Back in 2001, while I was a Unix systems admin at a private boarding school, I remember cutting out and pasting on my wall an ad for W2K that Microsoft ran
It was an actual screen print of a BSOD which the user was supposed to cut out and paste to their monitor if they were missing the BSODs of Windows98, etc.
Before I realized that it was an ad FOR Microsoft, BY Microsoft I remember saying out loud "Oh boy... Someone has finally just come right out and said it, and I am sure Microsoft is gonna make them pay..."
Here's a link to a story about it. I wonder why they didn't print the ad too. (besides the obvious reasons)
In Connecticut, computer hardware or 'boxed' software is to be taxed at the standard 6% state sales tax, BUT computer services including everything EXCEPT web or email hosting or services related to web or email hosting are to be charged at 1%.
Try THAT when creating an invoice with your average software!
Oh... And while speaking to a CT Dept of Revenue "Services" rep, I was told that I could charge 6% for everything.
Oh great. So, for my convenience, I can just overcharge my clients and give the extra cash to the state. Ridiculous!!
Open your mind..mac is not the end-all and be-all...
P.S. Note that this post is signed with firegpg. - -- Bill Arlofski -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (GNU/Linux) Comment: 'email gpgpublickey@revpol.com for my public key'
While not an official "Big Red Button" story I think it is worth telling.
In 1999 while I was working as a private consultant for the capitol city of a small New England state, a colleague of mine was attempting to make a change to the city's core switches. Per usual with this guy, he over-sold his skill set and was way out of his league - while never willing to admit it.
Meanwhile, I was working in the server room on the squid web caching server while he was attempting the change...
I kept hearing him say things like "I wonder what this command does", and "I wonder what the reset command means. Should I enter it?"
Suddenly I was no longer ssh'ed into the proxy server... I looked up and asked "What the hell did you do?"
His answer: "I entered the reset command" Me: "Well, fix it. Restore the configuration. It looks like you just reset EVERYTHING..."
Well, needless to say, there was NO saved configuration to restore, and no documentation for the city's network nor the equipment installed, and on this equipment the reset command was the command to reset it to its default settings. (BTW, he entered the reset command on the core switch) There were several local switches (connected via copper), and many fiber connections to all the remote departments across the city - several fire departments, the main police department, city hall, you name it... All off-line.
In the end, the city's network was DOWN for 3-4 full days while he contacted qualified people to attempt to rebuild the network...
We would have been better off if he had hit the big red button near the sliding glass door at the server room's exit.
Where did my 5 moderator points go?
The parent should have been modded "Informative."
Why the -1? Sheesh.
Information is not a bad thing" (tm)
Sadly, in the US, a disproportionate number of people can not identify The United States on a map!
What makes one think that they know that "google" is not "googol" as the parent tried to differentiate?
Hell, I'd be willing to guess that a full 80% or more don't know that a 1 with 100 zeroes is a googol.
While riding next to a limo, kismet picked up "limoman" To this day I wonder if that limo company offered some sort of wireless access in their limos.
On the same trip I found "IPROSECUTEFORWIFITHEFT" or something pretty close to that. I can not remember anymore it was 3 years ago, but I laughed when I saw it. BTW, it was OPEN, no WEP.:)
"I would REALLY like to see an enforcable nation-wide election-related media blackout during the voting period. I'm getting really tired of the media projecting or proclaiming a winner based on either exit polls or 3% of voting returns. And they present return information from the East coast prior to the closing of voting on the West coast. How fair is that? OK, I don't know if anyone has actually studied if return infromation really influences voters on election day, but it doesn't seem right."
I tend to agree with you on this (and I am on the East Coast) Something has always bothered me about this process whereby people in the west are told how things are going before they even get to the polls.
I was looking for a recent study (I think I read it on slashdot.. yeah, I admit it, I sometimes do read the linked articles.:) I couldn't locate it, but here is a story I did find.
It asks the question: Does a ban on announcing the results of exit polls before the entire electorate has voted interfere with the freedom of information of the electorate?
For those to lazy to read a short article, here is the author's conclusion:
--[snip]-- Publishing the results of exit polls while elections are still in progress is neither illegal nor unconstitutional. It is, however, not in the best public interest. There are times and situations when the public interest is best served by voluntary, cooperative restraint; this is one of them.
--[snip]--
I feel that the media should show a modicum of self-control and self-impose such a ban. Yeah, I know...:-/
It is like a circus of babbling morons on election night. I don't think they realize how much harm they are doing to the election process, and even if they DO realize, I am sure that their ratings are much more important... Sigh...
The only explanation I could come up with for Signs was that the aliens were not invading. They were actually just dropping off their retarded. Once you realize the aliens are mentally handicapped it all makes sense.
I just spit my drink laughing (and agreeing) with your post even though I voted for "Independance Day". I have mod points, but your already at +5 funny. Thanks for that, but now I need another drink... LOL!
Much to the chagrin of our girlfriends and the rest of the people nearby in the theater, my buddy and I couldn't stop laughing and cutting on that movie... Sigh...
We have proof that the Martians have extensive Weapons of Mass Distruction programs that pose an IMMEDIATE threat to the US, therefore we must go there and disarm them before they can harm us.
...and what about all of your friends/compadres that use (gasp) outlook...
Friend's machine gets a virus. Now your (good) address ends up in a compromised address book, and you begin to get viruses/spam in your good email box.
Your "good" address is now ALSO used randomly in the FROM field of the many spams/viruses that these compromised machines are sending, and guess what? You get a buttload of antivirus warning from servers telling you that YOUR machine is infected.
Oh and let's not forget all of the servers that receive these spams and harvest your "good" email address for use in future mailings...
Slashdot Mirror
Back in 2001, while I was a Unix systems admin at a private boarding school, I remember cutting out and pasting on my wall an ad for W2K that Microsoft ran
It was an actual screen print of a BSOD which the user was supposed to cut out and paste to their monitor if they were missing the BSODs of Windows98, etc.
Before I realized that it was an ad FOR Microsoft, BY Microsoft I remember saying out loud "Oh boy... Someone has finally just come right out and said it, and I am sure Microsoft is gonna make them pay..."
Here's a link to a story about it. I wonder why they didn't print the ad too. (besides the obvious reasons)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/17/ms_using_the_old_blue/
Print this out on a color printer and tape it to her screen:
Windows Emulator for MAC OSX
Try THAT when creating an invoice with your average software!
Oh... And while speaking to a CT Dept of Revenue "Services" rep, I was told that I could charge 6% for everything.
Oh great. So, for my convenience, I can just overcharge my clients and give the extra cash to the state. Ridiculous!!
-- Bill
In the US, Bush did..
It's called "The USA PATRIOT ACT"
AND
"The military commissions act of 2006"
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I agree completely. Excellent point...
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Nothing incriminating in your email? Not worried about 'them' monitoring your emails? Think again.
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety"
Ben Franklin
And BTW, encrypting email only takes a few minutes to set up and no (perceptible) time when signing/encrypting a message.
- --
Bill Arlofski
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.mac is not the end-all and be-all...
Hash: SHA1
re: http://www.joar.com/certificates/
I read your MAC OSX article/how-to.
What? Not one mention or link to information on GPG http://www.gnupg.com/
and/or PGP???
http://www.pgp.com/
I support and use the former and recommend the latter to my Microsoft locked-in friends.
What about enigmail http://enigmail.mozdev.org/for Thunderbird
or firegpg http://firegpg.tuxfamily.org/ for firefox?
Open your mind.
P.S. Note that this post is signed with firegpg.
- --
Bill Arlofski
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Have you seen their products?
http://www.linuxcanada.com/pos.shtml
I am not affiliated, just been aware of them for 3-4 years now.
...of indestructible pieces of unearthly tinfoil-like metal :)
Don't you know?
2 + 2 = 5 (for very large instances of 2)
While not an official "Big Red Button" story I think it is worth telling.
In 1999 while I was working as a private consultant for the capitol city of a small New England state, a colleague of mine was attempting to make a change to the city's core switches. Per usual with this guy, he over-sold his skill set and was way out of his league - while never willing to admit it.
Meanwhile, I was working in the server room on the squid web caching server while he was attempting the change...
I kept hearing him say things like "I wonder what this command does", and "I wonder what the reset command means. Should I enter it?"
Suddenly I was no longer ssh'ed into the proxy server... I looked up and asked "What the hell did you do?"
His answer: "I entered the reset command"
Me: "Well, fix it. Restore the configuration. It looks like you just reset EVERYTHING..."
Well, needless to say, there was NO saved configuration to restore, and no documentation for the city's network nor the equipment installed, and on this equipment the reset command was the command to reset it to its default settings. (BTW, he entered the reset command on the core switch) There were several local switches (connected via copper), and many fiber connections to all the remote departments across the city - several fire departments, the main police department, city hall, you name it... All off-line.
In the end, the city's network was DOWN for 3-4 full days while he contacted qualified people to attempt to rebuild the network...
We would have been better off if he had hit the big red button near the sliding glass door at the server room's exit.
sigh...
P.S. I am pretty sure he blamed it all on me.
Excellent. Well put. Thank you. I am printing this and handing it out (with your permission of course) :)
Where did my 5 moderator points go?
The parent should have been modded "Informative."
Why the -1? Sheesh.
Information is not a bad thing" (tm)
Sadly, in the US, a disproportionate number of people can not identify The United States on a map!
What makes one think that they know that "google" is not "googol" as the parent tried to differentiate?
Hell, I'd be willing to guess that a full 80% or more don't know that a 1 with 100 zeroes is a googol.
I save all my email logs to /dev/null
/dev/null gets backed up every night.
Hard to believe, but I never seem to run out of space! And I know my data is safe because
eGroupware is an excellent product that has become very mature in the past couple of years. It is all web-based and works great in Firefox.
It has email, shared calendaring, shared todo's. User is in control of what users can see/add/edit their appointments etc.
A default install comes with FAR more applications than you will need, but you can prune it down to do just what you want.
Check out eGroupWare
I would love to know what you and your staff think about this product.
disclamer: I am not affiliated with eGroupWare in any way except that I am also in the process of evaluating it.
While riding next to a limo, kismet picked up "limoman" To this day I wonder if that limo company offered some sort of wireless access in their limos.
On the same trip I found "IPROSECUTEFORWIFITHEFT" or something pretty close to that. I can not remember anymore it was 3 years ago, but I laughed when I saw it. BTW, it was OPEN, no WEP. :)
The first one's always free.
Oh, and _I_ thought that XP was the most secure and stable operating system ever created...
Oh, my bad... That was what I had heard from Microsoft's marketing department just before XP's release.
Sigh...
Does ANYone believe a thing they say anymore?
What a joke...
Was that supposed to be a comedy?
Much to the chagrin of our girlfriends and the rest of the people nearby in the theater, my buddy and I couldn't stop laughing and cutting on that movie...
Sigh...
I'd like to see the list of ~6000 sucke^H^H^H^H^Hclients who paid SCO.
We have proof that the Martians have extensive Weapons of Mass Distruction programs that pose an IMMEDIATE threat to the US, therefore we must go there and disarm them before they can harm us.
...and what about all of your friends/compadres that use (gasp) outlook...
Friend's machine gets a virus. Now your (good) address ends up in a compromised address book, and you begin to get viruses/spam in your good email box.
Your "good" address is now ALSO used randomly in the FROM field of the many spams/viruses that these compromised machines are sending, and guess what? You get a buttload of antivirus warning from servers telling you that YOUR machine is infected.
Oh and let's not forget all of the servers that receive these spams and harvest your "good" email address for use in future mailings...
Now what?
http://www.anvilcase.com/