You are all overlooking the obvious possibility that the military has had access to modern computers since their time travel experiments in the 1940's. This was clearly typed back in the 60's using a then 20 year old copy of Word 2000. Simple questions call for simple answers.
I don't understand your logic. When you pay money, you are the customer of someone. What do you mean that students are not customers? They are the customers. They pay dearly for a service - education. Unfortunately, they are not at the top of the priority list for professors, their service provider. Smartest people don't necessarily mean great teachers. There is no direct relationship between a good researcher and a good teacher. You can't learn from the smartest mind if that mind can't communicate very well. Unfortunately for the student customers, they don't have a choice.
Why is it unfortunate that students are not on the top priority list? Research benefits all of us. Teaching benefits a handful of students recieving the teaching.
You are right on about the communication problem. Alot of professors aren't that proficient at teaching, but then that isn't what they are meant to be doing there. Most lower level classes are taught by graduate students anyway (even worse teachers in my oppinion, and I am one).
Some are lucky to have a great advisor, some are lucky to have it figured out themselves, but most simply go through the system, parted with tons of money, in the hope that they may get their investment back sometime in their lives.
That is why I think there should be more done to let students know ahead of time what they are buying, which is an opportunity for a self-motivated enriching educational experience. If they want teachers who are only there to teach, they should go to a community college, or a trade school.
It sounds like you are argueing that since there is always a way around security we might as well have none at all.
No, I'm saying that because this tactic does little to combat this particular security hole, that security would be better attained through other methods. For instance, doing a better job of limiting a user's access to the files they really should have access to. Another much better method would be using a file system that keeps a log of file access. That way there is some accountability for copying files (people would be less likely to steal data if they know that action is monitored and recorded).
In other words, this is like having a room you want secured with 3 doors, and just locking one of the doors with the naive hope that no one will try the other doors before giving up. Either find a way to lock all the doors, or don't lock any of the doors, and instead put a nice surveillance system up to deter people from trying to open the doors in the first place.
If you think you have to trust your employees entirely
I don't, I just don't see how you could very successfully protect files from people who have already been granted read access to them. If you trusted them enough to read the file in the first place, then you have to accept that you just trusted them enough not to reproduce those files (or have them inadvertantly reproduce them through spyware they run). If they want to take the files bad enough, they can find a way.
I really don't buy into this whole idea that the "average" user wont be able to figure out how to go about more difficult means of data transport. Who should companies be most affraid of stealing their data? The average Joe probably wouldn't have much need to steal the data in the first place. I would think companies have more to fear from dedicated indivduals who have some intention of using the stolen data for something (and hence incentive to learn how to steal it).
Since most universities are not for profit and many professors don't have to worry about losing their jobs, a lot of them spend more time on their research work, something of interest to them, instead of on improving teaching skills, something of utter importance to their customer - students.
You obviously don't know much about what Universities are for. Students are not the customers. Big business and governmental funding agencies are. Research is the goal, and purpose of the University system, not teaching. Many professors would rather just be teaching, but know that they will not keep their jobs if they don't publish research (because that is their primary function).
Students don't pay tuition to get a service (teaching). They pay to be part of a program, where they have the unique opportunity to learn from some of the brightest minds. Professors don't owe students anything, grant money pays a big part of their salary, not tuition.
Now if a sysadmin blocked these ports they better have an alternative to getting files off the machine (if files need to be copied somtimes...)
I agree that these USB devices make for an easy way to smuggle files out of an office, but what about an ssh tunnel (are you really going to block all outgoing connections to port 22)? Most offices large enough to have an IT department have a decent Internet connection. There are plenty of other ways to go about smuggling the files as well. The bottom line is that if you allow users access to files, and they really want to take them offsite, they can.
If you can't trust your employees, then you shouldn't be giving them so much access in the first place.
Imagine what a terrorist could do to one of our nuclear plants if they hit it with a thermonuclear weapon! I'm sure that could blast through most safe gaurds! Lets give up and kill ourselves now before someone else gets the chance. Oh wait, that's just what we're doing with coal power.
While we may think computers are irrational and do random things sometimes, people (even large groups of them...perhaps especially large groups of them) are worse.
You may think that computers are irrational and do random things, but that isn't accurate. They only appear irrational and random. About the only chance of randomness would be some kind of external force (like a cosmic ray, hardware failure, or a power surge). At all other times they behave as they are programmed to behave (by those irrational humans that programmed them).
No one has responded to the real problem with this post. You seem to come at this like programming is some kind of difficult feat. I don't care what programming language you use, you are not special because you can program.
The only real interesting problems in software are in the design. A programming language is just a means to an end. I don't care what you program in, all programming is grunt work. It can be fun at times, but it isn't an intellectual challenge.
So, to put it plainly: Get over yourself. If it makes you feel better to produce all your apps in something with a high barrier to entry like assembly, feel free. It doesn't guarantee that they will be better though. If you pick the wrong algorithms/data structures/architecture, even the most bloated high level language could out perform your low level code.
The bottom line is that Java is an excellent language for certain applications. If you are so intelligent that it bruises your pride to use Java, then what the hell are you doing as a grunt programmer anyway?
I use Windows because there's software that I can't run under Linux.
And I use Linux because there's software that I can't run under Windows.
And I use Explorer because there are websites that don't render properly under anything else. Sure, it's bad design to create your website such that it only works under IE, but that's really not my concern; I just want the content and the pretty pictures.
So will you switch if a lot of websites start being made that can only be viewed properly in standards compliant web browsers?
My machine is secure.
I very much doubt it (unless of course you have sealed it in a block of concrete with no external connections).
I'd sooner have an insecure browser than does what I need it to do than a secure browser than doesn't.
Hopefully she isn't taking any classes that have figures or things written on the board, or she would be screwed.
I had one or two classes like that in college, but the vast majority used some combination of white/blackboard, overheads, and powerpoint.
I'd say no go on the voice recorders.
On the other hand, I have also had similar problems taking notes with laptops in the past. It can be rather hard to takes notes in a math class using a keyboard. I did have some success using a windows ce pda to take notes because I could draw figures.
Even a brand new battery may not have the kind of battery-life required for a daily class schedule. A pda will last much longer. Either way, expect to have to recharge daily.
Perhaps you could try to get her into some kind of pilot program so that it doesn't cost her anything. Then not only will she be able to take notes, perhaps with her new super-human strength she could fight crime on the side.
Seriously though, I think the palm idea is a good one. A notebook is a lot to lug around, and the head aches involved with an out of date one (the kind you will get for sub $500) may not be worth it. I picked up my last laptop ($350) for this very purpose, and the stinking hard drive crashed on me in the first month. Laptop components take a lot more abuse than desktop computers, so it is worthwhile to consider the wear and tear a used laptop has already endured.
A palm (or other pda) on the other hand doesn't have any moving parts, so they are a lot harder to break.
When I started to read this post, and saw that Best Buy was being sued for misleading customers I thought that some one was finally going after them for their misleading name.
That's not flamebait, that was a failed attempt at humor...
Much better flamebait would be:
Cygwin is known to crash regularly, but not any more regularly than any other application running under Windows. Anyone who would run Windows on a production server is asking for trouble. Clearly your best course of action is to forget this Cygwin idea, and spend your time and effort changing people's minds about this whole Windows garbage.
Umm... the problem is that you are thinking in one dimension. The wave created by a cliff falling into the ocean would expand in two dimensions (if you make the simplification that the Earth is flat) fanning out in an arc from the impact. Your canceling wave would do the same. The only direct cancelation would occur where the two waves hit each other directly (you could find this by drawing a line between the two impacts).
So you might be able to use this method to save a particular city, but it wouldn't cancel out the entire wave (infact, there would be places where it would probably intensify the original wave).
Slashdot Mirror
This isn't even the begining of a definitive list, and yet the author already feels warranted in displaying adverstising.
You are all overlooking the obvious possibility that the military has had access to modern computers since their time travel experiments in the 1940's. This was clearly typed back in the 60's using a then 20 year old copy of Word 2000. Simple questions call for simple answers.
I don't understand your logic. When you pay money, you are the customer of someone. What do you mean that students are not customers? They are the customers. They pay dearly for a service - education. Unfortunately, they are not at the top of the priority list for professors, their service provider. Smartest people don't necessarily mean great teachers. There is no direct relationship between a good researcher and a good teacher. You can't learn from the smartest mind if that mind can't communicate very well. Unfortunately for the student customers, they don't have a choice.
Why is it unfortunate that students are not on the top priority list? Research benefits all of us. Teaching benefits a handful of students recieving the teaching.
You are right on about the communication problem. Alot of professors aren't that proficient at teaching, but then that isn't what they are meant to be doing there. Most lower level classes are taught by graduate students anyway (even worse teachers in my oppinion, and I am one).
Some are lucky to have a great advisor, some are lucky to have it figured out themselves, but most simply go through the system, parted with tons of money, in the hope that they may get their investment back sometime in their lives.
That is why I think there should be more done to let students know ahead of time what they are buying, which is an opportunity for a self-motivated enriching educational experience. If they want teachers who are only there to teach, they should go to a community college, or a trade school.
It sounds like you are argueing that since there is always a way around security we might as well have none at all.
No, I'm saying that because this tactic does little to combat this particular security hole, that security would be better attained through other methods. For instance, doing a better job of limiting a user's access to the files they really should have access to. Another much better method would be using a file system that keeps a log of file access. That way there is some accountability for copying files (people would be less likely to steal data if they know that action is monitored and recorded).
In other words, this is like having a room you want secured with 3 doors, and just locking one of the doors with the naive hope that no one will try the other doors before giving up. Either find a way to lock all the doors, or don't lock any of the doors, and instead put a nice surveillance system up to deter people from trying to open the doors in the first place.
If you think you have to trust your employees entirely
I don't, I just don't see how you could very successfully protect files from people who have already been granted read access to them. If you trusted them enough to read the file in the first place, then you have to accept that you just trusted them enough not to reproduce those files (or have them inadvertantly reproduce them through spyware they run). If they want to take the files bad enough, they can find a way.
I really don't buy into this whole idea that the "average" user wont be able to figure out how to go about more difficult means of data transport. Who should companies be most affraid of stealing their data? The average Joe probably wouldn't have much need to steal the data in the first place. I would think companies have more to fear from dedicated indivduals who have some intention of using the stolen data for something (and hence incentive to learn how to steal it).
Since most universities are not for profit and many professors don't have to worry about losing their jobs, a lot of them spend more time on their research work, something of interest to them, instead of on improving teaching skills, something of utter importance to their customer - students.
You obviously don't know much about what Universities are for. Students are not the customers. Big business and governmental funding agencies are. Research is the goal, and purpose of the University system, not teaching. Many professors would rather just be teaching, but know that they will not keep their jobs if they don't publish research (because that is their primary function).
Students don't pay tuition to get a service (teaching). They pay to be part of a program, where they have the unique opportunity to learn from some of the brightest minds. Professors don't owe students anything, grant money pays a big part of their salary, not tuition.
Now if a sysadmin blocked these ports they better have an alternative to getting files off the machine (if files need to be copied somtimes...)
I agree that these USB devices make for an easy way to smuggle files out of an office, but what about an ssh tunnel (are you really going to block all outgoing connections to port 22)? Most offices large enough to have an IT department have a decent Internet connection. There are plenty of other ways to go about smuggling the files as well. The bottom line is that if you allow users access to files, and they really want to take them offsite, they can.
If you can't trust your employees, then you shouldn't be giving them so much access in the first place.
or will the system live up to its name?
These guys have sued people for slanderous statements in the past.
Imagine what a terrorist could do to one of our nuclear plants if they hit it with a thermonuclear weapon! I'm sure that could blast through most safe gaurds! Lets give up and kill ourselves now before someone else gets the chance. Oh wait, that's just what we're doing with coal power.
I grew up 20 miles from a neclear power plant on the Handford Reservation. What's the big deal?
Come on, where is the obligatory asshole comment that says, "You're new here aren't you?"
While we may think computers are irrational and do random things sometimes, people (even large groups of them...perhaps especially large groups of them) are worse.
You may think that computers are irrational and do random things, but that isn't accurate. They only appear irrational and random. About the only chance of randomness would be some kind of external force (like a cosmic ray, hardware failure, or a power surge). At all other times they behave as they are programmed to behave (by those irrational humans that programmed them).
No one has responded to the real problem with this post. You seem to come at this like programming is some kind of difficult feat. I don't care what programming language you use, you are not special because you can program.
The only real interesting problems in software are in the design. A programming language is just a means to an end. I don't care what you program in, all programming is grunt work. It can be fun at times, but it isn't an intellectual challenge.
So, to put it plainly: Get over yourself. If it makes you feel better to produce all your apps in something with a high barrier to entry like assembly, feel free. It doesn't guarantee that they will be better though. If you pick the wrong algorithms/data structures/architecture, even the most bloated high level language could out perform your low level code.
The bottom line is that Java is an excellent language for certain applications. If you are so intelligent that it bruises your pride to use Java, then what the hell are you doing as a grunt programmer anyway?
I use Windows because there's software that I can't run under Linux.
And I use Linux because there's software that I can't run under Windows.
And I use Explorer because there are websites that don't render properly under anything else. Sure, it's bad design to create your website such that it only works under IE, but that's really not my concern; I just want the content and the pretty pictures.
So will you switch if a lot of websites start being made that can only be viewed properly in standards compliant web browsers?
My machine is secure.
I very much doubt it (unless of course you have sealed it in a block of concrete with no external connections).
I'd sooner have an insecure browser than does what I need it to do than a secure browser than doesn't.
Good luck with that.
... and if you can get me one for under $500.00, I'll buy two.
Hopefully she isn't taking any classes that have figures or things written on the board, or she would be screwed.
I had one or two classes like that in college, but the vast majority used some combination of white/blackboard, overheads, and powerpoint.
I'd say no go on the voice recorders.
On the other hand, I have also had similar problems taking notes with laptops in the past. It can be rather hard to takes notes in a math class using a keyboard. I did have some success using a windows ce pda to take notes because I could draw figures.
Battery life.
Even a brand new battery may not have the kind of battery-life required for a daily class schedule. A pda will last much longer. Either way, expect to have to recharge daily.
Affixing Bionic Arms.
Perhaps you could try to get her into some kind of pilot program so that it doesn't cost her anything. Then not only will she be able to take notes, perhaps with her new super-human strength she could fight crime on the side.
Seriously though, I think the palm idea is a good one. A notebook is a lot to lug around, and the head aches involved with an out of date one (the kind you will get for sub $500) may not be worth it. I picked up my last laptop ($350) for this very purpose, and the stinking hard drive crashed on me in the first month. Laptop components take a lot more abuse than desktop computers, so it is worthwhile to consider the wear and tear a used laptop has already endured.
A palm (or other pda) on the other hand doesn't have any moving parts, so they are a lot harder to break.
When I started to read this post, and saw that Best Buy was being sued for misleading customers I thought that some one was finally going after them for their misleading name.
Very, very, cool.
Much better flamebait would be:
See, I can do a real flamebait!
No matter how well Cygwin works out, you still have to run Windows under it. Doesn't sound very "production server environment" ready to me.
RAID isn't just for speed (infact I wouldn't think that would even be considered its primary purpose).
Human data entry is not 100% accurate either. Especially with the kind of people filling low end data entry jobs.
Umm... the problem is that you are thinking in one dimension. The wave created by a cliff falling into the ocean would expand in two dimensions (if you make the simplification that the Earth is flat) fanning out in an arc from the impact. Your canceling wave would do the same. The only direct cancelation would occur where the two waves hit each other directly (you could find this by drawing a line between the two impacts).
So you might be able to use this method to save a particular city, but it wouldn't cancel out the entire wave (infact, there would be places where it would probably intensify the original wave).