One feature of MS Outlook that is missing from most other email clients is the ability to download just email headers. I use this feature to review sender/subject and I can identify all spam just from that.
Actually, I use my own program to download headers, score them for likely spam, delete the garbage emails(without ever downloading the actual content), then start outlook to get the real ones.
Obviously, if a legit sender transmits a virus, it's a problem, but I guess that's why I pay Symantec.
and that's the way it will stay.
The isolated example of software development outsourcing has already been successfully employed in so many other areas, I'm actually surprised it's taken this long to ramp up.
Here in the US, we produce a just fraction of the steel, petroleum, textile, automobiles, and electronics hardware the we did just a decade ago.
As a software developer, I have seen a direct influence on my business because of it, but I think the answer to adapt through innovation. We are not going to stem the tide of globalization and companies that just rely on protectionist measures will likely not hang on for the long term.
For all of the developers that complain about outsourcing, I wonder how much they would like to pay the $2000-$3000 price tag for a low-end PC that had all its components made here in the US? Your cries are the same ones made by all the other sectors I mentioned above, but have we seen even one of those return and be successful?
We have seen the outsourcing of cheap labor. Now we're seeing the outsourcing of cheap brains. As it becomes practical to transfer other cost-centers to less expensive venues, they will be relocated also. Perhaps the medical and legal professions will feel the pinch next.
I just don't think we should limit ourselves to protectionism for the answer. Think for yourself and go out and do something no one else has done. In the US, you have every opportunity if you are willing to put forth the effort.
Having read some of the feedback, here are my responses:
1 - Not practical because the protocols will have to change.
A - They ARE going to change anyway. With over half of email traffic now spam, the existing system is going to have to be modified or become unusable - legislation alone will not do it. Filtering will never be an adequate solution either IMHO.
2 - Spammers will validate your email address and send you more spam.
A - They may try, but the whole point is that I can identify real, specific servers that are sending me spam, plus I don't even have to go there if I can - from the header- identify it as such - that's the whole point of sending the header info anyway. The burden is on the spammers to maintain the storage - they could no longer "send it and forget it"
3 - Privacy issues are created by connecting to the (offending) sender.
A - Perhaps so, but can't they already achieve this by embedding html in emails anyway?
4 - The flow of information on the Internet would be altered with more traffic during prime time.
A - This is one of the more thoughful issues that came up so far, but consider: Im my typical inbox, I get 100+ spams per day - they've been sent throughout the last 16-24 hours. Gradually. But most users already filter if at all based on the entire email content. So there are already bottlenecks between me and my ISP at primetime if your scenario is true. Now compare that with ignoring all but two of those 100+ email headers. Sure, I've downloaded the headers, but I'm only retrieving content for some small percentage ( not more than half, at most, right?). Plus in the current situation, there are still MILLIONS of spam going to MILLIONS of addresses with full content - even during primetime- seems like the overall traffic would have to be less if we had good ways to identify spamming servers.
In sum, I brought this up as an idea to spark others- I did not work out all the details - I'm sure there are lots of them, but let's find something that puts the burden on the spammers and provides some accountability.
My idea was not so much one for traffic reduction as traffic accountability - hopefully without a traffic increase. Sure spammers could fake all kinds of email headers, but once the server is known, things could be handled maybe at a higher level than end-recipients. It seems like it would be impossible for spammers to be able to quickly to set up a different IP address for mailing spam everytime their server(s) get blacklisted. And ISPs are not going to want to store the stuff, spammers won't want to pay for it, and even if they do, they can be identified and face the consequences.
Instead of sending the whole email content - and with it the ability to falsify email header information, why not just send the email header only - and require the originating server to hold the email content?
That way, there's no question where the email came from, and exactly which account sent it. Plus traffic goes way down by not passing the content all over the place.
In addition millions of copies of the same email would not have to be held on recipient's servers, they would just sit on the originating server until received or until some time limit expired.
I guess this would prohibit using a (ISP's) email server as a repository, you would have to download everything you wanted to keep, but hey, no more email size limits! - send me the world - if I want it, I'll come and get it!
1 - I've posted about this before; since I can look at just the subject, sender, and recipient fields and figure out if an email is spam, then I should be able to get/write a program to do that also, and therefore not have to even download the entire garbage content. I'm using my own email header spam-scoring system that gets about the same results as more sophisticated filters that examine email content.
2- Most of the solutions to spam have involved ideas where senders pay or trying to swamp spammers with so much return junk that they get annoyed or driven out of business. Is it feasible to use an email system where the email content does not hop from one server to another? Just send the headers and where to get the content. In other words, when an email is sent, it would sit on the SMTP server provided the sender's ISP(s). That way recipients have to go and get it ( just like web pages, right?) It seems to me that would cut way down on traffic, could provide accountability, and alleviate the ridiculous burden on recipient's ISP to provide storage for every idiot that wants to send their trash to my e-doorstep. ISPs would be pressured to either charge for holding millions of emails until they're read, and at the same time quickley get blacklisted if they allow spammers to operate from their servers - and the sender ISPs know who they are, which might make it possible to get the actual spammers more directly. Seems like such a system might at least direct more of the cost towards the sender side rather than the recipient side.
Instead of little plastic pieces, here's your chance to save the world by doing something useful with all those AOL CDs!
If you were truly geek, you could set up a linux box to (virtually) run the AOL install, and the game environment could be something in a virtual AOL world. Players could (virtually) swap files, get email, bypass parental controls, get sued by RIAA, become the target of slashdotting, etc.
By the way, I've patented this, so be sure to call me if you get it working! I've also patented the concept of prior art, so if someone else has been doing this(or anything else) before I thought of it, you owe me, too.
RedHat - Babylon IX
Our last, best chance for support
I've used Turbo Pascal/Delphi since 1984
on
Kylix in Limbo
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
and found it to be a very reliable, fast, and decently-supported IDE that produced apps that ran well when compared to other binary compilers. When D1 came out, it was a truly OO environment that left VB in the dust. It supported the Windows API better than VB did. Until MS got forms into their non-VB products, Deplhi was by far the fastest way to prototype or build a real Windows EXE that did something useful and performed respectably.
It was this excellence that got Delphi any market share in the first place, it it was/is supported by lots of third-party vendors, and it had a loyal following of developers, not just here, it was very popular in Europe also.
Kylix has unfortunately been a complete disappointment from this perspective. I believe it's not catching on because it does not work. Read the Borland Kylix IDE newsgroups. Nothing but install problems, lib incompatibilities, and kernel upgrades required to even install the thing. And even if you win that battle on some distro, there's the larger war of getting an app working with all the component/gui problems, and finally the disaster of deployment. What more do you need to discourage developers?
Where you like Pascal or not, if Borland had created a reasonably functional product, that provided the same level of qualtiy that Delphi has done, existing Delphi developers would have been comfortable moving over to Linux, and others would have learned it, like they learned it for Windows when Delphi was hot. And corporate IT might buy into it because it would be a company-supported product on Linux. It's the great product that creates the demaind, not the free product. Linux is successful not so much because it is free, but because it works.
NSA:
We had a problem with this message. Could you please decode it for us?
Certicom Tech Support Person:
Just a moment...got it...here it is.
NSA:
Thanks very much. BANG!
RIP.
this probably only works if there is only one "clicker" in the area. Otherwise you'd get your echoes confused with the others, with embarassing results. Also, there must be some relatively low velocity limit, since your interpretation of the echo likely depends on (your knowledge of) the origination point of the audio source. I bet parking meters and telephone poles are quite stealthy against this technology.
Rather than trying to navigate yourself down a straight hallway alone, try blindfolding a bunch of people and get them to echolocate around a circle - better than twister!
Fast Food, Just-In-Time Compilers, Overnight Delivery, Get-Rich Quick schemes, Day-Trading, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Ready in 5 minutes or it's free.
-just get it here sometime in the next 50 years, I'l be happy!
that if all products like RoboSweep, Tap lights, Thigh Masters, electronic inset repellers, Clappers, Buttoneers, Mr. Microphones, OxyClean, Ginsu Knives, and anything else that's advertized on TV after 2 a.m. were assembled into ONE GIANT MACHINE we would have...
either a black hole that only sucks in money or the first device suitable for sanctioning spammers.
Spammers mercilessly tortured while you rest!
Sound effects optional...Canadians add one dollar!
...this is the coolest logo yet.
Kudos to the inspiration for this one!
500 quatloos to anyone who can remember this characters's name without looking....
Balok?
if I get blasted with Delta rays do I get one of these cool chairs plus a trip to Talos IV for a date with my favorite green Orion slave-girl?
Beep once for yes!
Slashdot Mirror
One feature of MS Outlook that is missing from most other email clients is the ability to download just email headers. I use this feature to review sender/subject and I can identify all spam just from that.
Actually, I use my own program to download headers, score them for likely spam, delete the garbage emails(without ever downloading the actual content), then start outlook to get the real ones.
Obviously, if a legit sender transmits a virus, it's a problem, but I guess that's why I pay Symantec.
and that's the way it will stay.
The isolated example of software development outsourcing has already been successfully employed in so many other areas, I'm actually surprised it's taken this long to ramp up.
Here in the US, we produce a just fraction of the steel, petroleum, textile, automobiles, and electronics hardware the we did just a decade ago.
As a software developer, I have seen a direct influence on my business because of it, but I think the answer to adapt through innovation. We are not going to stem the tide of globalization and companies that just rely on protectionist measures will likely not hang on for the long term.
For all of the developers that complain about outsourcing, I wonder how much they would like to pay the $2000-$3000 price tag for a low-end PC that had all its components made here in the US? Your cries are the same ones made by all the other sectors I mentioned above, but have we seen even one of those return and be successful?
We have seen the outsourcing of cheap labor. Now we're seeing the outsourcing of cheap brains. As it becomes practical to transfer other cost-centers to less expensive venues, they will be relocated also. Perhaps the medical and legal professions will feel the pinch next.
I just don't think we should limit ourselves to protectionism for the answer. Think for yourself and go out and do something no one else has done. In the US, you have every opportunity if you are willing to put forth the effort.
All of the birds in my neighborhood will get rid of have their kidney stones!
1 - Not practical because the protocols will have to change.
A - They ARE going to change anyway. With over half of email traffic now spam, the existing system is going to have to be modified or become unusable - legislation alone will not do it. Filtering will never be an adequate solution either IMHO.
2 - Spammers will validate your email address and send you more spam.
A - They may try, but the whole point is that I can identify real, specific servers that are sending me spam, plus I don't even have to go there if I can - from the header- identify it as such - that's the whole point of sending the header info anyway. The burden is on the spammers to maintain the storage - they could no longer "send it and forget it"
3 - Privacy issues are created by connecting to the (offending) sender.
A - Perhaps so, but can't they already achieve this by embedding html in emails anyway?
4 - The flow of information on the Internet would be altered with more traffic during prime time.
A - This is one of the more thoughful issues that came up so far, but consider: Im my typical inbox, I get 100+ spams per day - they've been sent throughout the last 16-24 hours. Gradually. But most users already filter if at all based on the entire email content. So there are already bottlenecks between me and my ISP at primetime if your scenario is true. Now compare that with ignoring all but two of those 100+ email headers. Sure, I've downloaded the headers, but I'm only retrieving content for some small percentage ( not more than half, at most, right?). Plus in the current situation, there are still MILLIONS of spam going to MILLIONS of addresses with full content - even during primetime- seems like the overall traffic would have to be less if we had good ways to identify spamming servers.
In sum, I brought this up as an idea to spark others- I did not work out all the details - I'm sure there are lots of them, but let's find something that puts the burden on the spammers and provides some accountability.
My idea was not so much one for traffic reduction as traffic accountability - hopefully without a traffic increase. Sure spammers could fake all kinds of email headers, but once the server is known, things could be handled maybe at a higher level than end-recipients. It seems like it would be impossible for spammers to be able to quickly to set up a different IP address for mailing spam everytime their server(s) get blacklisted. And ISPs are not going to want to store the stuff, spammers won't want to pay for it, and even if they do, they can be identified and face the consequences.
Thanks All!
That way, there's no question where the email came from, and exactly which account sent it. Plus traffic goes way down by not passing the content all over the place.
In addition millions of copies of the same email would not have to be held on recipient's servers, they would just sit on the originating server until received or until some time limit expired.
I guess this would prohibit using a (ISP's) email server as a repository, you would have to download everything you wanted to keep, but hey, no more email size limits! - send me the world - if I want it, I'll come and get it!
Could this help in the spam wars?
2- Most of the solutions to spam have involved ideas where senders pay or trying to swamp spammers with so much return junk that they get annoyed or driven out of business. Is it feasible to use an email system where the email content does not hop from one server to another? Just send the headers and where to get the content. In other words, when an email is sent, it would sit on the SMTP server provided the sender's ISP(s). That way recipients have to go and get it ( just like web pages, right?) It seems to me that would cut way down on traffic, could provide accountability, and alleviate the ridiculous burden on recipient's ISP to provide storage for every idiot that wants to send their trash to my e-doorstep. ISPs would be pressured to either charge for holding millions of emails until they're read, and at the same time quickley get blacklisted if they allow spammers to operate from their servers - and the sender ISPs know who they are, which might make it possible to get the actual spammers more directly. Seems like such a system might at least direct more of the cost towards the sender side rather than the recipient side.
"Any decent brand o' Scotch 'll do that!"
If you were truly geek, you could set up a linux box to (virtually) run the AOL install, and the game environment could be something in a virtual AOL world. Players could (virtually) swap files, get email, bypass parental controls, get sued by RIAA, become the target of slashdotting, etc.
By the way, I've patented this, so be sure to call me if you get it working! I've also patented the concept of prior art, so if someone else has been doing this(or anything else) before I thought of it, you owe me, too.
apparently they still don't know when their service is fertile.
Multivac, can I be the Voter?
glow fish!
I'm going to need a new box of crayons now that "salmon" has a cousin.
What if he's in BOTH of them? Which one is the clone?
Actually, if you boil the water fast enough, you get the same effect!
RedHat - Babylon IX Our last, best chance for support
and found it to be a very reliable, fast, and decently-supported IDE that produced apps that ran well when compared to other binary compilers. When D1 came out, it was a truly OO environment that left VB in the dust. It supported the Windows API better than VB did. Until MS got forms into their non-VB products, Deplhi was by far the fastest way to prototype or build a real Windows EXE that did something useful and performed respectably. It was this excellence that got Delphi any market share in the first place, it it was/is supported by lots of third-party vendors, and it had a loyal following of developers, not just here, it was very popular in Europe also. Kylix has unfortunately been a complete disappointment from this perspective. I believe it's not catching on because it does not work. Read the Borland Kylix IDE newsgroups. Nothing but install problems, lib incompatibilities, and kernel upgrades required to even install the thing. And even if you win that battle on some distro, there's the larger war of getting an app working with all the component/gui problems, and finally the disaster of deployment. What more do you need to discourage developers? Where you like Pascal or not, if Borland had created a reasonably functional product, that provided the same level of qualtiy that Delphi has done, existing Delphi developers would have been comfortable moving over to Linux, and others would have learned it, like they learned it for Windows when Delphi was hot. And corporate IT might buy into it because it would be a company-supported product on Linux. It's the great product that creates the demaind, not the free product. Linux is successful not so much because it is free, but because it works.
NSA: We had a problem with this message. Could you please decode it for us?
Certicom Tech Support Person: Just a moment...got it...here it is.
NSA: Thanks very much. BANG!
RIP.
Can you hear me gag? hic...Good!
this probably only works if there is only one "clicker" in the area. Otherwise you'd get your echoes confused with the others, with embarassing results. Also, there must be some relatively low velocity limit, since your interpretation of the echo likely depends on (your knowledge of) the origination point of the audio source. I bet parking meters and telephone poles are quite stealthy against this technology. Rather than trying to navigate yourself down a straight hallway alone, try blindfolding a bunch of people and get them to echolocate around a circle - better than twister!
Fast Food, Just-In-Time Compilers, Overnight Delivery, Get-Rich Quick schemes, Day-Trading, Carnation Instant Breakfast, Ready in 5 minutes or it's free. -just get it here sometime in the next 50 years, I'l be happy!
that if all products like RoboSweep, Tap lights, Thigh Masters, electronic inset repellers, Clappers, Buttoneers, Mr. Microphones, OxyClean, Ginsu Knives, and anything else that's advertized on TV after 2 a.m. were assembled into ONE GIANT MACHINE we would have... either a black hole that only sucks in money or the first device suitable for sanctioning spammers. Spammers mercilessly tortured while you rest! Sound effects optional...Canadians add one dollar!
when Uncle Fester was able to light that incandescent bulb in his mouth!
...this is the coolest logo yet. Kudos to the inspiration for this one! 500 quatloos to anyone who can remember this characters's name without looking.... Balok?
if I get blasted with Delta rays do I get one of these cool chairs plus a trip to Talos IV for a date with my favorite green Orion slave-girl? Beep once for yes!
A printer/shredder that blankets the page(both sides) with toner before shredding. Scan that!