Microsoft software may still run on legacy hardware, but Microsoft only supports consumer operating systems (including security updates) for only five years after the OS release date. Because of that, even XP Home will be unusable in less than a year (support ends 12/31/06).
So, unless you want your legacy hardware to be a spam zombie, there may be valid reasons for prefering Linux.
Copyright owners DO NOT have control over how their work is distributed. In the event that fair use does not apply, the copyright owner has the right to sue for damages he sustained from unauthorized copies, and the right to seek punitive damages under certain circumstances, as well as certain other rights.
But this is very, very different from "control".
Caveat: I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice.
Unless my analysis of the Gnutella protocol is incorrect, the IP numbers that is getting logged can be forged fairly easily. Innocent people could have their IP added to the Wall of Shame. Gnutella transfers happen via intermediate servers, so the Wall of Shame cannot just log the IP number of the host that connects to it. This is unfortunate since such IPs are much more difficult to forge. An attack would occur as follows: Imagine that someone wanted www.whitehouse.gov to show up on the Wall of Shame. They could just set up a rogue Gnutella server which would generate requests that it pretends to have recieved from a fictional Gnutella server on www.whitehouse.gov. The Gnutella server hosting the Wall of Shame has no way of telling the difference between real requests from www.whitehouse.gov and fictional requests generated by a rogue server. In fact, the Gnutella routing protocol guarantees that all responses will be routed back along the same path, allowing the rogue server to create a seamless illusion. Would someone with a more detailed knowledge of the Gnutella protocol or exactly what the Wall of Shame logs please confirm or deny this?
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Microsoft software may still run on legacy hardware, but
Microsoft only supports consumer operating systems (including
security updates) for only five years after the OS release
date. Because of that, even XP Home will be unusable in less
than a year (support ends 12/31/06).
So, unless you want your legacy hardware to be a spam zombie,
there may be valid reasons for prefering Linux.
Copyright owners DO NOT have control over how their work is distributed. In the event that fair use does not apply, the copyright owner has the right to sue for damages he sustained from unauthorized copies, and the right to seek punitive damages under certain circumstances, as well as certain other rights.
But this is very, very different from "control".
Caveat: I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice.
Unless my analysis of the Gnutella protocol is incorrect, the IP numbers that is getting logged can be forged fairly easily. Innocent people could have their IP added to the Wall of Shame. Gnutella transfers happen via intermediate servers, so the Wall of Shame cannot just log the IP number of the host that connects to it. This is unfortunate since such IPs are much more difficult to forge. An attack would occur as follows: Imagine that someone wanted www.whitehouse.gov to show up on the Wall of Shame. They could just set up a rogue Gnutella server which would generate requests that it pretends to have recieved from a fictional Gnutella server on www.whitehouse.gov. The Gnutella server hosting the Wall of Shame has no way of telling the difference between real requests from www.whitehouse.gov and fictional requests generated by a rogue server. In fact, the Gnutella routing protocol guarantees that all responses will be routed back along the same path, allowing the rogue server to create a seamless illusion. Would someone with a more detailed knowledge of the Gnutella protocol or exactly what the Wall of Shame logs please confirm or deny this?
rain forest puppy just posted some of the technical details to bugtraq. See www.securityfocus.com.