I thought I was safe. I've been running Software Update Services for 3 or so months now. But some computers weren't set to use SUS, so they didn't get patched.
No problem though, the ports are blocked on the firewall.
Then one of the sales guys comes back from a sales trip, and plugs in his laptop that hasn't been talking with the SUS server for awile, and he's caught the worm and doesn't know it.
And before I know it, I have three machines infected!
Ok, only three isn't so bad. But it would have been far worse had I not had SUS up and running on 98% of my computers. But the point is: firewalls aren't enough to protect you!
One thing I never understood about these games is that if it is going to be over $10.00 per month, why would they still charge $50.00 for the software?
One of the things that got me to play AO is that FunCom lets you download the client...if you can stomach the 600mb download.
Packaged versions are nice enough. AO: The Special Edition (or, the we need to get our product back on the shelves after this release) goest for under $10, The Notum Wars (First booster plus full AO) is around $20. The Shadowlands is priced at $30.
But FunCom does encourage you to burn copies for your friends. Since you can't play the game without an account, there really isn't a a way to use the software without paying for it.
Last note, FunCom's history has been to release the download some time after the retail release, in order to please their retail partners. (If you use the download version, your first month is slightly more than the standard subscription fee from memeory.)
The problem is that they can be "disabled" but they cannot be uninstalled. I want to be able to uninstall the web browser, the chat client, the netmeeting client, the e-mail client, and all the other applets that come with Windows. Alas, very little of that can be removed.
The current state of Windows is that the dlls for the web browser, the chat client, the netmeeting client, the e-mail client, the media client, etc...are all shared between mutiple aplications and these dlls are needed to make the OS work, and to make it easier for devolpers to write aplications quickly.
In theory, it's a good idea. In reality, it strengthens the MS monopoly.
And you aren't the target for MS Windows. Joe Sixpack doesn't want just an OS that manages the hardware resources. He wants to pull the thing out of the cardboard box, plug it in, and find some good porn without having to think or install more software.
So including interfaces to those dlls (Outlook Express, IE, Netmeeting, MSN Messenger, etc...) is also a good idea, but because it's MS, it's also monoplistic.
If AOL TimeWarner did the same thing by making an "AOL on a Box" type thing that included say, a Linux OS, nicely configured Mozilla and/or AOL client support, some sort of office suite like Open Office, throw in Evolution, gaim, and a nice pre configured desktop enviorment, and you have a good idea, but it's not monopolistic because it isn't MS, yet they would be doing almost the exact same thing...
MS is in a tight spot due to the way they do business, and they deserve to be in that spot and worse. But strip away marketing, legal, FUD, and anything that they do for profit, and they do have some good ideas.
OK, I'm done. I'm going to go back in my box and think within the limits of said box now:
Try putting your magnetic security badge or one of those credit cart hotel keys under your cell phone while you sleep. I've loocked myself out of a hotel room and my office doing that.
Yes, it is. It's built in. No wires to tangled around my cellphone headset and car charger, seatbelt, parking break, and whatever else happens to be between the drivers seat and the passenger door.
Well, given that it's qute likely that other products will be based on Doom3, QuakeIII, and the various Unreal engines, is it really bad to optimize your drivers to run those applications as best as possible?
They are intended to be fast moving games, so even if such optimizations do degrade the visual quality a bit, it's not likely that you as the person playing the game will notice that the soke trail on the rocket that just exploded in your chest is only rendered across 25% of the distance between you and your attacker instead of the 50% the developer of the game intended.
And in the case of Unreal Tournament 2002, they are at least telling you that the drivers have been optimized specifically for that title (if you read the small print.)
Now go do some Linux vs Windows benchmarks without doing some sort of tweaking so that Linux has the advantage in whatever it is you're benchmarking. No? Not going to do it? I didn't think so.:)
I belive their lawers and PR people are confused. Last I heard, they were more interested in IP, not source. SysV is SCO's IP, and the Linux kernel doesn't have SCO code in it, but lots of linux software is based around the SysV design, even if the software itself was written from scratch to behanve like SysV. They also seem to think that IBM and other United Linux partners might have included SCO IP into verious software.
Seems like their issue isn't the kernel, but the software being distributed with the kernel.
Remember folks, Linux is the kernel, not the OS. Distributions are the OS. SCO is after distributers, not the kernel. If anyone tells you Linux is an operating system, they're wrong.
Maybe because because Blizzard and Valve actually make money? Can't recall who else is under Vivendi Universal, but if Apple was trying to aquire those divisions too, this announcment would go from "Calafornia fell into the ocean" earth shattering to "Snowball fight in Hell! Hey look, a Snow-Saten"
Those are precious gem quality. Industral quality diamonds can be made through some process, or made from the precious gem rejects. My guess is that they're using industrial quality, but I should go RTFA.:)
Re:Everyone's upset that Sci-Fi cancelled...
on
Farscape Finale Tonight
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I've been pondering getting the DS9 DVDs. DS9 seemed to be the best of the Star Trek series because of a more contiuning story that you sorta had to follow, because it was competing with Babylon 5 at the time.
DS9 you could kinda pick up mid way though. Babylon 5 you could kinda pick up, but was a whole lot more interesting if you caught it from the beginning.
Farscape is just...out there. You really need to watch from the begining or at least watch the recap episodes to have a clue about what the frell is going on and why you should care...
Or, forget PC Anywhere. Install WinXP (Home or Pro), install [url=http://www.networksimplicity.com/openssh/]Ope n SSH for Windows[/url], install [url=http://www.tightvnc.com]Tight VNC[/url]
Set up users without administrator access. hell, use empty passwords for the normal users accounts. Do use seperate users! Setup an admin account that IS NOT administrator, just incase they change the administrator password on you and forget it.
Now, explain to them how to use the admin accoun. Use it to install and update your system only. Do not use it to do work. If you use the admin account, you should be able to tell me exactly what you did under that account so that I have an idea what went wrong with your computer when you do call me.
That is the only way I've been able to deal with my parents and windows.:) Now if they would only get broadband so I can actually read what Tight VNC is displaying...:)
No, you don't have to bend over for your client. That's just one way of doing business. when you do business, you choose which area to focus on.
1. Do anything it takes to make the customer happy. 2. Be the most efficient you can be, so that you have the lowest possible production cost. 3. Find your specality. Do that one thing, and do it so well that nobody can compete. 4. Damnit can't remember...but you get the idea right?
When you choose your focus, the other areas are not as important as that focus. So no, you don't have to be a contortionist for your clients. You can choose to be a contortionist for your clients.
Back in 1998 I got myself a HP laser Jet 6L. 5 years later, I'm still on the original toner cartridge. I don't print alot though, I think I've maybe gone through 7 or 8 reams of paper in 5 years. Still though, beats the heck out of my girlfriends printer that needs new ink every few months even though she hardly used it.
Too bad most school districts don't even know about windows terminal services and/or Citrix in the first place, and invest in hundreds of workstations that will be in use for 5+ years. Too bad that Linux and UNIX in general has fallen off the radar of K-12 education.
Too bad that those making the decisions on equipment are usually school board members who only know what their IT managers give them at work and what they have at home.
So you end up with the School Board deciding that Windows 98 is the current industry standard, and end up with a bunch of impossible to manage and totally insecure windows machines that studets will hack, install games, and generally make unusable and unstable.
Oh, and did I mention that anyone working IT at a public school is likely underpaid, or has training that warrents that salery anyway?
Since nobody seems to actually read articles: $12-million project 1600 kilometres 20 days for the inland trip 10 days for the return to the coast (downhill!)
(That's a staggering average speed of 3.33 KPH for the trip to the pole, 6.66 KPH for the trip to the coast)
The traffic will consist of slow-moving convoys of caterpillar tractors, towing sleds with supplies.
The Scott-Amundsen base is only currently accessible by air, which places limits on cargo and relies on good weather. The road could be open to heavy traffic for up to 100 days a year during the austral summer.
When I first got my TiVo, my roomate and I spent a couple hours adding programs to it. BattleBots, SeqQuest: DSV, lots of other Sci-Fi stuff, and a few selections from the Cartoon Network.
Job well done...and the next evening we discovered that our TiVo installation coencided with a Care Bars marathon on Toon Disney. TiVo must have really thought we'd like Care Bares, because it filled itself with every episode of this Care Bare marathon.
This was before they clear to skip to the delete screen patch, so there were alot of menus involved in deleting every episode of Care Bares.:)
But I perfer installing one system, getting all the packages I want selected and installed, then on the second system, get base installed. (Getting a Debian system with just the Debian base [base being Linux system up and running and ready for you to use apt-get/dselect/etc.] then, on the system that's in the finished state:
dpkg --get-selections >> zibbys.selections
Transfer zibbys.selections to base system, then run: dpkg --set-selections zibbys.selections apt-get dsist-upgrade
And off goes the wonderful tool called apt, downloading all my selections.
Dumping your selections is a great way to do backups on a budget too. Just back up configs,/home,/usr/local, and other custom areas, and a selections file. If you need to recover, install base, add selections, install, restore/etc/,/home/,/usr/local...
Slashdot Mirror
The public won't care. The public won't understand the TechNet or Knowledge Base Article.
It's best to point users to the End User Bulletin, which has minimum tech talk and just gets to the point: Visit Windows Update now.
I thought I was safe. I've been running Software Update Services for 3 or so months now. But some computers weren't set to use SUS, so they didn't get patched.
No problem though, the ports are blocked on the firewall.
Then one of the sales guys comes back from a sales trip, and plugs in his laptop that hasn't been talking with the SUS server for awile, and he's caught the worm and doesn't know it.
And before I know it, I have three machines infected!
Ok, only three isn't so bad. But it would have been far worse had I not had SUS up and running on 98% of my computers. But the point is: firewalls aren't enough to protect you!
One thing I never understood about these games is that if it is going to be over $10.00 per month, why would they still charge $50.00 for the software?
One of the things that got me to play AO is that FunCom lets you download the client...if you can stomach the 600mb download.
Packaged versions are nice enough. AO: The Special Edition (or, the we need to get our product back on the shelves after this release) goest for under $10, The Notum Wars (First booster plus full AO) is around $20. The Shadowlands is priced at $30.
But FunCom does encourage you to burn copies for your friends. Since you can't play the game without an account, there really isn't a a way to use the software without paying for it.
Last note, FunCom's history has been to release the download some time after the retail release, in order to please their retail partners. (If you use the download version, your first month is slightly more than the standard subscription fee from memeory.)
Anyhoo...
Take it to the next level. Windows doesn't pass the Grandma test. I wonder how Lindows would do...
The problem is that they can be "disabled" but they cannot be uninstalled. I want to be able to uninstall the web browser, the chat client, the netmeeting client, the e-mail client, and all the other applets that come with Windows. Alas, very little of that can be removed.
The current state of Windows is that the dlls for the web browser, the chat client, the netmeeting client, the e-mail client, the media client, etc...are all shared between mutiple aplications and these dlls are needed to make the OS work, and to make it easier for devolpers to write aplications quickly.
In theory, it's a good idea. In reality, it strengthens the MS monopoly.
And you aren't the target for MS Windows. Joe Sixpack doesn't want just an OS that manages the hardware resources. He wants to pull the thing out of the cardboard box, plug it in, and find some good porn without having to think or install more software.
So including interfaces to those dlls (Outlook Express, IE, Netmeeting, MSN Messenger, etc...) is also a good idea, but because it's MS, it's also monoplistic.
If AOL TimeWarner did the same thing by making an "AOL on a Box" type thing that included say, a Linux OS, nicely configured Mozilla and/or AOL client support, some sort of office suite like Open Office, throw in Evolution, gaim, and a nice pre configured desktop enviorment, and you have a good idea, but it's not monopolistic because it isn't MS, yet they would be doing almost the exact same thing...
MS is in a tight spot due to the way they do business, and they deserve to be in that spot and worse. But strip away marketing, legal, FUD, and anything that they do for profit, and they do have some good ideas.
OK, I'm done. I'm going to go back in my box and think within the limits of said box now:
MS Sucks.
Linix Good.
I read too much Slashdot.
"Duke Nukem Forever has been released."
But the Mac OSX version has been delayed until Quarter 3, just in time for the 2010 Holidy Season.
Try putting your magnetic security badge or one of those credit cart hotel keys under your cell phone while you sleep. I've loocked myself out of a hotel room and my office doing that.
It will only be a matter of time until Liberty City's favorite Reality TV probram becomes a reality now.
Yes, it is. It's built in. No wires to tangled around my cellphone headset and car charger, seatbelt, parking break, and whatever else happens to be between the drivers seat and the passenger door.
Is it a cheat, or is it an optimization?
:)
Well, given that it's qute likely that other products will be based on Doom3, QuakeIII, and the various Unreal engines, is it really bad to optimize your drivers to run those applications as best as possible?
They are intended to be fast moving games, so even if such optimizations do degrade the visual quality a bit, it's not likely that you as the person playing the game will notice that the soke trail on the rocket that just exploded in your chest is only rendered across 25% of the distance between you and your attacker instead of the 50% the developer of the game intended.
And in the case of Unreal Tournament 2002, they are at least telling you that the drivers have been optimized specifically for that title (if you read the small print.)
Now go do some Linux vs Windows benchmarks without doing some sort of tweaking so that Linux has the advantage in whatever it is you're benchmarking. No? Not going to do it? I didn't think so.
Actually, the code for multiplayer was left in GTA3 for PC
Can't wait for multiplayer a Liberty City Surviver mod. (If you haven't listed to in game radio in GTA3, you wouldn't understand...)
I belive their lawers and PR people are confused. Last I heard, they were more interested in IP, not source. SysV is SCO's IP, and the Linux kernel doesn't have SCO code in it, but lots of linux software is based around the SysV design, even if the software itself was written from scratch to behanve like SysV. They also seem to think that IBM and other United Linux partners might have included SCO IP into verious software.
Seems like their issue isn't the kernel, but the software being distributed with the kernel.
Remember folks, Linux is the kernel, not the OS. Distributions are the OS. SCO is after distributers, not the kernel. If anyone tells you Linux is an operating system, they're wrong.
Maybe because because Blizzard and Valve actually make money? Can't recall who else is under Vivendi Universal, but if Apple was trying to aquire those divisions too, this announcment would go from "Calafornia fell into the ocean" earth shattering to "Snowball fight in Hell! Hey look, a Snow-Saten"
Those are precious gem quality. Industral quality diamonds can be made through some process, or made from the precious gem rejects. My guess is that they're using industrial quality, but I should go RTFA. :)
I've been pondering getting the DS9 DVDs. DS9 seemed to be the best of the Star Trek series because of a more contiuning story that you sorta had to follow, because it was competing with Babylon 5 at the time.
DS9 you could kinda pick up mid way though. Babylon 5 you could kinda pick up, but was a whole lot more interesting if you caught it from the beginning.
Farscape is just...out there. You really need to watch from the begining or at least watch the recap episodes to have a clue about what the frell is going on and why you should care...
Lord I'm an idiot...too many stupid forums lately....slashdot does html Xibby...duuuuuh! Use preview Xibby...duhhhh!
Tight VNC
Open SSH for Windows
Or, forget PC Anywhere. Install WinXP (Home or Pro), install [url=http://www.networksimplicity.com/openssh/]Ope n SSH for Windows[/url], install [url=http://www.tightvnc.com]Tight VNC[/url]
:) Now if they would only get broadband so I can actually read what Tight VNC is displaying... :)
Set up users without administrator access. hell, use empty passwords for the normal users accounts. Do use seperate users! Setup an admin account that IS NOT administrator, just incase they change the administrator password on you and forget it.
Now, explain to them how to use the admin accoun. Use it to install and update your system only. Do not use it to do work. If you use the admin account, you should be able to tell me exactly what you did under that account so that I have an idea what went wrong with your computer when you do call me.
That is the only way I've been able to deal with my parents and windows.
No, you don't have to bend over for your client. That's just one way of doing business. when you do business, you choose which area to focus on.
1. Do anything it takes to make the customer happy.
2. Be the most efficient you can be, so that you have the lowest possible production cost.
3. Find your specality. Do that one thing, and do it so well that nobody can compete.
4. Damnit can't remember...but you get the idea right?
When you choose your focus, the other areas are not as important as that focus. So no, you don't have to be a contortionist for your clients. You can choose to be a contortionist for your clients.
Back in 1998 I got myself a HP laser Jet 6L. 5 years later, I'm still on the original toner cartridge. I don't print alot though, I think I've maybe gone through 7 or 8 reams of paper in 5 years. Still though, beats the heck out of my girlfriends printer that needs new ink every few months even though she hardly used it.
Lucifers Hammer is a big much for a movie. Just too much going on to cram it into 4 hours or less. Now a TV miniseries on the otherhand...
Too bad most school districts don't even know about windows terminal services and/or Citrix in the first place, and invest in hundreds of workstations that will be in use for 5+ years. Too bad that Linux and UNIX in general has fallen off the radar of K-12 education.
Too bad that those making the decisions on equipment are usually school board members who only know what their IT managers give them at work and what they have at home.
So you end up with the School Board deciding that Windows 98 is the current industry standard, and end up with a bunch of impossible to manage and totally insecure windows machines that studets will hack, install games, and generally make unusable and unstable.
Oh, and did I mention that anyone working IT at a public school is likely underpaid, or has training that warrents that salery anyway?
Since nobody seems to actually read articles:
$12-million project
1600 kilometres
20 days for the inland trip
10 days for the return to the coast (downhill!)
(That's a staggering average speed of 3.33 KPH for the trip to the pole, 6.66 KPH for the trip to the coast)
The traffic will consist of slow-moving convoys of caterpillar tractors, towing sleds with supplies.
The Scott-Amundsen base is only currently accessible by air, which places limits on cargo and relies on good weather. The road could be open to heavy traffic for up to 100 days a year during the austral summer.
When I first got my TiVo, my roomate and I spent a couple hours adding programs to it. BattleBots, SeqQuest: DSV, lots of other Sci-Fi stuff, and a few selections from the Cartoon Network.
:)
Job well done...and the next evening we discovered that our TiVo installation coencided with a Care Bars marathon on Toon Disney. TiVo must have really thought we'd like Care Bares, because it filled itself with every episode of this Care Bare marathon.
This was before they clear to skip to the delete screen patch, so there were alot of menus involved in deleting every episode of Care Bares.
dd? Hmm...sure...that would work...
/home, /usr/local, and other custom areas, and a selections file. If you need to recover, install base, add selections, install, restore /etc/, /home/, /usr/local...
But I perfer installing one system, getting all the packages I want selected and installed, then on the second system, get base installed. (Getting a Debian system with just the Debian base [base being Linux system up and running and ready for you to use apt-get/dselect/etc.] then, on the system that's in the finished state:
dpkg --get-selections >> zibbys.selections
Transfer zibbys.selections to base system, then run:
dpkg --set-selections zibbys.selections
apt-get dsist-upgrade
And off goes the wonderful tool called apt, downloading all my selections.
Dumping your selections is a great way to do backups on a budget too. Just back up configs,
Magic is impressive, but now, Minsc leads. Swords for everyone!
Or my personal favorite...
Jan, you are not worthy of having a miniaturized giant space hampster scampering loose in your pants.