It would be even better if we could all just run our own damned servers at home, and not worry about having to shackle ourselves to someone's server farm in a far off corner of the world.
The fact that knowledge of a 16 Digit number and minimal knowledge of someone (which leaks everywhere) allows you to take someone's money is just plain stupid. We're not living in the 1950's anymore. There's enough computing power to do two-factor authentication, or failing that, the credit card company could offer a way to generate a ONE TIME USE authorization code to hand to a vendor for each distinct purchase.
It's not that hard to do... why can't they get off their collective asses and do it?
The work they've been doing on lightfields is pretty innovative. I first heard about this when Robert Scoble interviewedMarc Levoy and got some cool demos into the video.
I've done some lightfield experiments with my trusty Nikon D40, it's interesting to see what new ideas you can come up with for using a camera once you get into it.
I see a lot of stuff about "managed code"... the myth that signing code makes it somehow safer.... which just isn't so.
You should never be forced to trust any program to do what it's told. The OS should make sure it stays within the boundaries you set for it... or better yet... only gets to use the capabilities you offer it.
Hopefully they'll get over the fixation in time, before a random mix of computer virii and malware "mate" and produce a sentient rootkit that takes over the internet. (I'd estimate we've got 10 more years before this is going to happen)
Any payments made to "own" the 700 Mhz spectrum are a TAX on innovation, and essentially force the "winner" to operate strictly in greed mode to pay off the TAX. Spectrum auctions sound good, until you consider the long term consequences. The payment made has to come from somewhere, and the Telcos will be very glad to take their cut along the way.
I think it would be far better to open the spectrum up to anyone who wants to build a wireless mesh network open to all. The Telcos could charge for connecting to their phone and data networks. All other use could help solve the last mile problem. Data transported only across the network would be free. (as in beer)
The physics of Thermonuclear weapons is such that you can scale them up to almost any yield you want, provided you have the proper knowledge of the physics involved. It's perfectly feasible to build a "doomsday" weapon of 10 GigaTon yield or more, bury it in a quarry somewhere... and know that you could contaminate the entire earth with fallout.
Dr Strangelove wasn't far off the mark.
--Mike--
Am I on the no-fly list yet?
So, instead of using 3 phase 208, or 120 wiring, you want to lower the voltage, which necessitates increasing the current, and thus the required cross-section of wiring.
The article mentions the 12 volt internal power supply on PCs... if we use that for a baseline, at best you're looking at a 10:1 ratio (120V/12V) for heavier power bus.
If a rack takes 25kw, that's about 2100 AMPS, which is going to require some major buss bar to keep I2R losses low.
I know it's all semantics, but first off, stop calling them your "superiors"... they might be your management, but YOU are the technical expert. All else derives from that course of action.
The purpose of a tradeshow exhibit is to communicate a message about your company and your products. Using booth babes and attracting a pool of excess testosterone could concievably help deliver that message, but in reality all it does is squander on of the best sales opprotunities available.
Companies that repeatedly use this tactic eventually get weeded out by Adam Smith's invisible hand.
Lots of comments about locking down machines, applying patches, etc. What if it were possible to run every single application in it's own Virtual Machine? If even the OS itself were isolated from the hardware?
If the security rules were then written to use capabilities instead of ACLs, it would pretty much be bulletproof...
Someday we'll get there... but the pain isn't sufficient yet... and the virtualization hardware is just coming into play.
Using copper instead of some other metal is a choice in many applications. The use of alternatives will be more attractive as the price goes up. If I had to pick one thing to stop expansion of the economy worldwide, it would be OIL, not copper as the target of choice.
Galvinized steel and PVC are obvious alternatives to copper plumbing. Big transmission lines are now all steel/aluminum these days... and pennys are now more than 96% zinc... (which is why you can "melt" them on the burner on the stove)
Microsoft's biggest threat is whoever solves the security problem. This involves researching improved security models to replace ACLs, such as capabilities.
ACLs don't cut it in an age of mobile code and 10,000,000 line programs. You can't trust applications, no matter how careful you are. You shouldn't have to, either.
Ok, who are the proper owners? I'll update my DNS server, and fix it. Anyone can do it. There's no rule that says you HAVE to use ICANN's root servers.
While it's true that I don't have experience living in a dictatorship, I sure the hell was educated as to why they are very bad things. I know what evil is, it's not someone dressed in black, with a black hat... it's men who refuse to stand up and point out things that are wrong. Its the quiet acquiesence(sp?) of the majority to give up liberty in pursuit of security.
<GODWIN> Hitler was elected, and slowly ratcheted up the level of control over the masses. History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme. <GODWIN>
I suspect this'll all end up moderated away, but the point is still valid... the price of Liberty is eternal vigilence.
A file server has one job, to serve files, reliably. You shouldn't care what OS it uses, as long as it's stable. You definitely shouldn't be trying to run more than one OS on it. Get it up and running, and leave it alone.
However, you've then got all your eggs in one basket... not a good long term situation... you're going to need off-site backup... which is yet another Ask Slashdot question.
Why not just set the thing down, and bash the RFID chip with a hammer, or crush it with your leatherman? Claim not to know why it doesn't work, and let them deal with you in the conventional manner, instead of all this big brother shit.
The problem is that power density has gone through the roof. It used to be that a rack of computers was between 2kw and 5kw. Modern blade servers easily push that up to 25kw per rack. You'd have to have 10 feet or more of space below the floor to accomplish cooling with an external source, thus the move to in-rack cooling systems, and the new hot aisle / cold aisle systems.
Wiring is now usually ABOVE the equipment, and with 10Gigabit copper, you can't just put all of the cables in a bundle any more, you have to be very careful.
It's a brave new datacenter world. You need some serious engineering these days, guessing just isn't going to do it. Hire the pros, and save your career.
I used to use an x-acto knife to cut out any double-sided ad pages out of Byte magazine... would cut the weight of it by half, and make it far easier to navigate (double thick ad pages made it tend to flip to an ad, and lose my place)
There is a heavy percieved bias against Windows, for various reasons here on/., and this story points out the difference between that perception and the reality of the situation.
While many of us don't like Microsoft, for various reasons, we still use it, many of us exclusively. The network you manage is more important than you realize. You're being paid to reduce uncertainty for the users. It's not fair to your users to increase that uncertainty by orders of magnitude unless there is a massive benefit to the users. Replacement of Office with equivalent functionality is NOT a benefit, as it will only frustrate your users everytime anything unexpected happens. The users will also then have you to personally blame when ANYTHING goes wrong, reguardless of its relevance to the OS switch.
If you want to learn some Linux, get an older machine, put two newer NICs in it, and set up an IPcop firewall. You can use a web browser to configure it once it's installed, and peek around inside it via the console. This gives you the benefit of helping to protect the users, while giving you a linux box to manage.
Don't subject your users to your whim. It may suck for you, but Windows is what the users expect, and can cope with, slashdot bias be damned.
Feel free to ignore my advice, but you might want to update your resume if you do so.
Slashdot Mirror
It would be even better if we could all just run our own damned servers at home, and not worry about having to shackle ourselves to someone's server farm in a far off corner of the world.
How are we supposed to get an idea of what people are using the capability for if we can't find any native users?
--Mike--
It's not that hard to do... why can't they get off their collective asses and do it?
--Mike--
The work they've been doing on lightfields is pretty innovative. I first heard about this when Robert Scoble interviewed Marc Levoy and got some cool demos into the video. I've done some lightfield experiments with my trusty Nikon D40, it's interesting to see what new ideas you can come up with for using a camera once you get into it.
You should never be forced to trust any program to do what it's told. The OS should make sure it stays within the boundaries you set for it... or better yet... only gets to use the capabilities you offer it.
Hopefully they'll get over the fixation in time, before a random mix of computer virii and malware "mate" and produce a sentient rootkit that takes over the internet. (I'd estimate we've got 10 more years before this is going to happen)
The more privacy (I.E. "National Security") the government has, the less secure we are.
--Mike--
I think it would be far better to open the spectrum up to anyone who wants to build a wireless mesh network open to all. The Telcos could charge for connecting to their phone and data networks. All other use could help solve the last mile problem. Data transported only across the network would be free. (as in beer)
The physics of Thermonuclear weapons is such that you can scale them up to almost any yield you want, provided you have the proper knowledge of the physics involved. It's perfectly feasible to build a "doomsday" weapon of 10 GigaTon yield or more, bury it in a quarry somewhere... and know that you could contaminate the entire earth with fallout. Dr Strangelove wasn't far off the mark. --Mike-- Am I on the no-fly list yet?
Of course, it's not secure if anything running anywhere has the ability to modify the system files.
--Mike--
So, instead of using 3 phase 208, or 120 wiring, you want to lower the voltage, which necessitates increasing the current, and thus the required cross-section of wiring. The article mentions the 12 volt internal power supply on PCs... if we use that for a baseline, at best you're looking at a 10:1 ratio (120V/12V) for heavier power bus. If a rack takes 25kw, that's about 2100 AMPS, which is going to require some major buss bar to keep I2R losses low.
--Mike--
Refusing to route their packets would be a good corrective measure, and even patriotic!
--Mike--
Don't tread on my IP
Companies that repeatedly use this tactic eventually get weeded out by Adam Smith's invisible hand.
--Mike--
If the security rules were then written to use capabilities instead of ACLs, it would pretty much be bulletproof...
Someday we'll get there... but the pain isn't sufficient yet... and the virtualization hardware is just coming into play.
--Mike--
Galvinized steel and PVC are obvious alternatives to copper plumbing. Big transmission lines are now all steel/aluminum these days... and pennys are now more than 96% zinc... (which is why you can "melt" them on the burner on the stove)
Reduce, reuse, recycle.
--Mike--
ACLs don't cut it in an age of mobile code and 10,000,000 line programs. You can't trust applications, no matter how careful you are. You shouldn't have to, either.
--Mike--
Ok, who are the proper owners? I'll update my DNS server, and fix it. Anyone can do it. There's no rule that says you HAVE to use ICANN's root servers.
<GODWIN> Hitler was elected, and slowly ratcheted up the level of control over the masses. History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme. <GODWIN>
I suspect this'll all end up moderated away, but the point is still valid... the price of Liberty is eternal vigilence.
--Mike--
We're rapidly sliding towards a totalitarian dictatorship in this country... are you sure you want to move here?
--Mike--
However, you've then got all your eggs in one basket... not a good long term situation... you're going to need off-site backup... which is yet another Ask Slashdot question.
--Mike--
--Mike--
Wiring is now usually ABOVE the equipment, and with 10Gigabit copper, you can't just put all of the cables in a bundle any more, you have to be very careful.
It's a brave new datacenter world. You need some serious engineering these days, guessing just isn't going to do it. Hire the pros, and save your career.
--Mike--
--Mike--
This is the modern equivalent.
--Mike--
While many of us don't like Microsoft, for various reasons, we still use it, many of us exclusively. The network you manage is more important than you realize. You're being paid to reduce uncertainty for the users. It's not fair to your users to increase that uncertainty by orders of magnitude unless there is a massive benefit to the users. Replacement of Office with equivalent functionality is NOT a benefit, as it will only frustrate your users everytime anything unexpected happens. The users will also then have you to personally blame when ANYTHING goes wrong, reguardless of its relevance to the OS switch.
If you want to learn some Linux, get an older machine, put two newer NICs in it, and set up an IPcop firewall. You can use a web browser to configure it once it's installed, and peek around inside it via the console. This gives you the benefit of helping to protect the users, while giving you a linux box to manage.
Don't subject your users to your whim. It may suck for you, but Windows is what the users expect, and can cope with, slashdot bias be damned.
Feel free to ignore my advice, but you might want to update your resume if you do so.
--Mike--