Another virii attack, another M$ stinks vs. is-not! debate...
Instead of repeating the usual routine how '*u**x rulz' and 'by far Mo$T-buggy-s/w in the galaxy sux', I'd like to point out another angle of this.
There's no such thing as 100% security and no such thing as bugless s/w. But what is the real reason that lead most of humanity into this install-exploit-ddos-fix'n'remove-update-patch merry-go-round?
I had little trouble using MS-DOS, there was only a few tricks to learn. With windows, M$ started to sell a popular illusion that now every Tom, Dick and Harry can be a computer wizzard - with no education but a little 'training' in, for example, Office products.
This additude produced an army of users that claim to be computer litterate, backed up with now three generations of computer salesmen, consultants and advisors, all working under false assumptions about what a computer is and how it works. Nowdays, they all stare blankly into their systems with network down, bitch over their sysadmins while ignoring 'security efforts' at the same time and refusing to learn anything.
These M$ centric folks now only have their adaptabiltity and common sense to fight the monstrous systems they were supposed to manage like 'so easily'.
A (true) computer expert can (learn to) lock down any system, and a good unix system engineer will easily adapt to M$ as well. Not neccessarily vice-versa, but as long as enough (academic) knowlegde is around, experts have a chance.
If you want to name names and call culprits, Bill G. and the Redmond squad being your target, you should pick the real issue: an army of half-literates that will hardly be able to compete in the next steps technological progress brings allong. Understanding how a computer works and how to use (any) one may become as important as reading/writing...
There should be a special class in CS universities: 'the impact of the choice of computer architecture' about how the economically simpler solutions through 70's and 80's prevailed over clearly better academical concepts and paved the way for the three ring circus we have today. M$ is the one who got all the cream in what was really a 80[n]86 story to start with.
Watching my friends that majored in everything else but computers, they somehow get along, provided they treat computers with a distance: as an unreliable, nasty and unpredictable accessory only to use on a must basis. Those who are advanced enoguh that they want to use their machines and their computer skills for an actual advantage over rock, scissors and paper - add new words to the dirty dictionary every day while asking each other WT{F | H} went wrong again.
And there is little you can do now to help them. Explaining all the whys and hows of M$ concepts and how the Redmond conspirators managed to work around every sane concept in CS, setting loose into the world disastrous monsters like Outlook simply takes too much time and doesn't help anyone one bit.
So we should probaly stop whining and try to make the world a better place by assuring that our kids are taught useful stuff.
I have an excuse not to buy a new fridge until this technology is proven, spread and reasonably priced. While this sound-helium thing is being beta-tested, wives-of-the-world should give us a break.
good point! With the US presidential election closing in, people may tend to display irrational behaviour.
Every violence, every war is absurd. Some time must pass in order to propperly judge the whole Iraq episode, especially the US role...
In the meantime, I can imagine we are going to see more and more odd reactions since people are somewhat justifiably frustrated (regardless of their viewpoint). Those with a shorter fuse will definitely have to adapt to the crazier world.
If it's any comfort to US citizens, a lot of us is stuck by not-so-(b)right leaders and usually things must really turn to s*it before the public is ripe for a propper change.
Military may be using Linux, how about G.W. Bush? Is the presidential race (and its current) trends related to all of this?
The password usability problem was covered in a topic not so long ago.
The bottom line was that you can always manage a reasonably large (10 - 30) set of passwords if only you help your memory with it. A few helpful hints were included so please don't get mad if I repeat them.
For example, take a list of persons or items from a part of your life or hobby (i.e. classmates names, friend's birthdays, a set of toys etc.), and use it as base. Use assocciations that are very likely to be familiar only to you. Write one set down as a reminder (what association to what usage) and alter the second set in a specific way, like substituting all 'f's with an asterisk, instering a comma after a wowel or converting letter to digits (bu7 n07 7h3 08v10u5 l4m3 c0m81n4710n5!)
Most importantly, practice typing your password to memorize the keystrokes.
I admit it takes some time and consumes some brainpower, especially when new items or sets have to be generated, but training your mind is only beneficial! You can always keep it simple: most secret and specific things for most important stuff, same lame or obvious sequence for different non-related utilities.
Example: use first three letters of birthplace or residence, followed by a number of engine horsepower for a set of your classmates (their altered names will serve as passwords) and write that down next to an index of the passworded services you use (you may somewhat encrypt those, too (you surely have stimulating associations on your mind that will prevent your peeking work colleagues from directly deciphring what pr0n sites you prefer). Unless you tell what your little system is about, you're reasonably safe for personal use and the index of coded hints (prefferably stored somewhere personal and handy at the same time) means nothing to anyone who might try to peek into it.
The whole point of security is that it can't be foolproof, but that it's made too hard, too time consuming (expensive) and too unlikely to be compromised.
Finally, technology will advance to something more user-friendly and safe at the same time, but those willing to train their brain an extra curl will always have an advantage.
Once, ignoring viruses and anti-virus software, relying on good practices only was a cool hobby; nowdays, it's a disaster waiting to happen, in a large part M$ is to blame.
I retired a box I used from 90-95 and I'm now in the process retiring the 95-04 one. Amazingly, I was able to run MS DOS and Windows 95 without much hassle and without permanent anti-virus-come-to-the-rescue operations.
People borrowing my diskettes (remember the 5 1/4 " floppies ?) did all sorts of things: - have infected the floppies, - have goten themselves infected, - detected viruses on them, etc; while my back yard remained clean. However, I've had a few strict policies: - frizbee network: never stick anything into your floppy drive that's "been around" unless you plan to 'format'; - email: do not use MS Outlook, do not open unexpected attachments from people you know, do not touch stuff from people you don't know etc., etc.
Nowdays, using both W2k and Linux, I claim the (don't-check-for-viruses-and-don't-have-any) policy DEAD. At least for MS w/ Outlook and Explorer, a prompt anti-virus solution is a must.
If nimda was the ultimate lesson for typical corporate intranet environments, the Netsky & Bagle definitely break barriers in the category of private, spam-free, home user addresses.
And it's all probably because of this wrong (viruses-happen-to-losers-not-me) additute of just one of my otherwise cool e-mail-buddies that made it all possible for me: watching a bogus email w/ a virus dropping every 2-3 hrs into my private inbox, without a clue who really the sender is or whose set of contacts would correspond to the addresses in the spoofed TO: fields.
I haven't had any trouble with any of the non-M$ boxes I work with. But like it or not, I still have to use some M$ platform and sadly, no prevention is helpful - it cure, cure, cure, all the time...
Obviusly, security is the reason why the flaw isn't explanied in detail. Without more explanation, however, there is no way to tell how serious this really is.
What's yellow and dangerous? A canary w/ root password.
In my understanding of systems security, every security issue may be serious, but this one is definitely less than serious.
A system that has no test:test accounts or guest logins, with all non-privileged users somehow known and/or affiliated with a systems administrator, chances of a major breach are slim.
Incidental damage by a less skilled non-privileged user is another matter, though; likely and depending on the circumstances - reminds me of a poll once taken: would you trust your significant other with your root password?
I hope this haiku style editing doesn't offend anyone.
most of the communist project were disasters in one way or another. Mass starvations, etc. Nowdays, it is just history - and one need not be neither a fortune teller nor an economist to predict the outcome of planned-market commie and socialist experiments.
There is one thing that comes to mind as an association for distaster, though, and it is the key point in the above article - Microsoft. No phsycic can fortell all the features & components where they might f_ck up next.
It is indeed a paradox that something so monopolistic and so low quality can exist in a free world with a free market. Evolution will (sadly, rather later than sooner) in my belief handle this irregularity, and one can't seriosuly blame the Chinese to be impatent and impose regulations to provide for swifter justice. Lets wait and see what happens.
I view this pay-per-download thing just as a painful transition to a better world.
The technology has advanced enough to enable any Johnny B to make as many copies of digital anything as he wants. No RIAA, DMCA, CIA, or YMCA is going to stop the inevitable.
Wrong strategy: Instead of pursuing those who try to profit distributing fakes to people and are the big players costing the consumer as well as the author rights owner, the reseller and the producer big bucks, companies try to maximize their current net gain by restraining the choices of the regular Johhny B. As if the mainstream and biggest selling hits were immortal works of art that need to be treasured in vault rather than a day-to-day fad, only to be forgotten if not accessed in the same month.
Right strategy: Adapt. Face the fact that for a product to succeed, it must be cheaper and better than something one can-do-himself in his home.
The age of expensive CDs is over. Vynil was cheaper to buy than to copy, but people always liked to use cassete tapes for copies - who was nuts enough to pursue that?
Customer will, eventually, stop at some point to let themselves be squezzed out of every penny. Not to mention the third world who is quick to pick on some of the technology, but much less willing or able to follow royalty and copyright practice.
Prices will have to fall, be it media sets or download options. High prices and limited access are only a road to oblivion. Furthermore, new inventions may well push current technology out of the market.
Prevention of drunk driving by breath on-board sensors? Silly idea! It's not the cars that are on the sauce...
Some people will no longer drive drunk when punished once. Some people will not even try to get caught if the fines are heavy and furhter sanctions follow. Some people, however, especially alcoholics, will simply carry on until they roll in a ditch, license or no license.
Tougher sanctions do help. Prevention in the sense of frequent highway patrols in right places, notes at bars, taxi offers, awareness campaings help, too. But mostly, it's a cultural thing.
For example, in Europe, the souther you go, the more tolerance is present ( with some high-tolerance exceptions in cultures that specifically "worship" alcohol regardless of the climate). In Scandinavia, for example, few people even dare try drunk driving, and it's not just that they get caught and are heavily sanctioned, they are ASHAMED! In a country I know on the south side of the Alps (embarassed to name it) drinking, driving and avoiding cops is a folkore ritual: every other weekend someone we know has to get caught, and starts a get-away-with-it process that may include bribing the police, obstructing the court proceedings, or avoiding sanctions imposed. Tougher sanctions and campaining are starting to show some effect, though. Compared to the 80's and 90's, people are gradually getting more responsible. Will take a few more decades, I imagine, to reach a respectable level.
People and communitites tolerate drunk driving in others until someone close and innocent is badly hurt on acount of that, and most people stop bad practices until they or their close friend are heavily sanctioned (some tough cases having to be fined and license suspended for say 2 or three times;-)...
The best investment is campaining, education, awareness raising... Installing breath sensors into cars will only develop a market for "illegal" cars that carry alcoholics. And let traffic control be what it is supposed to be, and deal with alcohol addiction in humans in general, not only while they may be crawling into the driving seat.
Nice point, and very true, regarding Windows migrations.
However, the car gearbox metaphore is not a suitable one: anyone who can drive a stick-shift, will be more than qualified for the automatic - it's the vice versa that is a challenge for some people.
Technically, the propper parallel would be Windows ~ automatic and Linux ~ stick shift. Anyway, metaphores must end at this point. Car industry is so different from software, especially the M$ kind of products, that comparisons are only suitable for jokes like: - imagine your car losing two of the wheels and dying on you while you simoultaneously indicate a left-turn while auto-tuning a station on your radio. At the shop, they later tell you that they need to replace the entire engine and re-wire the car to even start it again.
Installing windows on a pentium is like having a Porsche only to be able to drive on two wheels in reverse with the handbrake on.
"Every time they say we need to cut the fat, it's the fat doing the cutting..." - seen once on quoteland.com.
Sure, outsourcing and off-shoring would be good ideas. But you always need to know your bussiness, your advantages and have a strategy. Not always the case these days.
What is happening in the US (and Europe as well) is that skilled, qualified and honest working people are losing jobs to cheaper, hastily-trained and un-proven people because of mediocre, greedy and incompetent board members, CEOs etc.
The cost-cutting-at-all-costs fad is a short-sighted reaction in businesses that went bad because they simply weren't good (read: competitive) enough.
Until the reasons why an operation was or went sour are dealt with, nothing can improve. No business consultant, management advisor, HR specialist, public relations expert or therapist, (usually hired at quite a cost wich a massive layoff has to cover for) can help if the symtoms are cured instead of the disease.
The first IT business were off-shored or out-sourced because the quality needed improvement - and that's the propper way to bost quality/cost ratio; decreasing cost really does nothing - except prolongs the agony and spreads confusion.
On top of all, no "economist" is going to persuade me that the things will be well once everything levels up again. Lives will be ruined, opportunities lost, innovative spirits crushed in the process if everything is to continue "business as usual". If the US politics is not going to make a serires of moves that would signal the greedy, incompetent and most of all, criminal white-collar types that the show is over, the entire world economy is going to go downhill; regardless if outsourcing will be stimulated or banned.
You may have a point regarding this specific article - but I have long stopped comforting myself with thoughts like: - last year's extremes are well within long-term records - climate changes on Earth are frequent - human action is too small to have any damaging impact on a global scale.
The last few years have been more than enough for me to change my opinion. I now consider the situation very serious, for example:
1. The snow - the skiing - the average height of the snow cover in the mountains during the winter has risen for some, say 2000 feet. The country simply looks diferent. A photo of the mountains once taken in June is now similar to the one taken in March or April. - the quality of snow while skiing deteriorated - there is no such thing as "powder" here in our part of the Alps - you either ski on frozen or soft, depending on the time of the day (where you even have any natural snow, that is). Furthermore, there is no such thing as "spring-skiing" in the spring nowdays. Once the high temperatures kick in, it's time to switch from skiing to watching spring flowers grow... - we used to have the lowest lying glacier at 1900 m altitude near where I live that I could still ski on in the summer of 1994. Now it is GONE.
2. Wine vintages We've had more than a dozen of excellent vintages in last thirty years when only, say, four to seven should be expected - and it's not due to heavy marketing exaggeration - the climate change seems to be doing some good to most of our wines for the time being.
3. Seasonal changes and temperature fluctuation I do not wish to use weather extremes as my case, since they happen too randomly and don't provide a solid set of data. Storms have happened and will happen. The fact is that seasons no longer change the ordinary way - Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn but there is a very vicious oscilating temperature cycle that makes a year look something like this: Au-Wi-(Au/Sp?)-Wi-Sp-Su-Sp-Su-(Au/Sp?)-Su-Au-Su-Au -Wi; as something would try to rush the weather with the next seasonal change in and something else would then try to delay the change and even contradict to the warming - with little success, though.
4. Air conditioning in my town went from a nifty luxurious gadget to a neccessity. Heating bills are lower and appartments, as they were designed, are too warm most of the time.
The fact is that the planet is warming nastily and that such changes will have a major impact on the global economy and everyones life. Therefore, governements should not only try to slow down or stop the warming by eliminating human causes for it (since we do not fully understand the climate machine and have only clues on WTH=going on), but should most of all try to provide for their citizens by preparing measures for each of the different scenarios of global climate changes that can be anticipated.
I have long adapted my vacation plans: I try to get a hold of any skiing I can since I may never have a chance to do so later in my lifetime (It would be too much to hope for that this warming is only a prelude to a new ice-age kicking in; not to mention the economically disastrous impact if that kind of theory would be true). I have hade a couple of very short skiing seasons in lousy conditions since I was not paying enough attention. As for summer and warm destinations, I've tried to limit that and moved my beach activites to spring and autumn since summers have been so hot lately that a typical vacation is no longer bearable.
My life has changed so dramatically due to the weather in last 15 years that I no longer dare call anyone alarmits. We have to make climate an issue, make the best of the changes and minimize the damages.
Both the main wave of outsourcing fever as well as most the outsourcefobia are mis-directed.
Firstly, we have to focus on the right target. There was a great article "Managing the company to death" posted on/. giving a nice profile of the shortsighted, term-profit and quantity-per-share oriented MBA, who are totally detached form any innovation, knowledge or background of the programs they manage. Outsourcing is just one in the large arsenal of tools often used poorly by the people in charge.
These are the people who gave the outsourcing a bad name, and are ruining not only the products they tremple on, but the lives and economies on both sides of the sea.
Outsourcing a suitable product or better, parts of it, by maintaing or increasing quality, main purpose being extension of production and doubleing the pools where innovation can come from may be a very sensible thing to do. Having multiple products in different stages of development or levels of sofistication fits well with a multi-continental concept of a company.
Sacking one experienced set of troops to reduce costs (i.e. outsorcing code from a good team to a cheapest team, which, for that matter, may in the bottom line both already be located in Asia;-)) with no innovation, no expansion (or "added-value", if you will) is a sucicide going multiple ways: - the products may well go sour - ruined lives of sacked troops - short-term benefit of new troops only lasts long enough to get acustomed to a good life just in time to lose it (and going back is never easier), as is washed away by an aftermath disaster or simply next downsize-cycle - bad management decisions always create circumstaces that reflect in the local economies, creating new anomalies, like circles in the water, that have to be leveled later at the cost of those affected.
The problem in a "bad-but-show-me-a-better-system", democracy with a free-market economy is that there is no such thing available as an effectiv "corruption-pest control": before the politicans and the grumpy grey old pension fund board members both realize who doing a bad job (most of the times close buddies, with hands so interlaced in each others pockets that you can no longer tell where the thread starts and ends), a whole generation has to suffer and pick up the tap.
A lot of damage, especially by the US companies, has already been done and it will be very difficult to make the wrong-decision makers improve their thinking.
Coming from mid-Europe, I had I chance to familiarize myself with all kinds of cars from both East and West.
By far the most honest criteria would be price/performance ratio, considering the
expectations!
Yugos from Serbia are probably an all-time favorite no matter how you bend the criteria.
There are also very useful production anecdotes available (which may be of use to those how favor outsorcing to 3rd world $5/hr typists, point being "nobody can pay me poorly enough to match the lousy work I do...")
Leaving that aside, two points have to be made:
- many east-european cars were not as disastrous as the "non-aligned" Yugo and their performance was well within the expectations, knowing their pros and cons, and of course considering the price.
Lada Niva is a good example of a simple work mule, easily repairable and robust that will do well. Skoda Favorit, was somewhat different: a great story of improvement.
On the other hand, there were always Fiats (and many more brands, already listed) that were below any reasonable expectations (see the anectode in the beginning of the Michael Moore's Stupid White Men about the brand new VW Beetle or the (Microsoft-related?) stories on BMW's first iDrives in the 7 series). These days, with customer care programs and selling/marketing tools in place, you have to be especially careful about cars that are advertised as having character and image, which is often a substitute for lack of performance - small Peugeots and Renaults being the big spenders, the way I see it.
The German auto club (ADAC) statistics seem to be a pretty good source for car reliability.
We may have a new star on the horizon of the worst cars ever, and (my bet) it will be a Renault, with ("closed source") allmighty electronics done the French own way
breaking down cars to a halt on every corner.
Slashdot Mirror
Another virii attack, another M$ stinks vs. is-not! debate...
Instead of repeating the usual routine how '*u**x rulz' and 'by far Mo$T-buggy-s/w in the galaxy sux', I'd like to point out another angle of this.
There's no such thing as 100% security and no such thing as bugless s/w. But what is the real reason that lead most of humanity into this install-exploit-ddos-fix'n'remove-update-patch merry-go-round?
I had little trouble using MS-DOS, there was only a few tricks to learn. With windows, M$ started to sell a popular illusion that now every Tom, Dick and Harry can be a computer wizzard - with no education but a little 'training' in, for example, Office products.
This additude produced an army of users that claim to be computer litterate, backed up with now three generations of computer salesmen, consultants and advisors, all working under false assumptions about what a computer is and how it works. Nowdays, they all stare blankly into their systems with network down, bitch over their sysadmins while ignoring 'security efforts' at the same time and refusing to learn anything.
These M$ centric folks now only have their adaptabiltity and common sense to fight the
monstrous systems they were supposed to manage like 'so easily'.
A (true) computer expert can (learn to)
lock down any system, and a good unix system engineer will easily adapt to M$ as well. Not neccessarily vice-versa, but as long as enough (academic) knowlegde is around, experts have a chance.
If you want to name names and call culprits, Bill G. and the Redmond squad being your target, you should pick the real issue: an army of half-literates that will hardly be able to compete in the next steps technological progress brings allong. Understanding how a computer works and how to use (any) one may become as important as reading/writing...
There should be a special class in CS universities: 'the impact of the choice of computer architecture' about how the economically simpler solutions through 70's and 80's prevailed over clearly better academical concepts and paved the way for the three ring circus we have today. M$ is the one who got all the cream in what was really a 80[n]86 story to start with.
Watching my friends that majored in everything else but computers, they somehow get along, provided they treat computers with a distance: as an unreliable, nasty and unpredictable accessory only to use on a must basis. Those who are advanced enoguh that they want to use their machines and their computer skills for an actual advantage over rock, scissors and paper - add new words to the dirty dictionary every day while asking each other WT{F | H} went wrong again.
And there is little you can do now to help them. Explaining all the whys and hows of M$ concepts and how the Redmond conspirators managed to work around every sane concept in CS, setting loose into the world disastrous monsters like Outlook simply takes too much time and doesn't help anyone one bit.
So we should probaly stop whining and try to make the world a better place by assuring that our kids are taught useful stuff.
Well, there's a chance of success with
geeks, but only if the sound pitch matches that Enterprise next generation humming background noise.
Better yet,
I have an excuse not to buy a new fridge until this technology is proven, spread and reasonably priced. While this sound-helium thing is being beta-tested, wives-of-the-world should give us a break.
good point!
With the US presidential election closing in,
people may tend to display irrational behaviour.
Every violence, every war is absurd. Some time must pass in order to propperly judge the whole Iraq episode, especially the US role...
In the meantime, I can imagine we are going to see more and more odd reactions since people are somewhat justifiably frustrated (regardless of their viewpoint). Those with a shorter fuse will definitely have to adapt to the crazier world.
If it's any comfort to US citizens, a lot of us is stuck by not-so-(b)right leaders and usually things must really turn to s*it before the public is ripe for a propper change.
Military may be using Linux, how about G.W. Bush? Is the presidential race (and its current) trends related to all of this?
The password usability problem was covered in a topic not so long ago.
The bottom line was that you can always manage a reasonably large (10 - 30) set of passwords if only you help your memory with it. A few helpful hints were included so please don't get mad if I repeat them.
For example, take a list of persons or items from a part of your life or hobby (i.e. classmates names, friend's birthdays, a set of toys etc.), and use it as base. Use assocciations that are very likely to be familiar only to you. Write one set down as a reminder (what association to what usage) and alter the second set in a specific way, like substituting all 'f's with an asterisk, instering a comma after a wowel or converting letter to digits (bu7 n07 7h3 08v10u5 l4m3 c0m81n4710n5!)
Most importantly, practice typing your password to memorize the keystrokes.
I admit it takes some time and consumes some brainpower, especially when new items or sets have to be generated, but training your mind is only beneficial! You can always keep it simple: most secret and specific things for most important stuff, same lame or obvious sequence for different non-related utilities.
Example: use first three letters of birthplace or residence, followed by a number of engine horsepower for a set of your classmates (their altered names will serve as passwords) and write that down next to an index of the passworded services you use (you may somewhat encrypt those, too (you surely have stimulating associations on your mind that will prevent your peeking work colleagues from directly deciphring what pr0n sites you prefer). Unless you tell what your little system is about, you're reasonably safe for personal use and the index of coded hints (prefferably stored somewhere personal and handy at the same time) means nothing to anyone who might try to peek into it.
The whole point of security is that it can't be foolproof, but that it's made too hard, too time consuming (expensive) and too unlikely to be compromised.
Finally, technology will advance to something more user-friendly and safe at the same time, but those willing to train their brain an extra curl will always have an advantage.
don't tell me I'm the first:
www.dumbwarnings.com
I searched quicklz an there was no mention
of the dumb* sites.
Once, ignoring viruses and anti-virus software, relying on good practices only was a cool hobby; nowdays, it's a disaster waiting to happen, in a large part M$ is to blame.
I retired a box I used from 90-95 and I'm now in the process retiring the 95-04 one. Amazingly, I was able to run MS DOS and Windows 95 without much hassle and without permanent anti-virus-come-to-the-rescue operations.
People borrowing my diskettes (remember the 5 1/4 " floppies ?) did all sorts of things:
- have infected the floppies,
- have goten themselves infected,
- detected viruses on them, etc;
while my back yard remained clean. However, I've had a few strict policies:
- frizbee network: never stick anything into your floppy drive that's "been around" unless you plan to 'format';
- email: do not use MS Outlook, do not open unexpected attachments from people you know, do not touch stuff from people you don't know etc., etc.
Nowdays, using both W2k and Linux, I claim the (don't-check-for-viruses-and-don't-have-any) policy DEAD. At least for MS w/ Outlook and Explorer, a prompt anti-virus solution is a must.
If nimda was the ultimate lesson for typical corporate intranet environments, the Netsky & Bagle definitely break barriers in the category of private, spam-free, home user addresses.
And it's all probably because of this wrong (viruses-happen-to-losers-not-me) additute of just one of my otherwise cool e-mail-buddies that made it all possible for me: watching a bogus email w/ a virus dropping every 2-3 hrs into my private inbox, without a clue who really the sender is or whose set of contacts would correspond to the addresses in the spoofed TO: fields.
I haven't had any trouble with any of the non-M$ boxes I work with. But like it or not, I still have to use some M$ platform and sadly, no prevention is helpful - it cure, cure, cure, all the time...
Obviusly, security is the reason why the
flaw isn't explanied in detail. Without
more explanation, however, there is no
way to tell how serious this really is.
What's yellow and dangerous? A canary w/ root
password.
In my understanding of systems security,
every security issue may be serious, but
this one is definitely less than serious.
A system that has no test:test accounts or
guest logins, with all non-privileged users
somehow known and/or affiliated with a systems
administrator, chances of a major breach are
slim.
Incidental damage by a less skilled
non-privileged user is another matter, though;
likely and depending on the circumstances -
reminds me of a poll once taken: would you trust
your significant other with your root password?
I hope this haiku style editing doesn't offend anyone.
most of the communist project were disasters in one way or another. Mass starvations, etc. Nowdays, it is just history - and one need not be neither a fortune teller nor an economist to predict the outcome of planned-market commie and socialist experiments.
There is one thing that comes to mind as an association for distaster, though, and it is the key point in the above article - Microsoft. No phsycic can fortell all the features & components where they might f_ck up next.
It is indeed a paradox that something so monopolistic and so low quality can exist in a free world with a free market. Evolution will (sadly, rather later than sooner) in my belief handle this irregularity, and one can't seriosuly blame the Chinese to be impatent and impose regulations to provide for swifter justice. Lets wait and see what happens.
I view this pay-per-download thing just as a painful transition to a better world.
The technology has advanced enough to enable any Johnny B to make as many copies of digital anything as he wants. No RIAA, DMCA, CIA, or YMCA is going to stop the inevitable.
Wrong strategy: Instead of pursuing those who try to profit distributing fakes to people and are the big players costing the consumer as well as the author rights owner, the reseller and the producer big bucks, companies try to maximize their current net gain by restraining the choices of the regular Johhny B. As if the mainstream and biggest selling hits were immortal works of art that need to be treasured in vault rather than a day-to-day fad, only to be forgotten if not accessed in the same month.
Right strategy: Adapt. Face the fact that for a product to succeed, it must be cheaper and better than something one can-do-himself in his home.
The age of expensive CDs is over. Vynil was cheaper to buy than to copy, but people always liked to use cassete tapes for copies - who was nuts enough to pursue that?
Customer will, eventually, stop at some point to let themselves be squezzed out of every penny. Not to mention the third world who is quick to pick on some of the technology, but much less willing or able to follow royalty and copyright practice.
Prices will have to fall, be it media sets or download options. High prices and limited access are only a road to oblivion. Furthermore, new inventions may well push current technology out of the market.
Prevention of drunk driving by breath on-board sensors? Silly idea! It's not the cars that are on the sauce...
;-)...
Some people will no longer drive drunk when punished once.
Some people will not even try to get caught if the fines are heavy and furhter sanctions follow.
Some people, however, especially alcoholics, will simply carry on until they roll in a ditch, license or no license.
Tougher sanctions do help.
Prevention in the sense of frequent highway patrols in right places, notes at bars, taxi offers, awareness campaings help, too.
But mostly, it's a cultural thing.
For example, in Europe, the souther you go, the more tolerance is present ( with some high-tolerance exceptions in cultures that specifically "worship" alcohol regardless of the climate). In Scandinavia, for example, few people even dare try drunk driving, and it's not just that they get caught and are heavily sanctioned, they are ASHAMED! In a country I know on the south side of the Alps (embarassed to name it) drinking, driving and avoiding cops is a folkore ritual: every other weekend someone we know has to get caught, and starts a get-away-with-it process that may include bribing the police, obstructing the court proceedings, or avoiding sanctions imposed. Tougher sanctions and campaining are starting to show some effect, though. Compared to the 80's and 90's, people are gradually getting more responsible. Will take a few more decades, I imagine, to reach a respectable level.
People and communitites tolerate drunk driving in others until someone close and innocent is badly hurt on acount of that, and most people stop bad practices until they or their close friend are heavily sanctioned (some tough cases having to be fined and license suspended for say 2 or three times
The best investment is campaining, education, awareness raising... Installing breath sensors into cars will only develop a market for "illegal" cars that carry alcoholics. And let traffic control be what it is supposed to be, and deal with alcohol addiction in humans in general, not only while they may be crawling into the driving seat.
Nice point, and very true, regarding Windows migrations.
However, the car gearbox metaphore is not a suitable one: anyone who can drive a stick-shift, will be more than qualified for the automatic - it's the vice versa that is a challenge for some people.
Technically, the propper parallel would be Windows ~ automatic and Linux ~ stick shift.
Anyway, metaphores must end at this point. Car industry is so different from software, especially the M$ kind of products, that comparisons are only suitable for jokes like:
- imagine your car losing two of the wheels and dying on you while you simoultaneously indicate a left-turn while auto-tuning a station on your radio. At the shop, they later tell you that they need to replace the entire engine and re-wire the car to even start it again.
Installing windows on a pentium is like having a Porsche only to be able to drive on two wheels in reverse with the handbrake on.
"Every time they say we need to cut the fat,
it's the fat doing the cutting..." - seen once on quoteland.com.
Sure, outsourcing and off-shoring would be good ideas. But you always need to know your bussiness, your advantages and have a strategy.
Not always the case these days.
What is happening in the US (and Europe as well) is that skilled, qualified and honest working people are losing jobs to cheaper, hastily-trained and un-proven people because of mediocre, greedy and incompetent board members, CEOs etc.
The cost-cutting-at-all-costs fad is a short-sighted reaction in businesses that went bad because they simply weren't good (read: competitive) enough.
Until the reasons why an operation was or went sour are dealt with, nothing can improve. No business consultant, management advisor, HR specialist, public relations expert or therapist, (usually hired at quite a cost wich a massive layoff has to cover for) can help if the symtoms are cured instead of the disease.
The first IT business were off-shored or out-sourced because the quality needed improvement - and that's the propper way to bost quality/cost ratio; decreasing cost really does nothing - except prolongs the agony and spreads confusion.
On top of all, no "economist" is going to persuade me that the things will be well once everything levels up again. Lives will be ruined, opportunities lost, innovative spirits crushed in the process if everything is to continue "business as usual". If the US politics is not going to make a serires of moves that would signal the greedy, incompetent and most of all, criminal white-collar types that the show is over, the entire world economy is going to go downhill; regardless if outsourcing will be stimulated or banned.
You may have a point regarding this specific article - but I have long stopped comforting myself with thoughts like:
u -Wi; as something would try to rush the weather with the next seasonal change in and something else would then try to delay the change and even contradict to the warming - with little success, though.
- last year's extremes are well within long-term records
- climate changes on Earth are frequent
- human action is too small to have any damaging impact on a global scale.
The last few years have been more than enough for me to change my opinion. I now consider the situation very serious, for example:
1. The snow - the skiing
- the average height of the snow cover in the mountains during the winter has risen for some, say 2000 feet. The country simply looks diferent. A photo of the mountains once taken in June is now similar to the one taken in March or April.
- the quality of snow while skiing deteriorated - there is no such thing as "powder" here in our part of the Alps - you either ski on frozen or soft, depending on the time of the day (where you even have any natural snow, that is). Furthermore, there is no such thing as "spring-skiing" in the spring nowdays. Once the high temperatures kick in, it's time to switch from skiing to watching spring flowers grow...
- we used to have the lowest lying glacier at 1900 m altitude near where I live that I could still ski on in the summer of 1994. Now it is GONE.
2. Wine vintages
We've had more than a dozen of excellent vintages in last thirty years when only, say, four to seven should be expected - and it's not due to heavy marketing exaggeration - the climate change seems to be doing some good to most of our wines for the time being.
3. Seasonal changes and temperature fluctuation
I do not wish to use weather extremes as my case,
since they happen too randomly and don't provide a solid set of data. Storms have happened and will happen. The fact is that seasons no longer change the ordinary way - Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn but there is a very vicious oscilating temperature cycle that makes a year look something like this: Au-Wi-(Au/Sp?)-Wi-Sp-Su-Sp-Su-(Au/Sp?)-Su-Au-Su-A
4. Air conditioning in my town went from a nifty luxurious gadget to a neccessity. Heating bills are lower and appartments, as they were designed, are too warm most of the time.
The fact is that the planet is warming nastily and that such changes will have a major impact on the global economy and everyones life. Therefore, governements should not only try to slow down or stop the warming by eliminating human causes for it (since we do not fully understand the climate machine and have only clues on WTH=going on), but should most of all try to provide for their citizens by preparing measures for each of the different scenarios of global climate changes that can be anticipated.
I have long adapted my vacation plans: I try to get a hold of any skiing I can since I may never have a chance to do so later in my lifetime (It would be too much to hope for that this warming is only a prelude to a new ice-age kicking in; not to mention the economically disastrous impact if that kind of theory would be true). I have hade a couple of very short skiing seasons in lousy conditions since I was not paying enough attention. As for summer and warm destinations, I've tried to limit that and moved my beach activites to spring and autumn since summers have been so hot lately that a typical vacation is no longer bearable.
My life has changed so dramatically due to the weather in last 15 years that I no longer dare call anyone alarmits. We have to make climate an issue, make the best of the changes and minimize the damages.
Both the main wave of outsourcing fever as well as most the outsourcefobia are mis-directed.
/. giving a nice profile of the shortsighted, term-profit and quantity-per-share oriented MBA, who are totally detached form any innovation, knowledge or background of the programs they manage. Outsourcing is just one in the large arsenal of tools often used poorly by the people in charge.
;-)) with no innovation, no expansion (or "added-value", if you will) is a sucicide going multiple ways:
Firstly, we have to focus on the right target.
There was a great article "Managing the company to death" posted on
These are the people who gave the outsourcing a bad name, and are ruining not only the products they tremple on, but the lives and economies on both sides of the sea.
Outsourcing a suitable product or better, parts of it, by maintaing or increasing quality, main purpose being extension of production and doubleing the pools where innovation can come from may be a very sensible thing to do. Having multiple products in different stages of development or levels of sofistication fits well with a multi-continental concept of a company.
Sacking one experienced set of troops to reduce costs (i.e. outsorcing code from a good team to a cheapest team, which, for that matter, may in the bottom line both already be located in Asia
- the products may well go sour
- ruined lives of sacked troops
- short-term benefit of new troops only lasts long enough to get acustomed to a good life just in time to lose it (and going back is never easier), as is washed away by an aftermath disaster or simply next downsize-cycle
- bad management decisions always create circumstaces that reflect in the local economies, creating new anomalies, like circles in the water, that have to be leveled later at the cost of those affected.
The problem in a "bad-but-show-me-a-better-system", democracy with a free-market economy is that there is no such thing available as an effectiv "corruption-pest control": before the politicans and the grumpy grey old pension fund board members both realize who doing a bad job (most of the times close buddies, with hands so interlaced in each others pockets that you can no longer tell where the thread starts and ends), a whole generation has to suffer and pick up the tap.
A lot of damage, especially by the US companies, has already been done and it will be very difficult to make the wrong-decision makers improve their thinking.
Coming from mid-Europe, I had I chance to familiarize myself with all kinds of cars from both East and West. By far the most honest criteria would be price/performance ratio, considering the expectations! Yugos from Serbia are probably an all-time favorite no matter how you bend the criteria. There are also very useful production anecdotes available (which may be of use to those how favor outsorcing to 3rd world $5/hr typists, point being "nobody can pay me poorly enough to match the lousy work I do...") Leaving that aside, two points have to be made: - many east-european cars were not as disastrous as the "non-aligned" Yugo and their performance was well within the expectations, knowing their pros and cons, and of course considering the price. Lada Niva is a good example of a simple work mule, easily repairable and robust that will do well. Skoda Favorit, was somewhat different: a great story of improvement. On the other hand, there were always Fiats (and many more brands, already listed) that were below any reasonable expectations (see the anectode in the beginning of the Michael Moore's Stupid White Men about the brand new VW Beetle or the (Microsoft-related?) stories on BMW's first iDrives in the 7 series). These days, with customer care programs and selling/marketing tools in place, you have to be especially careful about cars that are advertised as having character and image, which is often a substitute for lack of performance - small Peugeots and Renaults being the big spenders, the way I see it. The German auto club (ADAC) statistics seem to be a pretty good source for car reliability. We may have a new star on the horizon of the worst cars ever, and (my bet) it will be a Renault, with ("closed source") allmighty electronics done the French own way breaking down cars to a halt on every corner.