Slashdot Mirror
Is the Internet Ready for Y2k?
THEsitemaster writes "Here is a story about how y2k compatible the net is. Although a White House spokesman has said it is compatible, there always is a chance that it isn't.... " Thank
god we've got white house spokespeople to reassure us.
I'm always a little suspicious of articles from MSNBC, and as far as I can tell, the point they are trying to make with this article is that we would be so much better off if the Internet were run from above by a government, or maybe, like, say, what about MSATAN!
First, I agree about the idiots.
Second, it's not a matrix, it's a net. Free advice: overdosing on Gibson can lead to reality problems.
Third, yes, the original arpanet was designed to go on functioning after a limited nuclear attack on the US. This does not mean that if you now take out several backbone(s) pieces simultaneously, things will not get very ugly. No, the 'net as a whole will not die. Yes, it might take you two hours to put in your trade order on E-trade.
Fourth, I would like to remind you that a single moderately clueful piece of (the Morris worm) code brought down a large portion of the net in less than a day. There are doomsday scenarios (e.g. check www.hackernews.com) which involve stealthy quickly-proliferating worms/viruses with highly unpleasant consequences (for the net, not for some individual machines).
Obviously, the net will not crash on Jan 1, 2000. However you seem to be claiming that the net will survive anything that could possibly be thrown at it. That is a much more doubtful assertion.
Kaa
Kaa
Kaa's Law: In any sufficiently large group of people most are idiots.
How many people reading /. keep a list of important IP addresses with their computer?
/.? The routers running the internet don't need DNS to keep routing, as long as you can put an IP address into your browser you will be happy.
In case of RNS failure (its happened a couple of times) can you still read
I've written a script which pulls out a handful of IP addresses from my bind cache every few hours, so I can drop back to an IP only level of connectivity when (not if) things break again. The biggest problem with broken DNS is sendmail implementations which require a DNS lookup before accepting/processing a connection.
the AC
Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
You know, a lot of people get really nervous when they have to speak in public. Granted, those people shouldn't get into politics. Granted, as well, that some of the things Al Gore said are outrageously funny and off the wall. But give the guy a little slack! I know I've said some dumb things under pressure, and I'm not even nervous in public. I sympathize with the poor guy who can't do anything right (sometimes it seems that I'm that way, too!).
:P
And besides, I invented SlashDot.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
True, but how do you explain _Earth in the Balance_"? I suppose he was under a publisher's deadline? ;)
Geeky modern art T-shirts