Only most of the electorate is not sufficiently well informed to make a voting decision, and would most likely vote differently if they were in full possession of the facts. Often the only, or at least the loudest source of "information" for most people, is media which is controlled by people affiliated with the two major parties, who therefore have no incentive to rock the boat.
Those of us who do bother to do our research are in such a small minority that our votes count for nothing, and because we do not control big media we have no way of making or voice heard by anyone, even if people would agree once being in full possession of the facts. Those who do control the media benefit greatly from the current system and have no incentive to change anything,
If the software is decently written, then exposure of the source code won't matter anyway.
Exposure of the sourcecode is only going to be a problem if its full of easily noticeable exploitable holes.. Such a situation would be unforgivable, since you'd have expected them to fix such holes internally anyway.
The sourcecode for Linux, OpenBSD, Apache and many other widely used pieces of software are already available to the public, and it doesn't result in mass hacks against these systems. On the contrary, many security oriented devices such as firewalls are actually based on this publicly available code.
There are free implementations of activesync such as z-push (http://z-push.sourceforge.net), and activesync is supported by Android, iOS and WebOS, not just windows mobile. There is no free implementation of the blackberry protocols, you are stuck with their server and their handset, no alternatives.
I successfully host activesync on a linux server, and access it using an android handset... no microsoft at all.
When last I used BIS...
You cannot remote wipe your phone (any consumer would need such a feature if their phone was stolen).
Internet access was restrictive, it only allowed certain services so i couldn't ssh without having a separate data plan in addition to the blackberry one, similarly im services are limited - i could use gtalk/aim etc, but couldn't connect to my own jabber service unless i ran it on port 443. With bes, all connections are tunneled out through the server.
Email support is lousy, you can only configure it to poll your imap server every 15 minutes and you have to give your user/pass to rim and/or the telco.
I was talking about ipv4 wastage... wastage on ipv6 isnt a concern because as you pointed out, the available address space is large enough that it's not going to run out anyway
Businesses should care about closed and locked products, being locked into a single supplier is extremely bad for business long term and making your business depend on something which doesn't have a second source is an extremely bad practice.
Also in my experience, having both iphone and android for personal use and a work supplied blackberry, is that both web and email are considerably slower on the blackberry as well as both web/mail clients on the blackberry being extremely basic.
They were revolutionary in their day, but now everyone offers email on their phones...
They failed to move with the times, so now while they still offer the same features everyone else offers something more and RIM devices are now perceived as dated and boring.
Their products are tied to Microsoft (BES requires windows and is primarily tied to exchange), who released a competitor in the form of activesync and bundle it for free with exchange, rim cannot possibly be cheaper because if you have everything you need to run a blackberry server you also have activesync, and likely also have an MS sales rep in your ear.
They try to lock you in to their products (you need a blackberry server, a blackberry handset and a blackberry specific data plan), but aren't big enough to get away with this strategy... Even MS Activesync is more open, there are multiple implementations on both the client and server end, and they work with standard carrier data plans.
They route traffic through their servers, creating an additional single point of failure. With a standard data plan the traffic is routed by the telco to your server via the Internet... With RIM the data is routed by the telco to rim via the internet, who they route it back to you via the internet... If RIM has an outage (and they have had several recently) then you are dead in the water... If your internet connection or telco suffers an outage you have the ability to change provider with minimal fuss, if RIM has an outage you have to migrate away from blackberry to another manufacturer which means changing your server infrastructure and replacing handsets.
The non enterprise (ie consumer oriented) blackberry service is intentionally crippled.
It is becoming more common for employees to provide their own phones rather than using company supplied ones, not many people want to buy a blackberry for their own use (partly due to the crippled consumer level service).
While their proprietary data method generally sucks, it's not always a ripoff... In particular, their data roaming charges tend to be lower than standard data plans.
Enta.net also provide ipv6, although it is officially still on a trial basis and you have to explicitly ask for it...
As for google providing v6 support, it down to your dns resolves... If you use the he.net resolvers then you will get AAAA records for google services. If you run your own caching dns server, just tell it to refer to he.net's dns when doing lookups for *.google.com.
Part of the problem with v6 adoption is that even ISPs that support it, don't provide it by default, so only those who go looking for it will get it. I believe Proxad in France provides v6 by default, since my non tech oriented sites seem to get a fairly large number of v6 hits from them.
Most users will use the isp supplied router, so if the isp enables v6 and ensures their standard routers support it to you will find that the majority of users will be running on v6 before too long.
A fixed prefix is down to your isp, they might offer you a dynamic prefix that changes each time you connect, or they might provide a static ipv4 address...
You don't need to use a static address for each device, you have 2^64 addresses to play with so you can use a RANDOM address for each device and change it as often as you like... All a site will be able to tell is which prefix you were handed by your isp, in the same way they can see which ipv4 address you were handed by your isp. BTW there are much better ways of tracking users behind nat, think cookies, browser fingerprinting etc.
NAT is not a security feature, you should not use it to hide insecure boxes... It gives a false sense of security because if someone penetrates your nat (and there are many many ways they could do so) your screwed. Also its trivially easy to configure ipv6 to not allow new inbound connections, thus achieving the same aparrent effect as nat.
Can you not reflash that linksys with dd-wrt or openwrt?
DOCSIS 2.0 is an outdated technology that sooner or later will be phased out (the presence of such devices on an otherwise docsis 3.0 network reduces overall efficiency).... You can expect comcast to disable docsis 1/2 support sooner or later... On the other hand its a dumb modem not a router, it forwards your traffic at layer 2 and doesn't need to support ipv6 (docsis 3 devices support ipv6 for management purposes because large isps like comcast run out of 10.x addresses)... What needs v6 support is whatever device you currently use as a nat box.
Not sure about xbox/wii/ps3...
If your router is configured for autoconf then your mac will by default pick up an address... Same for your PC laptops and workstation if they're running windows vista or later, or any semi modern linux. Android 2.1 certainly does support ipv6 as do all newer versions..
SIP will work much better without NAT, providing the other end actually bothers to support it.
The tracking would largely be worthless beyond the household level, if your household has 2^64 addresses and your ipv6 stack is configured to choose random temporary addresses you would have a hard time correlating anything... It's actually easier to track multiple users behind nat using cookies and browser identification techniques.
Indeed IPv6 support is what drove me to the ISP i currently use, and what influenced the purchase of my current router...
Similarly, we are looking to replace our connection at work with another one simply because the current provider does not support ipv6 and have no plans to.
I'm also aware of several places who dropped ip transit from cogent because they don't provide full ipv6 connectivity (they refuse to peer with hurricane electric, who are the biggest ipv6 provider and thus cogent customers cant access something like 30% of all v6 sites)...
4 million customers = at least 4 million customer routers... Plus the TV set top boxes which also have IP for on demand tv and such... Plus their own infrastructure devices... Plus wastage due to subnetting (network address, broadcast etc)... Imagine trying to segment a network of that size, and then trying to keep track of what was in which segment etc... Would be quite a nightmare.
$3k? Plus the cost of the windows license to run it on...
For $3k+ i could buy significantly more powerful hardware, several additional servers or a much better hosting plan.
And this is supposed to be CHARITY pricing?
I also assume that "standard edition" isn't the highest end version, and is therefore artificially crippled relative to the even more expensive versions?
I'd rather take my more powerful servers. and use them to run a free full featured copy of postgres on top of a free full featured copy of linux.
He makes good points... If you lack technical skills then buying pre packaged software is for you, but you certainly shouldn't go around tricking people with even less technical skills into thinking that you're somehow an expert. If however you are technically competent, then it is almost always better to have software that you can modify to suit your needs, and which you can understand inside out.
Similarly if you're a competent and well taught developer you should have little problem adapting to different platforms, and you should actually *want* to because experience of more platforms increases your value as a developer.
There is a reason why the companies with the most inhouse technical skill build their core services on open source (Think google, yahoo etc). While your typical non tech company simply buys in commercial software (and often get ripped off by overpriced low skill blag-artist consultants).
Take a look at PostgreSQL with PostgreGIS as mentioned... Not only will this integrate nicely with Drupal and replace MySQL with minimal fuss, but it also avoids the issue of being associated with Oracle. I believe there are also existing drupal modules for working with map data and specifically google maps.
Incidentally, if you're worried about MySQL because its owned by Oracle, then surely moving to MS would be even worse? At least MySQL can be forked under the terms of the GPL, MS products cannot be so you are totally beholden to a company every bit as ruthless as Oracle, and if you go to MSSQL/.NET then you will be beholden to them for your entire stack not just the database.
It seems the developers are already successfully using the current (mysql/drupal) setup...
To move to mssql and.net would basically require ripping all this out and replacing it, so you have not only the license costs but also the costs to replicate any existing functionality before you can even consider implementing the new functionality thats required.
Also if you go MS then your application will be locked in, being locked in and beholden to a third party is not a good situation to be in. Just ask all the people who invested resources developing silverlight apps based on the promises MS made when it was first released.
There are also factors we haven't been made aware of, such as how long is this project intended to run for, is it likely to grow and need to scale to more machines (and thus incur more licensing costs if using expensive software)...
Replace plumbing with plastic... Replace communications cable with fibre... All you really have left is power, which is far more dangerous to steal..
Tighter regulation of recycling will decrease legitimate recycling and increase costs... Those who are already breaking the law, will continue breaking the law for even higher returns.
Purchase of stolen goods is already illegal... This is why copper is an attractive target, it can easily be melted down to remove any markings or indication of what the copper was previously used for.
Under a capitalist state each individual company is out to increase its own profits without giving any regard to the population, environment or economy as a whole... As a result, each company individually tries to reduce its costs by reducing the number of human workers required. Eventually you end up with mass unemployment, and in the absense of a welfare state those people have no choice but to turn to crime or die. The companies also shoot themselves in the foot because with everyone being unemployed, there is no longer anyone who can afford to buy their products. Of course, under capitalism people may well know this, but capitalism discourages working for the common good and anyone who tries to do so is likely to be driven out of business by those who are more ruthless.
Without checks and balances, capitalism is doomed to self destruct.
And why should people still have to work if one day machines can do it better? Just so the rich and powerful can feel superior?
Because under a capitalist system, someone who isn't working wont make any money... Giving out money to people who haven't worked to earn it is welfare.
Slashdot Mirror
Only most of the electorate is not sufficiently well informed to make a voting decision, and would most likely vote differently if they were in full possession of the facts.
Often the only, or at least the loudest source of "information" for most people, is media which is controlled by people affiliated with the two major parties, who therefore have no incentive to rock the boat.
Those of us who do bother to do our research are in such a small minority that our votes count for nothing, and because we do not control big media we have no way of making or voice heard by anyone, even if people would agree once being in full possession of the facts. Those who do control the media benefit greatly from the current system and have no incentive to change anything,
Careful, he might draw a gun!
If the software is decently written, then exposure of the source code won't matter anyway.
Exposure of the sourcecode is only going to be a problem if its full of easily noticeable exploitable holes.. Such a situation would be unforgivable, since you'd have expected them to fix such holes internally anyway.
The sourcecode for Linux, OpenBSD, Apache and many other widely used pieces of software are already available to the public, and it doesn't result in mass hacks against these systems. On the contrary, many security oriented devices such as firewalls are actually based on this publicly available code.
There are free implementations of activesync such as z-push (http://z-push.sourceforge.net), and activesync is supported by Android, iOS and WebOS, not just windows mobile.
There is no free implementation of the blackberry protocols, you are stuck with their server and their handset, no alternatives.
I successfully host activesync on a linux server, and access it using an android handset... no microsoft at all.
When last I used BIS...
You cannot remote wipe your phone (any consumer would need such a feature if their phone was stolen).
Internet access was restrictive, it only allowed certain services so i couldn't ssh without having a separate data plan in addition to the blackberry one, similarly im
services are limited - i could use gtalk/aim etc, but couldn't connect to my own jabber service unless i ran it on port 443. With bes, all connections are tunneled out through the server.
Email support is lousy, you can only configure it to poll your imap server every 15 minutes and you have to give your user/pass to rim and/or the telco.
You cannot sync your calendar or contacts at all.
I was talking about ipv4 wastage...
wastage on ipv6 isnt a concern because as you pointed out, the available address space is large enough that it's not going to run out anyway
Businesses should care about closed and locked products, being locked into a single supplier is extremely bad for business long term and making your business depend on something which doesn't have a second source is an extremely bad practice.
Also in my experience, having both iphone and android for personal use and a work supplied blackberry, is that both web and email are considerably slower on the blackberry as well as both web/mail clients on the blackberry being extremely basic.
Patents maybe, the technology probably isn't worth much...
They were revolutionary in their day, but now everyone offers email on their phones...
They failed to move with the times, so now while they still offer the same features everyone else offers something more and RIM devices are now perceived as dated and boring.
Their products are tied to Microsoft (BES requires windows and is primarily tied to exchange), who released a competitor in the form of activesync and bundle it for free with exchange, rim cannot possibly be cheaper because if you have everything you need to run a blackberry server you also have activesync, and likely also have an MS sales rep in your ear.
They try to lock you in to their products (you need a blackberry server, a blackberry handset and a blackberry specific data plan), but aren't big enough to get away with this strategy... Even MS Activesync is more open, there are multiple implementations on both the client and server end, and they work with standard carrier data plans.
They route traffic through their servers, creating an additional single point of failure. With a standard data plan the traffic is routed by the telco to your server via the Internet... With RIM the data is routed by the telco to rim via the internet, who they route it back to you via the internet... If RIM has an outage (and they have had several recently) then you are dead in the water... If your internet connection or telco suffers an outage you have the ability to change provider with minimal fuss, if RIM has an outage you have to migrate away from blackberry to another manufacturer which means changing your server infrastructure and replacing handsets.
The non enterprise (ie consumer oriented) blackberry service is intentionally crippled.
It is becoming more common for employees to provide their own phones rather than using company supplied ones, not many people want to buy a blackberry for their own use (partly due to the crippled consumer level service).
While their proprietary data method generally sucks, it's not always a ripoff... In particular, their data roaming charges tend to be lower than standard data plans.
Enta.net also provide ipv6, although it is officially still on a trial basis and you have to explicitly ask for it...
As for google providing v6 support, it down to your dns resolves... If you use the he.net resolvers then you will get AAAA records for google services. If you run your own caching dns server, just tell it to refer to he.net's dns when doing lookups for *.google.com.
Part of the problem with v6 adoption is that even ISPs that support it, don't provide it by default, so only those who go looking for it will get it. I believe Proxad in France provides v6 by default, since my non tech oriented sites seem to get a fairly large number of v6 hits from them.
Most users will use the isp supplied router, so if the isp enables v6 and ensures their standard routers support it to you will find that the majority of users will be running on v6 before too long.
A fixed prefix is down to your isp, they might offer you a dynamic prefix that changes each time you connect, or they might provide a static ipv4 address...
You don't need to use a static address for each device, you have 2^64 addresses to play with so you can use a RANDOM address for each device and change it as often as you like...
All a site will be able to tell is which prefix you were handed by your isp, in the same way they can see which ipv4 address you were handed by your isp.
BTW there are much better ways of tracking users behind nat, think cookies, browser fingerprinting etc.
NAT is not a security feature, you should not use it to hide insecure boxes... It gives a false sense of security because if someone penetrates your nat (and there are many many ways they could do so) your screwed.
Also its trivially easy to configure ipv6 to not allow new inbound connections, thus achieving the same aparrent effect as nat.
Probably because most slashdot readers are already aware of the matters in question...
Can you not reflash that linksys with dd-wrt or openwrt?
DOCSIS 2.0 is an outdated technology that sooner or later will be phased out (the presence of such devices on an otherwise docsis 3.0 network reduces overall efficiency).... You can expect comcast to disable docsis 1/2 support sooner or later...
On the other hand its a dumb modem not a router, it forwards your traffic at layer 2 and doesn't need to support ipv6 (docsis 3 devices support ipv6 for management purposes because large isps like comcast run out of 10.x addresses)... What needs v6 support is whatever device you currently use as a nat box.
Not sure about xbox/wii/ps3...
If your router is configured for autoconf then your mac will by default pick up an address...
Same for your PC laptops and workstation if they're running windows vista or later, or any semi modern linux.
Android 2.1 certainly does support ipv6 as do all newer versions..
SIP will work much better without NAT, providing the other end actually bothers to support it.
The tracking would largely be worthless beyond the household level, if your household has 2^64 addresses and your ipv6 stack is configured to choose random temporary addresses you would have a hard time correlating anything...
It's actually easier to track multiple users behind nat using cookies and browser identification techniques.
Indeed IPv6 support is what drove me to the ISP i currently use, and what influenced the purchase of my current router...
Similarly, we are looking to replace our connection at work with another one simply because the current provider does not support ipv6 and have no plans to.
I'm also aware of several places who dropped ip transit from cogent because they don't provide full ipv6 connectivity (they refuse to peer with hurricane electric, who are the biggest ipv6 provider and thus cogent customers cant access something like 30% of all v6 sites)...
4 million customers = at least 4 million customer routers...
Plus the TV set top boxes which also have IP for on demand tv and such...
Plus their own infrastructure devices...
Plus wastage due to subnetting (network address, broadcast etc)...
Imagine trying to segment a network of that size, and then trying to keep track of what was in which segment etc... Would be quite a nightmare.
$3k? Plus the cost of the windows license to run it on...
For $3k+ i could buy significantly more powerful hardware, several additional servers or a much better hosting plan.
And this is supposed to be CHARITY pricing?
I also assume that "standard edition" isn't the highest end version, and is therefore artificially crippled relative to the even more expensive versions?
I'd rather take my more powerful servers. and use them to run a free full featured copy of postgres on top of a free full featured copy of linux.
He makes good points...
If you lack technical skills then buying pre packaged software is for you, but you certainly shouldn't go around tricking people with even less technical skills into thinking that you're somehow an expert.
If however you are technically competent, then it is almost always better to have software that you can modify to suit your needs, and which you can understand inside out.
Similarly if you're a competent and well taught developer you should have little problem adapting to different platforms, and you should actually *want* to because experience of more platforms increases your value as a developer.
There is a reason why the companies with the most inhouse technical skill build their core services on open source (Think google, yahoo etc). While your typical non tech company simply buys in commercial software (and often get ripped off by overpriced low skill blag-artist consultants).
Take a look at PostgreSQL with PostgreGIS as mentioned... Not only will this integrate nicely with Drupal and replace MySQL with minimal fuss, but it also avoids the issue of being associated with Oracle.
I believe there are also existing drupal modules for working with map data and specifically google maps.
Incidentally, if you're worried about MySQL because its owned by Oracle, then surely moving to MS would be even worse? At least MySQL can be forked under the terms of the GPL, MS products cannot be so you are totally beholden to a company every bit as ruthless as Oracle, and if you go to MSSQL/.NET then you will be beholden to them for your entire stack not just the database.
It seems the developers are already successfully using the current (mysql/drupal) setup...
To move to mssql and .net would basically require ripping all this out and replacing it, so you have not only the license costs but also the costs to replicate any existing functionality before you can even consider implementing the new functionality thats required.
Also if you go MS then your application will be locked in, being locked in and beholden to a third party is not a good situation to be in. Just ask all the people who invested resources developing silverlight apps based on the promises MS made when it was first released.
There are also factors we haven't been made aware of, such as how long is this project intended to run for, is it likely to grow and need to scale to more machines (and thus incur more licensing costs if using expensive software)...
Also consider the existing code that they already have, most of which would need to be rewritten...
There are plenty of legal activities which can result in death or being reduced to a vegetative state...
Replace plumbing with plastic...
Replace communications cable with fibre...
All you really have left is power, which is far more dangerous to steal..
Tighter regulation of recycling will decrease legitimate recycling and increase costs... Those who are already breaking the law, will continue breaking the law for even higher returns.
Purchase of stolen goods is already illegal...
This is why copper is an attractive target, it can easily be melted down to remove any markings or indication of what the copper was previously used for.
Under a capitalist state each individual company is out to increase its own profits without giving any regard to the population, environment or economy as a whole...
As a result, each company individually tries to reduce its costs by reducing the number of human workers required.
Eventually you end up with mass unemployment, and in the absense of a welfare state those people have no choice but to turn to crime or die.
The companies also shoot themselves in the foot because with everyone being unemployed, there is no longer anyone who can afford to buy their products.
Of course, under capitalism people may well know this, but capitalism discourages working for the common good and anyone who tries to do so is likely to be driven out of business by those who are more ruthless.
Without checks and balances, capitalism is doomed to self destruct.
And why should people still have to work if one day machines can do it better? Just so the rich and powerful can feel superior?
Because under a capitalist system, someone who isn't working wont make any money... Giving out money to people who haven't worked to earn it is welfare.