You've got your facts wrong. Scott McNealy was never slated to become the Obama administration's Open Source Technology adviser. According to the articles you referenced, all he was going to do was write a paper:
"According to BBC News, the Obama administration has asked Sun chairman McNealy for a position statement justifying the administration's use of open source software. The BBC wasn't clear on who specifically asked him, but McNealy's spokesperson, on a query by the Linux community, acknowledged that McNealy had been meeting over the last year with members of the administration's new technology initiative, which apparently led to this request." http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Sun-s-McNealy-Advises-Obama-Administration-on-Open-Source
I don't know if Scott ever got around to writing that paper. Searching the White House website for papers on Open Source, the only one I found was here:
The best resource for discovering legitimate applications is in your own skull. The second-best is an internet search engine.
"Upon investigation I found something installed called 'PDF Suite.' Never having heard of it, I Googled it with 'malware' and other key words, but nothing turned up..."
Dig deeper. I googled "PDF Suite" and found pdf-suite.com, which claims to be "a leader in the "Online Software Selling" business reaching 5.4 million unique visitors per month (Google Analytics, January 2008)." I then checked whois.org to see who owned pdf-suite.com, and found it was owned by Interactive Brands of Montreal, Quebec. interactivebrands.com claims to be "a privately held corporation, it was formed by a team of experienced industry professionals who had a vision of creating the “ultimate” digital-market-dedicated affiliate programs."
Googling "interactivebrands.com" brought up this note:
"McAfee TrustedSource web reputation analysis found potential security risks with this site. Use with extreme caution."
I nominate two Heinlein stories that may be of interest to teens:
The Rolling Stones link
"The Stones, a family of "Loonies" (residents of the Moon), buy a used spaceship (which by this time is less complicated than a car), overhaul it, and go sightseeing around the solar system."
And for the more advanced class, discuss the political layer of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Link
"...a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, about a lunar colony's revolt against rule from Earth. The novel expresses and discusses libertarian ideals in a speculative context, yet portrays the need for a powerful governing computer to control many aspects of the society."
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a nonregulatory federal agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce, is putting final touches on a guide designed to help small businesses and organizations implement the fundamentals of an effective information security program. The NIST standards should also prove useful for the remote offices of larger companies, where IT staffs are often small or nonexistent and it's important that employees bear more responsibility for information security.
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts/ir-7621/draft-nistir-7621.pdf
Opponents of global warming have successfully framed it as a debate over weather (a local phenomenon) rather than climate (a global phenomenon). They point to a cold snap in Buffalo NY in January, and ask "what global warming?" They ignore evidence that the average temperature in Antarctica has been rising for decades, and that ice is melting faster than it's forming at both poles.
It's probably only a matter of time before someone sues the church over the existence of God.
The goal of the chamber, which represents 3 million large and small businesses, is to fend off potential emissions regulations by undercutting the scientific consensus over climate change.
Using the same approach, atheists can sue the government to prove the existence of God, and use that to undermine "In God We Trust" on our currency, swearing oaths on the Bible, and the tax-free status of churches.
CK-12 Foundation is a non-profit organization with a mission to reduce the cost of textbook materials for the K-12 market both in the U.S. and worldwide. Using an open-content, web-based collaborative model termed the "FlexBook," CK-12 intends to pioneer the generation and distribution of high quality educational content that will serve both as core text as well as provide an adaptive environment for learning.
"The presentation focused on exploiting vulnerabilities in devices running the Windows CE operating system, including some ATMs. The decision to cancel was made to give the vendor concerned time to patch the problem, although the company was notified 8 months ago."
My guess is that Microsoft is not excited about fixing bugs in CE, and would rather just extend their "security through obscurity" strategy to include censoring researchers.
Animal Shelter Manager is a free computer package, covered by the terms of the GNU General Public License. It is designed to take most (if not all) of the paperwork away from running an animal shelter/sanctuary. The system can also be used to manage a veterinary surgery or clinic. It runs on any computer platform, utilizes other open source components and does not require a modern computer to run.http://sheltermanager.sourceforge.net/home.php
First thing you should do is take off the tinfoil hat:
"Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawaii, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawaii State Department of Health has Sen. Obamaâ(TM)s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures," Fukino said.
http://www.kitv.com/politics/17860890/detail.html?rss=hon&psp=news
"As things turned out, when the Obama campaign made a copy of his Certificate of Live Birth from the State of Hawaii available on the internet in June 2008, it validated none of these rumors: The certificate shows his full name to be "Barack Hussein Obama II," it lists is father's race as "African" and his mother's as "Caucasian,", it contains no information about religion, and it reports his birthplace as being Honolulu, Hawaii."
Morover, both of Honolulu's major newspapers (the Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin) published announcements in August 1961 documenting the birth, in Honolulu, of a son to "Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama" on August 4, 1961."
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."
- Christopher Reeve
I'm waiting for the Linux crowd to put out an ad with the same actress and same laptop, saying that Vista just didn't work for her and Office was too expensive, and telling how she downloaded Ubuntu (or Fedora, or...) and installed that on her laptop in place of Vista. "And now it's even faster and easier to use, with free OpenOffice!"
Who are you going to believe? The monopolist who sells the most insecure operating system on the planet, or the US Department of Defense, which has some of the highest security requirements anywhere?
DOD launches site to develop open-source software
By Doug Beizer, Jan 30, 2009 link
Defense Department officials have launched a new Web site where developers can work on open-source software projects specifically for DOD, David Mihelcic, the chief technology officer for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), said today.
The new site, named Forge.mil, is based on the public site SourceForge.net which hosts thousands of open-source projects, Mihelcic said at an AFCEA Washington chapter lunch in Arlington, Va.
âoeIt is really is SourceForge.net upgraded to meet DOD security requirements,â Mihelcic said.
My son's high school has an IT club; it had been loosely organized, with no real goal other than to allow protogeeks to get together and talk geek. I volunteered to be their mentor, and have them working towards learning how to build a network, with a firewall, DNS server, email server, file server, Linux and Windows client PCs, etc. We're signed up for an IT competition sponsored by a state University:
http://www.it-adventures.org/itolympics.html
I don't know if any of these kids will go on to a career in IT, but they're having fun...and so am I.
Slashdot Mirror
Build Your Own Security Lab: A Field Guide for Network Testing by Michael Gregg ISBN 978-0-470-17986-4 http://www.amazon.com/Build-Your-Own-Security-Lab/dp/0470179864/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291996372&sr=1-1
PHP Game Programming
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Through-Game-Programming-Second/dp/1598633600/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275079894&sr=1-3
Beginning C++ Through Game Programming, Second Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Through-Game-Programming-Second/dp/1598633600/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275079894&sr=1-3
Game Programming for Teens, Third Edition
http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Teens-Third-Maneesh-Sethi/dp/1598635182/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275079894&sr=1-6
You've got your facts wrong. Scott McNealy was never slated to become the Obama administration's Open Source Technology adviser. According to the articles you referenced, all he was going to do was write a paper:
Scott McNealy "revealed he has been asked to prepare a paper on the subject (open source technologies and products) for the new administration."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7841486.stm
"According to BBC News, the Obama administration has asked Sun chairman McNealy for a position statement justifying the administration's use of open source software. The BBC wasn't clear on who specifically asked him, but McNealy's spokesperson, on a query by the Linux community, acknowledged that McNealy had been meeting over the last year with members of the administration's new technology initiative, which apparently led to this request."
http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/News/Sun-s-McNealy-Advises-Obama-Administration-on-Open-Source
I don't know if Scott ever got around to writing that paper. Searching the White House website for papers on Open Source, the only one I found was here:
Open Source Software and Cyber Defense
A White Paper provided to the National Security Council and Homeland Security Council as input to the White House Review of Communications and Information Infrastructure.
Bob Gourley, Chief Technology Officer, Crucial Point LLC
http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/cyber/Gourley_Bob_Open_Source_Software_and_Cyber_Defense_01_April_2009.pdf
Of course SCO isn't dead yet. The undead require special tools to kill like sunlight and a stake throw the heart.
The problem is that SCO doesn't have a heart. But the sunlight that Groklaw has been shining on them has proven very painful.
The best resource for discovering legitimate applications is in your own skull. The second-best is an internet search engine.
"Upon investigation I found something installed called 'PDF Suite.' Never having heard of it, I Googled it with 'malware' and other key words, but nothing turned up..."
Dig deeper. I googled "PDF Suite" and found pdf-suite.com, which claims to be "a leader in the "Online Software Selling" business reaching 5.4 million unique visitors per month (Google Analytics, January 2008)." I then checked whois.org to see who owned pdf-suite.com, and found it was owned by Interactive Brands of Montreal, Quebec. interactivebrands.com claims to be "a privately held corporation, it was formed by a team of experienced industry professionals who had a vision of creating the “ultimate” digital-market-dedicated affiliate programs."
Googling "interactivebrands.com" brought up this note:
"McAfee TrustedSource web reputation analysis found potential security risks with this site. Use with extreme caution."
Spider-Boy???
Would that be the OctoOS?
I nominate two Heinlein stories that may be of interest to teens:
The Rolling Stones
link
"The Stones, a family of "Loonies" (residents of the Moon), buy a used spaceship (which by this time is less complicated than a car), overhaul it, and go sightseeing around the solar system."
And for the more advanced class, discuss the political layer of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Link
"...a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, about a lunar colony's revolt against rule from Earth. The novel expresses and discusses libertarian ideals in a speculative context, yet portrays the need for a powerful governing computer to control many aspects of the society."
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a nonregulatory federal agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce, is putting final touches on a guide designed to help small businesses and organizations implement the fundamentals of an effective information security program. The NIST standards should also prove useful for the remote offices of larger companies, where IT staffs are often small or nonexistent and it's important that employees bear more responsibility for information security. http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/drafts/ir-7621/draft-nistir-7621.pdf
Opponents of global warming have successfully framed it as a debate over weather (a local phenomenon) rather than climate (a global phenomenon). They point to a cold snap in Buffalo NY in January, and ask "what global warming?" They ignore evidence that the average temperature in Antarctica has been rising for decades, and that ice is melting faster than it's forming at both poles.
The goal of the chamber, which represents 3 million large and small businesses, is to fend off potential emissions regulations by undercutting the scientific consensus over climate change.
Using the same approach, atheists can sue the government to prove the existence of God, and use that to undermine "In God We Trust" on our currency, swearing oaths on the Bible, and the tax-free status of churches.
Perhaps it was DC Comics who protested, as the Joker is their copyrighted character.
CK-12 Foundation is a non-profit organization with a mission to reduce the cost of textbook materials for the K-12 market both in the U.S. and worldwide. Using an open-content, web-based collaborative model termed the "FlexBook," CK-12 intends to pioneer the generation and distribution of high quality educational content that will serve both as core text as well as provide an adaptive environment for learning.
The vendor in question is likely Microsoft:
"The presentation focused on exploiting vulnerabilities in devices running the Windows CE operating system, including some ATMs. The decision to cancel was made to give the vendor concerned time to patch the problem, although the company was notified 8 months ago."
My guess is that Microsoft is not excited about fixing bugs in CE, and would rather just extend their "security through obscurity" strategy to include censoring researchers.
Animal Shelter Manager is a free computer package, covered by the terms of the GNU General Public License. It is designed to take most (if not all) of the paperwork away from running an animal shelter/sanctuary. The system can also be used to manage a veterinary surgery or clinic.
It runs on any computer platform, utilizes other open source components and does not require a modern computer to run. http://sheltermanager.sourceforge.net/home.php
"Therefore, I as Director of Health for the State of Hawaii, along with the Registrar of Vital Statistics who has statutory authority to oversee and maintain these type of vital records, have personally seen and verified that the Hawaii State Department of Health has Sen. Obamaâ(TM)s original birth certificate on record in accordance with state policies and procedures," Fukino said. http://www.kitv.com/politics/17860890/detail.html?rss=hon&psp=news
"As things turned out, when the Obama campaign made a copy of his Certificate of Live Birth from the State of Hawaii available on the internet in June 2008, it validated none of these rumors: The certificate shows his full name to be "Barack Hussein Obama II," it lists is father's race as "African" and his mother's as "Caucasian,", it contains no information about religion, and it reports his birthplace as being Honolulu, Hawaii."
Morover, both of Honolulu's major newspapers (the Advertiser and the Star-Bulletin) published announcements in August 1961 documenting the birth, in Honolulu, of a son to "Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama" on August 4, 1961." http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
"So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable." - Christopher Reeve
I'm waiting for the Linux crowd to put out an ad with the same actress and same laptop, saying that Vista just didn't work for her and Office was too expensive, and telling how she downloaded Ubuntu (or Fedora, or...) and installed that on her laptop in place of Vista. "And now it's even faster and easier to use, with free OpenOffice!"
Who are you going to believe? The monopolist who sells the most insecure operating system on the planet, or the US Department of Defense, which has some of the highest security requirements anywhere?
DOD launches site to develop open-source software
By Doug Beizer, Jan 30, 2009
link
Defense Department officials have launched a new Web site where developers can work on open-source software projects specifically for DOD, David Mihelcic, the chief technology officer for the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), said today.
The new site, named Forge.mil, is based on the public site SourceForge.net which hosts thousands of open-source projects, Mihelcic said at an AFCEA Washington chapter lunch in Arlington, Va.
âoeIt is really is SourceForge.net upgraded to meet DOD security requirements,â Mihelcic said.
My son's high school has an IT club; it had been loosely organized, with no real goal other than to allow protogeeks to get together and talk geek. I volunteered to be their mentor, and have them working towards learning how to build a network, with a firewall, DNS server, email server, file server, Linux and Windows client PCs, etc. We're signed up for an IT competition sponsored by a state University: http://www.it-adventures.org/itolympics.html
I don't know if any of these kids will go on to a career in IT, but they're having fun...and so am I.