Microsoft did the same thing back in the early nineties. They added a "POSIX compatibility layer" to Windows NT and then went around getting gullable (ahem) reporters to praise their new Standards Compliant(tm) operating system. We all know the end result of that; Cygwin even had to go back to the drawing board to get any common POSIX application to compile for NT.
Meanwhile, Linux isn't "officially" UNIX or even POSIX-certified; and yet it's still much more POSIXish than Windows NT is. The same is true for dotNet vs. Java/J2EE; the one has lip service from standards bodies while the other is more-or-less fully open.
Specifically, he talked about the savings he claims in moving Dell's Oracle databases from Solaris to Red Hat.
Considering that I've migrated from systems such as NeXT and AIX to Linux-based solutions with very few problems, I'd put forth the assertion that any Linux distribution would qualify as `UNIX' to most lay definitions of the term. I've even taken applications from Oracle/WinNT to Oracle/RedHat with minor issues. Computer operating systems are simply getting better; more commoditizied, which is why Microsoft is afraid of Linux right now. The "UNIX vendors" are still shipping machines, but with Linux installed instead of their "big iron" legacy UNIX systems. I think that he should have said "Operating Systems are Dead" instead -- which is how it should be; the computer should simply get out of our way and let us get jobs done in an efficient manner.
What used to be home-user shops, such as Dell, can now ship high-quality UNIX solutions thanks to Linux and BSD. Quibbling over the proper definition of UNIX seems silly. If it looks like UNIX, acts like UNIX and runs the source found on "legacy" UNIX systems, well, what is it?
There are many (most? all?) companies that are much smaller that manage to not alienate customers intentionally. I am a big customer of Microsoft's; we buy a ton of software from them. I just use Linux, and I like to look up answers on their site using Mozilla, or UNLOCK MY VOLUME LICENSES on their website, which requires a passport account (which, incidentlly, is how I stumbled into this bug in the first place). I was trying to give them money, and they just slapped me in the face.
It took microsoft SIX MONTHS to fix a one-liner that prevented Mozilla from working with Passport (buggy browser "detection" code). See bugzilla bug #141279 if you are curious. Interoperability and open standards are not placed anywhere near the top of the queue at Microsoft. In fact, the dragging of feet would point to more sinister motives... but of course there's no proof of such (without Halloween memos, at least).
But does anybody care at this point? How many people still use Ximian's desktop?
It's either someone who is a rabid GNOME2 user, or a KDE user who has some childish bone to pick with Ximian for some reason. Nevermind all the work from Ximian that can be found at gnome.org. What a loser. I'm using KDE 3.1 myself, but kudos to Ximian for their pending release.
My LCD runs usually at 75 hz, although it can run at 80 hz.
That's amusing, considering that the signal cycles have absolutely nothing to do with the pixel response times on current-genration LCD screens. Why not crank that baby all the way to the limit of the screen's decoder, if that'll make you feel any better.
+5 Insightful? Why?
Oh, so we're going to be able to buy it for the PC and Mac just like Halo then.
Ummm, where can I buy Halo for the Mac or PC? It came out last summer, just like Microsoft promised it would, right...?
It's not as bad as that; most local exploits will only give you the same privileges that you already have, not elevate them. For example, the mutt hole made it possible for certain data items to run code as the same user that is running mutt. There are very few programs that are allowed to run with superuser privileges, and those packages should be kept to an absolute minimum. CVS, Apache, samba, ftpd and their like should NEVER run with root privileges; at worst a daemon may need permission to open a privileged port, but then relinquish such privleges. At best, they run in a chroot'd environment (like any FTP server that accepts incomming requests...).
Chimera's a lot more Aqua than Safari, too! I think Safari is stunningly ugly for an Apple product.
Yeah, Safari looks like a bad gtk app after the themers first discovered pixmap skins. I've crashed it quite a few times, and seen many rendering errors with it (even on simple pages; Google was all rendered on the left side of the window once, instead of being properly centered). It is very fast on my iBook/500, though, and I'm sure it'll get better with time.
But, for now, Chimera is my browser of choice for OSX. I don't want another ugly metal-brushed app, but if Apple works the bugs out and keeps it as fast as it is now, I'll "switch".
There are variations such as this:
http://prices.cclcomputers.co.uk/specs/backup/usbd rive.htm
that actually use "real" RAM and a battery to maintain state, if it's critical that it not be flash-RAM.
Didn't you already know? All copyright law has to be re-written because DIGITAL is completely different from analog copyright. Even though it's still illegal to violate copyrights, we have to have even more restrictions because of the almost-magical qualities of digital media. People who violate the copyright of certain materials should not only be prosecuted under conventional copyright law, they also need to be severely punished for breaking the magical digital restrictions as well.
Seriously, though, the governments and corporations of the world have taken advantage of us by pawning off all these "digital" versions of laws that are already in place. This is why the EFF keeps fighting it, and why everyone should too.
I'd love to be able to rent a XXX video game at the local porn shop. I've been playing Vice City over the last couple weeks, and both my wife and father (~47 years old) thought it was hilarious. Yes, you can run over every pedestrian and blow the heads off the cops with a shotgun; but you can also... deliver pizza, drive taxis and chase down criminals (Good Citizen Award).
Some of the Vice City missions are evil (like the "wipe the wife" one), and this game probably shouldn't be at Walmart or Fred Meyer. There are, however, many good distribution channels for adult materials. My wife and I have puchased non-porn-but-adult items at the local porn shops; they have DVDs now... is the placement of video games there really such a far stretch? I think most of the resistence will come from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft though; who wouldn't want to be the first system to offend soccer moms' sensibilities. On the other hand, the system that does open this door will have an advantage in the market in the future (methinks).
I wish I had some mod points for you; that's exactly what Microsoft means when they say that their documents are saved using XML. They include Win32 class-ID objects all over the place.
The context was "locked-down box". If I walk up to your secured linux system with a statically linked, suid copy of Vi on a floppy and you "misconfigured" your fstab such that I could mount and run it, that's the same problem.
You make my point. A "locked-down" UNIX box wouldn't care if you managed to get a statically linked copy of vi on your system. You could get it over the network, too, so I suppose a "locked down" Windows machine disables the network device?
You just need the Active Solitaire Group Policy Administrator t001 that ships with Windows 2000 SUPER Advanced Server. Microsoft has forseen your need for this problem and provided a complete API for Visual Studio dotInfo which allows IT profeshunals to not only control how many times Solitaire is run by individual users, but it supplies an ACL which allows the per-user limits to change based on how many times others have utilized this program. This means that your boss coule be allowed to play Solitaire only when your vacation requests have been properly filled out (see obscure documentation for the Active LookOut Vacation API Plugin -- and be sure to download the 27 hotfixes we have for this tool that runs with SYSTEM privileges).
Yes, you can now use the Solitaire Administrata MMC Plugin from any other properly-licenced member of the 2000 SUPER Advanced Server domain (as long as it's using the latest version of Windows, anyway) to manage your company's ability to waste time all day. We plan to rollout future versions of this IT management tool for other titles such as Freecell and Pinball. Look for updates on MSDN.
Microsoft. We not only make computing EASY, but we make it BLODDY STUPID to boot, by fixing the symptoms of problems INSTEAD of the root cause.
You are admitting that the machine is misconfigured
OMFG... Being able to run programs off a floppy is considered a "misconfiguration" in the Windows Wild World of Security now? And you people wonder why we laugh so hard.
Dont give the execute permissions on any folder they have write access too. Simple as that, No more running things from their desktops. Just lock the thing down tight, dont let the execute anything anywhere and try to do whatever it is they need to. Then open it up as needed. With GP you can disable Active X and all that in pages, so no more worries about that.
So this is what passes for Windows security then?
A secure UNIX system will allow the user to run ANY binary. Period. They may not have permission to write to some file in/etc, or they may not be able to install shared libraries in the system path... but I can't think of a bigger waste of time than having a default-deny policy on executables and then punching holes in it so that only "safe" programs are allowed to run. What happens after an upgrade? Do you have to do it all over again? What happens when users need a security patch? You have to re-mirror the box? Operating systems have built-in security mechanisms so that these things shouldn't need to be done. That the tools to do them exist under Windows, that they even ship with them and that they are the reccomended manner to secure them is just... laughable.
Just hold down ctrl while clicking on a link (or command on a Mac). It will open that link in a new tab instead of a new window. As for pop-ups; well, I just turn them off.
I am thrilled to see DS9 coming out on DVD. I am truly surprised that it's coming out before the silly Voyager series as well. Of all the Trek franchises, DS9 has the most detailed thematic and character development. With TOS and Voyager you can basically sit down to any episode and watch it without any context needed. TNG is the same, but to a lesser extent (they actually changed the status quo from time to time, imagine that!). DS9, OTOH, can have you completely lost if you missed a few episodes since the last time you saw it.
It will be a GREAT set to own, and I can't wait!
Well, What do you Expect?
on
The Last Comdex?
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Computers used to be fun. There used to be competition. There used to be variety. All we have now are ugly beige boxes running Windows, and the only surprise is how cheap the price can get. All the productivity/business apps are all in the "Microsoft Pavilion". All the system software is there too. All the small business software is there, and a lot of the enterprise software is there as well. Why would anyone want to go to a show that is simply one big, glorified advertisement for Microsoft?
Linux folks tried to lighten the place up a few years ago by handing out free CDs in front of the Microsoft booth, but Bill had them escorted off the property. Novell's gone from the show. Sun's gone from the show. Apple's gone from the show. IBM has a token appearance. HP only shows off their new laser printers (woo-hooo....). It's dull and boring.
I remember going back when there were a dozen different computing platforms running a dozen different operating systems. It slowly diminished to the "PowerPC Pavilion" out in the parking lot (bet Bill was happy about that!) against the PC folks in the LVCC+Lower Sands (upper Sands still had some interesting 3rd party stuff). For a couple years after that they had some Linux-specialized groups, but then there was nothing but Windows.
The internet has also made Comdex obosolete. One used to be able to find new products at Comdex, but now everything on display is Old News. We learn about interesting things here on Slashdot WAY before Comdex ever debuts anything. Since there is no new technology there, and pretty much everything is Windows, which we have to use everyday anyway, the only things left are the swag and Bill's keynote.
Personally, I think swag is a better reason to go, but it's really not even worth that anymore. I've been attending Usenix instead for the last couple years, and by contrast it is fun, interesting and refreshing. *shrug*
The idea is for example, viewing a picture would use the same user interface as listening to a music source.
Oh, kinda like WMP8 then. A horrible interface that takes up 200% of the screen real estate as the media that you're viewing, with built-in software to "protect the user" from copying images from one medium to another all the while promoting Microsoft-patented media formats on the net.
No shit.
And MIT of all places. My view of that school just plummeted down the toilet. Aren't ethics committees and univrsity legal groups supposed to keep tabs on this sort of thing? I wonder what the MIT HIPPA committee's action plan is; something like "will release patient information for $40M hard cash" I suspect.
Speaking of which; why the hell do people want cordless mice/keyboards in the first place? What did the cord ever do to you? I can see 10 years into the future, where in addition to having kilowatt power supplies, we'll be filling up all the landfills with alkaline batteries to keep our mice and keyboards well fed; and for what -- to get rid of that ever-so-annoying.... cable? I just don't get it.
Slashdot Mirror
Meanwhile, Linux isn't "officially" UNIX or even POSIX-certified; and yet it's still much more POSIXish than Windows NT is. The same is true for dotNet vs. Java/J2EE; the one has lip service from standards bodies while the other is more-or-less fully open.
Considering that I've migrated from systems such as NeXT and AIX to Linux-based solutions with very few problems, I'd put forth the assertion that any Linux distribution would qualify as `UNIX' to most lay definitions of the term. I've even taken applications from Oracle/WinNT to Oracle/RedHat with minor issues. Computer operating systems are simply getting better; more commoditizied, which is why Microsoft is afraid of Linux right now. The "UNIX vendors" are still shipping machines, but with Linux installed instead of their "big iron" legacy UNIX systems. I think that he should have said "Operating Systems are Dead" instead -- which is how it should be; the computer should simply get out of our way and let us get jobs done in an efficient manner.
What used to be home-user shops, such as Dell, can now ship high-quality UNIX solutions thanks to Linux and BSD. Quibbling over the proper definition of UNIX seems silly. If it looks like UNIX, acts like UNIX and runs the source found on "legacy" UNIX systems, well, what is it?
There are many (most? all?) companies that are much smaller that manage to not alienate customers intentionally. I am a big customer of Microsoft's; we buy a ton of software from them. I just use Linux, and I like to look up answers on their site using Mozilla, or UNLOCK MY VOLUME LICENSES on their website, which requires a passport account (which, incidentlly, is how I stumbled into this bug in the first place). I was trying to give them money, and they just slapped me in the face.
It took microsoft SIX MONTHS to fix a one-liner that prevented Mozilla from working with Passport (buggy browser "detection" code). See bugzilla bug #141279 if you are curious. Interoperability and open standards are not placed anywhere near the top of the queue at Microsoft. In fact, the dragging of feet would point to more sinister motives... but of course there's no proof of such (without Halloween memos, at least).
It's either someone who is a rabid GNOME2 user, or a KDE user who has some childish bone to pick with Ximian for some reason. Nevermind all the work from Ximian that can be found at gnome.org. What a loser. I'm using KDE 3.1 myself, but kudos to Ximian for their pending release.
That's amusing, considering that the signal cycles have absolutely nothing to do with the pixel response times on current-genration LCD screens. Why not crank that baby all the way to the limit of the screen's decoder, if that'll make you feel any better. +5 Insightful? Why?
Oh, so we're going to be able to buy it for the PC and Mac just like Halo then. Ummm, where can I buy Halo for the Mac or PC? It came out last summer, just like Microsoft promised it would, right...?
It's not as bad as that; most local exploits will only give you the same privileges that you already have, not elevate them. For example, the mutt hole made it possible for certain data items to run code as the same user that is running mutt. There are very few programs that are allowed to run with superuser privileges, and those packages should be kept to an absolute minimum. CVS, Apache, samba, ftpd and their like should NEVER run with root privileges; at worst a daemon may need permission to open a privileged port, but then relinquish such privleges. At best, they run in a chroot'd environment (like any FTP server that accepts incomming requests...).
Yeah, Safari looks like a bad gtk app after the themers first discovered pixmap skins. I've crashed it quite a few times, and seen many rendering errors with it (even on simple pages; Google was all rendered on the left side of the window once, instead of being properly centered). It is very fast on my iBook/500, though, and I'm sure it'll get better with time.
But, for now, Chimera is my browser of choice for OSX. I don't want another ugly metal-brushed app, but if Apple works the bugs out and keeps it as fast as it is now, I'll "switch".
No? Yes? Hopefully?
There are variations such as this: http://prices.cclcomputers.co.uk/specs/backup/usbd rive.htm
that actually use "real" RAM and a battery to maintain state, if it's critical that it not be flash-RAM.
Seriously, though, the governments and corporations of the world have taken advantage of us by pawning off all these "digital" versions of laws that are already in place. This is why the EFF keeps fighting it, and why everyone should too.
Some of the Vice City missions are evil (like the "wipe the wife" one), and this game probably shouldn't be at Walmart or Fred Meyer. There are, however, many good distribution channels for adult materials. My wife and I have puchased non-porn-but-adult items at the local porn shops; they have DVDs now... is the placement of video games there really such a far stretch? I think most of the resistence will come from Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft though; who wouldn't want to be the first system to offend soccer moms' sensibilities. On the other hand, the system that does open this door will have an advantage in the market in the future (methinks).
I wish I had some mod points for you; that's exactly what Microsoft means when they say that their documents are saved using XML. They include Win32 class-ID objects all over the place.
Try it out. Once a user mounts a removable device, all the files are owned by that user; in your example vi would be suid to yourself.
You make my point. A "locked-down" UNIX box wouldn't care if you managed to get a statically linked copy of vi on your system. You could get it over the network, too, so I suppose a "locked down" Windows machine disables the network device?
Please don't be an idiot. Thank you.Eh, yes... good advice in heaps, I see.
Yes, you can now use the Solitaire Administrata MMC Plugin from any other properly-licenced member of the 2000 SUPER Advanced Server domain (as long as it's using the latest version of Windows, anyway) to manage your company's ability to waste time all day. We plan to rollout future versions of this IT management tool for other titles such as Freecell and Pinball. Look for updates on MSDN.
Microsoft. We not only make computing EASY, but we make it BLODDY STUPID to boot, by fixing the symptoms of problems INSTEAD of the root cause.
OMFG... Being able to run programs off a floppy is considered a "misconfiguration" in the Windows Wild World of Security now? And you people wonder why we laugh so hard.
So this is what passes for Windows security then?
A secure UNIX system will allow the user to run ANY binary. Period. They may not have permission to write to some file in /etc, or they may not be able to install shared libraries in the system path... but I can't think of a bigger waste of time than having a default-deny policy on executables and then punching holes in it so that only "safe" programs are allowed to run. What happens after an upgrade? Do you have to do it all over again? What happens when users need a security patch? You have to re-mirror the box? Operating systems have built-in security mechanisms so that these things shouldn't need to be done. That the tools to do them exist under Windows, that they even ship with them and that they are the reccomended manner to secure them is just... laughable.
Just hold down ctrl while clicking on a link (or command on a Mac). It will open that link in a new tab instead of a new window. As for pop-ups; well, I just turn them off.
It will be a GREAT set to own, and I can't wait!
Linux folks tried to lighten the place up a few years ago by handing out free CDs in front of the Microsoft booth, but Bill had them escorted off the property. Novell's gone from the show. Sun's gone from the show. Apple's gone from the show. IBM has a token appearance. HP only shows off their new laser printers (woo-hooo....). It's dull and boring.
I remember going back when there were a dozen different computing platforms running a dozen different operating systems. It slowly diminished to the "PowerPC Pavilion" out in the parking lot (bet Bill was happy about that!) against the PC folks in the LVCC+Lower Sands (upper Sands still had some interesting 3rd party stuff). For a couple years after that they had some Linux-specialized groups, but then there was nothing but Windows.
The internet has also made Comdex obosolete. One used to be able to find new products at Comdex, but now everything on display is Old News. We learn about interesting things here on Slashdot WAY before Comdex ever debuts anything. Since there is no new technology there, and pretty much everything is Windows, which we have to use everyday anyway, the only things left are the swag and Bill's keynote.
Personally, I think swag is a better reason to go, but it's really not even worth that anymore. I've been attending Usenix instead for the last couple years, and by contrast it is fun, interesting and refreshing. *shrug*
Oh, kinda like WMP8 then. A horrible interface that takes up 200% of the screen real estate as the media that you're viewing, with built-in software to "protect the user" from copying images from one medium to another all the while promoting Microsoft-patented media formats on the net.
I can't wait!
No shit. And MIT of all places. My view of that school just plummeted down the toilet. Aren't ethics committees and univrsity legal groups supposed to keep tabs on this sort of thing? I wonder what the MIT HIPPA committee's action plan is; something like "will release patient information for $40M hard cash" I suspect.
Speaking of which; why the hell do people want cordless mice/keyboards in the first place? What did the cord ever do to you? I can see 10 years into the future, where in addition to having kilowatt power supplies, we'll be filling up all the landfills with alkaline batteries to keep our mice and keyboards well fed; and for what -- to get rid of that ever-so-annoying.... cable? I just don't get it.