If M$ is willing to spend lots of money on a questionable case, you would still need to find lots of money to defend yourself; you might go broke before you won the case. The fact that M$ might have a "reasonable" argument for IP theft could allow it to file suits against open source; the fact that M$ would probably lose might not matter very much.
"Plus on/. you're preaching to the converted when talking about different browsers." The media (e.g. Seattle PI) seems to pay more (not much, but more) attention to slashdot. If reports on the problems with IE appear in the popular media on a regular basis, the "public" will eventually (30 years??) get the message.
"Nearly all of it users looking for a cheap alternitive to Windows."
My university has a license which provides free M$ software to us (faculty). The (new) AMD-64 on my desk is dual bootable; Red Hat Enterprise and Gentoo. Money is not the issue.
I received a 164 Alpha (Aspen Systems rather than DEC) four or five years ago; I am using it right now. (kvm is great!) I used M$ NT and this was very stable. Then I tried Linux (Red Hat 2.0 or 2.2 ??); even then, Linux was much nicer than NT on Alpha. (I understand NT on Alpha is the best OS M$ has produced.) The price of the software has never been the issue. The issues are "freedom" (like the academic research model) and quality (including security).
"Linux's true downfall.."
Is the Roman empire next? (news at six)
In "my" real world (university), the IT people are idiots (e.g. using M$ boxes for DNS, blocking CVS), the CS department makes students use Linux and the math department servers, graduate students and some faculty use Linux. (One faculty member uses and maintains OS/2.) Even though the "head IT" person hates Linux, some of the administrators higher up realize that Linux is valuable and M$ products are insecure (blah, blah). We are buying an ERP and I am interested in seeing what OS is used. (My bet is Oracle running on Linux.)
I believe the EU said smoking in restaurants is (or soon will be) illegal. I think this is GREAT but I understand that many people object. (Or am I completely wrong?)
"... we do not support Linux or OSS..." ???
I doubt that this will have any inpact on Linux or OSS. It might help SOC's FUD if anyone believed anything they say, but that day is long gone.
Considering the facts that applications are often (usually) developed for Linux and ported to BSD as an afterthought, device driver support is usually better in Linux, etc., your sig is... curious. Which is slower, a BSD file system or a Linux file system? Not too long ago, the comment in your sig was quite valid. Now, it looks silly.
If we get rid of all "national" governments and yet have an international space program (perhaps interesting goals), will we not need an "international government" to fund (and supervise) it?
I am just curious; does the $35m include launch and "transit" costs? I would be surprised if a launch vehicle, etc. and a lander could all be obtained for only $35m. (Does the $545m include launch costs for the NASA lander?)
I try to avoid debate on this issue but I am curious about the amount of money required for you to examine and report on/present the shortcomings of both sides.
In mathematics, the accuracy of a proof is the responsibility of the author. A referee will attempt to determine the correctness of a proof but neither an editor nor a referee is ultimately responsible. Publishing an incorrect proof is not always bad; the "Yamabe conjecture" arose from a paper by Yamabe in 1960 (Osaka Math. Journal, Vol. 12, pp. 21-37) which was accepted as correct. (Rick Schoen provided a correct proof for the case of compact manifolds in 1984 and, for example, Zhiren Jin provided a counterexample for noncompact manifolds in 1986.) However, claiming that the publisher is responsible for errors is silly and unprofessional.
I completely agree with your comment. If you are forced to use a "standard" set of applications, at a minimum you should complain. (I had to use CDE on a SUN workstation in Leipzig last summer and I complained about that. They put in an Ethernet connection outside the firewall so their SUN junk could be avoided.) I am not an expert on IE, but I am happy with Konqueror; I cannot imagine that the advantages of IE are worth the various disadvantages.
Re:MacOS X : Use the keychain
on
Real Security?
·
· Score: 1
I also like kde's wallet. Currently not as widely used as compared to apple's keychain (and currently only in kde3.2betas and kde cvs).
Kgpg also is standard in kde 3.2. (actually apps have had it for quite a while, but kgpg is a pretty little gui, so that people don't have to use the command line)
".. or you can embrace it (and end up using agile process like XP)."
I do not use MS products myself. Most people who tell me about their experience using MS XP describe some serious problems and hassles. Could you explain the meaning of "agile process like XP"? (I really do not understand what you mean.)
My son (student employee) runs the Honors computer lab at the university. Each machine dual boots between Linux and MS Windows (2000 ?). LDAP (& Samba, cups, etc) are used for common login, printing, etc. He refuses to install XP on these computers; even Honors students with XP on new laptops or desktop machines are installing Linux so they can dual boot. (The Honors students on one dorm floor put together a Linux game server made from spare parts; it works much better than what they used previously.)
More support to you!... (I wonder how many PhDs read slashdot.) However, sometimes slashdot is just a place to "blow off steam"; who wants to be held to standards? (MS ??)
I really doubt that they will ever sort out the security problem. Let us assume, for a moment, that they wrote "perfect code" which contained no security holes, locked everything down by default, etc. What do you do about the secret backdoors that MS programmers/developers will put in? Without lots of eyeballs, I doubt that this problem will ever go away.
Slashdot Mirror
If M$ is willing to spend lots of money on a questionable case, you would still need to find lots of money to defend yourself; you might go broke before you won the case. The fact that M$ might have a "reasonable" argument for IP theft could allow it to file suits against open source; the fact that M$ would probably lose might not matter very much.
First Florida screws up the election and then it screws up the power. What is next, cows? (Oh, that was Washington.)
"Plus on/. you're preaching to the converted when talking about different browsers."
The media (e.g. Seattle PI) seems to pay more (not much, but more) attention to slashdot. If reports on the problems with IE appear in the popular media on a regular basis, the "public" will eventually (30 years??) get the message.
I guess this means he can deal with clients. (I hope he does not get in a bind or anything.)
"Nearly all of it users looking for a cheap alternitive to Windows."
My university has a license which provides free M$ software to us (faculty). The (new) AMD-64 on my desk is dual bootable; Red Hat Enterprise and Gentoo. Money is not the issue.
I received a 164 Alpha (Aspen Systems rather than DEC) four or five years ago; I am using it right now. (kvm is great!) I used M$ NT and this was very stable. Then I tried Linux (Red Hat 2.0 or 2.2 ??); even then, Linux was much nicer than NT on Alpha. (I understand NT on Alpha is the best OS M$ has produced.) The price of the software has never been the issue. The issues are "freedom" (like the academic research model) and quality (including security).
PS "alternative" (not "alternitive")
"Linux's true downfall .."
Is the Roman empire next? (news at six)
In "my" real world (university), the IT people are idiots (e.g. using M$ boxes for DNS, blocking CVS), the CS department makes students use Linux and the math department servers, graduate students and some faculty use Linux. (One faculty member uses and maintains OS/2.) Even though the "head IT" person hates Linux, some of the administrators higher up realize that Linux is valuable and M$ products are insecure (blah, blah). We are buying an ERP and I am interested in seeing what OS is used. (My bet is Oracle running on Linux.)
It is news because of where it appears (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) and the fact that it is not just Microsoft cheerleading.
"... because there were 52 Slashdot postings saying that Linux is better,' "
I think that should probably be 52,000 Slashdot postings.
I believe the EU said smoking in restaurants is (or soon will be) illegal. I think this is GREAT but I understand that many people object. (Or am I completely wrong?)
Microsoft are of course free to stop selling software in the US too (at least as far as I am concerned).
"... but this is better work than they've done so far."
This must be SCO's work because they own so much IP and have the best programers in the world.
"... we do not support Linux or OSS ..." ???
I doubt that this will have any inpact on Linux or OSS. It might help SOC's FUD if anyone believed anything they say, but that day is long gone.
Considering the facts that applications are often (usually) developed for Linux and ported to BSD as an afterthought, device driver support is usually better in Linux, etc., your sig is ... curious. Which is slower, a BSD file system or a Linux file system? Not too long ago, the comment in your sig was quite valid. Now, it looks silly.
If we get rid of all "national" governments and yet have an international space program (perhaps interesting goals), will we not need an "international government" to fund (and supervise) it?
I am just curious; does the $35m include launch and "transit" costs? I would be surprised if a launch vehicle, etc. and a lander could all be obtained for only $35m. (Does the $545m include launch costs for the NASA lander?)
I try to avoid debate on this issue but I am curious about the amount of money required for you to examine and report on/present the shortcomings of both sides.
In mathematics, the accuracy of a proof is the responsibility of the author. A referee will attempt to determine the correctness of a proof but neither an editor nor a referee is ultimately responsible. Publishing an incorrect proof is not always bad; the "Yamabe conjecture" arose from a paper by Yamabe in 1960 (Osaka Math. Journal, Vol. 12, pp. 21-37) which was accepted as correct. (Rick Schoen provided a correct proof for the case of compact manifolds in 1984 and, for example, Zhiren Jin provided a counterexample for noncompact manifolds in 1986.) However, claiming that the publisher is responsible for errors is silly and unprofessional.
I completely agree with your comment. If you are forced to use a "standard" set of applications, at a minimum you should complain. (I had to use CDE on a SUN workstation in Leipzig last summer and I complained about that. They put in an Ethernet connection outside the firewall so their SUN junk could be avoided.) I am not an expert on IE, but I am happy with Konqueror; I cannot imagine that the advantages of IE are worth the various disadvantages.
Kgpg also is standard in kde 3.2. (actually apps have had it for quite a while, but kgpg is a pretty little gui, so that people don't have to use the command line)
Thanks for the information.
".. or you can embrace it (and end up using agile process like XP)."
I do not use MS products myself. Most people who tell me about their experience using MS XP describe some serious problems and hassles. Could you explain the meaning of "agile process like XP"? (I really do not understand what you mean.)
My son (student employee) runs the Honors computer lab at the university. Each machine dual boots between Linux and MS Windows (2000 ?). LDAP (& Samba, cups, etc) are used for common login, printing, etc. He refuses to install XP on these computers; even Honors students with XP on new laptops or desktop machines are installing Linux so they can dual boot. (The Honors students on one dorm floor put together a Linux game server made from spare parts; it works much better than what they used previously.)
"Is there another Slashdot community somewhere?"
Yes. It is hiding in Waterloo, Canada.
More support to you! ... (I wonder how many PhDs read slashdot.) However, sometimes slashdot is just a place to "blow off steam"; who wants to be held to standards? (MS ??)
I am very curious to learn your definition of "real problems."
I really doubt that they will ever sort out the security problem. Let us assume, for a moment, that they wrote "perfect code" which contained no security holes, locked everything down by default, etc. What do you do about the secret backdoors that MS programmers/developers will put in? Without lots of eyeballs, I doubt that this problem will ever go away.