set the SNMP traps to trigger on a different IP subnet and voila, you have your tracking. After that it's just doing a trace & lookup.
We use it on our WAN/LAN too, because we have a lot of WiFi spots in our network. There are a few machines that are allowed on all WiFi spots (IT-dept. machines mostly), the rest is closed off based on MAC address. If I get on the network on a remote site, a few bells & whistles go off at our central office.
I think that's the way they did it. It's simple & effective (and implemented on most OS's.)
M$'s biggest problem is making SP2 small enough so Joe Sixpack can d/l it with his 56k modem. And ofcourse making enough marketing blahblah about it so everyone using XP will know, and perhaps upgrade. I mean, how many XP boxes are still pre-SP1? Probably more than the % that are patched up-to-date, otherwise we wouldn't have these kinds of virus-outbreaks.
So in conclusion: Is this a marketing technique? Mostly, I think it is, but it's not bad to have this as a baseline security (fresh install, connect to internet for updates, get virus, unable to get further updates scenario is pretty common these days). Just let the users know that they should stay up to date. I think that is M$'s biggest problem.
Another trend...
on
Cyberchondria
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Last year I went on a holiday and I scraped my knee on a rock with some algae on it. About a month later I had a rash on that same spot. I looked it up on the Internet, and I found that there were more general sites that had "information" about my rash than there were real medical sites. According to the popular sites I had all kinds of weird diseases. A short checkup on a real site (I thought a.edu carried a bit more weight than health.com) revealed that this was common among divers, and very easy to cure (rubbing the sore spot with baby-lotion).
I think there's a wrong trend that sites that should not give this kind of information are the ones that are listed on top in a Google search. As usual on the internet, apply common sense first... but a lot of people read it, and if it's on a popular site... well, it must be true then of course. I did check with my uncle later on (he's a doctor) and he confirmed my research, diagnosis & cure. He also confirmed that the trend I noticed is a pain in the butt for most doctors, because a lot of people tend to think they have something dramatic (bragging rights on a tea party perhaps?) while they don't. He says consult times have a longer duration now because not only does he have to diagnose & write out a prescription if needed, but he also has to tell the patient his or her issue is not that grave.
The only thing which will make a difference is legislation penalising companies which deal with off-shore producers who flout human rights.
Uhm... and the companies that pay the store clerks subpar wages in your own country? I presume they are of course not to blame, because they're American?
Quoteth the poster: "It's frustrating to see this story posted tonight -- there's no reason why this story couldn't have waited until the speech was delivered."
Who gives a crap whether or not an open source project has a good "brand"? It's not like people are trying to sell it. The ones who care, know about it already and aren't going to care whether or not it's a catchy name.
Hm... then why do big corps go out of their way to get their brand accross? As a matter of fact, Blender (sorry, couldn't find the standalone logo on their own site) has a good logo and therefore branding. You see the logo, you think "hey, that's blender" and that is what Mozilla needs. It could be as simple as a letter: a stylized M could be used, with little globe/envelope/etc floating in front of it on the side to distinguish between different apps of the suite. They already have those icons (more or less) in the lefthand down corner for quickstart.
"They don't necessarily know whether they have SCO or Linux. The only time they care about their computer is when it crashes."
Excuse me? I think it's more likely businesses care about the fact that their systems are running (which is good, and probably why they're running linux) then having them crashing... I don't care about a crash... as long as my system is back up ASAP.
I just think some ppl will open up an IRC channel where you can post your goals & your exploits/methods. easy way to make money... and it doesn't really help the study since everyone is using the same methods and such... of course you can only sign up once with your real address... but hey... inform your non-geek friends they will be getting 10% of the check if you can use their address & IP to bounce off. I'm a bit sceptic about how they'll react to such "abuse" of their system...
even hitting 1 would probably suffice... if I'm typing in a number I wouldn't be needing text input and vice-versa, well that's another point. Maybe 3rd press of a letter? eg: a, A, 1?
(online) petition: they presented the petition IRL to the MEP's
Furthermore, there was a demonstration in front of the EU office in Brussels (I went there). About 500 people showed up, which is an extraordinary feat considering they anounced it only about 1 week in advance. There were people present from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany and Denmark. And those are the people I talked to, so there may have been more nationalities. I say, this was pretty effective. Their goal was not to abandon all e-patent legislature (that's a pipe dream and they know it), but that the legislature would be set within reasonable bounds. And this is what we (they really - I just showed up for a cool meeting with geeks, and they do the hard work) tried to get across.
Because for them, it's still running on their computer, and their 'computer' got a virus
jup... even the Anti-virus companies are calling it a "computer-virus"... which means everybody's affected, right? As soon as these companies are going to say "It's a Windows virus" THEN people may start noticing, especially if they're going to keep scores like % of viruses/virii for Windows and other OS-es.
Heck, I don't mind paying a license if that means that the mp3/divx/whatever is in fact the thing I want, and not some virusinfested or fake 700MB download. As long as they keep the price low - they'll compensate enough through numbers - I wouldn't mind. I think companies are starting to realise that they can make a shitload of money on this scheme. Imagine what, 3 million unique downloads a day? 5 million? Even if you got $ 0.01 for each download, how much would that amount to in a year?
SuSE also has a live-eval version of it's distro... It takes a hell of a long time, cause it installs on a virtual RAM-disk. So you get the actual install you want...
it seems to me that they're preferring configurability over speed. Need an extra load-balancing webserver? install kernel + apache & whatever you need on a users desktop and hey presto...
Imagine a beowulf cluster of those:) but seriously... you should be able to test clusters fairly easy this way, running only the software you would be running in a production environment.
Users who are clueless but think they are clueful.
Having worked at MS Support I also got my fair share of these people on the line. OK... we did a bit of the script (type of machine, amount of RAM and AV-software were the 3 main things I asked) because I told the customer I was required to ask these questions (I wasn't). They then went on rambling about some problem and told me they were indeed very capable and knowledgeable. Usually 1 question put them in their place: Me: "Could you open the device manager for me?"
Cust: "..."
Cust: "..."
Me: "OK, you've got the device manager, do you see anything out of the ordinary?"
Cust (rather sheepishly): "where's the device manager?"
After this they nicely followed my lead and did as I told them to. I don't want to talk people down, but you pick them out fairly easily, and once put in their place they're like putty. If I made the wrong assumption of what kind of caller it was, I got the following answer for instance:
"It's a software problem, the device manager's got nothing to do with it". Then at least I knew what kind of user I was dealing with and changed my attitude.
No seriously. They should sign the NDA, review the "obtrusive" code, remove it, rewrite it and release it in the Public Domain. As of then SCO won't have a leg to stand on... you'll just upgrade your kernel with the IBM GPL patch...
This would be a great move for IBM. They kill off SCO's FUD, while in the process of releasing they become the ultimate good guy & savior of Linux & the Open Source community. It would gain them major trust with decisionmaking execs & IT staff alike. They make a smart move (businesswise) and at the same time they satisfy all geeks around the world.
According to this article, the CIA helped the Taliban. So does that mean that the FBI will be after the CIA? After all, the CIA helped the Taliban to create an "establishment" in the Afghanistan region.
Bah... I'm putting on my tinfoil hat again... and I don't even live in the US;-)
Yes. I use Windoze Mediaplayer because it does what I want it to do... play all my video files... For music, I use Winamp (I want a linux port of that, xmms just doesn't cut it for me - dunno why). For DVD, I use PowerDVD because I like the keyboard shortcuts better. That's about the only thing I disklike about WMP... you can't reconfigure the keyboard shortcuts (standardized shortcuts anyone?).
I truly hate the Real Software... It's bloated, loads slow, has all kinds of spyware, it's a horrible format... and you even have to pay for that adware bloat called "customized content"... I know there's a free player, but I wish Joe Average good luck finding it. I would never _ever_ want that stuff bundled with the OS, please. Same goes for the Quicktime player (had it crash on me quite frequently). Why not use something like Debian's dselect? I mean... the guys at M$ should be smart enough to code a selection list like this: "please tick the box of which software you want to use" and then a list of well known/used media players (Real, Qtime, Winamp, WMP, whathaveyou) That way they comply with the EU and leave the users with a clue a choice... Ofcourse they would list WMP at the top and have it checked by default, but that's another story.
Slashdot Mirror
but you're too late... viagra.com is already taken.
No Shit dude?
Right?
We use it on our WAN/LAN too, because we have a lot of WiFi spots in our network. There are a few machines that are allowed on all WiFi spots (IT-dept. machines mostly), the rest is closed off based on MAC address. If I get on the network on a remote site, a few bells & whistles go off at our central office.
I think that's the way they did it. It's simple & effective (and implemented on most OS's.)I mean, how many XP boxes are still pre-SP1? Probably more than the % that are patched up-to-date, otherwise we wouldn't have these kinds of virus-outbreaks.
So in conclusion: Is this a marketing technique? Mostly, I think it is, but it's not bad to have this as a baseline security (fresh install, connect to internet for updates, get virus, unable to get further updates scenario is pretty common these days). Just let the users know that they should stay up to date. I think that is M$'s biggest problem.
I think there's a wrong trend that sites that should not give this kind of information are the ones that are listed on top in a Google search. As usual on the internet, apply common sense first... but a lot of people read it, and if it's on a popular site... well, it must be true then of course. I did check with my uncle later on (he's a doctor) and he confirmed my research, diagnosis & cure. He also confirmed that the trend I noticed is a pain in the butt for most doctors, because a lot of people tend to think they have something dramatic (bragging rights on a tea party perhaps?) while they don't. He says consult times have a longer duration now because not only does he have to diagnose & write out a prescription if needed, but he also has to tell the patient his or her issue is not that grave.
I just think some ppl will open up an IRC channel where you can post your goals & your exploits/methods. easy way to make money... and it doesn't really help the study since everyone is using the same methods and such... of course you can only sign up once with your real address... but hey... inform your non-geek friends they will be getting 10% of the check if you can use their address & IP to bounce off. I'm a bit sceptic about how they'll react to such "abuse" of their system...
even hitting 1 would probably suffice... if I'm typing in a number I wouldn't be needing text input and vice-versa, well that's another point. Maybe 3rd press of a letter? eg: a, A, 1?
(online) petition: they presented the petition IRL to the MEP's
Furthermore, there was a demonstration in front of the EU office in Brussels (I went there). About 500 people showed up, which is an extraordinary feat considering they anounced it only about 1 week in advance. There were people present from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany and Denmark. And those are the people I talked to, so there may have been more nationalities. I say, this was pretty effective. Their goal was not to abandon all e-patent legislature (that's a pipe dream and they know it), but that the legislature would be set within reasonable bounds. And this is what we (they really - I just showed up for a cool meeting with geeks, and they do the hard work) tried to get across.Heck, I don't mind paying a license if that means that the mp3/divx/whatever is in fact the thing I want, and not some virusinfested or fake 700MB download.
As long as they keep the price low - they'll compensate enough through numbers - I wouldn't mind. I think companies are starting to realise that they can make a shitload of money on this scheme. Imagine what, 3 million unique downloads a day? 5 million? Even if you got $ 0.01 for each download, how much would that amount to in a year?
it seems to me that they're preferring configurability over speed. Need an extra load-balancing webserver? install kernel + apache & whatever you need on a users desktop and hey presto...
Imagine a beowulf cluster of those :) but seriously... you should be able to test clusters fairly easy this way, running only the software you would be running in a production environment.
Dear RIAA, I kindly ask you to view my photoID here.
(Warning: Goatse.cx link)
Sorry... it was stronger than me >:(
I'm posting this from Lynx (no seriously) and I have /. to load...
had no problems getting
Then again, there's no purty pictures 'ere
Me: "Could you open the device manager for me?"
Cust: "..."
Cust: "..."
Me: "OK, you've got the device manager, do you see anything out of the ordinary?"
Cust (rather sheepishly): "where's the device manager?"
After this they nicely followed my lead and did as I told them to. I don't want to talk people down, but you pick them out fairly easily, and once put in their place they're like putty.
If I made the wrong assumption of what kind of caller it was, I got the following answer for instance: "It's a software problem, the device manager's got nothing to do with it". Then at least I knew what kind of user I was dealing with and changed my attitude.
As of then SCO won't have a leg to stand on... you'll just upgrade your kernel with the IBM GPL patch...
This would be a great move for IBM. They kill off SCO's FUD, while in the process of releasing they become the ultimate good guy & savior of Linux & the Open Source community. It would gain them major trust with decisionmaking execs & IT staff alike. They make a smart move (businesswise) and at the same time they satisfy all geeks around the world.
Bah... I'm putting on my tinfoil hat again... and I don't even live in the US ;-)
Or what about that modded X-box?... Or the PS2 development kit (it runs on linux IIRC)?
I truly hate the Real Software... It's bloated, loads slow, has all kinds of spyware, it's a horrible format... and you even have to pay for that adware bloat called "customized content"... I know there's a free player, but I wish Joe Average good luck finding it. I would never _ever_ want that stuff bundled with the OS, please. Same goes for the Quicktime player (had it crash on me quite frequently). Why not use something like Debian's dselect? I mean... the guys at M$ should be smart enough to code a selection list like this: "please tick the box of which software you want to use" and then a list of well known/used media players (Real, Qtime, Winamp, WMP, whathaveyou) That way they comply with the EU and leave the users with a clue a choice... Ofcourse they would list WMP at the top and have it checked by default, but that's another story.