By your reference to Zhyrinovski as "Zhirik" and use of "arrogant" accusation from some previous posts (it's funny to know that you are loved even less than Americans, isn't it?) I conclude that your are Russian or at least born in the USSR.:-) Greetings! So, where are you now and why "Anonymous Coward"?;-)
The following are nothing but rumors from the old days.
Zhirinovsky, as a political figure, was created soon after former USSR fell apart. Before that he worked at the KGB. At the time, Yeltsin (current "living dead" president of Russia) was interested in grabbing some power from the hands of Gorbachev (last president of USSR).
Of course, to persuade common people that Yeltsin is the best candidate for leadership, who would lead the country in the right direction, some "fallen angel" (for the lack of better words) was necessary. Someone who would be so ridiculous at the leadership position, yet with some aggressive political views, that people would run screaming from him and priding Yeltsin. Thus, Zhirinovsky was created.
As we all know, Yeltsin has won. Twice... But I'm not going there. The interesting part is the resonance Zhirinovsky has created. Even his ultra nationalistic views, that borderline with insanity, have touched some not-so-bright or otherwise socially myopic, sheep like, self priding citizen. My guess is that Yeltsin and his crew are still kicking themselves for this political mistake.
Since the report did not predict which water suppliers may be disrupted by Y2K, the center recommended households store 10 gallons of water per person for the date change, or enough to last 10 days.
Later that day a few other recommendations were added:
Build a bunker in your backyard. If you happen to live in the large building start construction in the nearest park.
Purchase sufficient supplies of meat and milk to last at least a month. Cows will start dying of depression when they find themselves in 1900. I mean, who would want to give milk when it's not going to be pasteurized?
And of course, buy enough candles. You will need them to read your favorite "Linux System Administration" and "Programming Perl", while your laptop lays dead after power outage.
This is a great news. Linux is becoming popular these days. Big time businesses are already paying attention to Linux companies. You should have seen the attention VA Linux's IPO received in one stock trading company I've been setting up network at.;-)
At the same time, the ideological reason of open software doesn't always get as much attention. Many people who heard about and even used, RedHat, Caldera and SuSe don't know anything about Debian. My boss, who is extensively using SuSe 6.2, had no idea what I was talking about, when I mentioned that I run Debian.
While Debian is a wonderful product, that strictly follows open source guidelines, it should make more efforts in PR field. Commercial version of Debian is a perfect opportunity to put the entire project into a spotlight. Plus, it might bring financial resources to support Debian non-commercial.
I don't believe that there is one answer to the Flash/animation/splash screens question. From what I see, geeks tend to enjoy direct access to text information with minimum distracting elements. I perfectly understand the reasoning behind this. Indeed, it would be upsetting if yahoo.com would start using flash animation and intro pages.
However, there is another group of people out there -- the "visual" crowd. It would be great if someone would do statistical studies as to what proportion of web surfers this group constitutes.
Anyway, what's important is that many web sites are designed with these people in mind. Many product promotion web sites found that it's easier to make a customer pay for the product if you first impress the customer. It's just a simple logic. And it works.
I didn't like Flash for quite a while. Then I found another job with web development company. One of their projects was for a large manufacturer who intended to sell electronic products online. The customer *insisted* on mind blowing graphics, animation, etc. Yes, the site contained a lot of technical specifications for the visitors like you, but it also had Flash. I was very impressed with the final results.
Just understand guys, there are web sites that are "selling" information (thus they are mostly text based), and there are web sites that sell products. The later usually put a lot of effort into impressing visitors with visual effects.
This code is extremely experimental, and will likely result in a system crash, and who knows what other ill effects.
How many regular users will even try to compile this program?
You have to understand that Linux has gone mainstream already. This means that free software developers are no longer the majority of its user base. Most people have a need for a working product now, as in "right this minute". Since VMWare is free, as in beer, their needs are satisfied. Of course they wouldn't mind having an open source alternative as well, but this comes only as an afterthought.
The remaining group of open source software developers don't focus as much attention of this project because many of them think: "Well, at least for now users have VMWare which doesn't cost an arm and leg. I can turn my attention to some other major products that have no working counterparts for Linux. Maybe later I'll help FMW".
The preceding statements are my speculations only.
That was your guess and NOT my opinion. Don't imply things that I never said.
Open source model definitely helps in speeding up bug fixes and directly leads to a more secure OS. However, I don't believe in the "easily fixed" part. When it comes to security a patch should be thoroughly tested no matter what your development model (open/closed) is.
Perhaps the testers found some sort of minor bug in the source code that could only be corrected by the addition of a new key (or that could be fixed *most easily* by the addition of a new key)
IMHO, words `easily fixed' and `secure' don't mix too well. If it was such a minor bug why would MS potentially compromise NT's security? It would be logical to assume that the designers of secure OS shouldn't take an easy path when it comes to bugs that put security on the line.
And even if you believe differently, you can change the second damn key.
Given time (and more OS design knowledge) I could also rewrite NT's kernel. Using your logic: why bother with bug fixes? A user can patch those damn buffer overruns himself. Why preset permissions on critical files/folders on any UNIX? A user will do it.
The National Computer Security Center (NCSC), an arm of the US Government's National Security Agency (NSA), sponsors a security evaluation process for commercial operating systems, that evaluates them against the Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (TCSEC). Vendors submit their operating systems for evaluation against the TCSEC, and receive an evaluation rating that indicates the degree of security that the operating system, when properly configured and used, can provide. In other words: How did we pass evaluation? Oh, well... We made a deal with NSA - we provide them with a backdoor entry through the use of their own key, and they give us a peace of paper that can be used by PHBs as a justification for their decisions to implement "the operating system of choice for mission-critical enterprise uses" (quote from http://www.microsoft.com/security/products/windows nt.asp).
id releases source code to old games free of charge, listens to user input and backs up Linux by releasing the most popular game in Linux version. I guess they want something in exchange to insure their future stable position in gaming market.
Just imagine: making a bet and spending resources on the wrong video card without any idea how popular it is. That could easily drown the company.
I'm absolutely fine with providing any hardware information necessary for development of future games. There is nothing wrong with id asking for this information. Too bad they forgot to announce the rules of the game.
In any event, there is no need to bring this case to court or otherwise threaten id. This is not the company we want to fight with. A polite letter would do much more.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see such a large company getting involved in Linux and contributing to its development. But don't you think that it looks like sinking SGI is looking for anything to keep it afloat. It'll be painful to see if this involvement will not bring a sufficient financial return for SGI.
What if SGI will not be able to hang around before its Linux business takes off? That could be easily used as an argument in "Open Source/Linux oriented business model" debate.
Of course, I'm have no formal business education and talk here out of my ass, but I'd rather see them stepping slowly into the water than taking a fast dive.
... when you read Carl Sagan's 'Contact' way too many times.
If you insist on sending something specifically for intelligent creatures out there please make it coherent (i.e. 'FIRST POST' and 'This story doesn't belong here' do NOT qualify).
Great idea! Let's start by GZIPing all related RFCs;-)
Seriously, only time will show which papers have captured the 'birth' of the Internet and should be saved. It's too early to do this now. Our perspective is too subjective.
I would refrain from using such strong word as obsolete in the same sentence with USPS;-) Seriously, USPS is slow, yes. In fact, they are very slow (as any government organization). Maybe majority of their workers are not the once whom we praise, but give them a little credit, for god's sake. USPS is in a process of adapting to Internet's way of doing business right this minute. Last year (around December) they introduced a great service called PostOffice Online: www.postofficeonline.com. The company I work for depends on this service, and I personally have used it for the last 6 month. In short, you are able to prepare Priority Mail or Express Mail packages for shipping without leaving your house at no extra charge. USPS sends you four (2 for Priority and 2 for Express) kinds of envelopes and two kinds of labels. To send a package you have to get on their web site, pay for the package with your credit card, put a label in your printer and print specifically encoded (with USPS tracking code) label. All neat and clean, without a postal worker decrypting your spoiled by computers handwriting. The only ugly part in this process is that you still have to drive to your post office to drop off this package. Also, at this time and place (yes, I live in the area where most postal workers have never heard of the Internet and its possibilities -- called Brooklyn, NY;-) some confusion might arise at your local PO. I just happened to speak with my boss a few days ago about USPS's future and we came to the same conclusion: USPS has to compete with Pitney Bows (spelling?) if they want to stay in business. They need to provide a nationwide service through the Internet that would let people pay the postage price right on the Web and later would encode a unique stamp. But then again, I'm sure this thought has visited some bright minds in USPS and the times of I-net payments for snail male are not far away.
I find it interesting that this guy has spent $1 million on 3,000 domains. ($333.33/domain). Of course some of these domains have short names (I hope, otherwise he just through $1 mil. away) and others are descriptive for companies making fortune through the web.
However, I find i funny that in a few month (hopefully, anyway) a few new top level domains are going to be introduced. From those.WEB and.SHOP are the BEST tld's for companies interested in doing on-line business. Don't you think that a company would rather buy them, than waste money on.COM?
You have to remember that/. effect can be used for any purpose. What can be a better advertisement for online computer shop than a few thousand 'impressions' in one day.
So, for all you guys who want to boost their web site but have no money to spend on adds, here is 'Marketing_Made_Easy-HOWTO':
1. Search/. for some technical buzzwords that seem to interest people most of all.
2. Write a pseudo technical announcement of the breakthrough your company has achieved with this product.
3. Post it on/. as a 'leaked' info (leaked part is optional but will definitely add some plausibility).
4. Try to keep up with the orders pouring in on your real products.
P. S. I'm very much afraid of the 'tyranny of the majority' myself, but maybe there should be moderation for the articles implemented on/.
Neither NSI nor ICANN care about net user interests. It's a fight for money and nothing else. Admittedly, there is more chance for competition under ICANN administration, but right now I don't care.
All I want to see is my new shinny.web domain. How long more should we wait?
Slashdot Mirror
By your reference to Zhyrinovski as "Zhirik" and use of "arrogant" accusation from some previous posts (it's funny to know that you are loved even less than Americans, isn't it?) I conclude that your are Russian or at least born in the USSR. :-) Greetings! So, where are you now and why "Anonymous Coward"? ;-)
The following are nothing but rumors from the old days.
Zhirinovsky, as a political figure, was created soon after former USSR fell apart. Before that he worked at the KGB. At the time, Yeltsin (current "living dead" president of Russia) was interested in grabbing some power from the hands of Gorbachev (last president of USSR).
Of course, to persuade common people that Yeltsin is the best candidate for leadership, who would lead the country in the right direction, some "fallen angel" (for the lack of better words) was necessary. Someone who would be so ridiculous at the leadership position, yet with some aggressive political views, that people would run screaming from him and priding Yeltsin. Thus, Zhirinovsky was created.
As we all know, Yeltsin has won. Twice... But I'm not going there. The interesting part is the resonance Zhirinovsky has created. Even his ultra nationalistic views, that borderline with insanity, have touched some not-so-bright or otherwise socially myopic, sheep like, self priding citizen. My guess is that Yeltsin and his crew are still kicking themselves for this political mistake.
Never underestimate stupidity of your citizen.
Since the report did not predict which water suppliers may be disrupted by Y2K, the center recommended households store 10 gallons of water per person for the date change, or enough to last 10 days.
Later that day a few other recommendations were added:
This is a great news. Linux is becoming popular these days. Big time businesses are already paying ;-)
attention to Linux companies. You should have seen the attention VA Linux's IPO received in one stock
trading company I've been setting up network at.
At the same time, the ideological reason of open software doesn't always get as much attention. Many
people who heard about and even used, RedHat, Caldera and SuSe don't know anything about Debian. My
boss, who is extensively using SuSe 6.2, had no idea what I was talking about, when I mentioned that I run
Debian.
While Debian is a wonderful product, that strictly follows open source guidelines, it should make more
efforts in PR field. Commercial version of Debian is a perfect opportunity to put the entire project into a
spotlight. Plus, it might bring financial resources to support Debian non-commercial.
Great job guys. Good luck to you.
I don't believe that there is one answer to the Flash/animation/splash screens question. From what I see,
geeks tend to enjoy direct access to text information with minimum distracting elements. I perfectly
understand the reasoning behind this. Indeed, it would be upsetting if yahoo.com would start using flash
animation and intro pages.
However, there is another group of people out there -- the "visual" crowd. It would be great if someone
would do statistical studies as to what proportion of web surfers this group constitutes.
Anyway, what's important is that many web sites are designed with these people in mind. Many product
promotion web sites found that it's easier to make a customer pay for the product if you first impress the
customer. It's just a simple logic. And it works.
I didn't like Flash for quite a while. Then I found another job with web development company. One of their
projects was for a large manufacturer who intended to sell electronic products online. The customer
*insisted* on mind blowing graphics, animation, etc. Yes, the site contained a lot of technical specifications
for the visitors like you, but it also had Flash. I was very impressed with the final results.
Just understand guys, there are web sites that are "selling" information (thus they are mostly text based),
and there are web sites that sell products. The later usually put a lot of effort into impressing visitors with
visual effects.
is because they are too young. From README:
How many regular users will even try to compile this program?
You have to understand that Linux has gone mainstream already. This means that free software developers are no longer the majority of its user base. Most people have a need for a working product now, as in "right this minute". Since VMWare is free, as in beer, their needs are satisfied. Of course they wouldn't mind having an open source alternative as well, but this comes only as an afterthought.
The remaining group of open source software developers don't focus as much attention of this project because many of them think: "Well, at least for now users have VMWare which doesn't cost an arm and leg. I can turn my attention to some other major products that have no working counterparts for Linux. Maybe later I'll help FMW".
The preceding statements are my speculations only.
So I guess in your opinion...
That was your guess and NOT my opinion. Don't imply things that I never said.
Open source model definitely helps in speeding up bug fixes and directly leads to a more secure OS. However, I don't believe in the "easily fixed" part. When it comes to security a patch should be thoroughly tested no matter what your development model (open/closed) is.
Perhaps the testers found some sort of minor bug in the source code that could only be corrected by the addition of a new key (or that could be fixed *most easily* by the addition of a new key)
IMHO, words `easily fixed' and `secure' don't mix too well. If it was such a minor bug why would MS potentially compromise NT's security? It would be logical to assume that the designers of secure OS shouldn't take an easy path when it comes to bugs that put security on the line.
And even if you believe differently, you can change the second damn key.
Given time (and more OS design knowledge) I could also rewrite NT's kernel. Using your logic: why bother with bug fixes? A user can patch those damn buffer overruns himself. Why preset permissions on critical files/folders on any UNIX? A user will do it.
The National Computer Security Center (NCSC), an arm of the US Government's National Security Agency (NSA), sponsors a security evaluation process for commercial operating systems, that evaluates them against the Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (TCSEC). Vendors submit their operating systems for evaluation against the TCSEC, and receive an evaluation rating that indicates the degree of security that the operating system, when properly configured and used, can provide. In other words: How did we pass evaluation? Oh, well... We made a deal with NSA - we provide them with a backdoor entry through the use of their own key, and they give us a peace of paper that can be used by PHBs as a justification for their decisions to implement "the operating system of choice for mission-critical enterprise uses" (quote from http://www.microsoft.com/security/products/windows nt.asp).
id releases source code to old games free of charge, listens to user input and backs up Linux by releasing the
most popular game in Linux version. I guess they want something in exchange to insure their future stable
position in gaming market.
Just imagine: making a bet and spending resources on the wrong video card without any idea how popular it
is. That could easily drown the company.
I'm absolutely fine with providing any hardware information necessary for development of future games.
There is nothing wrong with id asking for this information. Too bad they forgot to announce the rules of the
game.
In any event, there is no need to bring this case to court or otherwise threaten id. This is not the company we
want to fight with. A polite letter would do much more.
On top of that my comment got eaten.
Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to see such a large company getting involved in Linux and contributing to its development. But don't you think that it looks like sinking SGI is looking for anything to keep it afloat. It'll be
painful to see if this involvement will not bring a sufficient financial return for SGI.
What if SGI will not be able to hang around before its Linux business takes off? That could be easily used as an argument in "Open Source/Linux oriented business model" debate.
Of course, I'm have no formal business education and talk here out of my ass, but I'd rather see them stepping slowly into the water than taking a fast dive.
... when you read Carl Sagan's 'Contact' way too many times.
If you insist on sending something specifically for intelligent creatures out there please make it coherent (i.e. 'FIRST POST' and 'This story doesn't belong here' do NOT qualify).
Great idea! Let's start by GZIPing all related RFCs ;-)
Seriously, only time will show which papers have captured the 'birth' of the Internet and should be saved. It's too early to do this now. Our perspective is too subjective.
But that's just my personal opinion. So there.
www.postofficeonline.com
Sorry. :-)
I find it interesting that this guy has spent $1 million on 3,000 domains. ($333.33/domain). Of course some of these domains have short names (I hope, otherwise he just through $1 mil. away) and others are descriptive for companies making fortune through the web.
.WEB and .SHOP are the BEST tld's for companies interested in doing on-line business. Don't you think that a company would rather buy them, than waste money on .COM?
However, I find i funny that in a few month (hopefully, anyway) a few new top level domains are going to be introduced. From those
Folks,
/. effect can be used for any purpose. What can be a better advertisement for online computer shop than a few thousand 'impressions' in one day.
/. for some technical buzzwords that seem to interest people most of all.
/. as a 'leaked' info (leaked part is optional but will definitely add some plausibility).
/.
You have to remember that
So, for all you guys who want to boost their web site but have no money to spend on adds, here is
'Marketing_Made_Easy-HOWTO':
1. Search
2. Write a pseudo technical announcement of the breakthrough your company has achieved with this product.
3. Post it on
4. Try to keep up with the orders pouring in on your real products.
P. S. I'm very much afraid of the 'tyranny of the majority' myself, but maybe there should be moderation for the articles implemented on
Neither NSI nor ICANN care about net user interests. It's a fight for money and nothing else. Admittedly, there is more chance for competition under ICANN administration, but right now I don't care.
.web domain. How long more should we wait?
All I want to see is my new shinny
I guess Transmeta has run out of funds and decided to force future buyers to sponsor CPU development ;-)
through insane advertisement.
if i wanted to see obnoxious kids who were vulger and had bad language.. i could do it realtime on irc...
BTW, sex and kitten hardly mix well together... unless you are into bestiality. ;-)