I've said this a few times before on here, so perhaps I'm subjecting myself to (-1: repetitive).
Almost all classified goverment systems are not hooked up to the internet in any way shape or form. They are on Intelink (the classified top secret version of the internet). Assuming everything works according to plan, the only people having access to Intelink are those who are supposed to have it and who wouldn't hack the systems. Therefore, if NSA left any gaping holes that weren't discovered, it doesn't really impact them as 99.9% of the people in the world will never see a Linux system on Intelink, they simply aren't accessible if you don't have a reason to be on there.
Disclaimer: I worked at Ft Meade (yes at NSA) for a few years as a contractor. Gaping security holes in Linux (or most other OS's) don't really apply. I mean they do, but not like these are unprotected systems. They are guard by steel walls, marines with nasty tempers and machine guns and zero access to the free world.
At any rate; yes NSA people are pretty intelligent. They are doing this for a reason; it obviously serves their best interests in some way to have a freely distributable but secure OS. But let's keep this in proportion; any exploits found are going to have minimal effect on this country's operations. It's not like linux clusters running NSA Linux are going to handle CNWDI stuff (Critical Nuclear Weapons Design Information). Anyway just some thoughts from someone who was behind the gates at No Such Agency....
The Space Shuttle Code, along with other mission-critical (read human life) systems are the direct result of software developed through the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). Orginally pioneered by Watts Humphrey (now based out of the Software Engineering Institute @ CMU), it is the de facto (as far as I know) paradigm for devloping mission critical software. I had to deal with this quite a bit as a goverment contractor. Very interesting reading if you are so inclinied.
If I had a hot new app (that was capable of replacing HTML/Java/etc), I'd at least create a version of my site that showed off the capabilities, ie here is the site in the old school sense, here is what it is capable of using our technology. Of course the may have this, I didn't look around exhaustively.
Well, times are tough, and conferences cost money. Point one. Both to attend and to stage.
Point two: we just had fall comdex in vegas like six months ago. Has technology changed enough in six months that people/companies can justify attending both? I'm not a comdex person so if they focus on two different things, my apologies. I spoke to a number of people who went to fall comdex...lets face it, they just went cause it was in vegas. Who the hell wants to go to Chicago? I wonder what attendance would be like if spring comdex was held in Panama City or Tampa and just happend to conincide around spring break.....
Pr0n is a big time money maker. It doesn't cost much to produce, and on the internet the distribution costs are low too, there is a huge demand for it, even though a lot of people don't like to admit it.
You forgot a key ingredient; it's awfully fun to make....
Almost everyone I've talked to uses various bits and pieces of the extreme methodology (unit testing, peer review, whatever); myself included. I haven't run across anyone that actually implemented the whole paradigm, from arrangement of office space down to pair coding. Has anyone done this? How did it work? What's the fallout of two people spent writing the same code to fewer people spent bug fixing? Cost savings? Productivity loss/gain?
I think you are missing the point. I chose to throw it out. By producing a product of lesser quality (either through weak manufacturing tolerances or shoddy design), the manufacturer is reducing the useful lifespan and potentially losing a customer. There is no way in hell that anyone can justify either a CPU or motherboard failure after six months; unless I was overly pushing it (which I wasn't).
Besides, who determines usefulness? Certainly not the manufacturer. It's the consumer. In this case, me. It's one thing to throw something out (give to charity -- whatever) that is no longer useful to me. It's another to throw something out because it broke under normal use and isn't covered by a warranty. Yeah, yeah, lesson learned...buy the damn extended warranty on computer parts.
Over the weekend, my fairly state of the art motherboard/CPU died (ASUS/AMD). Not sure which one yet. At any rate, I ordered this stuff six months ago. I don't overclock (in fact I'm overly cautious -- 7 fans in the case). Whatever happened to things just lasting? My first big computer, a 4.67Mhz clone with 640K was bulletproof. It worked for years and years. In fact I threw it was still working when I threw it out.
Sorry end rant, this just touched me off as I've been cursing the stability of modern products since early Sunday morning.
Everyone is talking about aim.exe (I'm assuming they mean windows). However, the linux AIM client seems to work fine. So whatever MD5 sums they request have to be consistent for both files, correct? I did not read the article yet, so perhaps this has been addressed.
I have a Sony Espressa CD writer. Sony is in the music business. Sony is not going to give me any firmware updates that allow me to break their copy protection scheme. Best case, I buy a CDRW from a company who isn't in the recording business (assuming they even update the firmware). My question is the following: at what point do we start seeing hacked/3rd party firmware updates from non-vendors?
Basically, using the peer-2-peer revolution (buzzword alert) in advertising is the next thing. Since people tend to key out traditional advertising, read doubleclick, some companies are try to combine the peer to peer aspect of traditional word of mouth and the web. I don't completely understand it, but someone else out there probably does.
A big thanks to the Slashdot crowd (staff & readers) for making articles like this possible. I'm not big into politics, I don't hate the government (contracting for NSA/DoD was a blast), and I don't see a conspiracy around every corner.
However, I am quite concerned about stupid legislation. Articles like this show the common person (like myself) how to get involved (sending an e-mail to the staffer in the article).
I agree. I even checked the distributions section of LWN and it's not listed. I consider myself a pretty knowledgable Linux person and I have no clue who these guys are.....
Right, understand that. I was kind of assuming it was very NASCAR, ie there are small differences that make the difference between a winner and loser. On the surface, all the boards look and smell the same, but underneath is anyone tweaking things; one way or the other? Or does that just not apply here?
Also, I'm a Radeon person. I get my drivers from ATI. Do Nvidia drivers come from Nvidia or the board manufacturer? Does it matter? Is Nvidia still commited to Linux as it was in the past? Or have things rolled into XFree86 as the Radeon drivers have?
Expect to see the likes of ELSA, Guillemot/Hercules and VisionTek (nothing from Creative this time around) fight it out for GeForce3 shelf space sometime in the coming month. Not only will they be releasing a new product line but also all of these companies have told us at one time or another that their current range of Geforce2's will have prices cut (but probably not the Ultras). This is a good thing..
I tend to agree, these are top top end, in a different catagory then the Ultras. It's not just an upgrade (as the Ultra 2 was to the geForce). More of an evolution. Prices drop when products are either not selling well or they are old technology (and a replacement is out). I don't believe that to be the case with the Ultras.
Let's say you're a wealthy dot-commer (you were smart enough to sell your shares before the NASDAQ tanked). Which manufacturer makes the top NVIDIA based board? Guillemot/Hercules, ELSA, etc? I know that Creative isn't doing the Nvidia uber-board this time around; but does it matter? In terms of quality, drivers, support, etc.
I live in the middle of the financial district in SF. I wonder what the odds are of trying out a wireless PCI card and cancelling my DSL access? God bless people who have enough time on their hands to find out things like this for the rest of us.
I couldn't get to the the paypal site. Slashdotted already. Ironic isn't it? A scalable, secure, information exchange system that I can't donate to because of the overwhelming number of requests....
Slashdot Mirror
Almost all classified goverment systems are not hooked up to the internet in any way shape or form. They are on Intelink (the classified top secret version of the internet). Assuming everything works according to plan, the only people having access to Intelink are those who are supposed to have it and who wouldn't hack the systems. Therefore, if NSA left any gaping holes that weren't discovered, it doesn't really impact them as 99.9% of the people in the world will never see a Linux system on Intelink, they simply aren't accessible if you don't have a reason to be on there.
Disclaimer: I worked at Ft Meade (yes at NSA) for a few years as a contractor. Gaping security holes in Linux (or most other OS's) don't really apply. I mean they do, but not like these are unprotected systems. They are guard by steel walls, marines with nasty tempers and machine guns and zero access to the free world.
At any rate; yes NSA people are pretty intelligent. They are doing this for a reason; it obviously serves their best interests in some way to have a freely distributable but secure OS. But let's keep this in proportion; any exploits found are going to have minimal effect on this country's operations. It's not like linux clusters running NSA Linux are going to handle CNWDI stuff (Critical Nuclear Weapons Design Information). Anyway just some thoughts from someone who was behind the gates at No Such Agency....
CMM
If I had a hot new app (that was capable of replacing HTML/Java/etc), I'd at least create a version of my site that showed off the capabilities, ie here is the site in the old school sense, here is what it is capable of using our technology. Of course the may have this, I didn't look around exhaustively.
Anyone else notice their website pages are JSP?
Just what is Linus trying to say; he seems at a loss for words....
I got three letters that should make you feel better about living outside of the US....G S M.
Point two: we just had fall comdex in vegas like six months ago. Has technology changed enough in six months that people/companies can justify attending both? I'm not a comdex person so if they focus on two different things, my apologies. I spoke to a number of people who went to fall comdex...lets face it, they just went cause it was in vegas. Who the hell wants to go to Chicago? I wonder what attendance would be like if spring comdex was held in Panama City or Tampa and just happend to conincide around spring break.....
You forgot a key ingredient; it's awfully fun to make....
Almost everyone I've talked to uses various bits and pieces of the extreme methodology (unit testing, peer review, whatever); myself included. I haven't run across anyone that actually implemented the whole paradigm, from arrangement of office space down to pair coding. Has anyone done this? How did it work? What's the fallout of two people spent writing the same code to fewer people spent bug fixing? Cost savings? Productivity loss/gain?
Besides, who determines usefulness? Certainly not the manufacturer. It's the consumer. In this case, me. It's one thing to throw something out (give to charity -- whatever) that is no longer useful to me. It's another to throw something out because it broke under normal use and isn't covered by a warranty. Yeah, yeah, lesson learned...buy the damn extended warranty on computer parts.
Over the weekend, my fairly state of the art motherboard/CPU died (ASUS/AMD). Not sure which one yet. At any rate, I ordered this stuff six months ago. I don't overclock (in fact I'm overly cautious -- 7 fans in the case). Whatever happened to things just lasting? My first big computer, a 4.67Mhz clone with 640K was bulletproof. It worked for years and years. In fact I threw it was still working when I threw it out.
Sorry end rant, this just touched me off as I've been cursing the stability of modern products since early Sunday morning.
Everyone is talking about aim.exe (I'm assuming they mean windows). However, the linux AIM client seems to work fine. So whatever MD5 sums they request have to be consistent for both files, correct? I did not read the article yet, so perhaps this has been addressed.
I have a Sony Espressa CD writer. Sony is in the music business. Sony is not going to give me any firmware updates that allow me to break their copy protection scheme. Best case, I buy a CDRW from a company who isn't in the recording business (assuming they even update the firmware). My question is the following: at what point do we start seeing hacked/3rd party firmware updates from non-vendors?
Damn lack of mod points. Can someone do the honors....this is a pretty good point.
Basically, using the peer-2-peer revolution (buzzword alert) in advertising is the next thing. Since people tend to key out traditional advertising, read doubleclick, some companies are try to combine the peer to peer aspect of traditional word of mouth and the web. I don't completely understand it, but someone else out there probably does.
What are the odds of getting whiplash after getting fragged from behind?
However, I am quite concerned about stupid legislation. Articles like this show the common person (like myself) how to get involved (sending an e-mail to the staffer in the article).
Thanks again everyone....
It's under the "non-technical" section. Guess that explains why I never heard of it.....
I agree. I even checked the distributions section of LWN and it's not listed. I consider myself a pretty knowledgable Linux person and I have no clue who these guys are.....
Also, I'm a Radeon person. I get my drivers from ATI. Do Nvidia drivers come from Nvidia or the board manufacturer? Does it matter? Is Nvidia still commited to Linux as it was in the past? Or have things rolled into XFree86 as the Radeon drivers have?
Expect to see the likes of ELSA, Guillemot/Hercules and VisionTek (nothing from Creative this time around) fight it out for GeForce3 shelf space sometime in the coming month. Not only will they be releasing a new product line but also all of these companies have told us at one time or another that their current range of Geforce2's will have prices cut (but probably not the Ultras). This is a good thing..
I tend to agree, these are top top end, in a different catagory then the Ultras. It's not just an upgrade (as the Ultra 2 was to the geForce). More of an evolution. Prices drop when products are either not selling well or they are old technology (and a replacement is out). I don't believe that to be the case with the Ultras.
I showed you my two cents...
Let's say you're a wealthy dot-commer (you were smart enough to sell your shares before the NASDAQ tanked). Which manufacturer makes the top NVIDIA based board? Guillemot/Hercules, ELSA, etc? I know that Creative isn't doing the Nvidia uber-board this time around; but does it matter? In terms of quality, drivers, support, etc.
I like sci-fi stuff as much as the next person, but who would want a slightly-used, de-orbited tank of Russian waste products?
I live in the middle of the financial district in SF. I wonder what the odds are of trying out a wireless PCI card and cancelling my DSL access? God bless people who have enough time on their hands to find out things like this for the rest of us.
I couldn't get to the the paypal site. Slashdotted already. Ironic isn't it? A scalable, secure, information exchange system that I can't donate to because of the overwhelming number of requests....