and say, "OH shit!"
br>Microsoft is a large enough company to have someone on the job whose exclusive responsibility is to read incoming exploit reports and IMMEDIATELY test the described method. Immediately after that (ten minutes after the report arrived, if they have a bunch of configured machines immediately available - again, MS is big enough to afford this) they can say, "Report verified. Issue a bulletin and get the engineers on the job fixing that bug."

In the case of a major (or any) exploit, there is no excuse for a large outfit like MS to require more than an hour or two to verify that a problem exists. Actually fixing it will probably take longer, but the fact that the expolit exists should be immediately published so those running the affected software can decide if they want to take their servers off-line or take some kind of self-protective action.

Too late Dell ... too late....

[reaper20]

Nice Try Dell,

A buddy of mine bought 5 rackmount servers with cabinet and a kit to convert his company's current server to a rackmount.

We had to call Dell multiple times and sit through at least half a dozen nested menu options (the dead end ones that force you to hang up suck) trying to get the bundled Red Hat deal with them. Half of the reps didn't even know they offered linux, this is from the server people mind you. And then, come to find, the linux options are just as expensive as the windows options, if not more.

"No, I want Linux, I don't want you to email me information about win2k advanced server." Say that a few dozen times. sigh.

So, the poor wretch bought the Red Hat 7.1 package "specialy certified to run on Dell hardware" for $150.

When the servers arrrives he gets the cardboad box for RH7.1 (no cover, so you can't even put it on a shelf to look cool), and NO STICKERS. Oh yeah, a photocopied sheet of instructions for installing Redhat.

Dell buys Red Hat, and then jacks up the price, THEY COULD HAVE AT LEAST GIVEN US THE DAMN REDHAT STICKERS!!

Don't let any of these OEMs try to kiss up and say that they support linux, and they are doing everything they can to help the community blah blah ... This letter is a reaction to the bad karma that they got from "he Register Cable Select Debacle"

So far, IBM is the only large company that is doing a damn to help Linux. At least HP was smart enough to say "We don't know shit about Linux or their community, let's hire Bruce Perens...."

Re:Too late Dell ... too late....

[mabinogi]

Hmmm.....we've had no trouble whatsoever with DELL and Linux....
We've bought a number of servers from them over the last couple of years, all with Linux pre installed.. and never had a problem..

We even had a case where we requested a server with redhat 7 preinstalled by mistake (We actually wanted 6.2 for use with Oracle) and they were happy to send us a copy of their DELL specific version of 6.2 (it includes drivers for the PERC raid controller that didn't exist in the RH version) at no charge.....

And we've ALWAYS received stickers ;) and printed manuals.

So maybe DELL Australia is a little more helpful than DELL America, or maybe we've just got a better account manager?

Re:Too late Dell ... too late....

[Crispy Critters]

Why does Dell bother to offer Linux at all if they are going to give it such lousy support? I think it is because of the deals that they have with businesses and institutions.

I have a Dell on my desk which was bought with Linux on it (actually, they sent it to me with a blank hard drive, but that is a different story). Why? Because if I had bought a machine from one of the many vendors that sell Linux boxes, I would have had to file Selection of Source paperwork, get references for the vendors, et cetera. With Dell, all I had to do was get a web quote and send it to purchasing. Their mediocre Linux support was just barely sufficient to not drive me to another vendor.

Note that they flat-out refuse to sell hardware with Linux installed to an individual consumer. Why? They charge more for Linux than for Windoze, so the profit margin is higher. The only possible reason is (dare I say it?) anti-competitive marketing agreements with MS. Pure speculation on my part, of course.

Re:Too late Dell ... too late....

[compugeek007]

1. Red Hat Server is not Free - you can buy it from Red Hat if you want yourself for about $179. If you really are going to complain about $150 (small potatoes) you can buy the Servers with no OS and get Red Hat GPL and load it yourself.

2. Not getting stickers, manuals, or a box? Are you kidding? If I kept all the boxes, stickers, Manuals I got, I would have a sea of cardboard in my cube. I would prefer just getting the OS CD maybe documentation on the CD too (I never read it anyway) and no paperwork whatsoever.

3. All Dell is a major player in the small server market. You can't compare IBM and HP's monster boxes to Dell's. Plus both HP and IBM have a cadre of Computer Scientists and consultants to draw upon. Dell makes no pretenses about what they will and will not supply.

4. I have called DEll support / Service too. It sucks - no questions about that. I guarentee you that if your company was larger and had a dell rep - you would have AWSOME service. My rep bends over backwards and makes all sorts of things possible.

All and All, I think your experience is isolated and shouldn't be held against Dell.

These phone numbers are helping spammers.

[MongooseCN]

All these phone numbers are taken from spam mailings. The whole reason these numbers were put in the emails was because spammers WANT people to call them. Most of these numbers are just automated machines with menus you have to endlessly punch through before you can get to a real person. It's just like trying to reply to a spam mailing itself asking to be taken off the mailing list.

Re:These phone numbers are helping spammers.

[jonesvery]

The whole reason these numbers were put in the emails was because spammers WANT people to call them. Most of these numbers are just automated machines with menus you have to endlessly punch through before you can get to a real person.

Yeah...ok...but I believe that tthe point is that they're 800 numbers, so these companies will *pay* for that call whether or not you talk to a real person.

Stop bashing the X-Box!

[Exmet Paff Daxx]

Everyone here is all upset because the X-Box runs Windows. Well, guess what. So did the much-beloved Dreamcast. When the Dreamcast came out, I didn't hear anyone moaning and groaning about Microsoft trying to take over the gaming world. What's different this time? So Microsoft is "making" the X-box: so what. That's just outsourced hardware. The Dreamcast ran WinCE and it eventually ran Linux, we can expect the same from the X-box, as well as the upcoming NetBSD port.

Operating system is hardly the most important consideration with regard to the X-Box. All consoles are sold at a loss, so if Microsoft decides to start selling outsourced hardware at a loss that runs Linux, that's pretty much a victory for us right there.

That said I think it's obvious to everyone in the industry that the X-Box is by far and away the most technically advanced console ever built. With nearly five times the polygon fill rate of a PS2 and 5 times the MHz of comparable Sega systems, this thing puts the wimpy PowerMac-wannabe "GameCube" to shame.

Don't let your prejudices blind you. The X-Box is an impressive piece of hardware - once everyone starts using them as Linux web servers you'll stop bitching.

Re:Stop bashing the X-Box!

[fm6]

Everyone here is all upset because the X-Box runs Windows. Well, guess what. So did the much-beloved Dreamcast

Wrong on two counts. First, people care less about what OS the X-Box runs than the fact that any profit it makes goes into Mister Bill's pocket. Petty of us, perhaps, but he's already the richest person in the world. Shouldn't somebody else have a chance?

Second, the Dreamcast is Windows CE compatible. The OS is actually on the CD (shades of AppleDOS!) and its up to the developer which OS to use. I have three DC games (D2, Seaman, Shenmue), and only the D2 uses Windows. Sega's in-house developers seem not to like it -- can't imagine why.

there is a script

[4444444]

There are a couple scripts and other ideas here

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

Meanwhile...

[Otter]

In other Microsoft/bug news, the MSNBC Bug of the Day for yesterday offers this helpful tip:

Nov. 20: Don't mess with RedHat Package Manager files

RedHat Package Manager (RPM) files are compiled and prepackaged programs which can be downloaded and installed on Linux systems. It is possible corrupt the data in an RPM file so code is executed on a Linux system when the RPM is queried for version information. This is a difficult thing to do since the memory location of the hacker shellcode would need to be known. However, It's possible so don't mess with RPM files from untrusted sources.

I'd suspect Taco is moonlighting over there if it weren't for the correct use of the apostrophe in "It's."

Re:XBox, bah

[Bullschmidt]

By jacking up sales, you actually make it cheaper for them to make them, so eventually they make money on the XBox - economies of scale. Its expensive at the start, but in the end they make money, even off the box, once they get production ramped up and going hard. So you are really just helping them along to making money on it.

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

PSU/MIPS CPU and emulation thereof

[i_am_nitrogen]

This has been said many times before, but yes. The Playstation does have a MIPS-based CPU. It uses the mipsel instruction set (iirc) to be exact. PS-One's CPU is 33MHz, while the PS2's CPU is 297MHz. Numerous MIPS emulators exist, as do numerous PS-One emulators. The main challenge in emluating a Playstation is probably the sound and graphics processors. The PS2 GFX/CPU/sound system, called the Emotion Engine, is really a collection of different stock SGI CPUs, with a little Sony tweaking, all wrapped up into one. MIPS CPUs are faster than x86 CPUs of two or three times the clock speed, which is why the PlayStation2 at 297MHz is faster than the X-Box at 733MHz.

As for the disassembler question, if it in fact simply dumped MIPS instructions of hobbyists programs there would be no way for Sony to pursue legal action because the MIPS/mipsel instruction set is open. However, if the tool could be used to reverse-engineer games written for the console, Sony could have grounds for a lawsuit.

Re:why anti-MS?

[Darkfred]

In the case of a major (or any) exploit, there is no excuse for a large outfit like MS to require more than an hour or two to verify that a problem exists.

Wow! you really have no idea how software development and engineering departments work. With an engineering department that can switch gears and start projects as fast as the one you described we would be able to get a new version of windows ever 2 months.

I will explain to you how most large bug reporting/engineering systems work. First a secretary or intern will be assigned to read the bug mail and sort out the legitimate problems from the lunatics writing in that your product just SUCKS.
If it is a legitimate bug report and it includes all the information necessary to reproduce it then it gets entered in the bug tracking/administration system. An email or memo will be sent to the manager of the division that handles testing.
The manager will assign the bug to a tester who will try to reproduce it. That is after he has worked on all the other items in his queue that have a higher priority. Once he has reproduced it he identifys what component causes the problem (or guesses). And add adds the item as a reproduced bug to the bug tracking system.
The manager in charge of the division that handles that system or component will get the notice and eventually get around (depending on priority) to assigning the bug to an engineer.
The engineer will then start working on the bug, but only after he has already completed what he was working on at the time, and cleared any higher priority items out of his queue as well.

It would take at least a day to go through any one of these steps. And even more time depending on how busy people are and what priority rating the bug gets. Plus in larger companies these things actually go through more steps such as priority assignment meetings and impact analysis.

In short your expenctations are insane. When you are dealing with a company of any size about 30 employees you have to use a system to kepp all of them working, or you are loosing money. That means you need to manage tasks and verify bugs before assigning them to engineers. And you don't have 30 engineers just sitting in the back room waiting to work on whatever you give them. They are probably already working on fixing another terrible exploit. The resources have to be allocated as you go based on what you see the threat as.

Anyway i hope this gives you a little more respect for the engineers who actually do this.

Regards,

"Vortex Supplies"

[mrsam]

This one is actually the latest sock puppet of scumbag Sam Khuri, the "Benchmark Print Supply" spambag.

As "Benchmark Print Supply", Khuri nearly went to jail for spewing out of his spamhole, and is really under a court order that prohibits him from spamming. He's just hoping that nobody would notice that it's really him.

So Dell will ship boxes with Linux?

[Guppy06]

That's nice. Now if only they let consumers have the option of not having to have one of those damned crappy Conexant winmodems. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if those machines with Linux installed still have said winmodems in them...

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.

Re:Just Dell, no Wincrap, no Linux?

[magi]

Oh this is fun. I sent mail to the Dell's Finnish sales representative.

Me: "Hi, is it possible to buy a Dell laptop without an operating system? If so, how does it affect the price?"
SR: "We don't sell Inspiro laptops without an operating system or softwares. You can order a Latitude laptop without softwares or also without operating system. However, we have remove the pre-installed operating system, which work will cost you $40."
Me (pondering): "Also a Latitude might do. How much is the price reduced if I buy it without an operating system and other softwares, which are usually in the price?"
SR: "The basic price is without softwares and since the operating system is an OEM version, it doesn't affect the price."
Me: "Thank you for your answer. I understand that Dell as an OEM pays for the operating systems it installs on its products, so it's clear that it affects the price."
Me: "Understandably, I will not pay for products which I do not use, so Dell laptops are not an option for me."
Me: "If you change your offer, you may contact me."
Me: "Best regards, "

So great, if I want to buy a laptop without paying money for criminal organizations, I have to pay more. Absolutely great.

Same problem with Compaq. IBM sells some Linux laptops, but I think they have Caldera, and cost strawberries, and not even less than with Windows. Umh. DoJ, DO SOMETHING!