Hi, everyone. I work for SRJC, and I have a bit more knowledge about what's going on here than was posted. Yeah, this whole thing sounds stupid, but there's another side that wasn't posted in the Press Demo article:
On the surface, this sounds like a slam-dunk case of big-government run amok. "Sue anyone who uses 'srjc' in their email address? Preposterous! Water-cooler-bureaucrats thinking they can control the internet! What a waste of my tax-payer's dollars!" Etc.
Unfortunately the truth isn't nealy as exciting.
First off, the college has had, and continues to have, isolated incidents of people trying to use the campus identity for their own personal needs, be it political, commercial, or otherwise. Yes, it's easy to make fun of people who don't understand how email addresses work ("srjc@whatever.com isn't from the school? I don't get it. And yes, I'll email you my bank login and password..."), but the reality is that there are still people who just don't get the difference.
So, if it's your school/company/etc. that this is happening to, what do you do? I'd hope you'd first try to be reasonable and try to get the offending party to stop doing it, which in fact it what the college tried to do. After all, legal is messy, legal is expensive, and 99% of the time it's just a misunderstanding that's easily corrected. But what if even that doesn't work?
Well, before going nuts and trying to take someone to court, how about giving a Cease and Desist letter a chance? It doesn't mean that you're going to sue someone, but it does show that you're serious about an infraction. Great idea, right?
One big problem, though (besides it getting posted to Slashdot and getting blown out of proportion) - you can't just arbitrarily single someone out. If you're going to try to use enforcing some code to get someone to stop doing what they're doing, it has to apply equally to everyone. In for a penny, in for a pound...
That's what happened here. About a hundred or so people (not several hundred as the article states - I know, I helped compile the list) received a letter asking them to stop using "SRJC" in their email address. There was no favortism in who received this letter - I got one for my email address as well.
Yeah, it stinks. Yeah, I get how people can be upset about this. But is it really worth the hubub? I don't think any reasonable person would think that, if they knew all of the facts.
"The Miniket runs a uClinux/ARM 2.6 kernel based in part on the uClinux/ARM 2.6 project, which Choi leads. According to Choi, the project used the Samsung S5C737x SoC as its primary target processor, and all the GPL'd parts of the kernel used in the Miniket are available for download from the project site. The Miniket is the first of several Samsung products that will be based on an "ARM-no-MMU" uClinux kernel."
How ironic. I would have posted a reply sooner, but I've been dealing with Dell about a broken server all morning...
Basically, Dell sent a contractor out to our location last night to replace a couple of recalled motherboards in some of our servers. Our late-night guys monitored the retro-fit, and since everything seemed OK, they approved the fix and went home for the night.
Well, I come in first thing this morning, and one of the "fixed" machines is hosed, with the "check engine" light (that's the best analogy for Dell's LEDs that I can think of) flashing and the console completely locked up. I try to reboot, but no-go. Sometimes the raid controller refuses to start, sometimes it's BIOS loads, but then GRUB craps out.
My frustration level at this point is about a 3. I figure somehow the motherboard re-fit broke our RAID card, and there's nothing I can do from my end. I'll need to get Dell in on this...
First, I try to find Dell's customer support number. Have you ever tried to find their phone number on their website? Have you ever tried to find anything useful on their support site? The best option I can find is an email web form. (Great, my server's down, I'll just tell my boss I sent Dell an email about it and it's taken care of. That'll look good on my annual review...) I finally find a generic Higher-education phone number, and I dial it hoping there's a voice-mail option for service, and fortunately there is.
Frustration level at about 5 now...
The first person who answers the phone asks me a question, but I can't tell what it is. I mean, I'm hearing sylablles, which strung together sound like words, but I can't understand them. There's no identifible accent, so I think he's speaking English, but I'm still not sure. After making sure I'm not having a stroke, I ask the person to repeat himself. Then I ask him to please slow down. I'm still not getting it. I almost ask to be transfered to someone who can speak English, but only a jack-ass would say that (I'm still embarassed for even thinking that). I finally say, "I have a broken PowerEdge server." Click, and I'm transferred into a holding queue. At least I'm making progress!
Frustration Level at 8...
So, after waiting about 10 minutes, I get a technician. Nice guy, but he's not having any luck helping me. We go through some obvious stuff, then some not-so-obvious stuff. Finally, after about an hour of testing, he remembers that I mentioned GRUB. "GRUB, is that a linux thing? Oh, I don't know linux very well. Let me put you on hold..."
Another 10 minutes goes by. He comes back, and from the inflection in his voice, I can tell he's getting ready to end this service call. "Well, I think your problem is with linux. I Googled some stuff on GRUB - let me give you the link..."
OK. My rock-solid server has been running great for the past 18 months, but the night after Dell's service call, it craps out. Obviously it's Linux's fault! That also explains the "check engine" light, and the fact that the RAID bios sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, before GRUB can even start! Yes, please close out my ticket, and give me that Google link, as I never would have thought of that!
Frustration Level in the high 9's...
Finally I say, "Well, is there someone familiar with Linux I can speak with? I know you support RHEL, as it's one of the reasons we bought this particular server from you?" I hope I'm saying that politely, but at this point, I'm honestly not sure. "OK, let me get you a Linux person." Hold for another 10 minutes.
I'm at 11 with the Frustration Level now...
I get the Linux guy. Once again, nice guy, and he's smart enough to know that it's not Linux's fault. So, we spend about a half-hour going through the same steps I did with the last tech. Still nothing. So, he says he's going check somet
How ironic - I was just using my 210MB version L.A.S Linux on a friend's computer and noticed this article. One thing I really like about L.A.S - integrated ClamAV. So, on someone elses computer that's totally hosed, I can boot off of L.A.S. and scan their hard drive for viruses. Plus, with the mini-CD size, it's easy to keep a copy in my glovebox/computer case/etc. for emergencies.
No, it's not a replacement for Knoppix STD, but it's a nice complement.
Slashdot Mirror
Hi, everyone. I work for SRJC, and I have a bit more knowledge about what's going on here than was posted. Yeah, this whole thing sounds stupid, but there's another side that wasn't posted in the Press Demo article:
On the surface, this sounds like a slam-dunk case of big-government run amok. "Sue anyone who uses 'srjc' in their email address? Preposterous! Water-cooler-bureaucrats thinking they can control the internet! What a waste of my tax-payer's dollars!" Etc.
Unfortunately the truth isn't nealy as exciting.
First off, the college has had, and continues to have, isolated incidents of people trying to use the campus identity for their own personal needs, be it political, commercial, or otherwise. Yes, it's easy to make fun of people who don't understand how email addresses work ("srjc@whatever.com isn't from the school? I don't get it. And yes, I'll email you my bank login and password ..."), but the reality is that there are still people who just don't get the difference.
So, if it's your school/company/etc. that this is happening to, what do you do? I'd hope you'd first try to be reasonable and try to get the offending party to stop doing it, which in fact it what the college tried to do. After all, legal is messy, legal is expensive, and 99% of the time it's just a misunderstanding that's easily corrected. But what if even that doesn't work?
Well, before going nuts and trying to take someone to court, how about giving a Cease and Desist letter a chance? It doesn't mean that you're going to sue someone, but it does show that you're serious about an infraction. Great idea, right?
One big problem, though (besides it getting posted to Slashdot and getting blown out of proportion) - you can't just arbitrarily single someone out. If you're going to try to use enforcing some code to get someone to stop doing what they're doing, it has to apply equally to everyone. In for a penny, in for a pound ...
That's what happened here. About a hundred or so people (not several hundred as the article states - I know, I helped compile the list) received a letter asking them to stop using "SRJC" in their email address. There was no favortism in who received this letter - I got one for my email address as well.
Yeah, it stinks. Yeah, I get how people can be upset about this. But is it really worth the hubub? I don't think any reasonable person would think that, if they knew all of the facts.
What kind of a world do we live in where Michael Okuda is out of a job, but Berman and Braga still have work?
Check out the bottom of the article:
"The Miniket runs a uClinux/ARM 2.6 kernel based in part on the uClinux/ARM 2.6 project, which Choi leads. According to Choi, the project used the Samsung S5C737x SoC as its primary target processor, and all the GPL'd parts of the kernel used in the Miniket are available for download from the project site. The Miniket is the first of several Samsung products that will be based on an "ARM-no-MMU" uClinux kernel."
Man, I thought I hated Comcast before!
How ironic. I would have posted a reply sooner, but I've been dealing with Dell about a broken server all morning ...
...
...) I finally find a generic Higher-education phone number, and I dial it hoping there's a voice-mail option for service, and fortunately there is.
...
...
..."
..."
...
...
Basically, Dell sent a contractor out to our location last night to replace a couple of recalled motherboards in some of our servers. Our late-night guys monitored the retro-fit, and since everything seemed OK, they approved the fix and went home for the night.
Well, I come in first thing this morning, and one of the "fixed" machines is hosed, with the "check engine" light (that's the best analogy for Dell's LEDs that I can think of) flashing and the console completely locked up. I try to reboot, but no-go. Sometimes the raid controller refuses to start, sometimes it's BIOS loads, but then GRUB craps out.
My frustration level at this point is about a 3. I figure somehow the motherboard re-fit broke our RAID card, and there's nothing I can do from my end. I'll need to get Dell in on this
First, I try to find Dell's customer support number. Have you ever tried to find their phone number on their website? Have you ever tried to find anything useful on their support site? The best option I can find is an email web form. (Great, my server's down, I'll just tell my boss I sent Dell an email about it and it's taken care of. That'll look good on my annual review
Frustration level at about 5 now
The first person who answers the phone asks me a question, but I can't tell what it is. I mean, I'm hearing sylablles, which strung together sound like words, but I can't understand them. There's no identifible accent, so I think he's speaking English, but I'm still not sure. After making sure I'm not having a stroke, I ask the person to repeat himself. Then I ask him to please slow down. I'm still not getting it. I almost ask to be transfered to someone who can speak English, but only a jack-ass would say that (I'm still embarassed for even thinking that). I finally say, "I have a broken PowerEdge server." Click, and I'm transferred into a holding queue. At least I'm making progress!
Frustration Level at 8
So, after waiting about 10 minutes, I get a technician. Nice guy, but he's not having any luck helping me. We go through some obvious stuff, then some not-so-obvious stuff. Finally, after about an hour of testing, he remembers that I mentioned GRUB. "GRUB, is that a linux thing? Oh, I don't know linux very well. Let me put you on hold
Another 10 minutes goes by. He comes back, and from the inflection in his voice, I can tell he's getting ready to end this service call. "Well, I think your problem is with linux. I Googled some stuff on GRUB - let me give you the link
OK. My rock-solid server has been running great for the past 18 months, but the night after Dell's service call, it craps out. Obviously it's Linux's fault! That also explains the "check engine" light, and the fact that the RAID bios sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, before GRUB can even start! Yes, please close out my ticket, and give me that Google link, as I never would have thought of that!
Frustration Level in the high 9's
Finally I say, "Well, is there someone familiar with Linux I can speak with? I know you support RHEL, as it's one of the reasons we bought this particular server from you?" I hope I'm saying that politely, but at this point, I'm honestly not sure. "OK, let me get you a Linux person." Hold for another 10 minutes.
I'm at 11 with the Frustration Level now
I get the Linux guy. Once again, nice guy, and he's smart enough to know that it's not Linux's fault. So, we spend about a half-hour going through the same steps I did with the last tech. Still nothing. So, he says he's going check somet
How ironic - I was just using my 210MB version L.A.S Linux on a friend's computer and noticed this article. One thing I really like about L.A.S - integrated ClamAV. So, on someone elses computer that's totally hosed, I can boot off of L.A.S. and scan their hard drive for viruses. Plus, with the mini-CD size, it's easy to keep a copy in my glovebox/computer case/etc. for emergencies.
No, it's not a replacement for Knoppix STD, but it's a nice complement.