and that would be (drumroll).........cost! Okay, so this is a what percent improvement over the previous generation? Who (besides high end gamers and developers) will be able to even notice a difference? Finally, what possible motivation would they have for purchasing a card that is likely going to be more expensive than their entire current computer (monitor inclusive if you have a CRT)...?
Tell that to the thousands of couples that pay literally tens of thousands of dollars to freeze embryos who are going through the painful process of fertility without insurance to help. And we are also not talking about uni-(a.k.a. singular)-celluar gametes. We are talking about embryos...fully formed and developed to a certain growth of cells. Remember your high school biology?
If not, this site may be helpful: Embryo Development I would also submit that if you do not remember this it could possibly be because you haven't had the class yet, which means the $10 large is likely a monetary figure you have yet to see in your bank account.
I am no scientist, but if cells multiple by 2 every 24 hours (and this is a conservative estimate as division speeds with each passing hour. It is likely at least 10 times this size, but to keep things simple here, we'll assume single replication per day.) This is at day 12, (when the freezing process takes place)
4096 cells (not gigs of RAM:) )constitutes an embryo, and is what I would call a living being even though it needs a host. This is hardly a "unicellular gamete". while I grant you it is certainly not anywhere near the size of a mouse, due to the tens of thousands of dollars invested, failure can be quite tragic. If you invested $10 large to freeze an embryo for development later, how would you feel about that dying versus a mouse due to a failed process? My money (figuratively) is that you would be a little more upset at the former...
Cryogenics is for real? People have been freezing their eggs and embryos for years, and reducing temperature has long been known to slow the metabolism. What grandiose parent organization funded research to prove the obvious? Instead, you should have given me the research funds and I would study the effects of caffeine in underpaid technicians for periods of 5+ years. Provided of course I could publish the results independantly in book form for additional subsidies from the likes of Barnes and Noble and Amazon!
[/rant]
In all seriousness though, as the most of the previous posts do seem to lean toward this end of sarcasm and wit, the larger issue is that grant and research dollars are being funneled to projects like this. At what point do we step up and say stop wasting our tax dollars?
Who said anything about loading software onto the non-boot partition? I was referring to setting up files and docs (spreadsheets, databases, word processing docs) on it's own drive. In response to the above post, you can and should relocate the My Documents folder in Windows - been doing it for years. I also can't begin to relate how many times I've looked like some sort of hero because I had to re-load Windows on a box for someone and they were freaking out because they thought they lost the docs and everything.
After performing a network install, and pushing down all the apps and updates, I mapped their My Documents folder back from the network location (or a slaved drive if a stand alone PC) and presto change-o, their docs and everything are right where they were prior to the OS failure. That's just common practice in a network environment (at least it should be) - and for anyone who knows anything about computing with any kind of exposure in the industry.
Anyone who has been reluctant to have their My Docs folder set up as a network storage share and insists on having it locally, I always give a speech to the extent of the following: "Just so you know - if Windows craps out or your hard drive crashes for any reason, all we can do is re-load the OS and network apps. We will not be able to recover any files stored locally. So...if you insist on storing your docs and such there, you'll need to sign this release stating that you acknowledge the risks of working in a non-supported environment." At that point, they usually grumble "fine" and either let me put the PC into a best practices setup, or sign the release and mosey on their way. Either way, I know that they are either in compliance, or if they are not, they have acknowledged that there is no support there for them if anything ever happens.
This article has not, nor have any of the comments thus far, spoken to the underlying hardware issues. While there will always be costs for OS and software upgrades outside the open sourced community (I don't see anyone balking at Oracle upgrades, Adobe product development, and a host of others...), the fundamental point is that the underlying hardware will support an upgrade whenever you the end user decides to make that migration. For some of us, that upgrade will happen sooner, while for others, much later.
For most/.'ers, I submit that upgrades will be easier than that of the average consumer, cost factors and functionality issues notwithstanding. The article and most comments thus far have suggested that upgrading an OS from one iteration to the next is filled with potholes, and to have to pay for that inconvenience is insulting. If that truly is the case, then clearly, you can hold off on another purchase for the time being. If you absolutely must purchase, why not spend a few extra bucks on a 40 GB drive over at Newegg and throw the OS and programs on one and your docs and files on the other. When it comes time to upgrade - install the whole bugger from scratch again. It's likely a new install will clean up a few things along the way anyway!
You really believe that the same demographic will consider a Mac or a Dell? I've got news for you...$300 for a PC versus $1200 is a HUGE difference. The former are people that most likely do not have a lot of disposable income and probably do not have any college education (or minimal), while the latter clearly has more disposable income to invest in a higher end computer. They also are more likely to have better education, their socio-economic status is likely higher as well. Perhaps an analogy that is more understandable for you would be cars. Do you think that a Ferrari is going to market the same crowd as a Ford Focus? They are not chasing the same market - their customer base is different. But that's just Captain Obvious at work again!:)
Throwing percentages and numbers around are dangerous questions that will either not be moderated up or even if they are, and they are selected for questioning to IE developers, will likely be dismissed as arbitrary. It's better to ask in terms of generalities, so my suggestion would be something along the lines of the following:
Browser comeptition is likely to continue in the marketplace, and as such, the feature sets of browsers will vary in order to appeal to a certain user base. Firefox has become something of the de facto standard for developers, to the extent that many web designers follow the practice of "design with FF in mind" while adding scripting and such to correct for what are commonly referred to as IE tweaks. Given this environment, there are 5 germane questions to ask:
1. Does the Microsoft vision for IE7 place it in comeptition with Firefox as the browser of choice for developers?
2. If so, what feature sets will IE7 have that can compete with Firefox and the open source community, and will those features include increased recognition and compliance with W3C standards?
3. Often times I find myself opening IE for simply Microsoft functions that I otherwise cannot do in my browser of choice. Will cross-based browser support ever occur for common Microsoft functions like Windows and Office updates?
4. As IE7 goes public as an update for those in a post-Windows 2000 environment, are there plans to make this upgrade available for businesses that still rely on those features of the Windows 2000 family of clients and servers?
5. Finally, as some businesses rely on certain functionalities embedded in IE6 that are no longer there in IE7, are there plans to allow for dual instances of IE6 and IE7 in the future to allow for software and program compatability for businesses and their 3rd party vendors?
The article does leave you wanting more with that teaser at the end, but that doesn't mean the article is not complete, nor does it mean it was a waste of time. If this is an ongoing series, that will span several articles, then it is definitely not a waste of time. As mentioned upthread, I found it quite interesting and enlightening on the subject of why Mac doesn't license its OS to 3rd parties - it tried and the effort was a disaster.
The other interesting component of the article I found was the distinction in market share. While it makes perfect sense to segregate Apple from Dell and HP as not in the same market, (just as BMW doesn't share the same market as Ford and Chevy) the comparison had not crossed my mind until the author mentioned it specifically. Thus, the article (for me) was both informative and thought provoking.
I actually am looking forward to the next article to read more on the perception of their take on what turned things around for
Apple. And fwiw, my take on what turned things around was the change in marketing strategies and the return of Jobs.
The analogy here is a false one because the conclusion reached is one of altruism. Hardly - the conclusion reached is good customer service. "Here is a product that is working badly for you. (Microsoft) I will be happy to fix it for you, and if you would like, I can also teach you about this better product (Macintosh). You will still need service occasionally, but not to the degree that you do on your current product."
The end result - a better educated client - who, appreciating being taught how to fish instead of being spoon-fed can give you the best kind of advertising there is, word-of-mouth. This has absolutely nothing to do with altruism versus maintaining an economic status quo. My initial reply was addressing the previous persons' seemingly careless attitude toward his clientelle, to which I suggested an approach of caring as opposed to the insular approach of "keeping the customer ignorant". The former will have better long-term benefits, with the added ability to look oneself in the mirror every morning. Human nature is not to laugh at the ignorance or misfortune of others, it is to help ones fellow man.
Of course your Mac is safe, the OP article spoke to the Windows-specific nature of the trojan. Keep talking up the Mac though. More and more people are moving toward it, and I could see a day where trojans, ad-wares, spywares, and virus-writers start seeing the merit of engineering their wares toward the Mac OS. Hmmm...writing wares for an OS based on an open-sourced kernel...yeah, there's no danger in that [/sarcasm]
On a more serious note, please tell us you are speaking metaphorically about your laughter, as laughing at the resource which, by your own admission, provides you a job, does not paint you in the best of lights. Laughing at the plights of others is not only in bad taste, it certainly does nothing to boost the image of the rest of the tech world. We, as technically-minded people, should be trying to help and educate those who are not as adept with IT security. Rather than laugh at the plight, try taking an understanding and resourceful approach. "Well Mr. So-and-so, it seems you've gotten this nasty little virus that actually is a fairly new kind of threat, which is why your AV didn't catch it. I actually read about this nasty bugger on a forum I visit, and have a solid way of removing it for you. Just to let you know, I have a Macintosh at home, and that is not even at risk since this was written for Windows. If you'd like, I'd be happy to schedule some time to go over the benefits of migration with you and your people (or family or employees, or friends)."
I bet that gets you further than the approach you mentioned in your post.
Naturally, this is a Windows specific little bugger. So, if you're running anything else, you should be okay. (Of course, the systems that us/.ers support are another story...) Sophos is the only vendor of the few big boys I searched that seems to have any info on this mal-ware with the "SpamThru" name. Of course, there are other variant names of this, so check with your vendor against these other possible iteratives:
Fair point about lack of upgradability, but given the assumption of a 5 year life cycle for a computer, these are PC's that are at, near, or beyond their life cycle and will likely be replaced at or around the time Vista is released (eventually, any computer will just die from use or obsolescence). Thus, while the OS may not specifically be upgraded, the odds of these people (mostly non-technical types)jumping to a Mac or Linux are unlikely, so a Vista box will probably be their next PC, which brings us back to the point of the OP - that Vista will ultimately manifest itself across a very large portion of the planet.
Even in the event Linux and other OS's continue to increase in popularity, it is a safe and conservative estimate that Microsoft would still garner at least 50% of the market share. That in and of itself suggests that discussing security vulnerabilities should be addressed in the manner suggested in the OP as opposed to a net meeting.
Who thought of this? MS wants to keep kernel secret, then capitulates, and schedules conference with security vendors, then admits it screwed up and schedules another one for people to attend. A net meeting?!?! To discuss security of an OS?!?!?! Does this not set off flags in the minds of the security sector? I am sorry but if I want to discuss such sensitive things as OS kernel and API programming and how to avoid, detect and remove malicious apps from infecting the OS, I do this face-to-face with people that are screened, background checked, and sign NDA's specifying to whom they can talk to and consequences if they reveal anything proprietary to anyone w/out express written consent.
Perhaps I am anal that way, but come on, we're talking about an OS that will likely suceed the millions of Windows 98, 2000 and XP in the vast majority of homes and businesses across the planet!
A lot of the dialogue thus far has centered around either the "who cares" mentality, or "yada yada yada...just scientists theorizing and refuting each other over time".
One of the posts that was actually nearer the mark mentioned that as technology gets better, so to do our means of verifying and refuting existing theories on possible resources for further exploration. Say we stopped doing research based on the presumptions of 20 years ago and spent trillions to get all the supplies up to the Southern Pole only to find no water. How smart would we think we were then? I'd rather see a couple million spent on research to refute/verify theories instead of trillions to attempt imlementation of practical efforts to extract energy based on flawed theory.
The dangers of shortsided thinking
on
School Bans 'Tag'
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· Score: 1
While I can understand the need for schools to protect themselves from the litigious nature of society, this goes too far, and also does not take into account the long term downsides. I fear for our youth who will grow up obese, diabetic, on Ridalin, and are unsocialized. When the youth of today grow up and are walking down the streets of New York are they going to sue everyone that dares to nudge them on the busy sidewalks? Oh wait - they won't be on the sidewals because the city will have banned walking in public for fear of being sued!
Actually, the OP to which I was replying was the fact that the medium for music has evolved from record to tape to CD and is now playable in a digital format which suggests that it has a much much longer lifespan - limited only by the drive that it is saved on. Granted these do crash, but the premise is that if you backup your data, you can perpetuate your music files indefinitely. How can you perpetuate a light bulb?
Right - it's the tungsten bulbs that drive the industry and these have designed obsolescence built in. Sure there are better bulbs out, but as you indicated, they are either too expensive or too blue. The overarching point is that the tungsten bulb, by design is planned to die so you have to buy a replacement. This concept is what was alluded to in SatanicPuppy's comment about product constancy over time.
The author (me) was writing tongue in cheek - but as I indicated upthread a ways, apparently either I didn't code my sarcasm tags correctly or the browser didn't render them...is it or is it [sarcasm][/sarcasm]?
It's called built in obsolescence. Light bulb manufacturers use the same methods in their process. They could be more efficient and produce blubs that last for 5 years (and some do with the halogen or flourescent blubs or whatever), but that doesn't make good business sense for incandescant scene as it would be rendered obsolete and they would put themselves out of business through lack of product recycling.
I didn't know there was a converter kit for migrating vinyl tracks off an LP to your PC. That must plug into my ISA slot on the 386sx. Yes, the hoardes of people who are digitizing vinyl tracks and then getting scads of people downloading them represent an imminent threat to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. And I bet you can almost hear the music over the static!
Sounds like an oxymoron in the making
on
Oracle Linux?
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· Score: 1
Oracle is to Linux as Microsoft is to Open-sourced.
Oracle is to Linux as Military is to Intelligence
Oracle is to Linux as Free Speech is to Facism
Oracle is to Linux as.....(fill in your own here)
Why do I feel like I am taking the SAT's, GRE's, etc. all over again?
This just makes no sense. Why would a company develop an operating system that is a rebranded version of one that is available for free. Also, the way I understand the GNU, wouldn't they have to release the changes they make to the kernel to the community at large? In that case, why pay for it when you can re-compile it yourself. If not, and they pay to market a proprietary version of it, you know the cost of owning a proprietary version will far outweigh the benefit of marketing it. In terms of supporting only "their" version, this could backfire as I could see some of their client base saying, "Okay, in that case, we'll take a look at some alternative solutions."
The opinion piece compares the cost of the Athlon proc to the Core 2:
Let's take Dell for example - one of AMD's big wins of the last year, and the one everyone is saying looks stupid now Intel is back. As a business customer, you can either buy the Dimension E521 for £499 + VAT (with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+), or the E520 for £50 more (with an Intel Core 2 Duo E6300). They're both dual-core, and the performance difference is essentially irrelevant to a business customer. But if you're buying 100 of them, you'd save £5,000 by going for the E521. That's a fairly easy decision for a financial director to make.
It's not always about the power, but rather the sock to the wallet, and when finances factor into decisions, a cheaper previous generation proc for a competitor will always win out over the current generation of the leading vendor. I would tend to agree with this assessment. Business decisions are most often made based on cost, not performance, and in IT, it seems more the case that long term consequences are not the predominant factor considered prior to making final decisions. it's always about the money...
While I can understand saefguarding and protecting Amerian citizens against "all threats foreign and domestic" - this does cross a line somewhat. Anything over 2 ounces? That sounds like about the amount of fluid in a common cigarette lighter. Does this mean smokers are next? What about ex-smokers? As an ex-smoker, am I now a subversive since I once used these volatile fluids in such amounts? (I easily lost a lighter a day in college - do the math, and over 4 years and 2 of grad school - that's a lotta lighter fluid!). Don't even mention my Zippo, either...
Slashdot Mirror
and that would be (drumroll).........cost! Okay, so this is a what percent improvement over the previous generation? Who (besides high end gamers and developers) will be able to even notice a difference? Finally, what possible motivation would they have for purchasing a card that is likely going to be more expensive than their entire current computer (monitor inclusive if you have a CRT)...?
[/rant]
Tell that to the thousands of couples that pay literally tens of thousands of dollars to freeze embryos who are going through the painful process of fertility without insurance to help. And we are also not talking about uni-(a.k.a. singular)-celluar gametes. We are talking about embryos...fully formed and developed to a certain growth of cells. Remember your high school biology?
:) )constitutes an embryo, and is what I would call a living being even though it needs a host. This is hardly a "unicellular gamete". while I grant you it is certainly not anywhere near the size of a mouse, due to the tens of thousands of dollars invested, failure can be quite tragic. If you invested $10 large to freeze an embryo for development later, how would you feel about that dying versus a mouse due to a failed process? My money (figuratively) is that you would be a little more upset at the former...
If not, this site may be helpful: Embryo Development I would also submit that if you do not remember this it could possibly be because you haven't had the class yet, which means the $10 large is likely a monetary figure you have yet to see in your bank account.
I am no scientist, but if cells multiple by 2 every 24 hours (and this is a conservative estimate as division speeds with each passing hour. It is likely at least 10 times this size, but to keep things simple here, we'll assume single replication per day.) This is at day 12, (when the freezing process takes place)
1x2 = 2 (day 1)
2x2 = 4 (day 2)
4x2 = 8 (day 3)
8x2 = 16 (day 4)
16x2 = 32 (day 5)
32x2 = 64 (day 6)
64x2 = 128 (day 7)
128x2 = 256 (day 8)
256x2 = 512 (day 9)
512x2 = 1024 (day 10)
1024x2 = 2048 (day 11)
2048x2 = 4096 (day 12)
4096 cells (not gigs of RAM
Cryogenics is for real? People have been freezing their eggs and embryos for years, and reducing temperature has long been known to slow the metabolism. What grandiose parent organization funded research to prove the obvious? Instead, you should have given me the research funds and I would study the effects of caffeine in underpaid technicians for periods of 5+ years. Provided of course I could publish the results independantly in book form for additional subsidies from the likes of Barnes and Noble and Amazon! [/rant] In all seriousness though, as the most of the previous posts do seem to lean toward this end of sarcasm and wit, the larger issue is that grant and research dollars are being funneled to projects like this. At what point do we step up and say stop wasting our tax dollars?
Who said anything about loading software onto the non-boot partition? I was referring to setting up files and docs (spreadsheets, databases, word processing docs) on it's own drive. In response to the above post, you can and should relocate the My Documents folder in Windows - been doing it for years. I also can't begin to relate how many times I've looked like some sort of hero because I had to re-load Windows on a box for someone and they were freaking out because they thought they lost the docs and everything.
After performing a network install, and pushing down all the apps and updates, I mapped their My Documents folder back from the network location (or a slaved drive if a stand alone PC) and presto change-o, their docs and everything are right where they were prior to the OS failure. That's just common practice in a network environment (at least it should be) - and for anyone who knows anything about computing with any kind of exposure in the industry.
Anyone who has been reluctant to have their My Docs folder set up as a network storage share and insists on having it locally, I always give a speech to the extent of the following: "Just so you know - if Windows craps out or your hard drive crashes for any reason, all we can do is re-load the OS and network apps. We will not be able to recover any files stored locally. So...if you insist on storing your docs and such there, you'll need to sign this release stating that you acknowledge the risks of working in a non-supported environment." At that point, they usually grumble "fine" and either let me put the PC into a best practices setup, or sign the release and mosey on their way. Either way, I know that they are either in compliance, or if they are not, they have acknowledged that there is no support there for them if anything ever happens.
This article has not, nor have any of the comments thus far, spoken to the underlying hardware issues. While there will always be costs for OS and software upgrades outside the open sourced community (I don't see anyone balking at Oracle upgrades, Adobe product development, and a host of others...), the fundamental point is that the underlying hardware will support an upgrade whenever you the end user decides to make that migration. For some of us, that upgrade will happen sooner, while for others, much later. For most /.'ers, I submit that upgrades will be easier than that of the average consumer, cost factors and functionality issues notwithstanding. The article and most comments thus far have suggested that upgrading an OS from one iteration to the next is filled with potholes, and to have to pay for that inconvenience is insulting. If that truly is the case, then clearly, you can hold off on another purchase for the time being. If you absolutely must purchase, why not spend a few extra bucks on a 40 GB drive over at Newegg and throw the OS and programs on one and your docs and files on the other. When it comes time to upgrade - install the whole bugger from scratch again. It's likely a new install will clean up a few things along the way anyway!
You really believe that the same demographic will consider a Mac or a Dell? I've got news for you...$300 for a PC versus $1200 is a HUGE difference. The former are people that most likely do not have a lot of disposable income and probably do not have any college education (or minimal), while the latter clearly has more disposable income to invest in a higher end computer. They also are more likely to have better education, their socio-economic status is likely higher as well. Perhaps an analogy that is more understandable for you would be cars. Do you think that a Ferrari is going to market the same crowd as a Ford Focus? They are not chasing the same market - their customer base is different. But that's just Captain Obvious at work again! :)
Throwing percentages and numbers around are dangerous questions that will either not be moderated up or even if they are, and they are selected for questioning to IE developers, will likely be dismissed as arbitrary. It's better to ask in terms of generalities, so my suggestion would be something along the lines of the following:
Browser comeptition is likely to continue in the marketplace, and as such, the feature sets of browsers will vary in order to appeal to a certain user base. Firefox has become something of the de facto standard for developers, to the extent that many web designers follow the practice of "design with FF in mind" while adding scripting and such to correct for what are commonly referred to as IE tweaks. Given this environment, there are 5 germane questions to ask:
1. Does the Microsoft vision for IE7 place it in comeptition with Firefox as the browser of choice for developers?
2. If so, what feature sets will IE7 have that can compete with Firefox and the open source community, and will those features include increased recognition and compliance with W3C standards?
3. Often times I find myself opening IE for simply Microsoft functions that I otherwise cannot do in my browser of choice. Will cross-based browser support ever occur for common Microsoft functions like Windows and Office updates?
4. As IE7 goes public as an update for those in a post-Windows 2000 environment, are there plans to make this upgrade available for businesses that still rely on those features of the Windows 2000 family of clients and servers?
5. Finally, as some businesses rely on certain functionalities embedded in IE6 that are no longer there in IE7, are there plans to allow for dual instances of IE6 and IE7 in the future to allow for software and program compatability for businesses and their 3rd party vendors?
The article does leave you wanting more with that teaser at the end, but that doesn't mean the article is not complete, nor does it mean it was a waste of time. If this is an ongoing series, that will span several articles, then it is definitely not a waste of time. As mentioned upthread, I found it quite interesting and enlightening on the subject of why Mac doesn't license its OS to 3rd parties - it tried and the effort was a disaster.
The other interesting component of the article I found was the distinction in market share. While it makes perfect sense to segregate Apple from Dell and HP as not in the same market, (just as BMW doesn't share the same market as Ford and Chevy) the comparison had not crossed my mind until the author mentioned it specifically. Thus, the article (for me) was both informative and thought provoking.
I actually am looking forward to the next article to read more on the perception of their take on what turned things around for Apple. And fwiw, my take on what turned things around was the change in marketing strategies and the return of Jobs.
The analogy here is a false one because the conclusion reached is one of altruism. Hardly - the conclusion reached is good customer service. "Here is a product that is working badly for you. (Microsoft) I will be happy to fix it for you, and if you would like, I can also teach you about this better product (Macintosh). You will still need service occasionally, but not to the degree that you do on your current product."
The end result - a better educated client - who, appreciating being taught how to fish instead of being spoon-fed can give you the best kind of advertising there is, word-of-mouth. This has absolutely nothing to do with altruism versus maintaining an economic status quo. My initial reply was addressing the previous persons' seemingly careless attitude toward his clientelle, to which I suggested an approach of caring as opposed to the insular approach of "keeping the customer ignorant". The former will have better long-term benefits, with the added ability to look oneself in the mirror every morning. Human nature is not to laugh at the ignorance or misfortune of others, it is to help ones fellow man.
Of course your Mac is safe, the OP article spoke to the Windows-specific nature of the trojan. Keep talking up the Mac though. More and more people are moving toward it, and I could see a day where trojans, ad-wares, spywares, and virus-writers start seeing the merit of engineering their wares toward the Mac OS. Hmmm...writing wares for an OS based on an open-sourced kernel...yeah, there's no danger in that [/sarcasm]
On a more serious note, please tell us you are speaking metaphorically about your laughter, as laughing at the resource which, by your own admission, provides you a job, does not paint you in the best of lights. Laughing at the plights of others is not only in bad taste, it certainly does nothing to boost the image of the rest of the tech world. We, as technically-minded people, should be trying to help and educate those who are not as adept with IT security. Rather than laugh at the plight, try taking an understanding and resourceful approach. "Well Mr. So-and-so, it seems you've gotten this nasty little virus that actually is a fairly new kind of threat, which is why your AV didn't catch it. I actually read about this nasty bugger on a forum I visit, and have a solid way of removing it for you. Just to let you know, I have a Macintosh at home, and that is not even at risk since this was written for Windows. If you'd like, I'd be happy to schedule some time to go over the benefits of migration with you and your people (or family or employees, or friends)."
I bet that gets you further than the approach you mentioned in your post.
Naturally, this is a Windows specific little bugger. So, if you're running anything else, you should be okay. (Of course, the systems that us /.ers support are another story...) Sophos is the only vendor of the few big boys I searched that seems to have any info on this mal-ware with the "SpamThru" name. Of course, there are other variant names of this, so check with your vendor against these other possible iteratives:
* Backdoor.Win32.Agent.uu
* Spam-DComServ
* TROJ_AGENT.BOR
Removal instructions can also be found here
Fair point about lack of upgradability, but given the assumption of a 5 year life cycle for a computer, these are PC's that are at, near, or beyond their life cycle and will likely be replaced at or around the time Vista is released (eventually, any computer will just die from use or obsolescence). Thus, while the OS may not specifically be upgraded, the odds of these people (mostly non-technical types)jumping to a Mac or Linux are unlikely, so a Vista box will probably be their next PC, which brings us back to the point of the OP - that Vista will ultimately manifest itself across a very large portion of the planet.
Even in the event Linux and other OS's continue to increase in popularity, it is a safe and conservative estimate that Microsoft would still garner at least 50% of the market share. That in and of itself suggests that discussing security vulnerabilities should be addressed in the manner suggested in the OP as opposed to a net meeting.
Who thought of this? MS wants to keep kernel secret, then capitulates, and schedules conference with security vendors, then admits it screwed up and schedules another one for people to attend. A net meeting?!?! To discuss security of an OS?!?!?! Does this not set off flags in the minds of the security sector? I am sorry but if I want to discuss such sensitive things as OS kernel and API programming and how to avoid, detect and remove malicious apps from infecting the OS, I do this face-to-face with people that are screened, background checked, and sign NDA's specifying to whom they can talk to and consequences if they reveal anything proprietary to anyone w/out express written consent.
Perhaps I am anal that way, but come on, we're talking about an OS that will likely suceed the millions of Windows 98, 2000 and XP in the vast majority of homes and businesses across the planet!
A lot of the dialogue thus far has centered around either the "who cares" mentality, or "yada yada yada...just scientists theorizing and refuting each other over time". One of the posts that was actually nearer the mark mentioned that as technology gets better, so to do our means of verifying and refuting existing theories on possible resources for further exploration. Say we stopped doing research based on the presumptions of 20 years ago and spent trillions to get all the supplies up to the Southern Pole only to find no water. How smart would we think we were then? I'd rather see a couple million spent on research to refute/verify theories instead of trillions to attempt imlementation of practical efforts to extract energy based on flawed theory.
While I can understand the need for schools to protect themselves from the litigious nature of society, this goes too far, and also does not take into account the long term downsides. I fear for our youth who will grow up obese, diabetic, on Ridalin, and are unsocialized. When the youth of today grow up and are walking down the streets of New York are they going to sue everyone that dares to nudge them on the busy sidewalks? Oh wait - they won't be on the sidewals because the city will have banned walking in public for fear of being sued!
Actually, the OP to which I was replying was the fact that the medium for music has evolved from record to tape to CD and is now playable in a digital format which suggests that it has a much much longer lifespan - limited only by the drive that it is saved on. Granted these do crash, but the premise is that if you backup your data, you can perpetuate your music files indefinitely. How can you perpetuate a light bulb?
Right - it's the tungsten bulbs that drive the industry and these have designed obsolescence built in. Sure there are better bulbs out, but as you indicated, they are either too expensive or too blue. The overarching point is that the tungsten bulb, by design is planned to die so you have to buy a replacement. This concept is what was alluded to in SatanicPuppy's comment about product constancy over time.
The author (me) was writing tongue in cheek - but as I indicated upthread a ways, apparently either I didn't code my sarcasm tags correctly or the browser didn't render them...is it or is it [sarcasm][/sarcasm]?
It's called built in obsolescence. Light bulb manufacturers use the same methods in their process. They could be more efficient and produce blubs that last for 5 years (and some do with the halogen or flourescent blubs or whatever), but that doesn't make good business sense for incandescant scene as it would be rendered obsolete and they would put themselves out of business through lack of product recycling.
OMG people - it was sarcasm, but apparantly either I didn't correctly close my tags, or html didn't render them correctly...
I didn't know there was a converter kit for migrating vinyl tracks off an LP to your PC. That must plug into my ISA slot on the 386sx. Yes, the hoardes of people who are digitizing vinyl tracks and then getting scads of people downloading them represent an imminent threat to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. And I bet you can almost hear the music over the static!
Oracle is to Linux as Microsoft is to Open-sourced.
Oracle is to Linux as Military is to Intelligence
Oracle is to Linux as Free Speech is to Facism
Oracle is to Linux as.....(fill in your own here)
Why do I feel like I am taking the SAT's, GRE's, etc. all over again?
This just makes no sense. Why would a company develop an operating system that is a rebranded version of one that is available for free. Also, the way I understand the GNU, wouldn't they have to release the changes they make to the kernel to the community at large? In that case, why pay for it when you can re-compile it yourself. If not, and they pay to market a proprietary version of it, you know the cost of owning a proprietary version will far outweigh the benefit of marketing it. In terms of supporting only "their" version, this could backfire as I could see some of their client base saying, "Okay, in that case, we'll take a look at some alternative solutions."
The opinion piece compares the cost of the Athlon proc to the Core 2:
Let's take Dell for example - one of AMD's big wins of the last year, and the one everyone is saying looks stupid now Intel is back. As a business customer, you can either buy the Dimension E521 for £499 + VAT (with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+), or the E520 for £50 more (with an Intel Core 2 Duo E6300). They're both dual-core, and the performance difference is essentially irrelevant to a business customer. But if you're buying 100 of them, you'd save £5,000 by going for the E521. That's a fairly easy decision for a financial director to make.
It's not always about the power, but rather the sock to the wallet, and when finances factor into decisions, a cheaper previous generation proc for a competitor will always win out over the current generation of the leading vendor. I would tend to agree with this assessment. Business decisions are most often made based on cost, not performance, and in IT, it seems more the case that long term consequences are not the predominant factor considered prior to making final decisions. it's always about the money...
While I can understand saefguarding and protecting Amerian citizens against "all threats foreign and domestic" - this does cross a line somewhat. Anything over 2 ounces? That sounds like about the amount of fluid in a common cigarette lighter. Does this mean smokers are next? What about ex-smokers? As an ex-smoker, am I now a subversive since I once used these volatile fluids in such amounts? (I easily lost a lighter a day in college - do the math, and over 4 years and 2 of grad school - that's a lotta lighter fluid!). Don't even mention my Zippo, either...
It is, I mis-spoke, thanks. Was app-specific when I should have just referred to the vendor. You get the gist though...