That's nice. How did you come by this confidence?
I've got firewall scripts that I trust, too.
But that trust was gained through testing, and
a portscanner was a handy tool at the time.
Not that they ever intended it. Who would want a look at the
NT source code?
First, everybody that is paranoid about the CIA inserting
back doors. This includes every intelligence agency in the
world not connected with the US or UK governments.
Second, everybody that would want to exploit such a back door, or
insert their own. Now we can add terrorists, industrial spies,
and dishonest competitors to the list. Bin Ladin probably has
his copy already.
Third, honest people who are forced to use NT, but are concerned
about security.
If the NT source was stolen by people with a profit motive,
then the desire to maximise profit will lead to the eventual
large scale distribution of the sources. To what effect?
The first group will quietly assess the risks, and a few of
them may exploit any opportunities.
The second group are in it for the exploits.
The third group just want their systems to work.
Now, this is the interesting part: The third group is large,
and probably willing to share their findings for the good of all.
However, being honest, they will not make use of the source
unless it comes to them openly.
The first and second groups have no such scruples. This means
that from now on NT will suffer from all the security problems
that are ritually attributed to open source, but without the
mitigating effect of a large community working to close holes
and improve the product.
The best thing Microsoft can do is go all the way and open the
source in a way that will give honest people a chance against
the crooks. It's only a matter of time before choice exploits
are auctioned off e-bay style on some mafia site (e-sploit.ru
anyone?).
Of course, Microsoft will never put their customers first.
Their source will stay closed. They will try to persuade
everyone and their grandmother that with enough lawyers and
police the damage can be contained. But that is just not so.
Maybe they will attempt to outlaw source code of any kind in
order to simplify the task of the police. You will need
a licence for hello.c in that vision of an appropriate response.
It's been said before: NT, security, networking -- pick any two.
Hard to believe it could get worse, but it just did:
Security, honesty -- pick one.
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in your
patent filing. As the principle engineer/programmer on
the project I am probably more familiar with the nature
of the work than anyone else. I can assure you that the
product depends on many techniques already in wide use in
the industry, and that many aspects of the invention are
obvious to anyone skilled in the art.
Sadly, documentation to support a patent filing was
never one of the deliverables specified for the project.
Consequently the project records are not in a form that
makes the project's reliance on prior art obvious. I look
forward to assisting you with clarifying this matter,
as I know you share my deep commitment to compliance with
the patent application disclosure requirements.
Since I am no longer employed by you I propose that
a consulting arrangment is the most appropriate way
to compensation me for the time and effort I expend on
your behalf. I am currently able to offer my services at
the rate of $250 per hour, one hour minimum per day, with
a limit of 10 hours per week, for three months, with the
possibility of renewal for an additional term. This is in
addition to, rather than in leiu of, any bonuses, rewards,
royalties, or other considerations normally associated with
such a filing, and the eventual award of the patent, which
are due as a result with my previous employment by your firm.
Please acknowledge your acceptance of these terms within
two weeks of receipt of this letter.
I look forward to working with you on making this patent
filing the success it deserves to be.
Sincerely Yours,
Your Name Here
#include "disclaimer/ianal.h"// friend, you really need a lawyer
> Q:Can we lock in users on the hardware level?
> A:I guess so. We have nothing to loose.
The evil empire drops a silicon curtain between
its customers and the free world. They control
the TV content, they control the net access,
they sanitize the mail and mediate transactions.
It's for your own good. Dissent is treason.
Somewhere I got the notion that DB2 was not a
software product so much as a marketing construct.
IBM took every database they ever built and called it
"DB2 for X" for X in 390, or 400, PDP-X, or whatever.
The thing that makes it DB2 is that they all have
the same API, except for the parts that are different.
Why pull a stunt like that? Well, stick to the common
parts of the API and life is good. But the real reason
is the need to maintain the illusion of market share
for a single product. Too bad there is no single
code base behind it. Find a bug? Fix a bug in 20+
different places. No wonder they are so hot to port
DB2 to Linux and Linux to everything.
Follow the logic of his math: If A and B have the same quality, but B has more users, then B must be better!
If A has half the bugs of B, but B has 10 times the users, then B must be better since it has a lower bug/user metric!
Proving once again that figures don't lie, but liers figure. All he is claiming is that Microsoft is better because there are more Microsoft users. What insight!
I've got a part timer here, she took two semester's worth of C programming at a technical school that had a "business" orientation. I think most of us would rather commit hari-kari than sit through that. It's amazing she still has any interest at all.
She wants to do unix sys admin. That's cool with me. I've had her build linux boxes, and do a few installs. She knows vi, gimp, ftp, telnet, web browsing, some HTML, rudimentary scripting, how to construct a simple make file, and some C. Getting the modem and printer to work was asking too much.
About a month ago I handed her Stevens' "Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment". She hates this book! It scares her. "This guy was too smart" she keeps saying. "Do I have to learn everything in this book?", she asked. "No, just make sure you understand the code, and look up the system calls in the man pages," I answered. "And forget about reading ahead, take it page by page." So, she keeps going. I'm waiting for the bug to bite. I'm guessing that around chapter 8 she begins to get it. That's also about the time I expect her to get the modem and printer to work. Hmm, which means she will have evolved to sysadmin, JG. I'll have to think up an appropriate ceremony.
[1] ibsen:/home/vagn $ format c: ksh: format: not found [2] ibsen:/home/vagn $ reboot ksh: reboot: not found [3] ibsen:/home/vagn $ shutdown -h now ksh: shutdown: not found [4] ibsen:/home/vagn $
Slashdot Mirror
A quick look at the documentation
.hss. Ugh. Overall it looks cool,
fails to expose the expected unixizm.
And
though. And GPL'd. Won't be long
before the warts are cured.
Maybe they called them magic flying carpets
instead of kites, and didn't bother documenting
them because it's such a no-brainer.
it's some lame MS marketing ploy. People may not be able to see it, but the dogs can tell.
>> I know my systems are secure.
That's nice. How did you come by this confidence?
I've got firewall scripts that I trust, too.
But that trust was gained through testing, and
a portscanner was a handy tool at the time.
Not that they ever intended it. Who would want a look at the
NT source code?
First, everybody that is paranoid about the CIA inserting
back doors. This includes every intelligence agency in the
world not connected with the US or UK governments.
Second, everybody that would want to exploit such a back door, or
insert their own. Now we can add terrorists, industrial spies,
and dishonest competitors to the list. Bin Ladin probably has
his copy already.
Third, honest people who are forced to use NT, but are concerned
about security.
If the NT source was stolen by people with a profit motive,
then the desire to maximise profit will lead to the eventual
large scale distribution of the sources. To what effect?
The first group will quietly assess the risks, and a few of
them may exploit any opportunities.
The second group are in it for the exploits.
The third group just want their systems to work.
Now, this is the interesting part: The third group is large,
and probably willing to share their findings for the good of all.
However, being honest, they will not make use of the source
unless it comes to them openly.
The first and second groups have no such scruples. This means
that from now on NT will suffer from all the security problems
that are ritually attributed to open source, but without the
mitigating effect of a large community working to close holes
and improve the product.
The best thing Microsoft can do is go all the way and open the
source in a way that will give honest people a chance against
the crooks. It's only a matter of time before choice exploits
are auctioned off e-bay style on some mafia site (e-sploit.ru
anyone?).
Of course, Microsoft will never put their customers first.
Their source will stay closed. They will try to persuade
everyone and their grandmother that with enough lawyers and
police the damage can be contained. But that is just not so.
Maybe they will attempt to outlaw source code of any kind in
order to simplify the task of the police. You will need
a licence for hello.c in that vision of an appropriate response.
It's been said before: NT, security, networking -- pick any two.
Hard to believe it could get worse, but it just did:
Security, honesty -- pick one.
Dear Valued Former Employer,
// friend, you really need a lawyer
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in your
patent filing. As the principle engineer/programmer on
the project I am probably more familiar with the nature
of the work than anyone else. I can assure you that the
product depends on many techniques already in wide use in
the industry, and that many aspects of the invention are
obvious to anyone skilled in the art.
Sadly, documentation to support a patent filing was
never one of the deliverables specified for the project.
Consequently the project records are not in a form that
makes the project's reliance on prior art obvious. I look
forward to assisting you with clarifying this matter,
as I know you share my deep commitment to compliance with
the patent application disclosure requirements.
Since I am no longer employed by you I propose that
a consulting arrangment is the most appropriate way
to compensation me for the time and effort I expend on
your behalf. I am currently able to offer my services at
the rate of $250 per hour, one hour minimum per day, with
a limit of 10 hours per week, for three months, with the
possibility of renewal for an additional term. This is in
addition to, rather than in leiu of, any bonuses, rewards,
royalties, or other considerations normally associated with
such a filing, and the eventual award of the patent, which
are due as a result with my previous employment by your firm.
Please acknowledge your acceptance of these terms within
two weeks of receipt of this letter.
I look forward to working with you on making this patent
filing the success it deserves to be.
Sincerely Yours,
Your Name Here
#include "disclaimer/ianal.h"
Amen. That post should be (Score 5: Literate).
> Q:Can we lock in users on the hardware level?
> A:I guess so. We have nothing to loose.
The evil empire drops a silicon curtain between
its customers and the free world. They control
the TV content, they control the net access,
they sanitize the mail and mediate transactions.
It's for your own good. Dissent is treason.
Somewhere I got the notion that DB2 was not a
software product so much as a marketing construct.
IBM took every database they ever built and called it
"DB2 for X" for X in 390, or 400, PDP-X, or whatever.
The thing that makes it DB2 is that they all have
the same API, except for the parts that are different.
Why pull a stunt like that? Well, stick to the common
parts of the API and life is good. But the real reason
is the need to maintain the illusion of market share
for a single product. Too bad there is no single
code base behind it. Find a bug? Fix a bug in 20+
different places. No wonder they are so hot to port
DB2 to Linux and Linux to everything.
> Software that breaks the US export control
> laws goes into the non-US archive.
Um, no. It is in non-US so that it will continue
to be software that DOES NOT BREAK US export
control laws. Debian is 100% legal in the US.
Carnivore sucks like a Hoover.
Follow the logic of his math: If A and B
have the same quality, but B has more users,
then B must be better!
If A has half the bugs of B, but B has 10 times
the users, then B must be better since it has
a lower bug/user metric!
Proving once again that figures don't lie,
but liers figure. All he is claiming
is that Microsoft is better because there
are more Microsoft users. What insight!
Dumbing it down is poison.
I've got a part timer here, she took two semester's
worth of C programming at a technical school that had a
"business" orientation. I think most of us would rather
commit hari-kari than sit through that. It's amazing she
still has any interest at all.
She wants to do unix sys admin. That's cool with me.
I've had her build linux boxes, and do a few installs.
She knows vi, gimp, ftp, telnet, web browsing, some HTML,
rudimentary scripting, how to construct a simple make file,
and some C. Getting the modem and printer to work was
asking too much.
About a month ago I handed her Stevens' "Advanced
Programming in the Unix Environment". She hates this book!
It scares her. "This guy was too smart" she keeps saying.
"Do I have to learn everything in this book?", she asked.
"No, just make sure you understand the code, and look
up the system calls in the man pages," I answered. "And
forget about reading ahead, take it page by page."
So, she keeps going. I'm waiting for the bug to bite.
I'm guessing that around chapter 8 she begins to get it.
That's also about the time I expect her to get the
modem and printer to work. Hmm, which means she will
have evolved to sysadmin, JG. I'll have to think up an
appropriate ceremony.
Nature += nurture.
"Since the 1950's" means no computers involved.
It's a one time pad, folks. You've been trolled.
It happened long long ago.
There once was a patent on the SUID bit.
It, and the other good ideas in Unix are now
available for use by anyone.
Unix is dead, long live Unix.
You guys are working way too hard:
#include <stdio.h>
main() { int c, i = 0; while(c = getchar()) { switch(c) {
case '1': case '0': i = (i << 1) | (c-'0'); break;
default: if(i) { putchar(i&0x7f); i = 0; }; break; } } }
A one minute hack, worked first time.
Cheers!
Where am I supposed to plug in my tape drive? Small and quiet are good attributes for a computer, but Real Computers (tm) can make Real Backups (sm).
[1] ibsen:/home/vagn $ format c:
ksh: format: not found
[2] ibsen:/home/vagn $ reboot
ksh: reboot: not found
[3] ibsen:/home/vagn $ shutdown -h now
ksh: shutdown: not found
[4] ibsen:/home/vagn $
Not a problem on unix systems.
I upgraded my Debian system to 2.1, .xinitrc file, and everything worked.
installed the GNOME stuff,
added "gnome-session" to the end of
my
The upgrade itself was all of
"apt-get update ; apt-get upgrade".
Pretty cool stuff.
looks a lot like a toilet seat.
I think the old logo is better.