And to blow your mind even further, the judicial branch makes law too! It's called common law. The federal judiciary and 49 of the 50 states operate under common law. If you don't like it, you have to move to Louisiana or France.
Too bad Forbes wouldn't know who Theo was if it wasn't for Linux.
Remember folks, UNIX was fragmented and dying before Linux became mainstream. BSD and GNU were nothing but obscure academic projects. The popularity of Linux brought UNIX to a whole new generation of users, and BSD has benefited from the uprising as much as anyone. Even the big boys, like Solaris and AIX, are trying to be more like Linux.
And the whole quality thing is a myth. Linus approaches the kernel with the approach of an engineer, and the rest of Linux mirrors this approach. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to work. Theo thinks of himself as an artist, and his arrogance does as much to hurt BSD as it does to help it.
Have you ever actually used a wireless VoIP phone? I have. They suck balls. You get about half an hour of talk time on battery. Even without talking, they use so much power to just stay on the network taht you have to charge them EVERY day.
That's just where the fun starts. The phone is about TWICE the size of a normal cell phone. It doesn't work well with NAT. If you've got any type of authentication system for your wireless (like many Unis have) you'll have to hack your network for the phones to route. Combine that with the fact that many Unis have several wireless networks (early adopters, different depts or colleges owning the network, etc.), none of which were designed for VoIP, and you've got MAJOR problems.
I even talked to our Cisco rep about combining a cell phone and a wireless phone. He said power was the main issue. I didn't really understand this, until I tried to use the dang things. This a technology that is far FAR away. So in the end, you've got a wireless phone that costs 3 times more than a cell phone, is twice as large, gets a tenth of the battery life, and you still have to carry a cell phone for when the thing doesn't work or you're off the network.
A built-in access point? Isn't that more a matter of software?
All an access point is, after all, is a wireless card connected to a embedded system, which runs software that allows the device to act as a layer 2 bridge.
I know many people that have turned old laptops, or PCs with wireless cards, into access points.
There was a knock on my door. It was the man from Microsoft.
"Not you again," I said.
"Sorry," he said, a little sheepishly. "I guess you know why I'm here."
Indeed I did. Microsoft's $300 million campaign to promote the Windows 95
operating system was meant to be universally effective, to convince every
human being on the planet that Windows 95 was an essential, some would say
integral, part of living. Problem was, not everyone had bought it.
Specifically, I hadn't bought it. I was the Last Human Being Without
Windows 95. And now this little man from Microsoft was at my door, and he
wouldn't take no for an answer.
"No," I said.
"You know I can't take that," he said, pulling out a copy of Windows 95
from a briefcase. "Come on. Just one copy. That's all we ask."
"Not interested." I said. "Look, isn't there someone else you can go
bother for a while? There's got to be someone else on the planet who
doesn't have a copy."
"Well, no," The Microsoft man said. "You're the only one."
"You can't be serious. Not everyone on the planet has a computer," I said.
"Hell, not everyone on the planet has a PC! Some people own Macintoshes,
which run their own operating system. And some people who have PCs run
OS/2, though I hear that's just a rumor. In short, there are some people
who just have no use for Windows 95."
The Microsoft man looked perplexed. "I'm missing your point," he said.
"Use!" I screamed. "Use! Use! Use! Why buy it, if you can't
use it?"
"Well, I don't know anything about this 'use' thing you're going on
about," The Microsoft man said. "All I know is that according to our
records, everyone else on the planet has a copy."
"People without computers?"
"Got 'em."
"Amazonian Indians?"
"We had to get some malaria shots to go in, but yes."
"The Amish."
"Check."
"Oh, come on," I said. "They don't even wear buttons. How did you
get them to buy a computer operating system?"
"We told them there were actually 95 very small windows in the box," the
Microsoft man admitted. "We sort of lied. Which means we are all going to
Hell, every single employee of Microsoft." He was somber for a minute, but
then perked right up. "But that's not the point!" he said. "The point is,
everyone has a copy. Except you."
"So what?" I said. "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you expect
me to do it, too?"
"If we spent $300 million advertising it? Absolutely."
"No."
"Jeez, back to that again," the Microsoft man said. "Hey. I'll tell you
what. I'll give you a copy. For free. Just take it and install
it on your computer." He waved the box in front of me.
"No," I said again. "No offense, pal. But I don't need it. And frankly,
your whole advertising blitz has sort of offended me. I mean, it's a
computer operating system! Great. Fine. Swell. Whatever. But you guys are
advertising it like it creates world peace or something."
"It did."
"Excuse me?"
"World peace. It was part of the original design. Really. One button
access. Click on it, poof, end to strife and hunger. Simple."
"So what happened?"
"Well, you know," he said. "It took up a lot of space on the hard drive.
We had to decide between it or the Microsoft Network. Anyway, we couldn't
figure out how to make a profit off of world peace."
"Go away," I said.
"I can't," he said. "I'll be killed if I fail."
"You have got to be kidding," I said.
"Look," the Microsoft man said, "We sold this to the Amish. The
Amish! Right now, they're opening the boxes and figuring out
they've been had. We'll be pitchforked if we ever step into Western
Pennsylvania again. But we did it. So to have you holding out,
well, it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing to the company. It's
embarrassing to the product. It's embarrassing to Bill."
What's your favorite Ayn Rand book? How many times have you read Atlas Shrugged? Who is John Galt?
Seriously, why is Libertarianism the prevailing political pseudo-philosophy of internet culture? Are we all that simple-minded? The Internet was a product of academia, heavily subsidized by public funds. The e-gold rush that followed ruined what uniqueness the net once had. And you want corporations in charge of our water supply and our roads? You've got to be kidding me.
Ummm, why wouldn't this work with Linux sparc binaries? Sure, they're rare, but people do run Linux on old sparc hardware.
Seems like it wouldn't be worth all this effort JUST to do the API port to Slowlaris x86.
This is silly. First, IBM isn't dependent upon Novell. Second, if they were, they can outbid Sun for it. Third, Sun is just as likely to get bought out by IBM as Novell is likely to get bought out by Sun.
Man, Sun is pissing me off. They have ZERO direction. One day everything is SunONE, then everything is Java desktop.
In four quarters, my Sun Reps when from pushing Solaris Sparc, to Solaris x86, to Linux x86-32, to Linux x86-64. They have no credability. I just can't wait for them to ditch Sparc and Solaris completely. But then they'd have to compete with IBM, Dell, Redhat, and HP. OUCH! So much for high profit margins.
This happened with 2.4 as well. I guess you guys don't remember the memory manager changes, and the instability in between 2.4.9 and 2.4.14 We had a saying when I was at IBM among us testers: Friends don't let friends run 2.4.10.
I stopped running vanilla kernels back then, and now I always use my distro's source.
I work at UT. The wireless network their is a joke.
All the machines are on public IPs and there is no sort of virus scanning or update requirements at all. We accidentally put a fresh Windows install on the wireless network and got hit with a worm in 30 seconds. The network nazis, under orders of our joke of a security office, often filter DHCP addresses because of viruses, which is great until you accidentally get the lease for a filtered address.
UT just finally figured out that maybe they should offer SSL POP and IMAP on the central mailserver after having kids on unencrypted wireless for 3 years. VPNs are just now being looked at.
The worst thing about wireless at UT is it's so inconsistent. There aren't nearly enough APs in highly populated areas, meaning you get dialup speeds are not uncommon. There are dead spots everywhere because of poor AP placement.
We were doing a voice over wireless IP pilot, and it was impossible. Each building is on it's own VLAN and they don't route to each other. Some wireless systems are maintained by departments and you can't even log into them. We could communicate in our building, but the building across the street was blind. Even getting the phones to work, with UTs homebrewed authentication system, was a beast.
I used to work with the Linux Tech Center at IBM, and I've still got friends on the inside. From what they tell me, SuSE is just much more cooperative and much more interested in partnership than Redhat.
You may have heard Redhat called the Microsoft of Linux. This is a perception that is alive and well within IBM.
When I worked on the Linux Standards Base project, Redhat was very resistant to standardization. We'd open bug reports about LSB compliance issues, and they'd be hastily closed saying that Redhat wanted to do things their way. They ended up not participating in the UnitedLinux project, which was backed heavily by IBM and HP.
SuSE on the other hand was very involved with the LSB and UnitedLinux. They drove a bulk of the standardization efforts. They also have a very good support relationship with the IBM Linux developers.
So when it comes down to it, SuSE just wants IBM more than RH. They created a better working relationship. The only thing they really lacked was a strong North American presence. The merger with Novell solved that, and gave them a strong support and services arm to boot.
Slashdot Mirror
And to blow your mind even further, the judicial branch makes law too! It's called common law. The federal judiciary and 49 of the 50 states operate under common law. If you don't like it, you have to move to Louisiana or France.
Ever heard of setuid root?
Remember folks, UNIX was fragmented and dying before Linux became mainstream. BSD and GNU were nothing but obscure academic projects. The popularity of Linux brought UNIX to a whole new generation of users, and BSD has benefited from the uprising as much as anyone. Even the big boys, like Solaris and AIX, are trying to be more like Linux.
And the whole quality thing is a myth. Linus approaches the kernel with the approach of an engineer, and the rest of Linux mirrors this approach. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to work. Theo thinks of himself as an artist, and his arrogance does as much to hurt BSD as it does to help it.
That's just where the fun starts. The phone is about TWICE the size of a normal cell phone. It doesn't work well with NAT. If you've got any type of authentication system for your wireless (like many Unis have) you'll have to hack your network for the phones to route. Combine that with the fact that many Unis have several wireless networks (early adopters, different depts or colleges owning the network, etc.), none of which were designed for VoIP, and you've got MAJOR problems.
I even talked to our Cisco rep about combining a cell phone and a wireless phone. He said power was the main issue. I didn't really understand this, until I tried to use the dang things. This a technology that is far FAR away. So in the end, you've got a wireless phone that costs 3 times more than a cell phone, is twice as large, gets a tenth of the battery life, and you still have to carry a cell phone for when the thing doesn't work or you're off the network.
A built-in access point? Isn't that more a matter of software? All an access point is, after all, is a wireless card connected to a embedded system, which runs software that allows the device to act as a layer 2 bridge. I know many people that have turned old laptops, or PCs with wireless cards, into access points.
"Not you again," I said.
"Sorry," he said, a little sheepishly. "I guess you know why I'm here."
Indeed I did. Microsoft's $300 million campaign to promote the Windows 95 operating system was meant to be universally effective, to convince every human being on the planet that Windows 95 was an essential, some would say integral, part of living. Problem was, not everyone had bought it. Specifically, I hadn't bought it. I was the Last Human Being Without Windows 95. And now this little man from Microsoft was at my door, and he wouldn't take no for an answer.
"No," I said.
"You know I can't take that," he said, pulling out a copy of Windows 95 from a briefcase. "Come on. Just one copy. That's all we ask."
"Not interested." I said. "Look, isn't there someone else you can go bother for a while? There's got to be someone else on the planet who doesn't have a copy."
"Well, no," The Microsoft man said. "You're the only one."
"You can't be serious. Not everyone on the planet has a computer," I said. "Hell, not everyone on the planet has a PC! Some people own Macintoshes, which run their own operating system. And some people who have PCs run OS/2, though I hear that's just a rumor. In short, there are some people who just have no use for Windows 95."
The Microsoft man looked perplexed. "I'm missing your point," he said.
"Use!" I screamed. "Use! Use! Use! Why buy it, if you can't use it?"
"Well, I don't know anything about this 'use' thing you're going on about," The Microsoft man said. "All I know is that according to our records, everyone else on the planet has a copy."
"People without computers?"
"Got 'em."
"Amazonian Indians?"
"We had to get some malaria shots to go in, but yes."
"The Amish."
"Check."
"Oh, come on," I said. "They don't even wear buttons. How did you get them to buy a computer operating system?"
"We told them there were actually 95 very small windows in the box," the Microsoft man admitted. "We sort of lied. Which means we are all going to Hell, every single employee of Microsoft." He was somber for a minute, but then perked right up. "But that's not the point!" he said. "The point is, everyone has a copy. Except you."
"So what?" I said. "If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you expect me to do it, too?"
"If we spent $300 million advertising it? Absolutely."
"No."
"Jeez, back to that again," the Microsoft man said. "Hey. I'll tell you what. I'll give you a copy. For free. Just take it and install it on your computer." He waved the box in front of me.
"No," I said again. "No offense, pal. But I don't need it. And frankly, your whole advertising blitz has sort of offended me. I mean, it's a computer operating system! Great. Fine. Swell. Whatever. But you guys are advertising it like it creates world peace or something."
"It did."
"Excuse me?"
"World peace. It was part of the original design. Really. One button access. Click on it, poof, end to strife and hunger. Simple."
"So what happened?"
"Well, you know," he said. "It took up a lot of space on the hard drive. We had to decide between it or the Microsoft Network. Anyway, we couldn't figure out how to make a profit off of world peace."
"Go away," I said.
"I can't," he said. "I'll be killed if I fail."
"You have got to be kidding," I said.
"Look," the Microsoft man said, "We sold this to the Amish. The Amish! Right now, they're opening the boxes and figuring out they've been had. We'll be pitchforked if we ever step into Western Pennsylvania again. But we did it. So to have you holding out, well, it's embarrassing. It's embarrassing to the company. It's embarrassing to the product. It's embarrassing to Bill."
"Bill Gates does not care about me," I said.
You can have my Achtung Baby album when you pry it from my cold, dead hands!
Seriously, why is Libertarianism the prevailing political pseudo-philosophy of internet culture? Are we all that simple-minded? The Internet was a product of academia, heavily subsidized by public funds. The e-gold rush that followed ruined what uniqueness the net once had. And you want corporations in charge of our water supply and our roads? You've got to be kidding me.
Ummm, why wouldn't this work with Linux sparc binaries? Sure, they're rare, but people do run Linux on old sparc hardware. Seems like it wouldn't be worth all this effort JUST to do the API port to Slowlaris x86.
Man, Sun is pissing me off. They have ZERO direction. One day everything is SunONE, then everything is Java desktop.
In four quarters, my Sun Reps when from pushing Solaris Sparc, to Solaris x86, to Linux x86-32, to Linux x86-64. They have no credability. I just can't wait for them to ditch Sparc and Solaris completely. But then they'd have to compete with IBM, Dell, Redhat, and HP. OUCH! So much for high profit margins.
This happened with 2.4 as well. I guess you guys don't remember the memory manager changes, and the instability in between 2.4.9 and 2.4.14 We had a saying when I was at IBM among us testers: Friends don't let friends run 2.4.10.
I stopped running vanilla kernels back then, and now I always use my distro's source.
All the machines are on public IPs and there is no sort of virus scanning or update requirements at all. We accidentally put a fresh Windows install on the wireless network and got hit with a worm in 30 seconds. The network nazis, under orders of our joke of a security office, often filter DHCP addresses because of viruses, which is great until you accidentally get the lease for a filtered address.
UT just finally figured out that maybe they should offer SSL POP and IMAP on the central mailserver after having kids on unencrypted wireless for 3 years. VPNs are just now being looked at.
The worst thing about wireless at UT is it's so inconsistent. There aren't nearly enough APs in highly populated areas, meaning you get dialup speeds are not uncommon. There are dead spots everywhere because of poor AP placement.
We were doing a voice over wireless IP pilot, and it was impossible. Each building is on it's own VLAN and they don't route to each other. Some wireless systems are maintained by departments and you can't even log into them. We could communicate in our building, but the building across the street was blind. Even getting the phones to work, with UTs homebrewed authentication system, was a beast.
You may have heard Redhat called the Microsoft of Linux. This is a perception that is alive and well within IBM.
When I worked on the Linux Standards Base project, Redhat was very resistant to standardization. We'd open bug reports about LSB compliance issues, and they'd be hastily closed saying that Redhat wanted to do things their way. They ended up not participating in the UnitedLinux project, which was backed heavily by IBM and HP.
SuSE on the other hand was very involved with the LSB and UnitedLinux. They drove a bulk of the standardization efforts. They also have a very good support relationship with the IBM Linux developers.
So when it comes down to it, SuSE just wants IBM more than RH. They created a better working relationship. The only thing they really lacked was a strong North American presence. The merger with Novell solved that, and gave them a strong support and services arm to boot.