Perhaps it's a childish pleasure, but pleasurable nonetheless: Watching MS squirm ever increasingly in response to the rise of open source. And with this latest ISS/IE debacle it seems to be rouding a wide (if somewhat slow) corner. I've had several people switch to Firefox (including a co-worker) based on that alone.
Watching MS progress along the classic path of "ignore OSS; laugh at OSS; fight OSS; lose uber-dominance" is a patient game, but well worth it.
Then again, this last gasp of uber-dominance of theirs is somewhat scary - when MS described OSS/GPL as "viral", I'm wondering if they were describing their own vision of an apportunity to virally insert themselves into other bodies of code....
I loved that movie! Even saw it in the theatre when it came out. I'm not sure if that's cool or... sad. Being a fan of Kramer before there was a Kramer.:-)
"You're a lucky, lucky boy 'cuz you know why? You get to drink from... the FIREHOSE!"
Funny though, at the time (20 years ago?) I remember thinking how radio consolidation was getting out of control. If only I knew how good we had it then.
While still good, it's worth noting that this is not a complete rejection of the FCC's new rulemaking. Specifically it still gives them plenty of leeway in radio consolidation and cross-ownership of radio and TV stations in the same market, provided the FCC "can provide better justification" for doing so.
But still, many a good reason to be doing the Happy Dance today! Hooray! Nice to see the courts still have some sanity in them.
"Name an instance of IIS being automatically exploited. I'll cite you two Apache holes in return."
Here you go, freshly under investigation, spreading as I type.
From the article: "Government and industry experts warned late Thursday of a mysterious, large-scale Internet attack against thousands of popular Web sites. The virus-like infection tries to implant hacker software onto the computers of all Web site visitors. [... ] The mysterious infection appeared to target at least one recent version of software by Microsoft Corp. to operate Web sites, called its Internet Information Server, popular among businesses and organizations."
"Do you agree, or do you think I'm taking it too far?"
I agree fully on the Consumerism rant. I know people who need both their incomes to cover their mortgage. But then again that was a choice. I have plenty of friends and relatives who say they have no choice. But if asked they're forced to concede that no, nobody is forcing them at gunpoint to live in a 5-bedroom cul-de-sac lot. Or a 3-bedroom home in coastal California.
The problem is that Americans have a VERY skewed perspective of what is a need vs. what is a luxury. Then the "needed luxuries" lock people into a lifestyle that prevents one of them from being able to stay home and focus on raising their own kids for the first several critical years.
Also those "needed luxuries" lock them into jobs and careers they may hate. What a wasted life.
Great saying: "There are two ways to be rich - Make more, or want less."
And before someone starts pissing and moaning about how "I just don't know what it's like", I recently had to live in a 1-bedroom apartment for a few years with my kids because that's all we could afford. We've since rebounded, and yes that extreme was a challenge for us. But you know what? We're still here and we're a tight family. And we had fun. Parks, trails, community swimming pools, all kinds of essentially free stuff. How about flying a kite? Books from the library? And actually doing those things WITH them?
I also know a couple who job-share, so they both get to have a hand in raising their kids. They don't have a huge house, live in an upscale community, or own a big SUV hauling a rarely-used power boat, yet mysteriously they're very happy. And they have great kids. Go figure.
Re:But why would non-geeks want to run Linux?
on
Linux for Non-Geeks
·
· Score: 1
"A HW firewall would have been a more expensive and difficult proposition in his case - dialup. How common are dialup routers (no, I don't mean "do they exist", I mean walk into Best Buy or Comp-USA and get one)."
Not common by "species", but there's at least one good one. Check out Apple's Airport Extreme base station with modem option. Mine's been a godsend. Trashed my Linksys within 5 minutes of installing the Airport.
Even CompUSA (usually useless) should carry them - just be sure to verify it's got the modem option. And yes, they're more expensive. Worth every extra dime in saved frustration for me.
"Not only that, but they are constantly mutating, producing enormous numbers of cases of "bad design" every minute. Yet somehow, we manage to survive. Frankly, what we humans do is likely to be a drop in the bucket."
Except that nature is stumbling along with random mutations. As our tech progresses we'll have targeted mutations, courtesy of us. And even if developed to be "good", unforseen consequences of design being what they are....
Then there's the case of *purposefully* hazardous design. Like how we tweak smallpox to weaponize it. Child's play in potential consequences compared to a century or so from now.
But then I'm just trying to sell novelty Godzilla shoes.:-)
"Eric Drexler now says nanomachines that self-replicate exponentially are unlikely ever to enter widespread use."
Why is that still not particularly comforting? Just one tragically (intentional or otherwise) bad design is all it could take, theoretically. Not to turn the earth to "goo", but to seriously screw the conditions we humans deem useful to our existence.
Not a few decades from now, but a century or so down the road when this stuff really picks up and the tools are more accessible. With every step of our advance, we seem to merely reinforce the reality that we're really just fancy homonids with an ever-increasing number of dangerous gadgets, mashing the buttons on the controls.
Humans are so convinced we're a required part of the fabric of the universe. But *poof* Gone. Nobody would care beyond the occasional underpaid archeological student of the next dominant sentient life form.
Maybe I should start planning what kind of confusing fossil record to leave behind. Time to find some cooling lava and a pair of Godzilla shoes.
"The only reason there are so many of them [ security vulnerabilities] in IE is that its integrated well with OS."
Actually it's the exact opposite: It's integrated so piss-poorly with Windows, with no regard for security implications of the design. MS could have easily set up IE to play nicely in its own application space, rather than weaving it deep into the OS like a brain cancer.
"Powell cannot be blamed for the consolidation of radio broadcasters. He didn't set that into motion... in fact, you can't even blame the Bush administration."
"In the months leading up to the vote, the FCC received hundreds of thousands of postcards and e-mails, urging it to not relax the rules.... Over the summer, Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress moved against the new rules, defying a promised veto from the White House."
Bipartisan defiance in BOTH houses of Congress? Hundreds of thousands of comments from the public? Yeah, Chairman Powell is direcly to blame. Period. He really screwed the pooch on that one. Problem is, we were all the pooch.
Screw that, I want to see our braindead U.S. Patent and Trademark Office abolished instead. The FCC at least is doing some constructive work - well, prior to Chairman Powell allowing even greater consolidation of the already dangerously consolidated radio broadcast networks.
So abolish the USPTO and bring back the old FCC. Oh yeah, and while I'm on a roll, I also want ElectraWoman and DynaGirl back on the air! With more spandex, dammit!
Are there any security patches in SP2 that will NOT be released separately? If so, I'd say this is one amazingly reckless move on Microsoft's part. In the end the legit users (even non-MS customers) will bear the brunt of Net attacks by compromised machines. After all, those "Top 20" licenses must account for a large number of machines, else why bother singling them out?
Let's face it, even WITH the release of security patches its damn hard to get John Q. Public to keep up to date.
Now if SP2 is only a "features and stability" release, more power to the software vendor, MS or not. (Wow, did I just conditionally support MS' position? I need a drink...)
"I don't keep all of my money in a bank, I've never had the hole in my back yard, under the oak, next to the stream, 5 steps from the bush refuse to give me a withdrawal."
Is that the blackberry bush or the raspberry bush? Never mind, I think I found it.
"It's already been documented that silicon valley has the highest incidence of autism in children, as well as a growing rate of infertility. No idea on cancer yet.... Health care people also have increasing rates of autistic children, and at the same time their work environment has become increasingly technical"
If computers were the cause, those massive corporate data processing farms strewn across the world would have just as high an autism rate as Silicon Valley. Possibly higher. The south bay hardly has a monopoly on cube farms.
I lean toward the genetic side of explanation. We nerds tend toward the traits of mildest autism ever so slightly. Indeed, I've worked with several co-workers who to me seemed functionally autistic - very focused on their own world, generally unconcerned about the human interactions around them. And did great technical work.
Now, take formerly widely distributed population of us nerds and concentrate us in a geographic area. Relative to the baseline population average, FAR greater tendencies toward the "nerd genome" (socially reclusive, ability to focus intently on a task). Let genetics do the rest.
As for the healthcare argument, this theory well there too: As the field of health care has become increasingly technical, it attracts - guess what - more nerds, greater expression of the "nerd genome" in that group.
> It's fun making a system do things stably that the vendor > insisted wasn't possible.:)
So much for the vendor's plan to force you into that lucrative upgrade.:-)
With that background it doesn't sound like you'll need any luck at all. In which case I'll just say enjoy the new job once the economy picks up! May you find a happy piece of cyberturf.
"And with the economy ramping up, I might have a shot at a new job!"
I think we're ALL looking forward to that shift in the tides.:-)
"It all boils down the the fact that I can't seem to write a decent resume to save my life."
Seriously, check out some resumé services. Short of the "Never Lie" Rule, everything else is just formatting. We devour folks who claim C++ as an area of expertise but who then can't scribble down a simple class on a scrap of paper during the interview.
Here's a useful diatribe on resumés. That Joel guy gets a bit zealous at times, but often has a decent perspective to consider.
Here's another discussion on resumés. Same Joel guy, but it's a forum on his company's site. Just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
"We have what's called the "Hit by a bus" file where I work. It's supposed to be a set of sealed envelopes to be opened in the event of an emergency."
We have those too, only they're called "internal documentation" and stored in a readily reviewable format in a controlled setting.
"Sadly, we had a server die while the Network Admin was on vacation, and we discovered his was blank. Seems he wants to take all our configuration, login and server data to his grave."
Dude, if your freakin' network config map and other critical info is supposed to be placed in a sealed envelope WITHOUT review, and stuck in a mayonaisse jar like some Amazing Kreskin skit, I'd run far and fast from your employer.
Yep boss, I've got the whole project completed. It's all documented in this sealed manila envelope which you are NOT to open until my death. So, about my bonus review...
Saturday Night Live had a skit commercial on that years ago, featuring Will Farrell I believe. It was an insurance service that, upon your death, would swoop into your home and remove any and all "embarrassing" artifacts before your relatives arrived.
They showed the crew hauling out bongs, rather large marital aids, probably an inflatable goat or two from Farrell's apartment. Then a full cleanup to show that, even in death, you were a "good clean boy".
Actually this sounds like a rather lucrative business potential....:-)
"This would make it the first commercial manned vehicle to officially enter space."
Which immediately makes me wonder which was the first commerical manned vehicle to unofficially enter space.
Did this guy finally get some larger balloons?
Best of luck, Space Ship One! May your design be sound and your crew be safe.
Slashdot Mirror
Perhaps it's a childish pleasure, but pleasurable nonetheless: Watching MS squirm ever increasingly in response to the rise of open source. And with this latest ISS/IE debacle it seems to be rouding a wide (if somewhat slow) corner. I've had several people switch to Firefox (including a co-worker) based on that alone.
Watching MS progress along the classic path of "ignore OSS; laugh at OSS; fight OSS; lose uber-dominance" is a patient game, but well worth it.
Then again, this last gasp of uber-dominance of theirs is somewhat scary - when MS described OSS/GPL as "viral", I'm wondering if they were describing their own vision of an apportunity to virally insert themselves into other bodies of code....
"It's a trick, get an axe." - Army of Darkness
"Stanley Spadowski's Playhouse!"
I loved that movie! Even saw it in the theatre when it came out. I'm not sure if that's cool or... sad. Being a fan of Kramer before there was a Kramer. :-)
"You're a lucky, lucky boy 'cuz you know why? You get to drink from... the FIREHOSE!"
Funny though, at the time (20 years ago?) I remember thinking how radio consolidation was getting out of control. If only I knew how good we had it then.
While still good, it's worth noting that this is not a complete rejection of the FCC's new rulemaking. Specifically it still gives them plenty of leeway in radio consolidation and cross-ownership of radio and TV stations in the same market, provided the FCC "can provide better justification" for doing so.
But still, many a good reason to be doing the Happy Dance today! Hooray! Nice to see the courts still have some sanity in them.
"Name an instance of IIS being automatically exploited. I'll cite you two Apache holes in return."
Here you go, freshly under investigation, spreading as I type.
From the article: "Government and industry experts warned late Thursday of a mysterious, large-scale Internet attack against thousands of popular Web sites. The virus-like infection tries to implant hacker software onto the computers of all Web site visitors. [ ... ] The mysterious infection appeared to target at least one recent version of software by Microsoft Corp. to operate Web sites, called its Internet Information Server, popular among businesses and organizations."
That was fun. Your turn.
"They also operate a car wash and figured they could use surplus office space at that location to open a Linux store."
Because nothing screams "classy" like the world's first Topless Carwash/Linux Install Promo Day.
Pray that Ballmer isn't a part of that....
"Do you agree, or do you think I'm taking it too far?"
I agree fully on the Consumerism rant. I know people who need both their incomes to cover their mortgage. But then again that was a choice. I have plenty of friends and relatives who say they have no choice. But if asked they're forced to concede that no, nobody is forcing them at gunpoint to live in a 5-bedroom cul-de-sac lot. Or a 3-bedroom home in coastal California.
The problem is that Americans have a VERY skewed perspective of what is a need vs. what is a luxury. Then the "needed luxuries" lock people into a lifestyle that prevents one of them from being able to stay home and focus on raising their own kids for the first several critical years.
Also those "needed luxuries" lock them into jobs and careers they may hate. What a wasted life.
Great saying: "There are two ways to be rich - Make more, or want less."
And before someone starts pissing and moaning about how "I just don't know what it's like", I recently had to live in a 1-bedroom apartment for a few years with my kids because that's all we could afford. We've since rebounded, and yes that extreme was a challenge for us. But you know what? We're still here and we're a tight family. And we had fun. Parks, trails, community swimming pools, all kinds of essentially free stuff. How about flying a kite? Books from the library? And actually doing those things WITH them?
I also know a couple who job-share, so they both get to have a hand in raising their kids. They don't have a huge house, live in an upscale community, or own a big SUV hauling a rarely-used power boat, yet mysteriously they're very happy. And they have great kids. Go figure.
"A HW firewall would have been a more expensive and difficult proposition in his case - dialup. How common are dialup routers (no, I don't mean "do they exist", I mean walk into Best Buy or Comp-USA and get one)."
Not common by "species", but there's at least one good one. Check out Apple's Airport Extreme base station with modem option. Mine's been a godsend. Trashed my Linksys within 5 minutes of installing the Airport.
Even CompUSA (usually useless) should carry them - just be sure to verify it's got the modem option. And yes, they're more expensive. Worth every extra dime in saved frustration for me.
"And what those unforeseen consequences are is random mutations (relative to what was intended)."
Yeah, but starting from "weaponized" nanotech or viruses is a hell of a headstart for random mutations to wreak havoc, right?
"Not only that, but they are constantly mutating, producing enormous numbers of cases of "bad design" every minute. Yet somehow, we manage to survive. Frankly, what we humans do is likely to be a drop in the bucket."
Except that nature is stumbling along with random mutations. As our tech progresses we'll have targeted mutations, courtesy of us. And even if developed to be "good", unforseen consequences of design being what they are....
Then there's the case of *purposefully* hazardous design. Like how we tweak smallpox to weaponize it. Child's play in potential consequences compared to a century or so from now.
But then I'm just trying to sell novelty Godzilla shoes. :-)
"Eric Drexler now says nanomachines that self-replicate exponentially are unlikely ever to enter widespread use."
Why is that still not particularly comforting? Just one tragically (intentional or otherwise) bad design is all it could take, theoretically. Not to turn the earth to "goo", but to seriously screw the conditions we humans deem useful to our existence.
Not a few decades from now, but a century or so down the road when this stuff really picks up and the tools are more accessible. With every step of our advance, we seem to merely reinforce the reality that we're really just fancy homonids with an ever-increasing number of dangerous gadgets, mashing the buttons on the controls.
Humans are so convinced we're a required part of the fabric of the universe. But *poof* Gone. Nobody would care beyond the occasional underpaid archeological student of the next dominant sentient life form.
Maybe I should start planning what kind of confusing fossil record to leave behind. Time to find some cooling lava and a pair of Godzilla shoes.
"The only reason there are so many of them [ security vulnerabilities] in IE is that its integrated well with OS."
Actually it's the exact opposite: It's integrated so piss-poorly with Windows, with no regard for security implications of the design. MS could have easily set up IE to play nicely in its own application space, rather than weaving it deep into the OS like a brain cancer.
s/radio/media/g
"Powell cannot be blamed for the consolidation of radio broadcasters. He didn't set that into motion... in fact, you can't even blame the Bush administration."
Wow, is this a troll or do you really believe that? If the latter, where were you last summer?
"In the months leading up to the vote, the FCC received hundreds of thousands of postcards and e-mails, urging it to not relax the rules. ... Over the summer, Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress moved against the new rules, defying a promised veto from the White House."
Bipartisan defiance in BOTH houses of Congress? Hundreds of thousands of comments from the public? Yeah, Chairman Powell is direcly to blame. Period. He really screwed the pooch on that one. Problem is, we were all the pooch.
"F*K the FCC!!! F*K the FCC!!! F*K em'!"
Funny you should mention that - Eric Idle and the rest of us seem to feel the same about the FCC as of late.
Hum it all together now!
Screw that, I want to see our braindead U.S. Patent and Trademark Office abolished instead. The FCC at least is doing some constructive work - well, prior to Chairman Powell allowing even greater consolidation of the already dangerously consolidated radio broadcast networks.
So abolish the USPTO and bring back the old FCC. Oh yeah, and while I'm on a roll, I also want ElectraWoman and DynaGirl back on the air! With more spandex, dammit!
Are there any security patches in SP2 that will NOT be released separately? If so, I'd say this is one amazingly reckless move on Microsoft's part. In the end the legit users (even non-MS customers) will bear the brunt of Net attacks by compromised machines. After all, those "Top 20" licenses must account for a large number of machines, else why bother singling them out?
Let's face it, even WITH the release of security patches its damn hard to get John Q. Public to keep up to date.
Now if SP2 is only a "features and stability" release, more power to the software vendor, MS or not. (Wow, did I just conditionally support MS' position? I need a drink...)
" A few short years ago, the Toronto Dominion's entire network went down for a whole day."
Crikey! The Dominion has a network in freakin' Toronto?!? Activate the planetary defense grid before the Jem'Hadar warships overwhelm us!
(Jadzia, I've got a... secure bunker set up. Follow me.)
"I don't keep all of my money in a bank, I've never had the hole in my back yard, under the oak, next to the stream, 5 steps from the bush refuse to give me a withdrawal."
Is that the blackberry bush or the raspberry bush? Never mind, I think I found it.
"It's already been documented that silicon valley has the highest incidence of autism in children, as well as a growing rate of infertility. No idea on cancer yet.
If computers were the cause, those massive corporate data processing farms strewn across the world would have just as high an autism rate as Silicon Valley. Possibly higher. The south bay hardly has a monopoly on cube farms.
I lean toward the genetic side of explanation. We nerds tend toward the traits of mildest autism ever so slightly. Indeed, I've worked with several co-workers who to me seemed functionally autistic - very focused on their own world, generally unconcerned about the human interactions around them. And did great technical work.
Now, take formerly widely distributed population of us nerds and concentrate us in a geographic area. Relative to the baseline population average, FAR greater tendencies toward the "nerd genome" (socially reclusive, ability to focus intently on a task). Let genetics do the rest.
As for the healthcare argument, this theory well there too: As the field of health care has become increasingly technical, it attracts - guess what - more nerds, greater expression of the "nerd genome" in that group.
> It's fun making a system do things stably that the vendor :)
:-)
> insisted wasn't possible.
So much for the vendor's plan to force you into that lucrative upgrade.
With that background it doesn't sound like you'll need any luck at all. In which case I'll just say enjoy the new job once the economy picks up! May you find a happy piece of cyberturf.
"... but that even the actor's voices are computer-generated using programs like Festival"
Keanu Reeves was years ahead of them. Totally Talking Moose technology...
"And with the economy ramping up, I might have a shot at a new job!"
I think we're ALL looking forward to that shift in the tides. :-)
"It all boils down the the fact that I can't seem to write a decent resume to save my life."
Seriously, check out some resumé services. Short of the "Never Lie" Rule, everything else is just formatting. We devour folks who claim C++ as an area of expertise but who then can't scribble down a simple class on a scrap of paper during the interview.
Here's a useful diatribe on resumés. That Joel guy gets a bit zealous at times, but often has a decent perspective to consider.
Here's another discussion on resumés. Same Joel guy, but it's a forum on his company's site. Just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Best of luck!
"We have what's called the "Hit by a bus" file where I work. It's supposed to be a set of sealed envelopes to be opened in the event of an emergency."
We have those too, only they're called "internal documentation" and stored in a readily reviewable format in a controlled setting.
"Sadly, we had a server die while the Network Admin was on vacation, and we discovered his was blank. Seems he wants to take all our configuration, login and server data to his grave."
Dude, if your freakin' network config map and other critical info is supposed to be placed in a sealed envelope WITHOUT review, and stuck in a mayonaisse jar like some Amazing Kreskin skit, I'd run far and fast from your employer.
Yep boss, I've got the whole project completed. It's all documented in this sealed manila envelope which you are NOT to open until my death. So, about my bonus review...
Saturday Night Live had a skit commercial on that years ago, featuring Will Farrell I believe. It was an insurance service that, upon your death, would swoop into your home and remove any and all "embarrassing" artifacts before your relatives arrived.
They showed the crew hauling out bongs, rather large marital aids, probably an inflatable goat or two from Farrell's apartment. Then a full cleanup to show that, even in death, you were a "good clean boy".
Actually this sounds like a rather lucrative business potential....
"This would make it the first commercial manned vehicle to officially enter space."
Which immediately makes me wonder which was the first commerical manned vehicle to unofficially enter space. Did this guy finally get some larger balloons?
Best of luck, Space Ship One! May your design be sound and your crew be safe.