Incidentally, guns on ships as an offensive weapon have been pretty much obsolete since Pearl Harbour, the occasional shore bombardment mission notwithstanding. The primary naval offensive platform is the aircraft carrier, seconded by the ballistic missile carrying submarine and the guided missile armed cruiser. The old battleship is a distant fourth, if in service at all, and even the use of guns as fleet defense is being phased out in favour of destroyers and frigates armed with guided missiles.
[...] the performance that the Linux stack is sorley lacking.
Got any links to benchmarks to back up that contention? Last time I benchmarked a bunch of network cards, the Linux TCP/IP stack got up to 80% of Ethernet speed on good hardware (3Com and Intel), which is a very good score given TCP/IPs overhead. If 3Com and Intel can get to theoretical maximum speeds using the standard kernel drivers, why do we need any magic from other manufacturers to bring their cards up to spec? Shouldn't we just point at the benchmark numbers and advise people to buy serious hardware for serious purposes?
No, he clearly understands that you are mangling a quote to make it say something it doesn't. Whether or not the subject of the quote is positive or negative is immaterial to what you are trying to do, namely trying to twist it to your ends.
Given your vehement dissent to someone pointing out this gaffe to you, I cannot but conclude that it was deliberate. Thus leading me to ask the question: what do you gain by this dishonesty?
That's a user-initiated workaround for a design limitation.
I agree with Havoc Pennington on this: everytime the user has to select options to make the computer do things that are totally obvious, the software is broken. The example the parent poster gave was right to the point: if the dependency resolver finds no dependencies, it should install the package without bothering the user with questions.
Same with clipboard behaviour. Setting an option to make a program use PRIMARY on selection, instead of overwriting CLIPBOARD (like Emacs and KDE used to do) is an 'unbreak my application please' option.
Programs should not have to ask the user to work around their design flaws.
And actually reading what the moron petrus4 wrote is a lost art, I see?
Here's a hint: He opposed Free with Commercial. You can pick a nit about Fedora and think that makes you smart, while at the same time missing the huge, nay, moronic error in the original post, but think on what that makes you...
What about Gentoo, Fedora, Linux From Scratch, Gobolinux, and Blag? (To name but a few other non-commercial Linux distros) Don't they count too?
Nope, they don't.
You could have taken the hint from the use the parent poster made of capitals. He even did you the favour of explicitly spelling out what he meant. Apparently, you can't read.
Here's an explanation for those who can read: parent poster was referring to Free, as in 'Free Speech', not free as in 'no cost'.
Geez, it is not as if this is a new distinction. Moron.
Correction: you don't own the rights to the song, but you bloody well own that particular copy. Go read up on how First Sale is codified in all copyright treaties and legislation around the world.
How many times do we have to rehash this topic until morons like you get it?
Today Napa Valley features more than two hundred wineries and grows many different grape varieties including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Zinfandel
In other words, bland, bland, bland and bland. I'm willing to give a little on the Chardonnay, which is definitely a grape that can surprise you, but the varietals you mention are basic tastes. Wines primarily made from these are boring as hell.
Give me a wine that has some power to it, a varied taste. When I read 'supple and well-rounded' on a Bordeaux bottle these days, I know I'm drinking yet another Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot pisswater created for the American palate. Bordeaux should have strong tastes, leather, tobacco and black fruits preferrably, that are injected by the lesser varietals from the region. Same with white Bourgogne; these days, if you want to know what can be done with Chardonnay, you either pay through the nose for a smaller domain that doesn't cater to US tastes (oak, lots of oak), or you buy white Macon (especially Macon-Villages).
Or the good old Gamay. Beaujolais is a bit bland, but the minor appelations from the region, such as Fleurie or closer to the Bourgogne, Macon Rouge, carry lots of terroir (the Macon especially has a steely aftertaste that is very refreshing).
Don't get me wrong, there are probably plenty of small vintners in Napa Valley who *do* love the wine more than the profits and are willing to sell something that is not bland and boring, but the majority of Californian wine is nothing more than good, if a bit boring, table wine.
It's just that DoS is the lowest possible severity of a security vulnerability. It is nonetheless a security vulnerability, because if your computer acts in ways you cannot predict, you are not in control of your computer. But the fact that it is a low-severity vulnerability does not make it any less of a vulnerability.
It is indeed true that DoS conditions are sensationalised, because 'security vulnerability' sounds so damn sexy. Still, just like stealing pennies from a rich man is still theft, a vulnerability is a vulnerability.
Seems to fit. I visit Slashdot daily, read maybe two stories a day on average (there are days when I go 'Meh, nothing interesting', and days when I open 5 tabs to read stories/discussions). I get to moderate on average once a week, with about a 90% Fair Metamod rating (mostly because I mod what I consider blatant shilling as Flamebait or Troll).
What really appears to make a difference is posting and getting modded up. I post about once weekly, and I do get positive mods. Usually after a few posts and one or more +1 mods, I find myself moderating again. This week I decided to post instead of moderating in a discussion, and promptly got a +1, Interesting mod. Yesterday I had mod privileges again.
So, read in a discriminating way, mod fairly, and post constructive comments, and you seem to get moderation privileges fairly often.
Watch out with that 'only a few lines' argument. Depending on the volume of code involved, copy/pasting a few lines out of a GPL'ed source file may fall under fair use.
Strong indications, I'd say that the release will happen today, or within three days at most.
Yesterday I installed a new box in our home using an Etch netinstall disk, and found out after the install was ready that the/etc/issue file now referred to 'Lenny' instead of Etch.
Cameras went through the same evolution. In the eighties, it was hip to put LCD displays on the body and run all functions through simple up/down buttons. Minolta even went as far as to implement this for their zoom lenses, where you had to use a zoom-in/zoom-out button to run the zoom.
Somehow, it dawned on camara makers that this was not a good idea. The last generation of film SLR bodies went back to dedicated buttons and knobs, witness such cameras as the Minolta Dynax/Maxxum 7 and 9, and the Nikon F5. Funnily enough, the first generations of digital cameras replicated this mistake, with the DSLRs finally returning to dedicated knobs, and makers such as Panasonic ditching the two-way switches on their compacts.
we'll try you by Ordeal just like when the Church ruled Europe.
Next time, crack open a few history books before you shoot your mouth off. It was during the Enlightenment when most witch-burnings happened. The Mediaeval Church was pretty open-minded about the role of science in explaining the world (try looking up Augustine's opinion on science for a laugh).
The particular brand of moronity referred to in TFA is almost exclusive to the United States of America. Meditate on that before you start spouting off more stupidity.
Unless you're doing a lot of VPN, a Fortigate 400/500 is overkill. Go talk to your local Fortinet reseller to see if you can do with a smaller one.
I can recommend Fortigates for small businesses. Their hardware acceleration may be sold in marketeers' language, but it does work. For a price comparable to similar devices, you do get a lot more throughput.
In general, mere firewalling doesn't require a lot of throughput, so you could settle for a smaller firewall, or a software-only solution, but if you start doing things like AV-scanning or VPN, you are going to need the capacity.
Again, if you do want to settle for a Fortigate (and its not a bad choice), go talk to a reseller, and if your budget allows, buy some consulting time to have your needs properly defined and the appliance installed for you.
I cannot count how many times I have had to deal with various hardware / software issues with Check Point firewalls (they used to be a software only solution, as in you picked the OS and installed Check Point on top of it - fingers get pointed everywhere... sigh...)
This has not changed. I quit my job supporting Checkpoint on Nokia just a few months ago, and the fingerpointing still happens.
I have used Checkpoint on Nokia IPSO, under Provider-1.
The good:
Central management for a lot of firewalls works great. P-1 makes it really easy to push out multiple updates, and using global objects makes it easy to manage large environments with multiple DMZs.
The interface for actual policy editing is pretty decent. The thorough support of drag&drop is nice.
VPN setup integrates nicely in the policy editor.
The log viewer is pretty good, and the next best thing to grepping the logs yourself.
The bad:
Provider-1 is a resource hog. 64 Customer Management Agents will strain a Sun V880 to the limit, and if you're doing any kind of logging, be prepared to invest in some serious SAN architecture, because the logging will saturate your I/O bandwidth and fill your disks.
Capacity. As a pure software solution, Checkpoint will be sore strained when doing a lot of VPN traffic. Fortigate really wins with its custom encryption/decryption hardware.
Cost. Not just the licensing of Checkpoint itself, you really need a decent infrastructure to run Provider-1, unless you want to manage each of your firewalls individually. But in the latter case, Checkpoint has no Unique Selling Points over Fortinet.
Support. If you want any access to documentation, you must splurge out to get at least your CCSA certificate.
Overall, Checkpoint has its good points, and in a large enterprise setting where manageability is a selling point, it certainly has the edge over Fortinet. However, in SME settings, the management systems are overkill, and the performance/price ratio of the firewalls themselves do not justify the outlay, IMO.
Netscreen is the interesting solution. In performance it blows away Checkpoint, while coming close to it in manageability. NSM is a real nice piece of software. If central management of multiple firewalls is a major issue for you, and you don't want to do the outlay for a Checkpoint infrastructure, I'd say go with Netscreen. If all you need is a single firewall, it's a toss-up between a Netscreen and a Fortigate. Depending on your capacity needs, you may want to go for the Fortigate for its hardware acceleration. I'd say, find a good consulting service and have them look at your needs and infrastructure, and based on their advice go with what is best for you.
As for rule complexity, I've seen things in Checkpoint that were hard to set up that are easy in a Fortigate, mostly because network setup is not done from the Checkpoint policy editor, but must be done on the OS level on the box. Setting up a DMZ using VLANs is a pain in the arse on a Checkpoint/Nokia solution, but easy as pie on a Fortigate. It all depends on what you are used to.
regulations limiting violent coercion, but it seems to me that an extension of that to economic coercion is perfectly logical as well
I'd say not just logical, but inevitable.
The biggest mistake the 'libertarians' make is that they think that economic power in the marketplace is a different kind of power from that which the State wields. However, when both exercises of power can mean life or death for the other party, I'd say that disctinction is theoretical at best.
When the choice is 'work for subsistence wages or starve', we historically get the company town. That the company does not require the guns of the police and the army to enforce the law in such a town does not make them any less the reigning power over people's lives.
There's also OLE automation, which makes it very easy to knock up some code to use bits of Excel and Outlook remotely.
OpenOffice.org has UNO, which is basically the same thing, and is accessible to both the built-in macro language (a VB-like BASIC dialect) and external scripting languages. Even better, OOo can embed scripting interpreters so that you can write your macros from within OOo in any supported language.
To be fair, the developer documentation for UNO is found in the OOo SDK, and is obviously geared to OOo hackers, not mere powerusers.
[...] for years, I've been seeing posts and articles on slashdot that talk in terms of winning people over from MS to Linux.
Only if you ignore the rabid MS fanboyism (astroturfing?) that infests sites like this. Including your own contributions. Not a single pro-Linux article gets posted but another nitwit complaining about compililing from source generates another huge thread, most of it with MS fanboy "Me Too!" cries.
Slashdot Mirror
Incidentally, guns on ships as an offensive weapon have been pretty much obsolete since Pearl Harbour, the occasional shore bombardment mission notwithstanding. The primary naval offensive platform is the aircraft carrier, seconded by the ballistic missile carrying submarine and the guided missile armed cruiser. The old battleship is a distant fourth, if in service at all, and even the use of guns as fleet defense is being phased out in favour of destroyers and frigates armed with guided missiles.
MartGot any links to benchmarks to back up that contention? Last time I benchmarked a bunch of network cards, the Linux TCP/IP stack got up to 80% of Ethernet speed on good hardware (3Com and Intel), which is a very good score given TCP/IPs overhead. If 3Com and Intel can get to theoretical maximum speeds using the standard kernel drivers, why do we need any magic from other manufacturers to bring their cards up to spec? Shouldn't we just point at the benchmark numbers and advise people to buy serious hardware for serious purposes?
MartNo, he clearly understands that you are mangling a quote to make it say something it doesn't. Whether or not the subject of the quote is positive or negative is immaterial to what you are trying to do, namely trying to twist it to your ends.
Given your vehement dissent to someone pointing out this gaffe to you, I cannot but conclude that it was deliberate. Thus leading me to ask the question: what do you gain by this dishonesty?
MartThat's a user-initiated workaround for a design limitation.
I agree with Havoc Pennington on this: everytime the user has to select options to make the computer do things that are totally obvious, the software is broken. The example the parent poster gave was right to the point: if the dependency resolver finds no dependencies, it should install the package without bothering the user with questions.
Same with clipboard behaviour. Setting an option to make a program use PRIMARY on selection, instead of overwriting CLIPBOARD (like Emacs and KDE used to do) is an 'unbreak my application please' option.
Programs should not have to ask the user to work around their design flaws.
MartSometimes, I really, really, really wish for a '-1, Stupid' moderation option.
MartYou obviously do not know anyone driving an Italian vehicle.
Mart (owner of two Moto Guzzi motorcycles with various quirks)
Yeah right. And Microsoft never used a smoke-and-mirrors demo to kill competing technology (*cough*Pen Windows*cough).
Mart
And actually reading what the moron petrus4 wrote is a lost art, I see?
Here's a hint: He opposed Free with Commercial. You can pick a nit about Fedora and think that makes you smart, while at the same time missing the huge, nay, moronic error in the original post, but think on what that makes you...
Idiot.
MartNope, they don't.
You could have taken the hint from the use the parent poster made of capitals. He even did you the favour of explicitly spelling out what he meant. Apparently, you can't read.
Here's an explanation for those who can read: parent poster was referring to Free, as in 'Free Speech', not free as in 'no cost'.
Geez, it is not as if this is a new distinction. Moron.
MartCorrection: you don't own the rights to the song, but you bloody well own that particular copy. Go read up on how First Sale is codified in all copyright treaties and legislation around the world.
How many times do we have to rehash this topic until morons like you get it?
MartIn other words, bland, bland, bland and bland. I'm willing to give a little on the Chardonnay, which is definitely a grape that can surprise you, but the varietals you mention are basic tastes. Wines primarily made from these are boring as hell.
Give me a wine that has some power to it, a varied taste. When I read 'supple and well-rounded' on a Bordeaux bottle these days, I know I'm drinking yet another Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot pisswater created for the American palate. Bordeaux should have strong tastes, leather, tobacco and black fruits preferrably, that are injected by the lesser varietals from the region. Same with white Bourgogne; these days, if you want to know what can be done with Chardonnay, you either pay through the nose for a smaller domain that doesn't cater to US tastes (oak, lots of oak), or you buy white Macon (especially Macon-Villages).
Or the good old Gamay. Beaujolais is a bit bland, but the minor appelations from the region, such as Fleurie or closer to the Bourgogne, Macon Rouge, carry lots of terroir (the Macon especially has a steely aftertaste that is very refreshing).
Don't get me wrong, there are probably plenty of small vintners in Napa Valley who *do* love the wine more than the profits and are willing to sell something that is not bland and boring, but the majority of Californian wine is nothing more than good, if a bit boring, table wine.
MartBut any crash is a DoS.
It's just that DoS is the lowest possible severity of a security vulnerability. It is nonetheless a security vulnerability, because if your computer acts in ways you cannot predict, you are not in control of your computer. But the fact that it is a low-severity vulnerability does not make it any less of a vulnerability.
It is indeed true that DoS conditions are sensationalised, because 'security vulnerability' sounds so damn sexy. Still, just like stealing pennies from a rich man is still theft, a vulnerability is a vulnerability.
MartSeems to fit. I visit Slashdot daily, read maybe two stories a day on average (there are days when I go 'Meh, nothing interesting', and days when I open 5 tabs to read stories/discussions). I get to moderate on average once a week, with about a 90% Fair Metamod rating (mostly because I mod what I consider blatant shilling as Flamebait or Troll).
What really appears to make a difference is posting and getting modded up. I post about once weekly, and I do get positive mods. Usually after a few posts and one or more +1 mods, I find myself moderating again. This week I decided to post instead of moderating in a discussion, and promptly got a +1, Interesting mod. Yesterday I had mod privileges again.
So, read in a discriminating way, mod fairly, and post constructive comments, and you seem to get moderation privileges fairly often.
MartWhy, doofii of course!
MartWatch out with that 'only a few lines' argument. Depending on the volume of code involved, copy/pasting a few lines out of a GPL'ed source file may fall under fair use.
MartStrong indications, I'd say that the release will happen today, or within three days at most.
Yesterday I installed a new box in our home using an Etch netinstall disk, and found out after the install was ready that the /etc/issue file now referred to 'Lenny' instead of Etch.
MartCameras went through the same evolution. In the eighties, it was hip to put LCD displays on the body and run all functions through simple up/down buttons. Minolta even went as far as to implement this for their zoom lenses, where you had to use a zoom-in/zoom-out button to run the zoom.
Somehow, it dawned on camara makers that this was not a good idea. The last generation of film SLR bodies went back to dedicated buttons and knobs, witness such cameras as the Minolta Dynax/Maxxum 7 and 9, and the Nikon F5. Funnily enough, the first generations of digital cameras replicated this mistake, with the DSLRs finally returning to dedicated knobs, and makers such as Panasonic ditching the two-way switches on their compacts.
MartNext time, crack open a few history books before you shoot your mouth off. It was during the Enlightenment when most witch-burnings happened. The Mediaeval Church was pretty open-minded about the role of science in explaining the world (try looking up Augustine's opinion on science for a laugh).
The particular brand of moronity referred to in TFA is almost exclusive to the United States of America. Meditate on that before you start spouting off more stupidity.
MartUnless you're doing a lot of VPN, a Fortigate 400/500 is overkill. Go talk to your local Fortinet reseller to see if you can do with a smaller one.
I can recommend Fortigates for small businesses. Their hardware acceleration may be sold in marketeers' language, but it does work. For a price comparable to similar devices, you do get a lot more throughput.
In general, mere firewalling doesn't require a lot of throughput, so you could settle for a smaller firewall, or a software-only solution, but if you start doing things like AV-scanning or VPN, you are going to need the capacity.
Again, if you do want to settle for a Fortigate (and its not a bad choice), go talk to a reseller, and if your budget allows, buy some consulting time to have your needs properly defined and the appliance installed for you.
MartThis has not changed. I quit my job supporting Checkpoint on Nokia just a few months ago, and the fingerpointing still happens.
MartI have used Checkpoint on Nokia IPSO, under Provider-1.
The good:
The bad:
Overall, Checkpoint has its good points, and in a large enterprise setting where manageability is a selling point, it certainly has the edge over Fortinet. However, in SME settings, the management systems are overkill, and the performance/price ratio of the firewalls themselves do not justify the outlay, IMO.
Netscreen is the interesting solution. In performance it blows away Checkpoint, while coming close to it in manageability. NSM is a real nice piece of software. If central management of multiple firewalls is a major issue for you, and you don't want to do the outlay for a Checkpoint infrastructure, I'd say go with Netscreen. If all you need is a single firewall, it's a toss-up between a Netscreen and a Fortigate. Depending on your capacity needs, you may want to go for the Fortigate for its hardware acceleration. I'd say, find a good consulting service and have them look at your needs and infrastructure, and based on their advice go with what is best for you.
As for rule complexity, I've seen things in Checkpoint that were hard to set up that are easy in a Fortigate, mostly because network setup is not done from the Checkpoint policy editor, but must be done on the OS level on the box. Setting up a DMZ using VLANs is a pain in the arse on a Checkpoint/Nokia solution, but easy as pie on a Fortigate. It all depends on what you are used to.
MartI'd say not just logical, but inevitable.
The biggest mistake the 'libertarians' make is that they think that economic power in the marketplace is a different kind of power from that which the State wields. However, when both exercises of power can mean life or death for the other party, I'd say that disctinction is theoretical at best.
When the choice is 'work for subsistence wages or starve', we historically get the company town. That the company does not require the guns of the police and the army to enforce the law in such a town does not make them any less the reigning power over people's lives.
MartOpenOffice.org has UNO, which is basically the same thing, and is accessible to both the built-in macro language (a VB-like BASIC dialect) and external scripting languages. Even better, OOo can embed scripting interpreters so that you can write your macros from within OOo in any supported language.
To be fair, the developer documentation for UNO is found in the OOo SDK, and is obviously geared to OOo hackers, not mere powerusers.
MartOnly if you ignore the rabid MS fanboyism (astroturfing?) that infests sites like this. Including your own contributions. Not a single pro-Linux article gets posted but another nitwit complaining about compililing from source generates another huge thread, most of it with MS fanboy "Me Too!" cries.
MartBullshit.
If there are no incorrectable errors on your CD media, cdparanoia followed by FLAC compression will give you an exact copy of the CD.
Mart