Well, they already exist...
on
GPS Meets PCS
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Well, to tell you the truth, these types of phones (WAP enabled, GPS enabled, etc.) exist already. They are in very small quantity here in the US, but exist rather abundantly in Japan. The big problem was they didn't catch on as soon as expected here in the states, and companies like AMD and Intel projected that they would, thus the huge crash in the Flash memory business (ramp really hard on super-dense flash, then nobody buys it...). So if you're in Japan, you can get one of these multi-functional super phones. If you're not there, you'll have to wait.
I understand that some companies are confident enough in such an unstable market situation to go public, but is this the right decision right now? Generally, a company wants to IPO when investors are buying... However, I don't really know much about their business model or how they operate, but if they have put themselves into the best position possible for on-line payment services, it has to be half decent. Let's just hope that they aren't going to become another statistic of the dot-com meltdown. Who knows: maybe they can be a cornerstone of support for the Tech sector in the coming months. It'll be interesting to see how they come out of this.
hehe. they are called reflectors on my sneakers... besides, my Glock 36 and I would have a chat with something in there...
Good news in a unhappy time.
on
Raising the Kursk
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· Score: 2, Insightful
It's very encouraging to hear about some good news throughout this very unsettling time. The Kursk is certainly a tragedy to itself, and I'm glad to hear that the men who died on that submarine are not being forgotten, especially in something as terrible as the recent terror attacks. Perhaps is this acceptance from Russia of European help a side-effect of the world-unity we are starting to experience? Hopefully this is a trend we can look forward to.
I think this announcement relates somewhat to the post yesterday about the Rio Mp3 player being dropped. Sometimes the people who are the most "innovative" or are able to boast a "superior product" aren't the most popular, mostly because of when they entered the market arena. Intel has made a name for itself in the consumer market, and it would take a HUGE mistake (even bigger than a 20-stage P4 pipeline or Rambus agreement) to destroy their market segment share in the consumer world.
But aside from that, I hope that the posts here don't flame back and forth about AMD vs. Intel, and who is better/worse. The fact is, which should be really focused on, 2,300 people don't have a job now. That really sucks. So everyone who has a job somewhere, really thank your stars that you haven't become a statistic of a sagging economy.
Hmm. CNN had a great piece on last night (Sunday) that the FAA has approved flight training planes to be allowed to fly again... The only catch is that no solo flights; the instructors must be in the plane at all times with the students. So, I won't discredit your statement, since it was very valid, and your larger point is VERY well taken. I just wanted to point out that people are flying/training again; they just have a bit more restrictions on student freedoms.
So the people who taught the terrorists how to fly who caused this whole mess shouldn't be targeted? They were shut down by the federal government for a good while. So, agreed, people who don't know that they're "helping" a would-be cracker shouldn't be punished. But what about the whole can of worms that gets opened with people getting screwed by counterfitters, fradulent insurance claims, etc.? They get railroaded since the fingers eventually point back to them.
Now obviously this statement and movement was made because of the surge for hightened security across the nation. I doubt this will get signed, slapped into place, and put into practive overnight. Our lawmakers may sometimes seem a bit off, but they aren't complete idiots (I know, the Skylarov case... exceptions suck).
This is a fine line, obviously. But your one comment caught my attention:
A kid proclaims his love by defacing a corporate web site -- is this just grounds for destroying him?
Now again, this is getting into much grey area as to how you interpret the "value" of a corporate web site. Sure, from the average user, seeing a defaced website of a company can be kinda amusing. However, what does that say to that company's customers? Especially if they are a tech-savvy company? That their abilities of system/network administration are sub-standard? This may be the case, but for someone to openly exploit it is no worse (in my mind) of someone exploiting the area of human error in security systems to a corporate building. If someone broke into the corporate headquarters of Microsoft, for example, and painted a HUGE penguin on the outside of the building, and all over the inside (which would be kinda funny, for me), that person would be crucified.
So my point is, yes, I think that is grounds for destroying him/her, BECAUSE there is a clear definition that doing that is wrong, and that in today's times, the Internet has become most business's livelyhoods. You destroy that area for the businesses, then what do they have left to stand on??
(However, life in prison is a bit harsh. Maybe a good public flogging would set them straight... IMHO;-P ).
Hope that for everyone who didn't get it from id software's ftp site that this link works: http://www.3ddownloads.com/?file_id=152201. That should get you three ftp sites to grab the full version.
that people who run different Unix platforms (Linux included) are typically more aware of potential security holes that their applications/OS may have. People usually are subscribed to Cert's mailing list, and although the advisories come out after the initial uncovering of a worm/virus/exploit, the people who take care of these boxes have a good idea of what's installed on their boxes, and know where to look for more proactive administration. I think a big reason why Microsoft software is a target that seems to be much more affected (not only that it is a bigger market-segment share) is that its users are normal users, not your everyday 1337 user, so they will not necessarily know what's wrong with their system (let alone what's installed) until something bad happens to their system. So I'm not sure it's a question of are we vulnerable in the Unix world, but the question should be, how much more aware are we in the Unix world OF potential exploits, or even how much less aware might we be?
School systems need things that set up easily, run flawlessly, and never ever need system administration.
Windows 98 - reboots around 3-4 times when installing, and randomly crashes during an install.
Windows NT - Let's not even go there...
Windows 2000 - Getting better, but you really want to justify the money spent on those licenses JUST to make a computer quasi-work?
So my point is, Windows isn't something that runs flawlessly , and it certaintly isn't something that doesn't require constant attention to keep it running well (Code Red, I Love You, etc.). Linux is a problem because of the learning curve. That is a problem everyone has when they start with Linux. But get one tech in a school or wherever to sit down with Linux and try setting it up, and once they have one machine set up, there are tools out there to rapid deploy it. Norton Ghost (yes, it isn't free, I know), and if you use Red Hat Linux, then there is the kickstart option, which actually works now. So, I don't quite agree with your argument that this should be limited by what the tech's are capable of; if they are techs, then they can and will learn it if asked. If they can't, they need to get another job. But I do agree with your other point, and think it is the only thing that would keep Linux out is the required learning curve one has to overcome to get the real power out of Linux, or any Unix OS for that matter. And so you may be able to convince a school it is good to use Linux because of it being free, but it may be difficult to win them over on the additional time spent learning the material in order to use it. I sincerely hope that the people heading this campaign up also have a good plan in place to make this happen...
Re:When will we see some improvements from the Alp
on
Itanium Update
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· Score: 1
It's actually funny that you mention that; Intel bought them so they can replace the VAX's they use in factories, which in turn will be replaced with Itanium/McKinley once someone can write an OS that can support a fab (like VMS). I hate VMS, but point me to an OS that will run on anything non-DEC or non-IBM under-run (and don't mention Solaris, because it WON'T do it...), and be able to support the fabs and everything that is tied to them (WIP movements, billing, shipping, ordering, cross-site processing, etc.).
Why was the parent modded down? Even though there was probably only a search run on Google for these links, it still required a bit more work than firing off his mouth... I think he should be given at least one for being informative. IMHO.
It's really amazing to see the dates on some of these photos (1990, 1995, etc.). And the fact that these kids were in high school, or just getting into high school when they shot these. I am amazed at their patience in getting these shots, since if you think about it, they didn't get these things "by chance" or "on the first shot." These took a ton of time setting up, researching, and staging, to get them all this good. The milk dropping on the glass has to be my favorite. So much order in a chaotic event... Hmm. Jurassic Park anyone??
One problem (from talking to different marketing people who design campaigns) with this approach is AMD needs to stick to their own marketing, meaning, stop trying to say ours is bigger than theirs. Intel does not do public advertising saying that their chips are better than AMD's. If they did, then they'd give Intel more advertising, whether it be negative or positive, since the majority of the people seeing the advertisement would see Intel vs. AMD, and that AMD is at 1.4 GHz and Intel is at 2.0 GHz. Now, throwing how many instructions at them at the same time each machine can perform in a cycle will confuse the hell out of them, and they will see bigger number which equates to better processor. Just my two cents.
The only reason Intel got into other markets is because they know to survive in today's market they cannot put their eggs into one basket. If they were in the same markets that AMD is only in (flash and CPU's), they'd be right around in terms of revenue due to the flash market sucking hard. The only reason they invested in other areas is to increase their breadth in areas for revenue, just so when things like the flash market shitting itself happened, they had other cushions of revenue to ensure they still made a decent profit this past quarter. That is exactly what happened. They aren't trying to "spread thin," they are trying to make more money, and at the same time, put their products (flash, CPU's, and embedded controllers) into more products. What's wrong with a company trying to make itself as much money as it can?
I don't want to get into the argument of which processor is better, etc. I work for Intel, so my arguments will make sense to me and not to you. That is why opinions exist, whether or not evidence supports one's opinion. I do want to address questions you have raised in your post though.
I want an answer to that point! If the largest, richest, oldest company always wins, explain IBM's position in the PC industry today. His point was not IBM vs. Compaq, it was IBM vs. DEC. Not PC markets; server markets. S/390's and AS/400's vs. VAX and Alpha. So I think he was using that as a basis of comparison. Again, I'm remaining neutral on that one. I'm just pointing out that his argument was not being made on what you seemed to want it being made on.
AMD already has a very large portion of the market share and their share is growing. ~20% of the CPU market segment share. That is compared to Intel's ~80%... It's all on cnn.com and the Wall St. Journal's stats pages if you'd like to see for yourself.
What you are not realizing is that Intel has a lot more overhead than does AMD. Because of that, Intel has to sell their chips for more even if the chips cost the same to produce. What? AMD has ONE fab that makes CPU's (in Dresden, Germany, center of high-labor costs and international shipping costs through customs = overhead...). ONE. The only other fab they have makes flash memory, which is in the toilet across the market. The fact that Intel manufactures roughly 23 million processors a QUARTER to the fact AMD can only manufacture about 25 million processors a YEAR (that also is a public statistic). So even if everyone was to buy AMD tomorrow, the capacity would not be there. Right now they have to outsource to Foundry's in Taiwan and other Pacific/Asian countries to meet demand. So who has the overhead??? Intel does all manufacturing and assembly in-house.
You have not heard about AMD having to recall CPUs for floating point bugs, motherboard support chips for timing problems, and CPUs because they fail at their rated clock speed. Intel has had all of the aforementioned recalls in recent years. Add to that the Rambus fiasco that has driven up the price of P4 systems... Ok, I won't disagree with the Rambus thing at all. Rambus sucks, and Intel knows it. That's why they pushed HARD to get the mobo's scheduled for 2002 to allow SDRAM and DDR RAM to come out next month. That is on schedule, and will happen. In fact, they have already started shipping (Intel 845 chipset as well as some new VIA chipsets). As for the whole floating-point bugs, etc., yeah, shit happens. But was AMD first on the scene with that new microarchitecture? It was a brand-new technology. Granted it needed more work, but they were out there pushing the envelope, something AMD needed to catch up at the time to meet the competition.
...and Intel is not exactly a paragon of engineering talent. And where does this come from? Just a few months ago Intel designed and tested the smallest transistor in the world: 0.02 micron thick (~2-3 atoms thick). Is this a lack of engineering talent? If you can please remind me the last time AMD has made a technological breakthrough in the computing world that can match "engineering talent," which the last I checked, is RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT, not price wars, I would admit my ignorance then and apologize for trying to rebut your comment.
One thing people need to realize is that when someone pays for a service, DSL or any other type of net connection, they are paying for a service. They are not "purchasing" the lines, they are essentially "renting" the use of the lines. Qwest should not be held responsible, neither should any other ISP for that matter, for users who unfortunately didn't know better to patch their machines. The only way I think ANY ISP should be held accountable is if THEIR machines caused the outage or decrease in service.
I also wanted to address the business of AT&T, as well as many other smaller ISP's, blocking port 80. This again is a measure taken by AT&T, who by contract holds the discretion and right to do with their service as they see fit. If they had in their contract that they MUST provide access to port 80, then people have something to go after them for. I'm not saying that this was "right" or anything. It sucks. But AT&T and others took the proactive approach (as proactive as possible) to stop the spread of this worm, and to save their bandwidth, so they WOULDN'T have a complete outage.
If an ISP doesn't cut the worm off at the source, how is the ISP supposed to defend itself? I think the people who should be approached are the ones who left their machines open for infection, and then saying "I'm not infected" when people start talking about all the infected machines.
I'm a heavy user of Linux systems, and have touched two AIX machines in my career. One was AIX 3.2.5 and the other was AIX 4.1. Both systems were very stable, yet difficult to set up certain things, like dynamically linking g++ and gcc libraries, and new tarball versions of sendmail. Aside from that, AIX has the maturity factor on its side. Linux has been around for 10 years now, but this installation of AIX 3.2.5 (if I'm not mistaken) was installed BEFORE Linux first debuted, or if not before, very close. It has had the time to mature and grow to what IBM and their consumer base wanted. Just something to think about...
I would think that if this were the other way around, women's rights activists would have been all over MSN. Nothing like a pack o' bitches unleashed on M$. mmmm.
This should make everyone in little businesses getting raped by the market feel a bit better, seeing that massive corporations can't even hide from the recession.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, to tell you the truth, these types of phones (WAP enabled, GPS enabled, etc.) exist already. They are in very small quantity here in the US, but exist rather abundantly in Japan. The big problem was they didn't catch on as soon as expected here in the states, and companies like AMD and Intel projected that they would, thus the huge crash in the Flash memory business (ramp really hard on super-dense flash, then nobody buys it...). So if you're in Japan, you can get one of these multi-functional super phones. If you're not there, you'll have to wait.
I understand that some companies are confident enough in such an unstable market situation to go public, but is this the right decision right now? Generally, a company wants to IPO when investors are buying... However, I don't really know much about their business model or how they operate, but if they have put themselves into the best position possible for on-line payment services, it has to be half decent. Let's just hope that they aren't going to become another statistic of the dot-com meltdown. Who knows: maybe they can be a cornerstone of support for the Tech sector in the coming months. It'll be interesting to see how they come out of this.
hehe. they are called reflectors on my sneakers... besides, my Glock 36 and I would have a chat with something in there...
It's very encouraging to hear about some good news throughout this very unsettling time. The Kursk is certainly a tragedy to itself, and I'm glad to hear that the men who died on that submarine are not being forgotten, especially in something as terrible as the recent terror attacks. Perhaps is this acceptance from Russia of European help a side-effect of the world-unity we are starting to experience? Hopefully this is a trend we can look forward to.
Not necessarily. In the longer run, we always need the electronic techs. Without you guys, us programmers don't have anything to program...
Real programmers program in solder...
Intel has yet to announce any layoffs. They are just redeploying to the 300-mm and 0.13 micron technologies.
I think this announcement relates somewhat to the post yesterday about the Rio Mp3 player being dropped. Sometimes the people who are the most "innovative" or are able to boast a "superior product" aren't the most popular, mostly because of when they entered the market arena. Intel has made a name for itself in the consumer market, and it would take a HUGE mistake (even bigger than a 20-stage P4 pipeline or Rambus agreement) to destroy their market segment share in the consumer world.
But aside from that, I hope that the posts here don't flame back and forth about AMD vs. Intel, and who is better/worse. The fact is, which should be really focused on, 2,300 people don't have a job now. That really sucks. So everyone who has a job somewhere, really thank your stars that you haven't become a statistic of a sagging economy.
Hmm. CNN had a great piece on last night (Sunday) that the FAA has approved flight training planes to be allowed to fly again... The only catch is that no solo flights; the instructors must be in the plane at all times with the students. So, I won't discredit your statement, since it was very valid, and your larger point is VERY well taken. I just wanted to point out that people are flying/training again; they just have a bit more restrictions on student freedoms.
So the people who taught the terrorists how to fly who caused this whole mess shouldn't be targeted? They were shut down by the federal government for a good while. So, agreed, people who don't know that they're "helping" a would-be cracker shouldn't be punished. But what about the whole can of worms that gets opened with people getting screwed by counterfitters, fradulent insurance claims, etc.? They get railroaded since the fingers eventually point back to them.
Now obviously this statement and movement was made because of the surge for hightened security across the nation. I doubt this will get signed, slapped into place, and put into practive overnight. Our lawmakers may sometimes seem a bit off, but they aren't complete idiots (I know, the Skylarov case... exceptions suck).
This is a fine line, obviously. But your one comment caught my attention:
;-P ).
A kid proclaims his love by defacing a corporate web site -- is this just grounds for destroying him?
Now again, this is getting into much grey area as to how you interpret the "value" of a corporate web site. Sure, from the average user, seeing a defaced website of a company can be kinda amusing. However, what does that say to that company's customers? Especially if they are a tech-savvy company? That their abilities of system/network administration are sub-standard? This may be the case, but for someone to openly exploit it is no worse (in my mind) of someone exploiting the area of human error in security systems to a corporate building. If someone broke into the corporate headquarters of Microsoft, for example, and painted a HUGE penguin on the outside of the building, and all over the inside (which would be kinda funny, for me), that person would be crucified.
So my point is, yes, I think that is grounds for destroying him/her, BECAUSE there is a clear definition that doing that is wrong, and that in today's times, the Internet has become most business's livelyhoods. You destroy that area for the businesses, then what do they have left to stand on??
(However, life in prison is a bit harsh. Maybe a good public flogging would set them straight... IMHO
Hope that for everyone who didn't get it from id software's ftp site that this link works: http://www.3ddownloads.com/?file_id=152201. That should get you three ftp sites to grab the full version.
Cheers!!
/pj
that people who run different Unix platforms (Linux included) are typically more aware of potential security holes that their applications/OS may have. People usually are subscribed to Cert's mailing list, and although the advisories come out after the initial uncovering of a worm/virus/exploit, the people who take care of these boxes have a good idea of what's installed on their boxes, and know where to look for more proactive administration. I think a big reason why Microsoft software is a target that seems to be much more affected (not only that it is a bigger market-segment share) is that its users are normal users, not your everyday 1337 user, so they will not necessarily know what's wrong with their system (let alone what's installed) until something bad happens to their system. So I'm not sure it's a question of are we vulnerable in the Unix world, but the question should be, how much more aware are we in the Unix world OF potential exploits, or even how much less aware might we be?
/pj
School systems need things that set up easily, run flawlessly, and never ever need system administration.
Windows 98 - reboots around 3-4 times when installing, and randomly crashes during an install.
Windows NT - Let's not even go there...
Windows 2000 - Getting better, but you really want to justify the money spent on those licenses JUST to make a computer quasi-work?
So my point is, Windows isn't something that runs flawlessly , and it certaintly isn't something that doesn't require constant attention to keep it running well (Code Red, I Love You, etc.). Linux is a problem because of the learning curve. That is a problem everyone has when they start with Linux. But get one tech in a school or wherever to sit down with Linux and try setting it up, and once they have one machine set up, there are tools out there to rapid deploy it. Norton Ghost (yes, it isn't free, I know), and if you use Red Hat Linux, then there is the kickstart option, which actually works now. So, I don't quite agree with your argument that this should be limited by what the tech's are capable of; if they are techs, then they can and will learn it if asked. If they can't, they need to get another job. But I do agree with your other point, and think it is the only thing that would keep Linux out is the required learning curve one has to overcome to get the real power out of Linux, or any Unix OS for that matter. And so you may be able to convince a school it is good to use Linux because of it being free, but it may be difficult to win them over on the additional time spent learning the material in order to use it. I sincerely hope that the people heading this campaign up also have a good plan in place to make this happen...
It's actually funny that you mention that; Intel bought them so they can replace the VAX's they use in factories, which in turn will be replaced with Itanium/McKinley once someone can write an OS that can support a fab (like VMS). I hate VMS, but point me to an OS that will run on anything non-DEC or non-IBM under-run (and don't mention Solaris, because it WON'T do it...), and be able to support the fabs and everything that is tied to them (WIP movements, billing, shipping, ordering, cross-site processing, etc.).
Why was the parent modded down? Even though there was probably only a search run on Google for these links, it still required a bit more work than firing off his mouth... I think he should be given at least one for being informative. IMHO.
1.21 jigawatts?! How could I be so sloppy??
It's really amazing to see the dates on some of these photos (1990, 1995, etc.). And the fact that these kids were in high school, or just getting into high school when they shot these. I am amazed at their patience in getting these shots, since if you think about it, they didn't get these things "by chance" or "on the first shot." These took a ton of time setting up, researching, and staging, to get them all this good. The milk dropping on the glass has to be my favorite. So much order in a chaotic event... Hmm. Jurassic Park anyone??
One problem (from talking to different marketing people who design campaigns) with this approach is AMD needs to stick to their own marketing, meaning, stop trying to say ours is bigger than theirs. Intel does not do public advertising saying that their chips are better than AMD's. If they did, then they'd give Intel more advertising, whether it be negative or positive, since the majority of the people seeing the advertisement would see Intel vs. AMD, and that AMD is at 1.4 GHz and Intel is at 2.0 GHz. Now, throwing how many instructions at them at the same time each machine can perform in a cycle will confuse the hell out of them, and they will see bigger number which equates to better processor. Just my two cents.
The only reason Intel got into other markets is because they know to survive in today's market they cannot put their eggs into one basket. If they were in the same markets that AMD is only in (flash and CPU's), they'd be right around in terms of revenue due to the flash market sucking hard. The only reason they invested in other areas is to increase their breadth in areas for revenue, just so when things like the flash market shitting itself happened, they had other cushions of revenue to ensure they still made a decent profit this past quarter. That is exactly what happened. They aren't trying to "spread thin," they are trying to make more money, and at the same time, put their products (flash, CPU's, and embedded controllers) into more products. What's wrong with a company trying to make itself as much money as it can?
I don't want to get into the argument of which processor is better, etc. I work for Intel, so my arguments will make sense to me and not to you. That is why opinions exist, whether or not evidence supports one's opinion. I do want to address questions you have raised in your post though.
...and Intel is not exactly a paragon of engineering talent.
I want an answer to that point! If the largest, richest, oldest company always wins, explain IBM's position in the PC industry today.
His point was not IBM vs. Compaq, it was IBM vs. DEC. Not PC markets; server markets. S/390's and AS/400's vs. VAX and Alpha. So I think he was using that as a basis of comparison. Again, I'm remaining neutral on that one. I'm just pointing out that his argument was not being made on what you seemed to want it being made on.
AMD already has a very large portion of the market share and their share is growing.
~20% of the CPU market segment share. That is compared to Intel's ~80%... It's all on cnn.com and the Wall St. Journal's stats pages if you'd like to see for yourself.
What you are not realizing is that Intel has a lot more overhead than does AMD. Because of that, Intel has to sell their chips for more even if the chips cost the same to produce.
What? AMD has ONE fab that makes CPU's (in Dresden, Germany, center of high-labor costs and international shipping costs through customs = overhead...). ONE. The only other fab they have makes flash memory, which is in the toilet across the market. The fact that Intel manufactures roughly 23 million processors a QUARTER to the fact AMD can only manufacture about 25 million processors a YEAR (that also is a public statistic). So even if everyone was to buy AMD tomorrow, the capacity would not be there. Right now they have to outsource to Foundry's in Taiwan and other Pacific/Asian countries to meet demand. So who has the overhead??? Intel does all manufacturing and assembly in-house.
You have not heard about AMD having to recall CPUs for floating point bugs, motherboard support chips for timing problems, and CPUs because they fail at their rated clock speed. Intel has had all of the aforementioned recalls in recent years. Add to that the Rambus fiasco that has driven up the price of P4 systems...
Ok, I won't disagree with the Rambus thing at all. Rambus sucks, and Intel knows it. That's why they pushed HARD to get the mobo's scheduled for 2002 to allow SDRAM and DDR RAM to come out next month. That is on schedule, and will happen. In fact, they have already started shipping (Intel 845 chipset as well as some new VIA chipsets). As for the whole floating-point bugs, etc., yeah, shit happens. But was AMD first on the scene with that new microarchitecture? It was a brand-new technology. Granted it needed more work, but they were out there pushing the envelope, something AMD needed to catch up at the time to meet the competition.
And where does this come from? Just a few months ago Intel designed and tested the smallest transistor in the world: 0.02 micron thick (~2-3 atoms thick). Is this a lack of engineering talent? If you can please remind me the last time AMD has made a technological breakthrough in the computing world that can match "engineering talent," which the last I checked, is RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT, not price wars, I would admit my ignorance then and apologize for trying to rebut your comment.
One thing people need to realize is that when someone pays for a service, DSL or any other type of net connection, they are paying for a service. They are not "purchasing" the lines, they are essentially "renting" the use of the lines. Qwest should not be held responsible, neither should any other ISP for that matter, for users who unfortunately didn't know better to patch their machines. The only way I think ANY ISP should be held accountable is if THEIR machines caused the outage or decrease in service.
I also wanted to address the business of AT&T, as well as many other smaller ISP's, blocking port 80. This again is a measure taken by AT&T, who by contract holds the discretion and right to do with their service as they see fit. If they had in their contract that they MUST provide access to port 80, then people have something to go after them for. I'm not saying that this was "right" or anything. It sucks. But AT&T and others took the proactive approach (as proactive as possible) to stop the spread of this worm, and to save their bandwidth, so they WOULDN'T have a complete outage.
If an ISP doesn't cut the worm off at the source, how is the ISP supposed to defend itself? I think the people who should be approached are the ones who left their machines open for infection, and then saying "I'm not infected" when people start talking about all the infected machines.
I'm a heavy user of Linux systems, and have touched two AIX machines in my career. One was AIX 3.2.5 and the other was AIX 4.1. Both systems were very stable, yet difficult to set up certain things, like dynamically linking g++ and gcc libraries, and new tarball versions of sendmail. Aside from that, AIX has the maturity factor on its side. Linux has been around for 10 years now, but this installation of AIX 3.2.5 (if I'm not mistaken) was installed BEFORE Linux first debuted, or if not before, very close. It has had the time to mature and grow to what IBM and their consumer base wanted. Just something to think about...
Bite me you schmuck. That was supposed to be humorous. Did you check your funny bone at the gateway?
I would think that if this were the other way around, women's rights activists would have been all over MSN. Nothing like a pack o' bitches unleashed on M$. mmmm.
This should make everyone in little businesses getting raped by the market feel a bit better, seeing that massive corporations can't even hide from the recession.