Slashback: Documentary, Directory, FUD

Slashback tonight brings some updates and clarifications to previous stories, including news of the successful production of both a BBS documentary and an open-source directory. Read on for more!

I goof, therefore I am sorry. Many readers submitted rebuttals to the claim I repeated that an Israeli web portal was the first to give users 1GB email accounts; Protein Shake, for one, writes that Spymac has them beat. "Forget Google, forget Israel's web portal... 1 GB e-mail is already out there. At least a few weeks ago. From their site '1 GB e-mail account, 350 MB combined storage, personal blog, forum, gallery, auctions and more...'"

"And this was back when phone lines were just strings painted to resemble copper ..." Jason Scott writes "The BBS Documentary, announced on Slashdot nearly three years ago, has wrapped up filming. With over TWO HUNDRED interviews in the can, I've been spending a lot of my spare time (and not-so-spare time) editing, but I decided to put out the first of what will likely be a few trailers for it. Stop by and check out how I've spent the last few years. The Documentary will be released as a 3-DVD set later this year."

It's like Who's Who, only different. Another gargantuan effort completed on a different front: Tony Stanco writes with word that "The 910-page Open Source Reference Book is available for download."

The project was announced just over a year ago; considering the contents that's not a bad turnaround.

It's nearly enough to make one cynical. Alex Wolfe writes "In a move worthy of the Luddites, the New York City Council is quietly trying to ban the Segway . The Council has proposed a law that's technically a ban on motorized scooters, but Harris Siliver, founder of Citystreets, an urban improvement organization, says the NYC Department of Transportation is specifically targeting the electric, non-polluting Segway. Silver is joined in his opposition to the bill by Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak."

Get out much? If you just can't get enough random flamebait, here's a small fix to follow the anti-Linux FUD spread earlier this month by Green Hills CEO Dan O'Dowd. InfoSec writes "This morning's Security Focus page had an article about Consumer Grade *nix. The writer of the article slams Linux for not having free automated updates, enabling services in default installations, and not warning users when they are using 'root'. Uhmm, I could be wrong, but hasn't Mandrake been doing that for quite some time?"

apt-get update seems to count as free updates to me (though those folks do take donations), and root-use warnings may not be perfectly applied, but they are found in various forms (depending on distro) at OS, WM, and application levels, including notices that certain tasks can only be run as root or other superuser. (I think it's Xchat that calls me "an idiot" when I've tried to run it as root.)

Comments

Re:If you speak Russian

[LordK3nn3th]

You're a fucking genius.

Re:Another anti-fud website

[nacturation]

In case my posting on grokshill somehow gets (ahem) lost, here's what I wrote in reference to this article:

Once again Dan O'Dowd, CEO of Green Hills Software Inc. opens his mouth and inserts foot. He simply doesn't understand what Linux is.

Proof? What *is* Linux then, and can you back up *your* claims?

The only two reasons why Linux doesn't have an EAL 7 rating are money, and time.

Why should I believe this? You appear to be shilling for Linux.

It costs lot's of money to get an EAL rating.

How much money and how much time? For what rating? Where is your proof?

IBM is working with SuSe on that right now.

Please provide proof. It sounds like you're shilling.

It also takes time to work out that rating.

How much time?

He mentions that Windows has a rating of EAL 4. What the doesn't say is that rating is only for Win2K(not sure but I don't think XP is there yet.)with only specific patches applied and all recent patches can not be applied or the rating is void.

You're not sure? You only *think* XP isn't there? What kind of anti- shill information are you presenting if you can't even document your own claims?

IBM is working on the ratings as we speak, so those concerns will soon be gone.

SHILL! First of all, please provide your evidence that IBM is working on it so we may verify your claims independently. How can you claim that the concerns will soon be gone? That's like saying that Microsoft is working on Longhorn as we speak, so all Microsoft security concerns will soon be gone.

He believes just any idiot can contribute to the Linux Kernel. He believes that all changes are automatically accepted. He Believes that the code isn't checked by a half-dozen or more people before it works it's way up the line.

Okay, so you've outlined what he believes. Is what he believes incorrect or correct? If it's incorrect, how about you provide some information on what IS correct, rather than just assuming the reader will pick up on the subtle "the opposite of what I say is true" nature of your commentary.

He seems to think that you can trust a proprietary company because it's software is EAL 7 rated but Linux is exposed to Russian hackers and only rated EAL 2 because today it is EAL 2 means that it can't ever reach EAL 7.

That's a very unclear sentence. First of all, ignoring the incredible run- on of ideas you have incoherently given, how about you explain what the hell EAL is? What does an EAL 7 rating mean? What does an EAL 2 rating mean? Is an EAL 7 rating worth anything at all? If not, then it doesn't matter that Linux can theoretically achieve EAL 7. If an EAL 7 rating *is* worth something, then what does it matter that it comes from a "proprietary company"? Note also that there's no such thing as a "proprietary company" -- this is your shill way of referring to a company which releases products which aren't open source.

I think at any rate his letters are more confusing than my own.

Yours are plenty confusing enough as it is. How about you fix your own lack of reason before attempting to debunk others?

There is so much doublespeak in his own words that he is shown to be ignorant of the simple Truth.

Which doublespeak? And why is "Truth" capitalized? Is this some mystical holy grail that only Linux devotees can understand? You are spreading your own FUD here -- Fanaticism and Undying Devotion.

Linux can be customized to do what ever you need it to do. The military with the NSA's help could make a Linux EAL 7 rated system and keep it in house, only updating the software with patches from the outside. Whether or not the entire U.S. government is considered keeping it in house as per the GPL is up to the lawyers.

Sure, and an open source "Hello World" program *can* b