Slashdot Mirror


User: overshoot

overshoot's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
1,863
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 1,863

  1. The right tool for the job on The Most Desired Linux Ports · · Score: 1
    Doesn't that suggest that you're using a screwdriver to pound nails (to torture an already tortured analogy)?

    I presume you mean, "why don't you just use a Microsoft box like Everyone Else?"

    Simple answer was in the grandpost: I don't do it often enough to keep the MS account from expiring, much less remember the login. My main work is all with *nix-based tools (and today, that means "Linux-based.") When NetMeeting and other conferencing tools are the only tools missing from Linux, I'm not about to switch to turn my dual-Opteron 4 GB box into a dumb terminal to shared servers just so I can conference once in a blue moon.

  2. Re:Only one I really need on The Most Desired Linux Ports · · Score: 1
    can't gnomemeeting communicate with netmeeting clients?

    Last I looked, it didn't even try to share applications; NetMeeting audio sucketh royally so the MS users never bother with it -- just regular conference calls.

    In any case, I've never gotten it to connect.

  3. Only one I really need on The Most Desired Linux Ports · · Score: 2, Interesting
    and that's a Microsoft NetMeeting compatible conferencing tool. Too many flipping NetMeeting sessions going on at work, and I hate having to borrow an MS box, call up IT, get a login (forgotten immediately) and so on -- all to join a meeting.

    Wouldn't hurt to have a client for Webex, either. Never mind what they say, their putative Linux client still seems to require Red Hat 7.x

  4. It can't be manipulated or turned against the user on New Software To Balance Privacy and Security? · · Score: 1
    Of course not -- after all, it's already against the user.

    For crying out loud, this is spyware, by definition.

  5. Only? on State of WLAN Support on Linux? · · Score: 1

    Funny, my ThinkPad with Intel (gag!) wireless seems to work flawlessly. The main kernel tree drivers are still a bit flaky, but the ipw2200 drivers are rock-solid.

  6. Download a copy on IE7 Leaked · · Score: 4, Funny
  7. Re:What makes you think you get a choice on The Choice Between DRM and Security · · Score: 1
    The only stuf I can't think on how to deal with is EPROM, and consequently FLASH.

    Why do you think I listed e-beam as a necessary tool?

    There are fuse technologies (and I know Intel uses them) that were developed for the DoD years ago that are actually harder to read than floating-gate stuff. Unless you're pretty heavy into semiconductor physics it's funky stuff, but the whole smartcard business depends on it -- it's pretty thoroughly checked out.

  8. Didn't you get the memo? on The Choice Between DRM and Security · · Score: 1
    After the Pentium3 Serial Number fiasco, I very much doubt the CPU mfrs will put DRM in hardware or CPU firmware.

    Doubt all you like, but that's what they've all announced that they'll be doing.

  9. No Prob on Real ID Act Poses Technical Challenges · · Score: 1
    My driver's license doesn't expire until 2017, and my passport is good for flying nearly as long.

    So if the feds want to ban the use of Arizona ID on planes, it's OK by me.

  10. Two different things on The Choice Between DRM and Security · · Score: 1
    You can, and actually a lot of DRM research is going into business applications.

    The DRM systems under development aren't usable by business because they depend on the master keys being held by an external trusted party (Microsoft, chip manufacturer, etc.) against users doing the exact things that businesses need to be able to do: replicate secured material to a different machine in case of failure.

    If a business can replicate a crashed system, an end-user can replicate (and decrypt) "protected" files. The process is identical. Law enforcement demands for access to secured content also fly directly in the face of business requirements for security.

    In a contest between the (mostly clueless) small business on one side and:

    • The Secret Police^W^WDepartment of Homeland Security,
    • Microsoft
    • IBM
    • Intel
    • AMD
    • Content Cartel
    • etc.
    I know which way I'm going to bet.
  11. What makes you think you get a choice on The Choice Between DRM and Security · · Score: 2, Informative
    But it will probably be a dedicated DRM applicance, 'cuz there's no way to secure a PC computer. None when the user has root and access to hardware.

    Unless you have a pretty impressive lab in your garage, capable of stripping an IC layer by layer and e-beaming the results to detect stored charges, you don't have access to the hardware. Next!

    They'll have to discount it heavily, or have some pretty compelling content (which is nowhere to be seen) before I buy.

    Hate to break the news, but it's in all of the next generation of CPUs. Either get used to the idea of a "rootkit in hardware" or quit retiring those old boxes to the guest room, because from now on the old kit is the only kit you can trust.

  12. Because *you* are the threat on The Choice Between DRM and Security · · Score: 1
    You can't use DRM for security, because the whole system is designed around the premise that you are the threat.

    If you were the "owner," you'd have control of the keys stored on the computer. Instead, the hardware is very carefully designed to prefer total loss of those keys over letting you back up and restore them.

  13. Slight correction on Toyota Prius Under Fire For Patent Infringement · · Score: 1
    Finally, the term of a patent is no longer based upon when it was granted, but when it was filed.

    Actually, it's based on both: seventeen from issue or twenty from initial filing, whichever is shorter.

  14. Did you actually look at the patent? on Toyota Prius Under Fire For Patent Infringement · · Score: 1
    To an electric vehicle engineer, this has got to count as obvious. Where the hell else are you going to look for power to recharge your battery?

    It's not a patent on regenerative braking, it's a patent for a rather clever use of planetary gears with two motors to get infinitely-variable output speed (and regenerative braking) without excessive stall-condition losses.

    Do, please, at least read the links before ranting. I realize that this is /. and it's the local custom, but frankly twits with more opinion than information are a glut on the market.

  15. Patent terms on Toyota Prius Under Fire For Patent Infringement · · Score: 1
    In any case, it is possible to be in favor of patents and against a term of 20 years, which seems a bit long these days.

    Seventeen from date of issue. This was granted in November 1991.

  16. Some are more equal than others on The Choice Between DRM and Security · · Score: 1
    Keep in mind that an essential requirement of both DRM and Government is that the master key be held by someone other than the nominal owner of the computer. Government can be bought off by including a built-in "back door" as with the late unlamented Clipper chip, but that's not enough for DRM.

    Trouble is, that's also going to play Hob with businesses' need for reliable backups. They need to be able to restore a secure system in case of failure, and don't want to have to prove to Intel (or whoever) that they are the One True Rightful Owner to get the master keys.

    Conclusion: businesses will have some way (bound up in massive contractual terms with Draconian penalties) to acquire the master keys to their machinery at the time of purchase. The rest of us will have to beg Intel, IBM, Microsoft, etc. for access to the machines we paid for.

  17. Limited problem on Toyota Prius Under Fire For Patent Infringement · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It also expires in three years.

    This actually looks like a reasonable patent -- the inventor did come up with a reasonably novel approach to getting decent efficiency out of electric motors under varying load conditions, and published it via the patent system long ago.

    The auto companies pay plenty in patent royalties every year, and if they'd negotiated terms before using this (which may well be tracable to their designs) then I doubt they'd have had to pay much. They may not have to pay all that much now, hard to say.

  18. Will Mono achieve what WINE could not? on Fedora Core 5 includes Mono · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not a chance. All of the MS application base (including the new ".NET" stuff) still depends on the underlying Win32 system functions, DLLs, etc. The newer interpreted APIs are just wrappers around the older stuff.

  19. 200 titles on Sony to Settle Spyware Suit with Downloads? · · Score: 1
    I can see it now. Not one of those 200 titles has any artists who were ever in the top 40, much less the top 10 -- and that's since the 50s.

    Instead, it's unaltered copies (scratches and all) of 78RPM stuff (in Japanese) from the post-WWII period.

  20. I don't understand on WINE Still Vulnerable to WMF Exploit · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The WINE libraries don't even include an equivalent of the DLL that causes the problem for Microsoft.

    How does WINE manage to duplicate a flaw in a function that WINE doesn't even implement?

  21. Been there, done that on Creating an IS Department? · · Score: 1
    And in Arizona to boot.

    Step one: keep detailed records. Talking about how you're overloaded doesn't count unless you have records.

    Step two: sometimes you need to stop fighting fires long enought to turn off the gas. Anything that isn't on your official scope gets dumped. If things fall apart, it makes your case for you.

    Step three: document your risks. What worked for me was doing a license audit on the Company. It was easy because there was no license accounting. One quick reference to the material at the BSA's website got me enough data to start putting a risk analysis together. YMMV.

    That last is the paydirt. Your job isn't to keep things running (which implies always being behind), it's to keep things from falling apart in the first place. Which, in turn, implies having up-to-date risk assessments.

  22. Re:Memorize this phrase... on Little Red Book Draws Government Attention · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "Fuck you, get a warrant".

    Why should they bother? It's so much easier to simply disappear you.

  23. I am Spartacus on Little Red Book Draws Government Attention · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I profoundly hope that my ILL request for the Little Red Book takes a long time thanks to the thousands of others it has to compete with.

    On the other hand, the original student was extremely foolish to tell anyone this, since doing so is a Federal felony in itself. We won't be hearing from him again, I'm afraid.

  24. New Fans on UK Government Order Review of IP Rights · · Score: 1
    Afterall, it couldn't possibly bring a whole new generation to listen to their work?

    Once upon a time, a man and his wife were traveling by car and "Get Back" came on the radio. Wife says to man that the vocals sounded a lot like Paul McCartney; husband tells her that it is Paul, back in the days of the Beatles. Wife says she'd never heard it before.

    Man and wife? Sir and Mrs. Paul McCartney!

  25. I *meant* to do that! on France Hostile To Open Source Software? · · Score: 1
    Yeah, the obvious third entry to whine and cheese is crackers.

    Seemed insufficiently snooty, though.