I find it amazing that you accept without challenge the notion that all that money was spent on Star Wars R&D, and didn't actually wind up in some politician's pocket. (Not unlike the current black hole/boondoggle "war for freedom, democracy, and Mom's apple pie" that is the war in Iraq.) The GAO already knows that there is over $8 Billion USD missing from the Iraq reconstruction fund. And exactly how far along is the reconstruction efforts and the Iraqi jobs program since its inception -- maybe 10% of the projects completed, and the only jobs availale there for Iraqis require them to wear a bullseye 24/7/365?
This war was never about Iraqi freedom -- it has always been about control of Iraqi oil, and just how much graft, corruption, and kickbacks are available for Dubya and his buddies.
Sorry but Netcraft never confirmed a "war" between Apple and Microsoft. I do know that there has been a pitched, no holds barred war by Microsoft against linux and F/OSS. And that Microsoft has been employing a lot of mercenaries (SCO Group, Gartner, USPTO, etcetera) in the war.
If there is to be a war between Apple and MSFT, then let it at least be a CQB (Close Quarter Battle). IMHO, Apple already has a better OS based upon F/OSS and open standards, while MSFT keeps trying to timeshift their battle 18 months into the future. When I draw my sword, I want to see the fear in the whites of their eyes, and their sinking realization that a timeshifted "shield" is no protection against the cold hard steel of today's reality.
I hate to burst your bubble, but the average USA citizen (Second Amendment or not), is no competition for Hellfire-equiped UAVs, J-DAMs dropped from F-15s and FA-18s, or the withering fire of a 40mm chain gun on a Bradley.
And your merely discussing this as a viable possibility has already placed you on a DHS watchlist.
The only way to overthrow the Dubya/neo-con regime is at the ballot box, presuming (of course) that by the time Dubya's second term is up, he hasn't decided to postpone national elections for a decade or so. (You DO remember the trial balloon floated by the FEC to postpone the 2004 national elections, don't you? Now imagine a new major terrorist event timed to occur just before the NEXT national elections, an event that provokes the declaration of martial law.)
I thought that might wipe the smile off your face. Reality sucks. Welcome to reality.
Widespread advertising of such screener capabilities is bound to boost employee retention, already a real problem for the TSA. Such xray vision capabilities is bound to attract more job applicants (,never mind that these "might not be" the type of employee that the TSA really needs). The Dubya regime is doing all in its power to keep the Federal Employee union out of the TSA -- the pay and working hours suck, the screeners' job can be shifted from airport to another on short notice, and the TSA is already threatening to outsource these positions to lowest bid government contractors.
Instead of focusing on having motivated, professional Federalized screeners, the TSA would rather spend their money on underlying (and often non-functional) technology. And while our borders, seaports, and air cargo go largely unsecured and under-inspected, the TSA is ready to roll back the clock to pre-9/11/2001, when the airports themselves were responsible for their own security. (That worked out well before, didn't it?)
The nation's air travellers are already being subjected to groping screeners, stolen baggage from proportedly "secure" areas, and worst -- all while the airport ground crews pass straight through locked security doors. Every time there is a more thorough background check run on these screeners and the ground crews, more criminals & illegal aliens are discovered to be employees.
The whole problem boils down to the fact that neither the Dubya regime nor the neo-cons in charge of Congress was to see in increase in the number of Federal employees, especially Federal employees that demand the right to unionize. It is not hard to predict that 2 years from now, there will be no Federal employees in the TSA who are security screeners -- they will all be underpaid, non-motivated employees of private government contracters.
"Shouldn't any critical data be stored on a stand alone box anyways??? Or atleast backed up on one??? The easiest way to secure a computer is to allow no network/ internet access at all."
There is one major fallacy to your argument -- many industries have inappropriately tied internal networks to the internet. Some have even gone so far as to tie SCADA networks to the internet for "ease of remote communication/command/control".
The Dubya regime has seen fit not to regulate the petrochemical, chemical, or power industries' methodologies for maintaining secure networks -- the very best that the DHS/CIA/NSA etcetera have been able to do is to furnish broad guidelines. The same type of broad guidelines that DHS has offered for hazardous plant security. Unfortunately, many of the corporations see this only in terms of increased cost, and not a way to mitigate catastrophic liability. Instead, the much-abused taxpayer is on the hook for whatever cleanup costs will be for the next domestic terrorist attack, as usual.
Would that that was the case, but it was an Apple Store (Orlando, FL) and not a CompUSA.
When I get the chance to spend some time down there, I will rebuilt my parents' iBook harddisk from "bare iron". Of course, I also expect to get roped into some hands-on training.
BTW, they love NeoOffice/J (and cannot understand why anyone would buy the Mac MS Office product).
"Yeah, then there'll be no such thing as coastlines anymore."
That would be correct, unless a global view is taken for the solution to rising sealevels as well.
Historically, the Biblical flood was a distinct probability. Rising sealevels due to climate change may have caused the rupture of the Bosphorous Straits. The inrushing water would have flooded low-lying areas, destroying farms and towns, ultimately creating the Caspian Sea.
There are low-lying areas around the world (the Dead Sea in the Middle East, Death Valley and the Grand Canyon in North America) come immediately to mind. Massive civil enginerering projects to create canals to divert rising sealevels into these arid regions could save a large portion of the current populated coastlines of the world, and effect some positive climatic changes to these arid regions. The populations affected would be far smaller, and at far less expense than building dikes worldwide.
I completely agree that Max OS X can be secure, but it does take some initial effort -- effort that the Apple retailer may not be willing to make.
My parents found that their 3rd MS WebTV was hosed
within 5 years. They have already experienced
the hidden MSFT tax before -- that they would have to buy not only a new console but also a new keyboard & mouse and compatible inkjet printer, they asked for my advice.
Some of our relatives have Wintel computers, which start out being cheap until you add in the anti-virus software, the anti-spyware software, and the firewall software required before going on-line, not to mention the time needed each week for OS and virus/spyware signature updates nor the time spent cleaning crud off the computer that got through anyway.
After describing the sort of Apple computer they might need, I snail-mailed them a list of items that the retailer needed to do before the sale. Details like having a separate administrator and user account on the computer, and having the latest OS X security patches installed were included. Instead, the Apple Store sold them a computer that was returned and still had the previous owner's files and applications installed, refused to set up a separate administrator account, and convinced them to purchase 3rd party anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall software.
Apparently, either the store sales staff were a bunch of greedy asshats, or else improperly (Apple) trained ex-Wintel clowns, or both.
No matter whose hardware platform or OS is the starting point for a computer newbie getting on the internet, one cannot presume inherent security out-of-the-box. Proper configuration is always an issue -- the Mac OS X platform just makes the security process easier, initially and subsequently.
"I would be very interested in a Cell workstation."
Yeah, me too.
There is a lot of potential in this design. It brings back memories of the "Transputer", which was absolutely kick-ass. The EETimes article did expose some problems that needed to be worked out -- current limit of 2 Cell processor units would require some form of high speed & bandwidth switch (something like Infiniband or Myranet).
Pretty much all standard I/O would need to be off-loaded to another "housekeeping" processor (or two), since there is no support in current H/W for standard I/O. Don't really know what IBM/Sony is doing on the PS3 platform, but it must be something similar.
An array of vector processors could be the basis of a high-end video display system or like the "Transputer", provide high throughput auxillary processing for radio, radar, sonar, FFT & FCT functions, FEA, streaming crypto, etc. (or both).
Having full access to the documentation, source code, and SDK will be crucial for success. Hope that IBM, Sony, and Toshiba stick to their committment to OSS on this processor/platform.
"Personally I would not call Netscape a competitor."
Damn right! Mozilla Project has gotten out of the fully integrated browser/email/chat/composer market. (Much to my chagrin.) Any further attempts at making a direct comparison between FireFox and Netscape make no more sense than comparing apples and oranges (beyond being fruit).
If Mozilla Org. wants to orphan their Mozilla product in the face of Netscape "competition", that's their decision to make. But it would be nice for Mozilla Org. to at least "play fair" and release working source code for their "red headed step-child".
"...will they pat me down first before i meet him?" -- that was the question that immediately popped into my head when I read the headline.
But when I read the body of the slashdot submission, it became immediately apparent that this would be a staged propaganda event, not unlike every public appearance Dubya has made in the last 100 days pushing for the death of Social Security. In each and every one of those "town hall" meetings only the carefully screened "party faithful" were allowing anywhere near the "news" cameras.
In some alternate universe, Bill Gatus Prime would have been in prison by now, and that headline an announcement for a public viewing before the execution -- "draw & quartering" as the DoJ penalty for both MSFT and Bill. Both saved by a change in venue (er, regime change).
This MSFT "news-flash" is a very good indication of just how retarded MSFT's notion of security is, judging by MSFT's efforts to date at "Security is Job One".
Somehow, I have a hard time envisioning a 3M Post-It Note with my hard-to-remember password on it as any improvement in security. Many offices employ contract cleaners to come in at night and vacuum carpets, empty trash bins, etc. Any hacker worth his/her weight in salt would be on the lookout for social engineering vulnerabilities like this.
How about using a personally memorable phrase or sentence as the basis for a hard-to-forget password, instead?
It does look like there will be a fair number of hurdles to overcome, however. While IBM, Sony, and Toshiba have all announced some further plans for the use of the Cell processor, availability and pricing of an SDK that includes usable hardware such as a reference design platform has not been determined.
The EETimes article indicates that IBM would provide engineering services and a foundry for other companies to invest their development resources into viable products. This does not portent well for readily available and reasonably inexpensive hardware.
Additionally, the Cell processor is currently limited, by design, to a maximum of 2 Cell processors working in tandem. Some serious design efforts would be needed for the development of a very high bandwidth (Infiniband or Myranet) switch capability. There is also no native support for any I/O hardware.
I suspect that it will be a quite long time before any reference design hardware becomes available for the general programming public, let alone for the usual cash-starved individuals or small groups usually associated with F/OSS projects.
Has anyone in slashdot-land seen either Sony or Toshiba announce a reference design platform or F/OSS-type SDK? Somehow, I think that purchase of a Sony PS3 will not prove to be the best platform for a generic vector processor or the next supercomputer.
So the messenger used by MSFT to deliver their propaganda was a linux laptop running OO.o.
The content, however, was that MSFT's Shared Source initiative brings something useful to developers -- which it cannot do because MSFT's SS is far more viral than GPL could ever be.
IMHO, OO.o needs to work on a reality checker plug-in that detects bullshit propaganda in the content, and perhaps changing the background color similar to the USA's DHS Threat Level color chart. It would need to be an optional plug-in, since it would otherwise render OO.o completely unsuitable for certain corporate and government use. Either that, or else a diagonal watermark across the offending text: "Nothing to see here. Move along."
The only problem I have with this anti-spyware legislation is that it does nothing to prevent either offshore based spyware OR USA government sanctioned spyware.
The current regime in power has gone out of its way to characterize "terrorism" in the broadest possible definition, to include such things as copyright violations and DMCA violations. Trading partners of the USA have been coerced into passing legislation that brings them into compliance with American law. But protecting the sanctity of citizens' privacy rights is not that this regime is about. Not only is this regime looking for re-establishing sunset clauses in the USA Patriot Act (I), but are also looking to expand the government's right to violate citizen privacy with a new and improved USA Patriot Act (II). This regime has given itself the legal power to violate any number of international treaties, including the ABM Treaty, Geneva Conventions, and Militarization of Space. Between government authored spyware (Carnivore plus whatever is now current), and the forced collaboration of commercial software vendors (Microsoft?) to add/maintain hidden backdoors, the average "internet joe" has no chance to preserve individual privacy. Between TIA, TIPPS, MATRIX, whatever comes next (with USA Patriot Act (II), and the wide swath of private/commercial databases holding private information, individual privacy is dead in the USA. Recent demands made by the current regime in power, through the DHS, has required that all foreign governments with commercial aircraft that pass through USA airspace also furnish extensive passenger information. Do not expect spyware to go away with this legislation -- it will only eliminate private competition to this regime's ambitions.
The laws in the USA (and other places, too, I suppose), place a great burdeon of responsibility on the individual. Every action an individual takes, as well as any inaction (like not clearing ice from a walkway) is subject to either criminal or civil punishment. Corporations (USA, again) seem to have all the rights of individuals, but without being held responsible at similar levels for their actions or negligent inactions.
In the USA, the burdeon on the individual has gone up appreciably via changes in bankruptcy law, while the burdeon for corporations has gone down via changes in venue for class action lawsuits. Our neo-con political overlords don't want less judicial activism, they only want less judicial activism that favors the individual (or perceived populism). An ideal case in point is the uproar by the neo-cons over "conservative" judges who took the opposing view in regard to the Terri Shivow case. And the neo-con threat to overturn the US Constitution and 200 years of legislative tradition regarding filibusters in the Senate is yet another example. (The filibuster is one of the few mechanisms in the Senate that preserves minority party rights.)
And as far as Wachovia Bank is concerned, they have been busy gobbling up other regional banks using a slush fund of cash that they do not own. For at least 5 years, Wachovia Bank has been illegaly using a mechanism of offshore investment pyramid scheme to avoid paying any USA taxes on annual profits of $3 - $4 Billion USD. This is a tax avoidance scheme that the Dubya regime has not deemed fit to prosecute, apparently due to the large campaign contributions that Wachovia and the banking industry as a whole have been making.
When only one political party holds the balance of power in each of the three branches of government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial), the entire system of government is ripe for a change hostile to the larger interests of the people. Absolute power (still) corrupts absolutely. Hearing a news report about Senator Frist calling his Senatorial political opposition "Nazis" was the icing on the cake -- "Todo, we aren't in Kansas anymore!" and this doesn't much look like a democracy anymore.
The United States Army, Air Force, and Navy do have space programs, military space programs. NASA was the only government agency focused on peaceful civilian use of space. Dubya has turned that definition of NASA on its head, however with the extreme focus on unmannned robotic space missions -- which would be based on dual use technology. In effect, the civilian NASA budget has been highjacked by the Dubya regime as another source of funding for the militarization of space. (There is only so much funding that can be hidden from the US Congress (an increasingly redundent governmental appendage) or from the American taxpayer.)
This article reminds me of two events that have happened during the current (Dubya) regime:
One was that the DoD came up with a cockamamie idea to purchase a large number of berets from China (PRC) to make certain non-elite US fighting forces "feel better" about their "non-eliteness". After a huge public outcry, a USA vendor was selected, but the DoD followed through on the purpose (effectively denegrating some elite forces just prior to Dubya's ambitious oil war;
The second was an IT decision by DHS, in spite of numerous warnings from independent IT security experts to the contrary, to sign a $6 Billion (plus) USD multi-year contract with MSFT for all of their Server OS, Desktop OS, amd Apps software.
So much of the USA's blood and treasure have been pissed away in Iraq that should have been dedicated to improving the security of the homeland. So we find ourselves with part-time soldiers (US Nat. Guard) serving full time full tours of duty in Iraq while our borders, seaports, and air cargo are insecure. There have been numerous instances reported in the press (try "www.cis.org" as an aggregator site) of illegal aliens serving as TSA airport screeners, or as contract laborers on US military bases, nuclear power plants, and chemical plants. There is no money available to actually detain those illegal aliens that the INS captures, so they are released upon the promise to show up for their deportation hearings (catch & release). As a result, I have problems ascertaining that the DHS is anything other than an oxymoron.
This policy decision by DHS will not improve homeland security or national security -- what it will do is provide yet another government teat for the defense contractors to benefit from, and very little else.
Does anyone besides me have the sneaking suspicion that MSFT and the Dubya regime are using the same Madison Avenue marketing team?
Well, at least the techniques are the same -- keep repeating the same lies over and over, and from as many possible sources as possible, and eventually the public will come to believe your message.
Oh, sure the link to MSFT works now, but what is going to happen with all the "average" PC users when MSFT switches to a profit center, subscription-based viri signature and security update policy? Methinks that they will be even more inclined to seek security relief from whoever offers it for free, instead of MSFT.
It will be a relatively small number of users that will go out of their way to subscribe to MSFT's up-and-coming for fee updates -- if it isn't bundled into the cost of the computer when purchased, it will not happen. ISPs aligned with MSFT might bundle it as part of their service agreement, but that will drive those internet costs higher.
MSFT will not be selling these "average" PC users a new perennially late "Longhorn solution" unless it's bundled with new hardware. People still happy with their Win95 or Win98 computers will not be rushing out to buy not only new hardware, but also all-new software versions that will actually run on Longhorn. The difference in hardware requirements for the new OS will utterly amaze these users, and when they find out that they are no longer able to perform the same types of activities on their new computers (due to DRM) that they used to, they will revolt.
MSFT has been trying to plug the gaps in their revenue stream with new "differently enabled" versions of WinXP, so the pressure to switch to a subscription-based security update model is compelling. Many users will not comply. And so the prospects of even more zombiefied computers on the internet is a likelihood.
Cynical observers (and I count myself as one) of the borg-like nature of MSFT wonder if the overall strategy of MSFT is to destroy that (the internet) which they cannot utterly dominate. The combination of the abject failure of MSFT to actually fix their security vulnerabilities (rather than the marketing BS it is now) and their inexorable greed for the largest possible revenue stream would seem to fit that (ultimate) goal. Taken along with their continued aggregation of software IP patents for code that is so obviously based upon "prior art", MSFT appears to be on-course to turn the internet into MSN. Of course, Netcraft has not yet confirmed that the internet is dead, but given enough time and MSFT's monetary (and by extension, political) resources, it may be inevitable.
Darn right! Stick an oversized billboard in space and the next
thing you know, some hillbilly country with nukler tipped missiles will be taking pot-shots at it. Shebang! Next thing you know, there goes the whole neighborhood...
NASA/JPL needs to get away from the whole concept of rovers -- everybody knows that modern-day Rovers spend way more time in the shop than in the outback, and cost a fortune to cover towing and repair costs.
What NASA/JPL really needs to focus on are the next generation of the extra-terrestrial mobile drilling rigs that they thoroughly trashed on that asteroid in "Apocalypse". A couple of those rigs soft-dropped onto Mars and there would be no question about whether (or how much) water ice exists on the Red Planet.
Whichever team wins the DARPA 10 mile desert road course should be given first crack at the opportunity. Of course, the DoD might have to cut short their "field training exercises" in the Middle East in order to help pay for these rigs, but that would be a small price to pay in the long run.
Gentlemen, start your engines! Voroom! Voroom! Voroom!
Well before 9-11-2001, the USA placed restrictions on student visas. Well, there was one exception instituted by Dubya's regime called "VISA Express", which made it easy for Saudi Arabians intent upon coming to the USA to merely phone in to the US Embassy, answer a few questions, and viola! then a US Visa was in the mail.
Shortly after 9-11-2001, while all commercial air traffic was shut down in the USA, Dubya's regime gave the green light for the "emergency" evacuation of several hundred Saudi Arabia nationals, no questions asked.
And when Riggs Bank was caught passing over $20 Million USD in cold hard cash to the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington, DC it was the bank that took the fall, with nary a hint of an investigation directed to the Saudi embassy. (You don't suppose it was cash used just for embassy essentials like food and utilities, do you?) But the press stopped reporting the Riggs Bank-Saudi Embassy connection in favor of a dubious connection between Riggs Bank and former General Pinochet.
Anyone (a show of hands, please) really believe that the Dubya regime is more interested in national security (the broad definition) instead of oil, and who's got control of it?
"The "people" supposedly elected the right administration for them, so whether they joy and suffer is their own choice."
Please! You cannot blame all Americans, or even a majority of Americans, for the fascist regime that has taken over the USA government.
The 2000 national election was stolen by an illegal Florida state law that prohibited a state-wide ballot recount, and a US Supreme Court largely appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
The 2004 national election was finagled by a combination of the beat of jingoistic wardrums, a sophisticated government and corporate propaganda campaign, and out-and-out vote fraud (disenfranchisement of opposition voters, rigged electronic voting machines, and the illegal alien vote).
The US Constitution limits a President's time in office now to 2 full terms (4 years each) or 10 years maximum (presuming 2 years of Presidential succession). After the FEC "trial balloon" of possibly postponing the 2004 national election, I wouldn't count on there actually being a 2008 national election. The neo-con revolution has won, and all that remains is the mop up operations of "filibuster reform" in the US Senate, passage of the USA Patriot Act (II), and then packing the US Supreme Court with neo-cons (and another timely terrorist attack to justify martial law).
Slashdot Mirror
I find it amazing that you accept without challenge
the notion that all that money was
spent on Star Wars R&D, and didn't actually
wind up in some politician's pocket. (Not
unlike the current black hole/boondoggle "war
for freedom, democracy, and Mom's apple pie"
that is the war in Iraq.) The GAO already
knows that there is over $8 Billion USD missing
from the Iraq reconstruction fund. And exactly
how far along is the reconstruction efforts and
the Iraqi jobs program since its inception --
maybe 10% of the projects completed, and the
only jobs availale there for Iraqis require them
to wear a bullseye 24/7/365?
This war was never about Iraqi freedom -- it has
always been about control of Iraqi oil, and just
how much graft, corruption, and kickbacks are
available for Dubya and his buddies.
Sorry but Netcraft never confirmed a "war" between Apple and Microsoft. I do know that there has been a pitched, no holds barred war by Microsoft against linux and F/OSS. And that Microsoft has been employing a lot of mercenaries (SCO Group, Gartner, USPTO, etcetera) in the war.
If there is to be a war between Apple and MSFT, then let it at least be a CQB (Close Quarter Battle). IMHO, Apple already has a better OS based upon F/OSS and open standards, while MSFT keeps trying to timeshift their battle 18 months into the future. When I draw my sword, I want to see the fear in the whites of their eyes, and their sinking realization that a timeshifted "shield" is no protection against the cold hard steel of today's reality.
I hate to burst your bubble, but the average USA citizen (Second Amendment or not), is no competition for Hellfire-equiped UAVs, J-DAMs dropped from F-15s and FA-18s, or the withering fire of a 40mm chain gun on a Bradley.
And your merely discussing this as a viable possibility has already placed you on a DHS watchlist.
The only way to overthrow the Dubya/neo-con regime is at the ballot box, presuming (of course) that by the time Dubya's second term is up, he hasn't decided to postpone national elections for a decade or so. (You DO remember the trial balloon floated by the FEC to postpone the 2004 national elections, don't you? Now imagine a new major terrorist event timed to occur just before the NEXT national elections, an event that provokes the declaration of martial law.)
I thought that might wipe the smile off your face.
Reality sucks. Welcome to reality.
"RE: Who wants to see everything?"
Widespread advertising of such screener capabilities is bound to boost employee retention,
already a real problem for the TSA. Such xray vision capabilities is bound to attract more job applicants (,never mind that these "might not be" the type of employee that the TSA really needs). The Dubya regime is doing all in its power to keep the Federal Employee union out of the TSA -- the pay and working hours suck, the screeners' job can be shifted from airport to another on short notice, and the TSA is already threatening to outsource these positions to lowest bid government contractors.
Instead of focusing on having motivated, professional Federalized screeners, the TSA would rather spend their money on underlying (and often non-functional) technology. And while our borders, seaports, and air cargo go largely unsecured and under-inspected, the TSA is ready to roll back the clock to pre-9/11/2001, when the airports themselves were responsible for their own security. (That worked out well before, didn't it?)
The nation's air travellers are already being subjected to groping screeners, stolen baggage from proportedly "secure" areas, and worst -- all while the airport ground crews pass straight through locked security doors. Every time there is a more thorough background check run on these screeners and the ground crews, more criminals & illegal aliens are discovered to be employees.
The whole problem boils down to the fact that neither the Dubya regime nor the neo-cons in charge of Congress was to see in increase in the number of Federal employees, especially Federal employees that demand the right to unionize. It is not hard to predict that 2 years from now, there will be no Federal employees in the TSA who are security screeners -- they will all be underpaid, non-motivated employees of private government contracters.
Deja vu, all over again.
"Shouldn't any critical data be stored on a stand alone box anyways??? Or atleast backed up on one??? The easiest way to secure a computer is to allow no network/ internet access at all."
There is one major fallacy to your argument -- many industries have inappropriately tied internal
networks to the internet. Some have even gone so far as to tie SCADA networks to the internet for "ease of remote communication/command/control".
The Dubya regime has seen fit not to regulate the petrochemical, chemical, or power industries' methodologies for maintaining secure networks -- the very best that the DHS/CIA/NSA etcetera have been able to do is to furnish broad guidelines.
The same type of broad guidelines that DHS has offered for hazardous plant security. Unfortunately, many of the corporations see this only in terms of increased cost, and not a way to mitigate catastrophic liability. Instead, the much-abused taxpayer is on the hook for whatever cleanup costs will be for the next domestic terrorist attack, as usual.
Would that that was the case, but it was an Apple Store
(Orlando, FL) and not a CompUSA.
When I get the chance to spend some time down there,
I will rebuilt my parents' iBook harddisk from
"bare iron". Of course, I also expect to get roped
into some hands-on training.
BTW, they love NeoOffice/J (and cannot understand
why anyone would buy the Mac MS Office product).
"Yeah, then there'll be no such thing as coastlines anymore."
That would be correct, unless a global view is taken for the solution to rising sealevels as well.
Historically, the Biblical flood was a distinct probability. Rising sealevels due to climate change may have caused the rupture of the Bosphorous Straits. The inrushing water would have flooded low-lying areas, destroying farms and towns, ultimately creating the Caspian Sea.
There are low-lying areas around the world (the Dead Sea in the Middle East, Death Valley and the Grand Canyon in North America) come immediately to mind. Massive civil enginerering projects to create canals to divert rising sealevels into these arid regions could save a large portion of the current populated coastlines of the world, and effect some positive climatic changes to these arid regions. The populations affected would be far smaller, and at far less expense than building dikes worldwide.
Just my $00.02 worth...
I completely agree that Max OS X can be secure,
but it does take some initial effort -- effort that
the Apple retailer may not be willing to make.
My parents found that their 3rd MS WebTV was hosed
within 5 years. They have already experienced
the hidden MSFT tax before -- that they would have
to buy not only a new console but also a new keyboard &
mouse and compatible inkjet printer, they asked
for my advice.
Some of our relatives have Wintel computers, which
start out being cheap until you add in the anti-virus
software, the anti-spyware software, and the firewall
software required before going on-line, not to
mention the time needed each week for OS and
virus/spyware signature updates nor the time
spent cleaning crud off the computer that got
through anyway.
After describing the sort of Apple computer they
might need, I snail-mailed them a list of items
that the retailer needed to do before the sale.
Details like having a separate administrator and
user account on the computer, and having the latest
OS X security patches installed were included.
Instead, the Apple Store sold them a computer
that was returned and still had the previous
owner's files and applications installed, refused
to set up a separate administrator account, and
convinced them to purchase 3rd party anti-virus,
anti-spyware, and firewall software.
Apparently, either the store sales staff were a
bunch of greedy asshats, or else improperly
(Apple) trained ex-Wintel clowns, or both.
No matter whose hardware platform or OS is the
starting point for a computer newbie getting
on the internet, one cannot presume inherent
security out-of-the-box. Proper configuration
is always an issue -- the Mac OS X platform just
makes the security process easier, initially and
subsequently.
"I would be very interested in a Cell workstation."
Yeah, me too.
There is a lot of potential in this design. It brings
back memories of the "Transputer", which
was absolutely kick-ass. The EETimes article
did expose some problems that needed to be worked
out -- current limit of 2 Cell processor units
would require some form of high speed & bandwidth
switch (something like Infiniband or Myranet).
Pretty much all standard I/O would need to be
off-loaded to another "housekeeping" processor
(or two), since there is no support in current
H/W for standard I/O. Don't really know what
IBM/Sony is doing on the PS3 platform, but it
must be something similar.
An array of vector processors could be the basis
of a high-end video display system or like the
"Transputer", provide high throughput auxillary
processing for radio, radar, sonar, FFT & FCT
functions, FEA, streaming crypto, etc. (or both).
Having full access to the documentation, source
code, and SDK will be crucial for success. Hope
that IBM, Sony, and Toshiba stick to their
committment to OSS on this processor/platform.
"Personally I would not call Netscape a competitor."
Damn right!
Mozilla Project has gotten out of the fully integrated
browser/email/chat/composer market.
(Much to my chagrin.) Any further attempts at
making a direct comparison between FireFox and
Netscape make no more sense than comparing
apples and oranges (beyond being fruit).
If Mozilla Org. wants to orphan their Mozilla
product in the face of Netscape "competition",
that's their decision to make. But it would be
nice for Mozilla Org. to at least "play fair"
and release working source code for their "red
headed step-child".
"...will they pat me down first before i meet him?" -- that was the question that immediately popped into my head when I read the headline.
But when I read the body of the slashdot submission, it became immediately apparent that this would be a staged propaganda event, not unlike every public appearance Dubya has made in the last 100 days pushing for the death of Social Security. In each and every one of those "town hall" meetings only the carefully screened "party faithful" were allowing anywhere near the "news" cameras.
In some alternate universe, Bill Gatus Prime would have been in prison by now, and that headline an announcement for a public viewing before the execution -- "draw & quartering" as the DoJ penalty for both MSFT and Bill. Both saved by a change in venue (er, regime change).
The parent poster is right on target!
This MSFT "news-flash" is a very good indication of just how retarded MSFT's notion of security is, judging by MSFT's efforts to date at "Security is Job One".
Somehow, I have a hard time envisioning a 3M Post-It Note with my hard-to-remember password on it as any improvement in security. Many offices employ contract cleaners to come in at night and vacuum carpets, empty trash bins, etc. Any hacker worth his/her weight in salt would be on the lookout for social engineering vulnerabilities like this.
How about using a personally memorable phrase or sentence as the basis for a hard-to-forget password, instead?
Doh!
Sign me up, as well!
It does look like there will be a fair number of hurdles to overcome, however. While IBM, Sony, and Toshiba have all announced some further plans for the use of the Cell processor, availability and pricing of an SDK that includes usable hardware such as a reference design platform has not been determined.
The EETimes article indicates that IBM would provide engineering services and a foundry for other companies to invest their development resources into viable products. This does not portent well for readily available and reasonably inexpensive hardware.
Additionally, the Cell processor is currently limited, by design, to a maximum of 2 Cell processors working in tandem. Some serious design efforts would be needed for the development of a very high bandwidth (Infiniband or Myranet) switch capability. There is also no native support for any I/O hardware.
I suspect that it will be a quite long time before any reference design hardware becomes available for the general programming public, let alone for the usual cash-starved individuals or small groups usually associated with F/OSS projects.
Has anyone in slashdot-land seen either Sony or Toshiba announce a reference design platform or F/OSS-type SDK? Somehow, I think that purchase of a Sony PS3 will not prove to be the best platform for a generic vector processor or the next supercomputer.
So the messenger used by MSFT to deliver their propaganda was a linux laptop running OO.o.
The content, however, was that MSFT's Shared Source initiative brings something useful to developers -- which it cannot do because MSFT's SS is far more viral than GPL could ever be.
IMHO, OO.o needs to work on a reality checker plug-in that detects bullshit propaganda in the content, and perhaps changing the background color similar to the USA's DHS Threat Level color chart.
It would need to be an optional plug-in, since it would otherwise render OO.o completely unsuitable for certain corporate and government use. Either that, or else a diagonal watermark across the offending text: "Nothing to see here. Move along."
The only problem I have with this anti-spyware legislation is that it does nothing to prevent either offshore based spyware OR USA government sanctioned spyware.
The current regime in power has gone out of its way to characterize "terrorism" in the broadest possible definition, to include such things as copyright violations and DMCA violations. Trading partners of the USA have been coerced into passing legislation that brings them into compliance with American law. But protecting the sanctity of citizens' privacy rights is not that this regime is about. Not only is this regime looking for re-establishing sunset clauses in the USA Patriot Act (I), but are also looking to expand the government's right to violate citizen privacy with a new and improved USA Patriot Act (II). This regime has given itself the legal power to violate any number of international treaties, including the ABM Treaty, Geneva Conventions, and Militarization of Space. Between government authored spyware (Carnivore plus whatever is now current), and the forced collaboration of commercial software vendors (Microsoft?) to add/maintain hidden backdoors, the average "internet joe" has no chance to preserve individual privacy. Between TIA, TIPPS, MATRIX, whatever comes next (with USA Patriot Act (II), and the wide swath of private/commercial databases holding private information, individual privacy is dead in the USA. Recent demands made by the current regime in power, through the DHS, has required that all foreign governments with commercial aircraft that pass through USA airspace also furnish extensive passenger information. Do not expect spyware to go away with this legislation -- it will only eliminate private competition to this regime's ambitions.
Parent poster is right on target.
The laws in the USA (and other places, too, I suppose), place a great burdeon of responsibility on the individual. Every action an individual takes, as well as any inaction (like not clearing ice from a walkway) is subject to either criminal or civil punishment. Corporations (USA, again) seem to have all the rights of individuals, but without being held responsible at similar levels for their actions or negligent inactions.
In the USA, the burdeon on the individual has gone up appreciably via changes in bankruptcy law, while the burdeon for corporations has gone down via changes in venue for class action lawsuits.
Our neo-con political overlords don't want less judicial activism, they only want less judicial activism that favors the individual (or perceived populism). An ideal case in point is the uproar by the neo-cons over "conservative" judges who took the opposing view in regard to the Terri Shivow case. And the neo-con threat to overturn the US Constitution and 200 years of legislative tradition regarding filibusters in the Senate is yet another example. (The filibuster is one of the few mechanisms in the Senate that preserves minority party rights.)
And as far as Wachovia Bank is concerned, they have been busy gobbling up other regional banks using a slush fund of cash that they do not own. For at least 5 years, Wachovia Bank has been illegaly using a mechanism of offshore investment pyramid scheme to avoid paying any USA taxes on annual profits of $3 - $4 Billion USD. This is a tax avoidance scheme that the Dubya regime has not deemed fit to prosecute, apparently due to the large campaign contributions that Wachovia and the banking industry as a whole have been making.
When only one political party holds the balance of power in each of the three branches of government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial), the entire system of government is ripe for a change hostile to the larger interests of the people. Absolute power (still) corrupts absolutely. Hearing a news report about Senator Frist calling his Senatorial political opposition "Nazis" was the icing on the cake -- "Todo, we aren't in Kansas anymore!" and this doesn't much look like a democracy anymore.
The United States Army, Air Force, and Navy do have space programs, military space programs. NASA was the only government agency focused on peaceful civilian use of space. Dubya has turned that definition of NASA on its head, however with the extreme focus on unmannned robotic space missions -- which would be based on dual use technology. In effect, the civilian NASA budget has been highjacked by the Dubya regime as another source of funding for the militarization of space. (There is only so much funding that can be hidden from the US Congress (an increasingly redundent governmental appendage) or from the American taxpayer.)
This article reminds me of two events that have happened during the current (Dubya) regime:
One was that the DoD came up with a cockamamie idea to purchase a large number of berets from China (PRC) to make certain non-elite US fighting forces "feel better" about their "non-eliteness". After a huge public outcry, a USA vendor was selected, but the DoD followed through on the purpose (effectively denegrating some elite forces just prior to Dubya's ambitious oil war;
The second was an IT decision by DHS, in spite of numerous warnings from independent IT security experts to the contrary, to sign a $6 Billion (plus) USD multi-year contract with MSFT for all of their Server OS, Desktop OS, amd Apps software.
So much of the USA's blood and treasure have been pissed away in Iraq that should have been dedicated to improving the security of the homeland. So we find ourselves with part-time soldiers (US Nat. Guard) serving full time full tours of duty in Iraq while our borders, seaports, and air cargo are insecure. There have been numerous instances reported in the press (try "www.cis.org" as an aggregator site) of illegal aliens serving as TSA airport screeners, or as contract laborers on US military bases, nuclear power plants, and chemical plants. There is no money available to actually detain those illegal aliens that the INS captures, so they are released upon the promise to show up for their deportation hearings (catch & release). As a result, I have problems ascertaining that the DHS is anything other than an oxymoron.
This policy decision by DHS will not improve homeland security or national security -- what it will do is provide yet another government teat for the defense contractors to benefit from, and very little else.
Does anyone besides me have the sneaking suspicion that MSFT and the Dubya regime are using the same Madison Avenue marketing team?
Well, at least the techniques are the same -- keep repeating the same lies over and over, and from as many possible sources as possible, and eventually the public will come to believe your message.
Oh, sure the link to MSFT works now, but what is going to happen with all the "average" PC users when MSFT switches to a profit center, subscription-based viri signature and security update policy? Methinks that they will be even more inclined to seek security relief from whoever offers it for free, instead of MSFT.
It will be a relatively small number of users that will go out of their way to subscribe to MSFT's up-and-coming for fee updates -- if it isn't bundled into the cost of the computer when purchased, it will not happen. ISPs aligned with MSFT might bundle it as part of their service agreement, but that will drive those internet costs higher.
MSFT will not be selling these "average" PC users a new perennially late "Longhorn solution" unless it's bundled with new hardware. People still happy with their Win95 or Win98 computers will not be rushing out to buy not only new hardware, but also all-new software versions that will actually run on Longhorn. The difference in hardware requirements for the new OS will utterly amaze these users, and when they find out that they are no longer able to perform the same types of activities on their new computers (due to DRM) that they used to, they will revolt.
MSFT has been trying to plug the gaps in their revenue stream with new "differently enabled" versions of WinXP, so the pressure to switch to a subscription-based security update model is compelling. Many users will not comply. And so the prospects of even more zombiefied computers on the internet is a likelihood.
Cynical observers (and I count myself as one) of the borg-like nature of MSFT wonder if the overall strategy of MSFT is to destroy that (the internet) which they cannot utterly dominate. The combination of the abject failure of MSFT to actually fix their security vulnerabilities (rather than the marketing BS it is now) and their
inexorable greed for the largest possible revenue stream would seem to fit that (ultimate) goal. Taken along with their continued aggregation of software IP patents for code that is so obviously based upon "prior art", MSFT appears to be on-course to turn the internet into MSN. Of course, Netcraft has not yet confirmed that the internet is dead, but given enough time and MSFT's monetary (and by extension, political) resources, it may be inevitable.
Darn right!
Stick an oversized billboard in space and the next
thing you know, some hillbilly country with nukler
tipped missiles will be taking pot-shots at it.
Shebang!
Next thing you know, there goes the whole neighborhood...
Vim?
Ver?
Vi not at least try NEdit?
Wrong. Wrong! WRONG!
NASA/JPL needs to get away from the whole concept of rovers -- everybody knows that modern-day Rovers spend way more time in the shop than in the outback, and cost a fortune to cover towing and repair costs.
What NASA/JPL really needs to focus on are the next generation of the extra-terrestrial mobile drilling rigs that they thoroughly trashed on that asteroid in "Apocalypse". A couple of those rigs soft-dropped onto Mars and there would be no question about whether (or how much) water ice exists on the Red Planet.
Whichever team wins the DARPA 10 mile desert road course should be given first crack at the opportunity. Of course, the DoD might have to cut short their "field training exercises" in the Middle East in order to help pay for these rigs, but that would be a small price to pay in the long run.
Gentlemen, start your engines! Voroom! Voroom! Voroom!
"How much oil is the US getting from India?"
Right on target!
Well before 9-11-2001, the USA placed restrictions on student visas. Well, there was one exception instituted by Dubya's regime called "VISA Express", which made it easy for Saudi Arabians intent upon coming to the USA to merely phone in to the US Embassy, answer a few questions, and viola! then a US Visa was in the mail.
Shortly after 9-11-2001, while all commercial air traffic was shut down in the USA, Dubya's regime gave the green light for the "emergency" evacuation of several hundred Saudi Arabia nationals, no questions asked.
And when Riggs Bank was caught passing over $20 Million USD in cold hard cash to the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington, DC it was the bank that took the fall, with nary a hint of an investigation directed to the Saudi embassy. (You don't suppose it was cash used just for embassy essentials like food and utilities, do you?) But the press stopped reporting the Riggs Bank-Saudi Embassy connection in favor of a dubious connection between Riggs Bank and former General Pinochet.
Anyone (a show of hands, please) really believe that the Dubya regime is more interested in national security (the broad definition) instead of oil, and who's got control of it?
"The "people" supposedly elected the right administration for them, so whether they joy and suffer is their own choice."
Please! You cannot blame all Americans, or even a majority of Americans, for the fascist regime that has taken over the USA government.
The 2000 national election was stolen by an illegal Florida state law that prohibited a state-wide ballot recount, and a US Supreme Court largely appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
The 2004 national election was finagled by a combination of the beat of jingoistic wardrums, a sophisticated government and corporate propaganda campaign, and out-and-out vote fraud (disenfranchisement of opposition voters, rigged electronic voting machines, and the illegal alien vote).
The US Constitution limits a President's time in office now to 2 full terms (4 years each) or 10 years maximum (presuming 2 years of Presidential succession). After the FEC "trial balloon" of possibly postponing the 2004 national election, I wouldn't count on there actually being a 2008 national election. The neo-con revolution has won, and all that remains is the mop up operations of "filibuster reform" in the US Senate, passage of the USA Patriot Act (II), and then packing the US Supreme Court with neo-cons (and another timely terrorist attack to justify martial law).