Please correct my understanding if it I don't seem to be getting it, but I'm more than a little uncomfortable about downloading from anywhere except an official repository wherein I have certificates to verify the identity of the source. I trust Canonical. Call me paranoid, but I just don't trust an anonymous man-in-the middle from a Peer-to-peer scheme they this seems to suggest.
Of course, "April Fools" notwithstanding, Microsoft has been enjoying a huge subsidy in U.S. government licenses for years. To point out the obvious, with very, very, few exceptions government desktops and network infrastructure is Microsoft. The adds up to, as Carl Sagan used to say, "Billions and billions!" day in and day out.
So that's right, collaboration space. Notwithstanding Universities, company conference rooms can and should do what many of the best organizations are beginning to do, making sure that conference tables are equipped with power all the way down the table and "guest" wired and wireless DMZ connections exist for fetching email and ad hoc searches. Another plus, of course, is connection to overhead projection. First impressions of how well conference rooms are equipped can be a good initial indicator of suitability as serious collaborators.
I know what you are saying, I really do. However, and this is just from my experiences. Three decades ago I served on "The Hawk," a ship only a few years prior known far-and-wide within the Navy as the "Shitty Kitty." I'm talking about the USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63). The turnaround was dramatic and complete, and was due in large measure by at least one truly outstanding leader and Commanding Officer. While it is true that bad or even mediocre Officers and Chiefs can leave behind lingering stains on a ship's reputation and effectiveness, especially in the form of bad habits going undetected and passed on, subsequent crews will overcome them if well led. One good or bad Captain, however, can make all the difference.
The Naval services (Navy and Marines) have a great yet harsh and unforgiving tradition of holding its officers accountable, more ruthlessly and consistently than their sister services. It is both laudable and unfortunate that the Captains and their key Officers and Petty Officers will be held to account. Some will be relieved of command (or their duties/qualifications) and their career truncated or stalled. In some cases justice will have been served and in others unfairness may be gleaned. The truth is that sea duty is harsh, exhausting, and complex. Sometimes shit just happens, but that's never allowed as an excuse. There but by the grace of god may go, or have gone, any of them. Good luck and god bless them all. (USN, Ret.)
Anybody who has served in the USN would know that anything which might have happened in 2003 to a given ship is completely irrelevant, since there is nearly zero change that anyone who had served on board that ship in 2003 would still be on board that same ship in 2009. U.S. Navy sea-duty tours are 2, 3 or four years at most, rate and rank dependent, in any one command. A ships performance is a function the aggregate knowledge, skills and experience of the crew given leadership effectiveness and good luck. So there is no point whatever to whether or not the ship (an otherwise inanimate object) ran aground in 2003.
"Execute them" -- My reaction exactly!...which, of course, is but one of many reasons I'd never recommend electing me to a public office that comes with serious power.
But actually, ineffective Human-Machine Interface design that allows, increases, or promotes unintended function is, in my opinion a flaw by demonstration.
Well, daem0n1x, I doubt very seriously that human nature is unique to "Capitalism," as evidenced by behaviors exhibited in the Apparatchik class in the former Soviet Union. Arrogance, spite, greed, ambition, etc., are human conditions, and no amount of inculcated Utopian ideals will likely eliminate them. Environments may suppress overt manifestations, however, which just makes jerks more wily and passive-aggressive...
Look, people always find it diverting to swap war stories from the left-hand side of that old Bell Curve. Truth be told, what I see more often than not are bright earnest youngsters filled with great angst over whether college has prepared them enough for the "real world." So, they try hard to learn the job and fit in with the team, especially when the team meets them anywhere near half way. It's been my experience that with even the most modest efforts towards applying basic leadership skills, you get a full up round in no time. My recommendation is to avoid hiring the obvious jerks, and treat the ones who get through with decency and respect, while both challenging them and mentoring them to the challenge (not as hard as you think), and you'll get more than your money's worth.
...and why would they? The FSB benefits from and leverages organized criminal networks on multiple levels. Where Russian LE might be inclined to intervene, it would likely be hindered or thwarted or on a number of fronts, not the least of which might include a general reluctance to rock the boat -- or get near the boat.
This just sounds symptomatic of a bureaucracy, which any sufficiently large company becomes over time when it passes a magic threshold of size, complexity and number of employees. It used to happen regularly when I was in the military, and to me and/or my troops on a number of occasions. (Started to become much more rare when the Defense Finance and Accounting Service - DFAS- automated in the, what, mid-nineties?) Sometimes I would catch the error first and try to repay it, only to be told I'd have to wait until the "system caught up." So, I'd just bank the money, then wait until I'd either be surprised by a zeroed pay-check, an angry memo, or both. So, then I'd go back to the "disbursing" office and straighten it out by repaying the overage now that the "system" is prepared to receive it. A bureaucracy is neither evil, good, nor even conscious; it just seems that way. Who said, "never ascribe to evil what can be explained by stupidity"? They call bureaucracies "mindless" for a reason.
I'm quite certain that President Obama and his staff recognize, now that they are in executive power, that any precedent weakening executive privilege (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_privilege) also weakens separation of powers, and would very likely come back on him in the future. In politics, what goes around very often comes back around. So, every opponent wants more "open" policy making, while every executive wants to be able to have his ducks in a row to fight once, rather that dying by a thousand cuts while opponents criticize every step of the sausage making process.
Services, daemons, agents, objects; we human's seem to need metaphors to wrap our tiny brains around abstractions and deal with complexity. I have no problem with "cybot collectives," but would probably participate in a contest to make up cooler names, like "Piranhaborgs"...
A built in kill switch would be nice. I'd say that before letting them out in the wild, you'd need to have a pretty good handle on how to detect, classify, track and kill the little buggers for when they might (a) get out of control, or (b) have been defeated and supplanted by covert hostile cybot collectives. Didn't I see something like this on an old episode of Star Trek Next Generation?
With my license about to expire, I had to also weigh the potential cost of not having a drivers license for an unknown, but potentially extended, time-frame. I must commute by car -- no other option. State had me by the gnarbles, and I would not be surprised to learn that it was some clever comptroller's strategy -- why after 16 years suddenly put hold on a very common name? Who else might have paid?
No. In fact, do you want to hear a real horror story? When I went to renew my driver's license a couple of year's ago by mail I was told that I had to come to my state's version of the DMV for an unspecified problem. When I came in to renew it turned out that my very, very, common first and last names, (several pages of some variation of my name (first, last, last-and-initial(s), etc.) in metro book alone), and date of birth (OK, what are the odds there?), matched a "hold" that was put on that name and DOB from another state. It seemed that I had to clear my "record" in that other state before my current state would renew my license. No matter that I have never been in that state. So, I contacted the great state of X, and found out that someone got a ticket in 1991 after being stopped and found driving without a drivers license. He evidently paid the fine back in 1991, but never did apply and pay the $130 "reinstatement fee." X would not clear the hold on the name, and the old record showed no social security number (the guy had no license!). My state would not issue me a new license until the "hold" was cleared, and said that I could either just can pay the reinstatement fee in X for the dude or take it to court in to prove that I was not the person in question, ostensibly, I suppose, by proving my whereabouts being somewhere other than X on the night of whatever in 1991? (I was in fact in Europe and the Middle East all of that year doing Uncle Sam's business!) I checked on lawyer's fees for my area, about $150-300 per hour, and after stewing and cursing at the walls, did the math, and went ahead and paid the $130 fee on line using Mr. Visa on the state's web site -- very efficient transaction!
So, here are 2 important issues relevant to the issue of identity protection in general, which is really what this is all about:
(1) GIGO: bad data widely distributed and readily available can be a very, very, bad thing -- and, as more and more databases are interconnected, a process accelerated due to homeland security and other factors, there will be more and more of these horror stories, many much worse. Use your imagination!
(2) The idea of a national ID card, indexed to a single identity number (like SSN), will eventually become more and more attractive as more people get burned, some perhaps tragically. If the other person with my name from the other state had given an SSN, and that SSN was the index for the "hold" instead of my all to common name coincidentally paired with a DOB that we evidently shared, then this wouldn't have been MY problem. I understand, somewhat, some people's queasiness about the idea of a national ID. On my part, I am for such a card, if for no other reason that it might potentially make identity theft (or government mis- identity) harder -- if done well (aye, there's the rub!). I sure hope my namesake doesn't end up on a no-fly list, or worse.
Couldn't you also say that say that the best of Open Source (GNU/Linux, BSD, Firefox, Apache) is built and maintained by a community of contributors whose reputation are collectively and individually on the line for every bit of code that they produce or improve upon, since all code us open for anyone to see and criticize. We respect and depend on the idea of peer review in science and engineering. Should security depend on the quality of the product, or the obscurity of its flaws?
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Please correct my understanding if it I don't seem to be getting it, but I'm more than a little uncomfortable about downloading from anywhere except an official repository wherein I have certificates to verify the identity of the source. I trust Canonical. Call me paranoid, but I just don't trust an anonymous man-in-the middle from a Peer-to-peer scheme they this seems to suggest.
Of course, "April Fools" notwithstanding, Microsoft has been enjoying a huge subsidy in U.S. government licenses for years. To point out the obvious, with very, very, few exceptions government desktops and network infrastructure is Microsoft. The adds up to, as Carl Sagan used to say, "Billions and billions!" day in and day out.
So that's right, collaboration space. Notwithstanding Universities, company conference rooms can and should do what many of the best organizations are beginning to do, making sure that conference tables are equipped with power all the way down the table and "guest" wired and wireless DMZ connections exist for fetching email and ad hoc searches. Another plus, of course, is connection to overhead projection. First impressions of how well conference rooms are equipped can be a good initial indicator of suitability as serious collaborators.
I know what you are saying, I really do. However, and this is just from my experiences. Three decades ago I served on "The Hawk," a ship only a few years prior known far-and-wide within the Navy as the "Shitty Kitty." I'm talking about the USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63). The turnaround was dramatic and complete, and was due in large measure by at least one truly outstanding leader and Commanding Officer. While it is true that bad or even mediocre Officers and Chiefs can leave behind lingering stains on a ship's reputation and effectiveness, especially in the form of bad habits going undetected and passed on, subsequent crews will overcome them if well led. One good or bad Captain, however, can make all the difference.
Yes, in any sufficiently large data set, one will find outliers...
The Naval services (Navy and Marines) have a great yet harsh and unforgiving tradition of holding its officers accountable, more ruthlessly and consistently than their sister services. It is both laudable and unfortunate that the Captains and their key Officers and Petty Officers will be held to account. Some will be relieved of command (or their duties/qualifications) and their career truncated or stalled. In some cases justice will have been served and in others unfairness may be gleaned. The truth is that sea duty is harsh, exhausting, and complex. Sometimes shit just happens, but that's never allowed as an excuse. There but by the grace of god may go, or have gone, any of them. Good luck and god bless them all. (USN, Ret.)
Anybody who has served in the USN would know that anything which might have happened in 2003 to a given ship is completely irrelevant, since there is nearly zero change that anyone who had served on board that ship in 2003 would still be on board that same ship in 2009. U.S. Navy sea-duty tours are 2, 3 or four years at most, rate and rank dependent, in any one command. A ships performance is a function the aggregate knowledge, skills and experience of the crew given leadership effectiveness and good luck. So there is no point whatever to whether or not the ship (an otherwise inanimate object) ran aground in 2003.
One thing about submarines is that sometimes they go underwater and you can't see them, then you have no freaking idea where the hell they are...
"Execute them" -- My reaction exactly! ...which, of course, is but one of many reasons I'd never recommend electing me to a public office that comes with serious power.
But actually, ineffective Human-Machine Interface design that allows, increases, or promotes unintended function is, in my opinion a flaw by demonstration.
Well, daem0n1x, I doubt very seriously that human nature is unique to "Capitalism," as evidenced by behaviors exhibited in the Apparatchik class in the former Soviet Union. Arrogance, spite, greed, ambition, etc., are human conditions, and no amount of inculcated Utopian ideals will likely eliminate them. Environments may suppress overt manifestations, however, which just makes jerks more wily and passive-aggressive...
Look, people always find it diverting to swap war stories from the left-hand side of that old Bell Curve. Truth be told, what I see more often than not are bright earnest youngsters filled with great angst over whether college has prepared them enough for the "real world." So, they try hard to learn the job and fit in with the team, especially when the team meets them anywhere near half way. It's been my experience that with even the most modest efforts towards applying basic leadership skills, you get a full up round in no time. My recommendation is to avoid hiring the obvious jerks, and treat the ones who get through with decency and respect, while both challenging them and mentoring them to the challenge (not as hard as you think), and you'll get more than your money's worth.
To take a joke must you be able, Master Value Added...
Bet he still owns MS stock...
One of the reasons OGG Vorbis hasn't caught on as much as it might have on its merits?
...and why would they? The FSB benefits from and leverages organized criminal networks on multiple levels. Where Russian LE might be inclined to intervene, it would likely be hindered or thwarted or on a number of fronts, not the least of which might include a general reluctance to rock the boat -- or get near the boat.
This just sounds symptomatic of a bureaucracy, which any sufficiently large company becomes over time when it passes a magic threshold of size, complexity and number of employees. It used to happen regularly when I was in the military, and to me and/or my troops on a number of occasions. (Started to become much more rare when the Defense Finance and Accounting Service - DFAS- automated in the, what, mid-nineties?) Sometimes I would catch the error first and try to repay it, only to be told I'd have to wait until the "system caught up." So, I'd just bank the money, then wait until I'd either be surprised by a zeroed pay-check, an angry memo, or both. So, then I'd go back to the "disbursing" office and straighten it out by repaying the overage now that the "system" is prepared to receive it. A bureaucracy is neither evil, good, nor even conscious; it just seems that way. Who said, "never ascribe to evil what can be explained by stupidity"? They call bureaucracies "mindless" for a reason.
I'm quite certain that President Obama and his staff recognize, now that they are in executive power, that any precedent weakening executive privilege (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_privilege) also weakens separation of powers, and would very likely come back on him in the future. In politics, what goes around very often comes back around. So, every opponent wants more "open" policy making, while every executive wants to be able to have his ducks in a row to fight once, rather that dying by a thousand cuts while opponents criticize every step of the sausage making process.
Wait until Microsoft and RIAA team up to deploy cybots as DRM cops...
Services, daemons, agents, objects; we human's seem to need metaphors to wrap our tiny brains around abstractions and deal with complexity. I have no problem with "cybot collectives," but would probably participate in a contest to make up cooler names, like "Piranhaborgs"...
A built in kill switch would be nice. I'd say that before letting them out in the wild, you'd need to have a pretty good handle on how to detect, classify, track and kill the little buggers for when they might (a) get out of control, or (b) have been defeated and supplanted by covert hostile cybot collectives. Didn't I see something like this on an old episode of Star Trek Next Generation?
With my license about to expire, I had to also weigh the potential cost of not having a drivers license for an unknown, but potentially extended, time-frame. I must commute by car -- no other option. State had me by the gnarbles, and I would not be surprised to learn that it was some clever comptroller's strategy -- why after 16 years suddenly put hold on a very common name? Who else might have paid?
No. In fact, do you want to hear a real horror story? When I went to renew my driver's license a couple of year's ago by mail I was told that I had to come to my state's version of the DMV for an unspecified problem. When I came in to renew it turned out that my very, very, common first and last names, (several pages of some variation of my name (first, last, last-and-initial(s), etc.) in metro book alone), and date of birth (OK, what are the odds there?), matched a "hold" that was put on that name and DOB from another state. It seemed that I had to clear my "record" in that other state before my current state would renew my license. No matter that I have never been in that state. So, I contacted the great state of X, and found out that someone got a ticket in 1991 after being stopped and found driving without a drivers license. He evidently paid the fine back in 1991, but never did apply and pay the $130 "reinstatement fee." X would not clear the hold on the name, and the old record showed no social security number (the guy had no license!). My state would not issue me a new license until the "hold" was cleared, and said that I could either just can pay the reinstatement fee in X for the dude or take it to court in to prove that I was not the person in question, ostensibly, I suppose, by proving my whereabouts being somewhere other than X on the night of whatever in 1991? (I was in fact in Europe and the Middle East all of that year doing Uncle Sam's business!) I checked on lawyer's fees for my area, about $150-300 per hour, and after stewing and cursing at the walls, did the math, and went ahead and paid the $130 fee on line using Mr. Visa on the state's web site -- very efficient transaction! So, here are 2 important issues relevant to the issue of identity protection in general, which is really what this is all about: (1) GIGO: bad data widely distributed and readily available can be a very, very, bad thing -- and, as more and more databases are interconnected, a process accelerated due to homeland security and other factors, there will be more and more of these horror stories, many much worse. Use your imagination! (2) The idea of a national ID card, indexed to a single identity number (like SSN), will eventually become more and more attractive as more people get burned, some perhaps tragically. If the other person with my name from the other state had given an SSN, and that SSN was the index for the "hold" instead of my all to common name coincidentally paired with a DOB that we evidently shared, then this wouldn't have been MY problem. I understand, somewhat, some people's queasiness about the idea of a national ID. On my part, I am for such a card, if for no other reason that it might potentially make identity theft (or government mis- identity) harder -- if done well (aye, there's the rub!). I sure hope my namesake doesn't end up on a no-fly list, or worse.
Great answer! You examine and test, fix, examine and test...
Couldn't you also say that say that the best of Open Source (GNU/Linux, BSD, Firefox, Apache) is built and maintained by a community of contributors whose reputation are collectively and individually on the line for every bit of code that they produce or improve upon, since all code us open for anyone to see and criticize. We respect and depend on the idea of peer review in science and engineering. Should security depend on the quality of the product, or the obscurity of its flaws?