Screw that...I need some damn coders. I don't have time for this coding shit:)
But, seriously, I really appeciate the thank you e-mails I get from people, but I just wish somebody was motiviated enough to help me out with some of this work. I get a lot of help from translators, but I need some coders badly.
Hey, if the Church of Bob exists, why can't we? We can house the huddled masses of homeless programmers, who only wish food, shelter, and computer with an Internet account, so that they can code their projects in peace. We shall worship our own code as our god. And we'd get a tax credit from our own government.
That would be nice if it was up today. What's up with that? It's been down all day today. I need my daily dose of The Register like I need my dose of Slashdot.
I doubt Linux will have acheived world domination by 2004, though. As was mentioned, KDE and GNOME aren't quite newbie-friendly enough yet (though I think KDE is 98% there and GNOME is in the 75-80% range). I used to use KDE, and though I prefer GNOME, I do admit KDE is more ready for newbie users. However, I'm using Debian 2.2, so I don't have the latest version of GNOME (no Nautilus, etc.), when 3.0 goes stable, we'll see how far it's come.
Geesh...why does everybody have to bother mentioning stupid interfaces like KDE/GNOME? Sure, they are great widget sets, but my god...those horrible window managers! Ditch that and install Enlightenment or AfterStep or WindowMaker! Why must everybody try to lure newbies into using those god-awful KDE/GNOME WMs?
If they don't support recurring payments, maybe that's the initial problem. I guess your PHB doesn't like that idea, does he?
In terms of security/responsibility, it's impossible to create a 100% secure system, but as long as security is a focus in your software (and it isn't rushed), it's destined to be as secure as possible.
I guess I could list a few pointers to help you out, though (in random order):
Don't trust HTML pages to give the correct limitations and forms. People can change local copies and send any data they want.
Never use "secret" URLs, unless you use some sort of HTTP passwording system, or something else similar. (This has been the cause of many data-theft attacks.)
Encourage customers to use secure passwords, such as 6+ characters, letter/number & upper/lower combos, no dictionary words, etc. (And for god's sake, let them use spaces, if they want.)
Store billing information in a seperate system than the web server or any other system. Put the billing server behind the firewall on a private-class network. If one gets hacked, the billing data is safe.
Make use of that 3-digit number on the back of CCs to verify that they aren't stealing numbers. (I really don't know if that's possible, but you should investigate it, as it would curb a lot of usage on stolen CC numbers, unless they have the physical card.)
I argee. Most of us got off the shareware/commericial software jazz to get rid of the $500 copies of Office, and $250 copies of Photoshop, $125 copies of Windows, $200 copies of Dreamweaver. Not like we actually paid that much for them (more like pirated copies), but it's still overly inflated. $50 for a game is still a bit much.
Since when is a filter that blocks ALL.exe,.vbs, and other executable extentions a "band-aid"? A virus or worm can't work without some dunce running a program.
That's like saying a machine with no ports open is able to get hacked into.
We were all talking about this a week or two ago, but I'm too busy trying to get this pinball machine on eBay, so no time to search through old articles.
Gee...I wonder where he got that information:) Slashdot is bad for your health. (Of course, if you're on a Linux machine, who cares?)
(Why is this modded up? This is flamebait, and a stupid response at that.)
Why computer in school? That's like saying "why chemistry in school", or "when are we ever going to use computers". Computers are everywhere. I can understand if the software becomes obsolete, but it's still should be required to learn about computers.
Even if WordPerfect isn't the hot thing anymore, it was good that you learned it. From it, you learned typing, mice, how a GUI works, and other basics about word processing. So what if the "hot keys" are different in Word 2000?
Also, if you load these machines with an alternative OS like Linux, then they'll know Windows is not the only tool out there. And isn't that what you want?
Horseshit. Any non-trivial setup needs quite a bit of maintainence, and a school needs a non-trivial setup if you want to get any non-trivial use out of it. Otherwise it's doorstop PCs in the wings of the physics class getting used by half a dozen kids a year.
When you have servers that have uptimes of two years (or more), something tells me that some of those servers are, more or less, a fire-and-forget system. Anybody who sets up a server right WON'T need to maintain it much. Hell, we even have programs that auto-update the files, when there's a security issue. (Not to say that I completely trust those programs, but they are there.)
BTW, To you younger slashdotters: Find yourselves some Oingo Boingo music. They were one of the most creative and varied bands of the 80's. Kinda punk\ska\earlytechno, even a country style song. Great dance and party music. (sorry for the shameless plug, but what the hell. They are still my favorites!)
Sorry, but one of my goals in life is to stay as far away from the 80's as possible, especially the music:P
If there were more epic stories like Babylon 5 on TV, it would actually be worth watching.
Actually, Farscape and Stargate SG-1 aren't too bad, either. Sure, there are plenty of real bad sci-fi shows, but this are all on the Big 5 (NBC/ABC/CBS/FOX/UPN), where corporate marketting reigns. On the channels that don't have to rely on people with B&W TVs using an attenna to get their sitcoms, they have enough intelligence to find shows based on good stories, and not a short-term big-hit injection (ie: good pilots, bad episodes) to get their finacial high.
Series like Babylon 5 and Farscape survive because it's a good long-term story that lasts a long time (and gets people hooked for a good amount of Nelson cash flow), and the channels that host them are willing to let them go past their 13 episodes, even if they aren't suddenly the #1 show in the universe. (The main corporates just won't settle for anything less, anymore. If you don't believe me, just look at UPNs first season, where they canned EVERY SINGLE SHOW except for their Voyager cash cow.)
If you want to get free software into the major corporations, you'll need to "get to" the shareholders, and the Boards Of Directors. Once they understand the racket their IS organizations are running, Linux will be in...
...and most of us will be out of a job.
(BTW: that's what killed the Macintosh environment where I work; ran so well they didn't need tech support anymore. Once the techs were gone, there was no one left to defend it.)
Am I the only one who thinks this is a completely backwards way of thinking? IOW, don't use an OS because it works?! God forbid somebody actually make a product that can be installed and left alone.
Sure, it'll be less tech support calls, but isn't that a good thing? Get the techies working on something else, like actually installing and upgrading the system. Just because it's not required to upgrade a system, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. After all, upgrades (and the whole OS) are free.
Hey, I'm not saying America doesn't suck da corporate sausage, but at least we leave our porn alone:)
Pirating games...duh!
on
Sony vs Modchips
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
If Sony curbs modchips, then people won't be able to bypass the copy protection. Your case with the Dell is flawed, because the PC is open hardware. PS2 is closed to the max, and they are attached to both the hardware (which they don't make money off of) and the software.
Not to say that this is fair in a legal respect, but Sony isn't thinking about law (like every other corporation); they are thinking about money. Again, blame the creation of the stock market for creating this mentality in businesses.
The main problems I have with the stock market are:
People really don't care who they are trading with, just as long as they are going positive. This is definately apparent when they don't even choose their own stocks, and use their brokers to choose for them.
The only things they care about is numbers. Those numbers are directly affected by money.
The "Board of Trustees" only care about the maximum profit margin. If a more expensive route is more moral than another, they will choose the least moral option available. Corporates don't uphold the law because it's moral and legal. They do it because it's usually less expensive.
Yes, videogame censorship sucks. But this won't stick anyway. It hasn't before, and it won't now. The censoring of TV, movies, and games is getting overhauled now.
Good lord, you're going to have to pay ME to watch a movie like Crocodile Dundee. Of course, I really can't ban Mel Gibson, just because he's a damn good actor.
Slashdot Mirror
Screw that...I need some damn coders. I don't have time for this coding shit :)
But, seriously, I really appeciate the thank you e-mails I get from people, but I just wish somebody was motiviated enough to help me out with some of this work. I get a lot of help from translators, but I need some coders badly.
Hey, if the Church of Bob exists, why can't we? We can house the huddled masses of homeless programmers, who only wish food, shelter, and computer with an Internet account, so that they can code their projects in peace. We shall worship our own code as our god. And we'd get a tax credit from our own government.
I support my free software by coding my own projects. I'm poor, too, so donate to me. Otherwise, I'd give up some money to my favorite OSS projects.
Here's some more of my comments on the OSS movement.
Am I the only one confused with this? I thought IBM -owned- Dell! Does anybody have a web site with who owns who, because I lose track all the time?
(And there pops in a AC/DC song: "Who owns who...who owns you...")
Also, what's going to happen to the Linux market with IBM, if they stop selling desktops?
That would be nice if it was up today. What's up with that? It's been down all day today. I need my daily dose of The Register like I need my dose of Slashdot.
Does this mean that UK's Boxing Day is over and everybody can surf the *.uk sites again? :)
I doubt Linux will have acheived world domination by 2004, though. As was mentioned, KDE and GNOME aren't quite newbie-friendly enough yet (though I think KDE is 98% there and GNOME is in the 75-80% range). I used to use KDE, and though I prefer GNOME, I do admit KDE is more ready for newbie users. However, I'm using Debian 2.2, so I don't have the latest version of GNOME (no Nautilus, etc.), when 3.0 goes stable, we'll see how far it's come.
Geesh...why does everybody have to bother mentioning stupid interfaces like KDE/GNOME? Sure, they are great widget sets, but my god...those horrible window managers! Ditch that and install Enlightenment or AfterStep or WindowMaker! Why must everybody try to lure newbies into using those god-awful KDE/GNOME WMs?
In terms of security/responsibility, it's impossible to create a 100% secure system, but as long as security is a focus in your software (and it isn't rushed), it's destined to be as secure as possible.
I guess I could list a few pointers to help you out, though (in random order):
I argee. Most of us got off the shareware/commericial software jazz to get rid of the $500 copies of Office, and $250 copies of Photoshop, $125 copies of Windows, $200 copies of Dreamweaver. Not like we actually paid that much for them (more like pirated copies), but it's still overly inflated. $50 for a game is still a bit much.
Well, the real way to fix it is to not use Outlook... or Windows for that matter.
I get an image of a sand worm (from Dune) coming out and swallowing them whole.
Since when is a filter that blocks ALL .exe, .vbs, and other executable extentions a "band-aid"? A virus or worm can't work without some dunce running a program.
That's like saying a machine with no ports open is able to get hacked into.
We were all talking about this a week or two ago, but I'm too busy trying to get this pinball machine on eBay, so no time to search through old articles.
:) Slashdot is bad for your health. (Of course, if you're on a Linux machine, who cares?)
Gee...I wonder where he got that information
Uhhh...so how is this different from Windoze machines? Are we trying to compare the two or not?
(Why is this modded up? This is flamebait, and a stupid response at that.)
Why computer in school? That's like saying "why chemistry in school", or "when are we ever going to use computers". Computers are everywhere. I can understand if the software becomes obsolete, but it's still should be required to learn about computers.
Even if WordPerfect isn't the hot thing anymore, it was good that you learned it. From it, you learned typing, mice, how a GUI works, and other basics about word processing. So what if the "hot keys" are different in Word 2000?
Also, if you load these machines with an alternative OS like Linux, then they'll know Windows is not the only tool out there. And isn't that what you want?
Ummm...I was one of the resident techs at my high school. Sometimes, I'd even have an excuse from class to fix somebody's computer.
Screw PC legalize shit! Somebody had to fix these computers, and they weren't about to hire somebody to do it, when I could do it for free.
Horseshit. Any non-trivial setup needs quite a bit of maintainence, and a school needs a non-trivial setup if you want to get any non-trivial use out of it. Otherwise it's doorstop PCs in the wings of the physics class getting used by half a dozen kids a year.
When you have servers that have uptimes of two years (or more), something tells me that some of those servers are, more or less, a fire-and-forget system. Anybody who sets up a server right WON'T need to maintain it much. Hell, we even have programs that auto-update the files, when there's a security issue. (Not to say that I completely trust those programs, but they are there.)
BTW, To you younger slashdotters: Find yourselves some Oingo Boingo music. They were one of the most creative and varied bands of the 80's. Kinda punk\ska\earlytechno, even a country style song. Great dance and party music. (sorry for the shameless plug, but what the hell. They are still my favorites!)
:P
Sorry, but one of my goals in life is to stay as far away from the 80's as possible, especially the music
Joseph Michael Straczynski.
If there were more epic stories like Babylon 5 on TV, it would actually be worth watching.
Actually, Farscape and Stargate SG-1 aren't too bad, either. Sure, there are plenty of real bad sci-fi shows, but this are all on the Big 5 (NBC/ABC/CBS/FOX/UPN), where corporate marketting reigns. On the channels that don't have to rely on people with B&W TVs using an attenna to get their sitcoms, they have enough intelligence to find shows based on good stories, and not a short-term big-hit injection (ie: good pilots, bad episodes) to get their finacial high.
Series like Babylon 5 and Farscape survive because it's a good long-term story that lasts a long time (and gets people hooked for a good amount of Nelson cash flow), and the channels that host them are willing to let them go past their 13 episodes, even if they aren't suddenly the #1 show in the universe. (The main corporates just won't settle for anything less, anymore. If you don't believe me, just look at UPNs first season, where they canned EVERY SINGLE SHOW except for their Voyager cash cow.)
If you want to get free software into the major corporations, you'll need to "get to" the shareholders, and the Boards Of Directors. Once they understand the racket their IS organizations are running, Linux will be in...
...and most of us will be out of a job.
(BTW: that's what killed the Macintosh environment where I work; ran so well they didn't need tech support anymore. Once the techs were gone, there was no one left to defend it.)
Am I the only one who thinks this is a completely backwards way of thinking? IOW, don't use an OS because it works?! God forbid somebody actually make a product that can be installed and left alone.
Sure, it'll be less tech support calls, but isn't that a good thing? Get the techies working on something else, like actually installing and upgrading the system. Just because it's not required to upgrade a system, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. After all, upgrades (and the whole OS) are free.
Hey, I'm not saying America doesn't suck da corporate sausage, but at least we leave our porn alone :)
If Sony curbs modchips, then people won't be able to bypass the copy protection. Your case with the Dell is flawed, because the PC is open hardware. PS2 is closed to the max, and they are attached to both the hardware (which they don't make money off of) and the software.
Not to say that this is fair in a legal respect, but Sony isn't thinking about law (like every other corporation); they are thinking about money. Again, blame the creation of the stock market for creating this mentality in businesses.
Yes, videogame censorship sucks. But this won't stick anyway. It hasn't before, and it won't now. The censoring of TV, movies, and games is getting overhauled now.
Yeah whatever. That's why the Aussie government has already banned damn near the whole Internet by trying to make it safe for kiddies, putting the damn thing through a country-wide proxy, and countless other horror stories.
Tell me how it's getting "overhauled" again.
Good lord, you're going to have to pay ME to watch a movie like Crocodile Dundee. Of course, I really can't ban Mel Gibson, just because he's a damn good actor.