In order to really use a stolen cert, they would also have to compromise DNS. Any time you attempt to put a cert for one domain on another, the browser freaks out.
It would be much easier to register a one-off site (www.citibonk.com or something similar) and get an actual certificate for it, signed by a trusted party, and use that.
All I ever check for is that the little lock is clicked. I never look at the certificate unless there's a problem.
There are no memory leaks. All memory usage is as we intend it to be. Any reports of leaks are lies by people who do not understand our page caching system. The infidels will never take Baghdad.
The issue with IT "just working" is that it's chasing a moving target. If all IT was required to do was say, share files from a central server, that's taken care of. Done. With the exception of disk space limitations and hardware failures, that hurdle was passed 10 years ago.
Every year, IT is expected to cross some new obstacle, though. Remote users VPN'd in (with their deskphones transparently moved to their cells, please), instantaneously provide the same information everywhere (whether the information is files, database, or authentication, it doesn't matter. it should be everywhere. now.).
These problems will eventually get solved to the level of reliability and satisfaction that simple file serving will. But by that time, there will be new requirements, and we'll be fighting to meet those, too.
I envy the sheer number of formative years you had with the computer.
My family couldn't afford one until I was in high school, in 1996, and even then it was a WalMart special (IBM Aptiva 486 DX2/66), but it was like a new world to me.
I understand your predicament with your job. I don't want to do low-level user support, but I'm the only IT guy we've got in the company, so I end up doing everything from SAN maintenance to debugging peripherals. It's a load of fun;-)
You know, I was one of those people, sort of. I went to college for computers because I was good at them, and I liked the "magic". After a decade spent working on computers, I half-wish I was done. I make decent money being a sysadmin, and I think I may be able to retire a little bit early, but as for my day-to-day existence, I no longer love computers, or even like them. Aside from my work laptop, I don't even have one at home. Don't want one. I'd rather read, or cook, or learn something non-computer-related. I guess I'm just burned out.
I still do my job, and I have a lot of interest in learning new things I can use at work, but it's not from any sense of personal fulfillment. It's more from a desire to build a stable system that won't wake me up at 3am. I haven't worked on a project for myself forever (unless you count my blog, and even that is blogger.com). I just don't have the fire anymore.
It depends on the day, but my job is boring probably half the time. At least, boring as would be considered by non-IT people. Fighting low-level fires is pretty mundane for the most part. The really interesting problems, or the ones that stretch your knowledge are the good ones. They just don't come along that often.
I don't know, I think it goes a little beyond that. I think paleontology would be really interesting, but I have no desire to learn the biology that comes with that field.
Same with some of the theoretical math and physics, but I don't have the strong math background to do that.
The overall view of our field as boring probably just means that it's not generally understood what we do. Probably related to the view of computers and IT as a utility rather than a department.
Slashdot Mirror
The reason they're this expensive is that they are so new. The price will become reasonable in a year or two. Ask any Apple early adopter.
The phone you have now, that you bought in 1998, would have been insanely expensive 5 years before you bought it. It's just how technology goes.
Yea, cause the RIAA didn't think of this years ago ;-)
A successful lawsuit against Google could be like the small pebble that causes a landslide.
$1B is a ridiculous amount of money for this lawsuit, but even at $10M, a successful suit would bring more lawsuits out of the woodwork.
And I'm willing to bet that once it happened, Microsoft would be more than happy to finance as many as possible.
That's a good idea. Of course, if your gym locker gets robbed, then you're hosed, but as long as it still asks for a password you should be alright.
In order to really use a stolen cert, they would also have to compromise DNS. Any time you attempt to put a cert for one domain on another, the browser freaks out.
It would be much easier to register a one-off site (www.citibonk.com or something similar) and get an actual certificate for it, signed by a trusted party, and use that.
All I ever check for is that the little lock is clicked. I never look at the certificate unless there's a problem.
Thawte, my registrar, allows you to login to their website via https and retrieve the cert. Better than email, anyway.
All the signed cert really says is that whoever signed it (the "trusted party") believes you to be whoever the cert was created for.
I'm going to have to remember that.
Thanks!
Cue Iraqi spokesman
There are no memory leaks. All memory usage is as we intend it to be. Any reports of leaks are lies by people who do not understand our page caching system. The infidels will never take Baghdad.
The issue with IT "just working" is that it's chasing a moving target. If all IT was required to do was say, share files from a central server, that's taken care of. Done. With the exception of disk space limitations and hardware failures, that hurdle was passed 10 years ago.
Every year, IT is expected to cross some new obstacle, though. Remote users VPN'd in (with their deskphones transparently moved to their cells, please), instantaneously provide the same information everywhere (whether the information is files, database, or authentication, it doesn't matter. it should be everywhere. now.).
These problems will eventually get solved to the level of reliability and satisfaction that simple file serving will. But by that time, there will be new requirements, and we'll be fighting to meet those, too.
It's a curve, and we're always behind it.
Apropos, but I dig your username :-)
D'oh. :-) Missed the title. Thanks
That's a rough hand you've been dealt.
I don't think it's all shit work, but there are definitely a lot of shovels being handed out.
If you liked developing, maybe you could leverage your experience into another full time coding job?
Also, unless you're burned out, you might try something like Rent a Coder and freelance, just to use those programming muscles again.
Man, that's excellent.
I envy the sheer number of formative years you had with the computer.
My family couldn't afford one until I was in high school, in 1996, and even then it was a WalMart special (IBM Aptiva 486 DX2/66), but it was like a new world to me.
I understand your predicament with your job. I don't want to do low-level user support, but I'm the only IT guy we've got in the company, so I end up doing everything from SAN maintenance to debugging peripherals. It's a load of fun ;-)
Ever pay attention to the render times, though?
Their infrastructure is scary-massive, from almost every report
That would make a lot more sense.
Given the sheer amount of people who access it, it seems like the perfect use for GSLB
Yea, a single datacenter seems really risky, especially considering some of the shenanigans that have been going on
Argh. Tell me about it
I'm not betting you at all. Like I said in the comments, it's been 8 years ago. No clue what the issue was.
I'm willing to bet they wouldn't have let me bounce the server without a reason, though
So did you become an aerospace engineer?
It's still possible to be a hero, it's just that you have to sort-of use a different definition ;-)
It depends on your position.
To me, interesting would be finding a way to not have to press enter all the time.
You know, I was one of those people, sort of. I went to college for computers because I was good at them, and I liked the "magic". After a decade spent working on computers, I half-wish I was done. I make decent money being a sysadmin, and I think I may be able to retire a little bit early, but as for my day-to-day existence, I no longer love computers, or even like them. Aside from my work laptop, I don't even have one at home. Don't want one. I'd rather read, or cook, or learn something non-computer-related. I guess I'm just burned out.
I still do my job, and I have a lot of interest in learning new things I can use at work, but it's not from any sense of personal fulfillment. It's more from a desire to build a stable system that won't wake me up at 3am. I haven't worked on a project for myself forever (unless you count my blog, and even that is blogger.com). I just don't have the fire anymore.
It depends on the day, but my job is boring probably half the time. At least, boring as would be considered by non-IT people. Fighting low-level fires is pretty mundane for the most part. The really interesting problems, or the ones that stretch your knowledge are the good ones. They just don't come along that often.
I don't know, I think it goes a little beyond that. I think paleontology would be really interesting, but I have no desire to learn the biology that comes with that field.
Same with some of the theoretical math and physics, but I don't have the strong math background to do that.
The overall view of our field as boring probably just means that it's not generally understood what we do. Probably related to the view of computers and IT as a utility rather than a department.
That's the kind of dull I can get behind.
Having to support 10 different wonky platforms and trying to make a cohesive infrastructure from them?
I'm glad those bad-old-days are over.