I've read the article, but that's not my point. My point is one of "first impressions" -- the title simply gives one the first impression that UNIX and Windows are both similarily insecure.
Yes, they both have some weaknesses, and yes, the aforementioned common practices apply to both. And yes, there are both good and bad system admins working on both UNIX and Windows boxes. My complaint is the simple juxtaposition of listing UNIX first in what is a uniquely IIS fault. It gives one the incorrect impression that UNIX may somehow need to be improved to make up for the Code Red attack.
Truthfully, the article is so full of "If UNIX else if Microsoft" clauses that if were an object under my control, I'd split it into two articles: one for securing UNIX and one for securing Windows.
OMNI magazine reported on this over 20 years ago. It was apparently reinvented by a quarry worker in West Virginia (? sorry, it's been 20 years!) who said "This is so simple, someone has to have thought of this before." He checked archaeological records of the pyramids, and found the arcs you describe actually buried with the pharoahs' treasures in the pyramids. He even tested his theory with a "dozen middle-aged, out-of-shape guys" and pulled a stone block from his quarry up a ramp.
Apparently, publishing in OMNI wasn't the fast track to scientific headlines.:-)
His point was that other sites "aren't today" but Microsoft has positioned MSN to "not lose" by default. And MSN CAN do something that other sites CAN'T.
Look at it step by step:
First, let's start with some working assumptions. Assume that cookies "benefit" advertisers in some financial way. Another assumption is that consumers will not change default settings. As I've said before, 50% of users require help desk assistance to change their screen savers. Just because you're smart enough to use a computer does not mean you can apply that intelligence or experience to Joe6Pack@AOL.COM.
Next, look at how cookies work: they are served up when images on a web page are delivered. This happens one of two ways: either the server delivering the page delivers the images, or someother server does.
The model by which most web advertisers work is: they host the images (exchanging cookies and thus deriving benefit) for other servers. The somewhat unique model by which MSN works is: they both host the pages AND the advertising.
IE 6 will now block "third party" cookies by default. Advertisers operating under the first model are "third parties". This will deprive these advertisers of the "benefits" derived from distributing cookies. MSN operates under the second model, and will not lose the benefit.
Finally, the 'M' in MSN stands for Microsoft -- the same company distributing the browser that will no longer provide benefits to those other advertisers. It's the point of the whole article: Microsoft is leveraging advantage unfairly.
It's not silly. It's real money and they are real businesses that will make less money, putting real people out of real jobs. Whether or not you like them, whether or not you think all advertisers should go out of business and straight to hell, this will harm many of them. It will also harm the independent web site operators whose pages are currently paid for by third party advertisers. It will not harm Microsoft in the least, because they ensured they would not be affected.
He wrote The Great Big Space Fuck? It's a short story in which they collect semem from all the smartest men in the world and shoot it off into space; and the popular culture referred to it as The Great Big Space Fuck.
It gained instant notoriety for being the first "mainstream" story to use "fuck" in the title. Quite racy for the '60s (or whenever it was he wrote it.)
I think he'd be very disappointed that any moron's jizz could get a ride on the rocket for $50. Either that or very, very amused!
I was hoping they would include the "King Brian the Wild" segment from the original script. That was a seriously funny bit.
For those who haven't at least read it, King Brian is a bit "authoritarian." All of his subjects were missing one of their arms, presumably because an arm offended the king one day. (Except for the archers, who are missing one leg, but that's a different gag.) Anyway. King Brian doesn't like close harmony groups. Well, he has auditions for close harmony groups, and for every group that auditions he has the aforementioned archers execute when they've finished! The king enjoys this immensely.
King Arthur and his men pass through his land, and are "pressed" into auditioning, even though they consider themselves more of a "chorus" than a "close harmony group." Not too many close harmony groups are auditioning these days, so they're always trying to get new talent in the door for the king's amusement.
Anyway, it's a great bit, too bad they didn't have it on film. After reading the script, I was hoping that it was simply cut from the final release, rather than never having been filmed at all.
Their RFC announcement just says they want comments on their database. The real comment I think everybody has is: Software should not be patentable.
Software is nothing more than fancy math, really. And the USPTO established long ago that math could not be patented. The first "software" patent was issued on a chemical manufacturing process that included a software program on a computer to control the process.
Unfortunately, the validity of software patents was never successfully challenged, and here we sit with morons like Amazon patenting one-click shopping. And the USPTO thinks that if we can somehow find a better database to prove that someone else had one-click first, they'll somehow improve?
I think that rather than feed the students OO right away, teaching them PostScript would give them better benefits or a "higher return on investment."
First and foremost, immediate gratification. When you do something right, you get a picture you can hold in your hand. It's very important to the learning process (especially for kids, but it's true for everyone) to have immediate results for doing something right.
Next, you *really* teach them stack-based programming. You can't do anything in Postscript till you understand a stack, and after you've written a few programs, it's hammered home.
It's an easy way to teach reuse without getting into all the overhead of OO. Functions are easy to declare, and just drop in.
It's very portable, too. The language isn't different for different printer manufacturers (device extensions exempted, but really don't affect the learning process at all.) And GhostScript is available for all the commonly available platforms.)
I think PostScript is a great teaching language along the lines of Logo, only with better support and much more acceptance. It even has real-world application!
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, they both have some weaknesses, and yes, the aforementioned common practices apply to both. And yes, there are both good and bad system admins working on both UNIX and Windows boxes. My complaint is the simple juxtaposition of listing UNIX first in what is a uniquely IIS fault. It gives one the incorrect impression that UNIX may somehow need to be improved to make up for the Code Red attack.
Truthfully, the article is so full of "If UNIX else if Microsoft" clauses that if were an object under my control, I'd split it into two articles: one for securing UNIX and one for securing Windows.
Apparently, publishing in OMNI wasn't the fast track to scientific headlines. :-)
How bad do you have to mess up before your /dev/audio is eaten by a grue?
Look at it step by step:
First, let's start with some working assumptions. Assume that cookies "benefit" advertisers in some financial way. Another assumption is that consumers will not change default settings. As I've said before, 50% of users require help desk assistance to change their screen savers. Just because you're smart enough to use a computer does not mean you can apply that intelligence or experience to Joe6Pack@AOL.COM.
Next, look at how cookies work: they are served up when images on a web page are delivered. This happens one of two ways: either the server delivering the page delivers the images, or someother server does.
The model by which most web advertisers work is: they host the images (exchanging cookies and thus deriving benefit) for other servers. The somewhat unique model by which MSN works is: they both host the pages AND the advertising.
IE 6 will now block "third party" cookies by default. Advertisers operating under the first model are "third parties". This will deprive these advertisers of the "benefits" derived from distributing cookies. MSN operates under the second model, and will not lose the benefit.
Finally, the 'M' in MSN stands for Microsoft -- the same company distributing the browser that will no longer provide benefits to those other advertisers. It's the point of the whole article: Microsoft is leveraging advantage unfairly.
It's not silly. It's real money and they are real businesses that will make less money, putting real people out of real jobs. Whether or not you like them, whether or not you think all advertisers should go out of business and straight to hell, this will harm many of them. It will also harm the independent web site operators whose pages are currently paid for by third party advertisers. It will not harm Microsoft in the least, because they ensured they would not be affected.
It gained instant notoriety for being the first "mainstream" story to use "fuck" in the title. Quite racy for the '60s (or whenever it was he wrote it.)
I think he'd be very disappointed that any moron's jizz could get a ride on the rocket for $50. Either that or very, very amused!
I was hoping they would include the "King Brian the Wild" segment from the original script. That was a seriously funny bit.
For those who haven't at least read it, King Brian is a bit "authoritarian." All of his subjects were missing one of their arms, presumably because an arm offended the king one day. (Except for the archers, who are missing one leg, but that's a different gag.) Anyway. King Brian doesn't like close harmony groups. Well, he has auditions for close harmony groups, and for every group that auditions he has the aforementioned archers execute when they've finished! The king enjoys this immensely.
King Arthur and his men pass through his land, and are "pressed" into auditioning, even though they consider themselves more of a "chorus" than a "close harmony group." Not too many close harmony groups are auditioning these days, so they're always trying to get new talent in the door for the king's amusement.
Anyway, it's a great bit, too bad they didn't have it on film. After reading the script, I was hoping that it was simply cut from the final release, rather than never having been filmed at all.
Think about what you've proposed. I think this is what will happen:
I don't think that's what I want to see.
I *AM* that guy.
Software is nothing more than fancy math, really. And the USPTO established long ago that math could not be patented. The first "software" patent was issued on a chemical manufacturing process that included a software program on a computer to control the process.
Unfortunately, the validity of software patents was never successfully challenged, and here we sit with morons like Amazon patenting one-click shopping. And the USPTO thinks that if we can somehow find a better database to prove that someone else had one-click first, they'll somehow improve?
Here's a database suggestion for them: Google.
First and foremost, immediate gratification. When you do something right, you get a picture you can hold in your hand. It's very important to the learning process (especially for kids, but it's true for everyone) to have immediate results for doing something right.
Next, you *really* teach them stack-based programming. You can't do anything in Postscript till you understand a stack, and after you've written a few programs, it's hammered home.
It's an easy way to teach reuse without getting into all the overhead of OO. Functions are easy to declare, and just drop in.
It's very portable, too. The language isn't different for different printer manufacturers (device extensions exempted, but really don't affect the learning process at all.) And GhostScript is available for all the commonly available platforms.)
I think PostScript is a great teaching language along the lines of Logo, only with better support and much more acceptance. It even has real-world application!
A.C.