AFAIK, AOL only continues using IE in their software because fresh installations of MS Windows still come with an AOL icon on the desktop (in many cases). If they were to drop IE from the client, MS would drop that placement from the desktop.
The contract that allowed for that has expired. Microsoft is no longer required to put AOL on the desktop and AOL is no longer required to use IE.
At this point it is up to AOL to put their product where their mouth is. They have the power to boost use and popularity of Netscape without having to resort to suing Microsoft. If they don't do it by choice, they are simply being hypocrites.
That's exactly right, and something I think a lot of people are missing.
AOL can complain about their product (Netscape) being a victim of a monopoly, but they don't even use it. I really don't see how anyone can look at this and not laugh.
Fact is, if AOL bundled Netscape with their cd's, Netscape would have a much higher presense on the desktop. If Microsoft is engaging in anti-competative practices, it's being helped along by AOL.
No, by stealing software, you are affecting how much money I get as a programmer.
You are correct in that it does not affect my salary, but what about stock? Most people have stock in the company they work for (if it's offered). People stealing the software means that profit is not as high, stocks don't rise as high, I don't make as much money.
I bought a Rio Volt SP 100 not long ago and I love it. Here's the pros and cons as far as I can see:
Pros:
Plays several media types
Plays songs off of several file system types
Understands folders, subfolders and playlists
Several nice options (repeat 1, repeat all, repeat directory, etc.)
Fairly cheap (~$150 at Radio Shack)
Decent battery life
Flashable ROM for updates
Backlit display (can be turned off)
Easy navigation of files
Cons:
Skip protection leaves a bit to be desired
Annoying dancing people at the bottom of the display
Only plays mp3s with a bitrate up to 128 (I believe)
I've been pretty happy with it overall. Cheap, works well, no anti-piracy stuff (though it comes with the software, it's not necessary). The fact that it also plays cds is convenient as well.
I have another mp3 player that is put out by Sony, but had no real luck with it. The anti-piracy protection was annoying, custom format of music, small capacity, short life on expensive battery. About the only good thing about it was it was so small (about the size of a business card).
Speaking as someone who was at the conference, I would like to make a few corrections.
First, it wasn't Microsoft that proprosed the idea at the conference.
Second, the idea of this is to try to get people to follow a standard way of reporting vulnerabilities and force companies to take a responsible role in addressing and responding to vulnerabilities.
Third, this is not designed to try to hide vulnerabilities from anyone.
Basically, it works as thus:
Joe Random Person finds a vulnerability in a program or service. He then documents the vulnerability, along with sample code to reproduce the bug. He contacts secure@company.com with the information he has. Joe is now expected not to release information on the bug at this time, but will stay in contact with the company.
The company now has to respond with a couple things.
1) Acknowledgement of the bug
2) An estimated date when it will be fixed
3) Any further questions the company may have
The company will be responsible for keeping in touch with Joe and provide updates on timeframe.
Once there is a patch in place or a fix has been implemented, the company goes public with the bug, including high level information on the exploit. This will not contain code that will exploit the vulnerability, but rather a description and model by which it could be exploited. The company will give credit for the find to Joe. Joe is also free to release his own high-level description of the issue.
After the grace period (around 30 days, there are exceptions), full information on the exploit is released, including code that can be used to exploit the vulnerability. This grace period is intended to allow administrators to have a chance to patch their products. At this time, Joe can also release a full paper with sample code and more details. Again, full credit is given to Joe for the find.
The intent of this is not to prevent the details from becoming public. It is rather intended to lessen the damage that can happen after the release of exploit code. It is not gaurenteed to prevent damage, just to try to help reduce it.
There could be errors in this, and don't take this as a summary of the eventual document. This is my summarized take on it.
Since when does technical superiority mean that it succedes? RISC architecture is far superior to x86, look at the performance of MAC compared to Intel.
But, superior hardware doesn't mean that it wins. Apple made a lot of choices that kept it from beating out Intel. While those choices hurt them in business, they helped to make the hardware superior.
Or, for an example that is very popular here, Windows vs. Linux. Which is technically superior and which is most commonly used?
RISC kick's Intel's arse in performance. Cost is the problem.
Of course. Tech support has nothing to do with solving customer problems, it's all about racking up entries in the call log.
Actually, it's about money. (isn't everything in business?)
Let's pretend it's outsourced tech support (since most of it is anyway).
Costs:
Phone lines (probably multiple T1's or similar)
Internet Connection (agian, T1's or greater)
Electricity
Rent
Computers
Upkeep of various things
Paper
Wages
etc. (there's a lot, you get the idea)
Income:
Money from ISPs. This is either a flat contract (so much per month/subscriber) or on a per call basis.
At the company I was at, for us to make money, the calls had to be under 7 minutes.
If it isn't outsourced, then the only income is from the fees the user pays. This still leaves you with a limited amount of time to get the problem resolved and not be losing money.
I've done ISP support, so I can understand where they are comming from. For the ISP to support it they need at least one copy of the OS and for each person in their tech support center to spend time on it. It's hard to support at first, though most techs will at least try (at least the better ones will.)
I also see a lot of people saying how ISPs don't support *nix. There's good reason for that. There's a lot more involved in getting a *nix box set up to do dial-up than there is with other OS's. Time is money. The tech needs to get the call over as quickly as possible, and preferably in one call. That's incredibly difficult with *nix. You also have the problem of different kernel versions and modules that need to be in place, different software packages and versions, and a user (and tech) who actually can find all the files and know what needs to go in them. Mac and Win* are fairly simple, there is at least a similar interface between the various versions. That is nowhere near true with *nix. We handled *nix calls by saying "I can't help you, but here's the information you need. If you don't know where the info goes, check the HOWTO's."
Not only is configuration a problem with *nix, but so is troubleshooting. Having a user run around their system, checking files (in different places for different distro's and configuration setups) for things, having them go root for some things, that's beyond what most tech support people are able or willing to do. Do you want to lead someone on a chase through their system as root, changing various files, checking their kernel config, software config, and various other options, all over the phone?
Mac is easy, once you know how to do it. But, again, the techs need access to a Mac. In our call center we had one that we could use. Most of the tech's, though, couldn't answer Mac questions. When all they know and use is Windows, it's hard to teach them all the troubleshooting for another OS. There were a few of us who knew Mac's networking inside and out, and we were the ones who always took the calls.
Also, look at training costs involved. It's quick and easy to train someone to troubleshoot/config Windows. But teaching people *nix so that they can troubleshoot those problems is expensive and time consuming. Because of this, it becomes policy within a company not to support certain things. Mac, Win3.1 (yes, it is still in use), *nix, etc. are just too much for a company to try to handle. They stick with what is easy and is on a majority of the desktops. That's simply good business sense. Train other people to do more when you can, but you can never support everything and shouldn't try, either.
As I saw pointed out by someone else, it will be supported, but in a few months. We didn't support Win2k at first, but eventually we did. That involved me making a troubleshooting manual for it and distributing it. That kind of thing takes time, so it will happen, but it could be a few months.
Here is one a friend of mine wrote. It's really scary as it keeps the same syllabic scheme as the original. I have scary friends...
Once upon a website dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
O'er many a strange and eerie page with flash and gifs galore,
While I left-clicked, nearly happening on a web-page about rapping,
Came the sound of someone rapping, rapping at my office door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my office door--
Only this, and nothing more."
Yes, distinctly I remember it was 'fore I was a member
and could only read from senders who had written there before.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;-- vainly I had sought to borrow
A login, (spelled out as 'D0rr0w') -- I had borrowed once before--
From the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore--
D0rr0w there for evermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling threads on alt.rec.curtain
Bored me-- filled me with an ennui I had never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I clicked, repeating,
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my office door--
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my office door;--
This it is, and nothing more."
Presently, my interest stronger, though the posts became no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
I was reading newsgroups, chuckling at a usenet poster's buckling,
And so faintly you came knuckling, knuckling at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"-- here I opened wide the door;--
Janitor there, and nothing more.
Deep into the blackout peering, long I stood there wondering, peering,
Thinking through a post on topics no-one had posted before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was a whispered "404!"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "404!"-
Merely this, and nothing more.
Now my browser I was booting, all my inner junkie hooting,
Now I'd read of usenet looting anecdotes I'd heard before.
Booting Google, I thought "surely that is something torn from surly:
.com, late not early; let us surf the web, explore--
Yes, the web-page is the same it is nothing new from before;--
I'll read usenet, as before."
Opening up the usenet window, then, to the usenet group I'd read, though
In there stepped a user- 'Raven'- lurker of the days of yore;
And the shortest posting made he; no paragraph nor sentence said he;
And, with mien of lord or lady, posted URL before--
Posted pallas.com/. just above my post before--
Posted, sat, and nothing more.
This blank statement then beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the posting that it were.
"Though thy post be short and wordless, thou," I said, "art sure no bird, 'less,
Bird could type with wing fingerless, posting to alt.rec.folklore--
Tell me what thy login name is on the network, to be sure!"
Quoth the Raven, "404."
Much I marvelled this ungainly lurker to read text so plainly,
Though his answer little meaning-- little relevancy bore;
You cannot credit reading that man of any breeding
Ever yet was blest with reading posts from birds on rec.folklore--
Bird or beast upon the URL that Raven placed before,
With such name as "404."
But the raven, silent lurking, watched as I went off websurfing
to the URL, knee jerking, posted to alt.rec.folklore:
No more packets then he uttered-- not a single word he uttered--
As my modem strained and puttered, as great Kibo I implored:
Then Netscape said, "404."
Startled at the whiteness broken by a error page's token,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it's spoken is a prank and nothing more,
Some teasing posting posted so this 'Raven' can have boasted
Of his post; be broadly toasted by the trolls and gimps galore--
'Less my cut-and-paste left spaces that I did not see before
and brought me this 404."
But the post was still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,
So I edited the URL I had tried once before;
Then booting up Explorer, I re-pasted what this snorer
had put up in alt.rec.folklore (as I mentioned here before)--
To see what this ungainly, lengthy, URL before
Meant by giving "404."
Thus I sat engaged in guessing, where that space might be expressing
as a percent-twenty, guessing that my defaults would ignore;
This and more I sat divining, with my head slowly inclining
T'wards the monitor, all shining, that the error glowed o'er,
But which monitor, all shining, with the error glowing o'er,
Still it says, ah, 404!
Then methought my mind grown feeble, or perhaps the server evil,
Or perhaps it was slash-dotted, as it hadn't been before.
"Now," I cried, "by God I'll read thee-- read the address Raven sent me
Having spied a Percent-twenty that I hadn't seen before!
Now I'll hit the enter key and be tormented thus no more!"
Quoth the browser, "404."
"DAMNIT!" said I, "What's the matter?!?-- After all this keyboard clatter!--
And I've edited the spaces and yet still this 404??
This server must be dreadful, or upstream provider dead-fall--
I may just go to the damned mall-- tell me truly, I implore--
Is there any website hosted? Let's go down a folder more!"
Quoth the browser, "404."
"DAMNIT!!!" said I, "What's the matter-- After all this keyboard clatter!
This behavior does not flatter-- though I've gone a folder more--
What's been posted to the newsgroup, Something more from this whole sick troupe?
Let me check if there's a posting that I previously ignored--
A posting, perhaps where this Raven, fixed the address from before."
Posted Raven, "404."
"Be that post your final parting, bird or troll," I typed, upstarting--
"Get thee back into IRC and we clever folks ignore!
Leave no posting as a token of that URL- it's broken!
Leave my newsgroup, I have spoken!-- get the hell out! And what's more,
Take thy server, fold it sharply, and stuff it where--" I deplore,
but a new posting: "404."
And this Raven, never typing, probably is still out there, hyping
URLs and websites, knowing that their service is but poor;
And his words must have the seeming of a mailer-daemon screaming,
And the bandwidth he has streaming just as useless as before;
Though his posts from parent's basement, all those posts I so deplore
Shall be lifted-- 404!
If MAPS is used in the best way possible, there is no way for the customer to "opt-out" of it filtering their account. Used best, routers for the ISP simply drop the packets. This saves any number of things expensive computation, is quick, and is very effective.
To be fair, a number of groups will contact the company first, but that is not always the case. There are times when the exploit is released, and the vendor only knows about it when someone in their office reads BugTraq.
Yeah, it doesn't always work that way, but about half the issues I've been involved have been cases where the exploit was released without the person who discovered the exploit EVER contacting the company.
If everyone would contact the company before releasing an exploit, the world would be a much happier place.
Something else to remember, in regards to how long it takes to get a release out, is that it simply takes longer to release a patch for a product with a closed source model. The company must reproduce the problem, come up with a solution, test the solution, and then release it. Some of the problems I have seen have been very complex, requiring a rewrite of a lot of code and some very intricate testing.
Open source has an advantage here in that they have a larger number of people who can create the patch and test it.
Actually, it's pretty easy if you know where to look.
In Internet Explorer go to Tools -> Internet Options. Click on Programs. You will see what programs IE assosiates with certain actions.
The end-user who doesn't know how to do this calls his ISP tech support and they tell him how.
I would like to point out that most users don't want to know how to do this, mostly because they never need to. When they do, they call tech support.
Re: Steel Crystal Structures
on
More WTC News
·
· Score: 1
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you heat steel to a certain point without specific chemicals, you "burn" the steel, making it effectively useless. This involves very high amounts of carbon entering the steel.
The building was also an effectively great billows. Given altitude and the proximity to the ocean, there is a lot of wind that was going through there, increasing the heat to an enormous degree.
Another thing this high heat caused was the destruction of concrete. When concrete gets very hot the water is evaporated out of it, turning it to dust.
Without the concrete in the area and with the supports already greatly weakened due to heat and high carbon levels, the weight of what was above the area would easily cause the top to come down. We all saw the result of the cascade effect.
When I started college I had a 486/133 with 16 Megs of ram, a trident 1 meg video card and a 1.2 gig hard drive. I was on Win 3.11 until I found out that the university I was at would only support Win 95, so I upgraded to that.
Oh, I should mention that this was only... 4 (?) years ago.
I gaurentee this is not what is happening. How do i know? I work for Hotmail. I'm on the front lines. I know what's going on. And this is not what is happening. That i gaurentee.
I am not sure where Slashdot got this, but the title is completly misleading. There is a transition of SOME of the servers from BSD to Win2k, but that load is stable, and is not a source of problems. It is a gradual change, and a hotmail user won't even notice the difference.
at least get your headline right.
---------------- "All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
Parents aren't the only ones to blame here. There's all kinds of factors at work. A friend of mine was taking a psychocology class in which one of her assignments was to go to a toy store and compare male vs. female toys. try it sometime, it's really frightening. Walk into the girls section, and what do you see? what are the prevailing colors? what are the toys miniture versions of? now check out the boys section. ask the same questions. also note that most of the electronics are in the boys section. check out a playground. what are the boys playing at? and how about the girls? this stuff is embedded into kids early. from what i've seen, though, someone who chooses to get out of the preconcieved castes has no problems. some of the best people i know with computer are female, but they were certainly ostrasized before they achieved their full fledged geek status. i think it's also generally harder for a female geek starting out, both by men and women. but the ones who persevere are definatly a benifit to anyone who is in need of a good geek. in some ways, they've fought harder, they have more a want to be where they are. all geeks have to run a gauntlet, but i see women as having to jump through the fire at the end. but as they say, "that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger", and most of the female geeks i've met definatly live up to that.
damn i wish i knew more female geeks, though. they'd definatly be able to deal with my computer obsession than many of the girlfriends i've had before;)
---------------- "All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
Re:How about a nice ROM Monitor instead?
on
Linux BIOS
·
· Score: 3
Well, if you read the information on the page, that is exactly what they are trying to get around. they are replacing the bios with an image of the kernel, so that we aren't dealing with this "sudo-OS". something you also learn when you read the page, is that they start in 16 bit mode (as required by the cpu) and then about immediatly jump to 32 bit mode, gunzip the linux image, and run with it..
---------------- "All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
Contrary to popular polls, average web surfers WILL wait for stuff to download, and things that don't work get blamed on their OWN machine, not the offending website. Moms across the nation don't read/. and a lot of people think the Internet lives in their monitor. Scary but true...anybody who's ever done any amount of tech support can back me up on this.
well, almost. the many thousands of customers i've talked to usually think:
It's the isp (most common)
They need to format their computer to fix it (you would be suprised how often this comes up)
It's the tech's fault. because the tech works for the isp, and the tech can't help the customer, it's the tech's fault.
What's scary is that i've had people who said "i'm a professional. i do this for a living" and yet it was simple stuff that they had screwed up (like not having the flash plugin installed. but it was our fault, because it was the only server in the world that couldn't display flash images.) i've found that the people who have the most problems, are most vocal about them, and the ones who refuse to admit it may be their computer, are the "professionals". even though it's usually their fault.
that or, "it can't be my computer, it's run find for the last two years and i haven't changed a thing..."
god i hate people sometimes...
---------------- "All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
1. echo and pipes. 2. enlightenment... more spiritual 3. drivers.. but only if it's 16 or older 4. basic.. such a friendly name 5. distro? build your own. be a REAL geek 6. GNU/Linux.. excuse to correct peple who just say Linux 7. Scottish-endian (if it ain't scottish, it's crap!) 8. buy (it's mine! all mine!!!) 9. Clothes are for the weak! 10. redhead. definatly. no explination needed. 11. plastic. damn the earth! save the empire! 12. neither. too old and stuck on some crappy island. 13. less filling. and less taste. real men drink guiness. 14. 3! everyone knows that! the owl told us. 15. Farscape. more fun to see them not get along. 16. well, as i've never been stirred, but it sounds uncomfortable, i'll say shaken. 17. monocrome. color is only for gui. long live the command line! 18. frames = evil. 19. i think my bumper sticker covers this one: "prevent inbreeding, ban country music" 20. don't walk. those cars won't hit you, and if they do, sue. 21. Dr. Suess. at least he liked drugs. 22. voice. it better do what i say, when i say, damnit. 23. Deathmatch. He dies! she dies! everybody dies! 24. pop3. but that's only because i dont' know the commands to issue if i telnet to an imap server. 25. Hex. code and curse at the same time! 26. Hey dookie! 27. Flamebait. but then, i'm a pyro, so what do you expect? ---------------- "All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
Sigma Designs has plans to release a dvd player for linux. you can find info on the product here
i found this after seeing a posting from Jack Valenti at TheStandard.com in which he said:
Linux users are not being barred from playing DVD movies on their systems. The professor obviously is not aware that all Linux users have available to them a licensed application to do precisely that.
hope this helps. ---------------- "All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
While i think it might be interesting to see a geek in power like that, there are a few problems.
how many geeks are actually capabable (have the know how) to be able to fill that kind of position? or would want to?
also, while it's great to be able to say, "yeah, i'm a geek, and i'm running for _____," you have to deal with a lot more issues than those relating to geekdom. and those are things that will divide people who are geeks.
i think the best way would probably be to get someone in power to look at the issues the way we do. or to get someone who is running to address some of these issues. find a way to force them to address them. (maybe a slashdot interview with some of the canidates?)
i say leave politics to the politicians and the computers to the geeks. but make sure the geeks let the politicians know what they consider to be important and who they will vote for because of that.
---------------- "All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
Slashdot Mirror
The contract that allowed for that has expired. Microsoft is no longer required to put AOL on the desktop and AOL is no longer required to use IE.
At this point it is up to AOL to put their product where their mouth is. They have the power to boost use and popularity of Netscape without having to resort to suing Microsoft. If they don't do it by choice, they are simply being hypocrites.
That's exactly right, and something I think a lot of people are missing.
AOL can complain about their product (Netscape) being a victim of a monopoly, but they don't even use it. I really don't see how anyone can look at this and not laugh.
Fact is, if AOL bundled Netscape with their cd's, Netscape would have a much higher presense on the desktop. If Microsoft is engaging in anti-competative practices, it's being helped along by AOL.
No, by stealing software, you are affecting how much money I get as a programmer.
You are correct in that it does not affect my salary, but what about stock? Most people have stock in the company they work for (if it's offered). People stealing the software means that profit is not as high, stocks don't rise as high, I don't make as much money.
So, yes, you are hurting my income.
I bought a Rio Volt SP 100 not long ago and I love it. Here's the pros and cons as far as I can see:
Pros:
Plays several media types
Plays songs off of several file system types
Understands folders, subfolders and playlists
Several nice options (repeat 1, repeat all, repeat directory, etc.)
Fairly cheap (~$150 at Radio Shack)
Decent battery life
Flashable ROM for updates
Backlit display (can be turned off)
Easy navigation of files
Cons:
Skip protection leaves a bit to be desired
Annoying dancing people at the bottom of the display
Only plays mp3s with a bitrate up to 128 (I believe)
I've been pretty happy with it overall. Cheap, works well, no anti-piracy stuff (though it comes with the software, it's not necessary). The fact that it also plays cds is convenient as well.
I have another mp3 player that is put out by Sony, but had no real luck with it. The anti-piracy protection was annoying, custom format of music, small capacity, short life on expensive battery. About the only good thing about it was it was so small (about the size of a business card).
A trebuchet works via a simple lever. Put a lot of weight on one end, the other end goes up.
A sling works off of Newtons first law of motion, specifically with regard to circular motion.
You can read more on that here: http://www.encyclopedia.com/articlesnew/02490.html
Speaking as someone who was at the conference, I would like to make a few corrections.
First, it wasn't Microsoft that proprosed the idea at the conference.
Second, the idea of this is to try to get people to follow a standard way of reporting vulnerabilities and force companies to take a responsible role in addressing and responding to vulnerabilities.
Third, this is not designed to try to hide vulnerabilities from anyone.
Basically, it works as thus:
Joe Random Person finds a vulnerability in a program or service. He then documents the vulnerability, along with sample code to reproduce the bug. He contacts secure@company.com with the information he has. Joe is now expected not to release information on the bug at this time, but will stay in contact with the company.
The company now has to respond with a couple things.
1) Acknowledgement of the bug
2) An estimated date when it will be fixed
3) Any further questions the company may have
The company will be responsible for keeping in touch with Joe and provide updates on timeframe.
Once there is a patch in place or a fix has been implemented, the company goes public with the bug, including high level information on the exploit. This will not contain code that will exploit the vulnerability, but rather a description and model by which it could be exploited. The company will give credit for the find to Joe. Joe is also free to release his own high-level description of the issue.
After the grace period (around 30 days, there are exceptions), full information on the exploit is released, including code that can be used to exploit the vulnerability. This grace period is intended to allow administrators to have a chance to patch their products. At this time, Joe can also release a full paper with sample code and more details. Again, full credit is given to Joe for the find.
The intent of this is not to prevent the details from becoming public. It is rather intended to lessen the damage that can happen after the release of exploit code. It is not gaurenteed to prevent damage, just to try to help reduce it.
There could be errors in this, and don't take this as a summary of the eventual document. This is my summarized take on it.
Since when does technical superiority mean that it succedes? RISC architecture is far superior to x86, look at the performance of MAC compared to Intel.
But, superior hardware doesn't mean that it wins. Apple made a lot of choices that kept it from beating out Intel. While those choices hurt them in business, they helped to make the hardware superior.
Or, for an example that is very popular here, Windows vs. Linux. Which is technically superior and which is most commonly used?
RISC kick's Intel's arse in performance. Cost is the problem.
Actually, it's about money. (isn't everything in business?)
Let's pretend it's outsourced tech support (since most of it is anyway).
Costs:
Phone lines (probably multiple T1's or similar)
Internet Connection (agian, T1's or greater)
Electricity
Rent
Computers
Upkeep of various things
Paper
Wages
etc. (there's a lot, you get the idea)
Income:
Money from ISPs. This is either a flat contract (so much per month/subscriber) or on a per call basis.
At the company I was at, for us to make money, the calls had to be under 7 minutes.
If it isn't outsourced, then the only income is from the fees the user pays. This still leaves you with a limited amount of time to get the problem resolved and not be losing money.
I've done ISP support, so I can understand where they are comming from. For the ISP to support it they need at least one copy of the OS and for each person in their tech support center to spend time on it. It's hard to support at first, though most techs will at least try (at least the better ones will.)
I also see a lot of people saying how ISPs don't support *nix. There's good reason for that. There's a lot more involved in getting a *nix box set up to do dial-up than there is with other OS's. Time is money. The tech needs to get the call over as quickly as possible, and preferably in one call. That's incredibly difficult with *nix. You also have the problem of different kernel versions and modules that need to be in place, different software packages and versions, and a user (and tech) who actually can find all the files and know what needs to go in them. Mac and Win* are fairly simple, there is at least a similar interface between the various versions. That is nowhere near true with *nix. We handled *nix calls by saying "I can't help you, but here's the information you need. If you don't know where the info goes, check the HOWTO's."
Not only is configuration a problem with *nix, but so is troubleshooting. Having a user run around their system, checking files (in different places for different distro's and configuration setups) for things, having them go root for some things, that's beyond what most tech support people are able or willing to do. Do you want to lead someone on a chase through their system as root, changing various files, checking their kernel config, software config, and various other options, all over the phone?
Mac is easy, once you know how to do it. But, again, the techs need access to a Mac. In our call center we had one that we could use. Most of the tech's, though, couldn't answer Mac questions. When all they know and use is Windows, it's hard to teach them all the troubleshooting for another OS. There were a few of us who knew Mac's networking inside and out, and we were the ones who always took the calls.
Also, look at training costs involved. It's quick and easy to train someone to troubleshoot/config Windows. But teaching people *nix so that they can troubleshoot those problems is expensive and time consuming. Because of this, it becomes policy within a company not to support certain things. Mac, Win3.1 (yes, it is still in use), *nix, etc. are just too much for a company to try to handle. They stick with what is easy and is on a majority of the desktops. That's simply good business sense. Train other people to do more when you can, but you can never support everything and shouldn't try, either.
As I saw pointed out by someone else, it will be supported, but in a few months. We didn't support Win2k at first, but eventually we did. That involved me making a troubleshooting manual for it and distributing it. That kind of thing takes time, so it will happen, but it could be a few months.
Here is one a friend of mine wrote. It's really scary as it keeps the same syllabic scheme as the original. I have scary friends...
Once upon a website dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
O'er many a strange and eerie page with flash and gifs galore,
While I left-clicked, nearly happening on a web-page about rapping,
Came the sound of someone rapping, rapping at my office door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my office door--
Only this, and nothing more."
Yes, distinctly I remember it was 'fore I was a member
and could only read from senders who had written there before.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;-- vainly I had sought to borrow
A login, (spelled out as 'D0rr0w') -- I had borrowed once before--
From the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore--
D0rr0w there for evermore.
And the silken sad uncertain rustling threads on alt.rec.curtain
Bored me-- filled me with an ennui I had never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I clicked, repeating,
"'Tis some visitor entreating entrance at my office door--
Some late visitor entreating entrance at my office door;--
This it is, and nothing more."
Presently, my interest stronger, though the posts became no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
I was reading newsgroups, chuckling at a usenet poster's buckling,
And so faintly you came knuckling, knuckling at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you"-- here I opened wide the door;--
Janitor there, and nothing more.
Deep into the blackout peering, long I stood there wondering, peering,
Thinking through a post on topics no-one had posted before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was a whispered "404!"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "404!"-
Merely this, and nothing more.
Now my browser I was booting, all my inner junkie hooting,
Now I'd read of usenet looting anecdotes I'd heard before.
Booting Google, I thought "surely that is something torn from surly:
.com, late not early; let us surf the web, explore--
Yes, the web-page is the same it is nothing new from before;--
I'll read usenet, as before."
Opening up the usenet window, then, to the usenet group I'd read, though
In there stepped a user- 'Raven'- lurker of the days of yore;
And the shortest posting made he; no paragraph nor sentence said he;
And, with mien of lord or lady, posted URL before--
Posted pallas.com/. just above my post before--
Posted, sat, and nothing more.
This blank statement then beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,
By the grave and stern decorum of the posting that it were.
"Though thy post be short and wordless, thou," I said, "art sure no bird, 'less,
Bird could type with wing fingerless, posting to alt.rec.folklore--
Tell me what thy login name is on the network, to be sure!"
Quoth the Raven, "404."
Much I marvelled this ungainly lurker to read text so plainly,
Though his answer little meaning-- little relevancy bore;
You cannot credit reading that man of any breeding
Ever yet was blest with reading posts from birds on rec.folklore--
Bird or beast upon the URL that Raven placed before,
With such name as "404."
But the raven, silent lurking, watched as I went off websurfing
to the URL, knee jerking, posted to alt.rec.folklore:
No more packets then he uttered-- not a single word he uttered--
As my modem strained and puttered, as great Kibo I implored:
Then Netscape said, "404."
Startled at the whiteness broken by a error page's token,
"Doubtless," said I, "what it's spoken is a prank and nothing more,
Some teasing posting posted so this 'Raven' can have boasted
Of his post; be broadly toasted by the trolls and gimps galore--
'Less my cut-and-paste left spaces that I did not see before
and brought me this 404."
But the post was still beguiling all my fancy into smiling,
So I edited the URL I had tried once before;
Then booting up Explorer, I re-pasted what this snorer
had put up in alt.rec.folklore (as I mentioned here before)--
To see what this ungainly, lengthy, URL before
Meant by giving "404."
Thus I sat engaged in guessing, where that space might be expressing
as a percent-twenty, guessing that my defaults would ignore;
This and more I sat divining, with my head slowly inclining
T'wards the monitor, all shining, that the error glowed o'er,
But which monitor, all shining, with the error glowing o'er,
Still it says, ah, 404!
Then methought my mind grown feeble, or perhaps the server evil,
Or perhaps it was slash-dotted, as it hadn't been before.
"Now," I cried, "by God I'll read thee-- read the address Raven sent me
Having spied a Percent-twenty that I hadn't seen before!
Now I'll hit the enter key and be tormented thus no more!"
Quoth the browser, "404."
"DAMNIT!" said I, "What's the matter?!?-- After all this keyboard clatter!--
And I've edited the spaces and yet still this 404??
This server must be dreadful, or upstream provider dead-fall--
I may just go to the damned mall-- tell me truly, I implore--
Is there any website hosted? Let's go down a folder more!"
Quoth the browser, "404."
"DAMNIT!!!" said I, "What's the matter-- After all this keyboard clatter!
This behavior does not flatter-- though I've gone a folder more--
What's been posted to the newsgroup, Something more from this whole sick troupe?
Let me check if there's a posting that I previously ignored--
A posting, perhaps where this Raven, fixed the address from before."
Posted Raven, "404."
"Be that post your final parting, bird or troll," I typed, upstarting--
"Get thee back into IRC and we clever folks ignore!
Leave no posting as a token of that URL- it's broken!
Leave my newsgroup, I have spoken!-- get the hell out! And what's more,
Take thy server, fold it sharply, and stuff it where--" I deplore,
but a new posting: "404."
And this Raven, never typing, probably is still out there, hyping
URLs and websites, knowing that their service is but poor;
And his words must have the seeming of a mailer-daemon screaming,
And the bandwidth he has streaming just as useless as before;
Though his posts from parent's basement, all those posts I so deplore
Shall be lifted-- 404!
If MAPS is used in the best way possible, there is no way for the customer to "opt-out" of it filtering their account. Used best, routers for the ISP simply drop the packets. This saves any number of things expensive computation, is quick, and is very effective.
It would be nice if it worked that way.
To be fair, a number of groups will contact the company first, but that is not always the case. There are times when the exploit is released, and the vendor only knows about it when someone in their office reads BugTraq.
Yeah, it doesn't always work that way, but about half the issues I've been involved have been cases where the exploit was released without the person who discovered the exploit EVER contacting the company.
If everyone would contact the company before releasing an exploit, the world would be a much happier place.
Something else to remember, in regards to how long it takes to get a release out, is that it simply takes longer to release a patch for a product with a closed source model. The company must reproduce the problem, come up with a solution, test the solution, and then release it. Some of the problems I have seen have been very complex, requiring a rewrite of a lot of code and some very intricate testing.
Open source has an advantage here in that they have a larger number of people who can create the patch and test it.
Actually, it's pretty easy if you know where to look.
In Internet Explorer go to Tools -> Internet Options. Click on Programs. You will see what programs IE assosiates with certain actions.
The end-user who doesn't know how to do this calls his ISP tech support and they tell him how.
I would like to point out that most users don't want to know how to do this, mostly because they never need to. When they do, they call tech support.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if you heat steel to a certain point without specific chemicals, you "burn" the steel, making it effectively useless. This involves very high amounts of carbon entering the steel.
The building was also an effectively great billows. Given altitude and the proximity to the ocean, there is a lot of wind that was going through there, increasing the heat to an enormous degree.
Another thing this high heat caused was the destruction of concrete. When concrete gets very hot the water is evaporated out of it, turning it to dust.
Without the concrete in the area and with the supports already greatly weakened due to heat and high carbon levels, the weight of what was above the area would easily cause the top to come down. We all saw the result of the cascade effect.
Actually, you're not that far off.
When I started college I had a 486/133 with 16 Megs of ram, a trident 1 meg video card and a 1.2 gig hard drive. I was on Win 3.11 until I found out that the university I was at would only support Win 95, so I upgraded to that.
Oh, I should mention that this was only... 4 (?) years ago.
Damn! There goes my nightime navigation.
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"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
I gaurentee this is not what is happening. How do i know? I work for Hotmail. I'm on the front lines. I know what's going on. And this is not what is happening. That i gaurentee.
I am not sure where Slashdot got this, but the title is completly misleading. There is a transition of SOME of the servers from BSD to Win2k, but that load is stable, and is not a source of problems. It is a gradual change, and a hotmail user won't even notice the difference.
at least get your headline right.
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"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
Parents aren't the only ones to blame here. There's all kinds of factors at work.
;)
A friend of mine was taking a psychocology class in which one of her assignments was to go to a toy store and compare male vs. female toys.
try it sometime, it's really frightening. Walk into the girls section, and what do you see? what are the prevailing colors? what are the toys miniture versions of?
now check out the boys section. ask the same questions. also note that most of the electronics are in the boys section.
check out a playground. what are the boys playing at? and how about the girls?
this stuff is embedded into kids early. from what i've seen, though, someone who chooses to get out of the preconcieved castes has no problems. some of the best people i know with computer are female, but they were certainly ostrasized before they achieved their full fledged geek status.
i think it's also generally harder for a female geek starting out, both by men and women. but the ones who persevere are definatly a benifit to anyone who is in need of a good geek. in some ways, they've fought harder, they have more a want to be where they are. all geeks have to run a gauntlet, but i see women as having to jump through the fire at the end.
but as they say, "that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger", and most of the female geeks i've met definatly live up to that.
damn i wish i knew more female geeks, though. they'd definatly be able to deal with my computer obsession than many of the girlfriends i've had before
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"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
Well, if you read the information on the page, that is exactly what they are trying to get around.
they are replacing the bios with an image of the kernel, so that we aren't dealing with this "sudo-OS".
something you also learn when you read the page, is that they start in 16 bit mode (as required by the cpu) and then about immediatly jump to 32 bit mode, gunzip the linux image, and run with it..
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"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
well, almost. the many thousands of customers i've talked to usually think:
It's the isp (most common)
They need to format their computer to fix it (you would be suprised how often this comes up)
It's the tech's fault. because the tech works for the isp, and the tech can't help the customer, it's the tech's fault.
What's scary is that i've had people who said "i'm a professional. i do this for a living" and yet it was simple stuff that they had screwed up (like not having the flash plugin installed. but it was our fault, because it was the only server in the world that couldn't display flash images.) i've found that the people who have the most problems, are most vocal about them, and the ones who refuse to admit it may be their computer, are the "professionals". even though it's usually their fault.
that or, "it can't be my computer, it's run find for the last two years and i haven't changed a thing..."
god i hate people sometimes...
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"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
actually, nearly all isotopes above lead reduce to lead. (including radioactive gold).
but that's ok
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"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
1. echo and pipes. ... more spiritual .. but only if it's 16 or older .. such a friendly name .. excuse to correct peple who just say Linux
2. enlightenment
3. drivers
4. basic
5. distro? build your own. be a REAL geek
6. GNU/Linux
7. Scottish-endian (if it ain't scottish, it's crap!)
8. buy (it's mine! all mine!!!)
9. Clothes are for the weak!
10. redhead. definatly. no explination needed.
11. plastic. damn the earth! save the empire!
12. neither. too old and stuck on some crappy island.
13. less filling. and less taste. real men drink guiness.
14. 3! everyone knows that! the owl told us.
15. Farscape. more fun to see them not get along.
16. well, as i've never been stirred, but it sounds uncomfortable, i'll say shaken.
17. monocrome. color is only for gui. long live the command line!
18. frames = evil.
19. i think my bumper sticker covers this one: "prevent inbreeding, ban country music"
20. don't walk. those cars won't hit you, and if they do, sue.
21. Dr. Suess. at least he liked drugs.
22. voice. it better do what i say, when i say, damnit.
23. Deathmatch. He dies! she dies! everybody dies!
24. pop3. but that's only because i dont' know the commands to issue if i telnet to an imap server.
25. Hex. code and curse at the same time!
26. Hey dookie!
27. Flamebait. but then, i'm a pyro, so what do you expect?
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"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
Sigma Designs has plans to release a dvd player for linux. you can find info on the product here
i found this after seeing a posting from Jack Valenti at TheStandard.com in which he said:
Linux users are not being barred from playing DVD movies on their systems. The professor obviously is not aware that all Linux users have available to them a licensed application to do precisely that.
hope this helps.
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"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."
While i think it might be interesting to see a geek in power like that, there are a few problems.
how many geeks are actually capabable (have the know how) to be able to fill that kind of position? or would want to?
also, while it's great to be able to say, "yeah, i'm a geek, and i'm running for _____," you have to deal with a lot more issues than those relating to geekdom. and those are things that will divide people who are geeks.
i think the best way would probably be to get someone in power to look at the issues the way we do. or to get someone who is running to address some of these issues. find a way to force them to address them. (maybe a slashdot interview with some of the canidates?)
i say leave politics to the politicians and the computers to the geeks. but make sure the geeks let the politicians know what they consider to be important and who they will vote for because of that.
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"All the things I really like to do are either immoral, illegal, or fattening."