Normally I'd post this anonymously, but I am sick of the bullshit, whining and tantrums that the cry-baby leftist fuck-offs keep posting... Karma? fuck it... I just want my post READ.
In what state was that? In every state I have lived in, you are required to have (at the age of 18), either a VALID and CURRENT driver's license, or a CURRENT state ID. It's been that way for years... As for "sitting pretty in a new car"... did you know that ANY crime you commit (even speeding, not yielding to pedestrians, as a pedestrian: impeding the flow of traffic/jay-walking/crossing against a red) is an arrestable offense? The reason police generally only arrest people who don't cooperate, or who have commited a felonious offense is because to do otherwise would flood the jails. The ONLY false arrest claims that can be successfully made are if you have 1) a solid credible alibi, 2) you are arrested and this causes a significant detriment to you (no, missing a couple article on slashdot doesn't count) and 3) you can prove that there was malice aforethough (ie. they really WERE out to get you!). As for comdex, they have a LEGAL right to enforce any policy they see fit (private organization and all.) You don't have to like it, but, hell... you don't have to go either. I constantly hear people whine about "the security" at their job, the mall, concerts, conventions, et al. an I always tell 'em the same thing: Shut the hell up, I Hate whining... if you don't like it DON'T GO! plain and simple; but, don't expect anyone to bend to your whining cuz you can't bring your li'l tote bag... no one gives a shit! Please, do us all a favour and get a clue before referencing the law again... thank you and good night.
God Bless America, and her leader Mr. President, George W. Bush!
Although technically your true (training wise)... This training requires a couple of things. One is training in advanced martial arts (I am the only male member of my family NOT to have served special forces, and I enlisted today, Marines, but, no infantry for me... I am looking at special forces/Informations specialist). They don't (can't) train SPECIAL FORCES units to "cheat" on polygraphs... I have 7 years of 5 animal kung fu experience, and I can't cheat... it actually takes alot more than just "training". As for false positives... that is why "baseline" is established... a series of questions to establish, a couple innocuous questions (that most people will generally lie to), more obvious baselines... then, without warning or any obvious indication, questions of a relevant (to the event questioned) nature.
I have a polygraph machine at home (attached to my computer, with full stress-analysis programming); and I can (and do) simply by voice analysis (about 97-98% accurate), polygraph every person I talk to while at home.
As for "give to a judge"... check you case-law, if a defendant SUBMITS to a polygraph, it may be submitted, and a "I didn't do it" which shows a false read (lie), can be submitted as an admission of guilt. (Disclaimer, I have only studied and practiced law in Minnesota, Florida, and New Mexico). I think you watch a little bit too much LA Law.
Disclaimer IANLAL (I am no longer a Lawyer: I hate lawyers way too much).
You WOULD have a valid argument... if you said I was full of shit AND gave me evidence thereof! My evidence: 147 domains hosted... 160 email domains (mail.blah.com)... 25 hosted on MS. 12 IN OFFICE employees, 3 using MS products. Databases hosted: 500+... hosted on MS. 3. User productivity prior to upgrade to Linux Slackware 8.0 with KDE desktop environment: 6 hours, after: 8.0 hours (NO CRASHES). Time to learn: MS Apps: avg. employee (non-technical): 24 hours (three business days), learning on KDE Desktop with applications ported to (or running under dosemu/wine. non-technical) 2-4 hours. Server downtime to date since servers upgraded: MS NT/2K w/IIS and cold fusion:12%, servers with 2000 and Apache/cold fusion/php: 6%, servers with Linux Slackware 8.0/Cold Fusion/PHP: 0.0001% (I rebooted the Linux load-balancing system after uprgrading, and our forwarding system (Linux) took about 1.7 seconds to notice, so account access was slowed); Email Servers, availability: MS NT MS Exchange 70% available; MS NT running worldmail: 65% available; servers running inhouse mail server (handling ListServs, Email, net Email, Dealer and Wholesale lists for computer listing services): 99.999% available.
You want more?
Hacks:
MS hacks, prior to my taking over: 1000+ (yep, I know how many 0's there are there, and it's no mistake); after: 6
Linux hacks, prior to my taking over: 0
after:0
to me, linux is THE SHIT. Always up, workstations reboot/clean-up after 10 PM., servers don't crash, redundant servers WORK, mail follows rules, doesn't loopback-fail etc. mail balancing works, ListServs don't die. I can't find any way that MS can top that...
We don't allow gaming or porn surfing of course, so if you are looking for those, guess your SOL, and MS would be a nice substitute...
Only other shit would be Access: 25 User recommended, 254 user Limit(255 IF you count the database as a user) vs. the almost-no-cost (resource wise) MySQL... which allows as many users as you can cram on a sys, and for about 1/90th the cost to resources.
Sorry slashdot, I fed the troll... but, I can't stand to see these "bullshit... but I have no proof" posts... wanna' come see the network I administer? Lemme' see your network too! (and it BETTER be running MS if you wanna argue with me!)
For the student argument, your argument about web browsers MAY be valid (if I were the instructor, I don't think I'd be giving a good-god-damn whether someone's slashdot rendered nicely on school systems during my lecture) for employees whom complain about the "web not working"... the words most likely heard from the boss's mouth aren't "Well, we'll look into that," they are "What the HELL are you surfing the web for ON COMPANY TIME".
As for "mostly good enough" I use star office 6.0b EXCLUSIVELY. My boss and the owner of the company use Office EXCLUSIVELY. The only problem I've seen is when I get a Macro infested document (Excel) and try to run the macros (I have to re-write them). I write all of my reports/presentations/spreadsheets in Star Office, and NEVER have a problem clicking the "Save as" option and saving as Office 97/2000; likewise, when I get an email with a.doc.xls etc. attachment, I open it with Star Office and never lose anything in the conversion. You HAD a couple of valid arguments 6 months ago, but today... you don't. Also, on the Browser side... I use lynx most of the time, but for web browsing/slashdot/secure-banking... etc. etc. I use either Konquerer or Netscape (Mozilla and KDE argue WAY too much).
As for "satisfying users" I have converted about 30 percent of my office (both servers and workstations, we are now 80% Linux, thanks to the prior sys admin's initial convertions) from Windows 95/98/NT to Linux. productivity increased quite a bit since we lost all of the BSOD activity (I had a bear of a time with that on the Win2K workstations!). At my 90, 120, and 180 day reviews with both of my pro-MS bosses (the CTO and the CEO/Owner) commented that, since I brought linux to the desktops (there's are the gleeming exceptions), productivity has improved, bandwidth waste has dropped, system stability is up, and employees find both the ease of use invitingn (KDE desktop environments), and are less stressed because of loss of data (cuz they don't lose data any more!).
The sys admin that came before me was a Debian psycho (I know your reading this Ed, good work on the mail servers)... He custom wrote most of the mail server code... if they ever have problems, I just see why: I have the source code to them, along with the source to the rest of the operating environment.
One other thing... if you are going to mention Access, than USE ACCESS! I prefer SQL myself: PostgreSQL/MySQL (for the small non-critical stuff, it's MySQL... for the heavy hits, it's PostgreSQL). When I am FORCED to deal with access, I dump it to a.tab or.csv file and create a new Table (in a freshly created DB) on MySQL.
Windows is NOT better comparatively at ANYTHING than Linux/UNIX operating environments, especially not in the workplace!!!
Fuck Karma...
Do NOT refer to our esteemed president, even in a sig, as "dubya" He is President George Bush! Clinton didn't have the balls to fight terrorism, and President Reagan and President George Bush Sr. had plates full... I am a fan of Reagan, in my opinion he is the best President we've had in war! (Washington was "officially" a president AFTER the Revolution). Please, show the second greatest President to have graced our country with his abilities the proper respect due!
Re:Great. I'm sure this will be covered everywhere
on
Adobe Backs Down
·
· Score: 2
I think a major reason why the Media doesn't want to side with a "hacker" who "violated the DMCA" is because it could potentially weaken the DMCA. Remember, the Media also produces tangible (and not so tangible) products, and may (probably will) start utilizing forms of encryption/copy protections to limit the readership to their targeted audience (i.e. the people whom the ads are targeted towards).
I say screw the Media, we need to make this fight OURS. As of last Friday, my company's servers no longer accept PDF files for internal use (i.e. our customers must send RTF files). Although we are a small company, we stopped using Adobe and supporting their proprietary formats (we've also purchased copies of PSP for the developers on windows systems). This isn't alot, but it's our effort, it's what WE are doing for the cause. As more companies (with sys admins that give a damn about HUMAN RIGHTS) start to realize that they have a voice, they will start to use that voice, and when a few hundred shops start screaming and rejecting formats, Big Companies start to listen. Remember people, all of those products (like Photoshop and Illustrator, and even Acrobat) were made with the purpose of profitting by us. They are aimed at a specific consumer market, the multimedia/web/graphics market! Lets use our "market share" and influence our companies to save money (gimp, paint shop pro), support more open companies, and maybe even score brownie points with OUR customers who care about human rights and corporate responsibility.
The problem with limiting based on IP address is this method is still not a cure-all, a combination of IP based and domain based blocking, along with name authentication, would be the best policy. As for companies that need Verizon's servers for their outgoing SMTP, maybe they should invest in a midrange computer, put something like Slackware 8.0 on it, and set up sendmail (Or Zmailer, my choice for volume sites). Then, for an extra 8 bucks a month lease a static IP and host their own email services (If you are a business, do you REALLY want copies of all of your personal information sitting in a third party's mail server logs?). This would be more secure, in compliance with Verizon, and possibly even more effective! (I automatically think mail is Spam, if the From: tag doesn't match the server name). Just a thought though.
If you have a secondary email account (I have 6 from 4 different ISP's) then you should set up your secondary accounts to use the correct servers. This is what we have black-listing for (to stop third party relays). All mail servers I host not only block relays, but also reject messages where the From: domain doesn't properly resolve with reverse DNS. The affect is that we have less than 1 spam on our servers a day, out of about 750,000 mails a day. We also block the "From:" address (Forging a root email or admin email) except on the administrative system (not only IP checking, but because they are on the same segment it checks the MAC address against the static MAC table). I think Verizon is FINALLY doing something right, and their customers should email them and thank the sys admin who finally got through some middle management's thick skull to implement standard blocking. Congrats to Verizon! Good work in NOT getting black-listed for relaying. (Had they not done this, and been black-listed, would there be an article on slashdot about the evils of a company that allows third-party relays?)
Just a thought, but, if you call your voice mail and record, and the police is talking in the background of the conversation you are a party to with yourself, wouldn't this imply two-party consent to the conversation (I hereby consent to talk to myself, and I hereby consent to listen to myself), and any incidental recording of background noise could become evidence because all parties to the TELEPHONE CALL were informed and consented to the conversation?
Actually, in all of the states where I've lived (Minnesota, Florida, New Mexico, Georgia, Mississipi, Louisiana)it's no longer called "citizen's arrest". You, as a citizen, do not have a legal right to detain another (Yup, even if you witness a murder and halt the killer's escape). As a matter of fact this is a felony of the second degree (or a gross felony); it's called false-imprisonment, and if you move the detained person a distance of more than 5 feet, or in any way detain through force, it can be escalated to a kidnapping charge. The "victim" (criminal) has to press charges, and most state's attorneys or prosecutors don't generally bring this up to criminals. As I understand it, these laws were passed because of things like an argument, wherein one of the parties decides the other "broke the law" beats them senseless and calls the cops.
It's true that in Minnesota a sticker on your WINDSHIELD or Driverside front-most window is illegal (visual obstruction), it's also illegal in Minnesota to have any object hanging from your rear view mirror, or mounted to your dashboard (I saw a State trooper confiscate a radar detector yesterday because of the "obstruction" law); but, on any of the rear windows, or passenger side front window, such a sticker can be posted LEGALLY. Also, Minnesota is a single-party consent state (meaning only one party needs to be aware of a recording device, hence there's no need for the obnoxious sticker). I monitor (with audio equipment) everything that is said inside my car, and -with video and audio- everything that occcurs inside my apartment. These tapes have come in handy; most recently dealing with a case between myself, a state inspector, and the property management.
I'm also (until noon today) a customer in Minneapolis, and AT&T SUCKS, their technical support, when replacing the second bad modem they sent me, had to call me to ask how the modem gets hooked up (to the Rj45 connector and F connector lying in plain site), and to ask me if I wanted the modem to stay on the line with the signal damper (signal was too strong for the modem), after I said it HAS to be behind the signal damper, he removed it (they wanted to replace the modem today, instead they are taking the pile of trash). In 6 months time I have had almost 2 full months worth of downtime. I was using DSL as a back-up service... now it's primary (at least Qwest will give me a direct number to a tech support agent). The last installer that came out also unplugged keyboard, mouse and printer (while sys was running) then tried to pull the computer (which WAS bolted down in) out of it's shielding cage to hook everything back up. His excuse? I was looking for the hub behind your computer (I of course HAD to have a hub, otherwise how could I have DSL and a fax/modem, couldn't be two NIC's, he knows you can't get two NIC's running on one systems). I have spent 20 hours on the phone on hold for their pitiful exuse for tech support, and always hear the same thing: "Um, I'm sorry, it must be your computer, what operating system? Oh, Slackware? What's that... Oh, you meant Windows 2000, I don't think we support that." or my ever favourite "What's DNS for anyway?" I think it will be GREAT to have AT&T removed from the broadband scene! Oh, and unless you are still getting your sign-up discount, your bill is 59 + tax
there is no bandwidth glut. Learn about industry news (sorry, won't find all of it here on slashdot, no matter WHAT you heard). There are exactly three lines with the "glut" that's been bragged about... and if something like this were to actually happen (every (l)user getting access to 155+ speeds), we WOULD lose most of our high speed current high speed connections. I just looked for the chart, and can't find it; when I do, I will gladly point you to it (it's either in the Net Economy or Network Computing).
A little clue... The "desktop market" doesn't mean SHIT in an ISP... piss on the desktop market for rollouts of new products. Yeah, maybe windows has the "desktop" market, but, at my shop, we all have Linux (or BSD) dev and production systems (the secretary uses an NT 4.0 desktop environment, but that's cuz she needs to interface with 2 proprietary microSHIT databases... btw, I love what they did with FOXPro). Servers (except 8 CPU 32 MB 10 TB Windows 2k Datacenter Servers, made by HP) are generally run on *nix the reason??? 99.999% reliability... you HAVE to have this uptime to call yourself an ISP (and not get laughed at). I (unfortunately) still have to house 3 NT systems... they all reboot on a schedule daily (cuz if they don't reboot, they tend to give me a pretty, relaxing, and lasting blue screen). As to Linux only having 1% of the desktop... latest survey (not latest "registration poll") shows that 67% of BUSINESS desktop computers run a varient of Windows (NT/2K/9*), Apple/Mac holds 5 percent of the market, and NIX systems hold the rest... now, either MS seriously FSCKED up in choosing HP as a partner, Sun got really popular with an OS that SUCKS ASS on X86 architecture, or Linux just MIGHT actually be denting the desktop market... you decide...
btw, BSD, although kinda' stagnant (sorry for that, and please don't flame... you know it is also), still KICKS ASS on the desktop... my nix box (Slackware 7.1) sees about 197 days of uptime, my 2K Pro averages almost a FULL WEEK, and my BSD box hasn't been rebooted in a year-and-a-half!...
anywho... FSCK the desktop in a developer environment... learn what dev's use before you claim a stat (that's years old)...
thank you, and please enjoy the ride (remember to keep hands and feet in the car)
There's this really nice product out there, OSS (of course) that isn't vulnerable to bounce/3rd-party relay by default (although if you are REALLY wanting a blacklisting, you CAN enable them)... it's called Zmailer. The company I admin averages almost half a million messages a day (on two mail servers!) I could do it with one, but, I like to have a 00.00 delay.
Try that next time you need a mail server (beats the hell outa' exchange, which dies after the first 50,000 batch hits)... And, no, I don't host a Spam domain... just lists and busy customers.
I don't know about studies being done, but, I do know that in New Mexico, in 1997 (Late August) in one incident 3 children were burned to death after watching an episode of Barney wherein he started a camp fire (they did the same thing... in their living room), a number of other children were also hurt, due to fires in their living rooms (too bad they couldn't use the Purple freak for fodder); also, around the same time, there was a rash of thefts perpetrated by children between the ages of 4 and 7 (episodes of Barney included a "thief" that Barney constantly tried to "reform"). I don't see HOW the hell this is "Pro-Children", as the lawyers would like to say it is... (Kinda' like leavin' a 45 around and letting your kids watch NBK is "Pro-children", I guess!)
I'm NOT defending MS.NT!
As to those "cracks" it IS a very real threat... thankfully the programmers of the worm were to lazy too write any search and replace procedures. The list is kinda' "bloated" though... I administer a mixed network (NT4 Win2K Debian Slackware and NetBSD)the previous sys admin DID misconfigure 3 servers, giving each server 4-15 IP's, for web hosting, and running IIS... they were not web servers! they each had the same base homepage directory (wwwroot) for every IP, thereby bloating the list (while 3 machines were infected, over 20 IP's showed, these are not unique machines, just unique IP addresses).
Unfortunately my boss doesn't understand "security" thinking that a new security patch may damage current web sites, I was only allowed to "patch" the weak systems AFTER one of our largest customers was compromised! Funny thing about it, the 100+ sites on WinNT were in danger of being defaced, but not a single of the 150+ sites on Slackware and Debian were at risk!
I have to agree though... the "security" of a base install is kinda' funny when it comes to Win2k/WinNT4
Two companies came to my mind as shining examples of the viability of Linux in Retail. Home Depot, in 1999 converted their ENTIRE infrastructure to Linux (I believe the primary distro was Red Hat). Their POS systems run a GUI that is designed to look and feel just like a Windows POS... The other is Menards... all those little price checkers... yup that's linux running a postresql database... and... I have NEVER had to reboot those and have an employee log into it again... wish I could say the same about Target's systems... (Those are *cough cough* running the more "market ready" MS!)
I don't know if this has been commented on yet, but, during my stint in MSDN Classes (VB and VC++) I saw the EXACT same modeling (diagram and all!) that is used in the IBM 2000 projection for OS/2... Kinda' scared me...
Great point!
I just recently un-enrolled in the "educational facility" I had been attending. The reason? I was sanctioned for sharing a bitmap with another student (unauthorized propagation of programs on school systems), and was said to be "a disruptive member of class, and counter to the educational goals of the school". This claim was made because, while in the "MS SQL Administration" class (yes, I was taking an MS cert class, more's the shame!), I pointed out a couple of points and asked a technical question. Being the SysAdmin at my company I have, on occassion (read DAILY) been called to fix the SQL servers, back them up, or add users/db's. My "pointing out professional experience to demonstrate a response" was "disruptive" (never mind that on break EVERY student thanked me for the real-world example). The "technical Question" was in reference to a cpu platform which I have (Multi-processor Nexgens). The question, to clarify what types of processors SQL Server would run on, was deemed "innapropriate for a DBA class" (and all that time, I thought we were setting SQL up and uninstalling it...over and over, because someday we might get called to...gasp... install it!). The straw that broke the camel's back? (Besides that being the first time I didn't say, so, if I have a *nix box and try to... during class) The instructor is not certified in SQL administration, and has NEVER even designed a production SQL database! Needless to say, we DO need to get more qualified professionals in the class, instead of kicking them out!
Slashdot Mirror
Normally I'd post this anonymously, but I am sick of the bullshit, whining and tantrums that the cry-baby leftist fuck-offs keep posting... Karma? fuck it... I just want my post READ.
In what state was that? In every state I have lived in, you are required to have (at the age of 18), either a VALID and CURRENT driver's license, or a CURRENT state ID. It's been that way for years... As for "sitting pretty in a new car"... did you know that ANY crime you commit (even speeding, not yielding to pedestrians, as a pedestrian: impeding the flow of traffic/jay-walking/crossing against a red) is an arrestable offense? The reason police generally only arrest people who don't cooperate, or who have commited a felonious offense is because to do otherwise would flood the jails. The ONLY false arrest claims that can be successfully made are if you have 1) a solid credible alibi, 2) you are arrested and this causes a significant detriment to you (no, missing a couple article on slashdot doesn't count) and 3) you can prove that there was malice aforethough (ie. they really WERE out to get you!). As for comdex, they have a LEGAL right to enforce any policy they see fit (private organization and all.) You don't have to like it, but, hell... you don't have to go either. I constantly hear people whine about "the security" at their job, the mall, concerts, conventions, et al. an I always tell 'em the same thing: Shut the hell up, I Hate whining... if you don't like it DON'T GO! plain and simple; but, don't expect anyone to bend to your whining cuz you can't bring your li'l tote bag... no one gives a shit! Please, do us all a favour and get a clue before referencing the law again... thank you and good night.
God Bless America, and her leader Mr. President, George W. Bush!
Although technically your true (training wise)... This training requires a couple of things. One is training in advanced martial arts (I am the only male member of my family NOT to have served special forces, and I enlisted today, Marines, but, no infantry for me... I am looking at special forces/Informations specialist). They don't (can't) train SPECIAL FORCES units to "cheat" on polygraphs... I have 7 years of 5 animal kung fu experience, and I can't cheat... it actually takes alot more than just "training". As for false positives... that is why "baseline" is established... a series of questions to establish, a couple innocuous questions (that most people will generally lie to), more obvious baselines... then, without warning or any obvious indication, questions of a relevant (to the event questioned) nature.
I have a polygraph machine at home (attached to my computer, with full stress-analysis programming); and I can (and do) simply by voice analysis (about 97-98% accurate), polygraph every person I talk to while at home.
As for "give to a judge"... check you case-law, if a defendant SUBMITS to a polygraph, it may be submitted, and a "I didn't do it" which shows a false read (lie), can be submitted as an admission of guilt. (Disclaimer, I have only studied and practiced law in Minnesota, Florida, and New Mexico). I think you watch a little bit too much LA Law.
Disclaimer IANLAL (I am no longer a Lawyer: I hate lawyers way too much).
How so?
You WOULD have a valid argument... if you said I was full of shit AND gave me evidence thereof! My evidence: 147 domains hosted... 160 email domains (mail.blah.com)... 25 hosted on MS. 12 IN OFFICE employees, 3 using MS products. Databases hosted: 500+... hosted on MS. 3. User productivity prior to upgrade to Linux Slackware 8.0 with KDE desktop environment: 6 hours, after: 8.0 hours (NO CRASHES). Time to learn: MS Apps: avg. employee (non-technical): 24 hours (three business days), learning on KDE Desktop with applications ported to (or running under dosemu/wine. non-technical) 2-4 hours. Server downtime to date since servers upgraded: MS NT/2K w/IIS and cold fusion:12%, servers with 2000 and Apache/cold fusion/php: 6%, servers with Linux Slackware 8.0/Cold Fusion/PHP: 0.0001% (I rebooted the Linux load-balancing system after uprgrading, and our forwarding system (Linux) took about 1.7 seconds to notice, so account access was slowed); Email Servers, availability: MS NT MS Exchange 70% available; MS NT running worldmail: 65% available; servers running inhouse mail server (handling ListServs, Email, net Email, Dealer and Wholesale lists for computer listing services): 99.999% available.
You want more?
Hacks:
MS hacks, prior to my taking over: 1000+ (yep, I know how many 0's there are there, and it's no mistake); after: 6
Linux hacks, prior to my taking over: 0
after:0
to me, linux is THE SHIT. Always up, workstations reboot/clean-up after 10 PM., servers don't crash, redundant servers WORK, mail follows rules, doesn't loopback-fail etc. mail balancing works, ListServs don't die. I can't find any way that MS can top that...
We don't allow gaming or porn surfing of course, so if you are looking for those, guess your SOL, and MS would be a nice substitute...
Only other shit would be Access: 25 User recommended, 254 user Limit(255 IF you count the database as a user) vs. the almost-no-cost (resource wise) MySQL... which allows as many users as you can cram on a sys, and for about 1/90th the cost to resources.
Sorry slashdot, I fed the troll... but, I can't stand to see these "bullshit... but I have no proof" posts... wanna' come see the network I administer? Lemme' see your network too! (and it BETTER be running MS if you wanna argue with me!)
For the student argument, your argument about web browsers MAY be valid (if I were the instructor, I don't think I'd be giving a good-god-damn whether someone's slashdot rendered nicely on school systems during my lecture) for employees whom complain about the "web not working"... the words most likely heard from the boss's mouth aren't "Well, we'll look into that," they are "What the HELL are you surfing the web for ON COMPANY TIME".
.doc .xls etc. attachment, I open it with Star Office and never lose anything in the conversion. You HAD a couple of valid arguments 6 months ago, but today... you don't. Also, on the Browser side... I use lynx most of the time, but for web browsing/slashdot/secure-banking... etc. etc. I use either Konquerer or Netscape (Mozilla and KDE argue WAY too much).
.tab or .csv file and create a new Table (in a freshly created DB) on MySQL.
As for "mostly good enough" I use star office 6.0b EXCLUSIVELY. My boss and the owner of the company use Office EXCLUSIVELY. The only problem I've seen is when I get a Macro infested document (Excel) and try to run the macros (I have to re-write them). I write all of my reports/presentations/spreadsheets in Star Office, and NEVER have a problem clicking the "Save as" option and saving as Office 97/2000; likewise, when I get an email with a
As for "satisfying users" I have converted about 30 percent of my office (both servers and workstations, we are now 80% Linux, thanks to the prior sys admin's initial convertions) from Windows 95/98/NT to Linux. productivity increased quite a bit since we lost all of the BSOD activity (I had a bear of a time with that on the Win2K workstations!). At my 90, 120, and 180 day reviews with both of my pro-MS bosses (the CTO and the CEO/Owner) commented that, since I brought linux to the desktops (there's are the gleeming exceptions), productivity has improved, bandwidth waste has dropped, system stability is up, and employees find both the ease of use invitingn (KDE desktop environments), and are less stressed because of loss of data (cuz they don't lose data any more!).
The sys admin that came before me was a Debian psycho (I know your reading this Ed, good work on the mail servers)... He custom wrote most of the mail server code... if they ever have problems, I just see why: I have the source code to them, along with the source to the rest of the operating environment.
One other thing... if you are going to mention Access, than USE ACCESS! I prefer SQL myself: PostgreSQL/MySQL (for the small non-critical stuff, it's MySQL... for the heavy hits, it's PostgreSQL). When I am FORCED to deal with access, I dump it to a
Windows is NOT better comparatively at ANYTHING than Linux/UNIX operating environments, especially not in the workplace!!!
Fuck Karma... ... I am a fan of Reagan, in my opinion he is the best President we've had in war! (Washington was "officially" a president AFTER the Revolution). Please, show the second greatest President to have graced our country with his abilities the proper respect due!
Do NOT refer to our esteemed president, even in a sig, as "dubya" He is President George Bush! Clinton didn't have the balls to fight terrorism, and President Reagan and President George Bush Sr. had plates full
I think a major reason why the Media doesn't want to side with a "hacker" who "violated the DMCA" is because it could potentially weaken the DMCA. Remember, the Media also produces tangible (and not so tangible) products, and may (probably will) start utilizing forms of encryption/copy protections to limit the readership to their targeted audience (i.e. the people whom the ads are targeted towards).
I say screw the Media, we need to make this fight OURS. As of last Friday, my company's servers no longer accept PDF files for internal use (i.e. our customers must send RTF files). Although we are a small company, we stopped using Adobe and supporting their proprietary formats (we've also purchased copies of PSP for the developers on windows systems). This isn't alot, but it's our effort, it's what WE are doing for the cause. As more companies (with sys admins that give a damn about HUMAN RIGHTS) start to realize that they have a voice, they will start to use that voice, and when a few hundred shops start screaming and rejecting formats, Big Companies start to listen. Remember people, all of those products (like Photoshop and Illustrator, and even Acrobat) were made with the purpose of profitting by us. They are aimed at a specific consumer market, the multimedia/web/graphics market! Lets use our "market share" and influence our companies to save money (gimp, paint shop pro), support more open companies, and maybe even score brownie points with OUR customers who care about human rights and corporate responsibility.
Isn't that what "Raves" are all about (For the intellectually challenged/Humour impared, that was a JOKE).
The problem with limiting based on IP address is this method is still not a cure-all, a combination of IP based and domain based blocking, along with name authentication, would be the best policy. As for companies that need Verizon's servers for their outgoing SMTP, maybe they should invest in a midrange computer, put something like Slackware 8.0 on it, and set up sendmail (Or Zmailer, my choice for volume sites). Then, for an extra 8 bucks a month lease a static IP and host their own email services (If you are a business, do you REALLY want copies of all of your personal information sitting in a third party's mail server logs?). This would be more secure, in compliance with Verizon, and possibly even more effective! (I automatically think mail is Spam, if the From: tag doesn't match the server name). Just a thought though.
If you have a secondary email account (I have 6 from 4 different ISP's) then you should set up your secondary accounts to use the correct servers. This is what we have black-listing for (to stop third party relays). All mail servers I host not only block relays, but also reject messages where the From: domain doesn't properly resolve with reverse DNS. The affect is that we have less than 1 spam on our servers a day, out of about 750,000 mails a day. We also block the "From:" address (Forging a root email or admin email) except on the administrative system (not only IP checking, but because they are on the same segment it checks the MAC address against the static MAC table). I think Verizon is FINALLY doing something right, and their customers should email them and thank the sys admin who finally got through some middle management's thick skull to implement standard blocking. Congrats to Verizon! Good work in NOT getting black-listed for relaying. (Had they not done this, and been black-listed, would there be an article on slashdot about the evils of a company that allows third-party relays?)
Does this mean that I should quit drinking Jolt and 151 ?
Just a thought, but, if you call your voice mail and record, and the police is talking in the background of the conversation you are a party to with yourself, wouldn't this imply two-party consent to the conversation (I hereby consent to talk to myself, and I hereby consent to listen to myself), and any incidental recording of background noise could become evidence because all parties to the TELEPHONE CALL were informed and consented to the conversation?
Actually, in all of the states where I've lived (Minnesota, Florida, New Mexico, Georgia, Mississipi, Louisiana)it's no longer called "citizen's arrest". You, as a citizen, do not have a legal right to detain another (Yup, even if you witness a murder and halt the killer's escape). As a matter of fact this is a felony of the second degree (or a gross felony); it's called false-imprisonment, and if you move the detained person a distance of more than 5 feet, or in any way detain through force, it can be escalated to a kidnapping charge. The "victim" (criminal) has to press charges, and most state's attorneys or prosecutors don't generally bring this up to criminals. As I understand it, these laws were passed because of things like an argument, wherein one of the parties decides the other "broke the law" beats them senseless and calls the cops.
It's true that in Minnesota a sticker on your WINDSHIELD or Driverside front-most window is illegal (visual obstruction), it's also illegal in Minnesota to have any object hanging from your rear view mirror, or mounted to your dashboard (I saw a State trooper confiscate a radar detector yesterday because of the "obstruction" law); but, on any of the rear windows, or passenger side front window, such a sticker can be posted LEGALLY. Also, Minnesota is a single-party consent state (meaning only one party needs to be aware of a recording device, hence there's no need for the obnoxious sticker). I monitor (with audio equipment) everything that is said inside my car, and -with video and audio- everything that occcurs inside my apartment. These tapes have come in handy; most recently dealing with a case between myself, a state inspector, and the property management.
I'm also (until noon today) a customer in Minneapolis, and AT&T SUCKS, their technical support, when replacing the second bad modem they sent me, had to call me to ask how the modem gets hooked up (to the Rj45 connector and F connector lying in plain site), and to ask me if I wanted the modem to stay on the line with the signal damper (signal was too strong for the modem), after I said it HAS to be behind the signal damper, he removed it (they wanted to replace the modem today, instead they are taking the pile of trash). In 6 months time I have had almost 2 full months worth of downtime. I was using DSL as a back-up service... now it's primary (at least Qwest will give me a direct number to a tech support agent). The last installer that came out also unplugged keyboard, mouse and printer (while sys was running) then tried to pull the computer (which WAS bolted down in) out of it's shielding cage to hook everything back up. His excuse? I was looking for the hub behind your computer (I of course HAD to have a hub, otherwise how could I have DSL and a fax/modem, couldn't be two NIC's, he knows you can't get two NIC's running on one systems). I have spent 20 hours on the phone on hold for their pitiful exuse for tech support, and always hear the same thing: "Um, I'm sorry, it must be your computer, what operating system? Oh, Slackware? What's that... Oh, you meant Windows 2000, I don't think we support that." or my ever favourite "What's DNS for anyway?" I think it will be GREAT to have AT&T removed from the broadband scene! Oh, and unless you are still getting your sign-up discount, your bill is 59 + tax
there is no bandwidth glut. Learn about industry news (sorry, won't find all of it here on slashdot, no matter WHAT you heard). There are exactly three lines with the "glut" that's been bragged about... and if something like this were to actually happen (every (l)user getting access to 155+ speeds), we WOULD lose most of our high speed current high speed connections. I just looked for the chart, and can't find it; when I do, I will gladly point you to it (it's either in the Net Economy or Network Computing).
sorry, 32 MB should be 32 GB
A little clue... The "desktop market" doesn't mean SHIT in an ISP ... piss on the desktop market for rollouts of new products. Yeah, maybe windows has the "desktop" market, but, at my shop, we all have Linux (or BSD) dev and production systems (the secretary uses an NT 4.0 desktop environment, but that's cuz she needs to interface with 2 proprietary microSHIT databases... btw, I love what they did with FOXPro). Servers (except 8 CPU 32 MB 10 TB Windows 2k Datacenter Servers, made by HP) are generally run on *nix the reason??? 99.999% reliability... you HAVE to have this uptime to call yourself an ISP (and not get laughed at). I (unfortunately) still have to house 3 NT systems... they all reboot on a schedule daily (cuz if they don't reboot, they tend to give me a pretty, relaxing, and lasting blue screen). As to Linux only having 1% of the desktop... latest survey (not latest "registration poll") shows that 67% of BUSINESS desktop computers run a varient of Windows (NT/2K/9*), Apple/Mac holds 5 percent of the market, and NIX systems hold the rest... now, either MS seriously FSCKED up in choosing HP as a partner, Sun got really popular with an OS that SUCKS ASS on X86 architecture, or Linux just MIGHT actually be denting the desktop market... you decide...
btw, BSD, although kinda' stagnant (sorry for that, and please don't flame... you know it is also), still KICKS ASS on the desktop... my nix box (Slackware 7.1) sees about 197 days of uptime, my 2K Pro averages almost a FULL WEEK, and my BSD box hasn't been rebooted in a year-and-a-half!...
anywho... FSCK the desktop in a developer environment... learn what dev's use before you claim a stat (that's years old)...
thank you, and please enjoy the ride (remember to keep hands and feet in the car)
There's this really nice product out there, OSS (of course) that isn't vulnerable to bounce/3rd-party relay by default (although if you are REALLY wanting a blacklisting, you CAN enable them)... it's called Zmailer. The company I admin averages almost half a million messages a day (on two mail servers!) I could do it with one, but, I like to have a 00.00 delay. Try that next time you need a mail server (beats the hell outa' exchange, which dies after the first 50,000 batch hits)... And, no, I don't host a Spam domain... just lists and busy customers.
I don't know about studies being done, but, I do know that in New Mexico, in 1997 (Late August) in one incident 3 children were burned to death after watching an episode of Barney wherein he started a camp fire (they did the same thing... in their living room), a number of other children were also hurt, due to fires in their living rooms (too bad they couldn't use the Purple freak for fodder); also, around the same time, there was a rash of thefts perpetrated by children between the ages of 4 and 7 (episodes of Barney included a "thief" that Barney constantly tried to "reform"). I don't see HOW the hell this is "Pro-Children", as the lawyers would like to say it is... (Kinda' like leavin' a 45 around and letting your kids watch NBK is "Pro-children", I guess!)
I'm NOT defending MS.NT! As to those "cracks" it IS a very real threat... thankfully the programmers of the worm were to lazy too write any search and replace procedures. The list is kinda' "bloated" though... I administer a mixed network (NT4 Win2K Debian Slackware and NetBSD)the previous sys admin DID misconfigure 3 servers, giving each server 4-15 IP's, for web hosting, and running IIS... they were not web servers! they each had the same base homepage directory (wwwroot) for every IP, thereby bloating the list (while 3 machines were infected, over 20 IP's showed, these are not unique machines, just unique IP addresses).
Unfortunately my boss doesn't understand "security" thinking that a new security patch may damage current web sites, I was only allowed to "patch" the weak systems AFTER one of our largest customers was compromised! Funny thing about it, the 100+ sites on WinNT were in danger of being defaced, but not a single of the 150+ sites on Slackware and Debian were at risk!
I have to agree though... the "security" of a base install is kinda' funny when it comes to Win2k/WinNT4
Two companies came to my mind as shining examples of the viability of Linux in Retail. Home Depot, in 1999 converted their ENTIRE infrastructure to Linux (I believe the primary distro was Red Hat). Their POS systems run a GUI that is designed to look and feel just like a Windows POS... The other is Menards... all those little price checkers... yup that's linux running a postresql database... and... I have NEVER had to reboot those and have an employee log into it again... wish I could say the same about Target's systems... (Those are *cough cough* running the more "market ready" MS!)
I don't know if this has been commented on yet, but, during my stint in MSDN Classes (VB and VC++) I saw the EXACT same modeling (diagram and all!) that is used in the IBM 2000 projection for OS/2... Kinda' scared me...
The Clone would be smarter?
Was the requirement for a lawyer position at Microsoft that you'd pass a MSCE?
I think it was MCSL (Microsoft Certified Slick Lawyer)
Great point! ...gasp... install it!). The straw that broke the camel's back? (Besides that being the first time I didn't say, so, if I have a *nix box and try to... during class) The instructor is not certified in SQL administration, and has NEVER even designed a production SQL database!
I just recently un-enrolled in the "educational facility" I had been attending. The reason? I was sanctioned for sharing a bitmap with another student (unauthorized propagation of programs on school systems), and was said to be "a disruptive member of class, and counter to the educational goals of the school". This claim was made because, while in the "MS SQL Administration" class (yes, I was taking an MS cert class, more's the shame!), I pointed out a couple of points and asked a technical question. Being the SysAdmin at my company I have, on occassion (read DAILY) been called to fix the SQL servers, back them up, or add users/db's. My "pointing out professional experience to demonstrate a response" was "disruptive" (never mind that on break EVERY student thanked me for the real-world example). The "technical Question" was in reference to a cpu platform which I have (Multi-processor Nexgens). The question, to clarify what types of processors SQL Server would run on, was deemed "innapropriate for a DBA class" (and all that time, I thought we were setting SQL up and uninstalling it...over and over, because someday we might get called to
Needless to say, we DO need to get more qualified professionals in the class, instead of kicking them out!