Re:rootness and capabilities
on
New Linux Worm
·
· Score: 2
Maybe IIS 4 worked that way, but that's not how things work on my Windows 2000 box.
Look, go into the Services, right-click on one, select the "Log On" tab, then tell me what you see there.... yup, that's right. You can select what security context the process runs under, which carries all the associated rights and/or restrictions. -------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
Re:rootness and capabilities
on
New Linux Worm
·
· Score: 3
No, this is not the case. There is an account called "Local System", but services exposed to the outside usually don't run under that context -- they run under another context. There is an attribute for each user that says "Allow to log on as a service."
IIS creates a user, usually called IUSR_machinename, which is the process under which IIS runs. Therefore, if I restrict that user from accessing anything but the INETPUB directory, including utils like CMD.EXE, system files, etc...., then even if someone can get in under that process, they won't be able to do much.
Then again, that's the flexibility you get when you have true file ACLs and can run services under separate security contexts. -------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
It is obvious that the current round of banner advertisements isn't going to hold up against bandwidth and hardware costs. Internet advertising needs time to remake itself. I imagine that/. had a better click-through rate than most sites, since the advertisements are generally geared toward the audience, something most people forgot to worry about.
All that said though, I would still like to be able to browse without ANY advertisements at all. I think $30 is too high myself, but if Slashdot offered a membership for $10/yr, I'd gladly sign up and I think many others would as well, especially since that would help prop up the ol' budget against this recent dot-com madness. -------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
I'm glad you aren't in charge of security for any major websites, since you obviously have no clue.
Assuming you wiped the machine and reinstalled, you have to spend hours restoring from tape (assuming you kept good backups), then replacing any material missing since that backup, and finally reset any permissions or settings that may have been lost. This all assumes that you KNOW when the hacks were initially conducted.... for all you know, your last 6 months of backups might also contain virii or backdoors!
If you don't do a reinstall, then you've got to carefully examine every folder. Look at the configurations for all deamons and running processes. Check over log files. Leave no stone unturned. Leave no file unchecked. If you don't examine everything, you risk missing a trojan or backdoor installed somewhere. You need to change passwords on that machine and other machines that might have been accessed from it (like database servers, etc.)
All these things, and many more. To do any less would be like saying "PLEASE, COME VIOLATE ME AGAIN!"
A more correct analogy would be if a bank were broken into without anyone detecting it until a week later..... would you still entrust your safety deposit box and money to them if they decided not to make any changes to their security protocols or go over all the video tapes frame by frame looking for any problems, as well as hiring new guards and possibly bringing in consultants to review their procedures? Absolutely not.
Why would you be so careless with your servers then? I'll repeat my earlier lament: THANK GOD you aren't in charge of any important servers. -------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
Whatever Microsoft has managed to lodge up timothy's arse, he should have it removed:)
Anyhow, here are the specifics of the situation:
1) Microsoft released some screenshots
2) Some gamers noticed that they looked faked, and an uproar was started
3) Microsoft re-checked the images, and had this to say:
"Some of the images for Amped released during Gamestock were enhanced to illustrate some features that will be in the final product. While this is a common practice for games so early in development, we apologize for the confusion. No one intended to be deceptive. Everyone was so busy prepping for Gamestock, that we just missed the fact that these were labeled "concept art". Frankly, we're impressed with the skillz of those digital sleuths! Nice work!"
4) The game dev team issued new screenshots, which they insist are in-game, and haven't been doctored in any way, and hte old shots were removed.
You can read threads about this entire debacle over at Ars:
http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?q= Y& a=tpc&s=50009562&f=39309975&m=3490923121
and at Dailyradar:
http://forums.dailyradar.com/2/OpenTopic?q=Y&a=t pc &s=610091063&f=742091063&m=1620961441
The long and the short of it is no, there isn't some sort of conspiracy, and Microsoft isn't pulling a sham on anyone. If you really think that all of the media and so forth up to this point is fake, then you have two options:
a) go see the thing demoed somewhere when it comes out
b) don't buy it.
Simple, ne?
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
Sorry; my comment was more in regard to the article at The Register, which details that they are phasing out ALL non-German software from their most secure areas. For normal governmental work and other divisions, they will probably continue using Windows, since that is the platform on which you'll find most business apps.
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
If anyone bothers to read the article, it states that Germany isn't going to use ANY American or foreign software in its most highly secured areas. Why the hell did timothy feel the need to specifically cite only Microsoft software?
In case you were thinking that this is somehow a "win" (whatever that is) for Linux, think again: They are going to home-grow their secure solutions using a German software company.
This is the same thing our United States military does. They contract with American-owned companies for custom software solutions (like the recent Windows Datacenter custom system for running Battleships and aircraft carriers, or the NSA's development work on a secure Linux system.)
Can't Slashdot just stop focusing on Microsoft for even one minute? Please?
Oh well.... life goes on:)
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
I think we all need to give AOL praise for this recent action. Granted, we like to cry and moan when corporations trample our rights and give us the shaft, but we also need to make it known when we approve of what they do, in the hopes that they will keep doing those things that make us happy:)
Sure, there may be some self-serving interest at the heart of this matter, but such is the way of capitalism. If their greed and annoyance at having to constantly deal with these cases results in their requesting that the courts block some of these ridiculous suits, I'm all for it. -
The IHA Forums
Well first of all, the X-box uses a standard DVD drive, which means it should be able to read your burned CDs, and DVDs (when DVD burners become cheaper and more widely available.)
As for the software, everything I've ready seems to indicate that there won't be any specific mechanisms to prevent users from playing their own discs in the machine.
The big thing that Microsoft has going for them is that the box runs DX8 and a windows kernel. This means that porting PC games is a no-brainer, and also means that game companies can simultaneously develop for the X-box and Windows with little impact to productivity. That is the real way Microsoft plans on winning; the same way they won the OS and browser wars.
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
Why is CmdrTaco assuming that the Maxtor thing is bad news? Why does he automatically assume that open-source was a better choice for the task at hand?
Zealots who claim that only open-source software is worthwhile are just as bad as the ones who claim only closed-source software has a future. Real life is always a mixture of viewpoints. Both open-source and closed-source development efforts have a future in the technology world. Rather than trying to burn bridges, let's build them up and encourage all software makers to follow open standards.
On the bright side, I'm glad to see Microsoft starting to give up on the idea of Client Access Licenses. Those CALs really MUST go, and quickly. They would be much more competitive against open source if they didn't charge for CALs. I think as Linux gains popularity, they will be forced to notice this and change accordingly, thus striking a balance. -------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
But the big difference is that with AT&T, you really DIDN'T have any other choices!
With the Open Source movement, there are plenty of non-MS alternatives. No one is twisting your arm here. Even before Linux became the hot buzzword of the day, there were other alternative platforms and systems, some of which are still around today.
Microsoft may have used dirty business practices in promoting Internet Explorer, but I don't know anyone who would argue, in their right mind, that Netscape 4.x is better than IE 5.x; even NS6 doesn't have the polish and features that IE has.
I only hope that the rumors of IE being ported to Linux systems is true.... that would ease my pain and suffering when dealing with Linux machines quite a bit. -
The IHA Forums
Does anyone get angry that KDE distributes Konquerer free of charge? Nope.
Does anybody get mad that just about EVER Linux distro comes with Netscape preinstalled? Nope.
These are the exact SAME things. Browsing has become central to computing. I don't see anyone crying about Microsoft including a TCP/IP stack in Windows.... yet they put several companies out of business that made quite a bit of money selling IP stacks for Windows. The fact is that eventually voice control will become very important, and Microsoft will put several speech software vendors out of business when they make that a standard part of Windows (actually, Whistler will have a native, standard voice API and engine.)
I think many people just hate Microsoft so much, that they want this case to go forward, facts be damned.
If you don't like Microsoft, or their products, that's fine. But at least be honest and truthful. Don't try to manufacture reasons to get them.... let the market topple them on its own. -
The IHA Forums
the NT kernel provides an API, called the Executive. It is usually hidden from most programs, for portability reasons, as well as logistical reasons. The native set has less than 300 APIs... most of the legwork is done in the individual subsystems. Win32 is *NOT* a simple wrapper to the Native API set....
There are several "subsystems", each of which talks to the kernel in its native API. The Win32 subsystem is the most common, and the one that the shell is based on. You also have the Win16, DOS, and POSIX subsystems.
Why couldn't IBM port PM to NT? They could, quite easily. Any company can sign agreements to get access to the kernel code; Executive software did that on NT3.x b/c that version of the kernel lacked defrag APIs.... ES signed with MS and gained the rights not only to get the code, but to modify it and distribute an updated kernel patch.
As it stands, anyone can replace the standard Explorer shell with something else, written to the Win32 API, or any other API subsystem. The graphics interface is also overridable... just look at Stardock's Windowblinds. The latest Version 2.x series is super fast (I can't tell the difference between it and native), and has few compatibility issues (mostly with apps that draw their own borders or widgets.)
It would be quite possible to design a *nix compatible subsystem/API, and Microsoft sells just such a thing called Interix. Why there isn't an Open Source project for this purpose, I don't know. If I were better at C++, I might just take it up myself. -
The IHA Forums
You've made one misstatement, and that concerns what people like to call the "Microsoft tax." In fact, there is no such thing. The OEM process works like this:
OEM predicts they will sell 2 million PCs this next year. Microsoft says if you buy 2 million licenses, you can pay $x. OEM agrees and buys the licenses.
Now the kicker comes when you want to order that new PC w/o Windows... until the recent build-to-order crazy, most companies had no infrastructure for managing customizations very well.... all of their Hard Drives came preloaded with their software.
At any rate, they just take the cost they paid for those 2 million licenses and divy that up across all the PCs. This is just the standard they use for management simplicity, and is NOT SOMETHING ENFORCED BY MICROSOFT. ANY OEM IS FREE AND CLEAR TO SELL PCs WITHOUT ANY OS CHARGES WHATSOEVER. This has *always* been the case.
In effect, you are blaming Microsoft because the OEMs were too lazy to deal with shipping PCs with no (or alternative) OSes installed. Besides... before the most recent times, the overhead with that sort of thing would negate any additional profits... until Linux became a buzzword, nobody WANTED PCs without Windows.
If you don't wanna get a PC with any software preloaded, do what I do and build your own. -
The IHA Forums
I live in Texas, so I know a little bit about it. By "Oil Companies" I meant both the suppliers (exxon, mobil, etc) as well as the producers (opec, etc)
Gas was near $.80 a gallon here two summers ago... do you really think any of the CEOs were losing money? Do you think anyone in OPEC starved? Not likely. -
The IHA Forums
Actually, if the US government would axe the monopoly they have granted to today's communication companies, broadband would be much better off.
Out in front of my workplace runs a bunch of dark fibre. Southwestern Bell runs that fibre at about 10% capacity or less. We have another location across town. We would like to lease one of those dark fibre lines to connect us together. Will they let us? Nope. SWB won't let ANYONE, no matter how much money they offer, onto their fibre lines w/o going through their ancient frame-relay network, and they charge you an arm and a leg for it.
I know a guy who was working for a Houston company that is actually going to run new fibre lines on the telephone poles into EVERY home in that area. He worked measuring the distance between the poles so they would know how much cable to buy and plan for the installation.
The telcos and cable companies fought them TOOTH AND NAIL the ENTIRE WAY to stop this. Why? Because suddenly their government-granted monopoly went out the window.
There is another company in Dallas, featured here on slashdot a little while back, that is installing 100mbps links to various buildings around Dallas for like $1k per month, using fibre lines that they have laid underground.
It is high time compulsory sales of fibre lines is forced upon the telcos. If they won't bother to move, we should make them move. They are the problem. Bandwidth isn't scarce. There is no shortage of fibre or etherswitches. It is all an artificial constraint placed upon us because certain corporations are more concerned with an extra two cents per share than human progress. Same deal as oil companies: can they still make an insane profit if gas sells for $.80 per gallon? ABSOLUTELY. Why don't they? Because the CEO wants to line his pockets with another few million that he won't ever get to spend in his lifetime anyhow. That's why.
Capitalism isn't failing; our government has just herded us into a corporatist economy. -
The IHA Forums
I sincerly doubt that this type of system would pass the legality test in the United States. I can see this being taken all the way to the Supreme Court (possibly in a class-action suit). Importers could argue that they are illegally fixing prices by creating devices that won't function. Consumers could argue the devices are defective; they abided by all laws, paid their import dues, did everything correctly, yet their device won't work because it is in the wrong region.
We still have a few sane people left in our court system. I really don't fear it; let them introduce it, then we will take the bastards down in court and make a public example of them, and perhaps other corporations will take notice..... at least, that is my hope.
I can't comment on Palm programming, although I've heard it is fairly easy.
However, I have downloaded the Visual Basic WinCE Dev kit, and it works quite well. Visual Basic, since version 5, has had the ability to compile to native x86 code. However, it still retains the p-code mode, which is very beneficial on PDA devices. You get this fairly complex program and it takes only a few K. It has a full emulation environment, where you can simulate different screens, etc.
If timothy finds VB too hard of a language to program in.... well..... Seek help;) -
The IHA Forums
I don't know WTF was going on with/. earlier today (CmdrTaco ever hear of a SYSTEM STATUS PAGE?), but D*mmit that was annoying. I kept trying to log in and got randomly kicked to different pages, my viewing prefs started going nuts. It was complete and utter chaos. I really did feel as if the world were spinning out of control! Then I snapped out of it and clicked on another website:)
While Mozilla is looking better, I still don't feel that it is up to snuff. Our company is standardized on Netscape right now, but I figure we will move to Internet Explorer / Outlook soon. It is just taking way too long for us to consider keeping Netscape around. Of course, as the clients start making their way to the preverbial bit bucket, so will the Servers.... and guess who is gonna replace them? You guessed it: Microsoft.
If there are any open-source email servers that can interface with an LDAP directory service for authentication (like Active directory), I'd be quite interested in them. The biggest problem is we MUST have a calendar system, and to date I am not aware of any good open-source calendar systems that can auth to LDAP and have Windows clients available. -
The IHA Forums
The bottom line here is that we DONT KNOW what would happen if all closed-source were abolished. Can services-based development efforts generate the same levels of innovations and revenues that the current closed-source systems do? That is highly in doubt given the recent financial statements from many Linux vendors.
Personally, I say let's revise the copyright laws with a Consumer Bill of Rights, and reform the patent process.
This doesn't have to be an either-or situation; Open source and closed source both have their place, and will continue to co-exist for some time. -
The IHA Forums
Odd... my support incidents have been the exact opposite. The support engineer assigned to my case took the time to call from home, and was very frank with me. He even went so far as to request some changes in their network config so they could reproduce the exact situation we were seeing. We weren't charged a dime for the whole thing, and he still answers the occasional email question I toss his way.
I have been impressed with MS tech support. I suppose it just depends on who you actually get to talk to and how much of an ass they are (or aren't.) -
The IHA Forums
provided that the management isn't incompetent, of course
Well that's the real rub isn't it? Most companies, once they reach a certain size, start carrying around management deadweight, and can't ever seem to get rid of it. -
The IHA Forums
What exactly is that post supposed to prove? You've done nothing but quote a few poorly translated scriptures out of context.
ex: Your first example: Nowhere does it say that A&E didn't have other children, nor does it say God didn't create other humans besides A&E.
The Bible shows people truthfully -- as human beings. At times, they are awesome people who do so much good.... at other times, those same individuals commit horrid acts. That pretty much sounds like most of the individuals I encounter every day.
You either accept or reject the Bible based on faith... just as you would Islam, Judaism, Humanism, or any other belief system. Stop pretending that you have somehow made sense of it all. -
The IHA Forums
.NET compiles down to what is called "Microsoft Intermediary Language" or MSIL for short. It is a complete "virtualized" processor.... in other words, it is a complete virtual instruction set, and programs are compiled down to this assembly language. The difference between it and x86, is that MSIL is verifyable, whereas you can't ever be sure that next x86 instruction isn't going to wig out and screw something up.
When you install a program, the local.NET runtime automatically compiles it down to whatever your native processor is and writes that to disk. From then forward, you are running in your processor's native mode... not byte code interpretations.
Of course for applets over the web (replacements for ActiveX controls), there is also a JIT compiling option. This is also the method used to run ASP.NET scripts -- when they are uploaded, the system JITs them and then caches the compilation for later usage. -
The IHA Forums
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe IIS 4 worked that way, but that's not how things work on my Windows 2000 box.
Look, go into the Services, right-click on one, select the "Log On" tab, then tell me what you see there.... yup, that's right. You can select what security context the process runs under, which carries all the associated rights and/or restrictions.
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
No, this is not the case. There is an account called "Local System", but services exposed to the outside usually don't run under that context -- they run under another context. There is an attribute for each user that says "Allow to log on as a service."
IIS creates a user, usually called IUSR_machinename, which is the process under which IIS runs. Therefore, if I restrict that user from accessing anything but the INETPUB directory, including utils like CMD.EXE, system files, etc...., then even if someone can get in under that process, they won't be able to do much.
Then again, that's the flexibility you get when you have true file ACLs and can run services under separate security contexts.
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
It is obvious that the current round of banner advertisements isn't going to hold up against bandwidth and hardware costs. Internet advertising needs time to remake itself. I imagine that /. had a better click-through rate than most sites, since the advertisements are generally geared toward the audience, something most people forgot to worry about.
All that said though, I would still like to be able to browse without ANY advertisements at all. I think $30 is too high myself, but if Slashdot offered a membership for $10/yr, I'd gladly sign up and I think many others would as well, especially since that would help prop up the ol' budget against this recent dot-com madness.
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
I'm glad you aren't in charge of security for any major websites, since you obviously have no clue.
Assuming you wiped the machine and reinstalled, you have to spend hours restoring from tape (assuming you kept good backups), then replacing any material missing since that backup, and finally reset any permissions or settings that may have been lost. This all assumes that you KNOW when the hacks were initially conducted.... for all you know, your last 6 months of backups might also contain virii or backdoors!
If you don't do a reinstall, then you've got to carefully examine every folder. Look at the configurations for all deamons and running processes. Check over log files. Leave no stone unturned. Leave no file unchecked. If you don't examine everything, you risk missing a trojan or backdoor installed somewhere. You need to change passwords on that machine and other machines that might have been accessed from it (like database servers, etc.)
All these things, and many more. To do any less would be like saying "PLEASE, COME VIOLATE ME AGAIN!"
A more correct analogy would be if a bank were broken into without anyone detecting it until a week later..... would you still entrust your safety deposit box and money to them if they decided not to make any changes to their security protocols or go over all the video tapes frame by frame looking for any problems, as well as hiring new guards and possibly bringing in consultants to review their procedures? Absolutely not.
Why would you be so careless with your servers then? I'll repeat my earlier lament: THANK GOD you aren't in charge of any important servers.
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
Whatever Microsoft has managed to lodge up timothy's arse, he should have it removed :)
= Y& a=tpc&s=50009562&f=39309975&m=3490923121
t pc &s=610091063&f=742091063&m=1620961441
Anyhow, here are the specifics of the situation:
1) Microsoft released some screenshots
2) Some gamers noticed that they looked faked, and an uproar was started
3) Microsoft re-checked the images, and had this to say:
"Some of the images for Amped released during Gamestock were enhanced to illustrate some features that will be in the final product. While this is a common practice for games so early in development, we apologize for the confusion. No one intended to be deceptive. Everyone was so busy prepping for Gamestock, that we just missed the fact that these were labeled "concept art". Frankly, we're impressed with the skillz of those digital sleuths! Nice work!"
4) The game dev team issued new screenshots, which they insist are in-game, and haven't been doctored in any way, and hte old shots were removed.
You can read threads about this entire debacle over at Ars:
http://arstechnica.infopop.net/OpenTopic/page?q
and at Dailyradar:
http://forums.dailyradar.com/2/OpenTopic?q=Y&a=
The long and the short of it is no, there isn't some sort of conspiracy, and Microsoft isn't pulling a sham on anyone. If you really think that all of the media and so forth up to this point is fake, then you have two options:
a) go see the thing demoed somewhere when it comes out
b) don't buy it.
Simple, ne?
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
Sorry; my comment was more in regard to the article at The Register, which details that they are phasing out ALL non-German software from their most secure areas. For normal governmental work and other divisions, they will probably continue using Windows, since that is the platform on which you'll find most business apps.
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
If anyone bothers to read the article, it states that Germany isn't going to use ANY American or foreign software in its most highly secured areas. Why the hell did timothy feel the need to specifically cite only Microsoft software?
:)
In case you were thinking that this is somehow a "win" (whatever that is) for Linux, think again: They are going to home-grow their secure solutions using a German software company.
This is the same thing our United States military does. They contract with American-owned companies for custom software solutions (like the recent Windows Datacenter custom system for running Battleships and aircraft carriers, or the NSA's development work on a secure Linux system.)
Can't Slashdot just stop focusing on Microsoft for even one minute? Please?
Oh well.... life goes on
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
I think we all need to give AOL praise for this recent action. Granted, we like to cry and moan when corporations trample our rights and give us the shaft, but we also need to make it known when we approve of what they do, in the hopes that they will keep doing those things that make us happy :)
Sure, there may be some self-serving interest at the heart of this matter, but such is the way of capitalism. If their greed and annoyance at having to constantly deal with these cases results in their requesting that the courts block some of these ridiculous suits, I'm all for it.
-
The IHA Forums
Well first of all, the X-box uses a standard DVD drive, which means it should be able to read your burned CDs, and DVDs (when DVD burners become cheaper and more widely available.)
As for the software, everything I've ready seems to indicate that there won't be any specific mechanisms to prevent users from playing their own discs in the machine.
The big thing that Microsoft has going for them is that the box runs DX8 and a windows kernel. This means that porting PC games is a no-brainer, and also means that game companies can simultaneously develop for the X-box and Windows with little impact to productivity. That is the real way Microsoft plans on winning; the same way they won the OS and browser wars.
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
Why is CmdrTaco assuming that the Maxtor thing is bad news? Why does he automatically assume that open-source was a better choice for the task at hand?
Zealots who claim that only open-source software is worthwhile are just as bad as the ones who claim only closed-source software has a future. Real life is always a mixture of viewpoints. Both open-source and closed-source development efforts have a future in the technology world. Rather than trying to burn bridges, let's build them up and encourage all software makers to follow open standards.
On the bright side, I'm glad to see Microsoft starting to give up on the idea of Client Access Licenses. Those CALs really MUST go, and quickly. They would be much more competitive against open source if they didn't charge for CALs. I think as Linux gains popularity, they will be forced to notice this and change accordingly, thus striking a balance.
-------
-- russ
"You want people to think logically? ACK! Turn in your UID, you traitor!"
But the big difference is that with AT&T, you really DIDN'T have any other choices!
With the Open Source movement, there are plenty of non-MS alternatives. No one is twisting your arm here. Even before Linux became the hot buzzword of the day, there were other alternative platforms and systems, some of which are still around today.
Microsoft may have used dirty business practices in promoting Internet Explorer, but I don't know anyone who would argue, in their right mind, that Netscape 4.x is better than IE 5.x; even NS6 doesn't have the polish and features that IE has.
I only hope that the rumors of IE being ported to Linux systems is true.... that would ease my pain and suffering when dealing with Linux machines quite a bit.
-
The IHA Forums
Does anyone get angry that KDE distributes Konquerer free of charge? Nope.
Does anybody get mad that just about EVER Linux distro comes with Netscape preinstalled? Nope.
These are the exact SAME things. Browsing has become central to computing. I don't see anyone crying about Microsoft including a TCP/IP stack in Windows.... yet they put several companies out of business that made quite a bit of money selling IP stacks for Windows. The fact is that eventually voice control will become very important, and Microsoft will put several speech software vendors out of business when they make that a standard part of Windows (actually, Whistler will have a native, standard voice API and engine.)
I think many people just hate Microsoft so much, that they want this case to go forward, facts be damned.
If you don't like Microsoft, or their products, that's fine. But at least be honest and truthful. Don't try to manufacture reasons to get them.... let the market topple them on its own.
-
The IHA Forums
You are confusing several things here.
the NT kernel provides an API, called the Executive. It is usually hidden from most programs, for portability reasons, as well as logistical reasons. The native set has less than 300 APIs... most of the legwork is done in the individual subsystems. Win32 is *NOT* a simple wrapper to the Native API set....
There are several "subsystems", each of which talks to the kernel in its native API. The Win32 subsystem is the most common, and the one that the shell is based on. You also have the Win16, DOS, and POSIX subsystems.
Why couldn't IBM port PM to NT? They could, quite easily. Any company can sign agreements to get access to the kernel code; Executive software did that on NT3.x b/c that version of the kernel lacked defrag APIs.... ES signed with MS and gained the rights not only to get the code, but to modify it and distribute an updated kernel patch.
As it stands, anyone can replace the standard Explorer shell with something else, written to the Win32 API, or any other API subsystem. The graphics interface is also overridable... just look at Stardock's Windowblinds. The latest Version 2.x series is super fast (I can't tell the difference between it and native), and has few compatibility issues (mostly with apps that draw their own borders or widgets.)
It would be quite possible to design a *nix compatible subsystem/API, and Microsoft sells just such a thing called Interix. Why there isn't an Open Source project for this purpose, I don't know. If I were better at C++, I might just take it up myself.
-
The IHA Forums
You've made one misstatement, and that concerns what people like to call the "Microsoft tax." In fact, there is no such thing. The OEM process works like this:
OEM predicts they will sell 2 million PCs this next year. Microsoft says if you buy 2 million licenses, you can pay $x. OEM agrees and buys the licenses.
Now the kicker comes when you want to order that new PC w/o Windows... until the recent build-to-order crazy, most companies had no infrastructure for managing customizations very well.... all of their Hard Drives came preloaded with their software.
At any rate, they just take the cost they paid for those 2 million licenses and divy that up across all the PCs. This is just the standard they use for management simplicity, and is NOT SOMETHING ENFORCED BY MICROSOFT. ANY OEM IS FREE AND CLEAR TO SELL PCs WITHOUT ANY OS CHARGES WHATSOEVER. This has *always* been the case.
In effect, you are blaming Microsoft because the OEMs were too lazy to deal with shipping PCs with no (or alternative) OSes installed. Besides... before the most recent times, the overhead with that sort of thing would negate any additional profits... until Linux became a buzzword, nobody WANTED PCs without Windows.
If you don't wanna get a PC with any software preloaded, do what I do and build your own.
-
The IHA Forums
I live in Texas, so I know a little bit about it. By "Oil Companies" I meant both the suppliers (exxon, mobil, etc) as well as the producers (opec, etc)
Gas was near $.80 a gallon here two summers ago... do you really think any of the CEOs were losing money? Do you think anyone in OPEC starved? Not likely.
-
The IHA Forums
Actually, if the US government would axe the monopoly they have granted to today's communication companies, broadband would be much better off.
Out in front of my workplace runs a bunch of dark fibre. Southwestern Bell runs that fibre at about 10% capacity or less. We have another location across town. We would like to lease one of those dark fibre lines to connect us together. Will they let us? Nope. SWB won't let ANYONE, no matter how much money they offer, onto their fibre lines w/o going through their ancient frame-relay network, and they charge you an arm and a leg for it.
I know a guy who was working for a Houston company that is actually going to run new fibre lines on the telephone poles into EVERY home in that area. He worked measuring the distance between the poles so they would know how much cable to buy and plan for the installation.
The telcos and cable companies fought them TOOTH AND NAIL the ENTIRE WAY to stop this. Why? Because suddenly their government-granted monopoly went out the window.
There is another company in Dallas, featured here on slashdot a little while back, that is installing 100mbps links to various buildings around Dallas for like $1k per month, using fibre lines that they have laid underground.
It is high time compulsory sales of fibre lines is forced upon the telcos. If they won't bother to move, we should make them move. They are the problem. Bandwidth isn't scarce. There is no shortage of fibre or etherswitches. It is all an artificial constraint placed upon us because certain corporations are more concerned with an extra two cents per share than human progress. Same deal as oil companies: can they still make an insane profit if gas sells for $.80 per gallon? ABSOLUTELY. Why don't they? Because the CEO wants to line his pockets with another few million that he won't ever get to spend in his lifetime anyhow. That's why.
Capitalism isn't failing; our government has just herded us into a corporatist economy.
-
The IHA Forums
I sincerly doubt that this type of system would pass the legality test in the United States. I can see this being taken all the way to the Supreme Court (possibly in a class-action suit). Importers could argue that they are illegally fixing prices by creating devices that won't function. Consumers could argue the devices are defective; they abided by all laws, paid their import dues, did everything correctly, yet their device won't work because it is in the wrong region.
We still have a few sane people left in our court system. I really don't fear it; let them introduce it, then we will take the bastards down in court and make a public example of them, and perhaps other corporations will take notice..... at least, that is my hope.
-
The IHA Forums
I can't comment on Palm programming, although I've heard it is fairly easy.
;)
However, I have downloaded the Visual Basic WinCE Dev kit, and it works quite well. Visual Basic, since version 5, has had the ability to compile to native x86 code. However, it still retains the p-code mode, which is very beneficial on PDA devices. You get this fairly complex program and it takes only a few K. It has a full emulation environment, where you can simulate different screens, etc.
If timothy finds VB too hard of a language to program in.... well..... Seek help
-
The IHA Forums
I don't know WTF was going on with /. earlier today (CmdrTaco ever hear of a SYSTEM STATUS PAGE?), but D*mmit that was annoying. I kept trying to log in and got randomly kicked to different pages, my viewing prefs started going nuts. It was complete and utter chaos. I really did feel as if the world were spinning out of control! Then I snapped out of it and clicked on another website :)
While Mozilla is looking better, I still don't feel that it is up to snuff. Our company is standardized on Netscape right now, but I figure we will move to Internet Explorer / Outlook soon. It is just taking way too long for us to consider keeping Netscape around. Of course, as the clients start making their way to the preverbial bit bucket, so will the Servers.... and guess who is gonna replace them? You guessed it: Microsoft.
If there are any open-source email servers that can interface with an LDAP directory service for authentication (like Active directory), I'd be quite interested in them. The biggest problem is we MUST have a calendar system, and to date I am not aware of any good open-source calendar systems that can auth to LDAP and have Windows clients available.
-
The IHA Forums
The bottom line here is that we DONT KNOW what would happen if all closed-source were abolished. Can services-based development efforts generate the same levels of innovations and revenues that the current closed-source systems do? That is highly in doubt given the recent financial statements from many Linux vendors.
Personally, I say let's revise the copyright laws with a Consumer Bill of Rights, and reform the patent process.
This doesn't have to be an either-or situation; Open source and closed source both have their place, and will continue to co-exist for some time.
-
The IHA Forums
Odd... my support incidents have been the exact opposite. The support engineer assigned to my case took the time to call from home, and was very frank with me. He even went so far as to request some changes in their network config so they could reproduce the exact situation we were seeing. We weren't charged a dime for the whole thing, and he still answers the occasional email question I toss his way.
I have been impressed with MS tech support. I suppose it just depends on who you actually get to talk to and how much of an ass they are (or aren't.)
-
The IHA Forums
provided that the management isn't incompetent, of course Well that's the real rub isn't it? Most companies, once they reach a certain size, start carrying around management deadweight, and can't ever seem to get rid of it.
-
The IHA Forums
What exactly is that post supposed to prove? You've done nothing but quote a few poorly translated scriptures out of context.
ex: Your first example: Nowhere does it say that A&E didn't have other children, nor does it say God didn't create other humans besides A&E.
The Bible shows people truthfully -- as human beings. At times, they are awesome people who do so much good.... at other times, those same individuals commit horrid acts. That pretty much sounds like most of the individuals I encounter every day.
You either accept or reject the Bible based on faith... just as you would Islam, Judaism, Humanism, or any other belief system. Stop pretending that you have somehow made sense of it all.
-
The IHA Forums
OK, no problem :)
.NET runtime automatically compiles it down to whatever your native processor is and writes that to disk. From then forward, you are running in your processor's native mode... not byte code interpretations.
.NET compiles down to what is called "Microsoft Intermediary Language" or MSIL for short. It is a complete "virtualized" processor.... in other words, it is a complete virtual instruction set, and programs are compiled down to this assembly language. The difference between it and x86, is that MSIL is verifyable, whereas you can't ever be sure that next x86 instruction isn't going to wig out and screw something up.
When you install a program, the local
Of course for applets over the web (replacements for ActiveX controls), there is also a JIT compiling option. This is also the method used to run ASP.NET scripts -- when they are uploaded, the system JITs them and then caches the compilation for later usage.
-
The IHA Forums
You are incorrect.... many of the .NET classes are in fact written in C# (a .NET language)
Perhaps you should sign up for the beta or go read through the online docs.
-
The IHA Forums