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User: Vancorps

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  1. Re:This is news??? Who the fuck cares! on MS Hotmail Offline For Hours · · Score: 1
    I would suspect something along this line.

    If it were a database problem then rolling back that many gigs possibly terabytes could easily take as long as it was out for.

    Of course it could be much worse, they could have changed something, didn't know what they just changed and didn't realize their machines weren't accepting any transactions.
  2. Re:This is news??? Who the fuck cares! on MS Hotmail Offline For Hours · · Score: 1

    Curious if you pinged the ip of the site?

  3. Re:Single point of failure on MS Hotmail Offline For Hours · · Score: 1
    A misconfiguration is not the same thing as an outright failure. One implies admin error the other implies other causes. The database is hosted in multiple locations possibly even with multiple platforms, but when you misconfigure a cluster it effects all 5000 nodes.

    I also wouldn't consider it a failure since those that got on before passport servers became unavailable had no trouble during the entire outage, so the servers were still available, just users had trouble authenticating.

  4. Re:This is news??? Who the fuck cares! on MS Hotmail Offline For Hours · · Score: 4, Insightful
    An outage like this is not caused by a server failure but a misconfiguration. If it were bad hardware it would have been replaced, but that wouldn't have effected the whole cluster now would it? It also wouldn't have effected multiple services.

    Nope this problem is a central database problem, probably they tried to normalize the passport database, screw the pooch and had to roll everything back which is why it took so long.

    Or maybe they changed a permission and spend the whole day figuring out which one did it.
  5. Re:Single point of failure on MS Hotmail Offline For Hours · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Single sign-on has a flaw. The only legitimate flaw is that you have one username and password to crack, sometimes some challenge reponse questions too if you are into the Novell and Sun directory services.

    At any rate, just because its one password in no way means you can't have a cluster of 5000 servers all storing and accepting transactions for it. I'd hardly call passport servers in Russia, the U.S., Germany, England, China, Japan etc... a single point of failure.

    Normally I'd just assume you were referring to the password issue but right now that has nothing to do with this story so I'll just leave my assumptions out this.
  6. Re:Redundancy anyone? on MS Hotmail Offline For Hours · · Score: 4, Interesting
    My first guess since it effected multiple services and not just hotmail that it was a database issue, they may have blocked permission on the cluster on accident. Such a central problem can't really be caused by faulty software, just faulty configuration.

    I think someone was implementing a new backup scheme and decided it would be a good idea to dismount the store, move it over to another cluster.


    Course it looks like if people managed to get on their service was fine, so maybe they screwed up some passwords. Time will tell this story
  7. Re:Took them long enough. on Pixar Switches to Mac OS X and G5s · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Way to write off the CEO. Gates when he was CEO made decisions like this all the time.

    Steve probably didn't force it down their throats but he probably made a suggestion or two in the positive direction of Apple. In the end no one really knows but him and the people he spoke with. Considerin his past actions I wouldn't be at all surprised if he had a major hand in the switch

  8. Re:Don't you mean... on Linux the Tortoise to Microsoft's Hare? · · Score: 1
    No you're not alone there. The BSD Daemon is a hell of a lot cooler ermmm... yeah

    BSD has the best of all the worlds, how more people don't use it is beyond me

  9. Re:I'm done on PayPal Settles NY Probe, But Faces Others · · Score: 1
    I don't want them classified as a bank really, I want them regulated, there is too much money floating around with their name attached to it.

    If something goes wrong right now there is no real recourse for users to recoup their money

    This is the reason banks have the regulations they do, so if we can't make banking regulations apply then we create some other body to do the job. But of course, I don't use Paypal anymore so most of my info about them is old. (Before Ebay took over)
  10. Re:get serious on Linux the Tortoise to Microsoft's Hare? · · Score: 4, Insightful
    No, I was stating that it is more recognizable. Anyone that has seen and realized what Tux is forever links it with Linux. It is a unique logo that can spread the brand name around all over the place.

    This is one of the goals IBM had a while back when they were spreading graffiti all over. Images of Tux are very easily recalled since it is something most people have heard of, if not seen. Penguins that is.

  11. Re:Yeah on Linux the Tortoise to Microsoft's Hare? · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Do you find it ironic that each release of OS X is named after a slower animal?

  12. Re:Don't you mean... on Linux the Tortoise to Microsoft's Hare? · · Score: 4, Insightful
    You know that almost ironic. Pure brand recognition Linux could easily gain ground in. The Tux is far more recognizable.

    That is sadly something a lot of corporate types care about. If they know the brand then they will be much more likely to sink a little money into it.

  13. Re:what's the point? on Is Windows Worth $45? · · Score: 1

    By your logic SDRAM would cost less than DDR. Simply isn't the case anymore. Microsoft is no longer selling OEM versions of 98 or ME so its sort of dubious that you can buy them at all anyway. But if you purchase them through an OEM they are going to at least double the price. OEMs make nice profit on software unlike the hardware they sell

  14. Re:I'm done on PayPal Settles NY Probe, But Faces Others · · Score: 1
    My point wasn't a confusion about what a bank was, it was a call to change the definition of a bank since Paypal does perform a lot of the same functions. Granted not all of them. As I understand they don't invest the money you give them. But that is just one definition of a bank. Why can't the definition change?

    Also, the last I checked Paypal does make loans in the form of the Paypal credit card.

    Might add that we don't necessarily need to define them as a bank, but there needs to be some sort of regulating body since right now all that money flows unchecked, that is an accident waiting to happen which as you say is the reason banks of the current regulations they do. I don't know about you but I'd rather regulate first and keep my money, then lose all my money then create a regulating body.
  15. Re:In a word... on Is Windows Worth $45? · · Score: 1
    If the OEMs didn't choose people's OS' for them then they too would not be near as successful so no one would be benefitting.

    Only recently in my opinion has Linux become even remotely close to being usable by the masses. There are still lots of problems that purely because of its marketshare such as software availability in stores. Most Linux stuff is free as in bandwidth. When its time to upgrade their office suite most people just want to run on down to Best Buy and pick up the new version. Maybe they want the latest game, or hell, maybe they want some old ass game. Either way they will have a much harder time if they run Linux.

    Thats not to say its impossible, plenty of people do it currently, but its not mass user friendly yet like Windows has been for quite some time. I've seen three years that have never touched a computer before instinctively click on the start button(Once they figured out how the mouse effected the screen). From there they see things like Internet or Games (They recognize the word Games they see more colorful screens and its really just neat to watch em have fun. Of course this is with a mouse and keyboard you don't give a damn aout.
  16. Re:perhaps... on Is Windows Worth $45? · · Score: 1

    That pretty well goes for all older hardware though. My scanner has NT4 drivers which I use on my XP box when I need to use it. My diamond sound card is the exact same way. Not all that surprising considering how different the 9x kernel and the NT kernel handle drivers.

  17. Re:Kernel panics generally mean hardware problems on Is Windows Worth $45? · · Score: 1
    That was already run ages ago ;)

    The machine has been up for almost a year now since he last walked by it. We both moved across the country together, the server stayed, I can ssh to it this very moment. Good stuff now that he's several thousand miles away from it.

  18. Re:The alternative is MacOS or Linux on Is Windows Worth $45? · · Score: 1
    I have discovered if you just pad the machine with two other indifferent machines then it is protected from all that negative energy.

    I kind of think of it like when you turn a monitor on, then turn another one next to it screws up the picture on the first for a second or so. Interfence is a bitch!

  19. Re:perhaps... on Is Windows Worth $45? · · Score: 1
    That's pretty ironic, I had a cheap little file-server with a pc-chips board in it, the only thing I couldn't get to work was sound but alas, every one of their boards is different. Pain in the ass sometimes.

    Chaintech is also a thorn in my side, worse off most Gateway machines are built with their boards, they are very low on the linux compatibility front

  20. Re:Innovation on Is Windows Worth $45? · · Score: 1
    Not really since the Conference Server really is a new product, fully SIP compliant but also integrates with the rest of the communications products. Exchange, Conf, and SQL can all work together to create a rather compatible environment. When all data is stored in a compliant database then it becomes easy to come up with multiple other ways to get at the data. Real simple.

    I'm trying not to defend Microsoft, but they have no just been sitting at their desks with their thumbs up their butts. Consider that a lot of Linux development is copying an idea from another environment and reproducing in a freely distributable way.

    I'd even hazard saying the the linux community as a whole really isn't that innovative either. In fact, I'm not sure I'd say any innovation is happening anywhere currently in the U.S. at least. Mostly its IP battle after battle. IBM is outsourcing most of its workforce to India not to produce new software, but to maintain the current software.

    Its all probably because no one has an idea of what the next big revolution will be. What new things can we make computers do to us?

    Obviously we haven't discovered it all, there is just a temporary down period where everyone is just handling their own stuff before the next big push.
  21. Re:The alternative is MacOS or Linux on Is Windows Worth $45? · · Score: 1
    haha, that explains the kernel panics whenever my roommate walks into the room.

    Bastard, I need a restraining order against him to keep my box running!

    Its really the damnedest thing, runs great, soon as he steps within ten feet of it, it goes stupid.
  22. Re:perhaps... on Is Windows Worth $45? · · Score: 1
    Sorry to inform you that most OEM PCs are designed for Windows. There are still a very large number of drivers any distro of Linux is still missing.

    When that changes so too will the choices from a consumer standpoint. Also look at the fact that when OEMs do offer a machine without the OS its usually their bottom dollar machines same goes for once preinstalled with some linux.

    If I were to actually buy a fully built system running linux then I would be buying a machine with faster hardware than the bottom dollar would give me. Its probably just me, but I don't want to run any linux on a 386, I'd rather run it on a dual/quad processor Opteron or more realisticly one of my Athlon machines... oh wait, I run linux on those already, scratch that and just think about the quad processor Opteron system, a machine I finally might have a hard time slowing down.
  23. Re:In a word... on Is Windows Worth $45? · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Not a chance its that high since their preinstallation members can get it for $70 in quantities of 10. An OEM is probably paying around $40, I think that 45 is a very reasonable guess

  24. Re:I'm done on PayPal Settles NY Probe, But Faces Others · · Score: 1
    I was under the impression they put a hold on the money in your bank account. But if that is incorrect then I see nothing wrong with the practice.

    The only thing that would then be wrong is the fact that they ultimately always side with Merchants. Complaints go unanswered and that is a real problem if someone has been a victim of fraud.

  25. Re:I'm done on PayPal Settles NY Probe, But Faces Others · · Score: 2, Insightful
    In many ways it makes sense to freeze accounts while an investigation is taking place. It ensures that there won't be any undue complications.

    In the case of a dispute then they need a way to prove one side acted in the wrong. The means the burden lies on the person making the complaint. If such evidence is brought forth then they should procede with a fraud investigation. But of course, Paypal isn't a bank so the rules are very different.

    That said Paypal should in no way have the ability to freeze your assets. They should only have the ability to freeze you from using paypal during the disputed time.