Which DB available for Linux has the best support for administration from a Windows GUI? Not sure about the BEST support, but I have found the remote admin tools from Oracle very handy indeed - I can administer a local Win95 personal, a remote NT and a remote Netware from the same machine, with the same tools. I've never had to try the Unix version "in anger" but when playing with it, the schema and sql-console tools seemed happy there, too.
They would also like the Linux box to handle authentication to the DB thru Samba. I told them that I wasn't sure if that was an samba issue of something that the DB vendors would handle. So I guess that's two questions then.;) I guess that most will auth via the Linux box's own Password scheme - that was available as an option to Oracle's DBMSs on NT and UNIX anyhow. IIRC, Samba is quite happy do do similarly.
remember the Melissa virus? That guy was tracked down like a dog.
If I recall correctly, they managed to track him because he had used MS Word (with it's little namestamp "bug") to generate the macro, and they could relate that to an identical namestamp on a document he had posted publicly. This isn't going to help for non-macro virii, and in any case, is there anyone out there that DOESN'T patch that off these days?
Surprisingly enough, management here does have a trace of cluefullness. They were recently seeking remote Helpdesk / Remote admin software and were quoted average costs of 2Kukp for software that had it's own database or (worse) required you to know the IP address of the machine to be contacted (ok, most came with a utility that would send a "request" packet via email or some propriatory format, but this still meant hassle) - plus, the Powers that Be wanted to be able to select a host machine based on Netware Login Name, not static details (seats are a little mobile here)
so, one conversation with the IT manager (a clueful individual, but usually regarded as a single bright spot in a ocean of cluelessness) and we got a decision that it was worth a week of my time adapting VNC to fit, as compared to paying $BIGNUM for software that didn't. We now have VNC on all machines, and I am experimenting (with the knowledge and approval of the Suited Ones) with a Linux/Samba server for something they would have insisted on NT for a few months back. I am chalking this one up as a Win:+)
I think Microsoft knows that once a single IT manager at a Fortune 500 company proves that Linux is far faster/cheaper/better than Windows then it's all down hill for Windows from there, so I'm sure Microsoft is sending the FUD calvary to GM as you read this. I suspect the Vanguard are already there - note the standard "If you don't have one huge Vendor in control, it will fragment" FUDdishment in the article as an example.
It sounds like this is the primary issue for them. If they can easily port their apps, it becomes a no brainer. I don't know of any easy port path from VB to any of the Linux compilers - presumably a major point in this decision is the work involved. However, I DO note that they say that their future applications are "web based". If the suit really means Java or CGI, the platform becomes less important. Unfortunately, this being true, there is more chance they will stick with something like a Windows 9x machine (or keep the existing machines) and go for a large backend app server with thin-client stuff on the dealer's machines. I am naturally suspicious of this sort of press; it always looks to me like a big company trying to lever more concessions from MS than genuine interest in the platform....
Hmm. I wouldn't be so worried about the database as it is (after all, the worst that can happen is that you claim to be $USER, and up pops a photo of what $USER looks like for them to check against) but how it could be applied in reverse - they take a photo, search based on it, and up comes a list of people, sorted by how good a match it is, crosslinked to other databases via "the committee for Unamerican Activities Online Database". To improve efficiency (and add to the CUA database) they backtrack your route via those street cameras that have sprung up everywhere to the LAST point you had a check done.
This sounds unlikely? Ok, now imagine this introduced only for Serious Crime - Drugs and KiddiePorn. $COP catches a Criminal free and clear - carrying a large quantity of drugs, or several nasty videos. The police match the user via photo - no need to rely on his admission of identity or any papers on him. They also backtrack him VIA video cameras and find who he got the items from, or at least who he associated with during the time he was presumably in posession of them. This may well open up the case, or at least give $cop some valuable leads.
Ok, now imagine that the initial check is done by the credit card companies - each credit card check flashes a photo of the user to the C-Card company as part of the verification process. A $FRAUD_SQUAD employee is then passed the non-matches to second-line check. he backtracks the criminal-type to find out how and where he got hold of your card.....
I'm sure they could get that passed, at least in small stages, if they waved the Four Horsemen of the Internet at appropriate points.....
But when the feds step in that statement won't be worth the paper it's printed on.
Oh, I don't know - you might get away with a decent out-of-court settlement from a lawsuit, provided you agree not to scream to the nationals about their breaching agreed privacy contracts....
The proposed codes are far more robust than the existing Federal Information Processing Standard Digital Encryption System (DES), which has encryption key sizes of 128, 192 and 256 bits
128,192 and 256 bit DES? I can't remember those variants of the beastie......
Probably a bit late for you now (grin) but I used the excellent free eclipse mapper from: Here It has the "basic" data on eclipses up to 2200, and there are additional data packs on the same page for anyone planning to be alive after then:+) One thing that IS worth doing is adding your own local details into the location.new file after you expand the archive.
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Not sure about the BEST support, but I have found the remote admin tools from Oracle very handy indeed - I can administer a local Win95 personal, a remote NT and a remote Netware from the same machine, with the same tools. I've never had to try the Unix version "in anger" but when playing with it, the schema and sql-console tools seemed happy there, too.
They would also like the Linux box to handle authentication to the DB thru Samba. I told them that I wasn't sure if that was an samba issue of something that the DB vendors would handle. So I guess that's two questions then. ;) I guess that most will auth via the Linux box's own Password scheme - that was available as an option to Oracle's DBMSs on NT and UNIX anyhow. IIRC, Samba is quite happy do do similarly.
If I recall correctly, they managed to track him because he had used MS Word (with it's little namestamp "bug") to generate the macro, and they could relate that to an identical namestamp on a document he had posted publicly. This isn't going to help for non-macro virii, and in any case, is there anyone out there that DOESN'T patch that off these days?
so, one conversation with the IT manager (a clueful individual, but usually regarded as a single bright spot in a ocean of cluelessness) and we got a decision that it was worth a week of my time adapting VNC to fit, as compared to paying $BIGNUM for software that didn't. We now have VNC on all machines, and I am experimenting (with the knowledge and approval of the Suited Ones) with a Linux/Samba server for something they would have insisted on NT for a few months back. I am chalking this one up as a Win :+)
I think Microsoft knows that once a single IT manager at a Fortune 500 company proves that Linux is far faster/cheaper/better than Windows then it's all down hill for Windows from there, so I'm sure Microsoft is sending the FUD calvary to GM as you read this.
I suspect the Vanguard are already there - note the standard "If you don't have one huge Vendor in control, it will fragment" FUDdishment in the article as an example.
It sounds like this is the primary issue for them. If they can easily port their apps, it becomes a no brainer.
I don't know of any easy port path from VB to any of the Linux compilers - presumably a major point in this decision is the work involved.
However, I DO note that they say that their future applications are "web based". If the suit really means Java or CGI, the platform becomes less important.
Unfortunately, this being true, there is more chance they will stick with something like a Windows 9x machine (or keep the existing machines) and go for a large backend app server with thin-client stuff on the dealer's machines.
I am naturally suspicious of this sort of press; it always looks to me like a big company trying to lever more concessions from MS than genuine interest in the platform....
This sounds unlikely? Ok, now imagine this introduced only for Serious Crime - Drugs and KiddiePorn. $COP catches a Criminal free and clear - carrying a large quantity of drugs, or several nasty videos. The police match the user via photo - no need to rely on his admission of identity or any papers on him. They also backtrack him VIA video cameras and find who he got the items from, or at least who he associated with during the time he was presumably in posession of them. This may well open up the case, or at least give $cop some valuable leads.
Ok, now imagine that the initial check is done by the credit card companies - each credit card check flashes a photo of the user to the C-Card company as part of the verification process. A $FRAUD_SQUAD employee is then passed the non-matches to second-line check. he backtracks the criminal-type to find out how and where he got hold of your card.....
I'm sure they could get that passed, at least in small stages, if they waved the Four Horsemen of the Internet at appropriate points.....
But when the feds step in that statement won't be worth the paper it's printed on.
Oh, I don't know - you might get away with a decent out-of-court settlement from a lawsuit, provided you agree not to scream to the nationals about their breaching agreed privacy contracts....
Probably a bit late for you now (grin) but I used the excellent free eclipse mapper from: Here :+)
It has the "basic" data on eclipses up to 2200, and there are additional data packs on the same page for anyone planning to be alive after then
One thing that IS worth doing is adding your own local details into the location.new file after you expand the archive.