"Although Free/Open security software is widely acknowledged to be better than commercial alternatives, it's rarely been trusted in the enterprise - the article points out that, although the NSA use Free software, the need for an expensive government audit prevents the government from saving money and improving security."
I tend to agree that Free/Open security software is better. But one thing you should remember is that it's freeness is just the problem preventing the government from using it.
If the government spends money on software from company x, should it get hacked etc.., company x can be held responsible. It's "their" software.
If the government use free alternatives, granted they are probably more secure, but if they get hacked too, who's gonna take the blame? Certainly not the people who wrote/contributed to the software. After all, you get what you pay for right?
Taking on free/open software makes it the government's responsiblity to check/maintain it's security and if anything goes wrong, they take the wrap themselves instead of company x.
Besides financial implications, it's a whole lot of work to take on so I can see the logic in their choice.
Attempting to download decompressor, please wait..
Could not download decompressor.
Attempting to download decompressor, please wait..
Could not download decompressor.
Attempting to download decompressor, please wait..
Could not download decompressor.
Attempting to download decompressor, please wait..
Could not download decompressor.
And then you get audio only. I for one can't wait.
The MS software DVD player shipped with 2K doesn't work properly. Windows Media Player is dodgy as f*** and now they want to combine the two into DVD players that can't even be patched when they realise the players won't play or crash when you try to skip etc.. Hah. What farce.
At least when Sony DVD players crash they have the decency not to show you a bluescreen.
I've opted for a tiny PC by the TV to use as DVD player. At least I can patch / update / get cracks for the necessary software so that I can actually watch the DVDs I've paid lots of money for. Heh.
I agree. I've got an aging Athlon 900 and it suits me fine. I can program, play mp3s, games, surf the web, moves files across the network, encode DivXs etc.. Do general stuff simultaneously without problems. Applications open in a flash so why should I spend money replacing my mobo, cpu & ram?
I used to want the latest few Mhz like the next person but in the last year or so I haven't seen the point.
Of course I will upgrade eventually, but probably not for another year. My rate of upgrading has decreased significantly from the early days of the P90. Yet technology has been improving at an increasing rate. It seems like hardware has overtaken software and provided I steer clear of bloatware *cough*xp*cough*, I'll enjoy a fast system for a while longer.
I still like to spend money on my computer, but this year I've been buying better peripherals, like monitor, keyboard, mouse, HDD etc..
I guess this demotes me from "Performance Nut" to "Average Joe", but so be it. I've used faster systems than mine and although I can see a difference, it's nowhere near significant enough to warrant my spending money, like it was in the days of the 266s and 500s.
Yeah.. I'd surf the web using the touch-screen, then when I'm done I'd use it as a beer coaster. Ohhh baby. Dunno if anyone else has tried using an iPaq as a coaster, but it's not really up to scratch.
KaZaa, Morpheus & Grokster are clients for the (decentralized) FastTrack network. So unless the RIAA go after FastTrack, good ol' Morph & Grok should be OK. Possibly. I read a while back that in their attempts to stop giFt, K, M & G made all user authentication go through a central server. Hence the "possibly".
One thing I never did figure out was why K, M & G all look the same (bar different icons). What's up with that?? As far as I'm concerned, the RIAA can kill as many clients as they like. There will always be more (and better) P2P apps cropping up. Kinda like natural selection.
Anyhoo, here are some old Slashdot posts on the subject:
Welcome to WinXP for ATM
Please wait.
Enter your card.
New hardware found! Installing card-reader, please wait.
Please remove card from ATM.
Rebooting...
Welcome to WinXP for ATM
Please wait.
GPF, press "1, Clear + Enter" to reboot.
Rebooting...
Welcome to WinXP for ATM
Please wait.
Scandisk found errors on card-reader.
Enter your card.
Errors on your card have been found. Would you like to create a recovery-card?
"No."
It looks like you have never used this ATM before, would you like to transfer your profile?
"How do you know that?? No!"
You have selected withdraw cash.
Access Denied. Only a user with administrative rights may perform this action.
"F***.. Gimme back my card!"
Unable to remove card, there has been a sharing violation. This card is in use by another user.
"WTF????"
I've got a JazzPiper MVR64P. The capacity is better than average and it's SDMI-free.
64MB Built-in,
Takes up-to 32MB SmartMedia cards,
Plays MP3/WAV,
No SDMI,
Crappy FM Radio,
Voice Recording,
Useless phone book thingy,
Parallel interface,
Dunno about non-win support,
Looks nicer than most 1st gen players.
I've seen it go under the name of MPIO-SV64. MP3Players.co.uk have a nice selection to look at.
The idea of listening to mp3s on mobile phones sounds good to me. Obviously, people wouldn't hold their phones to their ears constantly, they'd use earphones, like a hands-free kit.
However, I've seen reports about radiation from the phone being transmitted through the hands-free kit. Like most people, I use my mobile phone anyway, however I wouldn't want to use it to listen to music for hours on end with the threat of my brain getting crispy. -TheCrunch
Slashdot Mirror
"Although Free/Open security software is widely acknowledged to be better than commercial alternatives, it's rarely been trusted in the enterprise - the article points out that, although the NSA use Free software, the need for an expensive government audit prevents the government from saving money and improving security."
I tend to agree that Free/Open security software is better. But one thing you should remember is that it's freeness is just the problem preventing the government from using it.
If the government spends money on software from company x, should it get hacked etc.., company x can be held responsible. It's "their" software.
If the government use free alternatives, granted they are probably more secure, but if they get hacked too, who's gonna take the blame? Certainly not the people who wrote/contributed to the software. After all, you get what you pay for right?
Taking on free/open software makes it the government's responsiblity to check/maintain it's security and if anything goes wrong, they take the wrap themselves instead of company x.
Besides financial implications, it's a whole lot of work to take on so I can see the logic in their choice.
WMF DVDs.. hahah.
Attempting to download decompressor, please wait..
Could not download decompressor.
Attempting to download decompressor, please wait..
Could not download decompressor.
Attempting to download decompressor, please wait..
Could not download decompressor.
Attempting to download decompressor, please wait..
Could not download decompressor.
And then you get audio only. I for one can't wait.
The MS software DVD player shipped with 2K doesn't work properly. Windows Media Player is dodgy as f*** and now they want to combine the two into DVD players that can't even be patched when they realise the players won't play or crash when you try to skip etc.. Hah. What farce.
At least when Sony DVD players crash they have the decency not to show you a bluescreen.
I've opted for a tiny PC by the TV to use as DVD player. At least I can patch / update / get cracks for the necessary software so that I can actually watch the DVDs I've paid lots of money for. Heh.
I agree. I've got an aging Athlon 900 and it suits me fine. I can program, play mp3s, games, surf the web, moves files across the network, encode DivXs etc.. Do general stuff simultaneously without problems. Applications open in a flash so why should I spend money replacing my mobo, cpu & ram?
I used to want the latest few Mhz like the next person but in the last year or so I haven't seen the point.
Of course I will upgrade eventually, but probably not for another year. My rate of upgrading has decreased significantly from the early days of the P90. Yet technology has been improving at an increasing rate. It seems like hardware has overtaken software and provided I steer clear of bloatware *cough*xp*cough*, I'll enjoy a fast system for a while longer.
I still like to spend money on my computer, but this year I've been buying better peripherals, like monitor, keyboard, mouse, HDD etc..
I guess this demotes me from "Performance Nut" to "Average Joe", but so be it. I've used faster systems than mine and although I can see a difference, it's nowhere near significant enough to warrant my spending money, like it was in the days of the 266s and 500s.
I don't think I'm the only one too.
What is the terminatrix?
Arnie, I need an exit.
Hahahah. What tipped you off? Was it the hair?
Yeah.. I'd surf the web using the touch-screen, then when I'm done I'd use it as a beer coaster. Ohhh baby. Dunno if anyone else has tried using an iPaq as a coaster, but it's not really up to scratch.
One thing I never did figure out was why K, M & G all look the same (bar different icons). What's up with that?? As far as I'm concerned, the RIAA can kill as many clients as they like. There will always be more (and better) P2P apps cropping up. Kinda like natural selection.
Anyhoo, here are some old Slashdot posts on the subject:
RIAA Looks To Stop KaZaA, Morpheus & Grokster
File Sharing: Decentralizing, Open-Source Fasttrack
-TheCrunch
.sig .freud
Welcome to WinXP for ATM
Please wait.
Enter your card.
New hardware found! Installing card-reader, please wait.
Please remove card from ATM.
Rebooting...
Welcome to WinXP for ATM
Please wait.
GPF, press "1, Clear + Enter" to reboot.
Rebooting...
Welcome to WinXP for ATM
Please wait.
Scandisk found errors on card-reader.
Enter your card.
Errors on your card have been found. Would you like to create a recovery-card?
"No."
It looks like you have never used this ATM before, would you like to transfer your profile?
"How do you know that?? No!"
You have selected withdraw cash.
Access Denied. Only a user with administrative rights may perform this action.
"F***.. Gimme back my card!"
Unable to remove card, there has been a sharing violation. This card is in use by another user.
"WTF????"
Heh.. now each time I try to withdraw cash it'll say "Insufficient memory" instead of "Insufficient funds".
Quack.
They do that anyway.
I've got a JazzPiper MVR64P. The capacity is better than average and it's SDMI-free.
64MB Built-in,
Takes up-to 32MB SmartMedia cards,
Plays MP3/WAV,
No SDMI,
Crappy FM Radio,
Voice Recording,
Useless phone book thingy,
Parallel interface,
Dunno about non-win support,
Looks nicer than most 1st gen players.
I've seen it go under the name of MPIO-SV64. MP3Players.co.uk have a nice selection to look at.
-TheCrunch
All I need is access to your CD-ROM drive and a Windows CD!!
Does this mean it will run cooler?
However, I've seen reports about radiation from the phone being transmitted through the hands-free kit. Like most people, I use my mobile phone anyway, however I wouldn't want to use it to listen to music for hours on end with the threat of my brain getting crispy. -TheCrunch