Now to be fair, this only applies to the use of the Cisco Connect Cloud.
Please correct me if I am wrong here, but I do not think this whole mess is about controlling how you use your router, but rather the unrestricted collection of your web-browsing history to feed the maw of the marketing department of Cisco and their evil allies.
This data could be embarrassing, I mean who wants their favourite Kitten Porn site released, worse could be the fact that you visit P2P download enabling sites which could eventually have legal consequences.
Isn't that just delightful, your ISP indicates that your account was used to download copyrighted material, and your own router implicates an individual machine on your own network! Now the media companies can argue that a single IP address can be used to search your router for incriminating information. Oh, that's suspicious, you turned off your logging, now, what do you have to hide?
Back in the days when I got my first DSL account, I used Coyote Linux on a stripped down pentium. It ran off of a floppy disk, and was solid. I shared the connection with my room-mates and all was great. It was very stable
Of course whenever I talked to customer support I never told them that I was even running a router. Just gave them the numbers they asked for. Of course now, almost everybody has a router in the house and the ISP's don't even blink when you mention a router. They may not support them, but they really don't care if you have one.
I feel your pain, but, I think someone felt you were a troll, because you used Linux in a meaningful, useful way. Some folks are just against that, no matter what the context is. I cannot explain it.
The most important thing will be how it is dealt with after the fact. If it takes too long to fix, or if there is an overly complex explanation, there will be Streisand Effect and the optics will be murky. Any time Corporations use filters that someone else maintains, this sort of thing is bound to happen. Look at the debates that rage over filters in use at schools and homes.
You can't really win, because there are too many folks ready to jump on these mistakes and use them to beat the drum of self righteousness.
Agreed, MS can download (most likely has already) and can do whatever they want with it within the limits of the license.
MS has made contributions to GPL'd software in the past. The difference in this case is that the picture was not used according to the license it was under.
If someone produces something, they should have the right to be acknowledged as the creator, and be able to make a dollar from their creation if someone is willing to pay for its use. If it is worth stealing, most likely its worth paying for. If the author charges too much, well, then not many folks will pay for it. We need to find a balance here, make it easy to pay, and keep the cost reasonable. If buying something is less hassle than pirating it, guess what most folks will do.
I got an HP workstation, it seemed to take forever to get to a usable desktop, then it still persisted in going out to HP to see if there were any new drivers to download. In the end I wiped it, installed a full version of windows 7 and never looked back.
The article does mention that MS seems to install a lot of Windows Live applications, so, what's the point here? I would rather take the time to download and install just what I need/want rather than someone else dump a bunch of stuff on my computer for me.
This seems to me it is just a gimmick that MS is pushing. If you are going to remove the "bloat", then you should not replace it with other stuff of dubious value. Of course I do not do much with Windows Live, and perhaps other folks would welcome the installation.
Many security breaches can be prevented if we just follow the guidelines that are in place. If you look at the case of Sub-Lieutenant Jeffrey Delisle there were some indicators such as his divorce and bankruptcy which are red flags.
In Delisle's case he was caught, but it is not clear how much info he sold.
Yet a third case of Security Officials dropping the ball is John Walker who I believe was turned in by his wife. This guy at one point didn't even try to keep his clearance updated!
So, in the end it falls to the procedures we have in place. If we don't consistently follow them, we pay the consequences.
Seriously, I think we are entering into a period where the bandwidth is way more important than the processor. I am sure that Moore's law can be manipulated into something that will predict how quickly things will advance.
It wasn't that long ago that mobile bandwidth was pretty much useless, now we have speeds that have surpassed early home wireless networking.
I live in a rural area, only have 2G, I'm waiting for 3G, but I'm not sure it will ever quite get there, my provider will most likely just jump it and go to whatever the next level is, making my phone obsolete in the process. Of course with a bit of luck, the standard will be backwards compatible, but at some point they will have to just abandon some technology and look forwards.
Now I would say that reincarnation may be fundamental in a number of Indian based religions, and the concept of rebirth is similar in Buddhism, however it is not the same thing,
Back then of course the two most common were Redhat and Slackware.
They used to say "If you run Redhat, you know Redhat. If you run Slackware, you know Linux"
There are no shortcuts with Slackware. The students can learn how and why. Then, once they get the base knowledge, they can move on to easier distros. I don't bother with endless tinkering anymore, I just don't have the time. But the knowledge I picked up when I had to still serves me well.
We use very expensive software/hardware combinations in a Govt/Military environment. I would not be surprised to see the actual cost upwards of 10000K for say just a couple of licenses. Several of the Companies use a hardware licence model. That being a usb key which is easily moved from computer to computer when we upgrade.
As much as I dislike DRM, this isn't so very bad. If our users would just take care of the damned things!
As others have said, spyware brings its own problems, and might actually be counter-productive.
I just put in an air-source heat pump, with two inside units cost me about $5000 CDN for 18000 BTU (5200W), so if it works, that is a pretty good price point.
Now, how much will it cost to run, or fuel, and does it require much hands on to operate? I set the heat-pump and forget it.
So, MS is going to make a shift towards more CLI. I had already heard rumours and stories that some configurations would have to be done on the Command Line. I may be a little cynical here, but consider the following:
Over the past while, the perceived value of having MS Certifications has dropped somewhat as MS Windows Servers become more easily configured. Now, Administrators will have to know some of the more arcane commands, and have a better understanding of how the systems work in order to properly configure Windows Server without the GUI's.
Aside from some of the improvements that folks have already mentioned, would this not also revitalize the revenue stream that MS gets from the training and certifications? And, make these certifications actually more relevent?
Why would you want to come to this gestapo country? Stay in Europe. What are you going to want to do next summer, go to summer camp in North Korea?
I think this kid would like to broaden his horizons. I don't think this would be a negative experience overall, as a youth I attended a summer camp located on the border between Canada and the US, besides North Americans, there were a number of other nationalities. It made for a more interesting experience.
I think this sort of thing should be encouraged, it not only will benefit him, but the other campers will benefit being exposed to his culture.
This does seem to be a problem when executives lose sight of what is important. You can have a company that does a billion dollars in business every year, but because there is no "growth", it is supposedly not viable. That is when you start getting stupid business decisions made which are designed to maximize profit, not enable the company to continue to do what it is actually good at. I would not do well in the current business environment.
The gratitude was shown by simply showing me the door because I was then dispensable as any other developer could pick up from where I left off.
Only the real truth is that nobody at the company could figure out my inventory system and the documentation just got dumped on the heap with all of the other engineering notes from all of the rest of the stuff done by the company.
This is an example of short-sightedness of the company you worked for. It sends all of the wrong signals. Of course, the work you did, really didn't matter to them as they were willing to throw it on the "heap", right after they got rid of you. Not a company that I would want to work for, although I understand that a job in the current economic climate is worth more than no job. It would be nice to have a decent boss, but we can not be too choosey right now.
Mainly I'd like to point out that documentation is far more than just comments around snippets of code or as headers to functions. Design documents, development notes, meeting minutes (if taken at all), customer requests, contracts, bills of materials (if equipment is needed to use the software), and other aspects are all part of that documentation process.
Schizophrenia (play/sktsfrni/ or/sktsfrini/) is a mental disorder characterized by a breakdown of thought processes and by poor emotional responsiveness.[1] It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social or occupational dysfunction.
I get you don't agree with me. And I will consider that writing device drivers/kernel code may not require the same amount of documentation that an application might. Just because I am looking at this situation from a different perspective does not make it "Schizophrenic".
I'm not a big fan of commenting code. I prefer code possessing such clarity that it is self-commenting. If your code fails this test, no amount of commenting will improve the situation. Bad code is bad code, no matter how well-commented it is. (True, some code is truly difficult to comprehend and therefore requires comments, usually because what the code is doing is supremely complicated and difficult to comprehend itself. I'm not talking about that kind of code).
Now describing the design overall, that's another matter. But most of the designs I'm called in to fix are so bad that they are undocumentable.
Then you should not do it for a living. Period.
It does not matter how elegant/clear your code is, eventually, someone else will have to maintain it.
Properly documenting your code ensures that it will have real longevity. Really, the only reason many (most) folks fail to document their code is laziness.
Now, This is often encouraged by the company. They want their code yesterday, not tomorrow. It costs money to place remarks in the source, as well as document the process so that the users can utilize the full functionality of the product.
We had a backup system whose documentation actually consisted of photocopies of the engineers personal notes! Not only did we have to interpret a lousy UI, but we also had to interpret the documentation that was provided. Yes it was cheaper, but in the long run it cost far more than if we had just purchased a proper solution.
So, in closing I can repeat that, laziness is the prime reason so much code goes unremarked/undocumented properly, regardless of the arguments to the contrary.
The first G-suits were developed by a team led by Wilbur R. Franks at the University of Toronto's Banting and Best Medical Institute in 1941. These devices used water filled bladders around the legs and two 'Mk.' versions (or Marks) were developed:
-Franks Mark I suits were used by RAF Hurricane and Spitfire pilots;
-Franks Mark II suits were used by the United States Army Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force pilots. U.S. pilots tested them during 1944, but found the water system uncomfortable and were issued an air-inflatable design known as Berger suits from September 1944.
The article goes on to say that Air Pressurized G-Suits were in common usage during the 1950's with NATO Air Forces
The next advance in G-Suit technology would be the pressurized breathing suits, which force air into the Pilots' lungs, and then the Pilot must forcibly exhale.
Slashdot Mirror
Now to be fair, this only applies to the use of the Cisco Connect Cloud.
Please correct me if I am wrong here, but I do not think this whole mess is about controlling how you use your router, but rather the unrestricted collection of your web-browsing history to feed the maw of the marketing department of Cisco and their evil allies.
This data could be embarrassing, I mean who wants their favourite Kitten Porn site released, worse could be the fact that you visit P2P download enabling sites which could eventually have legal consequences.
Isn't that just delightful, your ISP indicates that your account was used to download copyrighted material, and your own router implicates an individual machine on your own network! Now the media companies can argue that a single IP address can be used to search your router for incriminating information. Oh, that's suspicious, you turned off your logging, now, what do you have to hide?
Back in the days when I got my first DSL account, I used Coyote Linux on a stripped down pentium. It ran off of a floppy disk, and was solid. I shared the connection with my room-mates and all was great. It was very stable
Of course whenever I talked to customer support I never told them that I was even running a router. Just gave them the numbers they asked for. Of course now, almost everybody has a router in the house and the ISP's don't even blink when you mention a router. They may not support them, but they really don't care if you have one.
I feel your pain, but, I think someone felt you were a troll, because you used Linux in a meaningful, useful way. Some folks are just against that, no matter what the context is. I cannot explain it.
Nicely stated.
Of course, as with all gaffes, whether it was:
A) Malicious/Overzealous employee
B) Innocent Mistake
C) Nefarious Plot
The most important thing will be how it is dealt with after the fact. If it takes too long to fix, or if there is an overly complex explanation, there will be Streisand Effect and the optics will be murky. Any time Corporations use filters that someone else maintains, this sort of thing is bound to happen. Look at the debates that rage over filters in use at schools and homes.
You can't really win, because there are too many folks ready to jump on these mistakes and use them to beat the drum of self righteousness.
Of course the panel front and center which reads:
Stand up for your freedom to install free software
!
Join 30,000 people in opposing Microsoft's Restricted Boot by signing this statement
Has nothing to do with it.
Agreed, MS can download (most likely has already) and can do whatever they want with it within the limits of the license.
MS has made contributions to GPL'd software in the past. The difference in this case is that the picture was not used according to the license it was under.
If someone produces something, they should have the right to be acknowledged as the creator, and be able to make a dollar from their creation if someone is willing to pay for its use. If it is worth stealing, most likely its worth paying for. If the author charges too much, well, then not many folks will pay for it. We need to find a balance here, make it easy to pay, and keep the cost reasonable. If buying something is less hassle than pirating it, guess what most folks will do.
I got an HP workstation, it seemed to take forever to get to a usable desktop, then it still persisted in going out to HP to see if there were any new drivers to download. In the end I wiped it, installed a full version of windows 7 and never looked back.
The article does mention that MS seems to install a lot of Windows Live applications, so, what's the point here? I would rather take the time to download and install just what I need/want rather than someone else dump a bunch of stuff on my computer for me.
This seems to me it is just a gimmick that MS is pushing. If you are going to remove the "bloat", then you should not replace it with other stuff of dubious value. Of course I do not do much with Windows Live, and perhaps other folks would welcome the installation.
You have hit the nail on the head
Many security breaches can be prevented if we just follow the guidelines that are in place. If you look at the case of Sub-Lieutenant Jeffrey Delisle there were some indicators such as his divorce and bankruptcy which are red flags.
In Delisle's case he was caught, but it is not clear how much info he sold.
Yet a third case of Security Officials dropping the ball is John Walker who I believe was turned in by his wife. This guy at one point didn't even try to keep his clearance updated!
So, in the end it falls to the procedures we have in place. If we don't consistently follow them, we pay the consequences.
So, this means that they had almost no security measures aside from the basics when the leaks took place.
I suppose its not that surprising that it takes a breach of some magnitude in order to bring in change.
The UK is a sovereign country, sure, but Canada is more like the 51st state.
ummm, no. we are not.
The differences may be difficult to see sometimes, but they are there
The two Countries have had many differences, but do tend to get along on important stuff.
Luke: I don't believe it. Yoda: That is why you fail
Seriously, I think there will be someone much smarter than any of us who will find a way to get past what we think is a barrier.
Their excuse will be that "they didn't know it was impossible."
Seriously, I think we are entering into a period where the bandwidth is way more important than the processor. I am sure that Moore's law can be manipulated into something that will predict how quickly things will advance.
It wasn't that long ago that mobile bandwidth was pretty much useless, now we have speeds that have surpassed early home wireless networking.
I live in a rural area, only have 2G, I'm waiting for 3G, but I'm not sure it will ever quite get there, my provider will most likely just jump it and go to whatever the next level is, making my phone obsolete in the process. Of course with a bit of luck, the standard will be backwards compatible, but at some point they will have to just abandon some technology and look forwards.
The Buddha told all of his followers to pick and choose (not that many words). As for classic reincarnation, no he did not teach that. It is much more complicated than that. Rebirth in Buddhism is the doctrine that the evolving consciousness or stream of consciousness, upon death, becomes one of the contributing causes for the arising of a new aggregation. The consciousness in the new person is neither identical nor entirely different from that in the deceased but the two form a causal continuum or stream.
Now I would say that reincarnation may be fundamental in a number of Indian based religions, and the concept of rebirth is similar in Buddhism, however it is not the same thing,
To be completely honest, I prefer my coffee from Tim's and my donuts from Robin's.
Sorry Buddy, This is Canada, that would be Tim Horton's Donuts for life!
Yes.
I cut my teeth on Slackware 3.5
Back then of course the two most common were Redhat and Slackware.
They used to say "If you run Redhat, you know Redhat. If you run Slackware, you know Linux"
There are no shortcuts with Slackware. The students can learn how and why. Then, once they get the base knowledge, they can move on to easier distros. I don't bother with endless tinkering anymore, I just don't have the time. But the knowledge I picked up when I had to still serves me well.
We use very expensive software/hardware combinations in a Govt/Military environment. I would not be surprised to see the actual cost upwards of 10000K for say just a couple of licenses. Several of the Companies use a hardware licence model. That being a usb key which is easily moved from computer to computer when we upgrade.
As much as I dislike DRM, this isn't so very bad. If our users would just take care of the damned things!
As others have said, spyware brings its own problems, and might actually be counter-productive.
I just put in an air-source heat pump, with two inside units cost me about $5000 CDN for 18000 BTU (5200W), so if it works, that is a pretty good price point.
Now, how much will it cost to run, or fuel, and does it require much hands on to operate? I set the heat-pump and forget it.
So, MS is going to make a shift towards more CLI. I had already heard rumours and stories that some configurations would have to be done on the Command Line. I may be a little cynical here, but consider the following:
Over the past while, the perceived value of having MS Certifications has dropped somewhat as MS Windows Servers become more easily configured. Now, Administrators will have to know some of the more arcane commands, and have a better understanding of how the systems work in order to properly configure Windows Server without the GUI's.
Aside from some of the improvements that folks have already mentioned, would this not also revitalize the revenue stream that MS gets from the training and certifications? And, make these certifications actually more relevent?
Why would you want to come to this gestapo country? Stay in Europe. What are you going to want to do next summer, go to summer camp in North Korea?
I think this kid would like to broaden his horizons. I don't think this would be a negative experience overall, as a youth I attended a summer camp located on the border between Canada and the US, besides North Americans, there were a number of other nationalities. It made for a more interesting experience.
I think this sort of thing should be encouraged, it not only will benefit him, but the other campers will benefit being exposed to his culture.
This does seem to be a problem when executives lose sight of what is important. You can have a company that does a billion dollars in business every year, but because there is no "growth", it is supposedly not viable. That is when you start getting stupid business decisions made which are designed to maximize profit, not enable the company to continue to do what it is actually good at. I would not do well in the current business environment.
The gratitude was shown by simply showing me the door because I was then dispensable as any other developer could pick up from where I left off.
Only the real truth is that nobody at the company could figure out my inventory system and the documentation just got dumped on the heap with all of the other engineering notes from all of the rest of the stuff done by the company.
This is an example of short-sightedness of the company you worked for. It sends all of the wrong signals. Of course, the work you did, really didn't matter to them as they were willing to throw it on the "heap", right after they got rid of you. Not a company that I would want to work for, although I understand that a job in the current economic climate is worth more than no job. It would be nice to have a decent boss, but we can not be too choosey right now.
Mainly I'd like to point out that documentation is far more than just comments around snippets of code or as headers to functions. Design documents, development notes, meeting minutes (if taken at all), customer requests, contracts, bills of materials (if equipment is needed to use the software), and other aspects are all part of that documentation process.
I agree with you whole-hardheartedly!
I did look it up:
Schizophrenia (play /sktsfrni/ or /sktsfrini/) is a mental disorder characterized by a breakdown of thought processes and by poor emotional responsiveness.[1] It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social or occupational dysfunction.
-Wikipedia
I get you don't agree with me. And I will consider that writing device drivers/kernel code may not require the same amount of documentation that an application might. Just because I am looking at this situation from a different perspective does not make it "Schizophrenic".
I'm not a big fan of commenting code. I prefer code possessing such clarity that it is self-commenting. If your code fails this test, no amount of commenting will improve the situation. Bad code is bad code, no matter how well-commented it is. (True, some code is truly difficult to comprehend and therefore requires comments, usually because what the code is doing is supremely complicated and difficult to comprehend itself. I'm not talking about that kind of code).
Now describing the design overall, that's another matter. But most of the designs I'm called in to fix are so bad that they are undocumentable.
Then you should not do it for a living. Period.
It does not matter how elegant/clear your code is, eventually, someone else will have to maintain it.
Properly documenting your code ensures that it will have real longevity. Really, the only reason many (most) folks fail to document their code is laziness.
Now, This is often encouraged by the company. They want their code yesterday, not tomorrow. It costs money to place remarks in the source, as well as document the process so that the users can utilize the full functionality of the product.
We had a backup system whose documentation actually consisted of photocopies of the engineers personal notes! Not only did we have to interpret a lousy UI, but we also had to interpret the documentation that was provided. Yes it was cheaper, but in the long run it cost far more than if we had just purchased a proper solution.
So, in closing I can repeat that, laziness is the prime reason so much code goes unremarked/undocumented properly, regardless of the arguments to the contrary.
Sorry, but your timeline is a little off:
From Wikipedia :
The first G-suits were developed by a team led by Wilbur R. Franks at the University of Toronto's Banting and Best Medical Institute in 1941. These devices used water filled bladders around the legs and two 'Mk.' versions (or Marks) were developed:
-Franks Mark I suits were used by RAF Hurricane and Spitfire pilots;
-Franks Mark II suits were used by the United States Army Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force pilots. U.S. pilots tested them during 1944, but found the water system uncomfortable and were issued an air-inflatable design known as Berger suits from September 1944.
The article goes on to say that Air Pressurized G-Suits were in common usage during the 1950's with NATO Air Forces
The next advance in G-Suit technology would be the pressurized breathing suits, which force air into the Pilots' lungs, and then the Pilot must forcibly exhale.
No more disgusting than gravy/cheese curds or mayonnaise on french fries.
Ahhh, Poutine, one of the best things to come out of Quebec!
I lived there for about 6 months back in 1989, and it took me a couple of months before I tried it. mmmmmmmmmmm