I use Linux daily, all day long. Close to 7 days a week. When I buy a new laptop I format it before first boot up, and install Linux. (I have a a pretty good collection of unused Windows licenses dating back to 2003.)
I no longer support friends or clients running Windows. By choice. My 73 yr old mother begged me to install Linux on not only her desktop, but to put it on her little netbook as well. She loves it! Converted my best non-computer-friend over to Linux, at least 6 years ago.
I work with and use Linux daily because I like it. I don't hate the other guys, I just don't like them as much.
These guys are just awesome!!! I am so grateful to the OpenBSD team for taking this on. I'm going to back up being grateful by supporting this team in any manner that I am able to, and also try to find a way to support their efforts. Be it pizza, donating cash, or maybe even help them test their latest patches and provide any feedback I can.
You could also consider that the child will likely have an entire lifetime of interaction with electronic devices. Instead of fostering an early development for something that will likely be inevitable anyway, why not take the kid outdoors out into the real world and foster a love at an early age for the non-cyber world as well?
I am not bragging or even recommending it as a solution for someone else, but for me it is working out.
I wanted the same thing, to get away from spending all my time working on desktops with viruses. I grew tired of it and just felt it was a stupid waste to be doing the same thing over and over all the time. So now I run my own web hosting / Drupal hosting & design business. I started the business 9 years ago part-time. It has not always paid the bills, but has almost always helped to pay the bills. Now, although I am still struggling to get more business, (like everyone else) I am working for myself full time.
I run the entire thing from my Ubuntu (currently) based laptop. My servers all run OpenBSD exclusively. I am 100% Microsoft FREE end-to-end. One of my early goals was to demonstrate that readily available "off-the-shelf" OSS could be used to entirely run a business. It can be done and I do it.
China cracking down on counterfeit goods, eh? First off despite what the article says, I doubt China is really serious about this problem. I suspect it will be just like the problem of how China is "very serious about curbing the digital information available to it's own population," i.e. the Great firewall of China. This prevents information from getting into or or even out China. (My cousin went to China last summer and could not even post to facebook or his own blog) Yet despite China claiming they police their own citizens, in reality next to nothing actually done to control their citizen's attacking my servers on a daily basis. I average 3 to 6 hacking attempts per day. Over 90 percent of that traffic comes from China. Am I supposed to be happy that the situation isn't 10x times worse?
The Chinese government doesn't really seem to be too concerned with efforts make their citizens play nice with the rest of the world... So how are we supposed to believe they are taking the issue of black market / counterfeit goods seriously?
Curbing counterfeit goods or stopping hackers from illegal activity is a moral ethics problem as much as anything and I just don't see the Chinese government encouraging (or enforcing) it's citizens to do the right thing. This seems like another "we're getting tough on crime" PR stunt but in reality it's just business as usual.
I was going to point out that the author could actually spend a little more time than it took to type the question to "Ask Slashdot" and do a little research on their own. But "Check the archives" is a bit more succinct. Bravo.
Actually I was thinking along the same lines... If you don't want to have the exposure to someone else killing your device, don't get a "smart" device. A plain phone that does text and voice is all most of us really need. If you want a smart-phone device that does more then, well, live with the hidden options of the mobile OS creator. The same goes for my Laptop. I don't want someone else's ideas of what they think I need or need to be protected from.
12 million I can reasonably believe. What I can't believe is Extenze claiming that they have "sold" over a billion tablets. I always wonder why the FCC doesn't investigate them for false advertising?
I've been to a Best Buy maybe a half dozen times, total. I recently bought a Brother all-in-one laser printer copier, fax et all. This was Brother's latest version of this particular model. I had thought briefly about ordering something online, but I really needed it right now and didn't want to wait. What surprised me was when I got the new machine home and setup I decided to check my usual sources online to find out how much I had over-spent and found that I actually saved money buying it at Best Buy, even with the WA state sales tax added in. What was less surprising to me was even though I hadn't really done my home work upfront, there was a Linux driver readily available, and it was a snap to install not only the printer driver but the scanner as well. I have actually come to expect this. I have an ever increasing pile of CD's still shrink-wrapped in their cases of the software that comes with the products I buy. They never seem to get opened. There is simply no need. I want the latest Linux driver available and I just download what is needed. I leave them unopened because if I get ambitious enough I might try to sell them on eBay and make enough to buy a six-pack or something. As far as my Best Buy shopping experience goes the only question I asked the salesperson was to point me where I could find a spare toner cartridge. I learned long ago that the "help" in most retail stores is almost always less informed than I am, and usually they are simply a complete waste of my time.
I have a.22 rifle from the early 1900's that still shoots the bullets out the barrel end. When compared to my "modern".22 rifle they pretty much do the same thing.
One word. R-S-N-Y-C! Seriously, with the cost of hard disk drives so relatively cheap and virtually any old PC you may have laying around, which could then be hanging off some LAN at a trusted member's High Speed Internet connection. (Although with rsync you don't even need that really, just damn convenient)
The lack of offsite backup with this cheap and easy solution so readily available makes me think... tsk! tsk!
On my OpenBSD webserver I noticed a recent spike in hacking attempts. After checking with my clients with regards to where their web traffic and sales come from I discovered that virtually none needed to have their webpages displayed offshore.
I then blocked the entire Asia Pacific Network. I am talking about the entire CIDR range from the offending ISP. I also blocked select addresses in Russia, Turkey, Germany, Poland, Brazil, etc. Every few days I check the logs and add a few more blocks if need be.
While I freely admit this move is quite drastic in nature and not possible for everyone, the illegal activity has dropped off to virtually nil. My Bandwidth utilization is way down as well.
The way I see it, I am more than willing to accept the loss of 1% legitimate traffic for 99% that isn't. If these people can't play nice, why let them play at all? I am naive enough to think that if more and more people adopted this policy, perhaps the offending governments would stand up and take notice. They seem to be able to control whether or not their citizens are able to look at pro-democracy information. If they cared about the illegal activity as well, they could do something about it. Until then, they'll remained blocked and I sleep very well at night.
Does anyone else think that this might be a conspiracy by feline owning scientists? After all, these same scientists are pretty hard on labratory mice and rats!
Definition of a CAT: An advanced life support system for a furcoat!
Someone please explain to me how the "Great Firewall of China" can really be all that effective at denying their citizens access to Western media and news and then suck so horribly at preventing these same citizens from doing illegal activity? The various servers that I administer 75 to 85% of the hacking attempts come from China alone. I also know a large amount of spam is generated within their borders. So I ask again, if they can't or aren't preventing this kind of illeagal activity, what makes Bejing think they are successfully preventing the flow of information from getting in?
Here is a thought: I am assuming that this building, when built, will rotate in a clockwise direction. If you really wanna mess with the minds of people living in this building, "screwing up thier circadian rhythms" as the article points out, suddenly make the building rotate counter-clockwise! Evil looking grin inserted here...
You don't really have a choice, two or two thousand clicks away...
Ever tried to update your copy of WinXP with Firefox? Not happening. So really your choice is to have IE alone, or to have IE and the browser of your choice that you use most of the time.
I read all the previous posts to this discussion and recalled another glaring obvious reason why you should use sudo vs. root logins. No one has brought this up yet, but when you step away from your desk for that quick trip to the john, and then get snagged for that impromtu 20 minute meeting in the hall, away from your desk the whole time, and you leave a root terminal open on your computer, you really are just asking for trouble. Remember that the largest percentage of security breaches occur from within, not outside the company. At least when you use sudo (as is almost always considered best-practice) from your normal user account, you aren't leaving the door totally wide open when you are away from your desk. Sure, I know all about locking your your display, (which I personally do) even automatically via a screensaver, but the again I have also seen a lot of scary simple root passwords as well. Sloppy habits make sloppy admin'ing. I admin my personal servers as well as any for anyone else via sudo. Another vote soundly in the sudo column.
Start by treating candidates with the same respect you'd like to be treated with. Sounds so simple but surpisingly very few recruiters actually do this...
I interviewed with a company called HopOne located in Seattle the day after Thanksgiving last year. I thought the interview went really well and I was both excited about the position and confident I had nailed the interview. I was told they would let me know their decision by the following Friday. To this day I have yet to hear a single word from them reagrding the position despite several follow up e-mails and phone calls. They have totally ignored me and couldn't even muster the common decency to let me know anything one way or the other regarding the position. That should be an excellent example of what not do do if you wish to leave a psoitive impression. My impression of HopOne has been severaly tainted and I can't say I recommend them in any sort of a positive way. I also hope that in some way instant karma pays back all of the principles involved.
I also interviewed with a recruiter once who told me, "I love your credentials, and if none the 3 candidates I've currently got interviewing for this position today pan out, I'll be happy to submit your resume." (This was after insisting that I drive 50 miles each way that very day to rush to interview with him as soon as posible. It turned out it was just so he'd be ready to send someone else right away if needed.)
My point with both of the above examples is that I am fine with not being the one selected for a job I have interviewed for. Simply let me know that you've gone with someone else and show me a little respect during the process.
Showing just a little common decency and respect doesn't seem to be asking for very much...
You work for a large corporation. Surely the company could afford hire a sys admin that could act as a liason between the IT department and the rest of the company. Some that was accepted by the IT department as one of their own, but could expedite getting things done for non-IT departments.
-- Laying low - trying to survive the remaining years of staying the course with W.
Slashdot Mirror
I disagree.
I use Linux daily, all day long. Close to 7 days a week. When I buy a new laptop I format it before first boot up, and install Linux. (I have a a pretty good collection of unused Windows licenses dating back to 2003.)
I no longer support friends or clients running Windows. By choice. My 73 yr old mother begged me to install Linux on not only her desktop, but to put it on her little netbook as well. She loves it! Converted my best non-computer-friend over to Linux, at least 6 years ago.
I work with and use Linux daily because I like it. I don't hate the other guys, I just don't like them as much.
These guys are just awesome!!! I am so grateful to the OpenBSD team for taking this on. I'm going to back up being grateful by supporting this team in any manner that I am able to, and also try to find a way to support their efforts. Be it pizza, donating cash, or maybe even help them test their latest patches and provide any feedback I can.
You could also consider that the child will likely have an entire lifetime of interaction with electronic devices. Instead of fostering an early development for something that will likely be inevitable anyway, why not take the kid outdoors out into the real world and foster a love at an early age for the non-cyber world as well?
I am not bragging or even recommending it as a solution for someone else, but for me it is working out.
I wanted the same thing, to get away from spending all my time working on desktops with viruses. I grew tired of it and just felt it was a stupid waste to be doing the same thing over and over all the time. So now I run my own web hosting / Drupal hosting & design business. I started the business 9 years ago part-time. It has not always paid the bills, but has almost always helped to pay the bills. Now, although I am still struggling to get more business, (like everyone else) I am working for myself full time.
I run the entire thing from my Ubuntu (currently) based laptop. My servers all run OpenBSD exclusively. I am 100% Microsoft FREE end-to-end. One of my early goals was to demonstrate that readily available "off-the-shelf" OSS could be used to entirely run a business. It can be done and I do it.
China cracking down on counterfeit goods, eh? First off despite what the article says, I doubt China is really serious about this problem. I suspect it will be just like the problem of how China is "very serious about curbing the digital information available to it's own population," i.e. the Great firewall of China. This prevents information from getting into or or even out China. (My cousin went to China last summer and could not even post to facebook or his own blog) Yet despite China claiming they police their own citizens, in reality next to nothing actually done to control their citizen's attacking my servers on a daily basis. I average 3 to 6 hacking attempts per day. Over 90 percent of that traffic comes from China. Am I supposed to be happy that the situation isn't 10x times worse?
The Chinese government doesn't really seem to be too concerned with efforts make their citizens play nice with the rest of the world... So how are we supposed to believe they are taking the issue of black market / counterfeit goods seriously?
Curbing counterfeit goods or stopping hackers from illegal activity is a moral ethics problem as much as anything and I just don't see the Chinese government encouraging (or enforcing) it's citizens to do the right thing. This seems like another "we're getting tough on crime" PR stunt but in reality it's just business as usual.
I was going to point out that the author could actually spend a little more time than it took to type the question to "Ask Slashdot" and do a little research on their own. But "Check the archives" is a bit more succinct. Bravo.
Seriously?! I thought Facebook was a means of staying connected with one's own friends?
--
If you've got more than a couple of hundred "friends" of Facebook then it's not Facebook that you need, it's your own wikileaks...
Actually I was thinking along the same lines... If you don't want to have the exposure to someone else killing your device, don't get a "smart" device. A plain phone that does text and voice is all most of us really need. If you want a smart-phone device that does more then, well, live with the hidden options of the mobile OS creator. The same goes for my Laptop. I don't want someone else's ideas of what they think I need or need to be protected from.
1.) Get to have our lungs protected from harmful dust AND have our women running around "bra-less" Sweet!
2.) Imagine how much more interesting Emergency Prepardness drills will be now.
12 million I can reasonably believe. What I can't believe is Extenze claiming that they have "sold" over a billion tablets. I always wonder why the FCC doesn't investigate them for false advertising?
I've been to a Best Buy maybe a half dozen times, total. I recently bought a Brother all-in-one laser printer copier, fax et all. This was Brother's latest version of this particular model. I had thought briefly about ordering something online, but I really needed it right now and didn't want to wait. What surprised me was when I got the new machine home and setup I decided to check my usual sources online to find out how much I had over-spent and found that I actually saved money buying it at Best Buy, even with the WA state sales tax added in. What was less surprising to me was even though I hadn't really done my home work upfront, there was a Linux driver readily available, and it was a snap to install not only the printer driver but the scanner as well. I have actually come to expect this. I have an ever increasing pile of CD's still shrink-wrapped in their cases of the software that comes with the products I buy. They never seem to get opened. There is simply no need. I want the latest Linux driver available and I just download what is needed. I leave them unopened because if I get ambitious enough I might try to sell them on eBay and make enough to buy a six-pack or something. As far as my Best Buy shopping experience goes the only question I asked the salesperson was to point me where I could find a spare toner cartridge. I learned long ago that the "help" in most retail stores is almost always less informed than I am, and usually they are simply a complete waste of my time.
I have a .22 rifle from the early 1900's that still shoots the bullets out the barrel end. When compared to my "modern" .22 rifle they pretty much do the same thing.
One word. R-S-N-Y-C! Seriously, with the cost of hard disk drives so relatively cheap and virtually any old PC you may have laying around, which could then be hanging off some LAN at a trusted member's High Speed Internet connection. (Although with rsync you don't even need that really, just damn convenient)
The lack of offsite backup with this cheap and easy solution so readily available makes me think... tsk! tsk!
On my OpenBSD webserver I noticed a recent spike in hacking attempts. After checking with my clients with regards to where their web traffic and sales come from I discovered that virtually none needed to have their webpages displayed offshore.
I then blocked the entire Asia Pacific Network. I am talking about the entire CIDR range from the offending ISP. I also blocked select addresses in Russia, Turkey, Germany, Poland, Brazil, etc. Every few days I check the logs and add a few more blocks if need be.
While I freely admit this move is quite drastic in nature and not possible for everyone, the illegal activity has dropped off to virtually nil. My Bandwidth utilization is way down as well.
The way I see it, I am more than willing to accept the loss of 1% legitimate traffic for 99% that isn't. If these people can't play nice, why let them play at all? I am naive enough to think that if more and more people adopted this policy, perhaps the offending governments would stand up and take notice. They seem to be able to control whether or not their citizens are able to look at pro-democracy information. If they cared about the illegal activity as well, they could do something about it. Until then, they'll remained blocked and I sleep very well at night.
Does anyone else think that this might be a conspiracy by feline owning scientists? After all, these same scientists are pretty hard on labratory mice and rats!
Definition of a CAT: An advanced life support system for a furcoat!
Someone please explain to me how the "Great Firewall of China" can really be all that effective at denying their citizens access to Western media and news and then suck so horribly at preventing these same citizens from doing illegal activity? The various servers that I administer 75 to 85% of the hacking attempts come from China alone. I also know a large amount of spam is generated within their borders. So I ask again, if they can't or aren't preventing this kind of illeagal activity, what makes Bejing think they are successfully preventing the flow of information from getting in?
And in doing it so quickly on the front page of their website never made me more proud of my OS of choice.
Long live OpenBSD!!!
Here is a thought: I am assuming that this building, when built, will rotate in a clockwise direction. If you really wanna mess with the minds of people living in this building, "screwing up thier circadian rhythms" as the article points out, suddenly make the building rotate counter-clockwise! Evil looking grin inserted here...
You don't really have a choice, two or two thousand clicks away...
Ever tried to update your copy of WinXP with Firefox? Not happening. So really your choice is to have IE alone, or to have IE and the browser of your choice that you use most of the time.
played "Goose" in Top Gun...
I read all the previous posts to this discussion and recalled another glaring obvious reason why you should use sudo vs. root logins. No one has brought this up yet, but when you step away from your desk for that quick trip to the john, and then get snagged for that impromtu 20 minute meeting in the hall, away from your desk the whole time, and you leave a root terminal open on your computer, you really are just asking for trouble. Remember that the largest percentage of security breaches occur from within, not outside the company. At least when you use sudo (as is almost always considered best-practice) from your normal user account, you aren't leaving the door totally wide open when you are away from your desk. Sure, I know all about locking your your display, (which I personally do) even automatically via a screensaver, but the again I have also seen a lot of scary simple root passwords as well. Sloppy habits make sloppy admin'ing. I admin my personal servers as well as any for anyone else via sudo. Another vote soundly in the sudo column.
Sudo and the less voodoo you do to whom?
___
Simulated sig.
I interviewed with a company called HopOne located in Seattle the day after Thanksgiving last year. I thought the interview went really well and I was both excited about the position and confident I had nailed the interview. I was told they would let me know their decision by the following Friday. To this day I have yet to hear a single word from them reagrding the position despite several follow up e-mails and phone calls. They have totally ignored me and couldn't even muster the common decency to let me know anything one way or the other regarding the position. That should be an excellent example of what not do do if you wish to leave a psoitive impression. My impression of HopOne has been severaly tainted and I can't say I recommend them in any sort of a positive way. I also hope that in some way instant karma pays back all of the principles involved.
I also interviewed with a recruiter once who told me, "I love your credentials, and if none the 3 candidates I've currently got interviewing for this position today pan out, I'll be happy to submit your resume." (This was after insisting that I drive 50 miles each way that very day to rush to interview with him as soon as posible. It turned out it was just so he'd be ready to send someone else right away if needed.)
My point with both of the above examples is that I am fine with not being the one selected for a job I have interviewed for. Simply let me know that you've gone with someone else and show me a little respect during the process.
Showing just a little common decency and respect doesn't seem to be asking for very much...
You work for a large corporation. Surely the company could afford hire a sys admin that could act as a liason between the IT department and the rest of the company. Some that was accepted by the IT department as one of their own, but could expedite getting things done for non-IT departments.
--
Laying low - trying to survive the remaining years of staying the course with W.
Oh great! Now Firefox is losing ground to IE. May as well just throw the damn laptop out the window now!!!
For most people DNS stands for Do Nothing Shit!