Not an original thought, actually. One of the most popular ways to persuade a user to install spyware these days is to promise that spyware they want him to install--will stop spyware!
> aren't costs supposed to come down when the demand decreases?
Depends on the goods. Video games--especially video games on CD/DVD--are like movies, music CDs and software. They cost a bundle to initially create, but once they're created, making additional copies is dirt cheap. The result is the more you sell, the lower the price, because you can spread that big upfront fixed cost over more copies.
> Selective breeding is noit a form of genetic engineering.
Um, you are controlling the appearance/behavior/function of a plant or animal by controlling what genetic factors will be passed to it. How is that *not* a form a genetic engineering?
> There is no 'engineering' involved in deciding which of two corn plants has better kernels. > There is engineering involved when shooting gold particles coated with foreign DNA into corn cells.
Ah, I see. It's genetic engineering when you use evil gadgets to do it.
> This is why you run as a restricted user rather than administrator or power user.
When I moved from 98 to XP I tried to run as a regular user, I did. I understand the security implications. I do non-rootly things on Linux as a non-root user. Ditto for my Solaris box. But XP, it just wasn't possible. Half my applications didn't work. After struggling with it for a month, I finally gave up and ran as an admin user.
> but aren't Solaris primarilly used for servers (lots of users, lots of risk)?
Yes, and no. Servers generally *don't* have lots of users with shell account logins; your university user systems are an exception. In our own university data center, we have many large database/web/other servers that provide access to administrative information. You can count the number of people who have access to a shell prompt on these systems on your fingers.
> "Auds"? Obviously this is short for "audience," but still. Let's move on. ... > Ah yes, a "space oater." I'm fond of those. ... > "Whedon's shingle," uh huh...
o/~Normal talk makes producers walk/You might as well speak Greek/Unless you learn to talk that Variety Speak (Baba-doo-ba, baba-doo-ba...)o/~
> Get rid of the winner-takes-all system that all states
Doesn't solve the problem. It means that we wouldn't've had the problem in 2000, but that's just because it shifts the problem to other situations, where you're doing recounts to scrape together the deciding votes in several states...
> Or better yet, get rid of the whole Electoral College system entirely and > use a nationwide popular vote.
That makes the problem less likely, but makes it much worse when it happens. Imagine a national dead-heat vote. Now you have to attempt recounts not just of Florida, but the entire nation...
Updating by hand isn't for everybody, granted. But nevertheless, it's an option, a way of extending the life of an install that flat isn't there in a proprietary system, a way some people are damn glad to have--and other people on desupported proprietary systems desperately *wish* they had.
> So does Linus go back and apply security patches to the 2.0 or 2.2 Kernel any more?
No, but the Linux community does. 2.0 got a patch 18 days ago.
> Does RedHat fix security vulnerabilities in ancient versions (say RH 5.0 or 6.0)?
No, but if you have RH 5.0, *you* can certainly fix security vulnerabilities. Even when you don't have new RPMs (and often you do), you can still update by hand.
> Give me a break. Every vendor defines what support levels they provide for what versions of the OS,
Yes, but only in closed source are you stuck with what the vendor will suppport. In Linux, you will still get patches as long as there is an effective user community, which is a very long time indeed.
> and as the OS gets older and older it gets less attention than the newer versions. This is just > freaking common sense. You want prompt patches? Use what is most likely to get the prompt patches!
Which is open source; you'll get prompt patches for years longer than you'll see them for proprietary software.
Slashdot Mirror
Not an original thought, actually. One of the most popular ways to persuade a user to install spyware these days is to promise that spyware they want him to install--will stop spyware!
Chris Mattern
> aren't costs supposed to come down when the demand decreases?
Depends on the goods. Video games--especially video games on CD/DVD--are like movies, music CDs and software. They cost a bundle to initially create, but once they're created, making additional copies is dirt cheap. The result is the more you sell, the lower the price, because you can spread that big upfront fixed cost over more copies.
Chris Mattern
> Even poor countries still have rich people. That's the beauty of capitalism.
As a general rule (although with some exceptions), rich people in poor countries have very little to do with capitalism.
Chris Mattern
Where are centaurs?
Chris Mattern
Then he should have said "...or give me TTL 0."
Chris Mattern
Indeed not, as you can see here or here.
Chris Mattern
> The long, forgotten Tranzor Z lives on...
Not as long as some of us remember the name of Go Nagai...and the boob missiles...I don't think I'll ever forget the boob missiles...
Chris Mattern
Or, to quote another song:
"Network execs with naked ambitions/Next week on Fox, watch lions eat Christians."
Chris Mattern
> Selective breeding is noit a form of genetic engineering.
Um, you are controlling the appearance/behavior/function of a plant or animal by controlling what genetic factors will be passed to it. How is that *not* a form a genetic engineering?
> There is no 'engineering' involved in deciding which of two corn plants has better kernels.
> There is engineering involved when shooting gold particles coated with foreign DNA into corn cells.
Ah, I see. It's genetic engineering when you use evil gadgets to do it.
Chris Mattern
because, after all, speeders don't run red lights...
Chris Mattern
> This is why you run as a restricted user rather than administrator or power user.
When I moved from 98 to XP I tried to run as a regular user, I did. I understand the security implications. I do non-rootly things on Linux as a non-root user. Ditto for my Solaris box. But XP, it just wasn't possible. Half my applications didn't work. After struggling with it for a month, I finally gave up and ran as an admin user.
Chris Mattern
> Think of it as a gigantic array of pointers
But it's not. They keep a cache copy of almost all the HTML and other text, and thumbnails of all the graphics.
Chris Mattern
> Does it have anything to do with the city's density?
Hey, people in New York are just as smart as people anywhere else!
Chris Mattern
> That's from a movie (I forget which one).
"Time Bandits", of course! "Ah, so *that's* what an invisible wall looks like..."
Chris Mattern
> What is this? Gay Porn? Tivo thinks I'm gay!
And you only watched "Will & Grace" one time, one day...
Chris Mattern
> but really, what in the hell are you going to do with 40 hours of MacGyver?
Learn how to fix your dead Tivo with just a curling iron and some breath mints, of course.
Chris Mattern
Except that then you change into the Thief. ("I'm not the Warrior? I'm ALWAYS the Warrior!")
Chris Mattern
Loki?
No, waitaminute...
Loki?
That's not right...
Ah, here we are! Loki!
Chris Mattern
> but aren't Solaris primarilly used for servers (lots of users, lots of risk)?
Yes, and no. Servers generally *don't* have lots of users with shell account logins; your university user systems are an exception. In our own university data center, we have many large database/web/other servers that provide access to administrative information. You can count the number of people who have access to a shell prompt on these systems on your fingers.
Chris Mattern
"shingle"--sign outside a store with the store's name on it. In this case "shingle" is used to mean that it's the name of Whedon's studio.
Chris Mattern
> "Auds"? Obviously this is short for "audience," but still. Let's move on.
...
...
> Ah yes, a "space oater." I'm fond of those.
> "Whedon's shingle," uh huh...
o/~Normal talk makes producers walk/You might as well speak Greek/Unless you learn to talk that Variety Speak (Baba-doo-ba, baba-doo-ba...)o/~
Chris Mattern
> The election in Florida wasn't really that close.
Yep, Bush won it pretty easily, as independent recounts after the fact showed.
Chris Mattern
> Get rid of the winner-takes-all system that all states
Doesn't solve the problem. It means that we wouldn't've had the problem in 2000, but that's just because it shifts the problem to other situations, where you're doing recounts to scrape together the deciding votes in several states...
> Or better yet, get rid of the whole Electoral College system entirely and
> use a nationwide popular vote.
That makes the problem less likely, but makes it much worse when it happens. Imagine a national dead-heat vote. Now you have to attempt recounts not just of Florida, but the entire nation...
Chris Mattern
Updating by hand isn't for everybody, granted. But nevertheless, it's an option, a way of extending the life of an install that flat isn't there in a proprietary system, a way some people are damn glad to have--and other people on desupported proprietary systems desperately *wish* they had.
Chris Mattern
> So does Linus go back and apply security patches to the 2.0 or 2.2 Kernel any more?
No, but the Linux community does. 2.0 got a patch 18 days ago.
> Does RedHat fix security vulnerabilities in ancient versions (say RH 5.0 or 6.0)?
No, but if you have RH 5.0, *you* can certainly fix security vulnerabilities. Even when you don't have new RPMs (and often you do), you can still update by hand.
> Give me a break. Every vendor defines what support levels they provide for what versions of the OS,
Yes, but only in closed source are you stuck with what the vendor will suppport. In Linux, you will still get patches as long as there is an effective user community, which is a very long time indeed.
> and as the OS gets older and older it gets less attention than the newer versions. This is just
> freaking common sense. You want prompt patches? Use what is most likely to get the prompt patches!
Which is open source; you'll get prompt patches for years longer than you'll see them for proprietary software.
Chris Mattern