I experienced this exact problem with my OptiPlex unit at work -- random system shutdowns & video failure. A tech said we'd had 65 Dell machines suffer similar failure in one department alone.
Martin Fink, general manager for H-P's Linux Systems Divison, has written a book titled "The Business and Economics of Linux and Open Source." ($29.99 U.S., Prentice Hall ISBN 0-13-047677-3)
The prose doesn't exactly sparkle, but it covers all the bases quite well.
Fink, interestingly, touched off quite a discussion by using LinuxWorld as a platform to urge FOSS developers to patent their work.
Granted, this isn't definitive analysis. I think it's instructive, nonetheless. From Google:
"bill gates is the devil" - 5,250
"bill gates is evil" - 3,680
"bill gates is satan" - 2,910
"bill gates is the antichrist" - 1,070
"bill gates is god" - 405
"bill gates is good" - 234
"bill gates is a good man" - 150
"bill gates is the messiah" - 46
"bill gates is honest" - 14
"bill gates is the savior" - 3
"bill gates is our savior" - 1
Yes, there are a very few cases where the search turns up something other than the exact phrase. But I would say the vast majority of the hits contain the exact phrase in question.
Also, some of the seemingly positive phrasings actually are not -- e.g., "At least Bill Gates is honest about his plans for world domination."
These are all running off http/cgi servers. Seems you could just add firewall rules to allow access only from authorized IPs.
I was affirmatively refused access to one camera that came up on the google search. A number of others never connected. Could be a slashdot effect, or could be the ports have been stealthed since they got spidered.
Ha! Still, it is kinda cool & kinda creepy. Watching crashing SoCal surf; watching traffic in Stockholm.
Wonder how those guys in the University of Tennessee Library would feel to know that somebody was peering over their shoulder, live, from half a continent away.
Ya, given that the Santy.a worm involved PHP, a slashdotting with search strings containing "*.php" might well trigger an automated security response at google.
Some of what makes me crazy is probably just me being a noob. I was pretty well set in my RedHat ways.
I don't so much mind the absence of GUI config utilities. Though editing config files can take longer, it makes you learn more about the system.
The whole dpkg/apt-get setup is every bit as convenient, if not more convenient than the RPM system.
One of the areas where I've found myself getting crazy is in trying to get software I've compiled from source to integrate well with Debian. I was able to get Apache compiled from source to run just fine under RedHat. I gave up on that w/Debian. (Which, I admit, could be more the fault of noobishness than of Debianishness.)
Getting sound running with an on-board CM8738 chipset was a grand adventure. I wound up having to custom-compile a kernel with ALSA modules before I could get sound to work.
OTOH, the make-kpkg feature makes compiling a kernel much easier.
I, too, am running unstable, and now that I've got everything set up to my liking, I'm like you -- a few snags now and then, but mostly smooth sailing.
You're right. I'm just torqued at them for ending update support for their free distros.
But RedHat doesn't owe it to anybody to be the RPM-writing sugar daddy. If it was costing them too much time and money, I guess I can't blame them for cutting it out. If I'm gonna be a "live free or die" type I can danged well apply my own patches from source.
There are idealistic elements to the free software movement and there are mercenary elements. I'm an idealist, and the free software movement is paying off for me in ways that matter for me. IBM and HP have more mercenary interests, and the free software movement is paying off for them in ways that matter to them. Sounds like the best of both worlds to me.
As for whether it matters in the long run, only time will tell. It sure as hell matters in the short run.
Beyond that, I'm not saying I think Linus and RMS are like-minded. Their interests do intersect to a great degree. Whether they think exactly alike or not (I'm not sure *anyone* thinks like RMS) Linux is under the GPL. I mention them in the same breath because their work together makes up a huge portion of what we commonly refer to as "Linux." Every Linux distribution includes a boatload of GNU code. Their work, together with the work of a lot of other coders working under a variety of free/open licenses, has given me a free computer. Well, the hardware cost a little something.;-)
I also mention them in the same breath because they're both dealing with the issue of certifying that the code for which they are responsible is unencumbered by others' "intellectual property" claims. GNU has actually dealt with it from the very beginning. The SCO litigation has shown Linus the wisdom of the GNU/FSF approach to code certification.
The poster identifying himself/herself as Oracle seems to find this mechanism unworkable, which is the point to which I was responding.
I'd love to see Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and a few others sign affidavits swearing that none of the code in their products has ripped off others' IP.
I'm no coder, but I believe that the GPL is the only thing that can save the (virtual) world. Saving the world, virtual or not, is bloody inconvenient.
By a strange set of circumstances I found myself, a little over a year ago, sitting in a small room with RMS and a standard-issue complement of corporate Win32 support slaves. A FOSS missionary had brought us all together.
I've been a GNU/Linux user since 1997. At home I am now exclusively a G/L user. Am gunning for that at work.
Yet, when RMS told the gathered geeks and semi-interested bystanders (and I paraphrase) I think one should be willing to use inferior free software instead of superior closed software (/paraphrase) I thought Bull fucking shit.
That was before SCO filed suit. That was before I paid enough attention to what's going down in the patent realm. That was before Redhat sold out freedom for whatever it is they think they're getting in exchange for freedom. (The money ain't worth it, guys. You know in your souls -- if you haven't sold them -- that it ain't.)
I was running Redhat then. I'm running Debian now. It's inferior in many respects. It's maddening in many respects. It's free. I'm free.
People who have more chops than I compile their own custom kernels and their own sets of GNU & other FOSS. That's not just freeom. That's power. That's one future that any user is free to choose.
I'm so grateful to those who code in the name of freedom. I am writing this to you on a computer that's as free as I know how to make it, because of Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds and thousands of like-minded coders.
If, in order to stay free, I have to sign an effing affidavit every time I log on, I will do it.
And I know the coders who believe in what they have taught me to believe in will take the time to certify their code. It's a *very* small price for freedom.
Elcorton notes that SCO's First Amended Complaint against AutoZone, section 19, asserts, "The Copyrighted Materials include protected expression of code, structure, sequence and/or organization in many categories of UNIX System V functionality..."
Elcorton writes, "The phrase 'structure, sequence and/or organization' comes from the opinion of the Third Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in the 1986 case Whelan Associates v Jaslow Dental Laboratory, in which the court held that some non-literal elements in the design of software could be protected by copyright. This precedent was cited in a number of cases for the next several years. But in 1992, the Second Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, ruling in the case Computer Associates v Altai, rejected Whelan, and imposed its own much more stringent test for determining whether a software copyright is infringed."
A former CA employee went to work for Altai, taking code from the disputed program with him. Unbeknownst to his employers at Altai, he copied CA's code line for line into a utility being developed by Altai.
After CA brought suit against Altai, the programmer confessed that he had copied code wholesale from the CA program into the Altai product.
Altai executives commenced a "clean room" rewrite of their utility, locking away the tainted code and excluding the offending programmer from the rewrite.
The Second Circuit found in favor of CA on the literal copying, but found against CA on its assertion that the rewritten program also violated its copyrights.
Let's hope nobody wound up failing to get emergency services as a result.
My wife,daughter and I happened to be wandering around Brooklyn during the outage. We noticed an increase in the number of uniformed officers on the street. This made us slightly nervous in a 9/11 (not a 911) sort of way. It wasn't until we read Saturday's NYT that we realized what was up. To increase visibility during the outage, NYPD had ordered all plainclothes officers to put on uniforms.
As we strolled through some of the city's busiest commercial sectors, everybody as oblivious as we were.
Amen on Google. It really helps one do focused problem-solving.
There's no substitute for reading the LDP materials, howtos and readmes, along with building a library of good books.
The Web sites maintained by organizations supporting various pieces of software are also essential.
Google is at its strongest in troubleshooting a specific error. I just key in the error message (or selected portions) along with my distribution name and version. Almost invariably I find several mailing list posts addressing that problem and its solution.
The signal-to-noise ratio is better for some software than for others. I run majordomo and on a couple of occasions have had configuration struggles that led to error messages. When I ran Google searches on those error messages, I got dozens of hits from lists that were misconfigured and were outputting those error messages to their archives. I also found the solutions; I just had to winnow through a lot more chaff to find the wheat.
Slashdot Mirror
I experienced this exact problem with my OptiPlex unit at work -- random system shutdowns & video failure. A tech said we'd had 65 Dell machines suffer similar failure in one department alone.
Martin Fink, general manager for H-P's Linux Systems Divison, has written a book titled "The Business and Economics of Linux and Open Source." ($29.99 U.S., Prentice Hall ISBN 0-13-047677-3) The prose doesn't exactly sparkle, but it covers all the bases quite well. Fink, interestingly, touched off quite a discussion by using LinuxWorld as a platform to urge FOSS developers to patent their work.
"bill gates is the devil" - 5,250
"bill gates is evil" - 3,680
"bill gates is satan" - 2,910
"bill gates is the antichrist" - 1,070
"bill gates is god" - 405
"bill gates is good" - 234
"bill gates is a good man" - 150
"bill gates is the messiah" - 46
"bill gates is honest" - 14
"bill gates is the savior" - 3
"bill gates is our savior" - 1
Yes, there are a very few cases where the search turns up something other than the exact phrase. But I would say the vast majority of the hits contain the exact phrase in question.
Also, some of the seemingly positive phrasings actually are not -- e.g., "At least Bill Gates is honest about his plans for world domination."
These are all running off http/cgi servers. Seems you could just add firewall rules to allow access only from authorized IPs. I was affirmatively refused access to one camera that came up on the google search. A number of others never connected. Could be a slashdot effect, or could be the ports have been stealthed since they got spidered.
Ha! Still, it is kinda cool & kinda creepy. Watching crashing SoCal surf; watching traffic in Stockholm. Wonder how those guys in the University of Tennessee Library would feel to know that somebody was peering over their shoulder, live, from half a continent away.
Ya, given that the Santy.a worm involved PHP, a slashdotting with search strings containing "*.php" might well trigger an automated security response at google.
I don't so much mind the absence of GUI config utilities. Though editing config files can take longer, it makes you learn more about the system.
The whole dpkg/apt-get setup is every bit as convenient, if not more convenient than the RPM system.
One of the areas where I've found myself getting crazy is in trying to get software I've compiled from source to integrate well with Debian. I was able to get Apache compiled from source to run just fine under RedHat. I gave up on that w/Debian. (Which, I admit, could be more the fault of noobishness than of Debianishness.)
Getting sound running with an on-board CM8738 chipset was a grand adventure. I wound up having to custom-compile a kernel with ALSA modules before I could get sound to work.
OTOH, the make-kpkg feature makes compiling a kernel much easier.
I, too, am running unstable, and now that I've got everything set up to my liking, I'm like you -- a few snags now and then, but mostly smooth sailing.
You're right. I'm just torqued at them for ending update support for their free distros.
But RedHat doesn't owe it to anybody to be the RPM-writing sugar daddy. If it was costing them too much time and money, I guess I can't blame them for cutting it out. If I'm gonna be a "live free or die" type I can danged well apply my own patches from source.
Gerdts. Sorry.
As for whether it matters in the long run, only time will tell. It sure as hell matters in the short run.
Exactly.
Beyond that, I'm not saying I think Linus and RMS are like-minded. Their interests do intersect to a great degree. Whether they think exactly alike or not (I'm not sure *anyone* thinks like RMS) Linux is under the GPL. I mention them in the same breath because their work together makes up a huge portion of what we commonly refer to as "Linux." Every Linux distribution includes a boatload of GNU code. Their work, together with the work of a lot of other coders working under a variety of free/open licenses, has given me a free computer. Well, the hardware cost a little something. ;-)
I also mention them in the same breath because they're both dealing with the issue of certifying that the code for which they are responsible is unencumbered by others' "intellectual property" claims. GNU has actually dealt with it from the very beginning. The SCO litigation has shown Linus the wisdom of the GNU/FSF approach to code certification.
The poster identifying himself/herself as Oracle seems to find this mechanism unworkable, which is the point to which I was responding.
I'd love to see Bill Gates, Larry Ellison and a few others sign affidavits swearing that none of the code in their products has ripped off others' IP.
By a strange set of circumstances I found myself, a little over a year ago, sitting in a small room with RMS and a standard-issue complement of corporate Win32 support slaves. A FOSS missionary had brought us all together.
I've been a GNU/Linux user since 1997. At home I am now exclusively a G/L user. Am gunning for that at work.
Yet, when RMS told the gathered geeks and semi-interested bystanders (and I paraphrase) I think one should be willing to use inferior free software instead of superior closed software (/paraphrase) I thought Bull fucking shit.
That was before SCO filed suit. That was before I paid enough attention to what's going down in the patent realm. That was before Redhat sold out freedom for whatever it is they think they're getting in exchange for freedom. (The money ain't worth it, guys. You know in your souls -- if you haven't sold them -- that it ain't.)
I was running Redhat then. I'm running Debian now. It's inferior in many respects. It's maddening in many respects. It's free. I'm free.
People who have more chops than I compile their own custom kernels and their own sets of GNU & other FOSS. That's not just freeom. That's power. That's one future that any user is free to choose.
I'm so grateful to those who code in the name of freedom. I am writing this to you on a computer that's as free as I know how to make it, because of Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds and thousands of like-minded coders.
If, in order to stay free, I have to sign an effing affidavit every time I log on, I will do it.
And I know the coders who believe in what they have taught me to believe in will take the time to certify their code. It's a *very* small price for freedom.
Elcorton notes that SCO's First Amended Complaint against AutoZone, section 19, asserts, "The Copyrighted Materials include protected expression of code, structure, sequence and/or organization in many categories of UNIX System V functionality ..."
Elcorton writes, "The phrase 'structure, sequence and/or organization' comes from the opinion of the Third Circuit Federal Court of Appeals in the 1986 case Whelan Associates v Jaslow Dental Laboratory, in which the court held that some non-literal elements in the design of software could be protected by copyright. This precedent was cited in a number of cases for the next several years. But in 1992, the Second Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, ruling in the case Computer Associates v Altai, rejected Whelan, and imposed its own much more stringent test for determining whether a software copyright is infringed."
A former CA employee went to work for Altai, taking code from the disputed program with him. Unbeknownst to his employers at Altai, he copied CA's code line for line into a utility being developed by Altai.
After CA brought suit against Altai, the programmer confessed that he had copied code wholesale from the CA program into the Altai product.
Altai executives commenced a "clean room" rewrite of their utility, locking away the tainted code and excluding the offending programmer from the rewrite.
The Second Circuit found in favor of CA on the literal copying, but found against CA on its assertion that the rewritten program also violated its copyrights.
My wife,daughter and I happened to be wandering around Brooklyn during the outage. We noticed an increase in the number of uniformed officers on the street. This made us slightly nervous in a 9/11 (not a 911) sort of way. It wasn't until we read Saturday's NYT that we realized what was up. To increase visibility during the outage, NYPD had ordered all plainclothes officers to put on uniforms.
As we strolled through some of the city's busiest commercial sectors, everybody as oblivious as we were.
There's no substitute for reading the LDP materials, howtos and readmes, along with building a library of good books.
The Web sites maintained by organizations supporting various pieces of software are also essential.
Google is at its strongest in troubleshooting a specific error. I just key in the error message (or selected portions) along with my distribution name and version. Almost invariably I find several mailing list posts addressing that problem and its solution.
The signal-to-noise ratio is better for some software than for others. I run majordomo and on a couple of occasions have had configuration struggles that led to error messages. When I ran Google searches on those error messages, I got dozens of hits from lists that were misconfigured and were outputting those error messages to their archives. I also found the solutions; I just had to winnow through a lot more chaff to find the wheat.