It's far too excessive. And that's more or less all that made me laugh. I guess it triggered a response in the way it was meant to do !
IMHO, it's just not that amusing. I've stopped watching the intro and pulled the scheduled programs from my MCE machine. The stereotypes show just how out of touch the writers are. I don't think that silly haircuts, bad personal hygiene, failure with the girls and messy offices are really reflective of how it is these days. Or any other day for that matter.
I'm a Brit and we've had some classic British comedy in the past but I think that this is pretty poor.
I know that the LDP does useful things with the documentation and I also know that the general ethic of the FOSS community is to be helpful. But, by announcing that I'm primarily an MS guy and cannot be confident that I have secured my Linux box, I'm quite likely to be called a Troll. The truth of the matter is that I've been using Linux since RH 5.2, think the whole concept is cool and would like to learn more. You can see from my number that I have been around here for a while ! I have this Book PC with FC3, Apache, samba. webmin, etc. I'm pleased to say that as yet I've not had any problems with it. I just wanted to make sure that I did not and looking in comp.os.linux.security shows that despite the FOSS advocates saying that security is a plus point, there are too many admins who have ended up with issues, because of, I guess, bad configurations.
up2date could not be easier to use but although I would like to use the web server and open it up via the firewall, I know that there's more to securing the environment than just patching. If the box gets rooted and some idiot then messes around with samba to screw up the Wintel network as well I'd not be to keen to mess around with Linux again for a while.
However, if I can do these cool things at home and grow my skills I'd be more confident in looking at FOSS for my professional tasks as well.
We have Linux advocates amongst our Solaris admins but they are not on the 'correct side of the fence'. For example, they are seen as being good at, for example, managing Oracle on Solaris, but not, for example, file and print for Windows workstations.
So, we just need an Ask Slashdot about how more Windows admins / architects are brought into the folder:-)
I don't think that the 'facts' site is of direct interest to CIOs and I don't think your suggestions of convincing _CIOs_ is the right thing to say either. I believe that the CIOs listen to the troops, with opinions coming from right down the line. The CIOs would be stupid not to listen to what they have to say.
Consider this - as an experienced IT guy with twenty four years solid experience, my platforms are based around Microsoft solutions and they do work well. I've had various Linux builds at home and recently enquired in one of the Linux security newsgroups about making my FC3 box safe enough to opened up to the net. I commented that while I felt confident enough to get a Wintel box as safe as it could be and more than likely detect any intrusions, this was not the case with a Linux solution. The issue was not about what was more secure but about how sure I was that I could make my FC3 box secure and know if someone had compromised it. Someone else agreed with the sentiment and I decided to post an Ask Slashdot about how Windows admins could be encouraged to attain more Linux skills. This was rejected but I suspect that migrations (eg. to a SAMBA solution) from Microsoft platforms are more likely to happen 'from the inside' rather than say from one of the Solaris admins pushing for such a move.
It's NOT going to be easy to look credible when the first 'selling point' is security and they let out this major release with KNOWN security issues in it. I'm certain that the MS IE guys will be having a good laugh today and who can blame them ?
I've already downloaded the full installer but having read about the new features, I've deleted it and will stick with Firefox for now. I just don't see the point in using Netscape.
I agree with you that corporates are more than likely to be from a server. However, with a switched network and a decent server (high speed SCSI discs, etc) that's not being completely thrashed, I'd still expect the installation to take minutes and maybe less time than having to read from a DVD ROM.
If it takes you an hour to install Office then there is either something wrong with your PC or maybe the drives are just really slow. A full install of 2003 Pro on my machine from the MS DVD takes no more than ten minutes from start to finish.
It does sound easier when you put it like that but yet again, in my own experience, patching my FC3 box and my Wintel boxes show no clear winner in terms of time to patch, especially when the XP Pro install disc has SP2 slipstreamed onto it.
As the machines are both behind a firewall I can be comfortable that they can both download the updates at night. Depending on the environments, both *nix and Wintel boxes could be more at risk without the patches in place. Look at the Linux security newsgroups to see numerous people getting their boxes rooted.
What happens when a Linux distro refuses to install ?
I don't think that using the term 'standards' and a suggestion to move to OO works. The thing that people do not like about standards is that the standard formats for office documents all belong to Microsoft. By pushing OO and setting it to default to MS Office formats, this is just re-inforcing the MS standards even more.
I saw half of an advance showing of the movie last night and have to say that at first I thought that he only had one, then they used the CGI to introduce the second which was cool, and then I went back to liking the original guise more.
I only saw half of it because half way through the film turned upside down and seemed to be going backwards. With screwed up audio as well they had to stop the performance.
IMHO, although the movie was ok, the original is better. The lines just seem to be timed better and without the cuts we seen in the movie. I also didn't like Freeman doing Dent. He just reminded me and the wife of Ricky Gervais !
I know that it will not exactly shake this community but I've recently taken out/. from my favourites, despite this being my most frequented site (I'm sure that IP logs will show what a fan I've been). And I bet I'm not the only one.
The reason ? While there are loads of cool things on here, the constant bickering about M$, open sores, etc, is turning this place into a pretty boring one that is less pleasant to visit. And this is at a time when open source is becoming more prominent and people want more information !
The site will continue to look like the ideal place for bickering when all the MS flaws get reported but very few of those related to Linux. Stating the obvious here, but surely professional Linux admins would like to hear more about what affects their systems in the first instance ? Reporting MS flaws is just a hook to catch another set of anti-MS sentiment.
Now, if someone could tell me why FileZilla has failed to stop downloading my SUSE 9.2 at 3.1 GB, and wants to carry on, this place would be a whole lot more useful for me right now !
Ok, so I'm back here today but the site does have enormous appeal. And it's not yet back in the favourites !
The interesting thing is, I know of one Indian BPO company who is investing in Eastern Europe. I'm not sure of the motive but it does make for interesting reading !
The other interesting thing is that while Bangalore could now have passed the Valley in terms of head-count, I understand that local taxes are increasing rapidly and that it is now very hard to get a decent room there. Of course, the Leela is truly the best option:-)
With this pressure on local expenses, this could well have an impact on the charges that have to be made to their customers !
"In my understanding, a help desk is there to help the users accomplish their goals in a fast, efficient manner, not dictate what technologies they must use."
It depends on what you mean by 'help desk'. In the classic sense of there being a group of people simply taking calls and dealing with faults, I would say that they should not in any way be moving users onto alternatives (regarless of the vendor / source and licensing terms). There are people who have the official responsibility to drive IT strategy, considering all that is in place now and all that will be in place in the months and years (as well as they can !) to come.
There is no point having the help desk driving people down one route if in six months time, what they have will be replaced by something else or what they installed will not interoperate with something new. That's just the way to have downtime and increased help desk call volumes.
Also, I'm not convinced that pointing users to Firefox when 'many sites didn't render correctly' is a good idea. Things not working just brings in more user frustration. And giving users 'more freedom' is seldom required. They should only need single working applications - ie. no choice available or needed.
IT departments need to keep the number of supported applications at a managable level. They cannot be experts at dealing with everything.
And of course, memory is quite cheap these days so when funds permit, regardless of the OS, you can upgrade the RAM and do more with it !
They main thing here is that the price for a notebook PC has got lower again. Don't think you'kk find one for much less than £500 over here. TBH, the guys in the USA are lucky to be able to get one of those for anything like that price
Since when did *nix fans need monitors ? Use the TV until Linux is installed and then SSH, etc afterwards. You will not need the USB converters as you can install GentooX using a controler.
007 AUF also works for the hack so you have a choice of two games to find. You can flash the TSOP without needing a modchip.
No, Microsoft users are not stuck with incompatability ! Actually, while they stay with Microsoft they enjoy more compatability, not less, and that's why some users choose not to move.
Also, the quality of a product has much to do with continued use. This applies equally to Microsoft or Linux products. Isn't that why Linux users like Linux - because they see high quality ?
Yes, the game is awesome and does indeed look as good as some of the Doom 3 images. For example, in some of the indoor scenes you'd be hard pressed to differentiate between the two. Try shooting a suspended strip light and admire the lighting effects as it rocks on it's chains.
Outside though, we have a Trueman Show behaviour. I sailed right away from land and you get a helicopter come and blow you away !
Also, having read the article, it seems to me that the author's comments about Microsoft only doing it to scupper OSS is only his opinion, not _fact_.
Wasn't it Red Hat that patented and then explained that they were only doing it so others couldn't snap up the 'goods' ? I can't see why MS would not want to do the same. That's the idea of patents, to protect ones ideas so that others cannot capitalise from them.
And as MS is a company that owes it's shareholders the best chance of a return, surely it is obliged to patent key technologies ?
Microsoft hardened the security in Windows 2000 (and consequently, Windows XP). That is more than likely why the older software does not work as it should.
If it's essential to run an old app, it's not hard to work out what older apps need to access (using regmon, etc) and then use GPOs to slightly reduce the security. Or, just use the supplied compatws template (with a GPO if you want) to drop the settings back down.
People can't say Microsoft code is insecure and then complain when they harden it.
Yes, but the thing is, if it's a MS vulnerability then everyone needs it on the front page even though most here want nothing to do with their software. Surely this is the most relevant in terms of people being able to react to an issue if they don't already know ?
I totally disagree. Most people in the UK use MS products without any bitter and twisted view about Bill Gates. If they could identify him, they would align him with our own Richard Branson, a British business hero (bar none !).
BTW, this is what I really think but go on, mod me down as a troll or something. For a place that advocates free this and free the other, any non-anti Bill Gates comments are marked up right away as 'trolls'. So free speech doesn't come into it !
Slashdot Mirror
It's far too excessive. And that's more or less all that made me laugh. I guess it triggered a response in the way it was meant to do !
IMHO, it's just not that amusing. I've stopped watching the intro and pulled the scheduled programs from my MCE machine. The stereotypes show just how out of touch the writers are. I don't think that silly haircuts, bad personal hygiene, failure with the girls and messy offices are really reflective of how it is these days. Or any other day for that matter.
I'm a Brit and we've had some classic British comedy in the past but I think that this is pretty poor.
Well, at a guess, I'd say that the first two machines were simply not set up right and that the third PC maybe had the Windows firewall running.
Some people just don't know how to make their machines work well !
Maybe this is because Windows 2000 already does the job and they don't want to spend time and money on change for change's sake ?
I know that the LDP does useful things with the documentation and I also know that the general ethic of the FOSS community is to be helpful. But, by announcing that I'm primarily an MS guy and cannot be confident that I have secured my Linux box, I'm quite likely to be called a Troll. The truth of the matter is that I've been using Linux since RH 5.2, think the whole concept is cool and would like to learn more. You can see from my number that I have been around here for a while ! I have this Book PC with FC3, Apache, samba. webmin, etc. I'm pleased to say that as yet I've not had any problems with it. I just wanted to make sure that I did not and looking in comp.os.linux.security shows that despite the FOSS advocates saying that security is a plus point, there are too many admins who have ended up with issues, because of, I guess, bad configurations.
:-)
up2date could not be easier to use but although I would like to use the web server and open it up via the firewall, I know that there's more to securing the environment than just patching. If the box gets rooted and some idiot then messes around with samba to screw up the Wintel network as well I'd not be to keen to mess around with Linux again for a while.
However, if I can do these cool things at home and grow my skills I'd be more confident in looking at FOSS for my professional tasks as well.
We have Linux advocates amongst our Solaris admins but they are not on the 'correct side of the fence'. For example, they are seen as being good at, for example, managing Oracle on Solaris, but not, for example, file and print for Windows workstations.
So, we just need an Ask Slashdot about how more Windows admins / architects are brought into the folder
I don't think that the 'facts' site is of direct interest to CIOs and I don't think your suggestions of convincing _CIOs_ is the right thing to say either. I believe that the CIOs listen to the troops, with opinions coming from right down the line. The CIOs would be stupid not to listen to what they have to say.
Consider this - as an experienced IT guy with twenty four years solid experience, my platforms are based around Microsoft solutions and they do work well. I've had various Linux builds at home and recently enquired in one of the Linux security newsgroups about making my FC3 box safe enough to opened up to the net. I commented that while I felt confident enough to get a Wintel box as safe as it could be and more than likely detect any intrusions, this was not the case with a Linux solution. The issue was not about what was more secure but about how sure I was that I could make my FC3 box secure and know if someone had compromised it. Someone else agreed with the sentiment and I decided to post an Ask Slashdot about how Windows admins could be encouraged to attain more Linux skills. This was rejected but I suspect that migrations (eg. to a SAMBA solution) from Microsoft platforms are more likely to happen 'from the inside' rather than say from one of the Solaris admins pushing for such a move.
The article clearly states that the survey was NOT done for Microsoft and acknowledges the large Apache market share.
Unless you KNOW differently, why would you want to argue with that ?
If it said the opposite, would you accuse Red Hat of giving back handers ?
It's NOT going to be easy to look credible when the first 'selling point' is security and they let out this major release with KNOWN security issues in it. I'm certain that the MS IE guys will be having a good laugh today and who can blame them ?
I've already downloaded the full installer but having read about the new features, I've deleted it and will stick with Firefox for now. I just don't see the point in using Netscape.
I agree with you that corporates are more than likely to be from a server. However, with a switched network and a decent server (high speed SCSI discs, etc) that's not being completely thrashed, I'd still expect the installation to take minutes and maybe less time than having to read from a DVD ROM.
If it takes you an hour to install Office then there is either something wrong with your PC or maybe the drives are just really slow. A full install of 2003 Pro on my machine from the MS DVD takes no more than ten minutes from start to finish.
It does sound easier when you put it like that but yet again, in my own experience, patching my FC3 box and my Wintel boxes show no clear winner in terms of time to patch, especially when the XP Pro install disc has SP2 slipstreamed onto it.
As the machines are both behind a firewall I can be comfortable that they can both download the updates at night. Depending on the environments, both *nix and Wintel boxes could be more at risk without the patches in place. Look at the Linux security newsgroups to see numerous people getting their boxes rooted.
What happens when a Linux distro refuses to install ?
I don't think that using the term 'standards' and a suggestion to move to OO works. The thing that people do not like about standards is that the standard formats for office documents all belong to Microsoft. By pushing OO and setting it to default to MS Office formats, this is just re-inforcing the MS standards even more.
I saw half of an advance showing of the movie last night and have to say that at first I thought that he only had one, then they used the CGI to introduce the second which was cool, and then I went back to liking the original guise more.
I only saw half of it because half way through the film turned upside down and seemed to be going backwards. With screwed up audio as well they had to stop the performance.
IMHO, although the movie was ok, the original is better. The lines just seem to be timed better and without the cuts we seen in the movie. I also didn't like Freeman doing Dent. He just reminded me and the wife of Ricky Gervais !
I've got (old) news for you. He's not the CEO anymore ! It's good old Steve Ballmer now.
I know that it will not exactly shake this community but I've recently taken out /. from my favourites, despite this being my most frequented site (I'm sure that IP logs will show what a fan I've been). And I bet I'm not the only one.
The reason ? While there are loads of cool things on here, the constant bickering about M$, open sores, etc, is turning this place into a pretty boring one that is less pleasant to visit. And this is at a time when open source is becoming more prominent and people want more information !
The site will continue to look like the ideal place for bickering when all the MS flaws get reported but very few of those related to Linux. Stating the obvious here, but surely professional Linux admins would like to hear more about what affects their systems in the first instance ? Reporting MS flaws is just a hook to catch another set of anti-MS sentiment.
Now, if someone could tell me why FileZilla has failed to stop downloading my SUSE 9.2 at 3.1 GB, and wants to carry on, this place would be a whole lot more useful for me right now !
Ok, so I'm back here today but the site does have enormous appeal. And it's not yet back in the favourites !
The interesting thing is, I know of one Indian BPO company who is investing in Eastern Europe. I'm not sure of the motive but it does make for interesting reading !
:-)
The other interesting thing is that while Bangalore could now have passed the Valley in terms of head-count, I understand that local taxes are increasing rapidly and that it is now very hard to get a decent room there. Of course, the Leela is truly the best option
With this pressure on local expenses, this could well have an impact on the charges that have to be made to their customers !
I suspect that the shareholders would disagree !
"In my understanding, a help desk is there to help the users accomplish their goals in a fast, efficient manner, not dictate what technologies they must use."
It depends on what you mean by 'help desk'. In the classic sense of there being a group of people simply taking calls and dealing with faults, I would say that they should not in any way be moving users onto alternatives (regarless of the vendor / source and licensing terms). There are people who have the official responsibility to drive IT strategy, considering all that is in place now and all that will be in place in the months and years (as well as they can !) to come.
There is no point having the help desk driving people down one route if in six months time, what they have will be replaced by something else or what they installed will not interoperate with something new. That's just the way to have downtime and increased help desk call volumes.
Also, I'm not convinced that pointing users to Firefox when 'many sites didn't render correctly' is a good idea. Things not working just brings in more user frustration. And giving users 'more freedom' is seldom required. They should only need single working applications - ie. no choice available or needed.
IT departments need to keep the number of supported applications at a managable level. They cannot be experts at dealing with everything.
And of course, memory is quite cheap these days so when funds permit, regardless of the OS, you can upgrade the RAM and do more with it !
They main thing here is that the price for a notebook PC has got lower again. Don't think you'kk find one for much less than £500 over here. TBH, the guys in the USA are lucky to be able to get one of those for anything like that price
Since when did *nix fans need monitors ? Use the TV until Linux is installed and then SSH, etc afterwards. You will not need the USB converters as you can install GentooX using a controler.
007 AUF also works for the hack so you have a choice of two games to find. You can flash the TSOP without needing a modchip.
No, Microsoft users are not stuck with incompatability ! Actually, while they stay with Microsoft they enjoy more compatability, not less, and that's why some users choose not to move.
Also, the quality of a product has much to do with continued use. This applies equally to Microsoft or Linux products. Isn't that why Linux users like Linux - because they see high quality ?
LOL - now that WOULD be cool !
Yes, the game is awesome and does indeed look as good as some of the Doom 3 images. For example, in some of the indoor scenes you'd be hard pressed to differentiate between the two. Try shooting a suspended strip light and admire the lighting effects as it rocks on it's chains.
;-)
Outside though, we have a Trueman Show behaviour. I sailed right away from land and you get a helicopter come and blow you away !
I'd rather just bump into a wall
I fully agree.
Also, having read the article, it seems to me that the author's comments about Microsoft only doing it to scupper OSS is only his opinion, not _fact_.
Wasn't it Red Hat that patented and then explained that they were only doing it so others couldn't snap up the 'goods' ? I can't see why MS would not want to do the same. That's the idea of patents, to protect ones ideas so that others cannot capitalise from them.
And as MS is a company that owes it's shareholders the best chance of a return, surely it is obliged to patent key technologies ?
Microsoft hardened the security in Windows 2000 (and consequently, Windows XP). That is more than likely why the older software does not work as it should.
If it's essential to run an old app, it's not hard to work out what older apps need to access (using regmon, etc) and then use GPOs to slightly reduce the security. Or, just use the supplied compatws template (with a GPO if you want) to drop the settings back down.
People can't say Microsoft code is insecure and then complain when they harden it.
Yes, but the thing is, if it's a MS vulnerability then everyone needs it on the front page even though most here want nothing to do with their software. Surely this is the most relevant in terms of people being able to react to an issue if they don't already know ?
I totally disagree. Most people in the UK use MS products without any bitter and twisted view about Bill Gates. If they could identify him, they would align him with our own Richard Branson, a British business hero (bar none !).
BTW, this is what I really think but go on, mod me down as a troll or something. For a place that advocates free this and free the other, any non-anti Bill Gates comments are marked up right away as 'trolls'. So free speech doesn't come into it !