Nope, it would not, as long as you don't try to convince (in store) other customers not to buy a certain product. Also, I would not like to live in a country where you aren't allowed to inform yourself about a product before you buy it.
Yeesh... You americans have laws for everything, don't you?
So true. There should be separate categories for different types of objectionable subjects. You could then configure your own threshold levels per category.
But even then, you are forgetting about the good old habit of reading stuff. Simply read up on companies and products that you use daily. I have no doubt that an Internet community built around the database would be able to provide lots of interesting information, ranging from several different viewpoints (just like Slashdot or Wikipedia does).
Even if there a few evil people in the world I do belive that most of us want to make it a better place, in what small way we might contribute.
Well, thats your choice is it? And I'm not saying that its entirely wrong. It's just that most people would probably pay some attention to the ethical side of the product.
There will still be alot of people who doesn't give a damn about kids working in sweatshops in Asia or environmentally bad companies. Still, even if only a few percent would buy according to research, it would send a powerful message to the companies.
Well, my orginal idea was that you should have your database with you at all times. I don't think you carry your dedicated barcode reader everywhere?:-)
Your cellphone on the other hand, its probably in your pocket at most times.
But hey, I'm not saying that the idea is dumb. At home its probably much more efficient.
True, but nothing prohibits you from checking the contents of your fridge at home. Some "damage" are ofcourse really done at that point, but atleast you wont buy offending stuff again.
That said, there is ofcourse other shortcomings, like vegetable and fruit not having a EAN code, and where exactly do you find the barcode on a 42" plasma display?
I have an idea that I've been thinking about for a while.
Some of us choose what to buy on the basis on how well-behaved the producing company is. Nothing new here. Some "bad" companies and their products are easy to indentify: I try to not buy anything from Nestle (breastmilk substitute in Africa), McDonalds (cutting down rainforests), and so on. As you can see from my reasons, they are probably a bit outdated as it can be hard to get good consumer information through the media noise.
Ok, heres the thing: most products these days have an EAN/UCC code. The number in that code includes an identifier for the selling company. What if the Internet community would create a database of companies and start setting grades on them with regards to product quality, environment concern, workforce treatment, and so on?
"But it would be too much of a hassle to query the database each time one buy cerials" you say. Sure, but consider two things:
Most mobilephones today (and certainly more in the future) have a builtin camera. Use that to photograph the EAN code, run a picture recognition program (in the phone ofcourse) and either compare to a snapshot database in the phone or check the online database directly!
You will quickly learn to avoid certain brands, and also educate people in your surrondings (friends, relative, etc).
How do RFID fit into this? Well, imagine a clock that vibrates when you are about to touch some ethically questionable item!:-D
RFIDs have been creating a lot of interest in the industry as it gives them better control over where items are, who buys them, if they return, etc. Now, if consumers could easily boycott a company due to bad quality or unethically behavior, the whole idea could backfire on them!
I've never heard of a virus that is capable of physically destroying a harddrive though... So you throwed a perfectly functional harddrive down your driveway?!:-D
Why is adaption of new filesystems is so slow? Well, you can alter either which metadata that is collected or the way data is stored.
New metadata: well, what happens when you send that file to someone else, running another filesystem? Where are you supposed to store that extra information? Wrap the file in something else? Can you say 'binhex'?:-)
Sure, internal metadata can always be gathered, like last accesstime, usage frequency, etc. But even that require that applications can use it, something which will probably take quite some time (especially when there are alternative filesystems on the same platform!).
Think about it. Apple tried to add more meta-data to the filesystem: ok, it works on the Mac but everybody else goes ballistic if you so much as mention 'fork'.
Data storage: just as with metadata, this will require that applications are written to use the new features. If the new filesystem isn't available on all platforms (like all versions of Windows) adaptation will probably be slow. If you want to make your program a success, are you sure you want require something that not everybody has?
New features as atomic writes, new kind of files, plugins, whatever: sure, but do you know how many features there are in NTFS that practically noone use? (like a stream coupled to a standard file - gives a whole new dimension to (meta)data storage).
Every new filesystem that is introduced, be it on Windows or some Unix-variant, will have a really hard time to get any marketshare to speak of. Especially if the filesystem in question is too different to the old ones.
Computer scientists have tried for decades to evolve filesystems, with very little success. If you think people are conservative and stays with the given standard solution (Windows), do you think they will stuff their valuable data in some new filesystem thingy?
While we should certainly hope that it never comes to this, in a way it's perculiar that it already haven't!
I mean, you don't have to go far to be able to find a Microsoft/Windows negative bunch of people. Skills and exploits seems to be available. Why haven't some deranged black hat decided to take down the Microsoft imperium?
Code payweight and worm logic in advance. It should totally disable the Windows installation with reinstall as only option.
Wait for an exploit(s) (these days you doesn't have to wait for long...)
Add together, put on a floppy disk, travel to a public library (or whatever) and release it.
(Ok, somewhat simplified, I don't want to give you to much ideas!:-)
Perhaps those people with skills are uncertain what effects this would have on the world. Imagine if most of the worlds Windows installs would cease to function. Chaos is a mild description...
Doesn't people realise that from the wall socket to the telephone switch there are a few hundred meters of crappy copper cable originally drawn and installed in the '40s?!:-D
Secure Architectures with OpenBSD
on
BSD Hacks
·
· Score: 4, Informative
I bought a copy of Secure Architectures with OpenBSD and I think it is quite good, especially if you consider its relatively low price.
It's not that it cover every detail of every feature of OpenBSD, rather it many gives some background to them that the (ohh so excellent) man pages doesn't provide. For example: while the man page explain what rarpd does, the book admits that the service is quite archaic.:-)
I like it, and have learned a lot from it, even then I thought I knew most of it (or know where to look).
Hmm... Is this "Bad Dell" thing special to USA? I have had some business with the Swedish branch office a few times, and while their support perhaps isn't the fastest or most clever on earth, I do think it works ok.
For example: floppy dies in more or less new computer. I send the service tag together with the fault information by email to support. They ask me to test booting from a known good disk. I return "No." to them. They send a new floppy drive from Ireland with express cargo (arrives in a "Russian Doll" arrangement of boxes). Total time, five working days (and that mostly because I had other things to do).
Another time a memory module died in a computer with warranty. They asked som questions and then sent us a new module without further ado.
So, is the european Dell better than the american one? Sometimes when people talk about support call centers in the US I can't belive me ears... Outsource to India? Well, they can try!:-D
Yeah, sure... Mod me as a troll. That doesn't change the fact that the story is more or less informationless. We already know about the dutch action process, and the starting price is meaningless as it will drop immediately.
I suspect that OpenBSD will not switch to x.org until after the release of 3.6 in november (and hence go x.org in 3.7, 1st of may). Why? At the moment x.org looks promising, but really hasn't released anything substantial. And since OpenBSD by tradition (and goal) is quite conservative when it comes to importing third party software, I think it will probably take a while.
Another thing is that OpenBSD has developed a few handy patches for X11, like privilege separation (something I hope will be ported to x.org's distribution) and with OpenBSD's security goal I don't think they will give that up in a whim. OTOH, periodically merging with XFree or merging with x.org is probably the same amount of work...
People are following Unix because the Unix-model is actually pretty close to TheRightWayToDoThings. Atleast considering what we know today, or what we want to accomplish today.
But it is important to remember that not all unices are alike, and hence they doesn't share the exact same model! For example, ACL:s exists in some variants but not in others. Security has become a (somewhat) prioritized feature these days, but is implemented very differently. Some unices has elaborate/proc filesystems while other doesn't. And so on.
If you think about it, what do you want an operating system to do? Execute programs, receive and send data, store data permanently; all of this in a easy, safe and deterministic way. Thats why Microsoft will have a hard time to convince people to upgrade to the latest version of Windows: the introduction of Windows 2000 was the first version that actually executed programs in a somewhat safe way - you doesn't have to reboot the computer several times a day due to crashes. What more do you want?
Unix pretty much had those features from the beginning, thats why people have sticked to it. If it works, don't fix it. And if it partially works, why reinvent the whole wheel when only a part needs a redesign?
And yes, the Unix filesystem hierarchy mess if probably one of the reasons why it sometimes are considered somewhat archaic. The problem is that there are so many schools of what to call things, where to place programs and data, so that if you install a few different software packages their parts will wind up in very different locations (look at a default install of Solaris for example). A lot of directories are kept because of backwards compatibility.
Anyway, it's better than the Stuff-It-In-C:\Windows mentality...
How much better might things be if the GNOME and KDE teams were working together instead of separately?
I too have issues with GNOME's usability. That's why I prefer Enlightenment and KDE.
If they were working together you probably wouldn't have that choice!
If it in 10 years turns out that Gnomes backbone structure was technologically unsound or that Trolltech in fact is even more evil than you could ever imagine Microsoft to be... We still got a choice. And even if it doesn't, competition is healthy.
How hard can it be to understand that it is not a bad thing to have several projects working on the same thing?! Especially since they are cooperating through FreeDesktop.org.
And really, do you have to choose?! I'm a happy user of KDE (desktop and all) but that doesn't stop me from having Gnumeric installed, does it?
Slashdot Mirror
Well, that is a good indicator on where to buy your stuff...
Nope, it would not, as long as you don't try to convince (in store) other customers not to buy a certain product. Also, I would not like to live in a country where you aren't allowed to inform yourself about a product before you buy it.
Yeesh... You americans have laws for everything, don't you?
So true. There should be separate categories for different types of objectionable subjects. You could then configure your own threshold levels per category.
But even then, you are forgetting about the good old habit of reading stuff. Simply read up on companies and products that you use daily. I have no doubt that an Internet community built around the database would be able to provide lots of interesting information, ranging from several different viewpoints (just like Slashdot or Wikipedia does).
Even if there a few evil people in the world I do belive that most of us want to make it a better place, in what small way we might contribute.
What the hell are you talking about?
Well, thats your choice is it? And I'm not saying that its entirely wrong. It's just that most people would probably pay some attention to the ethical side of the product.
There will still be alot of people who doesn't give a damn about kids working in sweatshops in Asia or environmentally bad companies. Still, even if only a few percent would buy according to research, it would send a powerful message to the companies.
Well, my orginal idea was that you should have your database with you at all times. I don't think you carry your dedicated barcode reader everywhere? :-)
Your cellphone on the other hand, its probably in your pocket at most times.
But hey, I'm not saying that the idea is dumb. At home its probably much more efficient.
True, but nothing prohibits you from checking the contents of your fridge at home. Some "damage" are ofcourse really done at that point, but atleast you wont buy offending stuff again.
That said, there is ofcourse other shortcomings, like vegetable and fruit not having a EAN code, and where exactly do you find the barcode on a 42" plasma display?
I have an idea that I've been thinking about for a while.
Some of us choose what to buy on the basis on how well-behaved the producing company is. Nothing new here. Some "bad" companies and their products are easy to indentify: I try to not buy anything from Nestle (breastmilk substitute in Africa), McDonalds (cutting down rainforests), and so on. As you can see from my reasons, they are probably a bit outdated as it can be hard to get good consumer information through the media noise.
Ok, heres the thing: most products these days have an EAN/UCC code. The number in that code includes an identifier for the selling company. What if the Internet community would create a database of companies and start setting grades on them with regards to product quality, environment concern, workforce treatment, and so on?
"But it would be too much of a hassle to query the database each time one buy cerials" you say. Sure, but consider two things:
How do RFID fit into this? Well, imagine a clock that vibrates when you are about to touch some ethically questionable item! :-D
RFIDs have been creating a lot of interest in the industry as it gives them better control over where items are, who buys them, if they return, etc. Now, if consumers could easily boycott a company due to bad quality or unethically behavior, the whole idea could backfire on them!
Still, all you had to do was reformat and reinstall. There's no need to throw the disk away.
CIH resets the BIOS ehh?
I've never heard of a virus that is capable of physically destroying a harddrive though... So you throwed a perfectly functional harddrive down your driveway?! :-D
I once saw a guy install an ISA-card in a computer that was turned on. A standard AT-machine (don't remember the exact details).
I casually remarked that "perhaps you should turn the computer off before installing the card?", to which he replied "Ohh, you have to do that?"
BTW, this was in a computer oriented "high-school" education. He should really have known better. :-)
Why is adaption of new filesystems is so slow? Well, you can alter either which metadata that is collected or the way data is stored.
New metadata: well, what happens when you send that file to someone else, running another filesystem? Where are you supposed to store that extra information? Wrap the file in something else? Can you say 'binhex'? :-)
Sure, internal metadata can always be gathered, like last accesstime, usage frequency, etc. But even that require that applications can use it, something which will probably take quite some time (especially when there are alternative filesystems on the same platform!).
Think about it. Apple tried to add more meta-data to the filesystem: ok, it works on the Mac but everybody else goes ballistic if you so much as mention 'fork'.
Data storage: just as with metadata, this will require that applications are written to use the new features. If the new filesystem isn't available on all platforms (like all versions of Windows) adaptation will probably be slow. If you want to make your program a success, are you sure you want require something that not everybody has?
New features as atomic writes, new kind of files, plugins, whatever: sure, but do you know how many features there are in NTFS that practically noone use? (like a stream coupled to a standard file - gives a whole new dimension to (meta)data storage).
Every new filesystem that is introduced, be it on Windows or some Unix-variant, will have a really hard time to get any marketshare to speak of. Especially if the filesystem in question is too different to the old ones.
Computer scientists have tried for decades to evolve filesystems, with very little success. If you think people are conservative and stays with the given standard solution (Windows), do you think they will stuff their valuable data in some new filesystem thingy?
While we should certainly hope that it never comes to this, in a way it's perculiar that it already haven't!
I mean, you don't have to go far to be able to find a Microsoft/Windows negative bunch of people. Skills and exploits seems to be available. Why haven't some deranged black hat decided to take down the Microsoft imperium?
(Ok, somewhat simplified, I don't want to give you to much ideas! :-)
Perhaps those people with skills are uncertain what effects this would have on the world. Imagine if most of the worlds Windows installs would cease to function. Chaos is a mild description...
Ahh, Monster Cables, with such classics as Ultra-High Speed Internet Phone Cable Using RJ11 Connection!
Doesn't people realise that from the wall socket to the telephone switch there are a few hundred meters of crappy copper cable originally drawn and installed in the '40s?! :-D
I bought a copy of Secure Architectures with OpenBSD and I think it is quite good, especially if you consider its relatively low price.
It's not that it cover every detail of every feature of OpenBSD, rather it many gives some background to them that the (ohh so excellent) man pages doesn't provide. For example: while the man page explain what rarpd does, the book admits that the service is quite archaic. :-)
I like it, and have learned a lot from it, even then I thought I knew most of it (or know where to look).
Hmm... Is this "Bad Dell" thing special to USA? I have had some business with the Swedish branch office a few times, and while their support perhaps isn't the fastest or most clever on earth, I do think it works ok.
For example: floppy dies in more or less new computer. I send the service tag together with the fault information by email to support. They ask me to test booting from a known good disk. I return "No." to them. They send a new floppy drive from Ireland with express cargo (arrives in a "Russian Doll" arrangement of boxes). Total time, five working days (and that mostly because I had other things to do).
Another time a memory module died in a computer with warranty. They asked som questions and then sent us a new module without further ado.
So, is the european Dell better than the american one? Sometimes when people talk about support call centers in the US I can't belive me ears... Outsource to India? Well, they can try! :-D
In reverse? Like this?
Well, as long as you make sure you run in full durex mode you should be fine!
Yeah, sure... Mod me as a troll. That doesn't change the fact that the story is more or less informationless. We already know about the dutch action process, and the starting price is meaningless as it will drop immediately.
God, someone submit a real article!
Sorry, but is Hemos on crack today? This is the second writeup in a row that sucks completly.
This is probably the worst excuse for a Slashdot article I have ever seen...
I suspect that OpenBSD will not switch to x.org until after the release of 3.6 in november (and hence go x.org in 3.7, 1st of may). Why? At the moment x.org looks promising, but really hasn't released anything substantial. And since OpenBSD by tradition (and goal) is quite conservative when it comes to importing third party software, I think it will probably take a while.
Another thing is that OpenBSD has developed a few handy patches for X11, like privilege separation (something I hope will be ported to x.org's distribution) and with OpenBSD's security goal I don't think they will give that up in a whim. OTOH, periodically merging with XFree or merging with x.org is probably the same amount of work...
I hope your computer renovating skills are better than your photography skills... :-/
Almost every photo is unfocused.
People are following Unix because the Unix-model is actually pretty close to TheRightWayToDoThings. Atleast considering what we know today, or what we want to accomplish today.
But it is important to remember that not all unices are alike, and hence they doesn't share the exact same model! For example, ACL:s exists in some variants but not in others. Security has become a (somewhat) prioritized feature these days, but is implemented very differently. Some unices has elaborate /proc filesystems while other doesn't. And so on.
If you think about it, what do you want an operating system to do? Execute programs, receive and send data, store data permanently; all of this in a easy, safe and deterministic way. Thats why Microsoft will have a hard time to convince people to upgrade to the latest version of Windows: the introduction of Windows 2000 was the first version that actually executed programs in a somewhat safe way - you doesn't have to reboot the computer several times a day due to crashes. What more do you want?
Unix pretty much had those features from the beginning, thats why people have sticked to it. If it works, don't fix it. And if it partially works, why reinvent the whole wheel when only a part needs a redesign?
And yes, the Unix filesystem hierarchy mess if probably one of the reasons why it sometimes are considered somewhat archaic. The problem is that there are so many schools of what to call things, where to place programs and data, so that if you install a few different software packages their parts will wind up in very different locations (look at a default install of Solaris for example). A lot of directories are kept because of backwards compatibility.
Anyway, it's better than the Stuff-It-In-C:\Windows mentality...
To answer your question with your own text:
How much better might things be if the GNOME and KDE teams were working together instead of separately?
I too have issues with GNOME's usability. That's why I prefer Enlightenment and KDE.
If they were working together you probably wouldn't have that choice!
If it in 10 years turns out that Gnomes backbone structure was technologically unsound or that Trolltech in fact is even more evil than you could ever imagine Microsoft to be... We still got a choice. And even if it doesn't, competition is healthy.
How hard can it be to understand that it is not a bad thing to have several projects working on the same thing?! Especially since they are cooperating through FreeDesktop.org.
And really, do you have to choose?! I'm a happy user of KDE (desktop and all) but that doesn't stop me from having Gnumeric installed, does it?