But those horror stories are the exception. More typically, software makers are simply using the downloads to distribute legitimate products.
Any company or software that uses this method is not selling a legitimate product IMO - which come to think of it, does Gator actually have ANY use to it whatsoever? Mozilla/IE remember passwords already, what kind of "product" is this?
Crap like this will get worse until we start to classify scumware as Trojans, and take appropriate steps to secure our networks. Fuck these guys.
As soon as you tell all my past employers that "IT" does not mean maintain every piece of electronic equipment in the office, I'll be more realistic in my resume.
"Electronic Stapler's broken! Call the IT Guy over here right now!"
I just finished getting the GARNOME package and installing it this morning.
I did this on Debian unstable, so ymmv depending on your distro. I apt-getted the necessary packages as listed on the garnome page. (Forgot to get flex, but someone pointed that out to me on the irc channel).
There was a small bug in.8.5, but.8.6 is on the ftp site now. I wasn't timing it, but my guess is that it took about 2.5 hours on my 800 Tbird w/384MB RAM.
After I got the tarball, I just did a "make install" and it installed the gnome2 distro right in my home directory. I haven't used anything with GAR before, but this package is definately a welcome addition to my box.
Gnome2 impressions - Nautilus is f*cking FAST. Real fast. As in, I will finally use it. Kudos to the hackers that improved this thing.
The fonts - very nice, look good. It even used my ms ttf fonts that I had previously installed. I don't know if that was intentional or something that "just happened".
The bad - not too many apps ported yet, but I'm sure that will change.
I usually wait for packages for major things like desktops and the such, but garnome really really makes it easy. The guys in #garnome on irc.gnome.org are really helpful too.
and the page asks me to upgrade my browser to NS4+ or IE.
Hmmm... I really don't see Sharp seriously supporting this little Linux venture of theirs - yet another "Linux" product from a company that talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk.
* Exclusive online content only available to DVD-ROM users via a special website set to go live on street date.
Wow, thanks New Line, for following in Lucasfilms retarded footsteps! I hope it comes with that awesome windows only Interplay DVD plugin - so I have to reboot to my Windows partition - only to find that it takes over all my video MIME types, only to find that the "exclusive" web link still doesn't work - and try removing it, I _dare_ you. DVD playback was completely broken on my Windows box. I ended up getting the stupid EPI exclusive content through morpheus.
I have my perfectly good EP1 DVD with its worthless web content - and now these guys are doing the same thing. Movie Studios - It's a DVD, you've got PLENTY of room. I paid for the damn thing already, stop making them 'dumb for no reason.' You know I'm going to buy both sets - we're fanatics and want everything, you've got our money already, wtf?
I had a badge thingie for this thing (government contractor for SAIC, ironically Mr. Dean works for SAIC too.)
But when I got the badge and pamphlets in the mail, there was no mention of anything Linux related... and considering my colleagues told me that it would be a "typical show", ie. huge MS presence, nothing spectacular, I chose to catch up at work. IBM wasn't even on the list. It looked really lame.
I'll go next year, but did anyone know in advance that these guys were speaking? If so, is there a web resource that is available to check on Linux community participation in events? The big shows are obvious, but I really didn't think there would be a linux presence at FOSE at all....
Some command line apps could use some consistency though, for example, to login as 'user' to a box is 'ssh -l user ftp.site.com', but to use it through ncftp, its 'ncftp -u user ftp.site.com'.
I always mix up the switches, I wish the command line tools would get some attention too - unless there are specific reasons why there isn't? Some use -f, some use --force, pick one, or better at least support both.
Argh, a spam story, sssca and a telco story in one day, slashdot is really pissing me off today.:)
I can totally see my local telco using this to their advantage. These are the same jerks and assholes who charge an extra $15 a month for a static IP. All I want is 1mbit up and down, and no restrictions on what services I can use (ie. servers). Is it too hard for these broadband 'providers' to offer something so simple? Is it so hard?
NO, they'd rather spend their cash revamping their websites every 15 days with more 'features', or telemarketing me to death - and we already know that you're only service from a dsl provider is dslreports.com.
No sympathy from me - I'll continue to get screwed and like it, along with everyone else.
I don't think that will fix the problem, except increase the amount of lawyers in the world, and we can be sure that's not good.
I know two wrongs don't make a right, but I would actually respect script kiddies and the like if they targetted spammers instead of everyone. Someone cracking into the spamhouses and creating havoc on their networks, thrashing their servers, and randomly destroying spam programs would make for some good storytelling on slashdot.
I say screw the legal road, they're using 'illegal' and sneaky ways to take over systems - I say we give it right back to them.
Normally if that happens to a sysadmin or friend of mine, I am apologetic - having this happen to spam scumbags, I would cheer from the sideline.
Agreed, another one that sucks are the one that your registrar sold you out on. I only own 5 domains, and these can start to pile up. I generally avoid register.com, but it seems like most of the domain houses are selling you out.
I know the spammers are probably harvesting your whois information but having
"Register.com let us know that your website is missing on some search engines"
really pisses me off. I guess I shouldn't have bought them on such a long contract...
You know, you can use iNotes and let your PHB still use Outlook and he won't tell the difference between Exchange and Notes.
Domino/Notes may have some issues, but I think many people will agree that on the backend, it does what it needs to do and it does have a significant number of advantages over Exchange.
Of course, if common sense prevailed, it would be the mail server vendor in court for producing insecure mail server software.
And that would leave us with how many commercial mail servers? None.:)
More laws like this will only make things worse. One thing we have seen proven time and time again (SSSCA, DMCA), is that legislation of technology by people who don't understand or are influenced by people who don't understand it is that it does not work.
I'd bet that nine out of ten 'insecure' or 'spamfriendly' open relays are human related errors. Granted, using sendmail is like playing with a loaded gun with the trigger welded down, but it is possible, and other MTAs are pretty damn secure and fast (I like Postfix).
I had some fun with my Dell Rep when we needed to order ~10 computers. I insisted on p3 1Ghz (I don't care what anyone says, thats good enough for business use) - but the guy kept trying to get me to up to P4 1.7's, giving me the whole deal about how all my apps would run at blazing speed. I told him I knew exactly what I needed, and I wasn't in the mood, I just wanted to order my stuff. He kept telling me that the P4's where the best computer I can get for my money.
I mentioned to him that I had no desire to get locked in to either RDRAM or SDRAM-P4s (ugh)... and asked why they didn't offer AMD Athlons. So, he recited his intel brochure, then gives me the speil about what a great relationship Dell has with Intel, and how Intel outperforms AMD by large margins, and "no serious computer user would ever pick AMD."
I asked for seperate ethernet cards (if you have experience with Dells you'll know why I did this)... but he almost flatly refused! Stating "18 years of engineering has proven that Dell's built-in ethernet ports are the most reliable in the industry..."
Then, I insited on Windows/Office 2k for all my boxen (Its our corporate standard), I really gave it to him - now I was pissed at this guy. I didn't want to get locked into licensing issues, didn't want activation (knowing damn well that the corporate edition is free from that stuff), had no new features. He kept pushing though, and in the end I cancelled the order out of disgust.
(The next week someone else from our department called and ordered them, $1700+ for each P4 - talk about a rip off)
Anoyne have any experience with the SAIR and the LPI certifications?
I got an exam cram and a nutshell book for them and have been using them as bathroom reading material. Even if I never end up taking the tests, it is nice that a certification forces you to learn certain things.
Being that a good portion of us are self-taught Linux guys, I've never really found a use for sed and awk until I read about them in this book. And I've even started learning vi! (ugh).
One day I guess I'll got get a cert - comp.os.linux, www.linuxdoc.org, and the Ars Technica Linux Forum probably wouldn't have that much weight on a a resume. Heh.
I think the parent poster was referring to SuSE's no-iso policy, which keeps me from trying SuSE at home. Though its not proprietary or non-GPL in any way - its definately easier to grab a Redhat/Debian/Mandrake iso than try SuSE.
Having a DVD with the box set would be nice though, netinstalls and switching CDs gets old - I'll probably buy 8.0 to see what all the fuss is about.:)
I have also talked to Stallman about putting a clause in the GPL about not using the GPL in military systems because of these concerns. I don't know if it is possible. What about the Coast Guard? What UN peace keeping troops?
That is the most blatanyly ignorant thing I've ever heard. Killing people is wrong - but suggesting to ban GPL software from the military is stupid. The military is not inherently 'evil', its _use_ might be evil. Do you really think that all those hundreds of thousands of German soldiers in WW2 were evil, or just doing what their American counterparts did - support their country. Sometimes killing people saves even more lives in the end. That's a fact of life.
By your logic, while, we're at it, we might as well ban companies from using Linux (oops, GNU/Linux), because God knows, RJ Reynolds might get a hold of it, and we can't have cigarette making companies using GNU Software, because they kill people to.
Oh, might as well ban non-Americans from using the GPL too, because damnit, unless those Iraqis get some common sense and get rid of Saddam, they're helping to kill people to.
What if GPL software was used in some embedded system that terrorists are using? What are you going to do now? Somebody call TiVo and let them know that Osama is using their custom GNU/Linux software to watch Friends!
* Red Hat has been a strong contributor to creation and enhancement of Open Source software.
Ummm, let's see, Alan Cox on the kernel, Chris Blizzard on Mozilla, Havoc on Gnome, bero does KDE packages
Those are the ones on the top of my head. I probably forgot a few, but GNOME, gcc, and certainly Mozilla on Linux wouldn't be as far as they are today without the Red Hat guys.
I've used some BookPC's for second computers and the such. They are awesome for that little size. Looks like mobo's like this will help push the little stuff forward. Once you get past the old "little piece of junk that doesn't compare to my full blown rig", they're capable machines. Having your linux distro recognize all that built-in stuff would be a plus.
I wish that other manufacturers would jump into this boat and push this market further, I'm not buying anything by VIA anytime soon.
Slashdot Mirror
But those horror stories are the exception. More typically, software makers are simply using the downloads to distribute legitimate products.
Any company or software that uses this method is not selling a legitimate product IMO - which come to think of it, does Gator actually have ANY use to it whatsoever? Mozilla/IE remember passwords already, what kind of "product" is this?
Crap like this will get worse until we start to classify scumware as Trojans, and take appropriate steps to secure our networks. Fuck these guys.
As soon as you tell all my past employers that "IT" does not mean maintain every piece of electronic equipment in the office, I'll be more realistic in my resume.
"Electronic Stapler's broken! Call the IT Guy over here right now!"
I just finished getting the GARNOME package and installing it this morning.
.8.5, but .8.6 is on the ftp site now. I wasn't timing it, but my guess is that it took about 2.5 hours on my 800 Tbird w/384MB RAM.
I did this on Debian unstable, so ymmv depending on your distro. I apt-getted the necessary packages as listed on the garnome page. (Forgot to get flex, but someone pointed that out to me on the irc channel).
There was a small bug in
After I got the tarball, I just did a "make install" and it installed the gnome2 distro right in my home directory. I haven't used anything with GAR before, but this package is definately a welcome addition to my box.
Gnome2 impressions - Nautilus is f*cking FAST. Real fast. As in, I will finally use it. Kudos to the hackers that improved this thing.
The fonts - very nice, look good. It even used my ms ttf fonts that I had previously installed. I don't know if that was intentional or something that "just happened".
The bad - not too many apps ported yet, but I'm sure that will change.
I usually wait for packages for major things like desktops and the such, but garnome really really makes it easy. The guys in #garnome on irc.gnome.org are really helpful too.
and the page asks me to upgrade my browser to NS4+ or IE.
... I really don't see Sharp seriously supporting this little Linux venture of theirs - yet another "Linux" product from a company that talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk.
Hmmm
* Exclusive online content only available to DVD-ROM users via a special website set to go live on street date.
Wow, thanks New Line, for following in Lucasfilms retarded footsteps! I hope it comes with that awesome windows only Interplay DVD plugin - so I have to reboot to my Windows partition - only to find that it takes over all my video MIME types, only to find that the "exclusive" web link still doesn't work - and try removing it, I _dare_ you. DVD playback was completely broken on my Windows box. I ended up getting the stupid EPI exclusive content through morpheus.
I have my perfectly good EP1 DVD with its worthless web content - and now these guys are doing the same thing. Movie Studios - It's a DVD, you've got PLENTY of room. I paid for the damn thing already, stop making them 'dumb for no reason.' You know I'm going to buy both sets - we're fanatics and want everything, you've got our money already, wtf?
I had a badge thingie for this thing (government contractor for SAIC, ironically Mr. Dean works for SAIC too.)
... and considering my colleagues told me that it would be a "typical show", ie. huge MS presence, nothing spectacular, I chose to catch up at work. IBM wasn't even on the list. It looked really lame.
But when I got the badge and pamphlets in the mail, there was no mention of anything Linux related
I'll go next year, but did anyone know in advance that these guys were speaking? If so, is there a web resource that is available to check on Linux community participation in events? The big shows are obvious, but I really didn't think there would be a linux presence at FOSE at all....
Some command line apps could use some consistency though, for example, to login as 'user' to a box is 'ssh -l user ftp.site.com', but to use it through ncftp, its 'ncftp -u user ftp.site.com'.
I always mix up the switches, I wish the command line tools would get some attention too - unless there are specific reasons why there isn't? Some use -f, some use --force, pick one, or better at least support both.
Argh, a spam story, sssca and a telco story in one day, slashdot is really pissing me off today. :)
I can totally see my local telco using this to their advantage. These are the same jerks and assholes who charge an extra $15 a month for a static IP. All I want is 1mbit up and down, and no restrictions on what services I can use (ie. servers). Is it too hard for these broadband 'providers' to offer something so simple? Is it so hard?
NO, they'd rather spend their cash revamping their websites every 15 days with more 'features', or telemarketing me to death - and we already know that you're only service from a dsl provider is dslreports.com.
No sympathy from me - I'll continue to get screwed and like it, along with everyone else.
I don't think that will fix the problem, except increase the amount of lawyers in the world, and we can be sure that's not good.
I know two wrongs don't make a right, but I would actually respect script kiddies and the like if they targetted spammers instead of everyone. Someone cracking into the spamhouses and creating havoc on their networks, thrashing their servers, and randomly destroying spam programs would make for some good storytelling on slashdot.
I say screw the legal road, they're using 'illegal' and sneaky ways to take over systems - I say we give it right back to them.
Normally if that happens to a sysadmin or friend of mine, I am apologetic - having this happen to spam scumbags, I would cheer from the sideline.
Agreed, another one that sucks are the one that your registrar sold you out on. I only own 5 domains, and these can start to pile up. I generally avoid register.com, but it seems like most of the domain houses are selling you out.
...
I know the spammers are probably harvesting your whois information but having
"Register.com let us know that your website is missing on some search engines"
really pisses me off. I guess I shouldn't have bought them on such a long contract
ok, crappy analogy - "plasma gun from doom with the triger welded down."
You know, you can use iNotes and let your PHB still use Outlook and he won't tell the difference between Exchange and Notes.
Domino/Notes may have some issues, but I think many people will agree that on the backend, it does what it needs to do and it does have a significant number of advantages over Exchange.
Of course, if common sense prevailed, it would be the mail server vendor in court for producing insecure mail server software.
:)
And that would leave us with how many commercial mail servers? None.
More laws like this will only make things worse. One thing we have seen proven time and time again (SSSCA, DMCA), is that legislation of technology by people who don't understand or are influenced by people who don't understand it is that it does not work.
I'd bet that nine out of ten 'insecure' or 'spamfriendly' open relays are human related errors. Granted, using sendmail is like playing with a loaded gun with the trigger welded down, but it is possible, and other MTAs are pretty damn secure and fast (I like Postfix).
Sysadmin Talk is a forum for sysadmins.
Still a small community since its relatively new, but it has potential.
I had some fun with my Dell Rep when we needed to order ~10 computers. I insisted on p3 1Ghz (I don't care what anyone says, thats good enough for business use) - but the guy kept trying to get me to up to P4 1.7's, giving me the whole deal about how all my apps would run at blazing speed. I told him I knew exactly what I needed, and I wasn't in the mood, I just wanted to order my stuff. He kept telling me that the P4's where the best computer I can get for my money.
... and asked why they didn't offer AMD Athlons. So, he recited his intel brochure, then gives me the speil about what a great relationship Dell has with Intel, and how Intel outperforms AMD by large margins, and "no serious computer user would ever pick AMD."
... but he almost flatly refused! Stating "18 years of engineering has proven that Dell's built-in ethernet ports are the most reliable in the industry..."
I mentioned to him that I had no desire to get locked in to either RDRAM or SDRAM-P4s (ugh)
I asked for seperate ethernet cards (if you have experience with Dells you'll know why I did this)
Then, I insited on Windows/Office 2k for all my boxen (Its our corporate standard), I really gave it to him - now I was pissed at this guy. I didn't want to get locked into licensing issues, didn't want activation (knowing damn well that the corporate edition is free from that stuff), had no new features. He kept pushing though, and in the end I cancelled the order out of disgust.
(The next week someone else from our department called and ordered them, $1700+ for each P4 - talk about a rip off)
they just have to make the source available somwhere (most likely an ftp site), not include it on every CD they ship.
Anoyne have any experience with the SAIR and the LPI certifications?
I got an exam cram and a nutshell book for them and have been using them as bathroom reading material. Even if I never end up taking the tests, it is nice that a certification forces you to learn certain things.
Being that a good portion of us are self-taught Linux guys, I've never really found a use for sed and awk until I read about them in this book. And I've even started learning vi! (ugh).
One day I guess I'll got get a cert - comp.os.linux, www.linuxdoc.org, and the Ars Technica Linux Forum probably wouldn't have that much weight on a a resume. Heh.
I think the parent poster was referring to SuSE's no-iso policy, which keeps me from trying SuSE at home. Though its not proprietary or non-GPL in any way - its definately easier to grab a Redhat/Debian/Mandrake iso than try SuSE.
:)
Having a DVD with the box set would be nice though, netinstalls and switching CDs gets old - I'll probably buy 8.0 to see what all the fuss is about.
I have also talked to Stallman about putting a clause in the GPL about not using the GPL in military systems because of these concerns. I don't know if it is possible. What about the Coast Guard? What UN peace keeping troops?
That is the most blatanyly ignorant thing I've ever heard. Killing people is wrong - but suggesting to ban GPL software from the military is stupid. The military is not inherently 'evil', its _use_ might be evil. Do you really think that all those hundreds of thousands of German soldiers in WW2 were evil, or just doing what their American counterparts did - support their country. Sometimes killing people saves even more lives in the end. That's a fact of life.
By your logic, while, we're at it, we might as well ban companies from using Linux (oops, GNU/Linux), because God knows, RJ Reynolds might get a hold of it, and we can't have cigarette making companies using GNU Software, because they kill people to.
Oh, might as well ban non-Americans from using the GPL too, because damnit, unless those Iraqis get some common sense and get rid of Saddam, they're helping to kill people to.
What if GPL software was used in some embedded system that terrorists are using? What are you going to do now? Somebody call TiVo and let them know that Osama is using their custom GNU/Linux software to watch Friends!
I do this all the time, its a great method.
I tried this with some of my users, one particulary bright one ended up saying "so now I have to remember a whole phrase instead of one word!"
I felt like Major Quimby in that Bear Patrol episode - "Is it me, or are these people getting stupider every year?"
I do the same I thing I do with email addresses, one for 'serious' things, and one that I can throw away on worthless websites, etc. etc.
My banking, insurance, and other important stuff I use the serious password, and everything else gets the lame one, which I never change.
* Red Hat has been a strong contributor to creation and enhancement of Open Source software.
Ummm, let's see, Alan Cox on the kernel, Chris Blizzard on Mozilla, Havoc on Gnome, bero does KDE packages
Those are the ones on the top of my head. I probably forgot a few, but GNOME, gcc, and certainly Mozilla on Linux wouldn't be as far as they are today without the Red Hat guys.
I've used some BookPC's for second computers and the such. They are awesome for that little size. Looks like mobo's like this will help push the little stuff forward. Once you get past the old "little piece of junk that doesn't compare to my full blown rig", they're capable machines. Having your linux distro recognize all that built-in stuff would be a plus.
I wish that other manufacturers would jump into this boat and push this market further, I'm not buying anything by VIA anytime soon.
I you change your default search engine, your location bar becomes a google-bar of sorts.
And, if you go to www.arsware.com, there is a googlebar for mozilla there. It's also an Ars Technica toolbar too, but you can turn that stuff off.
1. I tried "google" and hit enter, and it went to google.com, try it.
2. The ALT tag is not for tooltips. The TITLE tag is for tooltips. I know this annoys alot of people, but that's the spec.