If you use xtightvncviewer, it has the "-via" option which sets up a tunnel (ssh is the default) for the connection. Only ssh needs to be exposed through the firewall that way.
Alternatively, set up OpenVPN (either through a dedicated firewall or on your linux box) or other VPN so you can access the VNC server as if you were local to your network.
With the current patent system, I think patents are a necessary evil. As a small software company you have to try to use any means to get ahead of any competitors and unfortunately patents have become basically a requirement for major fund raising. Yes, you could try to do it on the merits of your software alone, hoping the barrier to functional duplication by competitors are high enough so you can survive and grow organically. Let me tell you, though... This is *very* hard in the current state of the industry. Unfortunately, with all things equal, a small company with more funding than another small company will likely outperform their competition simply because they are able to attract more and better talent. There are exceptions to all of this, of course!
So, my worry with abolishment is that it will allow well funded companies to become bigger and there would be no incentive for small companies to start. (I hate stating things so black-and-white, but I am really worried about this!)
Reform of software patents is another story, however. There is a lot of merit in this. For one, I think shortening both the application process and the during of the patent would be good starts; in other words, make process and software patents "special". Another possibility would be to tinker with the copyright system, but it would probably need to change to have similar requirements as the patent system: proper registration, detailed description, etc.
Like many of you, I hate the idea of software patents, but I can't but worry about the impact of an abolishment of software patents.
My worries stem from several things:
Many companies have come to rely on software patents raising the barrier to entry for competitors. Software patents certainly can level the playing field because the size of a company has less to do with the defendability of a patent than you might think. Without software patents, a large company can "simply" throw a bunch of engineers at the problem and produce something similar very quickly. Is this better that the current software patent system?
My small company currently has software patents pending. Our valuation and chance of obtaining funding depends on these patents. In today's post dotcom industry, it has become very hard to obtain funding on just an idea alone.
If an abolishment somehow comes to fruition, what are the mechanics going to be? Like I mentioned, we have patents pending and have invested a substantial amount of money on lawyer and other patent fees. Are we going to get our money back? From whom? What if you already have a software patent? Will there be a refund?
Anyway, I think reform in patents is good but all these kinds of issues certainly need to be considered very carefully.
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That's why you need to create a file called '-i' in every directory you don't want this to happen to!
touch /-i
Doesn't prevent "rm -rf /", but does cause "cd /;rm -rf *" to prompt for confirmation.
This only works if there are no other files that are sorted before the '-i' file, naturally!
If you use xtightvncviewer, it has the "-via" option which sets up a tunnel (ssh is the default) for the connection. Only ssh needs to be exposed through the firewall that way.
Alternatively, set up OpenVPN (either through a dedicated firewall or on your linux box) or other VPN so you can access the VNC server as if you were local to your network.
With the current patent system, I think patents are a necessary evil. As a small software company you have to try to use any means to get ahead of any competitors and unfortunately patents have become basically a requirement for major fund raising. Yes, you could try to do it on the merits of your software alone, hoping the barrier to functional duplication by competitors are high enough so you can survive and grow organically. Let me tell you, though... This is *very* hard in the current state of the industry. Unfortunately, with all things equal, a small company with more funding than another small company will likely outperform their competition simply because they are able to attract more and better talent. There are exceptions to all of this, of course!
So, my worry with abolishment is that it will allow well funded companies to become bigger and there would be no incentive for small companies to start. (I hate stating things so black-and-white, but I am really worried about this!)
Reform of software patents is another story, however. There is a lot of merit in this. For one, I think shortening both the application process and the during of the patent would be good starts; in other words, make process and software patents "special". Another possibility would be to tinker with the copyright system, but it would probably need to change to have similar requirements as the patent system: proper registration, detailed description, etc.
Anyway, just by $0.02
My worries stem from several things:
- Many companies have come to rely on software patents raising the barrier to entry for competitors. Software patents certainly can level the playing field because the size of a company has less to do with the defendability of a patent than you might think. Without software patents, a large company can "simply" throw a bunch of engineers at the problem and produce something similar very quickly. Is this better that the current software patent system?
- My small company currently has software patents pending. Our valuation and chance of obtaining funding depends on these patents. In today's post dotcom industry, it has become very hard to obtain funding on just an idea alone.
- If an abolishment somehow comes to fruition, what are the mechanics going to be? Like I mentioned, we have patents pending and have invested a substantial amount of money on lawyer and other patent fees. Are we going to get our money back? From whom? What if you already have a software patent? Will there be a refund?
Anyway, I think reform in patents is good but all these kinds of issues certainly need to be considered very carefully.