Re:Most of the tagged people will be innocent.
on
The Eyes Have It
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· Score: 1
Okay, but a hell of a lot more people drive than go up in planes. How about a comparison of fatalities/injuries as a percentage of the total number of users of that mode of transport in a year.
How about instead of AOL producing a client for Linux they produce an "AOLinux" (No, not Adults Only!) distro which is basically locked down and can be used to connect only to AOL and provides all the AOL client functionality.
Maybe they wouldn't even give the user root access to their system so they can't fiddle with anything.
Oooh.. a better idea, a bootable CD with the AOLinux distro that sotres user config stuff on a Windows partition so when the user wants to use the internet they stick the CD in the drive and they reboot. The first time they put in their AOL password etc and the other times it just automatically dials up when the OS boots. They wouldn't have to worry about some redneck installing stupid shit on his computer that'd break AOL because the OS would be locked down.
As far as I am aware when using Round Robin DNS if a box goes down a user can still be directed to that box and get an error. Especially given that a lot of web browsers cache DNS entries for the session it would be trying to get to the downed box everytime you hit refresh.
The proper solution is a load balancer, which has a single IP at the internet end and distributes requests to multiple webservers (and knowing which ones are up and which are down).
Of course if your load balancer goes down..:) (Actually, you just have two load balanacers. The chance of both failing is pretty slim)
But what I'd also like to see is older versions being made free (as in beer) after a specfied time. DOS 6.0 and Win 3.11, old Amiga games, whatever. Since there's no real potential for those to ever make a profit again, why not help the handful of people who may still be able to make some use of them?
Sure the old version of the product may not give the company any profit, but having the older version deprives the company from potential sales of the current version.
For example if Microsoft were to give away SQL Server 6.5 because they no longer support it (this is a hypothetical, they may well still support it) then someone might use that instead of buying SQL Server XP (or whatever it's called now).
Sure maybe MS is a bad example, but it's all about making money not doing what's potentially good for the community (actually, maybe MS _is_ a good example:) ).
I've got a better idea: MS should find some people that know about programming and pay them money to make sure Microsoft software is secure and bug free!
Wait a minute, isn't that what Microsoft programmers should be doing already?!:)
Seriously, with the cash reserves MS has (enough to buy half of Africa I think.. hmm, maybe that's the plan?) they could easily hire 100 good programmers and do a full line-by-line security audit of all their code for their major products.
Then again, "good programmers" usually have scruples and wouldn't work for MS anyway;)
Based on previous security issues in open source it has pretty much become obvious that a major security problem in an open source product is fixed much faster than an equivalent closed source product.
Also, due to the number of people looking at the code of the open source product there's more chance of those hairy bugs being weeded out, or in the case of the software being used here probably has been given the maturity of the software and the caliber of the kind of people who use it.
With closed source or hardware based security solutions you might end up getting hacked because the hacker found a hole the vendor didn't know about and you can't even look at the source to try and work out how they did it.
I'd say the advantages of open source security outweigh the disadvantages, and it's been said time and time again. I doubt it will make a difference with enterprise customers though, they're all in bed with the big companies anyway.
The major issue for them is probably support, even though i'm sure this company will support their hardware there's still the "stigma" that with OSS you've got no central reliable resource to turn to for support.
Good luck boycotting XP. Sure you and a bunch of other computer savvy people might do it, and that'd be a huge 0.01% of Microsoft's market share that would go away.
However, for the average Joe out there, there isn't a reasonable alternative to Windows at the moment so why should they get anything else? Especially when it has already come with their new PC?
I'm not saying it's right, i'm just saying that's the way it is.
Also available there is a nifty program called "Psst" which allows for encrypted instant messaging. You can use it in conjunction with your normal IM program, and it's really easy to use and install
PGP integrates with ICQ on Windows, so you can send PGP encrypted messages seamlessly (apart from having to enter your keyphrase the first messgae you send each session).
Only problem is that uptime is probably for the web servers (which are likely to be fairly stable). The major problem seems to be their back-end DB servers going down, which can be seen whenever you hit ANY/. URL you are served the static "full" home page.
In fact, for me,/. was doing this for about 3 hours yesterday afternoon (err, Australian time)
Nope, when I go to "http://slashdot.org/" I get the full Slashdot page with all the graphics and stuff, and it's all as if i'm not logged in (this is a static page).
Going to "http://slashdot.org/index.pl" I get my logged in "light" page (this is dynamic, obviously).
I did say in my original comment that slashdot.org without the index.pl is static, maybe I was a bit unclear.
Yeah, but how many NEED to be dynamically generated. Apart from message boards / discussion type sites you can easily use the dynamic code to generate a static page whenever it changes and push that out to the peers.
For example Slashdot, when you go to http://slashdot.org/, not index.pl, is a static page.
I would assume this sort of technology would be best used for making sure information that some parties would prefer not to be available, is always available (eg. decss code).
That sucks, here in Australia we haven't even had Season 3 shown yet. I've resorted to downloading DivXs from Morpheus to feed my habit. Although I just noticed the next story down from this one is about Kazaa shutting down, I wonder how that will affect Morpheus.
Anyone know if/when 7 plans to show Season 3 here?
I had something like this with Win2K, presumably WinXP is similar since it's based on the Win2K base.
Aaaaanyway, the problem is that when you install Win2K it only installs the IDE Controller drivers for the controller you've got when you install. Changing the mobo changed the controller and so Win2K wouldn't boot. There is a solution from Microsoft (found on support.microsoft.com) that involves booting with your old motherboard and installing the other IDE drivers off the CD manually, but it's not supported.
Nice "feature" eh?
And regarding activation, AFAIK they've changed it to only be based on the MAC address of your NIC now or something.
It's expensive to print a copy of the film so for some films they don't come out in other countries (like here in Australia) for two months or so after the US release because they actually ship the film they screened in the US here to show. You can usually tell too, the film has a few scratches and stuff by then.
Big budget films that they know are going to rake in the cash anyway are usually same week or week after, and they print copies of the film here for distribution. For example we got Episode I a few days after the US but we won't get Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back for another month.
...so when is a PC vendor besides Sony gonna ship 1394 support?
I was looking at Dell notebook prices recently and noticed that the high end Dell notebooks come with onboard 1394. So their high end desktops might have it as well.
It's like people at work that that they have a
"right" not to have their bathroom breaks webcast. You're using someone elses toilet, you have to follow their rules. If you don't like it, don't use it.
So...having made my point (I hope) that employers DON'T have carte blanche to do what they like to employees simply because the employees are on their property, the question then becomes where to draw the line. That I leave as an exercise for the reader
The difference is most employees sign employee contracts that say they will not misuse the resources provided by an employer, followed by a description of what constitutes misuse.
Your example would only apply if your employment contract said "Employees may be filmed while taking a crap and said film may be broadcast without any further consent from the employee".
Fact of the matter is, this man is guilty, in a technical sense. But, if cases like this start to gain momentum, who knows how many companies we'll have suing their workers for non-work related internet usage.
The difference is the average employment contract says "You will not misuse company resources, the penalty for which is disciplinary action (such as termination)".
On the other hand, the average University computer policy is "Misuse of computer equipment may make you liable for prosecution". At least that's what I remember all the uni computer systems saying on login when I was at uni.
I haven't run an RC5 client for about 2 years now, but if I remember correctly there was something the license / terms of use / whatever that said you're not allowed to use it on computers you don't have permission to install it on.
I assume they wouldn't be suing him if he'd asked whether he could install this and use their bandwidth. So he's got no one to blame but himself.
It's like people at work that think they have a "right" to not have their email or web usage monitored. You're using someone elses resources, you have to follow their rules. If you don't like it, don't use it.
Slashdot Mirror
Okay, but a hell of a lot more people drive than go up in planes. How about a comparison of fatalities/injuries as a percentage of the total number of users of that mode of transport in a year.
Based on what you said above, is it Cork? :) (I would think the 'obvious' answer is Computer)
How about instead of AOL producing a client for Linux they produce an "AOLinux" (No, not Adults Only!) distro which is basically locked down and can be used to connect only to AOL and provides all the AOL client functionality.
Maybe they wouldn't even give the user root access to their system so they can't fiddle with anything.
Oooh.. a better idea, a bootable CD with the AOLinux distro that sotres user config stuff on a Windows partition so when the user wants to use the internet they stick the CD in the drive and they reboot. The first time they put in their AOL password etc and the other times it just automatically dials up when the OS boots. They wouldn't have to worry about some redneck installing stupid shit on his computer that'd break AOL because the OS would be locked down.
Maybe i've just had not enough sleep.
As far as I am aware when using Round Robin DNS if a box goes down a user can still be directed to that box and get an error. Especially given that a lot of web browsers cache DNS entries for the session it would be trying to get to the downed box everytime you hit refresh.
:) (Actually, you just have two load balanacers. The chance of both failing is pretty slim)
The proper solution is a load balancer, which has a single IP at the internet end and distributes requests to multiple webservers (and knowing which ones are up and which are down).
Of course if your load balancer goes down..
Sure the old version of the product may not give the company any profit, but having the older version deprives the company from potential sales of the current version.
For example if Microsoft were to give away SQL Server 6.5 because they no longer support it (this is a hypothetical, they may well still support it) then someone might use that instead of buying SQL Server XP (or whatever it's called now).
Sure maybe MS is a bad example, but it's all about making money not doing what's potentially good for the community (actually, maybe MS _is_ a good example :) ).
I've got a better idea: MS should find some people that know about programming and pay them money to make sure Microsoft software is secure and bug free!
:)
;)
Wait a minute, isn't that what Microsoft programmers should be doing already?!
Seriously, with the cash reserves MS has (enough to buy half of Africa I think.. hmm, maybe that's the plan?) they could easily hire 100 good programmers and do a full line-by-line security audit of all their code for their major products.
Then again, "good programmers" usually have scruples and wouldn't work for MS anyway
Based on previous security issues in open source it has pretty much become obvious that a major security problem in an open source product is fixed much faster than an equivalent closed source product.
:)
Also, due to the number of people looking at the code of the open source product there's more chance of those hairy bugs being weeded out, or in the case of the software being used here probably has been given the maturity of the software and the caliber of the kind of people who use it.
With closed source or hardware based security solutions you might end up getting hacked because the hacker found a hole the vendor didn't know about and you can't even look at the source to try and work out how they did it.
I'd say the advantages of open source security outweigh the disadvantages, and it's been said time and time again. I doubt it will make a difference with enterprise customers though, they're all in bed with the big companies anyway.
The major issue for them is probably support, even though i'm sure this company will support their hardware there's still the "stigma" that with OSS you've got no central reliable resource to turn to for support.
Anyway, enough rantage
Good luck boycotting XP. Sure you and a bunch of other computer savvy people might do it, and that'd be a huge 0.01% of Microsoft's market share that would go away.
However, for the average Joe out there, there isn't a reasonable alternative to Windows at the moment so why should they get anything else? Especially when it has already come with their new PC?
I'm not saying it's right, i'm just saying that's the way it is.
Blah blah.. standard crap about reading your own site :)
Of course, this is the same google announcement linked to not long ago when google announced that now they have the last 20 years of usenet archived.
Yay for Slashdot!
PGP integrates with ICQ on Windows, so you can send PGP encrypted messages seamlessly (apart from having to enter your keyphrase the first messgae you send each session).
Only problem is that uptime is probably for the web servers (which are likely to be fairly stable). The major problem seems to be their back-end DB servers going down, which can be seen whenever you hit ANY /. URL you are served the static "full" home page.
/. was doing this for about 3 hours yesterday afternoon (err, Australian time)
In fact, for me,
Nope, when I go to "http://slashdot.org/" I get the full Slashdot page with all the graphics and stuff, and it's all as if i'm not logged in (this is a static page).
Going to "http://slashdot.org/index.pl" I get my logged in "light" page (this is dynamic, obviously).
I did say in my original comment that slashdot.org without the index.pl is static, maybe I was a bit unclear.
Yeah, but how many NEED to be dynamically generated. Apart from message boards / discussion type sites you can easily use the dynamic code to generate a static page whenever it changes and push that out to the peers.
For example Slashdot, when you go to http://slashdot.org/, not index.pl, is a static page.
I would assume this sort of technology would be best used for making sure information that some parties would prefer not to be available, is always available (eg. decss code).
Ah crap. Just got an email from my brother (who also happens to be a Futurama fan) who said that Season 3 is starting on Foxtel (cable) this Sunday.
Which doesn't help those of us without cable.
Hopefully it'll be on free-to-air in the new year.
That sucks, here in Australia we haven't even had Season 3 shown yet. I've resorted to downloading DivXs from Morpheus to feed my habit. Although I just noticed the next story down from this one is about Kazaa shutting down, I wonder how that will affect Morpheus.
Anyone know if/when 7 plans to show Season 3 here?
However, I have trouble visualising 3,600,000 km^2, so that doesn't help.
I like the example someone else gave, 8200 years of DVD video (I think that was the number).
I had something like this with Win2K, presumably WinXP is similar since it's based on the Win2K base.
Aaaaanyway, the problem is that when you install Win2K it only installs the IDE Controller drivers for the controller you've got when you install. Changing the mobo changed the controller and so Win2K wouldn't boot. There is a solution from Microsoft (found on support.microsoft.com) that involves booting with your old motherboard and installing the other IDE drivers off the CD manually, but it's not supported.
Nice "feature" eh?
And regarding activation, AFAIK they've changed it to only be based on the MAC address of your NIC now or something.
It's expensive to print a copy of the film so for some films they don't come out in other countries (like here in Australia) for two months or so after the US release because they actually ship the film they screened in the US here to show. You can usually tell too, the film has a few scratches and stuff by then.
Big budget films that they know are going to rake in the cash anyway are usually same week or week after, and they print copies of the film here for distribution. For example we got Episode I a few days after the US but we won't get Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back for another month.
Oh yeah? What about a (for example) debian admin who does "apt-get update" or whatever and theoretically has a trojan "ls" installed as an update.
I was looking at Dell notebook prices recently and noticed that the high end Dell notebooks come with onboard 1394. So their high end desktops might have it as well.
No one said you have to use an Adobe product to make a PDF.
So...having made my point (I hope) that employers DON'T have carte blanche to do what they like to employees simply because the employees are on their property, the question then becomes where to draw the line. That I leave as an exercise for the reader
The difference is most employees sign employee contracts that say they will not misuse the resources provided by an employer, followed by a description of what constitutes misuse.
Your example would only apply if your employment contract said "Employees may be filmed while taking a crap and said film may be broadcast without any further consent from the employee".
The difference is the average employment contract says "You will not misuse company resources, the penalty for which is disciplinary action (such as termination)".
On the other hand, the average University computer policy is "Misuse of computer equipment may make you liable for prosecution". At least that's what I remember all the uni computer systems saying on login when I was at uni.
I assume they wouldn't be suing him if he'd asked whether he could install this and use their bandwidth. So he's got no one to blame but himself.
It's like people at work that think they have a "right" to not have their email or web usage monitored. You're using someone elses resources, you have to follow their rules. If you don't like it, don't use it.