No, my biggest fear is the SCO will somehow manage to slip away, at the last moment, from the much spectacular death they are running full-speed towards, and they will somehow manage to survive and hide in a small hole somewhere.
I wouldn't worry about that too much simply because they do not have a business model. Even if they came out tomorrow and said, "never mind" they still have no method of earning money. If they don't have the lawsuits, they don't have the reason to extort money from Sun, MS, HP et. al. I mean, its not like they actually DO anything besides sue, right?
Actually, this may be why SCO will not tell us what code is infringed. They have an example of how easy it is to fix the problem (SGI) and this is not conducive to their case. They are contributing to the infringement of their property by refusing to give us the information needed to fix it, if there is any. This allows them to "rack up the damages" to their ancient code.
I mean, think about it: The only way anyone WOULD be using SCO code is if it was accidently put into the Linux kernel. Most of it is simply too old to be useful, and wouldn't compile in the Linux kernel anyway.
They keep getting more and more extreme with their claims. Either they are doing this in order to settle for a lesser amount (that would still be too much) or there exists the possibility that they REALLY think they have a claim. This is kinda scary. They MAY think they are telling the truth. This would lend credibility to Linus' suspicions that they are smoking crack.
if you go all the way back, the original discussion was based on "crowd think", not lemmings. I used lemmings only as an example, one of a few examples. The lemmings themselves are not really relevent.
They sell the real thing licensed from the original owners of the games. Has its own emulator. The games even "boot up", with the old rom tests. If they are not the original roms, you couldn't tell the difference. runs on win9x+. I think it was called "Revenge of Arcade". Had several oldies. Atari also has published several of their old games using an emulator and the same roms, not copies.
It's already moral, what with them being 20 years old and generating no revenue for the original coders, artists and musicians, which is all I care about. Whether the company which bought up the company which bought up the company which did the work makes any money from their sale is not interesting to me.
Actually, you can BUY these as games still now, true to the original. Yes, Microsoft sells "Arcade Classics" with several. I got mine free with a new computer. But yea, someone is still paying for it.
Faxing would be a bad idea. It's illegal and can result in a hefty civil penalty.
IANAL, but my understanding is that it is illegal to do COMMERCIAL faxes in an unsolicited way. This is not bulk nor commercial, you are not trying to sell something. But that probably varies from state to state. It was more of a thought than suggestion, but checking into the legality is probably a good idea if someone took it serious.
The SCO Group 355 South 520 West Suite 100 Lindon, Utah 84042 USA 801-765-4999 phone 801-765-1313 fax
Actually, if i wanted to do some harm, I would suggest that the masses do the same thing that was recently done to a notorious spammer: search for "free catalog" on the internet and fill in the information with Darl's name and SCO's information. If a few thousand people did a few hundred catalog requests each, this would mean about a ton of mail a day.
Now, I am sure they get a ton of mail as it is, normal mail, bills, hate mail, etc. but this still sucks to have to deal with. DDOM (distributed denial of mail)
If you have the bucks, and use a good LD service like the 10-10-987 at 3 cents a minute, you could just fax them thousands of pages that have only one word on the front. I bet they use a paper fax machine. At least it would tie it up for legitimate use if enough people would war dial it. Would also work with the regular number, with people keeping their phone tied up by asking stupid questions.
I guess we could all order pizzas from the local dominoes to be delivered there, but I think they would catch on to 10,000 pizza's being ordered and thats not fair to them....
Yea, nasty kiddie stuff, but fun as hell to at least think about.
> > individuals are smart, people as a whole are stupid > I can accept that.
Why, because it makes no sense? I've heard people say things like that before, yet it seems to defy logic.
One lemming is perfectly normal. A whole group of them is not. If only one is stupid and jumps off a cliff, then the rest follow. Another example is crowd, and how they will panic as a group, like a concert, and end up killing others accidently.
How often have you been in an audience of some sort, not paying attention, but everyone started clapping, so you did too? A minor, but common, example.
My personal conclusion would be that an individual thinks as an individual, as long as he is alone, but when he is in a group, he will defer his own opinions and follow the majority of those around him, assuming the majority knows best. I would bet money that this is an instictual reaction for man and animal, akin to "follow the herd and stay together to stay safe".
If Microsoft is an 800 pound gorilla, then Red Hat is a fruit fly. MSFT has a market cap of 301 billion dollars. RHAT has a market cap of 1.75 million dollars. MSFT is 172,000 times larger than RHAT in this sense. Or maybe we should compare annual sales revenues (MSFT = 354 * RHAT). Or number of employees (MSFT = 99 * RHAT). Even on this last most favorable measure, RHAT is a ring-tailed lemur compared to the Microsoft gorilla. BTW, most gorillas weigh under 400 pounds.:)
(none of this should be construed as criticism of or dislike for RHAT, I'm a huge fan and shareholder-- I cannot say the same about MSFT)
You can't compare Linux to Microsoft by the market capitalization of RedHat only. RedHat is in the best position to compete with MS, but RedHat is a tiny portion of the Linux community.
You also can't compare according to market capitalization because RedHat doesn't sell a product, per se. They give it away and sell the service. This is always going to be less profitable to the corporation, per user, partially because it spreads the wealth. You may pay for RedHat RHN, yet pay someone else to develop software for you. Or buy prepackaged software for Linux. (yes, some exists)
Linux is more than RedHat. RedHat is just one face, and the one offering the best support services here in the states. IBM is probably the largest contributor of code and money to linux, for example, and do not want to be in the OS maintenance business. SCO was a significant contributor to Linux, before becoming addicted to crack. Dell has sold servers with Linux for a couple years, and are about to start offering desktops with Linux on them, although it will probably be the same price or only slightly cheaper. (this is according to Dell reps I know, not disclosed yet)
But RedHat is who puts it together into a package that the masses will buy, so yes, they are a serious player, much larger than their market value show. They will never be as profitable as MS. This is likely a good thing. If you didn't have RedHat, Mandrake, SuSe, etc. putting Linux into easy to install cds, we would not be having this conversation, since 95% of all people will not install an OS that isn't simple to install. Even Windows *really* didn't take hold in the home market until Windows 95 came out, and the Internet took off.
The most important fact is this: RedHat has the willing support of their customers. I don't have to pay for updates, but I do willingly, and gladly (around $240 a year). I know many who feel the same way about RedHat. Microsoft doesn't enjoy this kind of customer loyalty. Their customers buy MS primarily out of a lack of choice or because they are locked into the product. How many would pay for Windows if they didn't have to?
But, we aren't out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side-effect.
Well, I am not out to destroy them, mainly because I feel any effort would be redundant. History is full of companies that once dominated, and now are unknown. Usually because someone else came up with a "better mouse trap".
Linux advocates don't need to worry about Microsoft. They will continue to shoot themselves in the foot and piss off customers. If anyone *REALLY* wants to see Microsoft destroyed, all they really need to do is work to get Linux up to speed. The market will take care of the rest.
Yeah, I just bought my first basic entitlement yesterday, and already I'm enjoying it. Fast, reliable updates, plus the warm feeling of supporting the makers of my favorite distro.
There is something to be said about that. I know alot of Linux purists will preach about Slackware or Debian, but IMHO the way you knock the 800 pound gorilla out of the tree (MS) is with at least a 400 pound gorilla, which is either RedHat, SuSe or Mandrake. My money is on RedHat.
RedHat DOES make Linux more accessible to the masses. It isn't dumbed down as much as Lindows, and yes, its a bit bloated, but I have run mainly RH for over 4 years now and believe it is a good compromise between ease of use and power. I used to use Mandrake on the desktop when it was better there (3 years ago) but its RedHat's service that persueded me to move to their products.
It IS important that Linux is brought to the masses if you want a broader range of software and support options. It has passed MAC recently in number of desktop users, and once it reaches 20% of the desktops we will see most software makers porting their products over to the platform. I personally don't care if Linux passes up Windows in % as long as it can reach large enough numbers that I don't HAVE to dual boot or have seperate Windows boxes in order to run the programs I want. This will also bring about some polishing of the desktop on Linux, which is good but not great, at this point. I am not concerned with the MS monopoly, and have faith that once people have a more viable choice, the monopoly will take care of itself. We are not quite there yet, but its close enough that we can see that day coming.
As it is, I stay moderately frustrated at having to choose between the applications I love on an OS I hate, or the OS I love with only some of the applications I need.
RedHat RHN service: $60 a year gets you two "entitlements" and they are $60 each afterward. You can change your entitlements to any computer as often as you want. I use one entitlement for just updating fresh installs, for instance. You can easily run a cron job by placing a script in/etc/cron.daily that simply says:
up2date -p up2date -u
The -p updates their servers with all the supported packages you have installed(not necessary if you don't install anything or haven't since the last -p) and -u will update automatically. It is super easy and super cheap. There is one other big advantage.
You can NOT run a cron job and do updates from any computer using just a web browser. You log onto rhn.redhat.com then look at your computers. You can install new software, uninstall software, update systems, schedule reboots and more. I have remotely installed more than a few dozen kernel upgrades AND rebooted, with never one failure. I don't recommend remote booting ANY production box unless you like to live dangerously, however. I do tend to live dangerously.
It is highly cool, I have never seen it fail in almost 2 years, and very easy to do. You can opt for email notification if any box *needs* an update for security reasons, or not.
You can also ssh or telnet in and just run "up2date -u" and watch all the pretty # marks go by and update your computer. The download speeds are very good. In addition, you get premium access to download ISOs.
There are ways to keep a linux box updated for free, but the features that come with rhn make it a bargain for many of us. If you are not an uber-geek, or you are but have better things to do, it is a killer service. If you are a total noob, you can still understand and gain alot from it. If you are an OS snob, you will trash it because it is not as L33+ as rolling your own.
If you have to ask, then its a great service for you since it is easy to learn and unreal stable.
amen. all my boxes were patched before this hit the front page. Went in and even did a MANUAL up2date, since I didn't want to wait an hour, considering it was a pretty important update. Gotta love up2date...
some of their updates demand that you restart the computer after you install them, that is what I am referring to. as i said, and perhaps not well, the updates want you to reboot in spite of the fact that you can just restart the service updated. This is one reason i rather prefer linux, the control factor.
My god, are you that clueless? Not every machine is on the internet, first of all. I had one box that acted as a router that was up a full year, no kernel patches, because it didn't need it. (I rolled my own kernel, and knew exactly what was in there) It was fully firewalled out so no --syn packets were allowed in, only stuff that initiated within the network. No ssh, no telnet, no ftp, no nothing. It was plenty secure, never compromised.
Any smart admin knows you don't patch every time a new patch is issued, unless you just enjoy spending all your time debugging shit. You patch when the bug actually affects YOUR system/setup. If a kernel patch comes out that had fixes for local exploits, I would not bother, since no one had a local account on that box.
You talk about clueless dorks who should STFU.... but you obviously don't understand the differences in patching windows and linux. You can even patch the kernel WITHOUT rebooting if you are just patching a module. Most windows patches force you to reboot even if you really don't need to, (ie: stop and restart services). With linux you can shut down all services and go into maintenance mode, then back into init 3, flushing everything out and restarting, without rebooting. You can't do that with Windows.
Also, he never said the boxes were ON the internet. Not every computer is. If the box is a SAMBA box that is isolated on the network with no internet access (I have one of those) then there is no reason to patch it if it is functioning fine.
At least we both agree on one thing, that you don't know what the hell you are talking about.
I saw a news report where they were talking about flash mobs as an 'art'. (note the quotes;) They had 200 people go into some mall and kneel down and start bowing and praying to this giant statue as if it were a god. Then, after 5 minutes, they all just got up and left. Some were chanting and raving like a bunch of snake handling Penticostals. They were mainly younger people, 18-25, T-shirts, lots of beards and long hair.
Its was pretty weird, and interestingly enough, entertaining.
OTOH, given that Linux is free-as-in-beer-ly distributed and widely available, it's hard to argue that copying it and using it in breach of copyright is damaging someone's profit.
I would have to disagree with this based on the fact that Linux is actually "Free as in speech" and not necessarily "Free as in beer". Yes, you can download it at no charge, but while many companies sell Linux for a fee, (virtually changing "free as in beer") they can NOT change "free as in speech". This is more than a technicality.
The damage that is done when someone violates the GNU GPL is more than just money. It damages the system that IS OSS. If anyone can just violate the GPL without penalty, then the people who write OSS lose a significant reason for writing it: recognition. Recognition leads to jobs (and money) plus opportunity within the community. It also affect ME and YOU because it will eventually reduce the quality and quantity of "free as in speech" software, due to a loss of the pool of willing programmers to contribute. I pay RedHat for support. If linux didn't (or doesn't) do the job, then I would be paying MS.
It IS different, but its still a loss. The fact that the GPL changed all the rules, including what is lost when it is violated, does not diminish the fact that damage is done, it is just different damage. Its a new economy, after all.
What if someone invented a 'Gravity reflector' that replys gravity? then you could us the gravity as the force your reacting to in order to move like an aircraft.
Except the TIE fighter would only be good if you were close enough to a large amount of matter. It would be worthless in a Cruiser away from large masses. Would again limit it to a base, and one with enough mass.
The GNU philosophy starts by questioning the basic idea that infinitely reproducable things should be priced like manufactured goods
I understand the GNU philosophy. The problem is how many followers of the GNU philosophy consider any other philosophy to be the "enemy". I have no problem with Adobe not allowing others to make copies of their software. I can choose to not use it.
The GNU philosophy has never argued that commercial software and free software are equivelent in the free speech sense. Rather they view them as free speech vs. dictorial control on speech.
Sorry, but I don't buy it. Once again, because YOU don't like the speech (proprietary software) you compare it to dictorial control. I can edit any photograph I choose to with Photoshop. They do not control how I use the product, including how they allow 3rd party plugins. They only dictate that I pay for it if I use it. Again, it is this militant attitude that I feel is hurting OSS.
While it is nice to have the source code and be able to edit it, reality is that most people do not care to edit the source. We just want good programs at a reasonable price, with no restrictions on how we USE it. The fact that I can't copy it and give it to someone else is not my biggest concern. Not everyone who loves Linux believes that the idea of IP is evil. As a matter of fact, I can tell you definitively that most people don't know what IP means, and don't give a rats ass. They just want to use software with no hassles. I know of no one, personally, in the real world that uses Linux because of IP issues.
I have used Linux for years. I still support Adobe's (and your) right to create any software, with any license, and charge any price. Its called a Free Market, and I can choose to not buy. And a free market trumps any philosophy in GNU, in my eyes.
how the hell do you not lose your job, but a cgi programmer who has been doing it for years and went to school to learn the skills of software engineering loses his/her job?
Because programming is a tiny part of my job. We don't need a full time, or part time, programmer. I don't lose my job because I can adjust. Technically, I run the marketing dept for a manufacturer. But I do photography, website development, IT and several other tasks.
How I keep my job (easily) is because I am not great at any one task. I am good at many tasks. Once a single task becomes irrelevent, it doesn't affect my employment. I am the proverbial "jack of all trades, master of none". We do subcontract, but seldom. This means the company I work for can accomplish some of the same tasks that only a company many times larger (with huge staffs) could do. Flexibility.
Being a jack of all trades has downsides as well, such as being taken for granted in so many ways. I spend at least 10 hours a week studying. Its not like i just started typing and programming came out, I DID have to learn it, and the other tasks I do. So I am self taught at many things. Some I can just get by with (if we seldom use the ability) and some I excell at (if we use it alot). Another downside is that it is hard to put this in perspective in a resume.
Slashdot Mirror
No, my biggest fear is the SCO will somehow manage to slip away, at the last moment, from the much spectacular death they are running full-speed towards, and they will somehow manage to survive and hide in a small hole somewhere.
I wouldn't worry about that too much simply because they do not have a business model. Even if they came out tomorrow and said, "never mind" they still have no method of earning money. If they don't have the lawsuits, they don't have the reason to extort money from Sun, MS, HP et. al. I mean, its not like they actually DO anything besides sue, right?
Actually, this may be why SCO will not tell us what code is infringed. They have an example of how easy it is to fix the problem (SGI) and this is not conducive to their case. They are contributing to the infringement of their property by refusing to give us the information needed to fix it, if there is any. This allows them to "rack up the damages" to their ancient code.
I mean, think about it: The only way anyone WOULD be using SCO code is if it was accidently put into the Linux kernel. Most of it is simply too old to be useful, and wouldn't compile in the Linux kernel anyway.
They keep getting more and more extreme with their claims. Either they are doing this in order to settle for a lesser amount (that would still be too much) or there exists the possibility that they REALLY think they have a claim. This is kinda scary. They MAY think they are telling the truth. This would lend credibility to Linus' suspicions that they are smoking crack.
The good news is that slashdot will soon we patenting the right to slam microsoft.
Won't happen, too much prior art....
if you go all the way back, the original discussion was based on "crowd think", not lemmings. I used lemmings only as an example, one of a few examples. The lemmings themselves are not really relevent.
They sell the real thing licensed from the original owners of the games. Has its own emulator. The games even "boot up", with the old rom tests. If they are not the original roms, you couldn't tell the difference. runs on win9x+. I think it was called "Revenge of Arcade". Had several oldies. Atari also has published several of their old games using an emulator and the same roms, not copies.
It's already moral, what with them being 20 years old and generating no revenue for the original coders, artists and musicians, which is all I care about. Whether the company which bought up the company which bought up the company which did the work makes any money from their sale is not interesting to me.
Actually, you can BUY these as games still now, true to the original. Yes, Microsoft sells "Arcade Classics" with several. I got mine free with a new computer. But yea, someone is still paying for it.
Faxing would be a bad idea.
It's illegal and can result in a hefty
civil penalty.
IANAL, but my understanding is that it is illegal to do COMMERCIAL faxes in an unsolicited way. This is not bulk nor commercial, you are not trying to sell something. But that probably varies from state to state. It was more of a thought than suggestion, but checking into the legality is probably a good idea if someone took it serious.
The SCO Group
355 South 520 West
Suite 100
Lindon, Utah 84042 USA
801-765-4999 phone
801-765-1313 fax
Actually, if i wanted to do some harm, I would suggest that the masses do the same thing that was recently done to a notorious spammer: search for "free catalog" on the internet and fill in the information with Darl's name and SCO's information. If a few thousand people did a few hundred catalog requests each, this would mean about a ton of mail a day.
Now, I am sure they get a ton of mail as it is, normal mail, bills, hate mail, etc. but this still sucks to have to deal with. DDOM (distributed denial of mail)
If you have the bucks, and use a good LD service like the 10-10-987 at 3 cents a minute, you could just fax them thousands of pages that have only one word on the front. I bet they use a paper fax machine. At least it would tie it up for legitimate use if enough people would war dial it. Would also work with the regular number, with people keeping their phone tied up by asking stupid questions.
I guess we could all order pizzas from the local dominoes to be delivered there, but I think they would catch on to 10,000 pizza's being ordered and thats not fair to them....
Yea, nasty kiddie stuff, but fun as hell to at least think about.
> > individuals are smart, people as a whole are stupid
> I can accept that.
Why, because it makes no sense? I've heard people say things like that before, yet it seems to defy logic.
One lemming is perfectly normal. A whole group of them is not. If only one is stupid and jumps off a cliff, then the rest follow. Another example is crowd, and how they will panic as a group, like a concert, and end up killing others accidently.
How often have you been in an audience of some sort, not paying attention, but everyone started clapping, so you did too? A minor, but common, example.
My personal conclusion would be that an individual thinks as an individual, as long as he is alone, but when he is in a group, he will defer his own opinions and follow the majority of those around him, assuming the majority knows best. I would bet money that this is an instictual reaction for man and animal, akin to "follow the herd and stay together to stay safe".
If Microsoft is an 800 pound gorilla, then Red Hat is a fruit fly. MSFT has a market cap of 301 billion dollars. RHAT has a market cap of 1.75 million dollars. MSFT is 172,000 times larger than RHAT in this sense. Or maybe we should compare annual sales revenues (MSFT = 354 * RHAT). Or number of employees (MSFT = 99 * RHAT). Even on this last most favorable measure, RHAT is a ring-tailed lemur compared to the Microsoft gorilla. BTW, most gorillas weigh under 400 pounds. :)
(none of this should be construed as criticism of or dislike for RHAT, I'm a huge fan and shareholder-- I cannot say the same about MSFT)
You can't compare Linux to Microsoft by the market capitalization of RedHat only. RedHat is in the best position to compete with MS, but RedHat is a tiny portion of the Linux community.
You also can't compare according to market capitalization because RedHat doesn't sell a product, per se. They give it away and sell the service. This is always going to be less profitable to the corporation, per user, partially because it spreads the wealth. You may pay for RedHat RHN, yet pay someone else to develop software for you. Or buy prepackaged software for Linux. (yes, some exists)
Linux is more than RedHat. RedHat is just one face, and the one offering the best support services here in the states. IBM is probably the largest contributor of code and money to linux, for example, and do not want to be in the OS maintenance business. SCO was a significant contributor to Linux, before becoming addicted to crack. Dell has sold servers with Linux for a couple years, and are about to start offering desktops with Linux on them, although it will probably be the same price or only slightly cheaper. (this is according to Dell reps I know, not disclosed yet)
But RedHat is who puts it together into a package that the masses will buy, so yes, they are a serious player, much larger than their market value show. They will never be as profitable as MS. This is likely a good thing. If you didn't have RedHat, Mandrake, SuSe, etc. putting Linux into easy to install cds, we would not be having this conversation, since 95% of all people will not install an OS that isn't simple to install. Even Windows *really* didn't take hold in the home market until Windows 95 came out, and the Internet took off.
The most important fact is this: RedHat has the willing support of their customers. I don't have to pay for updates, but I do willingly, and gladly (around $240 a year). I know many who feel the same way about RedHat. Microsoft doesn't enjoy this kind of customer loyalty. Their customers buy MS primarily out of a lack of choice or because they are locked into the product. How many would pay for Windows if they didn't have to?
But, we aren't out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side-effect.
Well, I am not out to destroy them, mainly because I feel any effort would be redundant. History is full of companies that once dominated, and now are unknown. Usually because someone else came up with a "better mouse trap".
Linux advocates don't need to worry about Microsoft. They will continue to shoot themselves in the foot and piss off customers. If anyone *REALLY* wants to see Microsoft destroyed, all they really need to do is work to get Linux up to speed. The market will take care of the rest.
Yeah, I just bought my first basic entitlement yesterday, and already I'm enjoying it. Fast, reliable updates, plus the warm feeling of supporting the makers of my favorite distro.
There is something to be said about that. I know alot of Linux purists will preach about Slackware or Debian, but IMHO the way you knock the 800 pound gorilla out of the tree (MS) is with at least a 400 pound gorilla, which is either RedHat, SuSe or Mandrake. My money is on RedHat.
RedHat DOES make Linux more accessible to the masses. It isn't dumbed down as much as Lindows, and yes, its a bit bloated, but I have run mainly RH for over 4 years now and believe it is a good compromise between ease of use and power. I used to use Mandrake on the desktop when it was better there (3 years ago) but its RedHat's service that persueded me to move to their products.
It IS important that Linux is brought to the masses if you want a broader range of software and support options. It has passed MAC recently in number of desktop users, and once it reaches 20% of the desktops we will see most software makers porting their products over to the platform. I personally don't care if Linux passes up Windows in % as long as it can reach large enough numbers that I don't HAVE to dual boot or have seperate Windows boxes in order to run the programs I want. This will also bring about some polishing of the desktop on Linux, which is good but not great, at this point. I am not concerned with the MS monopoly, and have faith that once people have a more viable choice, the monopoly will take care of itself. We are not quite there yet, but its close enough that we can see that day coming.
As it is, I stay moderately frustrated at having to choose between the applications I love on an OS I hate, or the OS I love with only some of the applications I need.
Here is the dirt:
/etc/cron.daily that simply says:
RedHat RHN service:
$60 a year gets you two "entitlements" and they are $60 each afterward. You can change your entitlements to any computer as often as you want. I use one entitlement for just updating fresh installs, for instance. You can easily run a cron job by placing a script in
up2date -p
up2date -u
The -p updates their servers with all the supported packages you have installed(not necessary if you don't install anything or haven't since the last -p) and -u will update automatically. It is super easy and super cheap. There is one other big advantage.
You can NOT run a cron job and do updates from any computer using just a web browser. You log onto rhn.redhat.com then look at your computers. You can install new software, uninstall software, update systems, schedule reboots and more. I have remotely installed more than a few dozen kernel upgrades AND rebooted, with never one failure. I don't recommend remote booting ANY production box unless you like to live dangerously, however. I do tend to live dangerously.
It is highly cool, I have never seen it fail in almost 2 years, and very easy to do. You can opt for email notification if any box *needs* an update for security reasons, or not.
You can also ssh or telnet in and just run "up2date -u" and watch all the pretty # marks go by and update your computer. The download speeds are very good. In addition, you get premium access to download ISOs.
There are ways to keep a linux box updated for free, but the features that come with rhn make it a bargain for many of us. If you are not an uber-geek, or you are but have better things to do, it is a killer service. If you are a total noob, you can still understand and gain alot from it. If you are an OS snob, you will trash it because it is not as L33+ as rolling your own.
If you have to ask, then its a great service for you since it is easy to learn and unreal stable.
Not only was this funny, but it led to a Verisign hijacking as well, adding even more to the humor. Nicely done.
thanks up2date :-)
amen. all my boxes were patched before this hit the front page. Went in and even did a MANUAL up2date, since I didn't want to wait an hour, considering it was a pretty important update. Gotta love up2date...
some of their updates demand that you restart the computer after you install them, that is what I am referring to. as i said, and perhaps not well, the updates want you to reboot in spite of the fact that you can just restart the service updated. This is one reason i rather prefer linux, the control factor.
My god, are you that clueless? Not every machine is on the internet, first of all. I had one box that acted as a router that was up a full year, no kernel patches, because it didn't need it. (I rolled my own kernel, and knew exactly what was in there) It was fully firewalled out so no --syn packets were allowed in, only stuff that initiated within the network. No ssh, no telnet, no ftp, no nothing. It was plenty secure, never compromised.
Any smart admin knows you don't patch every time a new patch is issued, unless you just enjoy spending all your time debugging shit. You patch when the bug actually affects YOUR system/setup. If a kernel patch comes out that had fixes for local exploits, I would not bother, since no one had a local account on that box.
You talk about clueless dorks who should STFU.... but you obviously don't understand the differences in patching windows and linux. You can even patch the kernel WITHOUT rebooting if you are just patching a module. Most windows patches force you to reboot even if you really don't need to, (ie: stop and restart services). With linux you can shut down all services and go into maintenance mode, then back into init 3, flushing everything out and restarting, without rebooting. You can't do that with Windows.
Also, he never said the boxes were ON the internet. Not every computer is. If the box is a SAMBA box that is isolated on the network with no internet access (I have one of those) then there is no reason to patch it if it is functioning fine.
At least we both agree on one thing, that you don't know what the hell you are talking about.
Thanks for the link
;) They had 200 people go into some mall and kneel down and start bowing and praying to this giant statue as if it were a god. Then, after 5 minutes, they all just got up and left. Some were chanting and raving like a bunch of snake handling Penticostals. They were mainly younger people, 18-25, T-shirts, lots of beards and long hair.
I saw a news report where they were talking about flash mobs as an 'art'. (note the quotes
Its was pretty weird, and interestingly enough, entertaining.
OTOH, given that Linux is free-as-in-beer-ly distributed and widely available, it's hard to argue that copying it and using it in breach of copyright is damaging someone's profit.
I would have to disagree with this based on the fact that Linux is actually "Free as in speech" and not necessarily "Free as in beer". Yes, you can download it at no charge, but while many companies sell Linux for a fee, (virtually changing "free as in beer") they can NOT change "free as in speech". This is more than a technicality.
The damage that is done when someone violates the GNU GPL is more than just money. It damages the system that IS OSS. If anyone can just violate the GPL without penalty, then the people who write OSS lose a significant reason for writing it: recognition. Recognition leads to jobs (and money) plus opportunity within the community. It also affect ME and YOU because it will eventually reduce the quality and quantity of "free as in speech" software, due to a loss of the pool of willing programmers to contribute. I pay RedHat for support. If linux didn't (or doesn't) do the job, then I would be paying MS.
It IS different, but its still a loss. The fact that the GPL changed all the rules, including what is lost when it is violated, does not diminish the fact that damage is done, it is just different damage. Its a new economy, after all.
What if someone invented a 'Gravity reflector' that replys gravity? then you could us the gravity as the force your reacting to in order to move like an aircraft.
Except the TIE fighter would only be good if you were close enough to a large amount of matter. It would be worthless in a Cruiser away from large masses. Would again limit it to a base, and one with enough mass.
My toddler has a hyperdrive. It's fueled by sugar.
That was actually funnier than all the garbage above.
wonder how long it would haven taken if they had used a swallow...
What do you mean? An African or European swallow?
(sorry, but it had to be asked.)
I get the feeling there may be a problem with packet loss (pigeons getting squished every now and then... erryugh)!
Thats why you have error correction, assuming TCP. You just resend that packet.
The GNU philosophy starts by questioning the basic idea that infinitely reproducable things should be priced like manufactured goods
I understand the GNU philosophy. The problem is how many followers of the GNU philosophy consider any other philosophy to be the "enemy". I have no problem with Adobe not allowing others to make copies of their software. I can choose to not use it.
The GNU philosophy has never argued that commercial software and free software are equivelent in the free speech sense. Rather they view them as free speech vs. dictorial control on speech.
Sorry, but I don't buy it. Once again, because YOU don't like the speech (proprietary software) you compare it to dictorial control. I can edit any photograph I choose to with Photoshop. They do not control how I use the product, including how they allow 3rd party plugins. They only dictate that I pay for it if I use it. Again, it is this militant attitude that I feel is hurting OSS.
While it is nice to have the source code and be able to edit it, reality is that most people do not care to edit the source. We just want good programs at a reasonable price, with no restrictions on how we USE it. The fact that I can't copy it and give it to someone else is not my biggest concern. Not everyone who loves Linux believes that the idea of IP is evil. As a matter of fact, I can tell you definitively that most people don't know what IP means, and don't give a rats ass. They just want to use software with no hassles. I know of no one, personally, in the real world that uses Linux because of IP issues.
I have used Linux for years. I still support Adobe's (and your) right to create any software, with any license, and charge any price. Its called a Free Market, and I can choose to not buy. And a free market trumps any philosophy in GNU, in my eyes.
how the hell do you not lose your job, but a cgi programmer who has been doing it for years and went to school to learn the skills of software engineering loses his/her job?
Because programming is a tiny part of my job. We don't need a full time, or part time, programmer. I don't lose my job because I can adjust. Technically, I run the marketing dept for a manufacturer. But I do photography, website development, IT and several other tasks.
How I keep my job (easily) is because I am not great at any one task. I am good at many tasks. Once a single task becomes irrelevent, it doesn't affect my employment. I am the proverbial "jack of all trades, master of none". We do subcontract, but seldom. This means the company I work for can accomplish some of the same tasks that only a company many times larger (with huge staffs) could do. Flexibility.
Being a jack of all trades has downsides as well, such as being taken for granted in so many ways. I spend at least 10 hours a week studying. Its not like i just started typing and programming came out, I DID have to learn it, and the other tasks I do. So I am self taught at many things. Some I can just get by with (if we seldom use the ability) and some I excell at (if we use it alot). Another downside is that it is hard to put this in perspective in a resume.