Beat me to it! I was just gonna submit this. There is a nice article on the Washington Posthttp about this. What bewilders me is that AOL claims that "the problem will be fixed soon, and users won't have to download anything." I have no idea how they can fix this server-side, or is that just a sly way of saying "we're gonna flag AIM and tell it to bring up one of those annoying dialog boxes that says 'There is a new version of AIM available (4.5.87.3413.321.4342)! Go download it now!'" Anyway, I'm logging off AIM now... unlike the XP UPnP flaw, the firewall can't help me here...
MS struggles to discredit Linux By Thomas C Greene in Washington Posted: 02/01/2002 at 07:09 GMT What's cheaper than an OS you can buy outright once and install on every PC in your shop -- and upgrade cost-free for eternity to boot? Why, a slew of cheesy licenses for Microsoft Windows, 'Doze Division VP Brian Valentine claims in his latest cheerleading effort for his sales associates.
That's right; a putatively independent analysis by 'we'll-conclude-anything' whores DH Brown is going to rip Linux a new one and find that Windows is actually cheaper. How Valentine knows this is anyone's guess. Perhaps he has a mole in the Brown organization as good as the one we have in his. Or perhaps MS simply paid for it. We don't know.
It also appears that MS has bought off a number of Linux/Sun 'insiders' whose job it will be to explain to the sales team how to pitch the illusory advantages of Windows to unsuspecting IT managers. "Dumber people can run Windows" is the best advert I personally can come up with, though this is without the benefit of expensive analysts and turncoat 'insiders' to feed me intriguing tidbits.
But let's let Valentine tell it in his own words:
From: Brian Valentine
Sent: Wed 12/26/2001 7:14 PM
To: WW Sales, Marketing & Services Group
Subject: Me again -- Linux updates
Microsoft Confidential -- Do not print, copy or forward this email and do not share this email with anyone out side the company. For internal use only!
Now that the whole world knows we are taking Linux seriously based on the leak of my last email... Wait -- stop there -- since when did they think we weren't taking them serious?!? Did they think we are not going to build the best products possible? Did they think we were going to just be fat, dumb and happy and not continue to win business? Did they think we were going to forget about taking care of our customers??? NO!
Who do they think we are? We have the best d*mn sales force in the world backed by the best engineers in the world -- of course we will take any non-Windows OS serious. The thing about the leak that made me mad was not that we would legitimize Linux, etc. it's good in some places, we are better, and it's not very good in other places and we are much better. but they are a competitor and we will compete. What made me mad was that my friends -- some of you and some of our customer's names where in that email and then available for all to see on the web. That made me mad. I want you selling and supporting our products -- not having to take random calls, emails, etc from the press and others and I know what out customers share with us is in confidence that we will keep it internal. I have no problem any random Linux person sending me hate mail, junk mail, adding my email address to every list server out there, you name it -- that comes with the job, but I don't want my friends to have to deal with the same junk.
Ok, Ok, enough of that. On to some new things we are doing for you around Linux.
Linux is out there in some of your accounts and you may not know it. The ground up nature of how Linux is introduced into our accounts means that we need to modify our traditional approaches of finding out about Linux in our customer base. We have to be more hands on and dig deeper in your accounts!
Many Linux projects in CAS and Depth accounts happen below the IT Manager/BDM level. It's crucial that you get out there with your TSP/SE/MCS folks and do actual walkthroughs in your accounts. Ask open ended questions; find out what they're evaluating for both key projects as well as smaller, more tactical projects. Ask about the 'connector' pieces -- you'll potentially find Linux in these areas. This is a great way to not only find out about Linux, but also other IT projects that may include Novell, Sun, Oracle, and other competitors! If you are struggling with how to do this, then do the simple exercise of walking through you accounts data centers and when you see a Sun or IBM machine, ask what it's used for, if you see some strange servers you don't what they are doing -- ask what is running on them and take notes. I would like to challenge each of you to have these conversations with your customer as soon as you can. Oh -- and you can bet anyplace IBM is talking to your accounts, they are saying Linux and switching to higher end non-pc systems. With the current economic times we are living in, just about every customer is looking into how they can get rid of those over-priced, legacy Unix systems and ride the PC economics wave. We need to be there when they are making these decisions and prove to them the Windows platform is the best platform for them across any aspect of their business.
I want you to know just how seriously we're taking Linux here in Redmond. We're investing major efforts in creating easier processes and resources for you.
I. To start, we have expanded the in-field Linux Competitive Champ program and renamed it "Linux Insiders". Like the other TSP Champs programs, it has been changed to use the new TSP role-based database and will be ready to roll out with its new name at the Envision event in January. It is up to each regional TSP manager to select or assign each member; therefore, anyone wishing to become an Insider should see their manager to be signed up. Much like the support "communities" that define the Linux experience, the FCS team will strive to build a community to cooperate in winning business against Linux. By building a virtual team of field staff and corporate resources, we will enable the field to have one place to go for communication and competitive information. The Linux Insiders will have access to a centralized web site where personnel can request help, route issues, and share best practices that the entire field can leverage. This site, a restricted sub-set of the http://infoweb/linux site, will be accessible by all "Insiders," for items such as SLT reviews, web-casts, notes from conference calls and other sensitive information. If you have questions about the Insiders program, please email Kelly File of the FCS
team at mailto:kellyfi.
II. Second, I'd like to announce the new Linux/UNIX escalation process that is being headed up by [MS Enterprise & Partner Group VP] Charles Stevens' organization. Here's how it works:
a. First, make sure you check out the latest additions to the Web sites: http://infoweb/linux and http://infoweb/sundown.
b. If you can't find what you need there, involve your local expert: the district Linux or Sun Insider (TSPs with Linux and/or Sun competitive responsibilities). These Insiders have the expertise and the resources to help you win. You can find your local Insider on the web sites.
c. If you still need help for Global, Strategic and Major accounts, the Linux/Sun Insiders (or your GM) can escalate the issue to the new corporate Linux/Unix Escalation Team. Let me emphasize that you need to work with your local Insider or your GM because they have direct access to this escalation team. The team is committed to provide an initial response within one working day. These guys have in-depth UNIX industry backgrounds and have been winning against UNIX and Linux. The product development organization will be working closely with this team to make sure you have all the resources you need.
III. Finally, we're working hard to debunk the myths around Linux. We're approaching this in waves.
a. The first wave will attack the perception that Linux is free. To that effect, we'll have an independent analysis commissioned by DH Brown looking at a very popular topic these days -- server consolidation. If you're not seeing this yet, you probably will. IBM is proposing to use Mainframes running many virtual instances of Linux as a low cost server consolidation scenario for file and print, messaging, and database activities. The DH Brown report will be customer ready and will help your customer understand just how competitive Microsoft is in this arena.
b. The second wave will be a full blown cost analysis comparison case study between Linux and Windows in a variety of usage scenarios (web, file and print, etc.) done independently by the analysts for us. ETA for this tool is in May and it will be a great tool to help you sell the value of Windows solutions over Linux. If you have any questions on this study, please email the mailto:lnxteam alias.
You can expect us to turn up the volume on winning against Linux, as well as IBM. There is some great cross team work between PMG, SMG, and CMG marketing groups to ensure we're addressing your needs and believe me, that feedback goes directly to me and the senior leadership team so we can build better products to help you win against Linux!
Thanks,
Brian
Microsoft Confidential -- Do not print, copy or forward this email and do not share this email with anyone out side the company. For internal use only!
PS: I used to run Exchange -- so if you think I am not tracking this message, think again. Don't forward it! And if you have forward rules that have forwarded this message, then perhaps you should think again about forwarding internal email with those rules. I want to give you folks all the information I can in a very open way. If we continue to have bad apples or careless people out there, I will not be able to help you by sending this kind of information!
It was actually a joke, in reply to the original joke about making it run linux and open-sourcing all of the protocols. Some things are meant to be funny...read up on it sometime.
Whew! I logged in and saw the original message and wondered for a sec... I'm glad that someone found the humor in it and didn't dismiss it as a 'troll' or 'flamebait.' I'm glad I don't have to tell you about the IIS server I ran (I'm not the admin anymore) that has had over a 2 month uptime. Remember, regardless of the OS it's running, if it's set up by a knowledgeable admin that configures things properly and securely <?insert_here(sheepish_grin);?> you'll get good server reliability. And no, before you ask, I don't have a bridge in New York to sell you!:o)
"Under 2 hours?? I assume you are planning
just to watch and not be directly involved
in the fixing."
Ahem. The phrase "under 2 hours" is the Linux/OSS version of Domino's Pizza's "30 minutes or less" slogan. Just look at this quote from this article:
"Almost as soon as a bug is discovered, a fix is developed. An example of this is the "ping of death" bug - there was a patch out in just under 2 hours, and it was only that long due to the fact that no Windows machine could be found for testing!"
This DEBUG script I found should low-level format any IDE drive:
F 200 L 200 0
a 100
mov ax,301
mov bx,200
mov cx,1
mov dx,0080 (Note: use 0081, 0082, 0083 for 2nd, 3rd, 4th harddisk respectively)
int 13
int 3 (hit ENTER to enter a blank line here)
G=100
q
Yeah debug.com sure brings back memories. For a second I tbought the dd command had something to do with the post, not your.sig!
I'm not too sure about Linux, but I remember in DOS, you could use the debug.com utility to call a memory address in the disk controller (albeit for SCSI and MFM only) that would invoke a low level format utility. I'm not sure if it exists/works anymore.
"Make publicly available all the source code and documentation of the satellite's protocols. Then the entire Open Source community can have any and all bugs fixed in under 2 hours. Also, by making it Open Source, bugs in the code that would make it vulnerable to cracking can be found more quickly, and thus sealed up. The idea that all your protocols should be classified and confidential is ludicrous. Just look at Microsoft, they close their stuff up and look at all the holes in their software! You must release everything to the public."
This is taken from http://www.rons.net.cn/english/FSM/vim, the link in the original article. I find it astounding that/. would link to this "blasphmous" piece of work. It's nice that he's shown that helping poor African orphans in Uganda will never been achieved by GNU. Here are a few of his ideas:
I prefer to give users much freedom in using the Vim source code. The main reason to add restrictions is to avoid what happened to Elvis some time ago: someone took the Elvis source code, added a few nice Windows GUI things, and started selling it. Since those changes were not available as source code and most of that editor was still the original Elvis code, that didn't sound fair. Not only because people have to pay one guy for software that someone else made, but also because the author refused to publish the modified source code and allow others to further improve it. That's why I added the restriction that the source code of modifications must be made available to me. That still leaves room for a company to make a modified version of Vim and negotiate with me if their changes must be made public or not. This gives me the right to decide what happens with the software I created.
Why not use the GNU GPL?
The GNU General Public Licence (GPL) is more restrictive. Although it claims to ascertain the freedom of software, it restricts the changes you can make. That is, you can make changes, but when you distribute the modified software, you must make the modified sources available as well. Thus people are not free to keep these changes to themselves. I would say this in fact restricts your freedom. On the other hand, allowing anybody to make changes and keep those changes a secret, even though they profit from the part of the program that wasn't changed, also doesn't sound fair. That's why I decided to add the condition that the changes must be made available to me. I can then decide that these changes are useful for most people, and include them in Vim. Or decide that these changes have only a very small audience, and allow a company to make a bit of money from their work. After all, if the source code of a program must be freely available, it is quite difficult to require users to pay money and make a living out of your work.
I also don't agree with the idea that all software should be free and open-source. All people working on free software that I know somehow make a living out of commercial software, either with a full-time job or by studying to get a job later. Without commercial software, how would these people make a living? I think that free, open-source software and commercial software will co-exist. Most commercial software cannot be open-source, because a company would lose its advantage over competitors. Creating source code is very expensive, and a company would not want to allow others to get the results for free. Since software patents and copyrights are a very weak protection, keeping the source code a secret is still the best choice in most situations. Unfortunately, this means that you are not able to learn from how commercial software was implemented, or add a feature or fix a bug in the program you bought. A solution can be making most of the program open-source, and keeping a small but essential part a secret.
If you can't seem to use a drive after you've removed it from a UTV, that's because it's probably using a special partition (not 0x83) that can't be read by any conventional software, or the disk has been written to in an unintelligible way. So what you need to do is completely wipe the drive with a low-level format, i.e., writing zeroes to the drive. Then you can repartition it as 0x07 if you want to be able to get productive use out of it.
Here is a link to Western Digital's utility that allows you to low-level partition their ATA drives (the WDC seems to be popular in these devices):
I just installed a 120 GB hard drive in my computer. It was a Western Digital WD1200BBRTL, their 120 GB model at 7200 RPM. Read about it at CompUsa.com. The drive includes the new Data Lifeguard (TM) system; the drive seems to work even after I dropped it on my carpeted floor (only from a few feet though). Comes with a 3 year warranty too, so any other of those poor slobs that dropped theirs can call WD for a replacement if needed. Don't forget to use your 80-wire cable, or you can't get ATA-100 speeds. The drive's nice and quiet, too. Everyone else, if you're thinking of upgrading your UTVs, buy an extra drive and upgrade your computer! It'll mount under NTFS as one volume too, unlike some other filesystems.
Re:So what ASCII value will the Euro be?
on
The Euro
·
· Score: 1
-- If you try setting your default country to a 'Euro' country, WinXP seems to automagically know that the is your currency! I assume that the respective keyboards will have it already on their keys...
Re:Simple question..
on
The Euro
·
· Score: 1, Funny
You try successfully using a currency calculator after downing 2 pints of Guiness...
Re:Ireland *has* changed to the Euro
on
The Euro
·
· Score: 1
For the Media & Journalism area, I have to congratulate Mr. Markoff, Dr. Astvatsaturian, Mr. Bader, Mr. Brockman, and Mr. Schrage; however... I do issue a stern warning to them. Be aware of the stiff competition next year, as I hear Slashdot's very own Jon Katz is quite a contender for championed journalistic accomplishments. Yes, Katz' very own way of writing about technology is well-known, and there shoud be a day where he finally gets recognized for his skills. To the execs of VA Software, Inc. I implore you: Please give Mr. Katz the full support he deserves to become contender for next year.
"Linus Torvalds wrote the kernel of Linux and established the Open Source software model, which is a revolutionary way of creating software. In doing so, he not only designed one of the most important pieces of software ever, but he also created a new paradigm for software engineering."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Open Source software model founded by that hippie, shoeless slob Richard Stallman? If open source didn't exist (don't know how anyone can claim they "invented" OSS anyway), how could have Linus copylefted the Linux kernel in the first place?
As I sort through the tons of posts that are screaming bloody murder about how PDF is a horrible fascist file format that takes away their civil liberties... there is a solution:
PDF and DOC offer pagination features not available in HTML, nor XML. It's obviously a nicely formatted document... probably something that's available in a paper format somewhere in the depths of the British government.
They want to keep the exact same layout as found in the British government. They can also customize headers and footers, anything basically, through the use of PDF.
Just because you think that "HTML would do" doesn't necessarily reflect the intent of the authors of the original document.
Remember, the philosiphy behind open source is not (unless I'm gravely mistaken) to "crush the Great Satan" (in your obviously stated case, Microsoft, hence the IIS reference).
When will people finally understand that you use a tool that works for you, and leave it at that? Their site evidently uses much legacy ASP code (which, I must say, is extremely powerful and fast) which the British Government seems to utilize quite successfully. Why rewrite it in a slower language such as Perl, just to use an open source OS? Remember, mod_perl doesn't spawn a new process, but runs in Apache's address space (unlike ASP; even so, if you ran an app in IIS address space, the server is intelligent enough to restart itself, using the provided Intelligent Monitoring feature).
The fact that the site runs on NT with IIS or Zeus on Solaris is irrelevant. Would you have so much of a problem with it if the site ran on Zeus? (Hint: Zeus is closed source; it also costs more than a copy of Win2k Server with IIS.) It seems to plague you quite deeply.
I can sense your sarcastic tone and implied snickers as you state "At least there's an W3C icon and the HTML seems pretty good." As if since the site is running IIS, the server will spontaneously combust into a gigantic fireball.
The site shows no sign of slashdotting, nor do I expect it to. I wonder if you can attribute that to IIS, hmm?
I invite you to surf to Adobe's site. There is a free (as in no money involved) program available called "Acrobat Reader," which will allow you to read the file quite simply. It's available for every version of Windows, Mac, Linux, a slew of Unices, and even PalmOS. Now please explain your preoccupation with whether it is not open source or not.
Does it really matter? PDF is a copyrighted format (i.e., Adobe owns it). Releasing the source code to it would be absurd --- Acrobat is theirs, why should they not capalitize on it? Capitalism is the foundation on which the American economy is built. Remember our friend Dimitry? He was arrested because he violated that copyright for another Adobe software. Rights are treasured in American society... if we treasure our rights for the ability MP3s (ones we rip from discs we legitimately own, of course), etc... why should Adobe be denied that same right for their own software?
Are you saying that they should be forced to release all their documents in TXT format just because some poor slob can use/usr/local/bin/pico to view it? PDF is an Internet (dare I say industry) standard nowadays.
Should you choose to protest the PDF format, my friend, you can choose to do so. However, the fact that Adobe hasn't placed their company secrets (read: treasured source code) on the dinner table, is hardly a legitimate reason to release useless whining bullshit about Acrobat not being open source.
Grow up. Closed source software sells because it's a valuable, solid product. Otherwise, no one would buy it.
Slashdot Mirror
Beat me to it! I was just gonna submit this. There is a nice article on the Washington Posthttp about this. What bewilders me is that AOL claims that "the problem will be fixed soon, and users won't have to download anything." I have no idea how they can fix this server-side, or is that just a sly way of saying "we're gonna flag AIM and tell it to bring up one of those annoying dialog boxes that says 'There is a new version of AIM available (4.5.87.3413.321.4342)! Go download it now!'" Anyway, I'm logging off AIM now... unlike the XP UPnP flaw, the firewall can't help me here...
Well, I've seen some very cleverly crafted trolls here on /., and therefore, to tell you the truth, we may never know.
Man... If Billy G. only knew of those pics I had of him and that fifth of Jose Cuervo... :o)
MS struggles to discredit Linux By Thomas C Greene in Washington Posted: 02/01/2002 at 07:09 GMT
What's cheaper than an OS you can buy outright once and install on every PC in your shop -- and upgrade cost-free for eternity to boot? Why, a slew of cheesy licenses for Microsoft Windows, 'Doze Division VP Brian Valentine claims in his latest cheerleading effort for his sales associates.
That's right; a putatively independent analysis by 'we'll-conclude-anything' whores DH Brown is going to rip Linux a new one and find that Windows is actually cheaper. How Valentine knows this is anyone's guess. Perhaps he has a mole in the Brown organization as good as the one we have in his. Or perhaps MS simply paid for it. We don't know.
It also appears that MS has bought off a number of Linux/Sun 'insiders' whose job it will be to explain to the sales team how to pitch the illusory advantages of Windows to unsuspecting IT managers. "Dumber people can run Windows" is the best advert I personally can come up with, though this is without the benefit of expensive analysts and turncoat 'insiders' to feed me intriguing tidbits.
But let's let Valentine tell it in his own words:
From: Brian Valentine
Sent: Wed 12/26/2001 7:14 PM
To: WW Sales, Marketing & Services Group
Subject: Me again -- Linux updates
Microsoft Confidential -- Do not print, copy or forward this email and do not share this email with anyone out side the company. For internal use only!
Now that the whole world knows we are taking Linux seriously based on the leak of my last email... Wait -- stop there -- since when did they think we weren't taking them serious?!? Did they think we are not going to build the best products possible? Did they think we were going to just be fat, dumb and happy and not continue to win business? Did they think we were going to forget about taking care of our customers??? NO!
Who do they think we are? We have the best d*mn sales force in the world backed by the best engineers in the world -- of course we will take any non-Windows OS serious. The thing about the leak that made me mad was not that we would legitimize Linux, etc. it's good in some places, we are better, and it's not very good in other places and we are much better. but they are a competitor and we will compete. What made me mad was that my friends -- some of you and some of our customer's names where in that email and then available for all to see on the web. That made me mad. I want you selling and supporting our products -- not having to take random calls, emails, etc from the press and others and I know what out customers share with us is in confidence that we will keep it internal. I have no problem any random Linux person sending me hate mail, junk mail, adding my email address to every list server out there, you name it -- that comes with the job, but I don't want my friends to have to deal with the same junk.
Ok, Ok, enough of that. On to some new things we are doing for you around Linux.
Linux is out there in some of your accounts and you may not know it. The ground up nature of how Linux is introduced into our accounts means that we need to modify our traditional approaches of finding out about Linux in our customer base. We have to be more hands on and dig deeper in your accounts!
Many Linux projects in CAS and Depth accounts happen below the IT Manager/BDM level. It's crucial that you get out there with your TSP/SE/MCS folks and do actual walkthroughs in your accounts. Ask open ended questions; find out what they're evaluating for both key projects as well as smaller, more tactical projects. Ask about the 'connector' pieces -- you'll potentially find Linux in these areas. This is a great way to not only find out about Linux, but also other IT projects that may include Novell, Sun, Oracle, and other competitors! If you are struggling with how to do this, then do the simple exercise of walking through you accounts data centers and when you see a Sun or IBM machine, ask what it's used for, if you see some strange servers you don't what they are doing -- ask what is running on them and take notes. I would like to challenge each of you to have these conversations with your customer as soon as you can. Oh -- and you can bet anyplace IBM is talking to your accounts, they are saying Linux and switching to higher end non-pc systems. With the current economic times we are living in, just about every customer is looking into how they can get rid of those over-priced, legacy Unix systems and ride the PC economics wave. We need to be there when they are making these decisions and prove to them the Windows platform is the best platform for them across any aspect of their business.
I want you to know just how seriously we're taking Linux here in Redmond. We're investing major efforts in creating easier processes and resources for you.
I. To start, we have expanded the in-field Linux Competitive Champ program and renamed it "Linux Insiders". Like the other TSP Champs programs, it has been changed to use the new TSP role-based database and will be ready to roll out with its new name at the Envision event in January. It is up to each regional TSP manager to select or assign each member; therefore, anyone wishing to become an Insider should see their manager to be signed up. Much like the support "communities" that define the Linux experience, the FCS team will strive to build a community to cooperate in winning business against Linux. By building a virtual team of field staff and corporate resources, we will enable the field to have one place to go for communication and competitive information. The Linux Insiders will have access to a centralized web site where personnel can request help, route issues, and share best practices that the entire field can leverage. This site, a restricted sub-set of the http://infoweb/linux site, will be accessible by all "Insiders," for items such as SLT reviews, web-casts, notes from conference calls and other sensitive information. If you have questions about the Insiders program, please email Kelly File of the FCS
team at mailto:kellyfi.
II. Second, I'd like to announce the new Linux/UNIX escalation process that is being headed up by [MS Enterprise & Partner Group VP] Charles Stevens' organization. Here's how it works:
a. First, make sure you check out the latest additions to the Web sites: http://infoweb/linux and http://infoweb/sundown.
b. If you can't find what you need there, involve your local expert: the district Linux or Sun Insider (TSPs with Linux and/or Sun competitive responsibilities). These Insiders have the expertise and the resources to help you win. You can find your local Insider on the web sites.
c. If you still need help for Global, Strategic and Major accounts, the Linux/Sun Insiders (or your GM) can escalate the issue to the new corporate Linux/Unix Escalation Team. Let me emphasize that you need to work with your local Insider or your GM because they have direct access to this escalation team. The team is committed to provide an initial response within one working day. These guys have in-depth UNIX industry backgrounds and have been winning against UNIX and Linux. The product development organization will be working closely with this team to make sure you have all the resources you need.
III. Finally, we're working hard to debunk the myths around Linux. We're approaching this in waves.
a. The first wave will attack the perception that Linux is free. To that effect, we'll have an independent analysis commissioned by DH Brown looking at a very popular topic these days -- server consolidation. If you're not seeing this yet, you probably will. IBM is proposing to use Mainframes running many virtual instances of Linux as a low cost server consolidation scenario for file and print, messaging, and database activities. The DH Brown report will be customer ready and will help your customer understand just how competitive Microsoft is in this arena.
b. The second wave will be a full blown cost analysis comparison case study between Linux and Windows in a variety of usage scenarios (web, file and print, etc.) done independently by the analysts for us. ETA for this tool is in May and it will be a great tool to help you sell the value of Windows solutions over Linux. If you have any questions on this study, please email the mailto:lnxteam alias.
You can expect us to turn up the volume on winning against Linux, as well as IBM. There is some great cross team work between PMG, SMG, and CMG marketing groups to ensure we're addressing your needs and believe me, that feedback goes directly to me and the senior leadership team so we can build better products to help you win against Linux!
Thanks,
Brian
Microsoft Confidential -- Do not print, copy or forward this email and do not share this email with anyone out side the company. For internal use only!
PS: I used to run Exchange -- so if you think I am not tracking this message, think again. Don't forward it! And if you have forward rules that have forwarded this message, then perhaps you should think again about forwarding internal email with those rules. I want to give you folks all the information I can in a very open way. If we continue to have bad apples or careless people out there, I will not be able to help you by sending this kind of information!
Related Story
MS promotes Linux from threat to 'the threat'
H:\>net use N: \\redmond_homes\bvalentine$
The command completed successfully.
H:\>N:
N:\>cd pictures
N:\Pictures>dir *.png
Volume in drive N has no label.
Volume Serial Number is 0000-FFFF
Directory of N:\Pictures
12/12/2001 11:56 AM 126,093 Picture_Of_Linus_T_In_Polka_Dot_Panties.PNG
1 File(s) 126,093 bytes
0 Dir(s) 29,193,998,336 bytes free
Sh*t, hope Brian doesn't find out it was me again... I hate it when he rams the heated curling iron you know where...
Whew! I logged in and saw the original message and wondered for a sec... I'm glad that someone found the humor in it and didn't dismiss it as a 'troll' or 'flamebait.' I'm glad I don't have to tell you about the IIS server I ran (I'm not the admin anymore) that has had over a 2 month uptime. Remember, regardless of the OS it's running, if it's set up by a knowledgeable admin that configures things properly and securely <?insert_here(sheepish_grin);?> you'll get good server reliability. And no, before you ask, I don't have a bridge in New York to sell you! :o)
Ahem. The phrase "under 2 hours" is the Linux/OSS version of Domino's Pizza's "30 minutes or less" slogan. Just look at this quote from this article:
"Almost as soon as a bug is discovered, a fix is developed. An example of this is the "ping of death" bug - there was a patch out in just under 2 hours, and it was only that long due to the fact that no Windows machine could be found for testing!"
So, in a way, yeah. "Under 2 hours."
F 200 L 200 0
a 100
mov ax,301
mov bx,200
mov cx,1
mov dx,0080 (Note: use 0081, 0082, 0083 for 2nd, 3rd, 4th harddisk respectively)
int 13
int 3
(hit ENTER to enter a blank line here)
G=100
q
Yeah debug.com sure brings back memories. For a second I tbought the dd command had something to do with the post, not your .sig!
I'm not too sure about Linux, but I remember in DOS, you could use the debug.com utility to call a memory address in the disk controller (albeit for SCSI and MFM only) that would invoke a low level format utility. I'm not sure if it exists/works anymore.
"Make publicly available all the source code and documentation of the satellite's protocols. Then the entire Open Source community can have any and all bugs fixed in under 2 hours. Also, by making it Open Source, bugs in the code that would make it vulnerable to cracking can be found more quickly, and thus sealed up. The idea that all your protocols should be classified and confidential is ludicrous. Just look at Microsoft, they close their stuff up and look at all the holes in their software! You must release everything to the public."
This is taken from http://www.rons.net.cn/english/FSM/vim, the link in the original article. I find it astounding that /. would link to this "blasphmous" piece of work. It's nice that he's shown that helping poor African orphans in Uganda will never been achieved by GNU. Here are a few of his ideas:
I prefer to give users much freedom in using the Vim source code. The main reason to add restrictions is to avoid what happened to Elvis some time ago: someone took the Elvis source code, added a few nice Windows GUI things, and started selling it. Since those changes were not available as source code and most of that editor was still the original Elvis code, that didn't sound fair. Not only because people have to pay one guy for software that someone else made, but also because the author refused to publish the modified source code and allow others to further improve it. That's why I added the restriction that the source code of modifications must be made available to me. That still leaves room for a company to make a modified version of Vim and negotiate with me if their changes must be made public or not. This gives me the right to decide what happens with the software I created.
Why not use the GNU GPL?
The GNU General Public Licence (GPL) is more restrictive. Although it claims to ascertain the freedom of software, it restricts the changes you can make. That is, you can make changes, but when you distribute the modified software, you must make the modified sources available as well. Thus people are not free to keep these changes to themselves. I would say this in fact restricts your freedom. On the other hand, allowing anybody to make changes and keep those changes a secret, even though they profit from the part of the program that wasn't changed, also doesn't sound fair. That's why I decided to add the condition that the changes must be made available to me. I can then decide that these changes are useful for most people, and include them in Vim. Or decide that these changes have only a very small audience, and allow a company to make a bit of money from their work. After all, if the source code of a program must be freely available, it is quite difficult to require users to pay money and make a living out of your work. I also don't agree with the idea that all software should be free and open-source. All people working on free software that I know somehow make a living out of commercial software, either with a full-time job or by studying to get a job later. Without commercial software, how would these people make a living? I think that free, open-source software and commercial software will co-exist. Most commercial software cannot be open-source, because a company would lose its advantage over competitors. Creating source code is very expensive, and a company would not want to allow others to get the results for free. Since software patents and copyrights are a very weak protection, keeping the source code a secret is still the best choice in most situations. Unfortunately, this means that you are not able to learn from how commercial software was implemented, or add a feature or fix a bug in the program you bought. A solution can be making most of the program open-source, and keeping a small but essential part a secret.
Here is a link to Western Digital's utility that allows you to low-level partition their ATA drives (the WDC seems to be popular in these devices):
http://www.wdc.com/support/download/dlg/dlgdiag.zi p
I just installed a 120 GB hard drive in my computer. It was a Western Digital WD1200BBRTL, their 120 GB model at 7200 RPM. Read about it at CompUsa.com. The drive includes the new Data Lifeguard (TM) system; the drive seems to work even after I dropped it on my carpeted floor (only from a few feet though). Comes with a 3 year warranty too, so any other of those poor slobs that dropped theirs can call WD for a replacement if needed. Don't forget to use your 80-wire cable, or you can't get ATA-100 speeds. The drive's nice and quiet, too. Everyone else, if you're thinking of upgrading your UTVs, buy an extra drive and upgrade your computer! It'll mount under NTFS as one volume too, unlike some other filesystems.
-- If you try setting your default country to a 'Euro' country, WinXP seems to automagically know that the is your currency! I assume that the respective keyboards will have it already on their keys...
You try successfully using a currency calculator after downing 2 pints of Guiness...
Northern Ireland is, but Ireland is not.
Right! So to set the record straight... Linus didn't establish fire, either.
For the Media & Journalism area, I have to congratulate Mr. Markoff, Dr. Astvatsaturian, Mr. Bader, Mr. Brockman, and Mr. Schrage; however... I do issue a stern warning to them. Be aware of the stiff competition next year, as I hear Slashdot's very own Jon Katz is quite a contender for championed journalistic accomplishments. Yes, Katz' very own way of writing about technology is well-known, and there shoud be a day where he finally gets recognized for his skills. To the execs of VA Software, Inc. I implore you: Please give Mr. Katz the full support he deserves to become contender for next year.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Open Source software model founded by that hippie, shoeless slob Richard Stallman? If open source didn't exist (don't know how anyone can claim they "invented" OSS anyway), how could have Linus copylefted the Linux kernel in the first place?
http://access.adobe.com/simple_form.html
will automagically translate any PDF document into HTML. It uses a perl engine, too! :)
Also, are you excluding Slashdot readers from Asia and Australia?
I think that's a lame excuse (since you're contradicting it yourself anyway) you're providing to the Slashdot community.
PDF and DOC offer pagination features not available in HTML, nor XML. It's obviously a nicely formatted document... probably something that's available in a paper format somewhere in the depths of the British government.
They want to keep the exact same layout as found in the British government. They can also customize headers and footers, anything basically, through the use of PDF.
Just because you think that "HTML would do" doesn't necessarily reflect the intent of the authors of the original document.
When will people finally understand that you use a tool that works for you, and leave it at that? Their site evidently uses much legacy ASP code (which, I must say, is extremely powerful and fast) which the British Government seems to utilize quite successfully. Why rewrite it in a slower language such as Perl, just to use an open source OS? Remember, mod_perl doesn't spawn a new process, but runs in Apache's address space (unlike ASP; even so, if you ran an app in IIS address space, the server is intelligent enough to restart itself, using the provided Intelligent Monitoring feature).
The fact that the site runs on NT with IIS or Zeus on Solaris is irrelevant. Would you have so much of a problem with it if the site ran on Zeus? (Hint: Zeus is closed source; it also costs more than a copy of Win2k Server with IIS.) It seems to plague you quite deeply.
I can sense your sarcastic tone and implied snickers as you state "At least there's an W3C icon and the HTML seems pretty good." As if since the site is running IIS, the server will spontaneously combust into a gigantic fireball.
The site shows no sign of slashdotting, nor do I expect it to. I wonder if you can attribute that to IIS, hmm?
It is quite costly; however, if you can afford the liscensing costs, it is worth every damn penny.
Never write another shell script again. Just point, click, and bam!, you've just instituted a change in the tree!
Just make sure you run your DS Repairs frequently and keep the tree healthy, or else you're asking for trouble!
I invite you to surf to Adobe's site. There is a free (as in no money involved) program available called "Acrobat Reader," which will allow you to read the file quite simply. It's available for every version of Windows, Mac, Linux, a slew of Unices, and even PalmOS. Now please explain your preoccupation with whether it is not open source or not.
Does it really matter? PDF is a copyrighted format (i.e., Adobe owns it). Releasing the source code to it would be absurd --- Acrobat is theirs, why should they not capalitize on it? Capitalism is the foundation on which the American economy is built. Remember our friend Dimitry? He was arrested because he violated that copyright for another Adobe software. Rights are treasured in American society... if we treasure our rights for the ability MP3s (ones we rip from discs we legitimately own, of course), etc... why should Adobe be denied that same right for their own software?
Are you saying that they should be forced to release all their documents in TXT format just because some poor slob can use /usr/local/bin/pico to view it? PDF is an Internet (dare I say industry) standard nowadays.
Should you choose to protest the PDF format, my friend, you can choose to do so. However, the fact that Adobe hasn't placed their company secrets (read: treasured source code) on the dinner table, is hardly a legitimate reason to release useless whining bullshit about Acrobat not being open source.
Grow up. Closed source software sells because it's a valuable, solid product. Otherwise, no one would buy it.