Is that contrary to the Windows situation, Linux is more than a handfull of different system layouts. Some things are of course more or less identical but, short of direct attaks to the kernel itself, any potential virus writer would have to handle many permutations. To mention a few, there are at least 2 different ways to load kernel modules, 3 different ways of runlevel handling (not to mention that each distribution uses it's own inittab) and 2 libc versions.
So, even though it is possible to create a linux virus, their spread will be slowed dramtically due to the reduced likelyhood of an infection vector from one system to another that looks enough like the first.
xcept that there is some overlap between cell antennas - if you have three and can gauge range by signal strength you can triangulate a position quite easily.
Relative signal strength has one disadvantage - it is affected by the number of buildings in the line of sight between the phone and the receiver.
However, one of the Danish GSM operators offers a product where the rate is halved at the phones home address. As far as I know, the location is based on distance from the closest three GSM cells. The measuring, which apperantly has a resolution of 10 meters, is found by timing the signals exchanged between phone and antenna during signal-strength evaluation.
I think that there is more to it than just programmable micrcode. As far as I can tell, there is a FPGA(Field Programmable Gate Array)-like property to the setup as well.
What about false positives?
on
Digital Nose
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· Score: 2
First of all, the mechanical-sniffing technology isn't exactly new. I have witnessed it in several airports, sometimes with rather amusing results. For instance, a bottle of Vodka will trigger an explosive warning, whereas a bottle of single malt scotch will not. So the really interesting question to ask is how prone this new device is to trigger on completely unrelated substances - there is not much point in using this as a replacement for drug or bomb dogs, if it overloads the staff checking the positives. Sooner or later this will lead to a situation where a real bomb or firearm passes undetected onto an airplane because of the last 100 false positives. So, does anybody have any idea if this thing is better at staying focused on what really matters?
You cannot get a virus simply by reading email. It's a saying that's been repeated to newbies since who-knows-when, and I'm surprised that/. missed it.
I seem to recall that last year (or the year before that), bugtraq was alive with a discussion of some mailreader that, when opening a HTML-ized mail, would go ahead and run any java applets it saw.
I don't think this applies here, but given the abundance of mailreaders available, any behaviour seem to be likely.
Am I the only one to think that the first few paragraphs of the article seem to imply that OperaMail is the bad guy? I don't think that this is what Wired intends, but even by accident, this article presents a different spin on matters, to the people who (like me) only reads the first few paragraphs, unless it looks really interesting.
I don't quite see why the approach of Janes is flawed in any way. After all, almost everybody has at some time or another bemoaned the fact that media doesn't always check the facts of their stories.
So, rather than flawed, I would call the approach visionary. One can always hope that it will be the normal thing to do for journalists in unfamiliar territory.
While the appeal is pending, however, the decision is likely to be grist for members of ICANN's Domain Name Support Organization, which is forging a policy for resolving domain name disputes.
The value of the abovementioned policy is highly dependant on the willingness of companies to actually live by it. In this case, where Hasbro seemingly appeals the judgement by sheer reflex, don't exactly give me high hopes for the future. I might be mistaken, but it seems that given a large enough company, there is no limit to how far a dispute is pushed in pursuit of total victory.
Until I read that articles, I nearly forget there is a unix called SCO...
Who want to install SCO Unix in a new machine? Please raise up your hand.
I would. In fact, my living depends on torturing the very souls of shiny new PCs with horror! SCO OpenServer.
My home box runs linux, and much as I would like to see linux in my workplace as well, I'll have to admit that it takes a long time before the momentum of a 10 year old codebase can be changed.
But when fair has to be fair, I don't think that the commentary has any more value than that wretched flyer. I certainly dont recognize the attitude towards linux that I witnessed at SCO Forum 1999 in it, so basing a total attack on SCO because of a single reseller is a bit over the mark.
ISTR that fusion will not make an end to nuclear waste. The reactor itself will be highly contaminated, so after the end of it's service life, there will still be a slight problem of finding a safe place for several hundreds (thousands?) tons of radioactive material.
Still, it's a good thing to get away with waste from the running production.
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So, even though it is possible to create a linux virus, their spread will be slowed dramtically due to the reduced likelyhood of an infection vector from one system to another that looks enough like the first.
xcept that there is some overlap between cell antennas - if you have three and can gauge range by signal strength you can triangulate a position quite easily.
Relative signal strength has one disadvantage - it is affected by the number of buildings in the line of sight between the phone and the receiver.
However, one of the Danish GSM operators offers a product where the rate is halved at the phones home address. As far as I know, the location is based on distance from the closest three GSM cells. The measuring, which apperantly has a resolution of 10 meters, is found by timing the signals exchanged between phone and antenna during signal-strength evaluation.
I think that there is more to it than just programmable micrcode. As far as I can tell, there is a FPGA(Field Programmable Gate Array)-like property to the setup as well.
First of all, the mechanical-sniffing technology isn't exactly new. I have witnessed it in several airports, sometimes with rather amusing results. For instance, a bottle of Vodka will trigger an explosive warning, whereas a bottle of single malt scotch will not.
So the really interesting question to ask is how prone this new device is to trigger on completely unrelated substances - there is not much point in using this as a replacement for drug or bomb dogs, if it overloads the staff checking the positives. Sooner or later this will lead to a situation where a real bomb or firearm passes undetected onto an airplane because of the last 100 false positives.
So, does anybody have any idea if this thing is better at staying focused on what really matters?
I seem to recall that last year (or the year before that), bugtraq was alive with a discussion of some mailreader that, when opening a HTML-ized mail, would go ahead and run any java applets it saw.
I don't think this applies here, but given the abundance of mailreaders available, any behaviour seem to be likely.
So, rather than flawed, I would call the approach visionary. One can always hope that it will be the normal thing to do for journalists in unfamiliar territory.
The value of the abovementioned policy is highly dependant on the willingness of companies to actually live by it. In this case, where Hasbro seemingly appeals the judgement by sheer reflex, don't exactly give me high hopes for the future. I might be mistaken, but it seems that given a large enough company, there is no limit to how far a dispute is pushed in pursuit of total victory.
Or else I'm juste extremely cynical.
Who want to install SCO Unix in a new machine? Please raise up your hand.
I would. In fact, my living depends on torturing the very souls of shiny new PCs with horror! SCO OpenServer.
My home box runs linux, and much as I would like to see linux in my workplace as well, I'll have to admit that it takes a long time before the momentum of a 10 year old codebase can be changed.
But when fair has to be fair, I don't think that the commentary has any more value than that wretched flyer. I certainly dont recognize the attitude towards linux that I witnessed at SCO Forum 1999 in it, so basing a total attack on SCO because of a single reseller is a bit over the mark.
Still, it's a good thing to get away with waste from the running production.