Slashdot Mirror
Slashback: Documentary, Directory, FUD
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.)
I read that headline and thought: Michael Moore.
Auto-reply to ACs: "Truly, you have a dizzying intellect."
non-poluting segway
Generating electricity still causes pollution, it just causes a lot less polution than a car.
so the trailers for The open source documentary are in a closed format???
once more into the breach
SUSE gives me free updates via YAST, comes with all services disabled in the "minimal graphical install" default that I use (well, networkable services are not enabled, but things like cron are), and when I log in via root, the desktop is a red graphic with a pattern of large bombs all over it. Sound fairly perfect to me. The only other thing would be a warning at the command line for a non-GUI root login, and in fact I sorta get that, because the default for the root shell prompt is different.
My Greasemonkey scripts for Digg &
I don't know if everyone around here knows.. but if you create a Blogger account you can be one of the lucky ones to try out Gmail beta, even if you have some kind of problem in using it (tinfoil hat crowd :) it's always a Good Thing to try it out...
Until now.. it has been pretty good.. at least for me..
I think Spymac's 1GB email came right after Google's announcement. The thing is, I honestly don't want to tell people, "email me at blah blah @ spymac.com." It seems I might be misconstrued as an Apple zealot (well technically I am a zealot, but I try not to project it onto people in a way that pisses them off). I have a mac.com address, but spymac.com just doesn't sound business-like.
reeddavid.com
Maybe linux should come with a talking penguin that pops up and offers suggestions:
"It looks like you're trying to delete a file. Would you like to free up more disk space?"
"You are running as root. Running as root can be bad for your computer. Would you like to change users?"
No need to single out Segway. Limit the square footage of sidewalk that can be used by single humans during rush hour.
This will allow use when the sidewalk is empty (which can yield a registration fee that goes towards sidewalk maintenance).
For rush hour, a square footage quota will incent R&D for the scooter-pooling version of Segway.
not warning users when they are using 'root'.
admin@local host #su
Password:
WARNING YOU ARE NOW ROOT!
#adduser fred
WARNING YOU ARE ROOT, ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS? (Y/N) Y
#passwd fred
WARNING YOU ARE ROOT, ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS? (Y/N) Y
Changing password for user fred.
New password:
... IS sort of put-offish what with security concerns, etc. I got as far as the huge sign in questionnaire, that and having to run script told me to not follow through with an account there.
I'd like to try google's, especially if they had created a huge wall of spam-be-not around their service. Coolguys and non spammers inside, everyone else outside. Google is big enough to pull off a system like that, and has the smarts to make it work.
Doesn't matter much for most of the Slashdotters, but if you happen to read Russian (or always wanted to learn that language), Yandex Mail, which is part of Yandex, Russia's largest Web portal and search engine, announced unlimited mail storage space with maximum letter size of 10 MB and unlimited attachments (as long as the message with all the attaches stays below 10 MB).
Basically, they will just keep buying more hard drives as you grow your message store.
I would rather get an e-mail address that I can be sure I'll still have in five years time. When I first migrated from web-based mail to a POP3 service, I went through about three providers until I hit on one (GMX) that was stable, but then they stopped translating the pages into English, and after a year of guessing how to use the spam tools in German, I got fed up.
Now I just have my own egomaniacal domain name, and no matter what happens, short of a change in the domain name system, I'm guaranteed I can keep my e-mail and web addresses.
I could trust Yahoo! or Google, but it's an unfortunate fact of the lovely web that, when it comes to something like e-mail, with someone like Spymac I'd always be waiting for them to close shop, or charge some silly fee, or relocate to Uganda and only run their web site in a few obscure tribal dialects.
Maybe that could have read "...but Harris Siliver, founder of Citystreets, an urban improvement organization, says the NYC Department of Transportation is specifically targeting the electric scooter that uses an unconventional method of control and is much faster than pedestrians and frequently piloted by speed demons. Silver is joined in his opposition to the bill by Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak."
I'm all for ways to get rid of cars and pollution. But these scooters travel at a good speed, much faster than pedestrians. They have separate lanes for bikes, or they make bikes ride in the street. They do this because biking amongst pedestrians is often dangerous at high speeds. Doesn't it make sense that segwaying at high speeds among pedestrians is dangerous too? I'm not saying ban the segway. But getting it off the sidewalk is probably not a bad thing. Sidewalks are for people. Bike lanes are for bikes. Where does the segway go? The bike lanes? The street? I don't know, but I would be scared every time a scooter bore down on me with a person on it at 12MPH. As Marty McFly Jr. said, "Hey, I'm walking here!"
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
For submitting a new listing (free) for the next edition of the book, go here.
This is such an awe-inspiring effort. Logging 200 hours of footage over 3 years...I can imagine the amount of dedication, effort, logistics & scheduling that went into making this possible.
Hats off to you!
I'm into my 4th month of filmmaking right now. Logged 20+ hours so far, a dozen interviews under my belt, lots of travel, caffeine, sleepless nights...and I've barely begun. By the time I hope to be finished, I hope to have about 50 hours of footage. Just sifting thru all that, deciding which segment will make the cut & which won't...gigantic effort. I can't even imagine what you're going thru, narrowing down 200 hours into 3 DVDs. I wish you luck & lots & lots of patience.
There was this one documentary I watched recently - "Begging Naked" - that tracked this prostitute thru 7 yeas of her life. 7 years!!! In those 90 minutes of footage, you can practically see the person aging in front of you. The prostitute goes from being a young sexy hooker making pots of money in a Manhattan apartment to an old haggard woman living under a tree in Central Park out of a cardboard box. The person who made this film started filming in her 20s & is now in her 30s & the film still hasn't gotten a theatrical release. And she keeps plugging away. That's motivation for you!
Project Outsourced - the film
with the sentence "The Government Open Source Advisory Committee is a group of
Open Source project leaders...", there is this line:
"For the SELinux Chair Tony Stanco...... Tony@egovos.org"
What does this mean?
...it's Xchat that calls me "an idiot" when I've tried to run it as root...
It's nice to see that we finally have chatbots which pass the Turing test.
[...] apt-get update seems to count as free updates to me [...]
Sure, they're free, but they're not automatic. This may be spurious, hairsplitting FUD, but what the hell... let's get rid of it:
In the default installation, have the installer create a tool to run the update from a random server chosen from a list of approved servers for the distro. Assign it to run at a random time, then repeat it weekly as a cron job called something obvious like weeklyupdate.
Do this for all free *nix distros. Move on.
With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter. -- William Lloyd
but SuSE used to have a bright, red background with big, black bombs tiled all over the place while logged in as root in X.
A little hard to miss that much blinding backcrap.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
Is it a good business model? No, but Linux has no monopoly on it.
That credo was invented by greedy, proprietary corporations.
I used to post a sign over my desk which said "If you haven't the time to do it right the first time, how will you ever find the time to do it over?"
It always pissed off the powers when they stopped by.
...while Linux still has it's hangups and limits (like every other OS), has anyone else noticed that arguments presented in selected media outlets has moved to ever more uninformed/poorly researched tripe? It was almost excusable a few years ago because the territory could be seen as arguable new or alien to the status quo at the time. But these days? That shit is just plain unprofessional and sloppy.
Grokshill is aimed at false claims made by reporters and analysts
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Just because I wanted to relive some of the good old BBS days, doesn't mean I want to download the 14MB trailer at 9600 baud ;)
"The writer of the article slams Linux for not having free automated updates"
The article specifically talks about Lindows (Linspire), not Linux distros in general.
Mod this guy - er bottle brush up.
- I think the Segway has an important place - or rather I think that low-impact electric vehicles have an important place.
Its hard to imagine mass transit solving the last mile effectively, and the segway (small electric etc . . . ) Is most certainly a better solution that hydrocarbon convertors.
I salute Dean Kamens creative idea - and let's not forget or pretend that the segway is anything other than the logical extension of the electric wheelchair - perfect for restoring balance and erection (v jokes go here) to the handicapped - which you realize is Dean K stock in trade.
Whether or not a medical device has broader application is a question of secondary importance. Some cities may find that they enhance the transportation mix, while others - already established as pedestrain friendly may feel the segway is a step backwards. I think the name suggest that it can be a means of broadening the availability of mass transit during the period of development.
AIK
The whole point of free software is user control. Free software is big enough for you and I to agree to dissagree about it, you do things your way and I'll do them mine.
Here are some situations where you don't want auto updates:
The above constitutes a majority of installations. Most people still have dial up. Most people prefer the hottest software around. It is difficult to get upgrades over a modem unless you scale back to stable and only take what security.debian.org offers.
How does Microsoft do the same thing, you might ask. Obviously, they don't.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
That's true, but there are some very encouraging signs too.
The problem is that some people are producing magazines that pretend to be news, but are really advertisements. These magazines will continue to ignore everything but their patron's wares and will always be clueless. They also continue to offer FUD to reassure clueless administrators their money was well spent. Microsoft planned to spend more than a billion dollars promoting XP and that kind of money feeds an entire ecosystem of shills and quacks. "Computer" magazines that don't cover free software but instead encourage you to purchase eXPensive junk are not worth reading.
The good news is that reputable news outlets are catching on. They are specifying what OS and software are effected by what they used to call "computer viruses". Most have penetrated the SCO FUD machine and reported it for what it is. Microsoft can shake their advertising budget at them still, but reputable news sources are going to pick credibility over the wishes of an advertiser.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Seems like a reliable source of information ...
I was one of the interviewees for Jason Scott's BBS documentary. One of the things that I think is going to be successfully communicated (otherwise I'm going to go find Jason and make him do three more DVD's) is that BBS's are not a thing of the past -- the community is alive and well, albeit changed a bit. The days of dialup are definitely over, but people are finding more and more that they need to connect with people. It's so much more satisfying (for those with an actual brain that functions, anyway) than mindlessly consuming the big corporations' attempts to move everything into CONSUME OUR CONTENT format.
It's the reason people love 'blogs, it's the reason they love IRC, and it's the reason they love sites like mine (see sig) that still follow the traditional BBS format. In some ways it's even better now, with the ability to have lots of people on at once.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
BSD has a lot to learn from GNU/Linux regarding security. There have been less exploits found in the BSDs, but we all know that more eyes leads to a more secure product. And I really refuse to believe that most people do not hack the source code. Every mum and dad has dreams every night of helping to further the GNU/Linux cause. If they dont, then they are teh sux0r and are lusers.
I honestly can't figure out if you're a troll, illinformated, or what... but nonetheless you really need to check out OpenBSD.
Know why the BSD's have a pretty good track record? It's not because people aren't hacking it (BSDs use alot of the same software and thus have the same exploits that Linux does), but rather it's due in large part to OpenBSD and their line by line code security audit.
Yup that's right, the OpenBSD guys audit all code before it's released, specifically looking for things like buffer exploits and the likes. When they're found, the results are shared w/the other BSDs and fixed.
Using the tput command, you can be portable and get great results every time!
Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks: temporary loans from the Public Domain, not real property ("intellectual" or otherwise)
You know something, that's an awful good idea!
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
On Friday the last day of the MySQL Users' Convention (not be be confused with the previous MySQL User's Conventions held in Monty's home, but I digress...) I walked across the street to the former FAO Schwartz-themed shopping mall and was mauled by a couple of guys touring on Segways amidst pedestrian traffic. Some kind of promotion company allowed people to ride a Segway (followed closely by a man riding a smaller, easier to manuver scooter, which is what I would have chosen, too, funnily enough) at tourists (Orlandoan's hate tourists). These guys were whooping it up about how drunk they were, barely avoiding the properly behaved British tourists all about. That's when I decided that the Segway really would require cities to be redesigned -- PRIOR to their mass adoptoin -- which has about as much chance as Darl McBride winning the Linus Torvalds Medal of Freedom.
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
You forgot the "must not be French" clause ;-)
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
I signed up for a SpyMac account when I read the post on the GMail story. Well here's my take on the service: SLOW and GLITCHY.
I had to sign up 3 times before it would take my information.
I've tried uploading my avatar for forums 7 times in 3 days and it still has yet to work. The same thing for selecting one of there a predefined picture.
The e-mail page itself takes up 5 minutes to load.
I sent a message from one of my accounts(www.2d.com) and it took 12 hours before it showed up in my inbox.
This service seems more like a beta products then a production ready system. A couple of suggestions:
-Cut back on the mac-esc graphics. They're killing your server.
- Maybe turn your storage down to 100 megs until you can scale to meet the demands of what you have.
- Give POP3/SMTP access to your system. See above 2 points.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
Except it doesn't. Not a standard system, and none of the distro's i've ever used ever had it. And if they did, it wouldn't properly update the stuff i'd compiled myself - so realistically, Linux can't have auto-updates unless they were entirely binary-only patches.
It's actual motorized scooters with small, 2-stroke engines. On my walk from the train stration to the building, I pass three storefronts selling these things for around $100-300. If you look around you'll see
The Segway is just getting caught in the crossfire and there probably some people who want to ban them as well, but the real problem is these scooters.
I have discovered a truly marvelous sig, unfortunately the sig limit is too small to contain i