1) If it takes so long to reverse engineer and then create a new driver that can be equal or better to the closed source version - by the time this is done, that driver may be way out of date. Who wants something that is one to two years old in an industry where the new models come out every 3-6 months.
Hence the point of open sourcing it and providing the documentation, when you have the docs and the source you have no need to reverse engineer the system.
Obviously it would be nice if nvidia and ATI would open their drivers, the opensource community would benefit hugely from such a move, I also think the chip makers would benefit from it in terms of code improvements and fresh ideas....I don't see it happening anytime soon though, there has been calls in the past for drivers to be opened and it hasn't happened yet.
As for this statement:
For Nvidia, intellectual property is a secondary issue. "It's so hard to write a graphics driver that open-sourcing it would not help," said Andrew Fear, Nvidia's software product manager. In addition, customers aren't asking for open-source drivers, he said.
Firstly that is a very arrogant approach, some of the best developers in the world work on open source stuff, saying it is to hard is just stupid. As for customers not asking for open-source drivers, all I can say is huh? There have been dozens of calls over the years for drivers to be open sourced!
Regardless so long as the drivers are proprietary, I will continue to load proprietary drivers into my kernel, the FSF has a fairly narrow minded view here, yes it would be great if the drivers were open, but they aren't, and I am not going to restrict my system capablities just because the FSF doesn't approve.
One of the drives contained detailed information about the Bush strategy on how to win the war on terrorism, reports are vauge at the moment, however, the following was recovered:
Dear
Please give us either - lots of money or - lots of oil. If you don't do so, we will have the:
[ ] CIA [ ] NSA [ ] FBI [ ] UN
discover:
[ ] WMD [ ] terrorist training cells [ ] Bin Laden
Autonomous indoor flight presents scientists with particular technological challenges that nature has already overcome.
Search and rescue 'what' inside a building? Okay I kinda see where you are coming from with searching in rubble, but first we need to develop the star trek style teleporters to transmit the little airplanes through the rubble, erm yeah okay.
It is kinda cool that they have developed this, but:
But it could one day be shrunk to insect size and used for search and rescue.
Who are they planning on rescuing? Commando Ants trained for search and destroy? I could even see this doing assasination missions, a little needle a nerve agent, but sorry search and destroy really?
"Microsoft had designed its Windows server operating systems from the outset to interoperate with non-Microsoft server operating systems,"
If this is the case why are they complaining so much about documenting the protocols that would allow non-Microsoft software to interoperate?
A lot of people don't agree with the EU anti-trust, personally I think the EU is succeeding where the US anti-trust cases failed, they are actually punishing M$, hopefully, Microsoft will learn a lesson this time around.....I doubt they will though.
Interesting report but I would like to see more details, what type of encryption is being used? I think this would be a great thing, however, I can see it being blocked from ever reaching the market due to home security risks, unless there is a backdoor installed which really makes it kinda pointless in the first place.
Regardless it is very interesting that they say this technology can be used on any chip and not just powerPC's, also is the encrypted data tied to the chip or the system, how would this effect SMP systems, or virtual partitions?
We know the people responsible are mean vicious hacker types, my point is that an ISP has a responsbility to not just protect its users from the internet but to also protect the internet from the user, if an ISP recieves a report that one of their users is doing something wrong they should take the time to check this, the same goes for law enforcement.
Users should take responsbility but you are right this will never happen, and a long as it is profitable the malicious users will continue to write their infections, the impact can be minimalised if ISPs take some responsibility for the users they allow to connect.
There is obviously a problem with botnets, virii, and trojans, part of the problem comes from a 'not my problem' attitude from law enforcement and ISP's.
Dozens of times when networks I maintain have been attacked I have contacted ISP's with all the information they would need to trace the user performing the attack and notify them that their machine is infected, however, the response I usually recieve is, 'it is our policy not to blah blah blah', when I have had verified hack attempts on my systems and have notified the authorities about it, I have been transfered all over the place, put on hold, transfered a little more until I completely loose interest, when I do get to report something it never gets investigated.
Until the people that can actually do something about these zombie machines and malicious users, get off their asses the problem will just keep getting bigger.
Although I think this is an important development for java developers, I can't really see it really being a rival to Server 2003 and ASP, don't get me wrong I hate ASP and M$, but the simple fact is they have a huge market share, that just doesn't want to move, additionally they have legacy.
I would be interested to know more about the terms of the takeover, I remember reading recently that Marc let the Oracle deal drop because if/when he sold out he wanted his terms and conditions to be met.
Whilst I wish Xandros a lot of luck in their venture, I think it is a mistake for them to move into the server market. I haven't used Xandros myself but I have known people that have, they have nothing but good things to say about their desktop environment, Xandros is the kinda company we need leading the way for the desktop market, they seems to have done a lot of what lindows (now linspire) promised, a high quality desktop platform with decent windows compatibility (thanks to crossover and wine).
They are doing so great in that market a risky move like this could undo a lot of that good work, they could end up eating it on the server market not being able to compete with the big boys.
Whilst the article mentions some cool stuff they are planning, if people want a windows like management console they are likely to stick to windows.
If they want it smaller, they can make it smaller, if they are talking just linux, then it is the kernel by the time you remove everything you don't need it is pretty damn smaller, if they are refering to the distro, roll your own you have developed your own hardware platform you can roll a nice small linux distro to fit on it, it can be as small or large as required.
After reading the article, it sounds like they are just selling their web cache, nice idea but really unless they are selling really cheap I just can't see it picking up, especially considering the difficulties of getting the data to your drive, I mean an 80G download!
Additionally what if I decide to follow site links that leave the cache?
I use Oracle on AIX, Solaris and HP-UX at work, most of my day involves resizing volume groups and logical volumes on these systems (over 100 systems multiple databases per system), until I get more chance dealing with LVM on linux and do benchmarking connecting to sharks, and fast Ts I will stick to my trusty mysql and postgres linux databases.
I guess it is time for me to double check clamav is still updating without any problems on my systems.
In 2001, the sadmind/ISS worm exploited a hole in Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Solaris to infect systems running vulnerable versions of the operating system. Infected systems then scanned for and attacked servers running Microsoft Corp.'s IIS Web server software. That same year, another proof-of-concept virus named Winux infected both Windows and Linux systems.
I am curious about how this is a proof of concept virus if it has been done before surely the concept has already been proven?
The internal AT&T documents and portions of the supporting declarations have been submitted to the Court under a tentative seal, a procedure that allows AT&T five court days to explain to the Court why the information should be kept from the public.
I can't think of any possible justification for the documents to be kept sealed, but I wouldn't be suprised if the government wades in complaining that these document are directly related to National Security, and, should therefore be kept sealed, or claim that it would endanger their own investigations.
Dear Mr. Baby buying I am trying to get in all the first posts Buy My Child need to raise my Karma +1,
Thanks for noticing my site, FYI I recently got a subscription to slashdot, I am not aiming to be first post on any occasion but I am seeing the stories like 30 minutes before they publish and by then I am already read the article and written my opinion, you will notice I don't comment on all articles since I don't have an opinion on them all, additionally I am not a karma whore I already have a karma of excellent I have no reason to try and push it higher since it is capped.
I don't have a radeon card I have used nvidia ever since the major opengl problems ATI had way back with the rage pro, and this particular problem isn't related to AGP in any way shape or form it is related to the smb protocols.
My biggest question to MS regarding their interaction with Linux/*NIX would be why the hell windows XP SP1 broke my Samba PDC!! Before SP1 I was able to load roaming profiles without any problems, I applied SP1 and it all fell apart.
Microsoft seems willing to help you get your Linux workstation running against their PDC but are unwilling to reverse and allow their desktops to run against a Unix PDC.
MS has always seemed to break interaction with samba at every opportunity, I suspect this is completely intentional, especially considering their server products (that include the PDC functionality) is their flagship productline.
Slashdot Mirror
Hence the point of open sourcing it and providing the documentation, when you have the docs and the source you have no need to reverse engineer the system.
As for this statement:
Firstly that is a very arrogant approach, some of the best developers in the world work on open source stuff, saying it is to hard is just stupid. As for customers not asking for open-source drivers, all I can say is huh? There have been dozens of calls over the years for drivers to be open sourced!
Regardless so long as the drivers are proprietary, I will continue to load proprietary drivers into my kernel, the FSF has a fairly narrow minded view here, yes it would be great if the drivers were open, but they aren't, and I am not going to restrict my system capablities just because the FSF doesn't approve.
I completely agree, I am not putting the blame on India or any other nation that has benefited from the cost cutting ventures of US companies.
One of the drives contained detailed information about the Bush strategy on how to win the war on terrorism, reports are vauge at the moment, however, the following was recovered:
Dear
Please give us either - lots of money or - lots of oil. If you don't do so, we will
have the:
[ ] CIA
[ ] NSA
[ ] FBI
[ ] UN
discover:
[ ] WMD
[ ] terrorist training cells
[ ] Bin Laden
operating within your nation.
Lots of love
Dubya. xoxox
This sounds like a really great idea, I guess they can afford to have these modern management techniques since all jobs are being outsourced to there.
Search and rescue 'what' inside a building? Okay I kinda see where you are coming from with searching in rubble, but first we need to develop the star trek style teleporters to transmit the little airplanes through the rubble, erm yeah okay.
Who are they planning on rescuing? Commando Ants trained for search and destroy? I could even see this doing assasination missions, a little needle a nerve agent, but sorry search and destroy really?
If this is the case why are they complaining so much about documenting the protocols that would allow non-Microsoft software to interoperate?
A lot of people don't agree with the EU anti-trust, personally I think the EU is succeeding where the US anti-trust cases failed, they are actually punishing M$, hopefully, Microsoft will learn a lesson this time around.....I doubt they will though.
Well there you go learn something new everyday, in the past I have been corrected from saying viruses :op
Interesting report but I would like to see more details, what type of encryption is being used? I think this would be a great thing, however, I can see it being blocked from ever reaching the market due to home security risks, unless there is a backdoor installed which really makes it kinda pointless in the first place.
Regardless it is very interesting that they say this technology can be used on any chip and not just powerPC's, also is the encrypted data tied to the chip or the system, how would this effect SMP systems, or virtual partitions?
We know the people responsible are mean vicious hacker types, my point is that an ISP has a responsbility to not just protect its users from the internet but to also protect the internet from the user, if an ISP recieves a report that one of their users is doing something wrong they should take the time to check this, the same goes for law enforcement.
Users should take responsbility but you are right this will never happen, and a long as it is profitable the malicious users will continue to write their infections, the impact can be minimalised if ISPs take some responsibility for the users they allow to connect.
There is obviously a problem with botnets, virii, and trojans, part of the problem comes from a 'not my problem' attitude from law enforcement and ISP's.
Dozens of times when networks I maintain have been attacked I have contacted ISP's with all the information they would need to trace the user performing the attack and notify them that their machine is infected, however, the response I usually recieve is, 'it is our policy not to blah blah blah', when I have had verified hack attempts on my systems and have notified the authorities about it, I have been transfered all over the place, put on hold, transfered a little more until I completely loose interest, when I do get to report something it never gets investigated.
Until the people that can actually do something about these zombie machines and malicious users, get off their asses the problem will just keep getting bigger.
Although I think this is an important development for java developers, I can't really see it really being a rival to Server 2003 and ASP, don't get me wrong I hate ASP and M$, but the simple fact is they have a huge market share, that just doesn't want to move, additionally they have legacy.
I would be interested to know more about the terms of the takeover, I remember reading recently that Marc let the Oracle deal drop because if/when he sold out he wanted his terms and conditions to be met.
OT:
Thanks man, it is nice to get wishes of support.
Whilst I wish Xandros a lot of luck in their venture, I think it is a mistake for them to move into the server market. I haven't used Xandros myself but I have known people that have, they have nothing but good things to say about their desktop environment, Xandros is the kinda company we need leading the way for the desktop market, they seems to have done a lot of what lindows (now linspire) promised, a high quality desktop platform with decent windows compatibility (thanks to crossover and wine).
They are doing so great in that market a risky move like this could undo a lot of that good work, they could end up eating it on the server market not being able to compete with the big boys.
Whilst the article mentions some cool stuff they are planning, if people want a windows like management console they are likely to stick to windows.
Regardless I wish them luck.
If they want it smaller, they can make it smaller, if they are talking just linux, then it is the kernel by the time you remove everything you don't need it is pretty damn smaller, if they are refering to the distro, roll your own you have developed your own hardware platform you can roll a nice small linux distro to fit on it, it can be as small or large as required.
After reading the article, it sounds like they are just selling their web cache, nice idea but really unless they are selling really cheap I just can't see it picking up, especially considering the difficulties of getting the data to your drive, I mean an 80G download!
Additionally what if I decide to follow site links that leave the cache?
Yeah I can't really see this picking up.
I use Oracle on AIX, Solaris and HP-UX at work, most of my day involves resizing volume groups and logical volumes on these systems (over 100 systems multiple databases per system), until I get more chance dealing with LVM on linux and do benchmarking connecting to sharks, and fast Ts I will stick to my trusty mysql and postgres linux databases.
I am not that guy, although I wish I was I could use the money right now :)
Geez editors this is a dupe I was reading this same article at slashdt.org earlier *sigh* :)
I am curious about how this is a proof of concept virus if it has been done before surely the concept has already been proven?
As TFA says:
I can't think of any possible justification for the documents to be kept sealed, but I wouldn't be suprised if the government wades in complaining that these document are directly related to National Security, and, should therefore be kept sealed, or claim that it would endanger their own investigations.
Thanks for noticing my site, FYI I recently got a subscription to slashdot, I am not aiming to be first post on any occasion but I am seeing the stories like 30 minutes before they publish and by then I am already read the article and written my opinion, you will notice I don't comment on all articles since I don't have an opinion on them all, additionally I am not a karma whore I already have a karma of excellent I have no reason to try and push it higher since it is capped.
I don't have a radeon card I have used nvidia ever since the major opengl problems ATI had way back with the rage pro, and this particular problem isn't related to AGP in any way shape or form it is related to the smb protocols.
Thanks for the wish of good luck.
Is it possible that they intentionally change the protocol to stop samba working given the history of MS?
My biggest question to MS regarding their interaction with Linux/*NIX would be why the hell windows XP SP1 broke my Samba PDC!! Before SP1 I was able to load roaming profiles without any problems, I applied SP1 and it all fell apart.
Microsoft seems willing to help you get your Linux workstation running against their PDC but are unwilling to reverse and allow their desktops to run against a Unix PDC.
MS has always seemed to break interaction with samba at every opportunity, I suspect this is completely intentional, especially considering their server products (that include the PDC functionality) is their flagship productline.