Linux is a pretty common platform here at the Bureau of Met., but I guess that's always going to be the case in a scientific organisation. It's certainly not thought of as strange, though.
'I'm not convinced that there's "someone politically neutral"'.... I thought someone might say that. I think practically speaking, it will work itself out. Having VeriSign at the helm isn't actually the worst thing at the world. Not ideologically ideal, but you know, it works kind of okay.
"Here I agree with you more. The only non-authoritatian way to establish an online identity is some kind of web of trust."
Well, the thing is that GPG does well is provide anonymity and encryption. I think it's a valuable service to tie that to a meatware ID so that I can do cool stuff online without having to worry about identity fraud. Wouldn't it be cool if it were possible to really trust that you were talking to someone who had a real, traceable ID in case something went horribly wrong?
Cheers,
-BM
Isn't that what GPG is for? Oh, I get it, you're hooking up an online identity to a real one. Well, that's kind of what a domain name is. If we had free personal domains, administered by someone politically neutral, that would all be a solvable problem. I haven't looked into your site, but I understand what you're talking about, and yes it would be a useful thing. It's the kind of thing that could defeat spam, fight evil and be generally useful. I think it could be strapped together by encouraging companies to mutually trust eachother's employees at the mail server level etc until it became so obviously useful everyone wanted to do it...
Cheers,
-BM
I'm so used to mis-constructed (read self-signed, out of date, poorly named, etc) certificates that after a few moments of consideration, I usually just click "yes" to trust these things. Anyone out there who wants to start a backyard signing authority can just go for it. Just call your company FreeCert, put up some futzy web page and don't charge a cent. Freeloading certificate-junkies will come flowing to your website generating certificates. They can then put up weenie graphic-links back to your site as payment, and you can sponsor the crapped out server you've got with banner signs and t-shirts with "FreeCert Forever - They'll Never Take Our Freedom" sold online through the online shopping e-commerce solution you've whipped up. Choose life. Choose a sofa. Choose 1024-bit encryption. Choose a f$%#ng great motherboad with dual CPUs. Choose Linux. I chose not to choose linux. I chose something else...
I would have thought there would be heaps of opportunity for this - everything from analysing rainfall data to improve local agriculture to traffic management to disease tracking to medical databases for nurses in the field to census analysis to.... etc etc.
Sure, I'll chip in a minute or two. Where do we sign up?
-BM
No, but I hear it is full of rather Draconian stuff. I've always been of the opinion that whatever you take to extremes will be bad, never mind the underlying religion.
But I'll agree on a personal level that I think that the Muslim culture seems to foster an extremist attitude more than most others.
I'm not saying I approve of the approach, but I think that the correct response is to try to foster peace, rather than us it as an excuse for violence of our own.
Down with the other guys! Hooray for us! Yaaay!
-BM
I think we all realise that this guy is basically wrong. Religious and racial tolerance are the best practise.
Buttonholing the many for the wrongs of the few is a misguided approach. If you follow it, it will be to your detriment, and you will fall behind.
Not to mention the hypocrisy. (something tells me I can't spell that word - it just look... wrong somehow).
-T
Some thoughts :
Linux boxes are often servers not surfers
Many browsers report badly
Adding Linux + Max = nice looking market chunk.
Does anyone know whether any other search engines have similar stats?
-BM
More like, I would have thought, a system default password. Lots of (usually older) software has a default password set into it that people just never bother to change...
-BM
Slashdot Mirror
Linux is a pretty common platform here at the Bureau of Met., but I guess that's always going to be the case in a scientific organisation. It's certainly not thought of as strange, though.
Extreme .... weirdness... warp engines canna take it ... transporter malfunction .... I'll never be rude to a gin an tonic again!
'I'm not convinced that there's "someone politically neutral"' .... I thought someone might say that. I think practically speaking, it will work itself out. Having VeriSign at the helm isn't actually the worst thing at the world. Not ideologically ideal, but you know, it works kind of okay.
"Here I agree with you more. The only non-authoritatian way to establish an online identity is some kind of web of trust."
Well, the thing is that GPG does well is provide anonymity and encryption. I think it's a valuable service to tie that to a meatware ID so that I can do cool stuff online without having to worry about identity fraud. Wouldn't it be cool if it were possible to really trust that you were talking to someone who had a real, traceable ID in case something went horribly wrong?
Cheers,
-BM
Isn't that what GPG is for? Oh, I get it, you're hooking up an online identity to a real one. Well, that's kind of what a domain name is. If we had free personal domains, administered by someone politically neutral, that would all be a solvable problem. I haven't looked into your site, but I understand what you're talking about, and yes it would be a useful thing. It's the kind of thing that could defeat spam, fight evil and be generally useful. I think it could be strapped together by encouraging companies to mutually trust eachother's employees at the mail server level etc until it became so obviously useful everyone wanted to do it... Cheers, -BM
Here is Aus, Starbucks is like the McDonald's of coffee, if not even worse! I bought a coffee there, and frankly would rather drink instant. -BM
According to a new study, the old study was right!
-BM
It's different here in Australia. We get charged by data usage, so the ISPs don't really give a crap what's on the other end of the pipe.
I'm so used to mis-constructed (read self-signed, out of date, poorly named, etc) certificates that after a few moments of consideration, I usually just click "yes" to trust these things. Anyone out there who wants to start a backyard signing authority can just go for it. Just call your company FreeCert, put up some futzy web page and don't charge a cent. Freeloading certificate-junkies will come flowing to your website generating certificates. They can then put up weenie graphic-links back to your site as payment, and you can sponsor the crapped out server you've got with banner signs and t-shirts with "FreeCert Forever - They'll Never Take Our Freedom" sold online through the online shopping e-commerce solution you've whipped up. Choose life. Choose a sofa. Choose 1024-bit encryption. Choose a f$%#ng great motherboad with dual CPUs. Choose Linux. I chose not to choose linux. I chose something else...
-BM
I would have thought there would be heaps of opportunity for this - everything from analysing rainfall data to improve local agriculture to traffic management to disease tracking to medical databases for nurses in the field to census analysis to .... etc etc.
Sure, I'll chip in a minute or two. Where do we sign up?
-BM
No, but I hear it is full of rather Draconian stuff. I've always been of the opinion that whatever you take to extremes will be bad, never mind the underlying religion. But I'll agree on a personal level that I think that the Muslim culture seems to foster an extremist attitude more than most others. I'm not saying I approve of the approach, but I think that the correct response is to try to foster peace, rather than us it as an excuse for violence of our own. Down with the other guys! Hooray for us! Yaaay! -BM
I think we all realise that this guy is basically wrong. Religious and racial tolerance are the best practise. Buttonholing the many for the wrongs of the few is a misguided approach. If you follow it, it will be to your detriment, and you will fall behind. Not to mention the hypocrisy. (something tells me I can't spell that word - it just look ... wrong somehow).
-T
Some thoughts : Linux boxes are often servers not surfers Many browsers report badly Adding Linux + Max = nice looking market chunk. Does anyone know whether any other search engines have similar stats? -BM
More like, I would have thought, a system default password. Lots of (usually older) software has a default password set into it that people just never bother to change... -BM