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Nominum Calls Open Source DNS "a Recipe For Problems"
Raindeer writes "Commercial DNS software provider Nominum, in an effort to promote its new cloud-based DNS service, SKYE, has slandered all open source/freeware DNS packages. It said: 'Given all the nasty things that have happened this year, freeware is a recipe for problems, and it's just going to get worse. ... So, whether it's Eircom in Ireland or a Brazilian ISP that was attacked earlier this year, all of them were using some variant of freeware. Freeware is not akin to malware, but is opening up those customers to problems.' This has the DNS community fuming. Especially when you consider that Nominum was one of the companies affected by the DNS cache poisoning problem of last year, something PowerDNS, MaraDNS and DJBDNS (all open source) weren't vulnerable to."
Linux seems to be fine for them to run their web server.
sig: sauer
I'll sum up their argument: We use security through obscurity, and that makes us better. You should pay us for that. Also, when we say "cloud-based," we really just mean "in our data centers." They're really abusing the definition of cloud computing, just because it's the current profit-generating buzzword.
SIG: HUP
I don't know about you, but any company that feels the only way they can sell their product is to basically slander their competitors isn't likely to get my attention. As it is, and as much of a pain in the ass as Bind can be, I have yet to encounter anything quite as powerful as Bind9. It's certainly not without flaws, but after having had to deal with the inadequacies of Microsoft's DNS, anyone who comes up to me and says "Oh yeah, those open source DNS servers are the lesser products" is either a liar or a moron.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
"But it is opening up these customers to problems." Nice, textbook FUD/propaganda. Put the thought out there. Deflect attention from your own failings. Lump all 'freeware' DNS into the same basket. Call it 'freeware' instead of Open Source to link it to badly written DOS/Windows programs. Wow, this company is sleazy. It would be such poetic justice for some grey hat hackers to take these goons down.
Open source DNS is tried and true, everyone uses it. No one was ever fired for installing BIND. This new flash in the pan company has been hacked before, how long until they are hacked again? Why trust your DNS to some untested startup using inappropriate buzzwords like 'cloud computing?' Why pay for what you can get for free? Why outsource your DNS to someone who may or may not be here tomorrow? Heh. We can play at the FUD game, too.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
... how can you trust these guys to write your DNS software? They're the very guys who were contracted to write Bind9, the foremost open source domain name server, which they're now complaining about.
The other question is if they are now using elements of the Bind9 source in their closed source system and are not properly disclosing it.
Posts not to be taken literally. Almost everything is sarcasm.
The argument will be that since they run Redhat it's not considered open source or freeware, even though it is a Linux distribution that is proprietary.
It is easy enough to prove that Red Hat is open source, the problem is that the "repeat the press release" standard of journalism of the article that accepts any assertion made by an interviewee or a press release as fact.
You really do need to look under the hood and kick the tyres. Maybe it's a Ferrari on the outside, but it could be an Austin Maxi on the inside.
He contradicts himself, he tells you to kick the tyres and look under the hood, and then touts his product which he explicitly states won't let you look under the hood...
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
+5 insightful. That's what most journalists do today - just publish the press release word-for-word, minus a few edits to make it fit inside the available column space or 1-minute soundbite. It's reached the point where you assume the journalists are just mouthpieces for the corporate liars (aka marketers).
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Have you ever even used Bind9? Yes, it's got a few hangovers from the olden days, but it is was damned powerful piece of software. Bind9 views are pretty much the most powerful networking server software component I've ever used. When I was the network admin for a small ISP, we had three separate WiFi networks that, because of the idiosyncrasies of the proprietary technology, each needed customized zones, as well as a Server 2000 AD network, and I was able to run all of them on a single set of Bind9 servers, as well as our public DNS servers for the domains we hosted. It took a bit of work to get it there (though not that much, like anything, it's more just getting used to the nomenclature).
As I recall, you can even plug an RDBMS like MySQL into it if that's how you want to manage your zones, though to be honest, I never much saw the point.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Because that's the job of a reporter -- to investigate, analyse, interpret and explain the information. Otherwise, the reporter is adding no value and simple economic theory would suggest that his/her job should disappear.
And newspaper owners wonder why they are losing business?
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
We have heard that tired, old argument before, a few idiot CIOs will swallow it, happy to pay top dollar for something that the free s/ware does better. Let them, as long as Nominum sticks to the RFCs and doesn't fork the spec - we don't care.
Do not fume about it. Do not rage on a forum about it. Do not send you buddy and e-mail pointing out the stupidity of their comments. Make a press release containing the facts and release it.
The cancel button is your friend. Do not hesitate to use it.