Mr. Richard! You're the man I'm really after. Reading your brilliant articles on free and open-source software, I plopped this RedHot CD into my Dell Dimension and guess what? it wrote into the CD drive's firmware and the damn thing won't work again...
Richard: Pssst... don't quote me, but I'll tell you what to do - just turn over that system back to Dell, get your money back, and call me on my home line... I'll get you a brand=new hand-configured Linux system right away...
This is simply not true. The President has in fact specifically mentioned the problems of choosing proprietary code, and unreliable vendors of said code. His vision is backed by political funding for universities, centers-of-excellence, and other initiatives for furthering open-source in India.
To say that the President did this as a bargaining strategy with Microsoft is an insult. In fact, during a prior meeting with Mr.Gates, the press were full of pictures of Gates and Dr. Kalam strolling in the gardens. Dr. Kalam took special pains to mention that the discussions duringg that meeting 'turned difficult' since Mr.Gates wasn't seeing eye-to-eye with India's vision for computing.
Although this is true, it is also to be remembered that the Preisdent of India is highly respected in technical and defence circles. As such, his views and leanings have a lot of bearing on the political decision-making process.
While launching the IIIT in Pune, the President made a pointed reference to his meeting with Mr. Gates, and made some brilliant points in exhorting the local IT community to further the cause of Free and Open Source software.
India is indeed fortunate to have such an eminently qualified person at the apex seat, since IT is synonymous with national security these days....
Just 30 posts so far, hours after an article on MS is put up on Slashdot. Guess it implies that study reports (funded, sponsored, sexed-up, or otherwise) carry little weightage with IT consumers, these days.
This could explain why Linux adoption continues to increase despite all the media hype and study reports - users and organisations are probly doing the study reports themselves..... consumers getting wiser is a highly undesirable phenomenon for the Corporat types - I think we'll soon see Ask Slashdot article on "How to Keep the Consumer Stupid?" -
Let the great debate begin: Here comes the New Worm... It's just a New Year Worm - nothing much different But a Linux worm was set loose yesterday - the first in 2004. Yes, but that didn't hit as many sites... Fine.. this new patch will fix the worm... Hmmm.. but it also messes up Outlook 2003...
A simple backup-restore utility that allows users to backup all their filesystems, and restore them in the event of a crash. A separate unnmounted filesystem to store the 'image' - no worm can get past this simple strategy. A major security breach? Simple:
1. Remove network cable (OR) Internet connection. 2. Boot from tomsrtbt 3. Mount backup partition(s) 4. Run simple restore script. 5. Reboot and enjoy!
He pretended it didn't exist... until 1995 or so. Then he maded a new protocol NetBIOS, and other useless products like WINS... Abandoned them after 2001, when he found out the internet could exist inspite of MS.
I hope the internet isn't equated with.Net - in any case, I don't think.Net is born yet, let alone have a history.
I mean, compared to the mess of wireless in the US of A. Several technologies in handsets, numerous carriers, multiple standards, disparate services, lack of inter-operability etc. etc.
No wonder China is developing a home-grown wireless solution tailored to it's needs.
Honestly! What has Slashdot or OSDN achieved by publishing more than 100 articles on a non-tech company? Have the Slashdot posters or the OSDN been able to actually do something constructive in dismantling SCO?
Why should we care two hoots about those 'poor sucker' investors? If people can see nothing immoral in investing in a dubious firm, a Slashdot protest-letter or 'fact-revealing' exercise is't gonna do anything good.
In fact, if it isn't immoral to make money off suckers and less-informed blokes, I think SCO is an excellent opportunity to invest money in! Better than OSDN,,if you ask me.
The pathetic attempts to stoke response from readers, whose time could be spent writing better code - is, well,,just pathetic. There's no need to worry about SCO for the next 18 months - atleast for lay users. Corporates who will pay money for non-existent non-proven Intellectual-Property-rights can and should take care of themselves.
There are more programmers to be saved than the bunch of sucker investors in SCO stock.
I think it's right. Even when (not if, mind you) SCO loses out in court on their IP claims,,they must be hauled up in Court over their infamous letters to the Fortune 500. Should serve as a deterrent to future SCOundrels.
Their product, I mean - until it's passed a fitness certificate by a reliable agency. Dropping lawsuits is only a partial respite. The problem lies elsewhere.
Several Japanese electronics giants have unnited to form a consortium and promote Linux in their hardware - Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Matsushita etc. Are they setting a 2011 target to give these firms enough time to come up with a mature hardware that works, rather than the hastily put-together Microsoft Windows XP Media Center stuff that is too expensive for what it delivers?
Knowing that the Japs are excellent planners, I think they've made a very reaslistic appraisal of the situation. Well before 2011, the SCO menace would be settled oncee and for all, likewise Media Center would be in Service Pack 7 or thereabouts.
It appears RedHat is now gradually withdrawing from the Linux market it has created. Nothing else can explain a firm disowning the greatness of it's own offerings.
Like MS, which recently proclaimed the death of Open Source, RedHat is now claiming the death of Unix. Better to ignore these chaps.
-
Re:Taking a moment for clarification.
on
On The Death Of Unix
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Agreed. Linux is not JUST Unix. It's Unix with an ideology - of being open AND useful. Unlike Unix, it's aim is to change the computing paradigm and empower users. Unix, OTOH is just another operating system, like Windows.
It's becoming more and more clear, that RH is just another American company without ideals - it appears they've done more damage than MS cares to admit - hence this wishy-washy stuff.
If RH is replacing Unix, it's doing it on the strength of GNU/Linux, not it's own product like Netware. RH seems to be satisfied with just a little money, not a significant share of the market. So be it. Some other Linux distro will take it's place.
The more important thing that's dying is unaccountability in software - whether Microsoft or *nix from HP, Sun, SGI etc. Linux has ensured that s/w firms talk first about featiures from user's point of view, not the code itself. And that's a big victory - not whether Linux is taking marketshare from Unix or Windows.
I think MS and most other s/w firms like to have a 'recurring income model' for s/w, rather than a one-time fixed income model. It follows therefore, that some 'value' has to be delivered to the customer, to justify the expenditure.
For an OS and Office writer, which is what MS basically is, it helps to dedliver this 'value' in terms of Service Packs and bug fixes for problems it was responsible in creating, and which it is morally obliged to undertake for free, rathre than for an annual 'Subscription (Dis)Advantage Agreement'.
Thus, it is more crucial to know of MSs plans, rather than where we stand currently - while discussing this topic of security. If MS gets away with Palladium, they might actually write secure code; if Palladium fails to take off, users will have to live with these worms and security hazards.
Which is why I posted this earlier, and got modded Flamebait!! " Where does Microsoft want us to go tomorrow? (Bankrupt, yes,.. that sems to be the answer).
Whereveer we stand now, we stand naked - ready for exploitation; the situation isn't changing fast, either."
Commercial s/w firms would like us to fall into this trap. The bounty model provides for anonymity AND security, not OR. Unless we test this model, we shouldn't be dissing it completely.
I think anonymity is used as a tool by so called 'security firms' to plead helplessness in detecting the source of security breaches. If Microsodft was really sincere in preventing security attacks on it's systems, it should've supporrted the earlier bill - not the present spammer-friendly version.
In short, the problem is not the anonymity of these cyber-terrorists, it's the accountability-phobia of software firms, at the root cause of these breaches. If we had a law that a 'supplier' of software is bound to fix security breaches and vulns free of cost in his code, we'll suddenly see MS rewriting Windows from scratch for LongHorn.
The current law is like an alsatian without teeth.
I'd like to question the premise that ads are shoring up TV revenues - I think it's the quality of the programming that's more crucial. If that's bad, viewers skip the entire stuff and move on.
Slashdot Mirror
Mr. Richard! You're the man I'm really after. Reading your brilliant articles on free and open-source software, I plopped this RedHot CD into my Dell Dimension and guess what? it wrote into the CD drive's firmware and the damn thing won't work again...
Richard: Pssst... don't quote me, but I'll tell you what to do - just turn over that system back to Dell, get your money back, and call me on my home line... I'll get you a brand=new hand-configured Linux system right away...
This is simply not true. The President has in fact specifically mentioned the problems of choosing proprietary code, and unreliable vendors of said code. His vision is backed by political funding for universities, centers-of-excellence, and other initiatives for furthering open-source in India.
To say that the President did this as a bargaining strategy with Microsoft is an insult. In fact, during a prior meeting with Mr.Gates, the press were full of pictures of Gates and Dr. Kalam strolling in the gardens. Dr. Kalam took special pains to mention that the discussions duringg that meeting 'turned difficult' since Mr.Gates wasn't seeing eye-to-eye with India's vision for computing.
-
Although this is true, it is also to be remembered that the Preisdent of India is highly respected in technical and defence circles. As such, his views and leanings have a lot of bearing on the political decision-making process.
While launching the IIIT in Pune, the President made a pointed reference to his meeting with Mr. Gates, and made some brilliant points in exhorting the local IT community to further the cause of Free and Open Source software.
India is indeed fortunate to have such an eminently qualified person at the apex seat, since IT is synonymous with national security these days....
-
Just 30 posts so far, hours after an article on MS is put up on Slashdot. Guess it implies that study reports (funded, sponsored, sexed-up, or otherwise) carry little weightage with IT consumers, these days.
This could explain why Linux adoption continues to increase despite all the media hype and study reports - users and organisations are probly doing the study reports themselves..... consumers getting wiser is a highly undesirable phenomenon for the Corporat types - I think we'll soon see Ask Slashdot article on "How to Keep the Consumer Stupid?"
-
From the article:" "There's still another 6,500 to 7,500 companies out there who are among the walking dead."....
Last I heard SCO had sent only about a 1,000 letters or so; wiat a minute, does it mean SCO has 7,000 sister concerns or alibis??
-
Let the great debate begin:
Here comes the New Worm...
It's just a New Year Worm - nothing much different
But a Linux worm was set loose yesterday - the first in 2004.
Yes, but that didn't hit as many sites...
Fine.. this new patch will fix the worm...
Hmmm.. but it also messes up Outlook 2003...
And so on and so on... Happy New Year!
-
A simple backup-restore utility that allows users to backup all their filesystems, and restore them in the event of a crash. A separate unnmounted filesystem to store the 'image' - no worm can get past this simple strategy. A major security breach? Simple:
1. Remove network cable (OR) Internet connection.
2. Boot from tomsrtbt
3. Mount backup partition(s)
4. Run simple restore script.
5. Reboot and enjoy!
Can any other OS do this, with off-the-OS tools?
-
He pretended it didn't exist... until 1995 or so. Then he maded a new protocol NetBIOS, and other useless products like WINS... Abandoned them after 2001, when he found out the internet could exist inspite of MS.
.Net - in any case, I don't think .Net is born yet, let alone have a history.
I hope the internet isn't equated with
-
What's the connection??? If Bill G had his way, ,the internet would've been history!
-
I mean, compared to the mess of wireless in the US of A. Several technologies in handsets, numerous carriers, multiple standards, disparate services, lack of inter-operability etc. etc.
No wonder China is developing a home-grown wireless solution tailored to it's needs.
-
Honestly! What has Slashdot or OSDN achieved by publishing more than 100 articles on a non-tech company? Have the Slashdot posters or the OSDN been able to actually do something constructive in dismantling SCO?
,if you ask me.
,just pathetic. There's no need to worry about SCO for the next 18 months - atleast for lay users. Corporates who will pay money for non-existent non-proven Intellectual-Property-rights can and should take care of themselves.
Why should we care two hoots about those 'poor sucker' investors? If people can see nothing immoral in investing in a dubious firm, a Slashdot protest-letter or 'fact-revealing' exercise is't gonna do anything good.
In fact, if it isn't immoral to make money off suckers and less-informed blokes, I think SCO is an excellent opportunity to invest money in! Better than OSDN,
The pathetic attempts to stoke response from readers, whose time could be spent writing better code - is, well,
There are more programmers to be saved than the bunch of sucker investors in SCO stock.
The NOC advisory "Your first Monitor should be watching CNN or the weather channel"
Change that to Slashdot, Kuro5in, TheRegister, ThtOnion or something else. No CNN please.... if you have any sense of self-esteem, that is.
-
I think this technology should be used in the SCO case first. Find out how differently constrtucted programs achive the same result!
I think it's right. Even when (not if, mind you) SCO loses out in court on their IP claims, ,they must be hauled up in Court over their infamous letters to the Fortune 500. Should serve as a deterrent to future SCOundrels.
Their product, I mean - until it's passed a fitness certificate by a reliable agency. Dropping lawsuits is only a partial respite. The problem lies elsewhere.
Several Japanese electronics giants have unnited to form a consortium and promote Linux in their hardware - Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Matsushita etc. Are they setting a 2011 target to give these firms enough time to come up with a mature hardware that works, rather than the hastily put-together Microsoft Windows XP Media Center stuff that is too expensive for what it delivers?
Knowing that the Japs are excellent planners, I think they've made a very reaslistic appraisal of the situation. Well before 2011, the SCO menace would be settled oncee and for all, likewise Media Center would be in Service Pack 7 or thereabouts.
-
It appears RedHat is now gradually withdrawing from the Linux market it has created. Nothing else can explain a firm disowning the greatness of it's own offerings.
Like MS, which recently proclaimed the death of Open Source, RedHat is now claiming the death of Unix. Better to ignore these chaps.
-
Agreed. Linux is not JUST Unix. It's Unix with an ideology - of being open AND useful. Unlike Unix, it's aim is to change the computing paradigm and empower users. Unix, OTOH is just another operating system, like Windows.
-
It's becoming more and more clear, that RH is just another American company without ideals - it appears they've done more damage than MS cares to admit - hence this wishy-washy stuff.
If RH is replacing Unix, it's doing it on the strength of GNU/Linux, not it's own product like Netware. RH seems to be satisfied with just a little money, not a significant share of the market. So be it. Some other Linux distro will take it's place.
-
The more important thing that's dying is unaccountability in software - whether Microsoft or *nix from HP, Sun, SGI etc. Linux has ensured that s/w firms talk first about featiures from user's point of view, not the code itself. And that's a big victory - not whether Linux is taking marketshare from Unix or Windows.
I think MS and most other s/w firms like to have a 'recurring income model' for s/w, rather than a one-time fixed income model. It follows therefore, that some 'value' has to be delivered to the customer, to justify the expenditure.
For an OS and Office writer, which is what MS basically is, it helps to dedliver this 'value' in terms of Service Packs and bug fixes for problems it was responsible in creating, and which it is morally obliged to undertake for free, rathre than for an annual 'Subscription (Dis)Advantage Agreement'.
Thus, it is more crucial to know of MSs plans, rather than where we stand currently - while discussing this topic of security. If MS gets away with Palladium, they might actually write secure code; if Palladium fails to take off, users will have to live with these worms and security hazards.
Which is why I posted this earlier, and got modded Flamebait!!
" Where does Microsoft want us to go tomorrow? (Bankrupt, yes,.. that sems to be the answer).
Whereveer we stand now, we stand naked - ready for exploitation; the situation isn't changing fast, either."
Commercial s/w firms would like us to fall into this trap. The bounty model provides for anonymity AND security, not OR. Unless we test this model, we shouldn't be dissing it completely.
I think anonymity is used as a tool by so called 'security firms' to plead helplessness in detecting the source of security breaches. If Microsodft was really sincere in preventing security attacks on it's systems, it should've supporrted the earlier bill - not the present spammer-friendly version.
In short, the problem is not the anonymity of these cyber-terrorists, it's the accountability-phobia of software firms, at the root cause of these breaches. If we had a law that a 'supplier' of software is bound to fix security breaches and vulns free of cost in his code, we'll suddenly see MS rewriting Windows from scratch for LongHorn.
The current law is like an alsatian without teeth.
-
Where does Microsoft want us to go tomorrow? (Bankrupt, yes,.. that sems to be the answer).
Whereveer we tand now, we stand naked - ready for exploitation; the situation isn't changing fast, either.
I'd like to question the premise that ads are shoring up TV revenues - I think it's the quality of the programming that's more crucial. If that's bad, viewers skip the entire stuff and move on.