Well, at least I have nothing to worry about. I am a double-good member of the party.
I suppose this is really not a terrible use of technology, as it is being used to locate people with outstanding warrants. As long as corporate sponsors never take over and use it to send marketroid generated gibberish to our cell phones, PDAs, pagers or personal stock ticker that will one day be scrolling across our sunglasses.
Until that day I say more power to the police forces that want to trust a computer to locate people with warrants.
I would imagine that Redhat's Database will be developed similiar to their webserver software Tux 2.0. Being integrated into the kernel. That should make the database run smoother and much faster for pulling up data.
Well, MS Excel is a spreadsheet, GnuCash is an accounting program. They are both diferent beasts, although you can peform similiar tasks with Excel, it just might take longer to set Excel up that way.
Another reason that you would probably choose GnuCash over Excel is that GnuCash runs natively in Linux, if you use that OS.
Of course, by you stating Excel or GnuCash you probably just use Windows. From what I know about GnuCash, there isn't a Windows port at this time. So, to answer your question keep paying for Excel. Unless you want to use something Free,as in Beer, like StarOffice 5.2 from Sun.
I would not have known whom he was if he had been refered to as Orlando Jones. I know who David Duchovny is though.
By saying the Mr. 7-UP Yours guy. I knew exactly whom he was writing about. Of course, I do agree that it would have been nice to have said something like "Orlando Jones, also known as the 7-UP Yours Guy."
You are partly wrong. The role of government is to ensure whatever that government stands for. In the case of our Republic, the government is to ensure our political and social freedoms as well as the freedom of choice. This choice is fully clouded by the large campaign contributions of large corporations.
This choice has also, more or less, been taken away from the average computer buyer. The only choice most PC buyers have this day is Microsoft Windows. The government is supposed to be there for the good of the people. The old saying that the individual is smart but the mob is easily duped really stands true.
American society is the mob and it needs a good leader that is there for the good of the people. This good must be done even if a large number of people do not want that good.
You can save your arguements. We do not have that form of government anymore. We have a Corporate Dictatorship, where corporate interests control the very people that we elected to protect us.
I am not certain how many of you have read the findings of fact regarding the Microsoft Anti-Trust case. I read a large portion of it and I still have the file. If anyone would like to have it E-mailed to them respond with your E-mail address.
Anyway, from my reading of this paper and other historical truths regarding Microsoft's rise to the level of power that it has today has lead me to conclude what you shall read in the following paragraphs. While these opinions I have developed may differ from your own they are simply my opinions.
In Microsoft's beginnings the company really was on the ball and was able to take advantage of the need for the development of a computer operating system. Of course this operating system was originally co-opted from another company and was never meant to be anything other than the "Quick, Dirty Operating System." That alone was a dirty trick and eventually Microsoft was forced to pay compensation. At the time, from my understanding, the compensation was fairly small and really was not much more than a tiny slap on the wrist.
As time went on, Microsoft grew. With this growth the company began to take bolder steps in co-opting its competitors. I could create a large listing of who the companies were and what Microsoft did to them, suffice to say most of the time Microsoft pretended to be collaborating on a project with a company. After some time of having Microsoft Software Engineers working with these companies, Microsoft would say that they no longer wished to continue the collaboration. Usually a few months later, Microsoft would then come out with the same type of application that they had been collaborating on. This happened time and time again and people kept believing that working with Microsoft would better their companies growth. Of course they failed to see the field littered with the corpses of previous companies that had worked with Microsoft.
Before I continue I would like to point out a very poignant recent use of this tactic that Microsoft has performed. Long before the idea, or at least the implementation, of the X-Box Microsoft had a partnership with Nintendo, or some other game console company. They were working together to come up with this next generation gaming system that would sweep the world by storm and also put Microsoft software onto the televisions of the world. Of course after some months of engineering Microsoft canceled the partnership and then began talking up the X-box. I do not wish to pretend to know exaclty how things went down, but it is my opinion that Microsoft once again co-opted another companies technology.
The Microsoft of today likes to talk about intellectual property rights as well as that vague concept they have called "innovation." Let me put this straight, Microsoft can say all they want about intellectual property rights, but what of the intellectual property rights of those companies that Microsoft has factually co-opted? Does this intellectual property right definition mean that, "All your intellectual property rights are belong to Microsoft?" As for innovation, when does innovation mean stealing another companies hard work and then packaging it as your own?
I know those two above statements have been said before. It is of course the truth that was in the "Findings of Fact." If you have not read it it is something that you really need to read with an open mind. If for nothing more than to be able to respond to this post with all the facts before you. I am very sorry, but I do not have a link to that file.
Now, before everyone believes that I am nothing more than an Anti-Microsoft-Linux-Loving-Freaky-Geek. Let me explain a few of my other thoughts about Microsoft. I believe that the company has done a great deal of good. Many of you would not be reading this or even know how to read this if not for Microsoft. If not for Microsoft I never would have been able to get the jobs that eventually exposed me to UNIX and then Linux. For that, I really must thank Microsoft and I am really happy that they did that, because now I am learning to program once again. But, just because I am happy that Microsoft exists and made my writing this possible, I do not want them or any other corporation co-opting the internet as Microsoft appears to be doing.
Thanks for reading,
Robert A. Adkins II
I find the design interesting and boring
on
Hardwoodware
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· Score: 1
I find the idea of a wood computer to case to be rather intriguing as it is something completly against the grain. (No Pun Intended) As I have never seen a commercially available computer case.
I am interested in knowing how many people would like to have such cases in classic designs. They would not be cheap as the costs of the wood alone would be rather expensive. Then there would be the cost of the metal components and the weight for shipment. All in all I could see cases as simple as the cube selling for nearly 200 US Dollars and more advanced designs selling for closer to 300 US Dollars.
If I am not mistaken, in order to generate a fragmented IP Packet one must have root level access to the machine. Now, since it is generally explained that users not run their Linux Machines as the root account then there is a much lower chance of those machines becoming compromised.
Of course if there is a problem with a consumer-friendly *NIX running about then we would more than likely see it first with the latest iteration of the MacOS X. Since this OS does use a *NIX kernel as its core. It is quite possible that this OS would become rooted in time. If we watch how this happens perhaps an average-consumer-friendly release of Linux would be able to defend against such problems.
BTW, I would call an average-consumer-friendly version of Linux one that does not require the end-user to input a root password. One that is easy to administer for home use. Much like Windows 9x. The real challenge with a release like this would be making a remotely secure distribution without being locally secure.
Linux and Open Source needs a real spokesperson with face recognition amongst the "normal" populace. We will never be able to debunk these blatant Balmer lies if we do not have a proper spokesperson that can gain the media attention that Microsoft can gain.
This claim he has been continually making regarding how using any Open Source software infects all your software is blatantly untrue.
This battle front that Microsoft has created is not one we can fight on Slashdot and expect to win. This is a battle that we must fight in the mainstream media.
We need to reach "Joe" computer-user through the media. So that when "Joe" computer-user is approached with Linux, he/she won't run for the hills screaming about the dangers of cancer.
The Open Source community needs to begin talking the intellectual property talk and walking the intellectual property walk in regards to how closed-source programming is a stagnet pond that breeds life taking bacteria. If Microsoft wants to scare "Joe" Computer-user then let's scare "Joe" Computer-User.
Oh no, that means my entire computer has become Open Source! Since I dual-boot doesn't that mean that my installed Windows 98 SE has become open source as well?
I mean I have had Linux "touch" some Windows files... Hmm... Does anyone know how to perform Chemotherapy on a hard drive?
I would buy Mandrake Stock if it was offered to loyal users. I looked into getting in on the RedHat and other Linux related IPOs and was unable to because I didn't have a gazillion dollars with some high-end brokerage and I have not been an open source developer.
What I am, is a Linux Users Group founder and currently the closest thing we have to a president. The LUG runs Mandrake on its Linux Lab and we advocate the use of that release to our members and first time users. As a group, we have been very pleased with the ease of configuration as well as the initial tools that come with this distribution.
Over the next few months we are planning on adding to our membership and looking into hosting an Installfest or Linux Day at a bookstore or local computer shop. At those events we would use Mandrake as it would make it easier for people to grasp the complexities of the Linux operating system.
I would be interested in knowing how one would be able to protect, at the router level, a DOS attack. If it is coming from disparite spoofed IP addresses how would the router diferentiate a "good" packet from a "bad" packet. Maybe we could add a tiny extension tag to all packets. The tag could simply tell the router whether or not it is a legit packet or a DDOS packet. Then the router could simply ignore those "bad" packets. That would be perfect.
Okay, that is not very logical solution as the Bot Masters would simply never tell their bots to use the "bad" flag.
The only other major issue that I see is what is known as the "Slashdot Effect" This is when a large number of disparite IP Addresses may suddenly flood a web site. In many cases this will lead to a "Denial of Service" to many of these Disparite IP Addresses.
I just do not see how a router could tell the diference between DDOS packets and legit internet surfers traffic.
I am not an expert, nor will I pretend to be. So, if I am wrong with my next statements please correct me.
Everytime I read another one of these releases about yet another site being defaced by yet another cracker with a sniffer. Two things come to mind. The first one is where the heck was this kid's parents when being taught the diference between right and wrong. The other thing is why attack a community that for all intent and purposes is attempting to build something for the greater good of all mankind?
The act of breaking and entering, which is what happened, is a terribly deplorable act. I do understand that the sysadmins at the site were crushed under the ball instead of being on the ball, but that does not give everyone the right to go cracking away.
Personally, I would have had more respect for this low-life scum, if he/she/it had decided to simply patch up the holes and then announce it in some other fashion. At this point nobody should trust any of the software off of Sourceforge until the developers of said software are able to claim that it is indeed safe from backdoors.
I know some of you are against strengthening the laws regarding cracking systems, but I am all for it. I would much rather see some script kiddie, or someone that knows what they are doing, go to prison for 10 to 15 years for breaking and entering into computer systems.
Of course the sysadmins at the site that was originally hacked should carry most of the blame on this. I do also understand that it is terribly dificult to know what software is installed on every PC in every office. It still does not excuse the fact that a schmuck in an office somewhere can slap together a giant security hole machine. The originally affected machine should have been screened by the real sysadmins prior to going live.
If we could get sysadmins to start pre-screening machines before they go live, it would be possible to grealy cutdown on the number of cracks. That should almost be a law, especially since there are so many hacks (Meaning Dumbass) that pretend to be sysadmins out there.
I am just curious to know how this is relevant to Slashdot posters. Personally, I have not used AOL as an ISP since I actually learned how to use my PC and the internet.
Maybe it was just me, I was plagued with disconnects, unbearably slow connections for gaming and the memory hogging client that I used to minimize in order to surf the net.
Of course, I do understand that this is interesting to note on Slashdot because Microsoft and AOL seem to be in a "Cold War" over market share. Then there was the constant battle over Instant Messaging.
It is just interesting to note that AOL needs to give up on Netscape to be preinstalled on Microsoft's latest OS.
He's not ruling out other markets but would prefer to avoid putting Troody in the military. "I don't want to build a 'Terminator' robot," he says. If someone wants to mass-produce and sell them like Sony's massively successful Aibo robot dogs, Dilworth thinks that might be possible.
Personally I believe that if the military can find a use for a technology then they will use it. The technology just needs to become practical and just affordable enough for the military to use it.
If this technology progresses fast enough and the robot legs can be made to run at speads nearing 35 miles per hour over rough terrain, you better believe the military will create walking, running and leaping howitzers.
It might be interesting to see if they do decide to go the AI or the human pilot route. I would imagine that the human pilot route would be safer, as there would be little chance of the unit being reprogrammed.
Of course this is all conjecture and a moot point until someone can come up with a very powerful and renewable powerplant for such a robot. Something akin to the fictional fusion reactors of the Battletech game would probably suffice.
This seems to be quite like the issue of having a proprietary pluggable module that can be plugged into a GPL piece of software. A good example of this is the fact that the Linux Kernel can have proprietary driver modules plugged and loaded on the fly for pieces of hardware.
This sounds similiar to what is happening with this proprietary code. The only major diference is that the "pluggable module" in this case is a piece of GPL'd software. Of course it is a DLL. The issue then, would be can this software perform its actions without having this DLL?
If it can be proven that the software can function without the DLL than the issue is a moot point. Of course if the software requires this module than it is possible that this will spend some time in the courts as they figure this out.
The design idea is interesting, but I do not believe that it will be all that practical. At one point, not to long ago, some company came up with a mouse that had a numeric pad built into it or something very close to a numeric pad. I suppose that could be considered prior art, even though it was only a number pad and not half a keyboard.
Anyway, the company that came up with that innovation believed that soon everyone would be using their mouse/number pad thingies. How many of you bought them? I recall looking at it and thinking, "What an unwieldy looking piece of junk!"
As you can tell with that response, I chose to neglect the purchase of that dust covered combo mouse thingy. I would also have to neglect the purchase of this "new" design as well.
IBM is great. Lately they seem to always be on the forefront of Hard Drive Technology. Although I do have to agree with an earlier posting about Solid State Hard Drives. Heck, if I had the money I would definately invest in about a dozen of those 3Gig Solid State drives. Of course at something like $5,000 a pop I do not believe that I will be running those in my PC anytime soon.
I have been fan of Star Wars well before I can remember, the 1st movie came out when I was two. I have have been waiting for something like this game for a terribly long time. Of course I have also been wating for a MMORPG with a Super Hero Theme as well, but hey who cares about that?
Anyway, the only issue that I have with the game is that it is not planned on being like Neverwinter Nights in the aspect that everyone can create their own stories and run their own servers. Of course I understand that the game is grander in scope than just about other MMORPG that is currently in existence and it would more than likely tax the heck out of anyone's home built server.
Regardless I would still like to be able to put into existence some of the grand stories that I put together when my friends and I were younger and had the time to spend the entire weekend playing the Star Wars Role-Playing Game.
Even though there are a few things that I dislike about the game, I will more than likely still be one of the first to line up to buy a copy, like I did when the original movies were rereleased with the extra footage.
One more gripe than I am gone. What the heck is with releasing the interstellar travel portion as a dang expansion? Don't they think that they will make enough money with releasing the whole game for 59.99 and then charging 10 bucks or whatever a month? This greed thang is just a little to much for me.
Of course the burden of proof would be upon your shoulders. It would be interesting to see AOL/Time Warner forced to turn over those names because you were the first to print the term AOL, which I believe would make you the original copyright owner.
Then again since you have not done anything about it for such a long time. As well as the fact that AOL has more than likely approached you many times to sell you their service. I would have to suppose that you would not have much of a case.
on the ledge of someone with way to much time on their hands. I mean who really has time to do this stuff?
I have finally seen the light
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Mundie Responds
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· Score: 1
I had thought that open source software and the GPL was great for the future of humanity.
Well, now that Mr. Mundie has used such important historical figures like Thomas Edison, who electrocuted animals in public to dissuade people from using the competing power standard, I have been finally swayed.
Now, I need only disband my Linux Users Group as there is really no need to walk that dangerous path. Wow, I never knew how dangerous GPL software was until reading Mr. Muncie's response.
Sincerity of message and professionalism will get one farther in corporate America than you think. One needs only speak to the right people and of course those right people need to be in the right places as well. It is dificult but, in time it will work.
As for ease of use. One need only look at a Distro like Mandrake 8.0. It is an extremely easy release to install and configure. Out of the box it will configure sound and most other hardware, like a parallel Zip drive.
The LUG I head uses it on our Linux Lab and the shear number of easy to use tools make it perfectly simple to setup many services. For instance at our last meeting we configured Samba in about 3 minutes simply by opening a web browser and using Webmin 0.80. Several people in the LUG were impressed at the speed of configuring that service.
As for the feel of the install. I am quite sure that someone with little to no computer skill could easily install Mandrake 8.0 and begin to use it right away. These days Mandrake has so many easy to use configuration tools the OS resembles the relative ease of Microsoft Windows.
With an OS like that the only thing really holding Linux back is the perceived idea that most Linux Users are unlcean, unshaven, hairy code barbarians destroying all that does not fit their 'idea' of what an OS is. Once we can change that perception Linux will make great leaps and bounds in corporate America.
Do you want to know how I know this? Well, I know people that are clean shaven, bath regularly and also have great personalities and happen to be serious about Linux. These people work at some very large Multi-national corporations, much like myself. These companies that we work for are taking very serious looks at Linux for things other than simple little web servers.
I am personally very impressed with the professional representation that has been made within this letter. What we need to do, as open source software users, is to band together and to work towards opening the eyes of our companies CTOs and CIOs.
This does not mean bashing the products that many of us are forced to use in our daily work days. This means to carefully offer up solutions to problems using Linux/BSD in a professional manner. Simply put, advocating the use of open source and free, as in liberty, software requires calm and rational reasoning.
One great avenue of advocating Linux/BSD is to form a users group in your area. While it is not an easy thing to do it can be used to greatly open the eyes of the people that attend because they have an inkling of interest. You would be surprised at the number of, "WOW! Linux can do that?!" that are prevalent at a LUG meeting.
If you choose to start a LUG be professional about it. Plan meeting times and agendas, put together thought out plans of action. Impress your members and they will mention it at their offices. The more your LUG is mentioned around their offices, the more likely that someone with decision making powers will show up.
The most important thing is to stop with the bashing. So what if Windows crashes, everyone already knows that. So what if Windows has security issues, people are already used to that. Show people that Linux has fewer security issues, when configured properly. Show people that Linux does not require regular reboots. Stop doing this by exclaiming the shortcomings of Windows. Do this by showing the strengths of Linux.
As users of solid, open source software we should work from a common vision. One of growth through education and hard work. Instead of the rabble-rousing vitriole that many of us spit out today.
Slashdot Mirror
Big Brother is Watching you!
Down with Emanuel Goldstein!
Well, at least I have nothing to worry about. I am a double-good member of the party.
I suppose this is really not a terrible use of technology, as it is being used to locate people with outstanding warrants. As long as corporate sponsors never take over and use it to send marketroid generated gibberish to our cell phones, PDAs, pagers or personal stock ticker that will one day be scrolling across our sunglasses.
Until that day I say more power to the police forces that want to trust a computer to locate people with warrants.
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I would imagine that Redhat's Database will be developed similiar to their webserver software Tux 2.0. Being integrated into the kernel. That should make the database run smoother and much faster for pulling up data.
Well, MS Excel is a spreadsheet, GnuCash is an accounting program. They are both diferent beasts, although you can peform similiar tasks with Excel, it just might take longer to set Excel up that way. Another reason that you would probably choose GnuCash over Excel is that GnuCash runs natively in Linux, if you use that OS. Of course, by you stating Excel or GnuCash you probably just use Windows. From what I know about GnuCash, there isn't a Windows port at this time. So, to answer your question keep paying for Excel. Unless you want to use something Free,as in Beer, like StarOffice 5.2 from Sun.
Actually, I am the could-care-less-what-the-name-of-most-celebreties- are-as-I-have-better-things-to-do-than-watch-tv-al l-day-guy.
So, who are you?
I would not have known whom he was if he had been refered to as Orlando Jones. I know who David Duchovny is though.
By saying the Mr. 7-UP Yours guy. I knew exactly whom he was writing about. Of course, I do agree that it would have been nice to have said something like "Orlando Jones, also known as the 7-UP Yours Guy."
You are partly wrong. The role of government is to ensure whatever that government stands for. In the case of our Republic, the government is to ensure our political and social freedoms as well as the freedom of choice. This choice is fully clouded by the large campaign contributions of large corporations.
This choice has also, more or less, been taken away from the average computer buyer. The only choice most PC buyers have this day is Microsoft Windows. The government is supposed to be there for the good of the people. The old saying that the individual is smart but the mob is easily duped really stands true.
American society is the mob and it needs a good leader that is there for the good of the people. This good must be done even if a large number of people do not want that good.
You can save your arguements. We do not have that form of government anymore. We have a Corporate Dictatorship, where corporate interests control the very people that we elected to protect us.
I am not certain how many of you have read the findings of fact regarding the Microsoft Anti-Trust case. I read a large portion of it and I still have the file. If anyone would like to have it E-mailed to them respond with your E-mail address.
Anyway, from my reading of this paper and other historical truths regarding Microsoft's rise to the level of power that it has today has lead me to conclude what you shall read in the following paragraphs. While these opinions I have developed may differ from your own they are simply my opinions.
In Microsoft's beginnings the company really was on the ball and was able to take advantage of the need for the development of a computer operating system. Of course this operating system was originally co-opted from another company and was never meant to be anything other than the "Quick, Dirty Operating System." That alone was a dirty trick and eventually Microsoft was forced to pay compensation. At the time, from my understanding, the compensation was fairly small and really was not much more than a tiny slap on the wrist.
As time went on, Microsoft grew. With this growth the company began to take bolder steps in co-opting its competitors. I could create a large listing of who the companies were and what Microsoft did to them, suffice to say most of the time Microsoft pretended to be collaborating on a project with a company. After some time of having Microsoft Software Engineers working with these companies, Microsoft would say that they no longer wished to continue the collaboration. Usually a few months later, Microsoft would then come out with the same type of application that they had been collaborating on. This happened time and time again and people kept believing that working with Microsoft would better their companies growth. Of course they failed to see the field littered with the corpses of previous companies that had worked with Microsoft.
Before I continue I would like to point out a very poignant recent use of this tactic that Microsoft has performed. Long before the idea, or at least the implementation, of the X-Box Microsoft had a partnership with Nintendo, or some other game console company. They were working together to come up with this next generation gaming system that would sweep the world by storm and also put Microsoft software onto the televisions of the world. Of course after some months of engineering Microsoft canceled the partnership and then began talking up the X-box. I do not wish to pretend to know exaclty how things went down, but it is my opinion that Microsoft once again co-opted another companies technology.
The Microsoft of today likes to talk about intellectual property rights as well as that vague concept they have called "innovation." Let me put this straight, Microsoft can say all they want about intellectual property rights, but what of the intellectual property rights of those companies that Microsoft has factually co-opted? Does this intellectual property right definition mean that, "All your intellectual property rights are belong to Microsoft?" As for innovation, when does innovation mean stealing another companies hard work and then packaging it as your own?
I know those two above statements have been said before. It is of course the truth that was in the "Findings of Fact." If you have not read it it is something that you really need to read with an open mind. If for nothing more than to be able to respond to this post with all the facts before you. I am very sorry, but I do not have a link to that file.
Now, before everyone believes that I am nothing more than an Anti-Microsoft-Linux-Loving-Freaky-Geek. Let me explain a few of my other thoughts about Microsoft. I believe that the company has done a great deal of good. Many of you would not be reading this or even know how to read this if not for Microsoft. If not for Microsoft I never would have been able to get the jobs that eventually exposed me to UNIX and then Linux. For that, I really must thank Microsoft and I am really happy that they did that, because now I am learning to program once again. But, just because I am happy that Microsoft exists and made my writing this possible, I do not want them or any other corporation co-opting the internet as Microsoft appears to be doing.
Thanks for reading,
Robert A. Adkins II
I find the idea of a wood computer to case to be rather intriguing as it is something completly against the grain. (No Pun Intended) As I have never seen a commercially available computer case.
I am interested in knowing how many people would like to have such cases in classic designs. They would not be cheap as the costs of the wood alone would be rather expensive. Then there would be the cost of the metal components and the weight for shipment. All in all I could see cases as simple as the cube selling for nearly 200 US Dollars and more advanced designs selling for closer to 300 US Dollars.
If I am not mistaken, in order to generate a fragmented IP Packet one must have root level access to the machine. Now, since it is generally explained that users not run their Linux Machines as the root account then there is a much lower chance of those machines becoming compromised.
Of course if there is a problem with a consumer-friendly *NIX running about then we would more than likely see it first with the latest iteration of the MacOS X. Since this OS does use a *NIX kernel as its core. It is quite possible that this OS would become rooted in time. If we watch how this happens perhaps an average-consumer-friendly release of Linux would be able to defend against such problems.
BTW, I would call an average-consumer-friendly version of Linux one that does not require the end-user to input a root password. One that is easy to administer for home use. Much like Windows 9x. The real challenge with a release like this would be making a remotely secure distribution without being locally secure.
Linux and Open Source needs a real spokesperson with face recognition amongst the "normal" populace. We will never be able to debunk these blatant Balmer lies if we do not have a proper spokesperson that can gain the media attention that Microsoft can gain.
This claim he has been continually making regarding how using any Open Source software infects all your software is blatantly untrue.
This battle front that Microsoft has created is not one we can fight on Slashdot and expect to win. This is a battle that we must fight in the mainstream media.
We need to reach "Joe" computer-user through the media. So that when "Joe" computer-user is approached with Linux, he/she won't run for the hills screaming about the dangers of cancer.
The Open Source community needs to begin talking the intellectual property talk and walking the intellectual property walk in regards to how closed-source programming is a stagnet pond that breeds life taking bacteria. If Microsoft wants to scare "Joe" Computer-user then let's scare "Joe" Computer-User.
Oh no, that means my entire computer has become Open Source! Since I dual-boot doesn't that mean that my installed Windows 98 SE has become open source as well?
I mean I have had Linux "touch" some Windows files... Hmm... Does anyone know how to perform Chemotherapy on a hard drive?
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I would buy Mandrake Stock if it was offered to loyal users. I looked into getting in on the RedHat and other Linux related IPOs and was unable to because I didn't have a gazillion dollars with some high-end brokerage and I have not been an open source developer.
What I am, is a Linux Users Group founder and currently the closest thing we have to a president. The LUG runs Mandrake on its Linux Lab and we advocate the use of that release to our members and first time users. As a group, we have been very pleased with the ease of configuration as well as the initial tools that come with this distribution.
Over the next few months we are planning on adding to our membership and looking into hosting an Installfest or Linux Day at a bookstore or local computer shop. At those events we would use Mandrake as it would make it easier for people to grasp the complexities of the Linux operating system.
I would be interested in knowing how one would be able to protect, at the router level, a DOS attack. If it is coming from disparite spoofed IP addresses how would the router diferentiate a "good" packet from a "bad" packet. Maybe we could add a tiny extension tag to all packets. The tag could simply tell the router whether or not it is a legit packet or a DDOS packet. Then the router could simply ignore those "bad" packets. That would be perfect.
Okay, that is not very logical solution as the Bot Masters would simply never tell their bots to use the "bad" flag.
The only other major issue that I see is what is known as the "Slashdot Effect" This is when a large number of disparite IP Addresses may suddenly flood a web site. In many cases this will lead to a "Denial of Service" to many of these Disparite IP Addresses.
I just do not see how a router could tell the diference between DDOS packets and legit internet surfers traffic.
I am not an expert, nor will I pretend to be. So, if I am wrong with my next statements please correct me.
Everytime I read another one of these releases about yet another site being defaced by yet another cracker with a sniffer. Two things come to mind. The first one is where the heck was this kid's parents when being taught the diference between right and wrong. The other thing is why attack a community that for all intent and purposes is attempting to build something for the greater good of all mankind? The act of breaking and entering, which is what happened, is a terribly deplorable act. I do understand that the sysadmins at the site were crushed under the ball instead of being on the ball, but that does not give everyone the right to go cracking away. Personally, I would have had more respect for this low-life scum, if he/she/it had decided to simply patch up the holes and then announce it in some other fashion. At this point nobody should trust any of the software off of Sourceforge until the developers of said software are able to claim that it is indeed safe from backdoors. I know some of you are against strengthening the laws regarding cracking systems, but I am all for it. I would much rather see some script kiddie, or someone that knows what they are doing, go to prison for 10 to 15 years for breaking and entering into computer systems. Of course the sysadmins at the site that was originally hacked should carry most of the blame on this. I do also understand that it is terribly dificult to know what software is installed on every PC in every office. It still does not excuse the fact that a schmuck in an office somewhere can slap together a giant security hole machine. The originally affected machine should have been screened by the real sysadmins prior to going live. If we could get sysadmins to start pre-screening machines before they go live, it would be possible to grealy cutdown on the number of cracks. That should almost be a law, especially since there are so many hacks (Meaning Dumbass) that pretend to be sysadmins out there.
I am just curious to know how this is relevant to Slashdot posters. Personally, I have not used AOL as an ISP since I actually learned how to use my PC and the internet.
Maybe it was just me, I was plagued with disconnects, unbearably slow connections for gaming and the memory hogging client that I used to minimize in order to surf the net.
Of course, I do understand that this is interesting to note on Slashdot because Microsoft and AOL seem to be in a "Cold War" over market share. Then there was the constant battle over Instant Messaging.
It is just interesting to note that AOL needs to give up on Netscape to be preinstalled on Microsoft's latest OS.
Personally I believe that if the military can find a use for a technology then they will use it. The technology just needs to become practical and just affordable enough for the military to use it.
If this technology progresses fast enough and the robot legs can be made to run at speads nearing 35 miles per hour over rough terrain, you better believe the military will create walking, running and leaping howitzers.
It might be interesting to see if they do decide to go the AI or the human pilot route. I would imagine that the human pilot route would be safer, as there would be little chance of the unit being reprogrammed.
Of course this is all conjecture and a moot point until someone can come up with a very powerful and renewable powerplant for such a robot. Something akin to the fictional fusion reactors of the Battletech game would probably suffice.
This seems to be quite like the issue of having a proprietary pluggable module that can be plugged into a GPL piece of software. A good example of this is the fact that the Linux Kernel can have proprietary driver modules plugged and loaded on the fly for pieces of hardware.
This sounds similiar to what is happening with this proprietary code. The only major diference is that the "pluggable module" in this case is a piece of GPL'd software. Of course it is a DLL. The issue then, would be can this software perform its actions without having this DLL?
If it can be proven that the software can function without the DLL than the issue is a moot point. Of course if the software requires this module than it is possible that this will spend some time in the courts as they figure this out.
The design idea is interesting, but I do not believe that it will be all that practical. At one point, not to long ago, some company came up with a mouse that had a numeric pad built into it or something very close to a numeric pad. I suppose that could be considered prior art, even though it was only a number pad and not half a keyboard.
Anyway, the company that came up with that innovation believed that soon everyone would be using their mouse/number pad thingies. How many of you bought them? I recall looking at it and thinking, "What an unwieldy looking piece of junk!"
As you can tell with that response, I chose to neglect the purchase of that dust covered combo mouse thingy. I would also have to neglect the purchase of this "new" design as well.
IBM is great. Lately they seem to always be on the forefront of Hard Drive Technology. Although I do have to agree with an earlier posting about Solid State Hard Drives. Heck, if I had the money I would definately invest in about a dozen of those 3Gig Solid State drives. Of course at something like $5,000 a pop I do not believe that I will be running those in my PC anytime soon.
I have been fan of Star Wars well before I can remember, the 1st movie came out when I was two. I have have been waiting for something like this game for a terribly long time. Of course I have also been wating for a MMORPG with a Super Hero Theme as well, but hey who cares about that?
Anyway, the only issue that I have with the game is that it is not planned on being like Neverwinter Nights in the aspect that everyone can create their own stories and run their own servers. Of course I understand that the game is grander in scope than just about other MMORPG that is currently in existence and it would more than likely tax the heck out of anyone's home built server.
Regardless I would still like to be able to put into existence some of the grand stories that I put together when my friends and I were younger and had the time to spend the entire weekend playing the Star Wars Role-Playing Game.
Even though there are a few things that I dislike about the game, I will more than likely still be one of the first to line up to buy a copy, like I did when the original movies were rereleased with the extra footage.
One more gripe than I am gone. What the heck is with releasing the interstellar travel portion as a dang expansion? Don't they think that they will make enough money with releasing the whole game for 59.99 and then charging 10 bucks or whatever a month? This greed thang is just a little to much for me.
Of course the burden of proof would be upon your shoulders. It would be interesting to see AOL/Time Warner forced to turn over those names because you were the first to print the term AOL, which I believe would make you the original copyright owner.
Then again since you have not done anything about it for such a long time. As well as the fact that AOL has more than likely approached you many times to sell you their service. I would have to suppose that you would not have much of a case.
on the ledge of someone with way to much time on their hands. I mean who really has time to do this stuff?
I had thought that open source software and the GPL was great for the future of humanity. Well, now that Mr. Mundie has used such important historical figures like Thomas Edison, who electrocuted animals in public to dissuade people from using the competing power standard, I have been finally swayed. Now, I need only disband my Linux Users Group as there is really no need to walk that dangerous path. Wow, I never knew how dangerous GPL software was until reading Mr. Muncie's response.
Sincerity of message and professionalism will get one farther in corporate America than you think. One needs only speak to the right people and of course those right people need to be in the right places as well. It is dificult but, in time it will work.
As for ease of use. One need only look at a Distro like Mandrake 8.0. It is an extremely easy release to install and configure. Out of the box it will configure sound and most other hardware, like a parallel Zip drive.
The LUG I head uses it on our Linux Lab and the shear number of easy to use tools make it perfectly simple to setup many services. For instance at our last meeting we configured Samba in about 3 minutes simply by opening a web browser and using Webmin 0.80. Several people in the LUG were impressed at the speed of configuring that service.
As for the feel of the install. I am quite sure that someone with little to no computer skill could easily install Mandrake 8.0 and begin to use it right away. These days Mandrake has so many easy to use configuration tools the OS resembles the relative ease of Microsoft Windows.
With an OS like that the only thing really holding Linux back is the perceived idea that most Linux Users are unlcean, unshaven, hairy code barbarians destroying all that does not fit their 'idea' of what an OS is. Once we can change that perception Linux will make great leaps and bounds in corporate America.
Do you want to know how I know this? Well, I know people that are clean shaven, bath regularly and also have great personalities and happen to be serious about Linux. These people work at some very large Multi-national corporations, much like myself. These companies that we work for are taking very serious looks at Linux for things other than simple little web servers.
I am personally very impressed with the professional representation that has been made within this letter. What we need to do, as open source software users, is to band together and to work towards opening the eyes of our companies CTOs and CIOs.
This does not mean bashing the products that many of us are forced to use in our daily work days. This means to carefully offer up solutions to problems using Linux/BSD in a professional manner. Simply put, advocating the use of open source and free, as in liberty, software requires calm and rational reasoning.
One great avenue of advocating Linux/BSD is to form a users group in your area. While it is not an easy thing to do it can be used to greatly open the eyes of the people that attend because they have an inkling of interest. You would be surprised at the number of, "WOW! Linux can do that?!" that are prevalent at a LUG meeting.
If you choose to start a LUG be professional about it. Plan meeting times and agendas, put together thought out plans of action. Impress your members and they will mention it at their offices. The more your LUG is mentioned around their offices, the more likely that someone with decision making powers will show up.
The most important thing is to stop with the bashing. So what if Windows crashes, everyone already knows that. So what if Windows has security issues, people are already used to that. Show people that Linux has fewer security issues, when configured properly. Show people that Linux does not require regular reboots. Stop doing this by exclaiming the shortcomings of Windows. Do this by showing the strengths of Linux.
As users of solid, open source software we should work from a common vision. One of growth through education and hard work. Instead of the rabble-rousing vitriole that many of us spit out today.