You have a rouge account on a multiuser box. This rouge account sets up a server that claims to accept mail for everybody on the box. Big problem. Requiring root access to bind to a low-numbered port protects against forms of identity theft, but opens up a new set of vulnerabilities.
I imagine the 1024 is completely arbitrary.
very few compiler programmers would think anyone would be insane enough to type "cc MySource.c -o/etc/cc/compiler-time-billing-log.txt". Or cp or mv.
Fumble-fingers and tab completion.
I destroyed several production web sites because of a we<tab> instead of wo<tab>.
I'm too much a newbie to know what the details are, but what you want is the ability to run email viruses with impunity. You don't stop them from running. You stop them from being able to do anything, even delete themselves. Won't be easy. Might be some clues in Multics.
Are people doing development work under one account, reading email in another, browsing the web in a third, and ripping CD's in a fourth account? Maybe they should be.
Should a bug in software being developed be able to wipe out all your email?
Or a virus that uses the anti-virus software as an essential ingredient of the infection. Is everybody assuming that virus writers don't have access to anti-virus software?
To add to the wierdness.
You have a super-duper rocket ship and want to reach a star that is 13 light years away.
This means that it takes light 13 years to go from where you are to where you want to go.
Light travels faster than you will ever travel.
Now, how long does it take you to reach the star?
Over 13 years, seems like.
But this rocket ship can be goosed up to half the speed of light.
Goose it to half the speed of light. Goose it again.
Goose it a total of 24 times.
Wait 13 months and reverse the process.
The thirteen year trip took 13 months.
Make the return trip.
You've been gone 26 months.
Everybody else thinks you've been gone 26 years.
The gravity well is an attempt to describe what flat really is. Wierd stuff and you cannot trust your instincts.
If they put their minds to it I think that's exactly what they would pull off. Because it's AOL people will expect it to be easy. Because people expect it to be easy, they will find it is easy. The developers know that it must above all else be easy. Things like consistent user interface are not really relevant. About the opposite of OpenBSD except that data integrity, security and privacy are very high priorities. Done right it should stay secure even if no patches are ever applied after it is installed.
More likely to lose lives. Basically it's a bad idea to even get too interested in what security they do or do not have. The network could be wide open or it could be carefully snooped. If the security is any good, they have people watching for people and things being where they shouldn't be or doing what they shouldn't be doing.
Hmmm, is 5 year-old Unix experience more valuable for running Linux than current Linux experience? I've got a gut feeling that although Linux makes some things easier, the core stuff that really matters is just plain old Unix. There is a quote by Dennis Ritchie (I think) to the effect that Unix is simple but it takes a genius to understand that simplicity.
The MCSE is more about Microsoft advocacy than technical competence.
Linux ready for the desktop?
If AOL can do what they need to do to make AOLinux work,... YES!
So that AOL can protect their customer base from virus/worm/whatever, something drastic is needed. Anti-virus software is good for protecting against yesterday. Useless for protecting against tomorrow.
For their servers? Not likely. An exorbitant support contract would be cheaper and maybe better.
Virus/worm-proofing email and browser in an installation that the dumber users CAN install and set up. An automatic install that preserves user data while it wipes Microsoft Windows requires a lot of savvy and skill. Got a hosed system at home. If you reinstall from the vendor's recovery CD, you lose all your data. Install that AOLinux CD laying around and recover your data.
You are in a rocket.
You have a flashlight.
You shine the light ahead of you.
If the light can't get out then you sure can't get out.
You can think of a photon as something with zero mass and infinite thrust with a finite momentum.
This stuff is mean enough so that relativistic effects dominate. The 3-dimensional space is NOT Euclidian 3-dimensional space, so things like distance depend on who's carrying the yardstick.
You can keep making progress, but it's like adding 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 +.... You never reach 13.
Somebody that actually knows this stuff can maybe give you a better explanation. It all comes from the speed of light is constant for all observers. And messes up most everything else to keep that fact.
Control.
If the only service available is the $2xx/month dealee with no "basic cable" access, then they have stepped over the line. And will be stepped on. Gouging the suckers who opt for the sooper-dooper whatever is a different matter.
Pretty confident, actually.
Influence, yes. Control doesn't really work, and they know it.
They are accustomed to being under constant regulatory scrutiny, probably more than Microsoft will be under after being convicted as a monopolist. They are expected to act in the public interest, hardly completely, but the FCC can get real nasty if it chooses.
And a newbie friendly AOLinux.
To do that you need some very good and credible resources. Keep Red Hat Red Hat, for the name recognition and the credibility.
Considering the aftereffects of the guys that see the "Yes, you can", snicker "Oh yes we can", and can do, there's gonna be some people flying.
Off the handle that is;-)
NT on a 33MHz 486-33 with 16Meg.
XP on a 1000MHz P3 with 512Meg vendor install.
Basic system speed and responsiveness -- about the same.
OK, the 486 is EISA/SCSI and the XP is a laptop.
Way too much gizmo-happy on the vendor install.
What will happen when the suits realize that open source isn't really free (beer). That's probably the one thing the suits do know without being told. Suits do not like to think of themselves as freeloaders. It may be as simple as buying boxed sets from Red Hat. The fact that anyone can download the same stuff for free does not detract from the value of the official boxed set.
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You have a rouge account on a multiuser box. This rouge account sets up a server that claims to accept mail for everybody on the box. Big problem. Requiring root access to bind to a low-numbered port protects against forms of identity theft, but opens up a new set of vulnerabilities.
I imagine the 1024 is completely arbitrary.
very few compiler programmers would think anyone would be insane enough to type "cc MySource.c -o /etc/cc/compiler-time-billing-log.txt".
Or cp or mv.
Fumble-fingers and tab completion.
I destroyed several production web sites because of a we<tab> instead of wo<tab>.
I'm too much a newbie to know what the details are, but what you want is the ability to run email viruses with impunity. You don't stop them from running. You stop them from being able to do anything, even delete themselves. Won't be easy. Might be some clues in Multics.
Are people doing development work under one account, reading email in another, browsing the web in a third, and ripping CD's in a fourth account?
Maybe they should be.
Should a bug in software being developed be able to wipe out all your email?
Or a virus that uses the anti-virus software as an essential ingredient of the infection. Is everybody assuming that virus writers don't have access to anti-virus software?
To add to the wierdness.
You have a super-duper rocket ship and want to reach a star that is 13 light years away.
This means that it takes light 13 years to go from where you are to where you want to go.
Light travels faster than you will ever travel.
Now, how long does it take you to reach the star?
Over 13 years, seems like.
But this rocket ship can be goosed up to half the speed of light.
Goose it to half the speed of light. Goose it again.
Goose it a total of 24 times.
Wait 13 months and reverse the process.
The thirteen year trip took 13 months.
Make the return trip.
You've been gone 26 months.
Everybody else thinks you've been gone 26 years.
The gravity well is an attempt to describe what flat really is. Wierd stuff and you cannot trust your instincts.
If they put their minds to it I think that's exactly what they would pull off. Because it's AOL people will expect it to be easy. Because people expect it to be easy, they will find it is easy. The developers know that it must above all else be easy. Things like consistent user interface are not really relevant. About the opposite of OpenBSD except that data integrity, security and privacy are very high priorities. Done right it should stay secure even if no patches are ever applied after it is installed.
More likely to lose lives. Basically it's a bad idea to even get too interested in what security they do or do not have. The network could be wide open or it could be carefully snooped. If the security is any good, they have people watching for people and things being where they shouldn't be or doing what they shouldn't be doing.
Hmmm, is 5 year-old Unix experience more valuable for running Linux than current Linux experience? I've got a gut feeling that although Linux makes some things easier, the core stuff that really matters is just plain old Unix. There is a quote by Dennis Ritchie (I think) to the effect that Unix is simple but it takes a genius to understand that simplicity.
The MCSE is more about Microsoft advocacy than technical competence.
su always works.
Yep. In particular su to an identity created for a particular purpose. Saved my hide from fumble-fingers a few times.
"Most of the time" with questions of identity seems like a very scary proposition.
I'm posting from NT4 and you're expecting intelligent comments???????
Linux ready for the desktop? ... YES!
If AOL can do what they need to do to make AOLinux work,
So that AOL can protect their customer base from virus/worm/whatever, something drastic is needed. Anti-virus software is good for protecting against yesterday. Useless for protecting against tomorrow.
For their servers? Not likely. An exorbitant support contract would be cheaper and maybe better.
Virus/worm-proofing email and browser in an installation that the dumber users CAN install and set up. An automatic install that preserves user data while it wipes Microsoft Windows requires a lot of savvy and skill. Got a hosed system at home. If you reinstall from the vendor's recovery CD, you lose all your data. Install that AOLinux CD laying around and recover your data.
You are in a rocket.
.... You never reach 13.
You have a flashlight.
You shine the light ahead of you.
If the light can't get out then you sure can't get out.
You can think of a photon as something with zero mass and infinite thrust with a finite momentum.
This stuff is mean enough so that relativistic effects dominate. The 3-dimensional space is NOT Euclidian 3-dimensional space, so things like distance depend on who's carrying the yardstick.
You can keep making progress, but it's like adding 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 +
Somebody that actually knows this stuff can maybe give you a better explanation. It all comes from the speed of light is constant for all observers. And messes up most everything else to keep that fact.
Control.
If the only service available is the $2xx/month dealee with no "basic cable" access, then they have stepped over the line. And will be stepped on. Gouging the suckers who opt for the sooper-dooper whatever is a different matter.
Not when I'm drinking coffee.
For revenge. Imagine running AOL on Terminal Server.
Now that's a way to get the latest Red Hat security/bug/whatever fixes without having to do long downloads.
Pretty confident, actually.
Influence, yes. Control doesn't really work, and they know it.
They are accustomed to being under constant regulatory scrutiny, probably more than Microsoft will be under after being convicted as a monopolist. They are expected to act in the public interest, hardly completely, but the FCC can get real nasty if it chooses.
I can see it now.
The CDs in the mail install AOLinux.
And a newbie friendly AOLinux.
To do that you need some very good and credible resources. Keep Red Hat Red Hat, for the name recognition and the credibility.
Campaign with a little added attraction.
Considering the aftereffects of the guys that see the "Yes, you can", snicker "Oh yes we can", and can do, there's gonna be some people flying. ;-)
Off the handle that is
It's funny. Laugh.
viruses. That's what you need protection from.
NT on a 33MHz 486-33 with 16Meg.
XP on a 1000MHz P3 with 512Meg vendor install.
Basic system speed and responsiveness -- about the same.
OK, the 486 is EISA/SCSI and the XP is a laptop.
Way too much gizmo-happy on the vendor install.
What will happen when the suits realize that open source isn't really free (beer).
That's probably the one thing the suits do know without being told. Suits do not like to think of themselves as freeloaders. It may be as simple as buying boxed sets from Red Hat. The fact that anyone can download the same stuff for free does not detract from the value of the official boxed set.