Would you like some cheese and crackers with that whine?
You don't _have_ to migrate. No gun is put to your head. It's not like they are going to make all computers uninstall 1.0 for 2.0. It's backwards compatible. That means, program in 2002 and.NET X.0 will work. It just means you don't get the nice new shiny features. If you want those AND the IDE, then they deserve their money. They have earned it.
Now, had you said "I want to program in WM5!" then you might have a partially valid argument. But you'r still ignorant as fuck.
Are you seriously wanting them to write features for FREE?!?
And even cooler -- if you are in college or school, get the Acedemic version of MS VS 2005 for $50 (like I did) from ccvsoftware.com.
Stop being a Linux fan boy and learn to make informed decisions. You wouldn't last two seconds on the OpenBSD-Misc mailing list.
After reconsidering, I've decided you are just too naive to understand.
How about I take this to an extreme:
If I kill your family and leave. Should I not expect you to hunt me down? Or will you just wait for "justice". Since I would probably get a relativly small sentance ( 10 years), I would have viewed it was a fair trade off.
I see you are so full of yourself that you have not been in a negative atmosphere to the point it changes you. You can play semantics and say "They can't change you, only you can change you" and at that point you might be right however at one point or another you _will_ give up trying -- unless you are stupid (which means that you keep trying the same thing expecting a different result). Because of your lack of experiance, I forgive you in your response. It's intersting to see those who live happy lives and think "wow, nothing in the world is that bad.. you just suck" all the time. Perhaps you should live other people's lives.
If I quit -- I die. Simple as that. I'm on medications that are required for life. Basically, in less than a month I won't be capable of moving without severly damaging my body (read: ripping joints out and pulling ligaments out). So.. you know what? I'm sick and tired of you cocky ass mother fuckers. I quit my job earlier today. To be honest, I really don't plan on living through this. I just wish that whatever god be (if any) put you through this such that you can have yourlife forced upon you with no choice in the matter. Walk in another mans shoes before you speak -- ASSHOLE.
We shall see in 3 months if I shall live or die. In either case, I'll probably see you in a hell or two.;-)
Agreed. Far too many managers are willing to take a risk.
Example: Broadbad companies are freaking out becuase people are finding ways to saturate their connection -- which is why you are reading so many slashdot articles about it over the past few months. I work under a PHB who is in a software violation with Microsoft and AutoDesk. I've also been informed that after the last bast (many year ago) that next time that if we are out of spec with more than 5 liceneses then someone is going to jail. I called my boss that we are WAY out of spec and should call MS giving them an apology and see how it goes. When it's all said and done Microsoft said "Keep what you got, don't worry -- however do not continue what you are doing.
Basically what happened is we purchased OEM copies of software and slapped them on custom built machines. Apparantly you aren't allowed to do that. OEM means you have to resell it to another customer or had bought it with that machine. It also means when the machine dies, your license dies -- you can't just migrate it over -- this is why the sticker is attached to the computer.
MS was very leniant on us.
So, later on a computer dies and I ask my boss how he would like to proceed. His answer? MS thinks it's functional, buy a new machine, rebuild it the same way and they won't know. They think we are X licenses out of spec, so let's keep it that way. I later had him buy full professional copies (>$300) instead because he does NOT want to waste a computer. Nevermind that computer isn't even worth $300 and could be replaced from Dell for a little over that. *sigh*.
Moral of the story: Managment is wiling to take risks and plead ignorance. They are willing to make you do unethical things *if* they think you will do it. They will push and hint hard on it too...
Fucking sucks too. Especially if you need medications and can die without them.. all of a sudden quitting your job is more like suicide (literally)...
On the flip side: If you have to ASK if it's ethical, it's probably not and you should take the safer route. But that's not always easily done either... ideal != practical != easy.
But you do owe your family food. Well, you don't owe them, but it's on your head of you just quit. Even that one day where you get absurdly ticked off -- you still have to think of the family. I don't know about you, but I couldn't quit and find another job in a week. Now, if you were willing to find me a job -- then great. If not, then shut up. Some people actually have responsibilities that many (most?) slashdotters don't have. And if you are in the sad state where you work so much you don't have time to go job searching you are double fucked. You see there is a difference between being ideal and being practical. So quitting your job will transform one stress into another -- one which can be much more costly.
Personally, I've taken the attitude of I don't care. It's not my money, not my problem, and I'm hourly. I'm not going to fight mgmt tooth and nail everytime. If the user wants the admin password to a server, that's fine. When shit goes to hell in a hand basket again, I'll just take my sweet ass time fixing it. I've *never* recieved postive reinforcement for my work -- which, after a year and a half, transformed me into this attitude. So while eariler on they _might_ have been saving on the bottom line, now they _won't_ save on the bottom line. This is what happens when you shit on your underlings -- they stop with the loyalty. At this point, I do just enough to keep my job and no more; Until _they_ prove to _me_ that they want to start treating me right.
Ok, this isn't mean tto the buy above this comment, it's meant for the guy dealing in absolutes who isn't catching a clue.
I went years without AV and was clean.
How do I know? I bought TrendMicro (much is _much_ better than Norton and McAffe -- I know this becuase I've replaced those with TM on other machines and those machines run much better; TM is lean) and it said I was clean. I probably won't buy AV again. Unless I get a new job where I use my laptop for anything other than home stuff and working at work... (becuase I like having Natural Selection and HL2:))
Now, back to your point: You can't prove to me that you are 100% clean either much like you can't goto the docter and have him write out something saying you are 100% ok without spending an insane amount of money doing lots of test; Unless of course, you can get Microsoft to verify everything you can via checksum *and* your 3rd party software from the makers themselves. If you want to be insane about this, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Bloodhound is _not_ 100% effective.
I run Windows at work for my firewall (ISA Server) and it hasn't ever been hacked. No, I can't prove this, no I don't go dig through _every_ file on _every_ computer to prove this, but those with other firewalls don't do the same either. I have OpenBSD at home as a firewall...
So the person who doesn't have obvious symptoms (AIDS) therefore must not be infected with HIV?
And what, on Earth, will prevent this? A condom won't stop 100%. What if that condom breaks? What if...? What if...?
Closing one's eyes doesn't make the problem go away.
Back at ya. *kisses*
Stop speaking bullshit and start talking practical; Only sith deal in absolutes.
Thank you.
Ok, they _can_ seperate the two. It's software, it can be *completely* redesigned for that. What they said was it is going to be exceptionally difficult to seperate the two and cost many man hours. They did not say it was impossible. I would suggest reading the transcripts. In software, all is possible... it just make take a _really_ long time though.
I think I would like to place your question in the context of: I don't recall where, but I remember reading (so yes, this is third hand information probably) that Windows XP was supposedly "redisgned from scratch". If this is the case, then how did the recent WMF bug get into the code? That question is more rhetorical leading up to my real question of: How can we be certain that Vista won't face the same challenges? How much of it has been rewritten from scratch and how much of it was a copy and paste (and thusly leading to security vulnerabilities)? Obviously you, as a security dude, don't have completle control over this, but what have you done to prevent these things in Vista from showing up?
All I care about is the future... yes, it's a long time away, the stuff we have now works good enough, leaving us plenty of time to make the next step right. There is no sense in cutting corners now, except to please share holders (who will be pleased when you release early and get a little money from stock going up, but will be _more_ pleased when it's done right and stock goes way up when people find out how solid and more secure it is: Techies talk; They build most of the users computers in the first place).
Why are toilet seats cleaner? How often do you use them compared to your keyboard. How much easier is it to clean a toilet than a keyboard? Granted, you can buy a new keyboard, but I'm relativly certain everytime you clean your toilet you replace your keyboard.
Aside from the few accidental sprinkles from men, only ass touches that seat. It's not like you rub your cock or cunt all over the seat, the part which might actually releases the stuff.
I've also read that washing your hands can (possible) do more harm than good, mostly because bacteria doesn't grow ontop of each other, and since you tend to have good bacteria (err, well, bacteria that won't get you sick) the bad bacteria doesn't get a chance to grow. Washing your hands allows this chance to increase signifigantly.
The police ought to be able to search your house at will, too. If you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to fear, right?
Wanna know something scary? My grandparents think they should be able to do this. Becuase, obviously, they will use it to catch the terrorist.
The problem with that logic? Unless you search every home at one time, you won't catch the criminals. Unless, of course, you expect the criminals to play dumb and get arrestted on purpose. Right. Laws like this are only placed for control when needed or to be abused. Let us remember how the PATRIOT act got here in the first place...
My boss told me that he wanted me to look like I was working. I replied saying that I was, but he disagreed. Why? Becuase I use Remote Desktop. It doesn't *look* like I'm working becuase I never have to leave my desk except for hardware problems and upper mgmt told him that they thought I wasn't working. I told him, if you want me to check everything without using RD, it will cut my procutiong by 1/4. And if he wanted that, I would spend more concious time than production time caring about my image. I told him to choose. I'm not about to play their game. Image matters too much now-a-days.
Perhaps I'm a coward, but that should tell you something of what this country is slowly turning into...
That is *exactly* the problem we have.
Everyone is too scared to act. Nothing will _ever_ change by magic.
Things like this CD allow you to speak without the fear of getting fucked back. Thus, the reason for this CD. Hell, take it to China and get past that firewall. Words matter, even if they can't be placed to a face.
We need some kind of panel for computer judges.
You can't expect a single judge to know enough about computers to make a decision. No one here on slashdot knows everything about computers... you ahve a better chance with a panel with them being split up into expertise. Perhaps networking/security/os? Fuck if I know... but we need to spread out the knowledge. As a society, we are getting very specific as to what we learn.
You used to say "I'm going to be a docter." -- now you say "I'm going to be a nerologist." likewise, we should do the same in computers in the legal sector.
Problem is, as a democartic society (well, actually we are something else.. not everyone here has a direct influence on a law) it will take too long for the legal system to react to things... we need to re-think out legal system.
This is where I would normally say "be less specific" and let the handling be on the judges side, afterall that is what they are there for, right? The problem is it would get abused. On the other hand, too specific and it's of no use to you. We need something in the middle.
The problem with jail time is it fucks you up too much financially. Seriously, without _allot_ of help you can't get caught up in life and thusly will find yourself back in jail. Imagine this, after 6 months of getting out of jail, you can't really afford your own place, your wife left you, you can't afford a car, and finding food is starting to get difficult on the $5.15 / buger flipping job.. CC companies won't let you get a credit card becuase of you high debt (you lost your job when you went to jail and thusly couldn't pay your bills)... After all this, jail probably looks allot nicer than the real world. Thusly without serious help (like family) you can't get out of the whole. On top of that, as soon as you can support yourself, all the help you do get from the government (they do help with _some_ stuff) gets yanked out from under you. So you go from making $5.15 / hour (plus a portion o fyour rent paid from govt and medical benefits, I think)to $8.00 / hour no benefits. So that $8.00 means squat if you can't afford that shitty house your in _and_ your past bills...
It's a fucked up situation. We don't give them a chance to survive and break out of the cycle. Yes, I know, they are criminals and deserve pain.. but when they serve their time, they are supposed to be fixed... right? If not, why the fuck are they out?
On the flip side, those found guilty need to have 1 year in jail, then put a bullet to the head. They should be given reasonable (1 year) time to appeal and find evidence that they didn't commit the crime (allot of people on death row, post death, have been found innocent after evidence shows otherwise).
back on topic, 20k is too much. Their should be some kind of reasonable limit to that. Afterall, what if IBM charge $1,000 / hour and out of spite that company accepted knowing the guy would ahve to pay him back legally? Why not make it infinity / hour?
Because Linux doesn't have a single beurocratic atmosphere. Let's make a reality check, Linux is a kernel whereas (insert distro here) is the collection of the kernel and applications that run on the kernel. Those applications are fixed by their own authors.
It's not like RedHat fixes Gimp's error's or vice-versa.
Stuff moves at a faster pace when you don't have a gazillion levels of management to go through. Plus in Linux their isn't much in the way of testing, it's "Here take this and tell us if you have problems!"
Really? Than why is it that the vast majority of programmers writing for other platforms can get it right? Moreover, I'll be willing to bet that there have been cases where the same piece of software requires Administrator privilages on Windows but doesn't require root on unix-like systems (e.g. Linux, BSD, Mac OS X).
I have a huge respect for Mac becuase they don't let the users shoot themselves. Although, have you noticed the market share compared to Windows?
Linux also started out with those features... Windows didn't. They tried to cater to users and make the users life easier. They failed, sort of.
Adapt? Adapt to what?!
To when Microsoft actually tries to fix things. After SP2 the activated firewall broke things. I don't exactly recall what else happened though.
This is AutoDesk's fault, Microsoft's fault, and your management's fault. And yes, I would expect AutoDesk to fix their product for free, since it is a security risk! Why should I have to pay for security patches?!
Agreed.
First of all, I never said Microsoft was completely to blame, and second, I don't give a shit about Microsoft's "political position" or what's most cost-effective for them; they caused the problem so they should fix it regardless!
When I responded to your question, I didn't mean to sound like I was talking about *you* specifically, I should have referred to the general/. crowd. You seem to show much more intelligence than the average person here. I don't care either about their political position, however as a business they should care.
I don't like credit card companies not helping their clients pay off their debts as easy, however financially it's stupid of them to offer such help. Same premise.
Obviously it's not Linux's fault, because Linux doesn't encourage such shitty programming. Microsoft, on the other hand, did at one time. That's what makes it Microsoft's fault!
Microsoft claims they have turned around on that. Moot point now. Although funny thing, I can't get Visual Studio.NET 2003 to launch the Windows Mobile emulator without admin privies... sad.
I'm sorry, it's unclear who "you" is supposed to refer to. Would I be the OS maker, or the application maker? If the former, then I would fix the OS (to make it not run as root) and say "due to improved features in our product, shitty and insecure applications may no longer run. Take it up with them, because it's not our problem." If the latter, I would certainly fix my product for free, because otherwise any sane customer would switch to my competitor and I'd go out of business!
Sorry, I was generalizing again... I wholey agree with you, however a company with lots of money on the line probably wouldn't. Why? becuase if they don't, they don't lose much money. If they do, they will lose *tons* in fixing the bugs. I say this assuming they a great many bugs still exists in Windows *.
No, BSD and Linux don't have to care because they are Free Software and anyone can fix the problem, and -- more importantly -- they don't have nearly as much control over how people use it. It's because they're all about "here's what we have; take it or leave it" whereas Microsoft is all about providing "complete solutions."
I don't disagree with any particulur point there.
When did I do so, pray tell? You're the one who's been doing that!
Generalizing again... *sigh* I need to break my habit of that...
Ok, let's make a reality check. How many web browsers *really* re-download everything when you hit F5? Most will pull the heavy stuff (read: pictures) from your cache -- so you amount of bandwidth lost is negligable. If, for example, I say I'm going to go kill LOTS of people.. but all I can find is a 9mm, and I take out one person -- the conquences will be much less than had I actually taken out lots. They are not letting the punishment fit the crime.
In any case, I hope the prosecutor ruins his career from this... making a fool of himself and attempting to ruin a kids life. Of course, think of the children... except when it involves us looking good and making money.
By the way, what is the *absolute* worst he could have done had he actually accomploshed what he wanted? If I say, man, I'm going to go steal all the candy's in America... would you really punish me as badly compared to if I said I'm going to go steal all dairy dairy products?
So, in conclusion, I'm sick and fucking tired of this "Zero Tolerance" bullshit. NO ONE LEADS A PERFECT LIFE. PERIOD. Awfully christian of them, let he who has no sin cast the first stone. Not that I'm christian, but I'm just saying.. Let the punishment fit the crime my ass... Zero Tolerence is only so schools don't have to do their job anymore (read: be 'responsible'; high school is a babysitting job, these kids aren't adults; or are they? then why can't they drink or smoke?)
Ummm, but it's mostly the programmers fault that stuff doesn't run as a user. We saw how fast (errr, well how slow) programmers reall adapters when SP2 was released on (relativly) small things. Much less getting programmers to actually use the system like it was supposed to run.
Hell, fucking AutoDesk doesn't even run their shit right. But, this is Microsoft's fault. So, since my AutoDesk 2000LT doesn't run as Administrator (well, it does, but it has to fucking edit the registry for some stupid ass reason and thusl has an annoying popup box -- which users complain about and management will listen to the squeeky wheel), should I blame Microsoft or AutoDesk? Should I expect AutoDesk to fix their product for free?
Don't get me wrong, Microsoft is PARTIALLY to blame on this. However, I probably (being in their political position) would have the same decision.
If my software requires root to run on Linux but is shitty programming, how the hell is the Linux's fault? If you've had to do this in many versions of Linux and a new version comes out that makes you non rootly by default and the software breaks, would you really recompile that software / fix that shit FOR FREE or would you just say fuck it? Would you really choose that stance if LOTS of money is on the line?
*BSD and Linux doesn't have to care -- their is little money invovled.
You can't just compare Microsoft to Linux on everything -- unless you are a fool. Politics plays a huge role when lots of money is invovled. Something Linux won't see much of becuase of it's very own nature. I say much because of software like Suse and Redhat do take money, but they already have things set for them becuase of other distro's. I could go on.. by my drain is bramaged.
And is this the first fundamental change they've seen in this game? I don't think so, infact I have a friend who has stopped playing it becuase they ruined the game for him through some patches earlier this year or last year.
I don't think they are discriminating, they just don't care about anyone.
Unless they stated this game is suitable for disabled people in the first place, then I'm having a hard time caring. On the flip side, I can't think of any game really suited for disabled people. Except maybe card games and logic games and such.
While that isn't what the article is about, there are many people who fear the DRM age. Imagine having DRM in Windows and Linux (as Linus has stated he sees nothing wrong in it). Now, this DRM monitors you and what you do all the time.
What if you get get a C64 or something, hack it to be 'good enough' and have no DRM? You would have no fear of nothing.
Granted, DRM in and of itself isn't bad however it's a like many other things -- it's too often abused. It simply boils down to being able to choose. I don't want _anyone_ being able to get inside my computer but me -- for any reason. I don't want my computer to 'call home' or anything like that, it's a waste of bandwidth and processing power. Heck, the compan who wrote the DRM doesn't have the be on the offending side, someone could write a virus (like Sony's DRM) and you'de be fucked if your OS wouldn't let you remove it.
After all, how much computing power do you _really_ need now-a-days? The only reason for higher end computers is usually for gaming anways. Unless you are complining something serious (like Gentoo Stage 1 or something).
While I believe everything I just said is irrelevent of the topic of the article, I believe it needs to be said due to the amount of people saying these things.
So, basically, have a/tmp (which should have noexec on it) for Windows.
This way you _CAN NOT_ execute files until it's moved elsewhere. Now, if you force programs like gAIM and AIM to be place all tmp files there and have some chroot equivalent... it would be dandy. This is how you prevent Apache for fucking your system in *NX/*BSD.
Infact, check out that PHP virus floating around that messed with the RPC file.... talk about fucked up. Had it happen to my friend (and no, he doesn't have time to update his _personal_ server every time a package gives a sec release... so we went to OBSD.. were it doesn't happen as often and we do have time to keep up).
The problem we run across, is somethingI explained on a Dell forum. The dude was complaining why his PDA wasn't perfect and I explained that quality isn't as much of an issue as is quantity.
Compare OpenBSD to Windows. OpenBSD is _far_ more secure. But in Windows I can download all kinds of nifty toys. I can even play Couter-Strike / some game here without much effort. I truly which Microsoft or anyone else (other than the OBSD crowd) would make the reality check that we need to focus on security first now.
But the problem is when granny goes to buy a computer (or someome not informed) and see's this ultra-secure box that doesn't have flashy things, and seens this ultra-shiny loaded up with little stupid as programs that just look pretty but are loaded withadware/spyware/'bullshit you really won't need or will ever use', then they usually choose the shiny one. Especially if everything 'just works' and you can buy [pulls number out of ass] ump-teen billion books on it.
I view it as _very_ irresponsible for those who knowingly don't put security on the fore-front only becuase it costs too much money. Hell, I have a boss who just recently migrated to Windows for our software (we write robot code) and has openly told me that he doesn't care about security. It's behind a firewall, that's secure enough. It's their fault if they let anything through. Of course, their will _never_ be a reason to need to get through that firewall... _never_... uh huh... since it's windows, I can see the IT crowd finding _some_ reason to fuck with it.
I'm not just talking Windows either -- even Gentoo is a bitch to upgrade sometimes. If you modify any conf files in/etc, you're pretty much fucked during upgrades. Heaven forbid it's a major upgrade and the conf file changes enough to where you have to research what the hell is going on. I wouldn't expect mother to do that.
For free, AVG is the best. But it's always behind in updates.
As far as the best of the best, I believe TrendMicro's PC-Cillan is the best. Mostly because it has a small footprint. I bought TrendMicro and found much more malware on my sisters machine than AVG did. AVG has been protecting her for 6 months or so (if you want to call it protecting). TM's PCC is also the cheapest, seemingly. Sadly, everyone's prices went up this year... so it's around $40 or so.. but that also includes firewall, AV, and antispyware... some other toys come with it, but I've never used them.
Granted, AVG will save you against the big things like Sober and such, however it won't protect you nearly as well against the rest. As with many things in life, you get what you pay for. Free is free, which is damnded good. But it (usually) won't replace the value you get for pay software.
Perhaps AVG will get good enough for me to use. I'm still paying attention to it though.
Basically, I disagree with most of your points. Mostly due to the average person being lazy, but I'll go into a long detailed post becuase I'm in class and am bored to tears.
"On the other hand, there is A LOT you can do not to get spyware and viruses in the first place. First, DON'T USE IE. All the fanboys will cry foul here, but it's true. I don't care if alternative browsers are just as hackable but they aren't being exploited blah blah blah... We'll cross that river when we get to it. For now, using almost anything besides IE will stop the bulk of your spyware."
I disagree. If a popup, of anykind, or even and avertisement has those pretty emoticons -- my sister will download it and run it. *BAM* Spyware.
Yes, you can remove ads and do that nifty flashblock stuff, but that sometimes breaks pages -- and will quickly get removed once people learn they have to do special things to get it working again. The masses want that pretty software.
Also, in whatever browser you use, don't allow in browser media to be played. Flash, movies, music, etc etc. Or at the very least, make sure it prompts you first so you have the choice to only do so from websites you trust.
This assumes the user is informed. Highly unlikely in most circumstances.
Also, don't go to sketch sites. Plain and simple.
huh? Never heard of those, sorry.
Let's see... don't use outlook, EVER.
And how is the common user supposed to know of thunderbird? Why would they even begin looking for a new mail client? Their works just fine (or so they think).
In your MUA make sure it it either doesn't display html or prompts you to do so.
Same argument as before, this requires them being informed.
Don't open attachments. It's stupid. It's so incredibly easy to spoof who you are via email that you can really never fully trust an email.
Same as previous mentioned, this requires them being informed. After all, why shouldn't they trust something their mother sent them? Their mother has antivirus so it _must_ be safe. Yeah, yeah, a false sense of security, but I'm just saying it as I believe they will percieve it -- and I've seen some perceptions like this.
Don't use AIM. There are AIM viruses left and right nowadays. Use an alternative like gaim or trillion and never accept to transfer files.
Actually, it's not really AIM. It's recieving an IM saying to go somewhere and download this: "something.com/some_exe.com" type file. So even using any alternative IM client will still get your screwed. Granted, it may not spread on your computer to others, but you still are infected.
More than anything, just be smart about where you go and what you do. Understand that the internet really isn't a safe place. Security isn't a product, it's a process. I can't stress this enough. Doing certain things yourself will keep you safer than any anti-virus ever could.
I agree with this statement. The only thing we can hope to do is inform them. However most of them don't want to be informed. It's a waste of their time. In their mind, we have these advanced computers and thusly we should be able to stop this kind of thing.
What we need is a small computer book that gets distributed to all computers explaining this and tell them to put this book in the crapper, so when they take a dump you _may_ have a chance at them reading it. Some chance is better than no chance, I think.
They want that becuase they can.
Their are plenty of people who can't find a better job (at least for a little while) -- so that jub will suffice.
When they can't find anyone that fit those requirements, they will lower them (becuase they aren't neccassary) however, which would you hire? A monkey or someone with 4 years of college experiance?
Anyone with a brain would choose with college choice, just becuase they have a greater chance at being smarter.
Since they have the choice...
I, personally, don't like it -- but I don't make 6 figures either. I know Windows, OpenBSD, Gentoo, etc and I make $8.50 working under a boss who doesn't entirely know what I do other than I keep stuff working (and thusly can't justify upgrades until the server bursts into flames or hdd dies or some seriousy failier). So I believe that while IT is cool, I'm going to a major in communication and a minor in psychology. I will probably never leave computers, but I want a backup plan.
I've been talking to the person who did their defacement.
They are here on slashdot. they replied to my post. The first letter of his name is e. eMichel or something like that.
I've already migrated to an OpenBSD solution. I wasn't joking on my site, I've been planning this for a while. I was going to take a bit more time and slwoly migrate it over, but that seems to be out of the question now.
It's sad really, I was hoping I could trust users.
I know, bad idea, but since the absolute worst he could do is a temporary defacement (temporary becuase I get emails after every post, so I keep up). I have no worries.
I still don't understand why he considers posting search queries straight to the page such a bad thing.
Yeah, it can be abused, but for the most part only by a human. It would be too difficult for a bot to spider for that particulur module on the interweb. So I don't have to worry about it happening too frequently.
Slashdot Mirror
What it really means is those with a wireless network are more open than others or those at a datacenter, depending on how the DC manages their LAN.
Would you like some cheese and crackers with that whine?
.NET X.0 will work. It just means you don't get the nice new shiny features. If you want those AND the IDE, then they deserve their money. They have earned it.
You don't _have_ to migrate. No gun is put to your head. It's not like they are going to make all computers uninstall 1.0 for 2.0. It's backwards compatible. That means, program in 2002 and
Now, had you said "I want to program in WM5!" then you might have a partially valid argument. But you'r still ignorant as fuck.
Are you seriously wanting them to write features for FREE?!?
And even cooler -- if you are in college or school, get the Acedemic version of MS VS 2005 for $50 (like I did) from ccvsoftware.com.
Stop being a Linux fan boy and learn to make informed decisions.
You wouldn't last two seconds on the OpenBSD-Misc mailing list.
After reconsidering, I've decided you are just too naive to understand. How about I take this to an extreme: If I kill your family and leave. Should I not expect you to hunt me down? Or will you just wait for "justice". Since I would probably get a relativly small sentance ( 10 years), I would have viewed it was a fair trade off. I see you are so full of yourself that you have not been in a negative atmosphere to the point it changes you. You can play semantics and say "They can't change you, only you can change you" and at that point you might be right however at one point or another you _will_ give up trying -- unless you are stupid (which means that you keep trying the same thing expecting a different result). Because of your lack of experiance, I forgive you in your response. It's intersting to see those who live happy lives and think "wow, nothing in the world is that bad.. you just suck" all the time. Perhaps you should live other people's lives. If I quit -- I die. Simple as that. I'm on medications that are required for life. Basically, in less than a month I won't be capable of moving without severly damaging my body (read: ripping joints out and pulling ligaments out). So.. you know what? I'm sick and tired of you cocky ass mother fuckers. I quit my job earlier today. To be honest, I really don't plan on living through this. I just wish that whatever god be (if any) put you through this such that you can have yourlife forced upon you with no choice in the matter. Walk in another mans shoes before you speak -- ASSHOLE. We shall see in 3 months if I shall live or die. In either case, I'll probably see you in a hell or two. ;-)
I probably wouldn't hire you either -- based on the fact that you didn't pay attention. I'm not going to repeat myself to those who don't read.
Agreed. Far too many managers are willing to take a risk.
Example: Broadbad companies are freaking out becuase people are finding ways to saturate their connection -- which is why you are reading so many slashdot articles about it over the past few months. I work under a PHB who is in a software violation with Microsoft and AutoDesk. I've also been informed that after the last bast (many year ago) that next time that if we are out of spec with more than 5 liceneses then someone is going to jail. I called my boss that we are WAY out of spec and should call MS giving them an apology and see how it goes. When it's all said and done Microsoft said "Keep what you got, don't worry -- however do not continue what you are doing.
Basically what happened is we purchased OEM copies of software and slapped them on custom built machines. Apparantly you aren't allowed to do that. OEM means you have to resell it to another customer or had bought it with that machine. It also means when the machine dies, your license dies -- you can't just migrate it over -- this is why the sticker is attached to the computer.
MS was very leniant on us.
So, later on a computer dies and I ask my boss how he would like to proceed. His answer? MS thinks it's functional, buy a new machine, rebuild it the same way and they won't know. They think we are X licenses out of spec, so let's keep it that way. I later had him buy full professional copies (>$300) instead because he does NOT want to waste a computer. Nevermind that computer isn't even worth $300 and could be replaced from Dell for a little over that. *sigh*.
Moral of the story: Managment is wiling to take risks and plead ignorance. They are willing to make you do unethical things *if* they think you will do it. They will push and hint hard on it too...
Fucking sucks too. Especially if you need medications and can die without them.. all of a sudden quitting your job is more like suicide (literally)...
On the flip side: If you have to ASK if it's ethical, it's probably not and you should take the safer route. But that's not always easily done either... ideal != practical != easy.
You don't owe any company your sanity.
But you do owe your family food. Well, you don't owe them, but it's on your head of you just quit. Even that one day where you get absurdly ticked off -- you still have to think of the family.
I don't know about you, but I couldn't quit and find another job in a week.
Now, if you were willing to find me a job -- then great. If not, then shut up. Some people actually have responsibilities that many (most?) slashdotters don't have. And if you are in the sad state where you work so much you don't have time to go job searching you are double fucked. You see there is a difference between being ideal and being practical. So quitting your job will transform one stress into another -- one which can be much more costly.
Personally, I've taken the attitude of I don't care. It's not my money, not my problem, and I'm hourly. I'm not going to fight mgmt tooth and nail everytime. If the user wants the admin password to a server, that's fine. When shit goes to hell in a hand basket again, I'll just take my sweet ass time fixing it. I've *never* recieved postive reinforcement for my work -- which, after a year and a half, transformed me into this attitude. So while eariler on they _might_ have been saving on the bottom line, now they _won't_ save on the bottom line. This is what happens when you shit on your underlings -- they stop with the loyalty. At this point, I do just enough to keep my job and no more; Until _they_ prove to _me_ that they want to start treating me right.
Ok, this isn't mean tto the buy above this comment, it's meant for the guy dealing in absolutes who isn't catching a clue. I went years without AV and was clean. How do I know? I bought TrendMicro (much is _much_ better than Norton and McAffe -- I know this becuase I've replaced those with TM on other machines and those machines run much better; TM is lean) and it said I was clean. I probably won't buy AV again. Unless I get a new job where I use my laptop for anything other than home stuff and working at work... (becuase I like having Natural Selection and HL2 :))
Now, back to your point: You can't prove to me that you are 100% clean either much like you can't goto the docter and have him write out something saying you are 100% ok without spending an insane amount of money doing lots of test; Unless of course, you can get Microsoft to verify everything you can via checksum *and* your 3rd party software from the makers themselves. If you want to be insane about this, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Bloodhound is _not_ 100% effective.
I run Windows at work for my firewall (ISA Server) and it hasn't ever been hacked. No, I can't prove this, no I don't go dig through _every_ file on _every_ computer to prove this, but those with other firewalls don't do the same either. I have OpenBSD at home as a firewall...
So the person who doesn't have obvious symptoms (AIDS) therefore must not be infected with HIV?
And what, on Earth, will prevent this? A condom won't stop 100%. What if that condom breaks? What if...? What if...?
Closing one's eyes doesn't make the problem go away.
Back at ya. *kisses*
Stop speaking bullshit and start talking practical; Only sith deal in absolutes.
Thank you.
Ok, they _can_ seperate the two. It's software, it can be *completely* redesigned for that.
What they said was it is going to be exceptionally difficult to seperate the two and cost many man hours. They did not say it was impossible. I would suggest reading the transcripts. In software, all is possible... it just make take a _really_ long time though.
I think I would like to place your question in the context of:
I don't recall where, but I remember reading (so yes, this is third hand information probably) that Windows XP was supposedly "redisgned from scratch". If this is the case, then how did the recent WMF bug get into the code? That question is more rhetorical leading up to my real question of: How can we be certain that Vista won't face the same challenges? How much of it has been rewritten from scratch and how much of it was a copy and paste (and thusly leading to security vulnerabilities)? Obviously you, as a security dude, don't have completle control over this, but what have you done to prevent these things in Vista from showing up?
All I care about is the future... yes, it's a long time away, the stuff we have now works good enough, leaving us plenty of time to make the next step right. There is no sense in cutting corners now, except to please share holders (who will be pleased when you release early and get a little money from stock going up, but will be _more_ pleased when it's done right and stock goes way up when people find out how solid and more secure it is: Techies talk; They build most of the users computers in the first place).
Why are toilet seats cleaner? How often do you use them compared to your keyboard.
How much easier is it to clean a toilet than a keyboard?
Granted, you can buy a new keyboard, but I'm relativly certain everytime you clean your toilet you replace your keyboard.
Aside from the few accidental sprinkles from men, only ass touches that seat. It's not like you rub your cock or cunt all over the seat, the part which might actually releases the stuff.
I've also read that washing your hands can (possible) do more harm than good, mostly because bacteria doesn't grow ontop of each other, and since you tend to have good bacteria (err, well, bacteria that won't get you sick) the bad bacteria doesn't get a chance to grow. Washing your hands allows this chance to increase signifigantly.
The police ought to be able to search your house at will, too. If you're not doing anything wrong you have nothing to fear, right?
Wanna know something scary? My grandparents think they should be able to do this. Becuase, obviously, they will use it to catch the terrorist.
The problem with that logic? Unless you search every home at one time, you won't catch the criminals. Unless, of course, you expect the criminals to play dumb and get arrestted on purpose. Right. Laws like this are only placed for control when needed or to be abused. Let us remember how the PATRIOT act got here in the first place...
My boss told me that he wanted me to look like I was working. I replied saying that I was, but he disagreed. Why? Becuase I use Remote Desktop. It doesn't *look* like I'm working becuase I never have to leave my desk except for hardware problems and upper mgmt told him that they thought I wasn't working. I told him, if you want me to check everything without using RD, it will cut my procutiong by 1/4. And if he wanted that, I would spend more concious time than production time caring about my image. I told him to choose. I'm not about to play their game. Image matters too much now-a-days.
Perhaps I'm a coward, but that should tell you something of what this country is slowly turning into...
That is *exactly* the problem we have.
Everyone is too scared to act. Nothing will _ever_ change by magic. Things like this CD allow you to speak without the fear of getting fucked back. Thus, the reason for this CD. Hell, take it to China and get past that firewall. Words matter, even if they can't be placed to a face.
We need some kind of panel for computer judges. You can't expect a single judge to know enough about computers to make a decision. No one here on slashdot knows everything about computers... you ahve a better chance with a panel with them being split up into expertise. Perhaps networking/security/os? Fuck if I know... but we need to spread out the knowledge. As a society, we are getting very specific as to what we learn. You used to say "I'm going to be a docter." -- now you say "I'm going to be a nerologist." likewise, we should do the same in computers in the legal sector. Problem is, as a democartic society (well, actually we are something else.. not everyone here has a direct influence on a law) it will take too long for the legal system to react to things... we need to re-think out legal system. This is where I would normally say "be less specific" and let the handling be on the judges side, afterall that is what they are there for, right? The problem is it would get abused. On the other hand, too specific and it's of no use to you. We need something in the middle.
The problem with jail time is it fucks you up too much financially.
/two bits
Seriously, without _allot_ of help you can't get caught up in life and thusly will find yourself back in jail. Imagine this, after 6 months of getting out of jail, you can't really afford your own place, your wife left you, you can't afford a car, and finding food is starting to get difficult on the $5.15 / buger flipping job..
CC companies won't let you get a credit card becuase of you high debt (you lost your job when you went to jail and thusly couldn't pay your bills)...
After all this, jail probably looks allot nicer than the real world.
Thusly without serious help (like family) you can't get out of the whole.
On top of that, as soon as you can support yourself, all the help you do get from the government (they do help with _some_ stuff) gets yanked out from under you. So you go from making $5.15 / hour (plus a portion o fyour rent paid from govt and medical benefits, I think)to $8.00 / hour no benefits. So that $8.00 means squat if you can't afford that shitty house your in _and_ your past bills...
It's a fucked up situation. We don't give them a chance to survive and break out of the cycle. Yes, I know, they are criminals and deserve pain.. but when they serve their time, they are supposed to be fixed... right? If not, why the fuck are they out?
On the flip side, those found guilty need to have 1 year in jail, then put a bullet to the head. They should be given reasonable (1 year) time to appeal and find evidence that they didn't commit the crime (allot of people on death row, post death, have been found innocent after evidence shows otherwise).
back on topic, 20k is too much. Their should be some kind of reasonable limit to that. Afterall, what if IBM charge $1,000 / hour and out of spite that company accepted knowing the guy would ahve to pay him back legally? Why not make it infinity / hour?
Our legal system ladies and gentlemen.
Because Linux doesn't have a single beurocratic atmosphere.
Let's make a reality check, Linux is a kernel whereas (insert distro here) is the collection of the kernel and applications that run on the kernel. Those applications are fixed by their own authors.
It's not like RedHat fixes Gimp's error's or vice-versa.
Stuff moves at a faster pace when you don't have a gazillion levels of management to go through. Plus in Linux their isn't much in the way of testing, it's "Here take this and tell us if you have problems!"
Really? Than why is it that the vast majority of programmers writing for other platforms can get it right? Moreover, I'll be willing to bet that there have been cases where the same piece of software requires Administrator privilages on Windows but doesn't require root on unix-like systems (e.g. Linux, BSD, Mac OS X).
I have a huge respect for Mac becuase they don't let the users shoot themselves. Although, have you noticed the market share compared to Windows? Linux also started out with those features... Windows didn't. They tried to cater to users and make the users life easier. They failed, sort of.
Adapt? Adapt to what?!
To when Microsoft actually tries to fix things. After SP2 the activated firewall broke things. I don't exactly recall what else happened though.
This is AutoDesk's fault, Microsoft's fault, and your management's fault. And yes, I would expect AutoDesk to fix their product for free, since it is a security risk! Why should I have to pay for security patches?!
Agreed.
First of all, I never said Microsoft was completely to blame, and second, I don't give a shit about Microsoft's "political position" or what's most cost-effective for them; they caused the problem so they should fix it regardless!
When I responded to your question, I didn't mean to sound like I was talking about *you* specifically, I should have referred to the general
Obviously it's not Linux's fault, because Linux doesn't encourage such shitty programming. Microsoft, on the other hand, did at one time. That's what makes it Microsoft's fault!
Microsoft claims they have turned around on that. Moot point now. Although funny thing, I can't get Visual Studio
I'm sorry, it's unclear who "you" is supposed to refer to. Would I be the OS maker, or the application maker? If the former, then I would fix the OS (to make it not run as root) and say "due to improved features in our product, shitty and insecure applications may no longer run. Take it up with them, because it's not our problem." If the latter, I would certainly fix my product for free, because otherwise any sane customer would switch to my competitor and I'd go out of business!
Sorry, I was generalizing again... I wholey agree with you, however a company with lots of money on the line probably wouldn't. Why? becuase if they don't, they don't lose much money. If they do, they will lose *tons* in fixing the bugs. I say this assuming they a great many bugs still exists in Windows *.
No, BSD and Linux don't have to care because they are Free Software and anyone can fix the problem, and -- more importantly -- they don't have nearly as much control over how people use it. It's because they're all about "here's what we have; take it or leave it" whereas Microsoft is all about providing "complete solutions."
I don't disagree with any particulur point there.
When did I do so, pray tell? You're the one who's been doing that!
Generalizing again... *sigh* I need to break my habit of that...
No disagreement here!
*Mr. Burns* excellent
Ok, let's make a reality check.
How many web browsers *really* re-download everything when you hit F5?
Most will pull the heavy stuff (read: pictures) from your cache -- so you amount of bandwidth lost is negligable. If, for example, I say I'm going to go kill LOTS of people.. but all I can find is a 9mm, and I take out one person -- the conquences will be much less than had I actually taken out lots. They are not letting the punishment fit the crime.
In any case, I hope the prosecutor ruins his career from this... making a fool of himself and attempting to ruin a kids life. Of course, think of the children... except when it involves us looking good and making money.
By the way, what is the *absolute* worst he could have done had he actually accomploshed what he wanted? If I say, man, I'm going to go steal all the candy's in America... would you really punish me as badly compared to if I said I'm going to go steal all dairy dairy products?
So, in conclusion, I'm sick and fucking tired of this "Zero Tolerance" bullshit. NO ONE LEADS A PERFECT LIFE. PERIOD. Awfully christian of them, let he who has no sin cast the first stone. Not that I'm christian, but I'm just saying.. Let the punishment fit the crime my ass... Zero Tolerence is only so schools don't have to do their job anymore (read: be 'responsible'; high school is a babysitting job, these kids aren't adults; or are they? then why can't they drink or smoke?)
Ummm, but it's mostly the programmers fault that stuff doesn't run as a user.
We saw how fast (errr, well how slow) programmers reall adapters when SP2 was released on (relativly) small things. Much less getting programmers to actually use the system like it was supposed to run.
Hell, fucking AutoDesk doesn't even run their shit right. But, this is Microsoft's fault. So, since my AutoDesk 2000LT doesn't run as Administrator (well, it does, but it has to fucking edit the registry for some stupid ass reason and thusl has an annoying popup box -- which users complain about and management will listen to the squeeky wheel), should I blame Microsoft or AutoDesk? Should I expect AutoDesk to fix their product for free?
Don't get me wrong, Microsoft is PARTIALLY to blame on this. However, I probably (being in their political position) would have the same decision.
If my software requires root to run on Linux but is shitty programming, how the hell is the Linux's fault?
If you've had to do this in many versions of Linux and a new version comes out that makes you non rootly by default and the software breaks, would you really recompile that software / fix that shit FOR FREE or would you just say fuck it? Would you really choose that stance if LOTS of money is on the line?
*BSD and Linux doesn't have to care -- their is little money invovled.
You can't just compare Microsoft to Linux on everything -- unless you are a fool. Politics plays a huge role when lots of money is invovled. Something Linux won't see much of becuase of it's very own nature. I say much because of software like Suse and Redhat do take money, but they already have things set for them becuase of other distro's. I could go on.. by my drain is bramaged.
And is this the first fundamental change they've seen in this game?
I don't think so, infact I have a friend who has stopped playing it becuase they ruined the game for him through some patches earlier this year or last year.
I don't think they are discriminating, they just don't care about anyone.
Unless they stated this game is suitable for disabled people in the first place, then I'm having a hard time caring. On the flip side, I can't think of any game really suited for disabled people. Except maybe card games and logic games and such.
While that isn't what the article is about, there are many people who fear the DRM age.
Imagine having DRM in Windows and Linux (as Linus has stated he sees nothing wrong in it).
Now, this DRM monitors you and what you do all the time.
What if you get get a C64 or something, hack it to be 'good enough' and have no DRM? You would have no fear of nothing.
Granted, DRM in and of itself isn't bad however it's a like many other things -- it's too often abused.
It simply boils down to being able to choose. I don't want _anyone_ being able to get inside my computer but me -- for any reason. I don't want my computer to 'call home' or anything like that, it's a waste of bandwidth and processing power. Heck, the compan who wrote the DRM doesn't have the be on the offending side, someone could write a virus (like Sony's DRM) and you'de be fucked if your OS wouldn't let you remove it.
After all, how much computing power do you _really_ need now-a-days? The only reason for higher end computers is usually for gaming anways. Unless you are complining something serious (like Gentoo Stage 1 or something).
While I believe everything I just said is irrelevent of the topic of the article, I believe it needs to be said due to the amount of people saying these things.
So, basically, have a /tmp (which should have noexec on it) for Windows.
This way you _CAN NOT_ execute files until it's moved elsewhere.
Now, if you force programs like gAIM and AIM to be place all tmp files there and have some chroot equivalent... it would be dandy.
This is how you prevent Apache for fucking your system in *NX/*BSD.
Infact, check out that PHP virus floating around that messed with the RPC file.... talk about fucked up. Had it happen to my friend (and no, he doesn't have time to update his _personal_ server every time a package gives a sec release... so we went to OBSD.. were it doesn't happen as often and we do have time to keep up).
The problem we run across, is somethingI explained on a Dell forum.
/etc, you're pretty much fucked during upgrades. Heaven forbid it's a major upgrade and the conf file changes enough to where you have to research what the hell is going on. I wouldn't expect mother to do that.
The dude was complaining why his PDA wasn't perfect and I explained that quality isn't as much of an issue as is quantity.
Compare OpenBSD to Windows.
OpenBSD is _far_ more secure. But in Windows I can download all kinds of nifty toys. I can even play Couter-Strike / some game here without much effort.
I truly which Microsoft or anyone else (other than the OBSD crowd) would make the reality check that we need to focus on security first now.
But the problem is when granny goes to buy a computer (or someome not informed) and see's this ultra-secure box that doesn't have flashy things, and seens this ultra-shiny loaded up with little stupid as programs that just look pretty but are loaded withadware/spyware/'bullshit you really won't need or will ever use', then they usually choose the shiny one. Especially if everything 'just works' and you can buy [pulls number out of ass] ump-teen billion books on it.
I view it as _very_ irresponsible for those who knowingly don't put security on the fore-front only becuase it costs too much money. Hell, I have a boss who just recently migrated to Windows for our software (we write robot code) and has openly told me that he doesn't care about security. It's behind a firewall, that's secure enough. It's their fault if they let anything through. Of course, their will _never_ be a reason to need to get through that firewall... _never_... uh huh... since it's windows, I can see the IT crowd finding _some_ reason to fuck with it.
I'm not just talking Windows either -- even Gentoo is a bitch to upgrade sometimes. If you modify any conf files in
For free, AVG is the best. But it's always behind in updates.
As far as the best of the best, I believe TrendMicro's PC-Cillan is the best. Mostly because it has a small footprint. I bought TrendMicro and found much more malware on my sisters machine than AVG did. AVG has been protecting her for 6 months or so (if you want to call it protecting). TM's PCC is also the cheapest, seemingly. Sadly, everyone's prices went up this year... so it's around $40 or so.. but that also includes firewall, AV, and antispyware... some other toys come with it, but I've never used them.
Granted, AVG will save you against the big things like Sober and such, however it won't protect you nearly as well against the rest.
As with many things in life, you get what you pay for. Free is free, which is damnded good. But it (usually) won't replace the value you get for pay software.
Perhaps AVG will get good enough for me to use. I'm still paying attention to it though.
Basically, I disagree with most of your points. Mostly due to the average person being lazy, but I'll go into a long detailed post becuase I'm in class and am bored to tears. "On the other hand, there is A LOT you can do not to get spyware and viruses in the first place. First, DON'T USE IE. All the fanboys will cry foul here, but it's true. I don't care if alternative browsers are just as hackable but they aren't being exploited blah blah blah... We'll cross that river when we get to it. For now, using almost anything besides IE will stop the bulk of your spyware."
I disagree. If a popup, of anykind, or even and avertisement has those pretty emoticons -- my sister will download it and run it. *BAM* Spyware. Yes, you can remove ads and do that nifty flashblock stuff, but that sometimes breaks pages -- and will quickly get removed once people learn they have to do special things to get it working again. The masses want that pretty software.
Also, in whatever browser you use, don't allow in browser media to be played. Flash, movies, music, etc etc. Or at the very least, make sure it prompts you first so you have the choice to only do so from websites you trust.
This assumes the user is informed. Highly unlikely in most circumstances.
Also, don't go to sketch sites. Plain and simple.
huh? Never heard of those, sorry.
Let's see... don't use outlook, EVER.
And how is the common user supposed to know of thunderbird? Why would they even begin looking for a new mail client? Their works just fine (or so they think).
In your MUA make sure it it either doesn't display html or prompts you to do so.
Same argument as before, this requires them being informed.
Don't open attachments. It's stupid. It's so incredibly easy to spoof who you are via email that you can really never fully trust an email.
Same as previous mentioned, this requires them being informed. After all, why shouldn't they trust something their mother sent them? Their mother has antivirus so it _must_ be safe. Yeah, yeah, a false sense of security, but I'm just saying it as I believe they will percieve it -- and I've seen some perceptions like this.
Don't use AIM. There are AIM viruses left and right nowadays. Use an alternative like gaim or trillion and never accept to transfer files.
Actually, it's not really AIM. It's recieving an IM saying to go somewhere and download this: "something.com/some_exe.com" type file. So even using any alternative IM client will still get your screwed. Granted, it may not spread on your computer to others, but you still are infected.
More than anything, just be smart about where you go and what you do. Understand that the internet really isn't a safe place. Security isn't a product, it's a process. I can't stress this enough. Doing certain things yourself will keep you safer than any anti-virus ever could.
I agree with this statement. The only thing we can hope to do is inform them. However most of them don't want to be informed. It's a waste of their time. In their mind, we have these advanced computers and thusly we should be able to stop this kind of thing.
What we need is a small computer book that gets distributed to all computers explaining this and tell them to put this book in the crapper, so when they take a dump you _may_ have a chance at them reading it. Some chance is better than no chance, I think.
They want that becuase they can. Their are plenty of people who can't find a better job (at least for a little while) -- so that jub will suffice. When they can't find anyone that fit those requirements, they will lower them (becuase they aren't neccassary) however, which would you hire? A monkey or someone with 4 years of college experiance? Anyone with a brain would choose with college choice, just becuase they have a greater chance at being smarter. Since they have the choice... I, personally, don't like it -- but I don't make 6 figures either. I know Windows, OpenBSD, Gentoo, etc and I make $8.50 working under a boss who doesn't entirely know what I do other than I keep stuff working (and thusly can't justify upgrades until the server bursts into flames or hdd dies or some seriousy failier). So I believe that while IT is cool, I'm going to a major in communication and a minor in psychology. I will probably never leave computers, but I want a backup plan.
I've been talking to the person who did their defacement. They are here on slashdot. they replied to my post. The first letter of his name is e. eMichel or something like that. I've already migrated to an OpenBSD solution. I wasn't joking on my site, I've been planning this for a while. I was going to take a bit more time and slwoly migrate it over, but that seems to be out of the question now. It's sad really, I was hoping I could trust users. I know, bad idea, but since the absolute worst he could do is a temporary defacement (temporary becuase I get emails after every post, so I keep up). I have no worries. I still don't understand why he considers posting search queries straight to the page such a bad thing. Yeah, it can be abused, but for the most part only by a human. It would be too difficult for a bot to spider for that particulur module on the interweb. So I don't have to worry about it happening too frequently.