Exactly -- maybe I should install Windows ME, for something at least in this century? Or, on a P1 with 32MB of RAM, 2000 or XP might work better?
If the person who's using the computer is not into using Linux, or the computer won't support a modern Linux GUI, Win98SE is a surprisingly decent OS. It doesn't need much memory, lots of hardware and software support, easy to use...
And, if you care to bother, it has a fully functional NAT inside it (ICS, if you care to use ICS-Configurator or play in the registry), and can function alright for most people.
And, when it eventually craps out, at least Fat32 drives are easily mountable;)
But I have to agree with the immediate parent, Win98 is one of the better OSes that MS has released.
Diebold officials,... maintained its machines are safe, secure and demonstrated 100 percent accuracy in the March election.
Firstly, bullshit. Nothing's 100% accurate. Secondly, I don't care about one single election that happened to work. I want a process that is proven and well tested, independently, in stressed situations. Because March-in-Cali may've worked, but Jan-in-Maryland was a complete disaster ("I was really surprised with the totality of the problems we found. Just about everywhere we looked we found them,"
"We could have done anything we wanted to," Arbaugh said. "We could change the ballots (before the election) or change the votes during the election."
They also were able to perform a man-in-the-middle attack, which involves intercepting votes being sent by modem to the server, changing the votes and sending on the new votes to the server.
(More on the Maryland disaster at Wired. Amusingly enough, Diebold claimed that this validated their machines as capable to handle further elections.
The obvious solution to this is to make your crypto passwords variations (add amusing punctuation, l33t-sp33|, etc.) on statements similar to the following:
-sorry but I cannot remember my password / "50rr`/, bU} | (4/\/N0t r3M3Mb3R/\/\aH p455\^/0r|)" -I plead the 5th -I refuse to give you my password -You will have to pry my password from my cold dead hands -With all due respect your honor, fuck you and the regime that appointed you
you get the idea. Start up GPG and make some new keys!
Well, this explains why the Japanese raided MS's offices. Not for any anti-trust information, but merely to find a template for cloning new little rat bastards.
First, Schneier really loves his stake-in-the-ground idea. He used it to describe cryptography in general in his "Secrets and Lies" book (which, IMHO, doesn't hold a candle to the quality of his applied crypto books. In fact, it feels more like a book-long commercial for his managed security business)
Anyway, sure. QC alone ain't gonna help you. But if it's a stake in a ground that's part of a fence, it damn well matters if it's 100 ft tall vs 1 ft tall, or even 10 ft tall.
Does it 'solve' security problems? No, of course not, because as many many many people have already said, in this post and in many other places, the way to defeat the best crypto in the world is to look under a keyboard and copy down the relevant password/phrase that the user wrote on a sticky-note there. (or other social engineering tricks)
It does make security easier, as it prevents MITM attacks, requires (for now) specialized hardware, and provides really-tough-to-decode crypto. So, if you have the rest of your process working, yes, QC can help by being a more secure technology.
But think of the inverse. OK, so, crypto is like a stake in the ground, it doesn't matter what size or where it is. So, let's all use DES, because it's an established standard!
You are only as secure as your weakest link, obviously. You'd be stupid if crypto turns out to be your weakest link, as even not counting QC, there's lots of good, secure crypto processes available.
I want a portable solution that convinces cell phones they're out-of-range for a 30' radius around me.
(Well, as long as/my/ phone is uneffected.)
(joke)
Yeah, I'd prefer if we keep airplanss cell free, for the annoyance factor. Perhaps if the picocell is sufficiently highly priced, includes 911 capabilities, and GPRS-or-better Internet capabilities, it'd be alright, reducing the chatter but enabling 'emergency' and perceived emergency calls?
As for the people complaining about the airplane being your only refuge, there's another -- TURN OFF YOUR GODDAMNED PHONE. It's easy, it's addictive.
Not to mention that after a sufficient number of rounds of these plants has leached back out the pollutants, you suddenly have arable land, and can do things like grow food.
Am I in the minority? I like to hear my harddrives churning away, it's an non-invasive audio feedback. Besides, I'd rather be awoken at night by my HDDs doing something than finding all my data deleted the next morning (or whathaveyou).
In the beginning, there was archie and veronica and WAIS, and information spread freely across the land. Then the "web" came along, and there were search engines. There was the venerable Internet List, and then there was Yahoo, and it was good. In time, though, the directory structure of Yahoo! was overwhelmed, and AltaVista took over as the premiere "search engine", as they were now called, and people could find web pages across the globe. and the wise people at Altavista prevented the disaster of a new Tower of Babel and created the Babelfish to let us read German technical manuals, and we all prospered. But even in this golden age, AltaVista could not see high enough over the web to present search findings, and new, pointy-haired bosses added portal weight to it, and altavista was no longer worth it.
But Google dawned, bringing the power of information back into the hands of the people, and we could all see again, even though the light was blinding.
Then, A9 was presented, and tried to capture the glory of Google, but well, it sucked.
Even in the case where the computer is legally 'licensed' and has been donated, often the actual CD didn't come with it. Remember, in 98, you need the CD to change the IP (well, not really, but it asks you for it ad nauseum), add/remove components, etc.
And woe be to you if you lose something, office breaks, etc...
Further, as much as people complain about 98SE, it's not that bad for low-end systems, as long as you manage it and keep it clean, and free of ActiveDesktop (twitch). I mean, it's better than ME, 98, or 95, and runs on computers than XP would laugh at. Win2k is sometimes a better alternative.
Linux could work well, but have you tried installing a easy-to-use Linux on a POS computer recently? It's not as easy as we like to think. And if you're trying to wedge it into 32MB of ram (or less!), with not much HDD space...
Why can't they beg access to use NIPRNET? From what I glean from scanning through all the conspiracy theories, it's basically a secure proxy for military and other sensitive-type peoples from the gummit to surf pr0n anonymously (I get hundreds of hits from *.NIPR.mil at griffjon.com each month, mostly looking at old shadowrun RPG junk).
This isn't a total solution, obviosuly they have some serious internal security probs, but it'd at least get them back on the web/email, and take their productivity back down to more acceptable levels for gov't employees.
By the time your daughter grows up, do you think there will be any of our cherished freedoms on the Internet left, or will everything be wrapped in legalese and DRM? With the passage of laws from the DMCA to the PATRIOT act, I've been increasingly pessimistic about the US's ability to pass any sane legislation that interfaces with the Internet...
This is a very US-centric view. I find far too many US citizens who've bought the land-of-the-free ad campaign -- hook, line, and sinker. It's not as free as is thought. Lots of places don't worry about Big Brother, or even really walking down the street smoking a big blunt.
US has freedoms in theory, but lots of places have freedom in practice. You often have to interact with people in uniform with large guns, but that has its own etiquette.
If you have Windows XP, a dial-up connection, and no subscription to MS products that would let you get network-installable files (excepting the net-install service packs, obviously), then, well, you don't have much choice.
I archived all the Win98 files, thankfully, before MS pulled them (tho they unpulled em... whatever)
Anyhow. If you're not just trolling, I'd be interested if you know of a bette way that doesn't involve money and can be done over an FTP connection.
You forget the classic MS tactic of donating some software, getting a country to sign an insanely long-term contract, and then, by normal MS methods, pushing upgrades via non-compatible software (...Office...).
Worse, in the Caribbean, they've somehow gotten the Carib equivalent of the SAT, the CXC, to include a MS-specific computer section, such that even if a high school was interested in Linux, they'd still be obligated to teach MS Office and Access to their graduating seniors who wished to take the IT subject test. That's some serious lock-in.
They also send their licensing police out, to make sure you're not pirating anything.
And don't even get me started on the hell that is Windows Update for a computer lab that shares a single, pay-per-minute, dialup connection.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly -- maybe I should install Windows ME, for something at least in this century? Or, on a P1 with 32MB of RAM, 2000 or XP might work better?
;)
If the person who's using the computer is not into using Linux, or the computer won't support a modern Linux GUI, Win98SE is a surprisingly decent OS. It doesn't need much memory, lots of hardware and software support, easy to use...
And, if you care to bother, it has a fully functional NAT inside it (ICS, if you care to use ICS-Configurator or play in the registry), and can function alright for most people.
And, when it eventually craps out, at least Fat32 drives are easily mountable
But I have to agree with the immediate parent, Win98 is one of the better OSes that MS has released.
Diebold officials, ... maintained its machines are safe, secure and demonstrated 100 percent accuracy in the March election.
Firstly, bullshit. Nothing's 100% accurate. Secondly, I don't care about one single election that happened to work. I want a process that is proven and well tested, independently, in stressed situations. Because March-in-Cali may've worked, but Jan-in-Maryland was a complete disaster ("I was really surprised with the totality of the problems we found. Just about everywhere we looked we found them,"
"We could have done anything we wanted to," Arbaugh said. "We could change the ballots (before the election) or change the votes during the election."
They also were able to perform a man-in-the-middle attack, which involves intercepting votes being sent by modem to the server, changing the votes and sending on the new votes to the server.
(More on the Maryland disaster at Wired. Amusingly enough, Diebold claimed that this validated their machines as capable to handle further elections.
No ruleset beats TORG, which was d20-only, and was all based on a log scale. Man, that game rocked.
The obvious solution to this is to make your crypto passwords variations (add amusing punctuation, l33t-sp33|, etc.) on statements similar to the following:
/\/\aH p455\^/0r|)"
-sorry but I cannot remember my password / "50rr`/, bU} | (4/\/N0t r3M3Mb3R
-I plead the 5th
-I refuse to give you my password
-You will have to pry my password from my cold dead hands
-With all due respect your honor, fuck you and the regime that appointed you
you get the idea. Start up GPG and make some new keys!
Yeah, Texas doesn't have the greatest record of fair voting, either. Just google "Ballot Box 13" and texas (add an LBJ in there for good measure) ;)
You'd think that there'd be some impetus towards a minimal standard.
Well, this explains why the Japanese raided MS's offices. Not for any anti-trust information, but merely to find a template for cloning new little rat bastards.
First, Schneier really loves his stake-in-the-ground idea. He used it to describe cryptography in general in his "Secrets and Lies" book (which, IMHO, doesn't hold a candle to the quality of his applied crypto books. In fact, it feels more like a book-long commercial for his managed security business)
Anyway, sure. QC alone ain't gonna help you. But if it's a stake in a ground that's part of a fence, it damn well matters if it's 100 ft tall vs 1 ft tall, or even 10 ft tall.
Does it 'solve' security problems? No, of course not, because as many many many people have already said, in this post and in many other places, the way to defeat the best crypto in the world is to look under a keyboard and copy down the relevant password/phrase that the user wrote on a sticky-note there. (or other social engineering tricks)
It does make security easier, as it prevents MITM attacks, requires (for now) specialized hardware, and provides really-tough-to-decode crypto. So, if you have the rest of your process working, yes, QC can help by being a more secure technology.
But think of the inverse. OK, so, crypto is like a stake in the ground, it doesn't matter what size or where it is. So, let's all use DES, because it's an established standard!
You are only as secure as your weakest link, obviously. You'd be stupid if crypto turns out to be your weakest link, as even not counting QC, there's lots of good, secure crypto processes available.
I want a portable solution that convinces cell phones they're out-of-range for a 30' radius around me.
/my/ phone is uneffected.)
(Well, as long as
(joke)
Yeah, I'd prefer if we keep airplanss cell free, for the annoyance factor. Perhaps if the picocell is sufficiently highly priced, includes 911 capabilities, and GPRS-or-better Internet capabilities, it'd be alright, reducing the chatter but enabling 'emergency' and perceived emergency calls?
As for the people complaining about the airplane being your only refuge, there's another -- TURN OFF YOUR GODDAMNED PHONE. It's easy, it's addictive.
Not to mention that after a sufficient number of rounds of these plants has leached back out the pollutants, you suddenly have arable land, and can do things like grow food.
That, or some of the crap Dell pre-installs is a bit questionable.
By the way, the porcelain engine with water? I've got one in my bathroom. It turns on when you flip a metal lever.
;)
You're full of shit. Wait, sorry, no, your 'motor' is... time to flush the engine, I guess?
Am I in the minority? I like to hear my harddrives churning away, it's an non-invasive audio feedback. Besides, I'd rather be awoken at night by my HDDs doing something than finding all my data deleted the next morning (or whathaveyou).
In the beginning, there was archie and veronica and WAIS, and information spread freely across the land. Then the "web" came along, and there were search engines. There was the venerable Internet List, and then there was Yahoo, and it was good. In time, though, the directory structure of Yahoo! was overwhelmed, and AltaVista took over as the premiere "search engine", as they were now called, and people could find web pages across the globe. and the wise people at Altavista prevented the disaster of a new Tower of Babel and created the Babelfish to let us read German technical manuals, and we all prospered. But even in this golden age, AltaVista could not see high enough over the web to present search findings, and new, pointy-haired bosses added portal weight to it, and altavista was no longer worth it.
But Google dawned, bringing the power of information back into the hands of the people, and we could all see again, even though the light was blinding.
Then, A9 was presented, and tried to capture the glory of Google, but well, it sucked.
~the end~
Even in the case where the computer is legally 'licensed' and has been donated, often the actual CD didn't come with it. Remember, in 98, you need the CD to change the IP (well, not really, but it asks you for it ad nauseum), add/remove components, etc.
And woe be to you if you lose something, office breaks, etc...
Further, as much as people complain about 98SE, it's not that bad for low-end systems, as long as you manage it and keep it clean, and free of ActiveDesktop (twitch). I mean, it's better than ME, 98, or 95, and runs on computers than XP would laugh at. Win2k is sometimes a better alternative.
Linux could work well, but have you tried installing a easy-to-use Linux on a POS computer recently? It's not as easy as we like to think. And if you're trying to wedge it into 32MB of ram (or less!), with not much HDD space...
We don't want them in the Caribbean either!
The UN's Development Programme (UNDP)'s Sustainable Development Networking Program (SDNP) supports LUGs around the Caribbean and presumablly, the world.
SCO's next target: the UN? Maybe they'll send a 'peacekeaping' force to Utah?
Why can't they beg access to use NIPRNET? From what I glean from scanning through all the conspiracy theories, it's basically a secure proxy for military and other sensitive-type peoples from the gummit to surf pr0n anonymously (I get hundreds of hits from *.NIPR.mil at griffjon.com each month, mostly looking at old shadowrun RPG junk).
This isn't a total solution, obviosuly they have some serious internal security probs, but it'd at least get them back on the web/email, and take their productivity back down to more acceptable levels for gov't employees.
What, is it a bit more... wobbly... than other printers?
This could be the Rez of the printer world!
Its like trying to hit the ground with a dart... you'll never miss.
Not true. Sometimes you hit your foot, and it doesn't make it all the way through to the ground beneath.
By the time your daughter grows up, do you think there will be any of our cherished freedoms on the Internet left, or will everything be wrapped in legalese and DRM? With the passage of laws from the DMCA to the PATRIOT act, I've been increasingly pessimistic about the US's ability to pass any sane legislation that interfaces with the Internet...
Speaking of Mike Godwin, and Internet 'laws', I think /. editors will no doubt be comprable to Nazis when judging responses to send to Mike.
(Godwin's Law, for those needing a clue)
So, this discussion has therefore ceased all useful content. But that's not surprising, really, is it?
On your block everybodies house would be completely different.
Perfect. And I'd just finally gotten over my nightmares about beingg lost in the maze of twisty little passages, all different.
This is a very US-centric view. I find far too many US citizens who've bought the land-of-the-free ad campaign -- hook, line, and sinker. It's not as free as is thought. Lots of places don't worry about Big Brother, or even really walking down the street smoking a big blunt.
US has freedoms in theory, but lots of places have freedom in practice. You often have to interact with people in uniform with large guns, but that has its own etiquette.
If you have Windows XP, a dial-up connection, and no subscription to MS products that would let you get network-installable files (excepting the net-install service packs, obviously), then, well, you don't have much choice.
I archived all the Win98 files, thankfully, before MS pulled them (tho they unpulled em... whatever)
Anyhow. If you're not just trolling, I'd be interested if you know of a bette way that doesn't involve money and can be done over an FTP connection.
You forget the classic MS tactic of donating some software, getting a country to sign an insanely long-term contract, and then, by normal MS methods, pushing upgrades via non-compatible software (...Office...).
Worse, in the Caribbean, they've somehow gotten the Carib equivalent of the SAT, the CXC, to include a MS-specific computer section, such that even if a high school was interested in Linux, they'd still be obligated to teach MS Office and Access to their graduating seniors who wished to take the IT subject test. That's some serious lock-in.
They also send their licensing police out, to make sure you're not pirating anything.
And don't even get me started on the hell that is Windows Update for a computer lab that shares a single, pay-per-minute, dialup connection.
With wi-fi, does that mean you can see a beowulf cluster of these on any sufficiently packed freeway?
/.ed...
I'd post something of content, but the site is already severely