Am I the only one that thinks the phases "Windows" and "no risk" should not be refering to each other?
A Linux trojan is no risk to a Windows system, pretty obvious, isn't it...
We trust our severs with linux, but not our email. We'd rather use a product known to get hit by the Virus-of-the Week(TM)!
Security is never the only motivation in deploying a product or OS. We can easily replace NT servers within our organisation without starting a user-revolt. For the desktop, this is not a realistic option. BTW: the Linux mailserver does an excellent job of filtering out Outlook viruses. Not that we use Outlook, we use Netscape Messenger, but I'm not sure how long we can keep that up. This is the real world;-)
For starters to get infected with this animal requires activity on the part of a user on the Linux box.
Code Red required no user activity at all. A typical orphaned Linux box standing around in a corner would not be at risk, the same machine running IIS would have been a sitting duck for CR. There are a lot of orphaned servers out there with standard Redhat or IIS installs. These are the real danger. Any remote-root security holes on these popuplations are cause for real concern.
I don't know if I'm typical or not, but where I work, Linux is used on servers (yup, I'm responsible for that) but we hardly ever read our mail on a Linux box. We use a Windows platform for that. So -> no risk.
I'm thinking a Linux desktop user would be a better victim for this. Fortunately, hardly anyone uses Linux on the desktop so we're all safe!
Yeah, well basically the MTBF of me and my twin brother are the same as well, but I think we would make newspaper headlines if we were to die from natural causes at the same instant, don't you?
Some advice: don't go near any casino's with your current statistical insights. You'll lose the shirt off your back;-)
www.gric.com is an organization that allows the participating ISP's to use each others networks. I'm not sure if you're allowed to attach to external SMTP servers, so you'd have to ask.
I hate "me too" posts, but I'd like to say I had exactly the same problem (as far as the withdrawals are concerned). I drank a lot of coffee during weekdays and not quite as much during the weekends. As a result I had a headache almost every weekend.
Since I stopped altogether (I do drink decaf occasionally) these headaches have almost stopped. (not entirely, perhaps there's some other factor as well). Apparently some people are hypersensitive to the stuff...
Come on, I wouldn't believe anything Chinese officials say, but I definitely wouldn't believe anything any Worm-author would like me to believe either.
If I were a nerdy Slashdot-reading Worm-writer I would probably think it a good idea to frame the Chinese. And start my infection spree by attacking some Chinese servers first. Next time he'll try Saddam or Milosevic (I heard those stupid Dutch gave him a computer in his cell).
Why the White House? Simply because it makes for a more visible target, publicity is what these guys are after.
Of course it could be the (a?) Chinese, but it could be anyone else on the planet with the necessary skills.
Regards,
Xenna
Disclaimer: The fact that I have a Chinese girlfriend does not influence my opninion in the least. And, no, it wasn't me.
I work at a university where I set up a webserver which provides all employees with the ability to run PHP scripts (with an optional MySQL backend).
In order to avoid the problem that everyone can read everyone else's scripts PHP runs in Safe mode, which confines a script to the dir it's in and the subdirs.
No, you are wrong. WAP runs over HTTP which runs over TCP. The only thing the WAP-gateway does is convert WML pages that people put on their WWW servers to a compressed binary format that is understood by the phones.
The gateway pre-processes the WML data for the phones so that the bandwidth and processing capacity of the phones can be as small as possible.
"You realize that good security practice dictates that we can now never accept anything you ever say on the subject of security again, right"
Actually, really good security practice would dictate you would never accept anything anyone ever said without verifying. Fact is that it's impractical to have any security practice that does not at least partially depends on trust (in the human sense).
It's important to know that a software developer takes security very seriously. IMHO DJB is as good as they come in security. Unfortunately he also seems to be a very dificult person.
I use Qmail & Djbdns on all my machines, but I fully understand Redhat's reluctancy to include them in their distributions. DJB could have a great influence on the state of software if only he wouldn't be so damn stubborn on the licensing issue. He must have been dropped on the head when he was a child or something;-)
The basic designation of the nobility is the predicate "von", which the vast majority of German nobles carry. There are a small number of noble houses, almost exclusively of the Uradel, which have never used the "von" or any other noble predicate, but are nevertheless of fully equal standing with those that do.
I haven't read the whole article, but I have no doubt that not all people with 'von' in their names are noble (stupid word) either, but there's a definite link here.
And yes, 'van' just means 'of' and the Dutch 'van' is no indication of nobility.
You won't find a solution that's cheaper than a GSM phone with a prepaid card. Permanently forward the voice calls to your fixed number or a voicemailbox and you won't be bothered by calls.
If you ever get in trouble you can even violate your principles and dial 112 (Europe's 911).
I doubt djbdns has received the attention that BIND has. If djbdns was used on every server instead of BIND, there'd probably be problems found with it too.
DJB is willing to bet that there won't be and even though djbdns is not in wide use, his other project, Qmail, which carries a similar guarantee is widespread even in high-profile high-risk locations like Hotmail. No security related bug has ever been found AFAIK.
I don't want to go to the other extreme, but I personally wouldn't be surprised if a little agression, a whiff of dishonesty and some other officially bad character traits would actually be a requirement in many jobs.
A lawyer who can't lie would be a prime example.
On a different note: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. (jeezz, I'm quoting the bible on/.!)
Regards,
Xenna
The three principal virtues of a programmer are Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris -- man perl
First of all, in Europe things are different in each country (well thankfully they *still* are). I have doubts about how effective a law against requesting photograps on applications would be. It is quite possible that discrimination is worse in the US, even if there are more laws against it than in Holland (Note: I'm not claiming any of this is actually the case, Holland & Europe certainly have their drawbacks). I know that some (very few) employers want handwriting samples to have them analysed by a 'graphologist' (??), some mumbo jumbo type that claims to be able to read your personality from your handwriting. I wouldn't want to work in a place that does that anyway.
Firing people is much more difficult in Holland, but I can tell you that definitely has its drawbacks.
Regards,
Xenna
Re:How can the war be stopped?
on
"Traffic"
·
· Score: 1
I live in the Netherlands and my countries relatively relaxed views on drugs are already causing these side effects. No habitual strip-searches but I do think Dutch travellers are more carefully watched already.
Many of our neighboring countries (Germany, France) have protested against dugs policies. The French government coined the phrase 'Narco Etat' (sp?) (Drugs State).
I used to live in Rotterdam, which is visited by a lot of drugs tourists from France. This is very unpleasant because it creates a small industry of small time criminals who try to intercept anyone with French license plates and escort them to a drugs dealer for a cut of the action.
But that's nothing compared to all those drug starved Americans travelling to Amsterdam for the 'Coffee shops'.
Legalization is good (IMO) but let's do it all together, please...
From your 'conclusive' article:
A search for "Linux is great" on Google yields 1,080,000 results. A search for "Windows 2000 is Great" yields 1,050,000.
Anybody with half a brain can smell this as a lie. The actual numbers are 7.094 for "Linux is great" and 230 for "Windows 2000 is great".
I've always wondered why the hdparm manpage says: Using DMA does not necessarily provide any improvement in throughput or system performance, but many folks swear by it. Your mileage may vary.
It seems to help a lot on my systems.
The same manpage mentions: It is also a good idea to use the -X34 option in combination with -d1.
I fully agree with you here. I've tried a Palm V after using an HP100LX/HP200LX for years but not having a keyboard is too much of a disadvantage for me.
I now own a Nokia 9110 Communicator, a smart phone with a keyboard (even tinier than the HP), but I dread the day when the keyboard devices will disappear from the market. Each input method has it's advantages, but I fear that kbd may disappear mainly because they aren't fashionable anymore.
I applaud your initiative, because an open source calendar server is badly needed.
At the university where I work we made our own Web based calendar to temporarily fill the gap. This works surprisingly well with a fairly basic set of features, but we really miss the ability to synchronize with different devices.
I realize that this may be more of a client issue, but something like the facility that Yahoo provides for synchronising Palm's would be nice.
There is another (largely untapped) synchronization area. Many of the smarter European GSM phones (all current Nokia phones, I believe) have a built in calendar that can exchange appointments with other devices by sending SMS messages (short wireless text messages) that contain vCalendar items (a simple text based format, I have the details of vCard/SMS messages if anyone wants them).
I realize that there this functionality is probably unknown in the US but it is very widely available in Europe and Asia.
I'm not sure what would be the best way to integrate this into a calendar server, but I know that I would definitely like to see a server that would update the calendar in my Nokia 9110 Communicator smartphone (see earlier discussion) automatically.
If you care about using the net with your phone, you don't want this thing. At least if you live in Europe, where GPRS is available in just a few months. It features faster transmission and he connection is always on. When GPRS becomes available, this product will be obsolete. And by the way, there are lots of better keyboards out there, like in Psion Series 5 and Ericsson MC218.
That's my main concern, I *would* prefer a GPRS device, but I doubt that it will arrive as quickly as you predict. I doubt if the 9210 will be available before summer, so it will be obsolete before it comes out...?
I don't count on using any phone for more than a year. The 9210 will probably be the best available when it comes out, so I'll get one. If at that time GPRS is there *and* the devices are there, I will change my mind. I wonder if a GPRS device could work with 'standard' GSM data if the provider doesn't support it. I want my smartphone to work as worldwide as possible.
There will undoubtedly be a successor that support GPRS, so I can migrate my files easily when the time comes.
Of course, when I do that, you'll tell me not to upgrade because UMTS is just around the corner...;-)
What you say about better keyboards is true, the 9110 keyboard is far from ideal, but the products you mention are PDA's and not phones I think. I prefer a single device solution.
Slashdot Mirror
Am I the only one that thinks the phases "Windows" and "no risk" should not be refering to each other?
;-)
A Linux trojan is no risk to a Windows system, pretty obvious, isn't it...
We trust our severs with linux, but not our email. We'd rather use a product known to get hit by the Virus-of-the Week(TM)!
Security is never the only motivation in deploying a product or OS. We can easily replace NT servers within our organisation without starting a user-revolt. For the desktop, this is not a realistic option. BTW: the Linux mailserver does an excellent job of filtering out Outlook viruses. Not that we use Outlook, we use Netscape Messenger, but I'm not sure how long we can keep that up. This is the real world
Regards,
Xenna
For starters to get infected with this animal requires activity on the part of a user on the Linux box.
Code Red required no user activity at all. A typical orphaned Linux box standing around in a corner would not be at risk, the same machine running IIS would have been a sitting duck for CR. There are a lot of orphaned servers out there with standard Redhat or IIS installs. These are the real danger. Any remote-root security holes on these popuplations are cause for real concern.
I don't know if I'm typical or not, but where I work, Linux is used on servers (yup, I'm responsible for that) but we hardly ever read our mail on a Linux box. We use a Windows platform for that. So -> no risk.
I'm thinking a Linux desktop user would be a better victim for this. Fortunately, hardly anyone uses Linux on the desktop so we're all safe!
Regards,
Xenna
Yeah, well basically the MTBF of me and my twin brother are the same as well, but I think we would make newspaper headlines if we were to die from natural causes at the same instant, don't you?
;-)
Some advice: don't go near any casino's with your current statistical insights. You'll lose the shirt off your back
Regards,
Xenna
www.gric.com is an organization that allows the participating ISP's to use each others networks. I'm not sure if you're allowed to attach to external SMTP servers, so you'd have to ask.
As for the multiple logins, I don't know...
Regards,
Xenna
I have a 9210 communicator and it's the only PDA worth having for me, but I wouldn't want to use the term rock solid in the same sentence.
Have you ever actually used one?
Are you in marketing?
(it does actualy crash fairly often and there are problems syncing with PC's)
Regards,
Xenna
I hate "me too" posts, but I'd like to say I had exactly the same problem (as far as the withdrawals are concerned). I drank a lot of coffee during weekdays and not quite as much during the weekends. As a result I had a headache almost every weekend.
Since I stopped altogether (I do drink decaf occasionally) these headaches have almost stopped. (not entirely, perhaps there's some other factor as well). Apparently some people are hypersensitive to the stuff...
Regards,
Xenna
Yesterday I tried entering:
confidential
In google, and guess what it came up with? A 'secret' directory on said company's web-site with a few dozen docs marked Confidential.
Pretty smart guys...
Regards,
Xenna
Come on, I wouldn't believe anything Chinese officials say, but I definitely wouldn't believe anything any Worm-author would like me to believe either.
If I were a nerdy Slashdot-reading Worm-writer I would probably think it a good idea to frame the Chinese. And start my infection spree by attacking some Chinese servers first. Next time he'll try Saddam or Milosevic (I heard those stupid Dutch gave him a computer in his cell).
Why the White House? Simply because it makes for a more visible target, publicity is what these guys are after.
Of course it could be the (a?) Chinese, but it could be anyone else on the planet with the necessary skills.
Regards,
Xenna
Disclaimer: The fact that I have a Chinese girlfriend does not influence my opninion in the least. And, no, it wasn't me.
I work at a university where I set up a webserver which provides all employees with the ability to run PHP scripts (with an optional MySQL backend).
In order to avoid the problem that everyone can read everyone else's scripts PHP runs in Safe mode, which confines a script to the dir it's in and the subdirs.
This seems to be working very well.
Regards,
Xenna
No, you are wrong. WAP runs over HTTP which runs over TCP. The only thing the WAP-gateway does is convert WML pages that people put on their WWW servers to a compressed binary format that is understood by the phones.
The gateway pre-processes the WML data for the phones so that the bandwidth and processing capacity of the phones can be as small as possible.
Regards,
Xenna
"You realize that good security practice dictates that we can now never accept anything you ever say on the subject of security again, right"
;-)
Actually, really good security practice would dictate you would never accept anything anyone ever said without verifying. Fact is that it's impractical to have any security practice that does not at least partially depends on trust (in the human sense).
It's important to know that a software developer takes security very seriously. IMHO DJB is as good as they come in security. Unfortunately he also seems to be a very dificult person.
I use Qmail & Djbdns on all my machines, but I fully understand Redhat's reluctancy to include them in their distributions. DJB could have a great influence on the state of software if only he wouldn't be so damn stubborn on the licensing issue. He must have been dropped on the head when he was a child or something
Regards,
Xenna
OK, you never get away with saying 'I think' on the Internet, so I delved into it a bit more. I found this:
From The German Nobility:
The basic designation of the nobility is the predicate "von", which the vast majority of German nobles carry. There are a small number of noble houses, almost exclusively of the Uradel, which have never used the "von" or any other noble predicate, but are nevertheless of fully equal standing with those that do.
I haven't read the whole article, but I have no doubt that not all people with 'von' in their names are noble (stupid word) either, but there's a definite link here.
And yes, 'van' just means 'of' and the Dutch 'van' is no indication of nobility.
Regards,
Xenna (I varned you I waz an expert!)
It just smells funny...
Anglicized? Not really...
'von' is the German version of the Dutch 'van' prefix (or vice-versa). I think in Germany a 'von' prefix indicates nobility (e.g. Werner von Braun).
The Anglicized version is just to leave out the spaces and say 'Vanderbilt' instead of 'van der Bilt'.
Regards,
Xenna
(Who should be recognized as an expert on this trivial subject, having 'van der' in front of his *real* name.)
You won't find a solution that's cheaper than a GSM phone with a prepaid card. Permanently forward the voice calls to your fixed number or a voicemailbox and you won't be bothered by calls.
If you ever get in trouble you can even violate your principles and dial 112 (Europe's 911).
Regards,
Xenna
I doubt djbdns has received the attention that BIND has. If djbdns was used on every server instead of BIND, there'd probably be problems found with it too.
DJB is willing to bet that there won't be and even though djbdns is not in wide use, his other project, Qmail, which carries a similar guarantee is widespread even in high-profile high-risk locations like Hotmail. No security related bug has ever been found AFAIK.
Regards,
Xenna (who bets his servers on it)
I don't want to go to the other extreme, but I personally wouldn't be surprised if a little agression, a whiff of dishonesty and some other officially bad character traits would actually be a requirement in many jobs.
/.!)
A lawyer who can't lie would be a prime example.
On a different note: Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. (jeezz, I'm quoting the bible on
Regards,
Xenna
The three principal virtues of a programmer are Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris -- man perl
First of all, in Europe things are different in each country (well thankfully they *still* are). I have doubts about how effective a law against requesting photograps on applications would be. It is quite possible that discrimination is worse in the US, even if there are more laws against it than in Holland (Note: I'm not claiming any of this is actually the case, Holland & Europe certainly have their drawbacks). I know that some (very few) employers want handwriting samples to have them analysed by a 'graphologist' (??), some mumbo jumbo type that claims to be able to read your personality from your handwriting. I wouldn't want to work in a place that does that anyway.
Firing people is much more difficult in Holland, but I can tell you that definitely has its drawbacks.
Regards,
Xenna
I live in the Netherlands and my countries relatively relaxed views on drugs are already causing these side effects. No habitual strip-searches but I do think Dutch travellers are more carefully watched already.
Many of our neighboring countries (Germany, France) have protested against dugs policies. The French government coined the phrase 'Narco Etat' (sp?) (Drugs State).
I used to live in Rotterdam, which is visited by a lot of drugs tourists from France. This is very unpleasant because it creates a small industry of small time criminals who try to intercept anyone with French license plates and escort them to a drugs dealer for a cut of the action.
But that's nothing compared to all those drug starved Americans travelling to Amsterdam for the 'Coffee shops'.
Legalization is good (IMO) but let's do it all together, please...
Regards,
Xenna
From your 'conclusive' article:
A search for "Linux is great" on Google yields 1,080,000 results. A search for "Windows 2000 is Great" yields 1,050,000.
Anybody with half a brain can smell this as a lie. The actual numbers are 7.094 for "Linux is great" and 230 for "Windows 2000 is great".
Regards,
Xenna
I've always wondered why the hdparm manpage says: Using DMA does not necessarily provide any improvement in throughput or system performance, but many folks swear by it. Your mileage may vary.
;-)
It seems to help a lot on my systems.
The same manpage mentions: It is also a good idea to use the -X34 option in combination with -d1.
This never fails to crash my systems
I fully agree with you here. I've tried a Palm V after using an HP100LX/HP200LX for years but not having a keyboard is too much of a disadvantage for me.
I now own a Nokia 9110 Communicator, a smart phone with a keyboard (even tinier than the HP), but I dread the day when the keyboard devices will disappear from the market. Each input method has it's advantages, but I fear that kbd may disappear mainly because they aren't fashionable anymore.
Regards,
Xenna
I don't know where you got that 90% tax rate from but it's quite untrue (thankfully).
The new income tax rates for 2001 are:
0 to 31652 guilders taxable income: 32.55%
31652 to 58381: 36.85%
58381 to 99460: 42%
over 99460: 52%
The new capital tax is 1.2%.
Intrest paid on mortgages is tax deductable.
Fuel taxes are high (as everywhere in Europe).
VAT is 19% on most goods
Regards,
Xenna
I applaud your initiative, because an open source calendar server is badly needed.
At the university where I work we made our own Web based calendar to temporarily fill the gap. This works surprisingly well with a fairly basic set of features, but we really miss the ability to synchronize with different devices.
I realize that this may be more of a client issue, but something like the facility that Yahoo provides for synchronising Palm's would be nice.
There is another (largely untapped) synchronization area. Many of the smarter European GSM phones (all current Nokia phones, I believe) have a built in calendar that can exchange appointments with other devices by sending SMS messages (short wireless text messages) that contain vCalendar items (a simple text based format, I have the details of vCard/SMS messages if anyone wants them).
I realize that there this functionality is probably unknown in the US but it is very widely available in Europe and Asia.
I'm not sure what would be the best way to integrate this into a calendar server, but I know that I would definitely like to see a server that would update the calendar in my Nokia 9110 Communicator smartphone (see earlier discussion) automatically.
Regards,
Xenna
If you care about using the net with your phone, you don't want this thing. At least if you live in Europe, where GPRS is available in just a few months. It features faster transmission and he connection is always on. When GPRS becomes available, this product will be obsolete. And by the way, there are lots of better keyboards out there, like in Psion Series 5 and Ericsson MC218.
;-)
That's my main concern, I *would* prefer a GPRS device, but I doubt that it will arrive as quickly as you predict. I doubt if the 9210 will be available before summer, so it will be obsolete before it comes out...?
I don't count on using any phone for more than a year. The 9210 will probably be the best available when it comes out, so I'll get one. If at that time GPRS is there *and* the devices are there, I will change my mind. I wonder if a GPRS device could work with 'standard' GSM data if the provider doesn't support it. I want my smartphone to work as worldwide as possible.
There will undoubtedly be a successor that support GPRS, so I can migrate my files easily when the time comes.
Of course, when I do that, you'll tell me not to upgrade because UMTS is just around the corner...
What you say about better keyboards is true, the 9110 keyboard is far from ideal, but the products you mention are PDA's and not phones I think. I prefer a single device solution.
Regards,
Xenna