"At this point, it should be noted that Brian Contos is the Chief Security Officer of a company that sells ESM products"
Ah, So...
"In one example, a company discovered that their servers were hosting pirated software"
Does the book tell us the names of the companies and the individuals involved.
"In the case of a Spanish company, an employee was forced into planting a wireless access point in one of the development labs. The employee had lied about his educational background on his resume, and criminals threatened to expose him if he didn't cooperate by planting the device"
If this anecdotal evidence is true why would the employee engage in industrial esponage merely to cover up how he lied on his CV, something most everyone does. Do the criminals think no one would find the wireless access point. Why go to the bother since they have a man on the inside.
"Contos explains a scenario where an employee pulls financial information from a proprietary system and then uploads it to a P2P network. Most companies do not have the technology to detect such an action"
Anyone attempting such a thing would first get admin rights on the ESM and delete the audit rail. It's best to login as the PHB as he would never go looking for his own files. If your company can't spot a P2P node on their network then maybe they should be in the sandwich selling business instead.
What obscure feetures on what never heard of apps are missing from Linux land.
"Linux is good stuff, but as with all the best stuff, it simply isn't practicable for the uninitiated."
Nonsence, right now on this OpenSuse desktop I can browse, email, play multi-media and burn CDs. In fact most people don't know they are not using Windows.
Re:Easy, Furthermore (Score:5, sponcered by the MS astroturfing dept/slashdot division)
"Now imagine putting Linux in front of these people with no direct support. apt-get? emerge? rpm? How is that easier that sticking in a disc, having it run and clicking next 3 times"
Personally I've never used apt-get or emerge. I picked SuSE precicly because of YaST, its graphical installer. Installing/updating consists of clicking on 'Online Update' and clicking on 'Install' in YaST. Similarly, if you buy a Linspire Desktop it arrives preconfigered for the click-and-run online update. But then again how many of your students could install Windows from scratch.
was Re:Easy (Score:4, astro mod this up as Insightful)
Nonsence, right now on this OpenSuse desktop I can browse, email, play multi-media and burn CDs. In fact most people don't know they are not using Windows. Would you please give it a rest. We've got the msg, all right.
was Re:Easy (Score:5, modded up for no particular reason)
Nonsence, right now on this OpenSuse desktop I can browse, email, play multi-media and burn CDs. In fact most people don't know they are not using Windows.
was Re:You don't? (Score:5, I really like Linux and want it to be better)
Nonsence, right now on this OpenSuse desktop I can browse, email, play multi-media and burn CDs. In fact most people don't know they are not using Windows.
"Wait until "it just works" otherwise we're going to continue to turn people off"
"Linux is not customer ready OS right now (like for grandpa or smth.)"
Nonsence, right now on this OpenSuse desktop I can browse, email, play multi-media and burn CDs. In fact most people don't know they are not using Windows.
"it certainly is not going to be easy to find districts willing to install and support the software on their own if they don't have experience with it"
Like what 'support' are you refering to. You put the CD in the drive and click on INSTALL, click next etc, and that's it.
was: Why just Open Office? (Score:4, Insightful !!!! ???)
"if you're installing OO.o on a machine with 128 or 256 MB RAM, this probably isn't going to go well"
This Windows machine reports 326 MB. Open Office opens and runs just as fast as msOffice, if you use the quick start option and increase memory cache.
"I don't even have a clue on how much memory MS Office apps need. Can someone provide some numbers, please? KOffice too, if possible..."
While the system reports that Open Office uses more memory this can be misleading as a lot of msOffice gets loaded at boot.
"I think that desktop linux is not ready because it still plagued by a problem of text configuration files. I'm perfectly OK configuring my debian box from various files in/etc directory, however most of the users e.g. normal people aren't"
As a confirmed Debian user I find it strange that you don't know about Synaptic a GUI front-end to the debian package manager. Have you mentioned Xandros, Ubuntu or Linspire to the 'normal people', all three based on Debian and not a text config file in sight.
"as long as proper GUI configuration tools, like Control Panel in windows, are absent from KDE/GNOME desktop environments I don't think that majority of people would like to use it"
As a confirmed Linux user I find it strange that you are not aware of any GUI config tools. This Redhat Menu item (april 2003) looks to me, strangly like a GUI config utility. SuSE provides the YaST GUI install and config utility and not a config text file in sight. According to this Linuxconf has a GUI frontend that runs on Redhat or Mandrake.
The installer does it for you. Just make sure you defrag and backup"
I don't understand the 'abject failures', as you say the Installer does it for you. If you want to do it manually then you can do it in just four steps. First get a Knoppix CD and your Linux Installer of choice.
01. Scandisk and defrag Windows.
02. Boot from the Knoppix CD and run QTParted and resize Windows to make room for Linux.
03. Boot from the Linux install DVD and install.
04. Reboot the machine and you have a dual boot system.
There is a precedent for this. Some people said the official inflation rate didn't reflect the true historical trends. So they invented the Mars Bar index.
"Wonder how he protects from muscle strain. Does the suit go rigid briefly on impact like the ski team suits?"
Unlike the suits in the Forever War, this one doesn't come with powered joints, function in a vacuum or survive being attacked with laserbeams by space aliens. Even if the suit survives, the underlying tissue would be totally desiccated from the shockwave.
"I've been using Excel for nearly 15 years, and for the entirety of that time, I've been limited to 256 columns. Now the limit is 16,384 columns"
What are you doing that required sixteen thousand columns. Have you considered splitting it into multiple sheets.
"to a little abused VBA monkey who's had to use every trick in the book to handle the manipulation of big WIDE data, this is a godsend"
According to this OpenOffice.org Calc goes up to 32,000 columns. It's a matter of setting MAXROWCOUNT_DEFINE to a different number. Although I would imagine calculating 32,000 columns is going to be slow. Have you considered linking to a database..
"Yes, I'd say that tech support is on par with janitorial services in business, as it should be", NineNine
I don't know any other business where the janitors are expected to: do the accounts for the accounts manager, maintain email and web accounts, provide off site client support, create the install CD, create web sites for important clients and do all this for a janitors salary. Finally, do all this with obsolete out-of-date equipment (to save money) while the execs spend the equivalent of your weekly salary on executive lunches.
"Fact is, most companies, due to non-IT people's willful and prideful ignorance, DO depend much more heavily upon the immediate and constant services of their IT staff than they do upon their janitorial staff"
What response do you give to someone why won't attach his own documents, he calls you to do it each time. Or the exec who won't actually use the e-mail, he prints it out and hands it to the PA.
"Non-IT people in a company tend to treat their IT staff the way some asshat french noble from the sixteenth century treated his household staff"
I have worked in a number of non-IT related businesses and can tell you that senior staff treat their underlings like shit. I think it's to do with them being treated like dirt on the way up so now they can be the ass-hole. Some advice I can give you from personal experience is never call your manager a fat bastard to his face..:)
How often do you have to show someone how to attach a document to an email before you realize they really are both too stupid and lazy to look at the screen, because the IT chappie will always be there. 5, 10, 20, 50 times. They usually get up in the middle and take an executive phone call. You see they are too far up the org chart to actually address a tech support staff, who is considered one above the janitor in most organizations.
"Doctors have always insulted their patients in their notes"
Not just in their notes. I don't know why they call them 'surgeries' as no surgery is ever done their. They could just replace the 'doctor' with a vending machine for all the use they are.
How about when the PHB, for the umpteemed time, drags and drops the C:\Progr~1\Excel folder into the the trash can and thinks your function is to listen to a tantrum.
"when you do high end enterprise softwares inhouse, moving from one environment to another can be a pain. When you're moving from an environment where the solutions are in.NET, people use OWA, Active Directory, SQL Server, IIS, web services, MS Office, Sharepoint, Biztalk, high level of integration..
What is it you do at your company, design nuclear subs, space planes? I worked in-house for a fortune 500 consultancy and all they ever used their 'integrated innovation' for was customised PowerPoint documents stored in mapped drives under project name. A customized macro constructed the file name from the project number, department number, customer id.. eg ppp.ddd.ccc.ppt. That was the sum total of their in-house software.
"All the environment generic algorythms and whatsnot they teach in school is cute and all, but when faced with business challenges, environment specific architecture and solutions are often needed, and people with high degree of seniority in these environments are required to get it done"
As a UK school sysadmin recently pointed out to me, nowadays most IT 'training' consists of clicking in MS applications. Why an ease of use GUI required a thousand page manual is beyone me.
I doubt the average MS certified sandwich maker would have ever heard of linked-lists or qsort. As for seniority I don't know what that is supposed to mean. I have also worked in a place where the bought in Systems Analysist was writing the database in Visual Basic. That's how senior he was.
"Basically, my point is that you'll need to fire 2/3rd of your IT department"
Nonsence, when you sign on to an Open Source project you get the benefit of the best IT brains on the planet.
with your Human Ressource department not knowing which qualifications are required in the new guys
You cannot be serious, for a laugh go and read up on some of the current It adverts as written by HR. EG:
'experience in TCP and UDP.. developer required, C# and.NET 2.0 experience essential and knowledge of OR Mappers.. interfaces technologies used include flat files (binary and ASCII)'
Wanted cabinet maker with knowledge of dovetail joints..:)
"Oh, so my point is that these studies are ridiculous. The custom OSS software we would have to have written would have to be amortized over ~20 years in order to save us money. OSS is grossly more expensive for me than shirnk-wrapped products"
Where does the study say you would have to write it yourself, in 'Textpad'. It may take ~20 years if you were going to write it yourself. But given the collaborative nature of OSS you get the benefit of the input from developers all over the world.
There is OTHER software than Office (Score:5, mod troll)
"Retraining employees isn't cheap, especially with regards to the time cost"
"Unfortunately, OO.org is not anywhere near on par with M$ Word, especially under Linux"It's bloated as hell. When a word processor is so slow that it's annoying, something has gone horribly wrong"
Nonsence, on this dual boot computer OO opens and runs just as fast as msOffice. Just increase 'memory per objects' and set 'Remove from memory' to 23 hours. Under Linux there is a pre-load utility that does exactly what it says.
Retraining is also a bogus argument, I can sit an msWord user down in front of OO and they can't tell the difference.
Slashdot Mirror
"At this point, it should be noted that Brian Contos is the Chief Security Officer of a company that sells ESM products"
...
Ah, So
"In one example, a company discovered that their servers were hosting pirated software"
Does the book tell us the names of the companies and the individuals involved.
"In the case of a Spanish company, an employee was forced into planting a wireless access point in one of the development labs. The employee had lied about his educational background on his resume, and criminals threatened to expose him if he didn't cooperate by planting the device"
If this anecdotal evidence is true why would the employee engage in industrial esponage merely to cover up how he lied on his CV, something most everyone does. Do the criminals think no one would find the wireless access point. Why go to the bother since they have a man on the inside.
"Contos explains a scenario where an employee pulls financial information from a proprietary system and then uploads it to a P2P network. Most companies do not have the technology to detect such an action"
Anyone attempting such a thing would first get admin rights on the ESM and delete the audit rail. It's best to login as the PHB as he would never go looking for his own files. If your company can't spot a P2P node on their network then maybe they should be in the sandwich selling business instead.
Bill Gates for single handedly creating the Desktop computer, the GUI, the Web and the Internet .. :)
"the apps one can use on it are limited"
What obscure feetures on what never heard of apps are missing from Linux land.
"Linux is good stuff, but as with all the best stuff, it simply isn't practicable for the uninitiated."
Nonsence, right now on this OpenSuse desktop I can browse, email, play multi-media and burn CDs. In fact most people don't know they are not using Windows.
Re:Easy, Furthermore (Score:5, sponcered by the MS astroturfing dept/slashdot division)
"Now imagine putting Linux in front of these people with no direct support. apt-get? emerge? rpm? How is that easier that sticking in a disc, having it run and clicking next 3 times"
Personally I've never used apt-get or emerge. I picked SuSE precicly because of YaST, its graphical installer. Installing/updating consists of clicking on 'Online Update' and clicking on 'Install' in YaST. Similarly, if you buy a Linspire Desktop it arrives preconfigered for the click-and-run online update. But then again how many of your students could install Windows from scratch.
was Re:Easy (Score:4, astro mod this up as Insightful)
"I think that not everyone is ready to use linux"
Nonsence, right now on this OpenSuse desktop I can browse, email, play multi-media and burn CDs. In fact most people don't know they are not using Windows. Would you please give it a rest. We've got the msg, all right.
was Re:Easy (Score:5, modded up for no particular reason)
"You've hit the nail right there"
Nonsence, right now on this OpenSuse desktop I can browse, email, play multi-media and burn CDs. In fact most people don't know they are not using Windows.
was Re:You don't? (Score:5, I really like Linux and want it to be better)
"Linux is still not for everyone"
Nonsence, right now on this OpenSuse desktop I can browse, email, play multi-media and burn CDs. In fact most people don't know they are not using Windows.
"Wait until "it just works" otherwise we're going to continue to turn people off"
What exactly doesn't 'work' on a Linux Desktop.
was: You don't? (Score:5, MS astroturf dept.)
"Linux is not customer ready OS right now (like for grandpa or smth.)"
Nonsence, right now on this OpenSuse desktop I can browse, email, play multi-media and burn CDs. In fact most people don't know they are not using Windows.
Face it (Score:5, MS astroturf dept.)
This important msg was brought to you by the Microsoft astroturfing department.
..
..
..
..
--
"In essence Vista is what 2000 was supposed to be and XP almost was"
No, in essence Vista is a poor copy of OS X from April 2005. And in essence any modern Linux desktop provides the same functionality.
XGL Desktop for Linux
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lawkc3jH3ws
Berl 3D Window
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpIhoLzDOTY
Beryl demo on Linux
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpybBKdcUQw
Looking Glass on Ubuntu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjQ4Nza34ak
was: So what? (Score:4, Insightful ?)
"There are tons of workalike tools in Unixland that look and behave just like the programs they're knocking off"
Assuming that were true, where did the Open Source developers try and patent these tools.
"Maybe the GNOME desktop is actually a port of Windows' source code, since it looks so much like Windows?"
So it's a total co-incidence that both applications look and behave uncannily similar.
was: Re:Mistake? (Score:4, Mod trolled up)
"it certainly is not going to be easy to find districts willing to install and support the software on their own if they don't have experience with it"
Like what 'support' are you refering to. You put the CD in the drive and click on INSTALL, click next etc, and that's it.
was: Why just Open Office? (Score:4, Insightful !!!! ???)
"if you're installing OO.o on a machine with 128 or 256 MB RAM, this probably isn't going to go well"
This Windows machine reports 326 MB. Open Office opens and runs just as fast as msOffice, if you use the quick start option and increase memory cache. "I don't even have a clue on how much memory MS Office apps need. Can someone provide some numbers, please? KOffice too, if possible..."
While the system reports that Open Office uses more memory this can be misleading as a lot of msOffice gets loaded at boot.
"I think that desktop linux is not ready because it still plagued by a problem of text configuration files. I'm perfectly OK configuring my debian box from various files in /etc directory, however most of the users e.g. normal people aren't"
As a confirmed Debian user I find it strange that you don't know about Synaptic a GUI front-end to the debian package manager. Have you mentioned Xandros, Ubuntu or Linspire to the 'normal people', all three based on Debian and not a text config file in sight.
"as long as proper GUI configuration tools, like Control Panel in windows, are absent from KDE/GNOME desktop environments I don't think that majority of people would like to use it"
As a confirmed Linux user I find it strange that you are not aware of any GUI config tools. This Redhat Menu item (april 2003) looks to me, strangly like a GUI config utility. SuSE provides the YaST GUI install and config utility and not a config text file in sight. According to this Linuxconf has a GUI frontend that runs on Redhat or Mandrake.
Linux needs Control Panel (Score:5, Distro FUD)
The installer does it for you. Just make sure you defrag and backup"
I don't understand the 'abject failures', as you say the Installer does it for you. If you want to do it manually then you can do it in just four steps. First get a Knoppix CD and your Linux Installer of choice.
01. Scandisk and defrag Windows.
02. Boot from the Knoppix CD and run QTParted and resize Windows to make room for Linux.
03. Boot from the Linux install DVD and install.
04. Reboot the machine and you have a dual boot system.
There is a precedent for this. Some people said the official inflation rate didn't reflect the true historical trends. So they invented the Mars Bar index.
. html
http://specials.ft.com/nicocolchester/FT3XZDJSEIC
Wanna bet someone will post a 'I like Seamonkey except for the memory leak problem ..
"Wonder how he protects from muscle strain. Does the suit go rigid briefly on impact like the ski team suits?"
Unlike the suits in the Forever War, this one doesn't come with powered joints, function in a vacuum or survive being attacked with laserbeams by space aliens. Even if the suit survives, the underlying tissue would be totally desiccated from the shockwave.
"I've been using Excel for nearly 15 years, and for the entirety of that time, I've been limited to 256 columns. Now the limit is 16,384 columns"
..
What are you doing that required sixteen thousand columns. Have you considered splitting it into multiple sheets.
"to a little abused VBA monkey who's had to use every trick in the book to handle the manipulation of big WIDE data, this is a godsend"
According to this OpenOffice.org Calc goes up to 32,000 columns. It's a matter of setting MAXROWCOUNT_DEFINE to a different number. Although I would imagine calculating 32,000 columns is going to be slow. Have you considered linking to a database
"Yes, I'd say that tech support is on par with janitorial services in business, as it should be", NineNine
.. :)
I don't know any other business where the janitors are expected to: do the accounts for the accounts manager, maintain email and web accounts, provide off site client support, create the install CD, create web sites for important clients and do all this for a janitors salary. Finally, do all this with obsolete out-of-date equipment (to save money) while the execs spend the equivalent of your weekly salary on executive lunches.
"Fact is, most companies, due to non-IT people's willful and prideful ignorance, DO depend much more heavily upon the immediate and constant services of their IT staff than they do upon their janitorial staff"
What response do you give to someone why won't attach his own documents, he calls you to do it each time. Or the exec who won't actually use the e-mail, he prints it out and hands it to the PA.
"Non-IT people in a company tend to treat their IT staff the way some asshat french noble from the sixteenth century treated his household staff"
I have worked in a number of non-IT related businesses and can tell you that senior staff treat their underlings like shit. I think it's to do with them being treated like dirt on the way up so now they can be the ass-hole. Some advice I can give you from personal experience is never call your manager a fat bastard to his face
Re:Insulting asshole
How often do you have to show someone how to attach a document to an email before you realize they really are both too stupid and lazy to look at the screen, because the IT chappie will always be there. 5, 10, 20, 50 times. They usually get up in the middle and take an executive phone call. You see they are too far up the org chart to actually address a tech support staff, who is considered one above the janitor in most organizations.
"Doctors have always insulted their patients in their notes"
Not just in their notes. I don't know why they call them 'surgeries' as no surgery is ever done their. They could just replace the 'doctor' with a vending machine for all the use they are.
How about when the PHB, for the umpteemed time, drags and drops the C:\Progr~1\Excel folder into the the trash can and thinks your function is to listen to a tantrum.
"when you do high end enterprise softwares inhouse, moving from one environment to another can be a pain. When you're moving from an environment where the solutions are in .NET, people use OWA, Active Directory, SQL Server, IIS, web services, MS Office, Sharepoint, Biztalk, high level of integration ..
.. eg ppp.ddd.ccc.ppt. That was the sum total of their in-house software.
.. developer required, C# and .NET 2.0 experience essential and knowledge of OR Mappers .. interfaces technologies used include flat files (binary and ASCII)'
.. :)
What is it you do at your company, design nuclear subs, space planes? I worked in-house for a fortune 500 consultancy and all they ever used their 'integrated innovation' for was customised PowerPoint documents stored in mapped drives under project name. A customized macro constructed the file name from the project number, department number, customer id
"All the environment generic algorythms and whatsnot they teach in school is cute and all, but when faced with business challenges, environment specific architecture and solutions are often needed, and people with high degree of seniority in these environments are required to get it done"
As a UK school sysadmin recently pointed out to me, nowadays most IT 'training' consists of clicking in MS applications. Why an ease of use GUI required a thousand page manual is beyone me.
I doubt the average MS certified sandwich maker would have ever heard of linked-lists or qsort. As for seniority I don't know what that is supposed to mean. I have also worked in a place where the bought in Systems Analysist was writing the database in Visual Basic. That's how senior he was.
"Basically, my point is that you'll need to fire 2/3rd of your IT department"
Nonsence, when you sign on to an Open Source project you get the benefit of the best IT brains on the planet.
with your Human Ressource department not knowing which qualifications are required in the new guys
You cannot be serious, for a laugh go and read up on some of the current It adverts as written by HR. EG:
'experience in TCP and UDP
Wanted cabinet maker with knowledge of dovetail joints
was: Re:Training cost? (Score:2)
"Oh, so my point is that these studies are ridiculous. The custom OSS software we would have to have written would have to be amortized over ~20 years in order to save us money. OSS is grossly more expensive for me than shirnk-wrapped products"
Where does the study say you would have to write it yourself, in 'Textpad'. It may take ~20 years if you were going to write it yourself. But given the collaborative nature of OSS you get the benefit of the input from developers all over the world.
There is OTHER software than Office (Score:5, mod troll)
"Retraining employees isn't cheap, especially with regards to the time cost"
"Unfortunately, OO.org is not anywhere near on par with M$ Word, especially under Linux"It's bloated as hell. When a word processor is so slow that it's annoying, something has gone horribly wrong"
Nonsence, on this dual boot computer OO opens and runs just as fast as msOffice. Just increase 'memory per objects' and set 'Remove from memory' to 23 hours. Under Linux there is a pre-load utility that does exactly what it says. Retraining is also a bogus argument, I can sit an msWord user down in front of OO and they can't tell the difference.