I can't say much in defense of the liberal party but I can tell you about HP practices from a business perspective. HP hosts our multi-million dollar environment and I see them "double-dipping" (and even triple-dipping!) on a daily basis. They'll charge us for a service they are supposed to provide at no extra cost past the SLA. Aside from they're already steep hosting fees, they actually charge my company for my time when I get paged out by HP. It's fantastically stupid that someone big hasn't sued their ass into the next world by now.
It's too bad they didn't spend all of that extra dosh on their technical staff...
I installed Fedora Core 1 on their machine and told them it was "like windows". I showed them how to check their mail and use the internet. Done.
If they have a problem I just SSH into their box and fix it. Again, done.
Don't knock my solution until you try it with your 65 year old parents.
Build another room for all of your stuff. I have a dedicated game room...it is sometimes also called my bedroom but there really isn't much point in sleeping if you have 3+ game consoles.
While I think Return of the King was awesome, who couldn't like Bad Santa? Any movie is good when it ends with a kid riding a bike, flipping the bird, and wearing a tshirt that says "Shit Happens When You Party Naked"
My post just went up a bit after yours (look down the tree from yours) but it some similar points. Why is it that everytime a security exploit comes up for Linux, we have to point to Windows?
I dislike the security inherent in Windows as must as the next sysadmin but one has nothing to do with the other. If there is a problem with the Linux kernel or another open source component, then it would be more productive to focus the discussion on the design and overall assumptions of the security process.
Let's face it, no OS is 100% secure. Operating Systems that are more secure than others still need to be on their toes. One security exploitation on a Linux box can still be as dangerous as a thousand (an underestimated ratio I'm sure) exploitations on a Windows box. However, I will take the body of security knowledge surrounding an OS to be as valuable as the initial security design principles in the OS in the first place; with that in mind, many Open Source OS's come out looking pretty good. I trust the Linux community to grind down and fix security problems and not sit around and emphasize the numerous security in a Microsoft product. If you're concerned, then help out developers by testing the software and reporting bugs. You could even code a few patches yourself, that being the whole point of community-based development.
Whether or not there is a deep and dark plot to root big Linux boxes is irrelevant. This is another opportunity to demonstrate the Open Source community's response to security issues to the rest of the computing community. If the heat is really on and this is not just another artifact of news gatekeepers getting over-zealous on a trend, then so be it. It is an opportunity to review and evolve Linux's security as well as the security processes that surround it.
One of the things I admire most about Linus Torvalds is his steadfast commitment to the quality of his product. It is a commitment that is focused on constant improvement, not PR damage control. I'm sure the real security guru's are sitting with a bit more comfort knowing their servers are running Linux.
Disclaimer: This post contains no constructive content whatsoever, swallow two tablespoons of salt and call me in the morning.
I don't know about you, but $17/hour sucks even in Edmonton. However, you can live off about $20 (in a very Kraft Dinner way) in Toronto so I suppose it's better than giving hand jobs outside the Olive Garden.
With the recent purchase of SUSE by Novell and Red Hat's focus on the Enterprise, it is clear that Linux stands to make even more money. I think most of us believe that this increased profit for Linux-based companies will only enhance the pool of excellent software that is already available. The governing license for all (or most) of this software is the GPL, and it comes with certain inherent values. One of those values is that code can and will be swapped within a public sphere of developers, for the purposes of review and reuse. What we, the open source developer community, want to know, is how have you guaranteed the integration of these ethics into your business plan? How will Red Hat, the company, ensure that it continues to participate meaningfully to this community?
Perhaps we need the V-Chips too...with GPS add-ons for quick neutralization. The modified V-Chip could zap us every time we even thought about breaking a copZAPPPPPPPP!!!yright....ouch.
I just wanted to say thanks for everyone's suggestions. I consider myself a pretty experienced perf expert and I learned about some good OS tools. I'd like to give a bit more of a background of my setup.
My PTE (Performance Testing Environment) is made up of an AWEFUL lot of REALLY expensive Sun boxes. That is where I use Mercury, and will continue to use Mercury. I have another setup for the DIT, SIT, and DEV environments. The load generators that I use in the aforementioned environments are 5 beefy x86 Red Hat boxes. I have one beefy windows box to use as a controller. I have a strong predisposition to using the new Red Hat Enterprise 3.0 Linux because it has been optimized for a buttload of threads. It is on these boxes that I will be using all sorts of other QA tools.
I also want to say that I'm not Mercury Bashing, I'm just being an economic realist. I've worked with Mercury to sovle a lot of bugs in their software and know their hooks into OpenSSL almost as well as their developers in Israel (who I've spoken to and are pretty helpful guys). I've actually spoken to their CSO before and I have to say that the service I received was pretty damn good.
There are only three sure-fire ways to accomplish relaxation: First Person Shooters Drinking Sex
I can't say much in defense of the liberal party but I can tell you about HP practices from a business perspective. HP hosts our multi-million dollar environment and I see them "double-dipping" (and even triple-dipping!) on a daily basis. They'll charge us for a service they are supposed to provide at no extra cost past the SLA. Aside from they're already steep hosting fees, they actually charge my company for my time when I get paged out by HP. It's fantastically stupid that someone big hasn't sued their ass into the next world by now. It's too bad they didn't spend all of that extra dosh on their technical staff...
I installed Fedora Core 1 on their machine and told them it was "like windows". I showed them how to check their mail and use the internet. Done. If they have a problem I just SSH into their box and fix it. Again, done. Don't knock my solution until you try it with your 65 year old parents.
Build another room for all of your stuff. I have a dedicated game room...it is sometimes also called my bedroom but there really isn't much point in sleeping if you have 3+ game consoles.
While I think Return of the King was awesome, who couldn't like Bad Santa? Any movie is good when it ends with a kid riding a bike, flipping the bird, and wearing a tshirt that says "Shit Happens When You Party Naked"
Yes, I read the post this way too. Of course, if you know who Bob Young is, that should be shocking. :)
Good Comments!
My post just went up a bit after yours (look down the tree from yours) but it some similar points. Why is it that everytime a security exploit comes up for Linux, we have to point to Windows?
I dislike the security inherent in Windows as must as the next sysadmin but one has nothing to do with the other. If there is a problem with the Linux kernel or another open source component, then it would be more productive to focus the discussion on the design and overall assumptions of the security process.
Let's face it, no OS is 100% secure. Operating Systems that are more secure than others still need to be on their toes. One security exploitation on a Linux box can still be as dangerous as a thousand (an underestimated ratio I'm sure) exploitations on a Windows box. However, I will take the body of security knowledge surrounding an OS to be as valuable as the initial security design principles in the OS in the first place; with that in mind, many Open Source OS's come out looking pretty good. I trust the Linux community to grind down and fix security problems and not sit around and emphasize the numerous security in a Microsoft product. If you're concerned, then help out developers by testing the software and reporting bugs. You could even code a few patches yourself, that being the whole point of community-based development.
Whether or not there is a deep and dark plot to root big Linux boxes is irrelevant. This is another opportunity to demonstrate the Open Source community's response to security issues to the rest of the computing community. If the heat is really on and this is not just another artifact of news gatekeepers getting over-zealous on a trend, then so be it. It is an opportunity to review and evolve Linux's security as well as the security processes that surround it.
One of the things I admire most about Linus Torvalds is his steadfast commitment to the quality of his product. It is a commitment that is focused on constant improvement, not PR damage control. I'm sure the real security guru's are sitting with a bit more comfort knowing their servers are running Linux.
Disclaimer: This post contains no constructive content whatsoever, swallow two tablespoons of salt and call me in the morning.
I don't know about you, but $17/hour sucks even in Edmonton. However, you can live off about $20 (in a very Kraft Dinner way) in Toronto so I suppose it's better than giving hand jobs outside the Olive Garden.
Dear Mr Szulik,
With the recent purchase of SUSE by Novell and Red Hat's focus on the Enterprise, it is clear that Linux stands to make even more money. I think most of us believe that this increased profit for Linux-based companies will only enhance the pool of excellent software that is already available. The governing license for all (or most) of this software is the GPL, and it comes with certain inherent values. One of those values is that code can and will be swapped within a public sphere of developers, for the purposes of review and reuse. What we, the open source developer community, want to know, is how have you guaranteed the integration of these ethics into your business plan? How will Red Hat, the company, ensure that it continues to participate meaningfully to this community?
Perhaps we need the V-Chips too...with GPS add-ons for quick neutralization. The modified V-Chip could zap us every time we even thought about breaking a cop ZAPPPPPPPP!!! yright....ouch.
"That quote had nothing to do with insulting your precious open source sensitivities."
Reconsider the use of your rhetoric if you are trying to make a legal point and not just stir up sh!t.I just wanted to say thanks for everyone's suggestions. I consider myself a pretty experienced perf expert and I learned about some good OS tools. I'd like to give a bit more of a background of my setup.
My PTE (Performance Testing Environment) is made up of an AWEFUL lot of REALLY expensive Sun boxes. That is where I use Mercury, and will continue to use Mercury. I have another setup for the DIT, SIT, and DEV environments. The load generators that I use in the aforementioned environments are 5 beefy x86 Red Hat boxes. I have one beefy windows box to use as a controller. I have a strong predisposition to using the new Red Hat Enterprise 3.0 Linux because it has been optimized for a buttload of threads. It is on these boxes that I will be using all sorts of other QA tools.
I also want to say that I'm not Mercury Bashing, I'm just being an economic realist. I've worked with Mercury to sovle a lot of bugs in their software and know their hooks into OpenSSL almost as well as their developers in Israel (who I've spoken to and are pretty helpful guys). I've actually spoken to their CSO before and I have to say that the service I received was pretty damn good.
Thanks again Slashdot!
http://pdfbox.org/