Non US companies will simply have to produce two versions - an in-secure one for the US (and any allies silly enough to agree to this) and a secure one for the rest of the world.
Open source projects will simply have to ensure the non-backdoor code is developed and mirrored in an appopriate country.
If Windows was patched so it complained loudly every time a user connected to an unsecured wireless network and offered to help set it up correctly it would reduce the number of wide open installs.
The Open Source folk could help by producing an appropriate 'Wizard' for KDE and Gnome for M$ to copy. It might be best to BSD licence it so they can!
One of the reasons " NetBSD does a surprisingly good job of keeping acceptable code quality while retaining support for many platforms" is that this forces them to write clean code with well defined interfaces.
Image in three or four years when most PCs in use have this enabled. If it is hacked:
1. The black hats will 0wn most of these PCs and nothing short of replacing the hardware will fix this. Intel may then be forced to replace every CPU with technology they can prove in court doesn't pose such a risk (under consumer rights laws that require products to be fit for purpose which suppliers can't escape via a click thru license etc). If the vulnerability is in the support chips it would cost even more as the recall would require the replacement of hundreds of millions of motherboards!
2. If someone hacks the DRM component and frees everything by removing all the restrictions, the content owners who relied on this technology could sue Intel.
I discussed this with one Australian Capital Territory Govt high school headmistress.
She indicated the reason they use Microsoft is that is the only environment they get support for from the Education Department. At least she was aware of the issue and they have one alternative - several Macs.
A bigger worry though is the formal Certificate in IT that students study for as part of the basic IT course in year 9 or 10 as it is based on Microsoft products.
I guess we need to encourage adoption of an internationally recognised qualification such as an lpi.org certification
but when was the last highly destructive virus you saw ?
What about the witty worm?
It spread in less than an hour and the proceded to destroy data on the hosts hard disks.
If Microsoft don't change the licence from their last 'offer' Microsoft may use the same anti-gpl tactic on a host of other things the have patented!
They could easily licence every patent they have that allegedly covers the linux kernel for 'free' with the everyone has to get a licence to re-distribute catch.
I learnt far more about linux by installing Gentoo than I had in the previous 4 years with Redhet 5, 6 & 7! I learnt even more by buying installing the *bsd's and reading OpenBSD's faq and man pages, the FreeBSD Handbook and The Complete BSD.
In other words, you learn the most when you compliment good documentation with hands on experience configuring the OS the way you want it.
Winzip 9 has FIP 140 validtion and the algorithm used is open source! see: http://www.winzip.com/aes_info.htm It is the implementation that has been found wanting.
If you don't vote (ie go to polling place and get a ballot paper) you can be fined.
Of course what you do with the ballot paper is up to you, but most poeple do vote.
An even better approach might be to mimmic groklaw.net and set up a web site that will allow us to track all the arguments for and against these issues and give everone an appreciation as to how dangerous these changes are.
I am currently listening th PM (evening drive time current affairs on the ABC Radio National). No mention of these isssues as it is dominated by agriculture where we definitely lost out!
A major issue is and will continue to be supporting not only the user's existing hardware which is where ease of installation comes in, but also the ability to plug in a new accessory and have it just work.
This requires both open hardware and an (almost) invisible way to download/install any additional drivers.
Before this becomes a reality we need the general PC press to consider linux compatibility whenever they review new hardware.
Domino Servers however run on linux (and windows, solaris...)
IBM have put a lot of work into allowing a browser to access most of Notes functionality when the Domino server and applications are appropriately configured.
To really get it to take off we need the equivalent of _Certified for Windoze_ program. Ideally the certification would become a must have tick for corporate purchasing staff and non-compliance would result in adverse reviews in the computer sections of mainstream media.
I envisage something like the 5 star ratings for energy efficiency - all 5 stars if everything in the system supports open source with published interfaces, less a star for each undocumented feature (or half a starif they partiallyof support it or you need a closed source driver).
To get the Open Source Tick would require at least 4 stars.
Slashdot Mirror
Non US companies will simply have to produce two versions - an in-secure one for the US (and any allies silly enough to agree to this) and a secure one for the rest of the world.
Open source projects will simply have to ensure the non-backdoor code is developed and mirrored in an appopriate country.
If Windows was patched so it complained loudly every time a user connected to an unsecured wireless network and offered to help set it up correctly it would reduce the number of wide open installs.
The Open Source folk could help by producing an appropriate 'Wizard' for KDE and Gnome for M$ to copy. It might be best to BSD licence it so they can!
This is a Career Limiting Move for someone!
No doubt it will be before IE does!
One of the reasons " NetBSD does a surprisingly good job of keeping acceptable code quality while retaining support for many platforms" is that this forces them to write clean code with well defined interfaces.
Image in three or four years when most PCs in use have this enabled. If it is hacked:
1. The black hats will 0wn most of these PCs and nothing short of replacing the hardware will fix this. Intel may then be forced to replace every CPU with technology they can prove in court doesn't pose such a risk (under consumer rights laws that require products to be fit for purpose which suppliers can't escape via a click thru license etc). If the vulnerability is in the support chips it would cost even more as the recall would require the replacement of hundreds of millions of motherboards!
2. If someone hacks the DRM component and frees everything by removing all the restrictions, the content owners who relied on this technology could sue Intel.
I discussed this with one Australian Capital Territory Govt high school headmistress.
She indicated the reason they use Microsoft is that is the only environment they get support for from the Education Department. At least she was aware of the issue and they have one alternative - several Macs.
A bigger worry though is the formal Certificate in IT that students study for as part of the basic IT course in year 9 or 10 as it is based on Microsoft products.
I guess we need to encourage adoption of an internationally recognised qualification such as an lpi.org certification
Unless one is colour-blind!
It probably won't be backported to any BSD since all the software they are developing is GPL!
Pity, since a gui install and gui version of pkg_* utilities would increase the appeal of FreeBSD.
but when was the last highly destructive virus you saw ?
What about the witty worm?
It spread in less than an hour and the proceded to destroy data on the hosts hard disks.
If Microsoft don't change the licence from their last 'offer' Microsoft may use the same anti-gpl tactic on a host of other things the have patented!
They could easily licence every patent they have that allegedly covers the linux kernel for 'free' with the everyone has to get a licence to re-distribute catch.
If it has a serial port, just use openbsd. The boot floppy supports headless installs.
Didn't you read the EULA - now all of /. are belong to Bill!
OK thats two words, but either we have fragmentation/ diversity and progress or we become The Borg!
I learnt far more about linux by installing Gentoo than I had in the previous 4 years with Redhet 5, 6 & 7!
I learnt even more by buying installing the *bsd's and reading OpenBSD's faq and man pages, the FreeBSD Handbook and The Complete BSD.
In other words, you learn the most when you compliment good documentation with hands on experience configuring the OS the way you want it.
Winzip 9 has FIP 140 validtion and the algorithm used is open source!
see: http://www.winzip.com/aes_info.htm
It is the implementation that has been found wanting.
If you don't vote (ie go to polling place and get a ballot paper) you can be fined. Of course what you do with the ballot paper is up to you, but most poeple do vote.
I am sure PJ's (of groklaw.net fame) employer would be haapy to provide you with open source friendly advice!
An even better approach might be to mimmic groklaw.net and set up a web site that will allow us to track all the arguments for and against these issues and give everone an appreciation as to how dangerous these changes are.
I am currently listening th PM (evening drive time current affairs on the ABC Radio National). No mention of these isssues as it is dominated by agriculture where we definitely lost out!
A major issue is and will continue to be supporting not only the user's existing hardware which is where ease of installation comes in, but also the ability to plug in a new accessory and have it just work.
This requires both open hardware and an (almost) invisible way to download/install any additional drivers.
Before this becomes a reality we need the general PC press to consider linux compatibility whenever they review new hardware.
Notes 6.5 clients only run on windows or OSX.
6 5sysrequirements ]
[see http://www.lotus.com/products/product4.nsf/wdocs/
Domino Servers however run on linux (and windows, solaris...)
IBM have put a lot of work into allowing a browser to access most of Notes functionality when the Domino server and applications are appropriately configured.
How about Windows developers get a licensed, FOSS ones don't and we measure (objectively) whether that makes Windows have fewer security issues?
Actually we have been doing this for years with pen and paper in Australia! The only disadvantage is it isn't instant.
I wonder if it will work on this Toshiba laptop - OpenBSD is fine and so is NetBSD, but I had a problem with FreeBSD - network driver wouldn't work.
Another bsd will give us more choice, so good luck to them.
To really get it to take off we need the equivalent of _Certified for Windoze_ program. Ideally the certification would become a must have tick for corporate purchasing staff and non-compliance would result in adverse reviews in the computer sections of mainstream media.
I envisage something like the 5 star ratings for energy efficiency - all 5 stars if everything in the system supports open source with published interfaces, less a star for each undocumented feature (or half a starif they partiallyof support it or you need a closed source driver).
To get the Open Source Tick would require at least 4 stars.