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Linux Flourishes In 200-Year-Old Gold Markets
tbarkerload writes "H-Online [a spin off of a major German daily] reports on a gold trader managing over 15 tonnes of gold, worth $660m, with a platform built on open source tech. BullionVault operates a 24-7 electronic market in gold bullion open to both retail and professional traders. Their systems handle thousands of daily transactions from both human traders and bots operating through their API. If Linux has reached the world of hundred year old assaying firms, and Swiss vaults buried in mountains, can final world domination be too far away?"
660 million?
Pitiful.
Hey, guess what OS the stock exchanges of NY, London, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Tokyo, etc are built on?
If you REALLY want to talk about world domination, I'd start there instead of some two-bit (ok, 5.3 billion-bit) gold exchange.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Well, considering that the other options are Windows, Solaris, or custom...it's not really that surprising. At least with Linux they know what they are getting into in terms of holes, etc.
Dashboard Widgets
Millions of gigabits of internet data are handled every second by Linux based servers, worldwide, including a significant traffic for modern reworkings of the world's oldest profession.
Quick question: Is anyone else buying up physical, in-your-possession gold? Given all that's been going on, it seems like it's virtually impossible for major currencies *not* to get severely devalued. The massive underfunded pension tidal waves, medicare programs, new spending, banks that will be unable to pay back loans...
I recently bought at Bullion Direct, a few Canadian Maple gold coins. Well, Bullion Vault just got some free advertising, because it looks like they offer a better deal on an ounce of gold. But I think you're best off buying in coin form since you may have some defense in the even the government decides to seize gold; it will probably exempt some small amount for "collector's purposes", which wouldn't apply to bars.
Information theory is life. The rest is just the KL divergence.
No.
Just that no one really noticed.
What more evidence than M$FT laying off code monkeys do you need? It's all downhill from here. Hang on, it's gonna be one heck of a ride.
In Liberty, Rene
Announcing the first release of Bitcoin, a new open source peer-to-peer electronic cash system that's completely decentralized, with no central server or trusted parties. Users hold the crypto keys to their own money and transact directly with each other, with the help of the network to check for double-spending.
http://www.bitcoin.org/
(nothing stopping that being used with PM)
One of my Everquest guild mates (from a LONG time ago) was a security admin for a gold mine and he told me that they were training him in breaking Linux. Ironically, he played a rogue and he was a good one. Ever since then I've been thinking about how many high risk/high security places use OSS.
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
Their systems handle thousands of daily transactions from both human traders and bots operating through their API.
Who exactly is impressed by this statement? I'm not. Even if it were hundreds of thousands of transactions per day that would still be virtually nothing. A DOS service running on a rusty 386 should be able to handle that with plenty of breathing room.
Trust me. The dollar will not fail.
If China allowed the dollar to tank, the American economy would make the current crisis look like paradise. Oil would be unaffordable. Our reserves would be locked up for military use. The power vacuum left by a rapidly destabilized American military would fuck shit up. You'd probably have dozens of wars spring up, especially in the middle east, as Europe and Asia battle over the energy reserves currently under our control. Israel would probably end up dropping a pre-emptive nuke to make everyone think twice about moving in their direction. Who knows which way Russia would swing.
So, the world isn't going to let America fail at the moment, since no one knows how better or worse off they'd be. That's why the dollar is up since the crisis. China may have all of our money, but we still have more military power than the rest of the world combined.
And gold? Gold isn't going to get you to the border, or to any place of safety. You should buy a dirtbike and a shitload of ammunition if you think the dollar is going to fail. Gold won't buy much more than cash if everyone is starving.
Plus, your fears about spending are basically groundless. During WWII we drove up our deficit to unbelievable highs - wars are expensive, that's why taxes should go up when a country goes to war. McCain said in 2003: "The tax cut is not appropriate until we find out the cost of the war and the cost of reconstruction." That was, of course, before he starting toeing the line for the real political power in the GOP.
We can afford national healthcare, stimulus packages, more education, and ponies if we reduce military spending, which is currently at a trillion dollars a year. Empire is what is bankrupting the country, not social spending.
I meant to expand on this, but China doesn't actually have all of our money, just the most out of any foreign country, along with Japan. I still think they hold enough to do some damage, though, if they switch entirely to Euros or something else.
Systems that account for physical possession of gold, whether allocated and stored under individuals' identities, or unallocated and used in other transactions (as banks do with money) do not rely upon any specific accounting or transaction system. There are many ways of keeping track of gold accounts, including purely manual records on paper. They all work, if that is the intent. A gold trader that touts its linux system of accounting and trading as somehow essential, or as giving it some sort of advantage in the world gold market, is suspicious. The key point of this article is that apparently no one is allowed to confirm that the gold actually exists. Good luck.
If Linux has reached the world of hundred year old assaying firms, and Swiss vaults buried in mountains, can final world domination be too far away?"
Yeah, we just need a few nuclear exchanges. Linux and roaches, FTW!
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
quality, D&D free sex workers put exceptional time and training both into their physical and social skills.
D&D? What does Dungeons and Dragons have to do with the sex trade?
Or is this just a clever commercial for BullionVault being pitched at the Linux loving Slashdot community?
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
... and it wants its "Linux being used in X industry... Yaaay... " story back.
I don't know, when i see a story about handling a lot of money and open source i just can think it's probably because they prefer to have people auditing the code for "free" and fix them quickly. Something that is really hard to achieve with proprietary software as they sometimes go with security through obscurity or take a while to deploy patches.
My doomsday device, sitting quietly in orbit above your precious little planet and patiently awaiting activation, runs linux! Celebrate, puny humans, for soon thou shalt be destroyed by the Great Old Penguin.
weinersmith
Honestly, I've been a Linux advocate since - oh - '96 or so, and a linux user fulltime since 2004. However, I've recently just about given up on Desktop Linux at least. I migrated my primary laptop from Linux (openSUSE) to Vista a few weeks back simply because there were too many things not working the way I felt they needed to be.
I could get around most of the constant need for IE by using Crossover Office or IES4Linux. However, more and more sites are requiring IE7 or plugins which don't work in Wine. Running VirtualBox or VMWare works but drags the computer down way too much. (And I could never convince RIM to make a Blackberry desktop program for Linux, in spite of four years of asking them at least monthly. Oh, and neither VirtualBox nor VMWare seems to let me synch my blackberry when running under Linux.)
I might be wrong, but I see the ease of use of Wintendo much more than of Linux, especially for desktops. Yes, it is true that *nix is already in use on embedded devices such as my DSL router, my ethernet router, my son's Didj handheld game system, my wife's TiVO and on our Satellite NAV system in the car. However, there just "seems" to be something missing from the desktop arena.
Since switching the laptop to Vista (after almost two years on openSUSE), I've noticed a few things. First, it never fails to connect to my wireless (WPA encrypted/no SSID broadcast) network at home. Under openSUSE, I would routinely connect instead to my neighbor's network and have serious trouble connecting to mine, unless I went to the CLI and typed in su rcnetwork restart.
Second, I can now finally fill in PDF forms and save teh data. You wouldnt' think this was a big deal, but it is for me. (I'm a PHB.) There is an OSS java program but it would routinely fail for me.
Third, I can actually get on my corporate WAN via the new Juniper web-based VPN. (Yes, I've written to Juniper to ask them not to use ActiveX for this.)
Fourth, flash based and java based web applications work faster and better. Though I use Firefox, I do have IE tab running.
Now, in fairness, I've had my share of issues. After installing Office2007 (only because OOo 3.x doesn't support comments and versions in documents) I started crashing. I even got a few bluescreens. Also, on about every other day, my laptop will simply shut off. I have no idea why.
Will I continue to use Linux? You bet! I have it running on another older laptop, which i use to SSH into my home network from work or whereever. (I have a static IP at home.) I can use this for a proxy or simply to diagnose an issue my wife or kids might be having.
However, I don't see it taking over the desktop anytime soon. Had this question been asked of me two years ago, I woudl have said and emphatic, "yes." However I think that the window of opportunity has slipped by and that the big money - Microshaft and The-Cult-of-Apple - have made it nearly impossible to let better technology succeed.
Mark me down as a troll if you wish, this is simply my $0.02.
(Oh, and I had to read this page in compatibility mode, because IE8 throws too many errors...)
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
Geek builds a robust OS and gives it out for free. Banker drops paid OS and uses the free stuff. Banker hires geek and pays peanuts for a support role.
For a while, they deployed OpenOffice as the word processing and spreadsheet application, but ran into problems. The wide range of multimedia documents and complex spreadsheets, often produced by Microsoft Office, that the company received were not reliably imported into OpenOffice. In the worst cases, some spreadsheets would crash OpenOffice Calc. As many of the documents were related to authenticating customers, pragmatism has meant that the company has switched to Microsoft Office, at least for the foreseeable future.
The foreseeable future...considering I heard almost that exact quote 10 years ago I don't think they'll be switching anytime in the next century. And the guy that said
But the whole point of the post was that Linux reached something so archaic -- not something at the forefront.
I hope you're being sarcastic because if not you're very sad and very, very dumb.
Finally! 2009 shall be the Year of Linux on the Mountaintop!
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Oh FFS, the year is 2009 not 1999. Linux being used for servers in big business and multinationals is not newsworthy. Linux is a mainstream server platform. This is a "dog bites man" story and isn't worth our attention.
this is so weird. talking gold investing on slashdot? i like gold but this mainstream attention is driving me crazy - there is a bubble in every market and i can't figure out how much time in this gold bull run we have. i guess its still not considered normal for people to hold gold as an investment like it is with the stock market (or was). concerning inflation - i am not so sure about predicting the outcome. much wealth was wiped out and printing some trillions might not be enough to cause enough inflation. however, in the case of deflation which is happening now (and gold is doing fine) i wouldn't worry about gold either becouse gold is actually money.
BullionVault have an external auditor and daily reconciliations.
This week there are three people who have enticed me to buy gold: 1. My banker 2. My wife 3. Slashdot I am used to the first two trying to convince me to buy something that would fall in value. This is the first time Slashdot has joined them. Et tu Brute. My feeling: $650 per troy ounce by next year.
"Didn't atleast one of those suffer major down time after switching from unix to windows?" - by RiotingPacifist (1228016) on Thursday April 23, @07:16PM (#27695839)
NASDAQ keeps on running 24x7, into the fabled "5-9's" of 99.999% uptime using Windows Server 2003 + SQLServer 2005 (in failover clusters) since late 2005, acting as the official dissemination system of official trade data:
----
NASDAQ Migrates to SQL Server 2005:
http://windowsfs.com/enews/nasdaq-migrates-to-sql-server-2005 [windowsfs.com] [windowsfs.com]
&/or
NASDAQ Uses SQL Server 2005 - Reducing Costs through Better Data Management:
http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2007/09/17/sqlauthority-news-nasdaq-uses-sql-server-2005-reducing-costs-through-better-data-management/
"NASDAQ, the worlds first electronic stock market replaced its aging mainframe computers with Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 on two 4-node clusters to support its Market Data Dissemination System (MDDS). Every trade processed in the NASDAQ marketplace goes through the system with Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 handling some 5,000 transactions per second at market open. The system also responds to about 10,000 queries a day and is able to handle real-time queries against data without slowing the database down."
+
Case Studies - Financial Services:
http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/cs-financial-roi.aspx?pf=true
"NASDAQ Deploys SQL Server 2005 to Support Real-Time Trade Booking and Queries
NASDAQ, which became the worlds first electronic stock market in 1971, and remains the largest U.S. electronic stock market, is constantly looking for more-efficient ways to serve its members. As the organization prepared to retire its aging large mainframe computers, it deployed Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 on two 4-node clusters to support its Market Data Dissemination System (MDDS). Every trade that is processed in the NASDAQ marketplace goes through the MDDS system, with SQL Server 2005 handling some 5,000 transactions per second at market open. SQL Server 2005 simultaneously handles about 100,000 queries a day, using SQL Server 2005 Snapshot Isolation to support real-time queries against the data without slowing the database. NASDAQ is enjoying a lower total cost of ownership compared to the large mainframe computer system that the SQL Server 2005 deployment has replaced."
----
You want PROOF of that "stability/uptime", you say?
OK, see here -> http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=MarketShare
"NASDAQ is renowned for its high performance technology and has proven reliability with 99.999+% uptime. Whats more, firms count on NASDAQ for unsurpassed speed and tested capacity to execute trades quickly and efficiently."
APK
"Microshaft and The-Cult-of-Apple - have made it nearly impossible to let better technology succeed." - by filesiteguy (695431) on Thursday April 23, @09:53PM (#27697105) Homepage
"Better technology"?
It's going to be "tough sledding" convincing anyone of that, after this:
(Especially since the 'topic @ hand' is stock exchanges)
And on that note/in THAT arena? Well, take a read below next:
NASDAQ keeps on running 24x7, into the fabled "5-9's" of 99.999% uptime using Windows Server 2003 + SQLServer 2005 (in failover clusters) since late 2005, acting as the official dissemination system of official trade data:
----
NASDAQ Migrates to SQL Server 2005:
http://windowsfs.com/enews/nasdaq-migrates-to-sql-server-2005 [windowsfs.com] [windowsfs.com]
&/or
NASDAQ Uses SQL Server 2005 - Reducing Costs through Better Data Management:
http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2007/09/17/sqlauthority-news-nasdaq-uses-sql-server-2005-reducing-costs-through-better-data-management/
"NASDAQ, the worlds first electronic stock market replaced its aging mainframe computers with Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 on two 4-node clusters to support its Market Data Dissemination System (MDDS). Every trade processed in the NASDAQ marketplace goes through the system with Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 handling some 5,000 transactions per second at market open. The system also responds to about 10,000 queries a day and is able to handle real-time queries against data without slowing the database down."
+
Case Studies - Financial Services:
http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/cs-financial-roi.aspx?pf=true
"NASDAQ Deploys SQL Server 2005 to Support Real-Time Trade Booking and Queries
NASDAQ, which became the worlds first electronic stock market in 1971, and remains the largest U.S. electronic stock market, is constantly looking for more-efficient ways to serve its members. As the organization prepared to retire its aging large mainframe computers, it deployed Microsoft® SQL Server 2005 on two 4-node clusters to support its Market Data Dissemination System (MDDS). Every trade that is processed in the NASDAQ marketplace goes through the MDDS system, with SQL Server 2005 handling some 5,000 transactions per second at market open. SQL Server 2005 simultaneously handles about 100,000 queries a day, using SQL Server 2005 Snapshot Isolation to support real-time queries against the data without slowing the database. NASDAQ is enjoying a lower total cost of ownership compared to the large mainframe computer system that the SQL Server 2005 deployment has replaced."
----
You want PROOF of that "stability/uptime", you say?
OK, see here -> http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=MarketShare
"NASDAQ is renowned for its high performance technology and has proven reliability with 99.999+% uptime. Whats more, firms count on NASDAQ for unsurpassed speed and tested capacity to execute trades quickly and efficiently."
APK
P.S.=> Any *NIX being "better technology" than THAT from above? Well, that'd be purely opinion, only (vs. facts above)... apk
More revenues for society to not mean the society is healthy, especially if wealth is being concentrated among fewer people. Plus, saying that revenues went up since we started cutting taxes in the 1980s is meaningless. If revenues didn't go up, you wouldn't be beating inflation.
Obviously, there is some point at which raising tax rates becomes damaging to an economy. Our rates seem to be just fine - we just need a simpler tax code that closes loopholes for corporations, since they pay some of the lowest effective tax rates in the industrialized world.
Elements of the Laffer Curve theory would explain why American businesses are doing so well, and middle class American citizens are not.
"I said at least 1" - by RiotingPacifist (1228016) on Friday April 24, @12:06PM (#27702907)
Who do you think you're fooling? At this point, it's fairly obvious you like to ask "loaded questions" (ones you already had answers to, in other words)...
So, to that (from myself)?
Well - You got a repsonse from me that was the OPPOSITE of what you wanted here -> http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1209893&cid=27700467 , showing NASDAQ keeps things running 5-9's/99.999+% uptime stable is all, Mr. Linux fan!
BOTTOM-LINE ON UPTIME, IS THIS:
The uptime experienced always depends on who's administering these things: I can't help it if NASDAQ does it right, & the LONDON, NORDIC, or OSLO STOCK EXCHANGE's, by way of comparison, cannot.
NYSE does well by Linux, eh?
OK - These places did not:
----
UBUNTU SERVERS HACKED:
http://it.slashdot.org/it/07/08/15/1341224.shtml
"Ubuntu had to shutdown 5 of 8 production servers that are sponsored by Canonical, when they started attacking other systems."
(That one I always found rather funny - the horses' "OWN MOUTH" being hacked (those who make a Linux no less, in other words))
----
How a Linux Server Gets Turned into a Zombie:
& here is a rather PERTINENT SET OF QUOTES, from it (especially to my initial statements above) ->
"I thought Macs and Linux boxes were somewhat safe from this type of activity.
Posted by: merkelcellcancer at August 16, 2007 1:51 PM
No, they are not...depends on your administration abilities (update frequency) and the default settings of your provider.
Posted by: Jojo at August 16, 2007 2:00 PM"
----
Critical Security Hole in Linux Wi-Fi:
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/15/1515259
----
Want more?
(Happy now?)
APK
P.S.=> So, that all "said & aside"?
NOT even a 'Nice Try' here, what w/ your initial "LOADED QUESTION", to which you already had the answer to, & I had totally reliable evidence vs. it, & still?? The main point is again/once more, this (with any computers)->
COMPUTER STABILITIES OFTEN DEPEND ON THE PEOPLE RUNNING THEM... apk
ok, nice to get the press coverage but an iPhone could probably handle "thousands" of daily transactions. compared to exchanges processing millions per second, this is not so impressive. a lot of them are using linux (NYSE at least uses it for some stuff, although they use AIX or z/OS for lots of stuff, too). it should come as no surprise to anyone that almost all financial markets operate on some type of unix or linux platform. really, what else would you use?
"Can final world domination be too far away?"
Yes, it's far. Next question.
RiotingPacifist, I think you're just upset that you had answers you did not count on here http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1209893&cid=27700467 that are in favor of Windows uptime and stability at a major stock exchange, and for far longer than anything you could put up using Linux. When NYSE gets to 5 years or better of 99.999+% uptime, then & only then RiotingPacifist, might be able to talk (because the best you had from the other stock exchanges that used Linux was what - 2 yrs. at best? Not even 1/2 as much time as Windows had)
"RiotingPacifist, I think you're just upset that you had answers you did not count on" - by MEK_LoveBug (1500039) on Saturday April 25, @07:19AM (#27711303)
Agreed, 110% - Per my subject-line, & realize 1 thing on your part:
He asked his "question", a truly loaded one, & he knew FULL well the answers he wanted (ahead of time)... but, didn't get (from myself @ least)...
Thus, I agree with you that he is a BIT 'upset' that I posted exactly the opposite, with verifiable proofs that my points were indeed, fact, here -> http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1209893&cid=27700467 ...
So, the NYSE does well on Linux, does it?
Heh, funny then, how these folks (that produce Linux distros, no less), didn't do "so well", eh? See these:
====
UBUNTU SERVERS HACKED:
http://it.slashdot.org/it/07/08/15/1341224.shtml
"Ubuntu had to shutdown 5 of 8 production servers that are sponsored by Canonical, when they started attacking other systems."
----
THAT, &/or
----
RED HAT, FEDORA SERVERS COMPROMISED:
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/22/1341247
"In an email sent to the fedora-announce mailing list, it has been revealed that both Fedora and Red Hat servers have been compromised"
====
(Those 2 I have always found rather funny - the horses' "OWN MOUTH(s)" being hacked (those who make a Linux no less, in other words))
"Nuff said", as the saying goes... &? Hey, on stability, as I said before, depends HUGELY on the PERSON(s) ADMINISTERING/RUNNING A COMPUTER or NETWORK! Period...
APK
P.S.=> And, folks here wonder here WHY I stick by Windows? See the above!
(Especially Windows Server 2003 fully service pack + current hotfix patched, & tuned/tweaked + security hardened to perfection)... apk