he's a marketing man and he is Director of GeekCorps.com which he likely sees OLPC as a competitor. There is no conspiracy here, he's doing his job as a marketeer and chose to do so by negative 'campaign' tactics against the competition. He could have gone the other way created a site pushing positive attributes of his business and business partners but did not. he chose the tactics Intel themselves are using around the world to stop the OLPC project.
I've not seen where either he states he's an Intel employee or is listed as such. But, as was mentioned, geekcorps.com is where he's involved and that is listed as being created(whois) in 1999 with the goal of adding wireless infrastructure and Via computers to poor and rural areas of the world. Kinda sounds like where the OLPC is also going and if this is looked at as a BUSINESS, it is competition. If it's looked at as charity and with a desire to better the lives of others, OLPC would look like a partner. Vota seems to be looking at this as competition.
OLPCnews.com was created(whois) in Aug 2006 and is registered to Wayan Vota.
Oh, Mr Vota also owns Wayan.com was created(whois) in March 2000 and nowhere on this site does it say he is an Intel Employee. It does say that he's pretty much a marketing and sales guy.
IMO, after looking at Mr Vota's background and skill set, he's not someone to trust as a reporter, blogger, or speaker for a site with a name(OLPCnews.com) which sounds like it is a common site for general news on the OLPC project. His background shows that the OLPC, in his eyes, is a competitive project to his geekcorps.com and his employer( if he does work for Intel ).
Regardless of there being the ability for readers to dig all this up and figure it out, he is/was deceiving the public and his readers in a marketing effort to disparage the OLPC project. Vota, it's time for a name change buddy. And OLPC should claim the domain name because it was deceptively leveraging the OLPC name for competitive purposes. IMO. Let him purchase ClassmatePCNews.com since it isn't used yet.
did you really expect to see that there? I heard something to the fact from a library employee I spoke with when trying to propose increasing their computer access seats with multi-headed Linux boxes. I also read this in a post to another forum and IMO, it put more credibility to what the library employee had said.
Again, you will not find these kinds of restrictions posted on any Microsoft or B/M Gates Foundation docs. They are not that dumb. You'll have to ask around and find someone who's willing to say this to you since it is probably part of an NDA tied to such deals. For instance, just try and ask Dell why they are not doing any print advertising of their Linux computers? hint: Microsoft sent out instructions to their OEM partners that they were allowed to provide Linux solutions when customers asked but they were not to lead with Linux. ie, they could not push Linux solutions, just provide them if/when customers asked them for it. We found this out from a leaked memo from inside Microsoft and it was not found searching any Microsoft web site.
IMO, some of the whining comes from the fact that because it is a non-profit, spending funds on tailing Intel projects to do negative press releases are costly. Those kinds of negative attack tactics are not what people and customers expect from non-profits and would taint the value before any deals are even made. Who does not expect this from companies like Intel, Microsoft, etc?
Your idea of having some non-partisan observations keeping track of these projects is sound though. I can also see that getting abused since Intel could easily require notification of impending visits from these non-partisan observers and fly people out to orchestrate the 'correct' observation.:-/
It is a shame corporate profits drive so many to an anything goes competitive aggression. Especially in these kinds of situations where, IMO, Intel would stand to profit as the OLPC project kick started the usage of computers as education tools in these areas. For instance, in Peru, they had asked Intel to bid on the follow-on project for secondary school kids. They understood that the XO and apps are designed for primary school kids and a different device and applications would be needed for secondary school kids. There is still a neon question mark as to why the Intel sales rep pushed that quote aside and continued at the throat of the OLPC contract in an attempt to kick the OLPC laptop out of Peru. There is definitely some nasty stuff going on, there's no doubt of that I hope.
yup, it's even legal in some cases but what I would like is that this becomes public knowledge. People need to know that what is being pushed as such great products are primarily economically forced onto the market at the expense of better, faster, cheaper alternatives. I think you would agree that way too many just think Microsoft is in the position they are in because they make a better product. The facts show that this is not the case and often Microsoft has to loose billions in order to protect the position they hold in the market.
They constantly try to hide the facts of these money losing and monopoly protecting deals. That needs to be exposed so the public can make informed choices. IMO.
for a good example of this, there was the Thailand laptop deal. In that, HP was providing Thailand with inexpensive laptops with Linux and OSS on it and the government was providing them cheaply to the public. This was such a hit that HP could not keep up with the orders and so Dell was brought in. Microsoft caught wind of this and contacted the Thai government. Soon after, Linux and OSS was replace with a crippled version of Windows and MS Office at what was claimed to $3/laptop. There was likely also provided some millions in donated training by Microsoft or something like that to help fund this shift.
So yup, Microsoft's involvement is only reactionary because the project leveraged the cost savings and efficiencies of Linux and OSS. From what I've heard, even the Bill/Melinda Gates Foundation computer donations come with restrictions on usage of Linux and OSS. So they still want Linux and OSS destroyed and helping kids is only PR. IMO.
If Microsoft can delay this project for a year or two, they'll have done a great job at killing it. No extension to the G1G1 is going to provide enough cash to keep the project going without some large contracts.
Combine that with how Intel and Microsoft are paying original OLPC customers to go Classmate PC with Windows and you've got another project with its air supply being cut off. This project is far cheaper to kill off then say Netscape was. It's a non-profit so there's not much cash for it to to begin with. Unless someone like Google or AMD decide they'd better step in and provide the marketing money keep it going.
Anyways, I don't see putting Windows on the XO as anything but a ploy to destroy it. That is how they address ever other threat so this one should be no different. Well, unless they buy out Negroponte and Linux and OSS is totally removed from all XO devices delivered. THAT option is the only one Bill and Microsoft would accept and still allow the project to continue. IMO.
There is nothing preventing an XO laptop from running a very trimmed down version of Windows (XP, CE, whatever) and supplying applications that can have their source code available.
Sure there is, it's called Microsoft's desire to stop open source software. In Microsoft's eye( Sauron ) there can be no existing with OSS. Any statements of cooperation and the like are misdirection since publicly stating the goal of ending any love between corporations/businesses and OSS would harm their existing position in the market. IMO.
yes, I know that but one can also query sysobject to get tables in PHP too and therefore, there should be a good number of PHP based sites which have MS-SQL backend getting successfully attacked. But I've not seen that.
Maybe there is something in the attack which only works for MS-ASP SQL-injections since that sure looks like the case. I just figured that someone would have picked this apart and figured it out. And who knows, maybe every site out there that uses PHP, Perl, Python, etc for web site scripting just don't use MS-SQL backends. Doubtful but a possibility. Not likely since it looks like atleast two people are: http://us3.php.net/mssql_field_type
The press keeps letting Intel off the hook when they say that OLPC wanted Intel to drop support for the Classmate PC. That is now what I've read was the case. OLPC wanted Intel to continue to support the Classmate PC but as an Intel reference design so that others were the ones selling it and they could sell it everywhere. The problem was that Intel wanted the XO to use Intel technology but at the same time, it was pushing it's own hardware to the same customers the OLPC had. There's a conflict of interest here and since Intel is a chip company, they should understand the issue and if anything, hand off the Classmate PC project to another company.
So OLPC didn't want Intel to abandon the Classmate PC, just let someone else build it and sell it Intel really wanted to also be a partner in the XO project. From what's been made public recently, one can easily see that there was a kind of vicious sales force pushing the Classmate PC to exactly the customers the XO was being offered to. Non-profit or not, Intel just can't have their cake and eat it too.
There were other issues also like Intel not working with OLPC in CPU changes to make Intel chips more energy efficient. And Intel not providing any software or software services for the XO during the 6 months they were onboard the project. There were others but how many do you need before it's obvious that Intel is not acting as a partner and looks more like they just purchased some good PR for joining.
I just love how Intel said, and I quote, "I don't want to get into specifics but we met every obligation that we were committed to." but would not say that they met every obligation they were under contract to meet. What they were committed to and what they contractually agreed to were probably two very different lists. Unfortunately, nobody has asked if what Intel "was committed to" were the same things Mr Negroponte said they were contractually obligated to do. Isn't marketing speak wonderful?
he might also feel that putting a diesel generator right outside the window of the classroom so that the Classmate PC's can have power, just might not be good for the kids. I read in an interview where Intel came in an won a contract over the XO but when they got the laptops in the class, the inconsistent power they had would not allow for a full school day's use of the laptops. Intel brought in a diesel generator to provide constant power.
Somehow, it just doesn't seem to be a very efficient or effective way to get laptops to these kids. It is also a very good example of how the Classmate PC is not in the same league as the XO in its design goals.
So maybe Negroponte is on the warpath to keeping diesel fumes away from kids.;-/
I only went through a half dozen pages of a google search and all the sites were ASP on Windows. A few I could bust and and got error messages showing Windows/IIS so it looked like a very targeted attack. ie, there's something about the Windows/IIS/ASP/MS-SQL sites which make this an easy target. It it really was a generic SQL injection attack, would it not have found things like Windows/Apache/PHP/MS-SQL Windows/IIS/Perl/MS-SQL, etc? Especially since Windows and IIS are not the dominant web platform.
Just wondering why others haven't been hit or atleast I'd not found that to be the case.
I too saw the common threat being IIS and ASP but also saw some ASPX sites. I was able to cause a failure on one site and the returned error page showed "Version Information: Microsoft.NET Framework Version:1.1.4322.2407; ASP.NET Version:1.1.4322.2407" at the bottom of the page.
I've not be able to dig deep enough yet to see if it is some common application or framework which is allowing the SQL injections but will keep looking.
As others have noted, the injection is targetting MS SQL Server so the fact that all the sites are running Windows is a gimme. There running of ISS could be an indicator but I'll look to see if an apache site was hit but the ASP/ASPX in most of the sites URL's could indicate that this is a flaw in one of Microsofts API's and require Microsoft software from OS all the way to web server, framework, and database.
Keep digging because so far, I've not seen the press or security sites saying what is behind the flaw. Just that it's a SQL injection exploit.
it would really help if someone had said what application was exploited. I guess I need to go the google and search for all the infected sites and look to see what application was hacked. One would think that this would have been more upfront in any article about his since as was rightfully pointed out, just because the attack was targetting the MS SQL Server, the application is what allowed the use/infection of the database.
So, what application or framework contains the real flaw here is why is it not getting mentioned?
and another thing about having a "languages" course is that at some point, you are going to have to use a command line and compile something to run. Besides the article authors being down on the deteriorating math skills of current CS graduates, they are pretty much blaming Java for the lack of skills associated with IDE-only development. I know a few developers today who I've shared code with and who spend a way too much time dealing with their IDE instead of just looking at the code, compiling with a simple commandline and seeing what it did. Developers are showing up who rely way to much on all the wonderful things IDE's do and have lost the understanding of the commandline tools and the speed with which they can give you.
CS classes shouldn't hide so much from the students since there are so many places where access to the underlying system is a must and an advantage.
gotta reply to my own post since there's not 'edit' option. I just read the story and looked into who wrote the article. I will say that it does not look like Microsoft is behind getting this published except that AdaCore Inc has put a lot of effort to meld their AdaCore Pro product with the Microsoft.Net framework. They address an number if issues related to poor CS education but seem to target Java as the main reason even though they start off with how mathematic skills are getting downgraded in most CS course work and why that's bad. There is some good stuff on why different languages should be tough but really plug Ada since after all, that is what they are in business with.
So, having read the article, they are just an Ada business run by some former NYU CS professors who are seeing some universities slack off on the general CS curriculum and incorrectly( IMO ) blame it on Java.
FWIW, I had to take Pascal for my initial CS course work even though I had years of C and C++ programming experience. There was nothing that I can recall which couldn't have been taught in Java. The follow-on courses were either C or C++ with the exception of the Languages class and a class requiring assembly. IMO, most of that course work could be better taught in Java or Smalltalk or whatever as long as OOP techniques were used.
I have a hard time believing what the article said about students being able to program a GUI but not being able to developer non-GUI applications. That probably has to do the curriculum and IDE usage. How difficult would it be to show that a class does not need to access GUI API's yet still contain valid/important data. Heck, just use System.out.print() and look at the console. It's the curriculum stupid but these guys are Ada nuts so they blame Java since it's finding its way further up the CS food chain. IMO.
And they are just going to LOVE what Alice v3.0 is going to provide. not!
There are many who still have serious financial hardships getting an university degree. And many of these are doing so in hopes of having a better life than their blue collar parents. That is where I see the mixture of people wanting universities to be more business prep and less theory. Those with the bucks and/or social connections to get any job they please when they get out of school aren't so worried about what is taught.
But having seen some noob employees coming right out of school, it's a tough on for businesses no matter what. I saw students from tech schools sleeping on the keyboard while others were running around looking for books and trying to figure stuff out. I could not put a finger on if it would be better for fine tuning IT skills since alot has to do with the person and their drive.
I will say that for those who are literally starving students and getting a job right out of college is vital, there would be more piece of mind if they knew what they were being taught was more closely related to what was needed at the businesses in the area. But I also don't think that this is a good way to go since a core education breads people who can think for themselves and think outside the box when required. Since we seldom design software down to the methods or even classes, a society full of grunt programmers isn't going to cut it. They will need to think for themselves to get the job done right.
A well rounded and well structured CS curriculum will do this and it has nothing to do with the Java language.
Thank you, the fact that it is a curriculum issue and not a Java issue was what my post was going to say, you said and lived it. The other thing I was going to post was that it didn't take long for someone to come out and attack Java. I say "didn't take long" because there was just an article on how the Alice( http://www.alice.org/ ) project was a great programmers learning tool and it so happens that they are porting it to Eclipse and Java for the v3.0 release. If you don't know, Alice is a drag-N-drop programming tool for manipulating a 3D graphics environment/world.
BTW, a few years ago, Microsoft was out and about paying off university professors to change their curriculum to use MS.Net instead of Java. Some Universities got nailed for accepting such tainted deals. So when I read about Alice and watched the videos, besides thinking how cool it was, I also was wondering what kind of response from Redmond we would get tossed at us. It's pretty lame to say that Java is to blame for CS sudents not knowing what data structures are or what C++ programming is all about. Now I'll have to read the article and see if they advocate MS.Net instead.
way too many that I know could not purchase a new laptop or PC with Windows XP and were forced to take Windows Vista. So even with the forced OEM pre-loading, it only took 39% of the shipped PC's is an indication of the size and importance of the business/corporate purchasing departments. I do know that whitebox vendors are more than happy to install WinXP instead of WinVista and even one with no advertised Linux products was willing to install Ubuntu for free in a dual boot configuration. Free as in no charge for the installation and they even went and setup browser plugins.
atleast the XO can take getting wet. There are quite a few other 'features' the XO has which were specifically designed for rural use by children and the Classmate PC has none of these. Talk about a fish out of water. Why else would Intel and Microsoft have to resort to such underhanded deals? I mean just look at the Nigerian Classmate PC deal. They originally found Linux/OSS fit their needs the best and ordered thousands with Linux. Microsoft came in and must have paid someone off because it wasn't too long before it was found that a deal was struck and the Classmate PC's would be shipped with Linux but get wiped and replaced with Windows and Microsoft software once they arrived. Intel doesn't seem to have this kind of hatred or fear of Linux but Microsoft sure shows they seem to. This is what makes me believe that the Intel sales rep who was asked to bid on the secondary school laptop but instead went back and tried to get the OLPC/primary school deal again...well, it looks to me like she was more motivated to terminate the OLPC/Linux deal. After all, she had a far far better chance of getting the secondary school deal since the XO is designed for primary school kids. So the writing is on the wall as to who is behind this, how badly the want not to compete but to terminate the OLPC project. And there's alot of upset people here who have seen these things over the years and are pissed. It ain't about competition.
Oh crap, I just noticed it's another AC blowing smoke out there ass...crap.
yo, dud, shut the heck up since you don't know what you're talking about. The OLPC device is being sold at something like $1 over cost and that $1 is for management overhead to keep the project going. And to top it off, what really pissed them off was when Microsoft and Intel started the Classmate PC project and immediately started publicly attacking it. They didn't come out and say how great their product was, they came out putting down the non-profit device. And the final straw was when Intel joined the OLPC board and agreed to not attack the project or its customers. What continued to happen was Peru compared the Classmate PC and OLPC devices for primary school kids and the OLPC project won. Peru then asked Intel to bid on a laptop for secondary school but Intel came back with another bid and attempt to get the OLPC primary school contract. The Intel moron didn't go for the money and bid on the next job, she went after the existing deal with the OLPC device. Sure seems like some kind of attempt to specifically target the success of the OLPC project and NOT about making money.
All the actions of Microsoft and Intel from day one of the OLPC announcements show that they are only out to kill off that project. Those who have been following this for a few years now are really pissed to see these two massive corporations continue attacking the OLPC project. Neither have shown any interests in profits and only showing acts to destroy the project. The typical anti-competitive behavior these two companies have shown for 20 years but now, it's being directed at a non-profit designed to help children. This is despicable. IMO.
look at how Microsoft handled the Nigerian Classmate PC deal. They are willing to pay to have Linux and OSS replaced with Microsoft Windows and Microsoft software on Classmate PC's which were originally ordered with Linux. Wanna guess as to Microsoft's involvement in Peru?
but they lost the deal they were supposed to be bidding on and THAT has lost Intel profits and lost money for their shareholders. Not to mention the bad name they are getting for joining the BoD of OLPC and then pulling tricks like they did. I'll say it again, the deal in Peru was for Intel to bid on the SECONDARY school contract but the sales rep bid on the PRIMARY school/XO deal instead. She not only lost them the secondary school deal but she's painted a picture of a poor child sitting on the doorstep of a schoolhouse who's got a black eye. Looking closer, you see that it is an "Intel Inside" black and blue eye. Brand destruction or weakening is VERY VERY expensive and I hope she has some good reason for not bidding on the contract she was asked to bid on. But my guess is that she was offered some very large commission by Intel's partner in this. THEY have a history of these kinds of deals after all. IMO.
did you read the article? She was asked to bid on a SECONDARY school laptop contract but the Intel salesperson returned with a bid and aggression for the PRIMARY school deal which was already a done deal. She didn't even address the contract/bid she was asked to bid on.
To me, this stinks of some kind of commission for beating the XO project and not a standard commission on Classmate PC sales. After all, why would she give up bidding on a contract the Classmate PC was better suited for and instead, go after the XO deal? The devices are not the same if you look at the software and hardware spec's. She most likely was going after some big buck commission designed to end XO contracts. Hmmm, going after a competitors throat, killing the baby, cutting off their air supply? Remind you of somebody?
and what of that unnamed software partner. It makes me wonder what kind of incentive was behind the actions of that saleswoman who instead of bidding on a contract where the Classmate PC was very well suited( secondary school ), she went and tried to bid on the primary school project. It wasn't even part of the RFB. There must have been some kind of financial reason for her to so viciously go after the XO deal and blow off the secondary school deal.
We all know that Microsoft has special funding pools to pay off companies and governments who are moving to GNU/Linux and OSS. With Microsoft throwing 100% of their weight behind the Classmate PC and with Bill Gates publicly attacking the OLPC project, and with their history of doing business, I can only calculate that SOMEONE was putting a whole pile of money behind getting an XO contract canceled or won by the Classmate PC device. Like BayStar, if you follow the money, it will likely lead to Redmond. With Intel's hardware tie, I doubt such incentives would be financed by Intel's sales budgets. They were getting Intel CPU's inside the XO after all. Maybe Intel should do an internal investigation as to why she did what she did. She's probably sending a resume to that unnamed partner as we write.
Slashdot Mirror
he's a marketing man and he is Director of GeekCorps.com which he likely sees OLPC as a competitor.
There is no conspiracy here, he's doing his job as a marketeer and chose to do so by negative 'campaign' tactics against the competition. He could have gone the other way created a site pushing positive attributes of his business and business partners but did not. he chose the tactics Intel themselves are using around the world to stop the OLPC project.
http://www.wayan.com/marketing.html
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595-6043635.html
LoB
I've not seen where either he states he's an Intel employee or is listed as such. But, as was mentioned, geekcorps.com is where he's involved and that is listed as being created(whois) in 1999 with the goal of adding wireless infrastructure and Via computers to poor and rural areas of the world. Kinda sounds like where the OLPC is also going and if this is looked at as a BUSINESS, it is competition. If it's looked at as charity and with a desire to better the lives of others, OLPC would look like a partner. Vota seems to be looking at this as competition.
OLPCnews.com was created(whois) in Aug 2006 and is registered to Wayan Vota.
Oh, Mr Vota also owns Wayan.com was created(whois) in March 2000 and nowhere on this site does it say he is an Intel Employee. It does say that he's pretty much a marketing and sales guy.
IMO, after looking at Mr Vota's background and skill set, he's not someone to trust as a reporter, blogger, or speaker for a site with a name(OLPCnews.com) which sounds like it is a common site for general news on the OLPC project. His background shows that the OLPC, in his eyes, is a competitive project to his geekcorps.com and his employer( if he does work for Intel ).
Regardless of there being the ability for readers to dig all this up and figure it out, he is/was deceiving the public and his readers in a marketing effort to disparage the OLPC project. Vota, it's time for a name change buddy. And OLPC should claim the domain name because it was deceptively leveraging the OLPC name for competitive purposes. IMO. Let him purchase ClassmatePCNews.com since it isn't used yet.
LoB
did you really expect to see that there? I heard something to the fact from a library employee I spoke with when trying to propose increasing their computer access seats with multi-headed Linux boxes. I also read this in a post to another forum and IMO, it put more credibility to what the library employee had said.
Again, you will not find these kinds of restrictions posted on any Microsoft or B/M Gates Foundation docs. They are not that dumb. You'll have to ask around and find someone who's willing to say this to you since it is probably part of an NDA tied to such deals. For instance, just try and ask Dell why they are not doing any print advertising of their Linux computers? hint: Microsoft sent out instructions to their OEM partners that they were allowed to provide Linux solutions when customers asked but they were not to lead with Linux. ie, they could not push Linux solutions, just provide them if/when customers asked them for it. We found this out from a leaked memo from inside Microsoft and it was not found searching any Microsoft web site.
LoB
IMO, some of the whining comes from the fact that because it is a non-profit, spending funds on tailing Intel projects to do negative press releases are costly. Those kinds of negative attack tactics are not what people and customers expect from non-profits and would taint the value before any deals are even made. Who does not expect this from companies like Intel, Microsoft, etc?
:-/
Your idea of having some non-partisan observations keeping track of these projects is sound though. I can also see that getting abused since Intel could easily require notification of impending visits from these non-partisan observers and fly people out to orchestrate the 'correct' observation.
It is a shame corporate profits drive so many to an anything goes competitive aggression. Especially in these kinds of situations where, IMO, Intel would stand to profit as the OLPC project kick started the usage of computers as education tools in these areas. For instance, in Peru, they had asked Intel to bid on the follow-on project for secondary school kids. They understood that the XO and apps are designed for primary school kids and a different device and applications would be needed for secondary school kids. There is still a neon question mark as to why the Intel sales rep pushed that quote aside and continued at the throat of the OLPC contract in an attempt to kick the OLPC laptop out of Peru. There is definitely some nasty stuff going on, there's no doubt of that I hope.
LoB
yup, it's even legal in some cases but what I would like is that this becomes public knowledge. People need to know that what is being pushed as such great products are primarily economically forced onto the market at the expense of better, faster, cheaper alternatives. I think you would agree that way too many just think Microsoft is in the position they are in because they make a better product. The facts show that this is not the case and often Microsoft has to loose billions in order to protect the position they hold in the market.
They constantly try to hide the facts of these money losing and monopoly protecting deals. That needs to be exposed so the public can make informed choices. IMO.
LoB
for a good example of this, there was the Thailand laptop deal. In that, HP was providing Thailand with inexpensive laptops with Linux and OSS on it and the government was providing them cheaply to the public. This was such a hit that HP could not keep up with the orders and so Dell was brought in. Microsoft caught wind of this and contacted the Thai government. Soon after, Linux and OSS was replace with a crippled version of Windows and MS Office at what was claimed to $3/laptop. There was likely also provided some millions in donated training by Microsoft or something like that to help fund this shift.
So yup, Microsoft's involvement is only reactionary because the project leveraged the cost savings and efficiencies of Linux and OSS. From what I've heard, even the Bill/Melinda Gates Foundation computer donations come with restrictions on usage of Linux and OSS. So they still want Linux and OSS destroyed and helping kids is only PR. IMO.
LoB
If Microsoft can delay this project for a year or two, they'll have done a great job at killing it. No extension to the G1G1 is going to provide enough cash to keep the project going without some large contracts.
Combine that with how Intel and Microsoft are paying original OLPC customers to go Classmate PC with Windows and you've got another project with its air supply being cut off. This project is far cheaper to kill off then say Netscape was. It's a non-profit so there's not much cash for it to to begin with. Unless someone like Google or AMD decide they'd better step in and provide the marketing money keep it going.
Anyways, I don't see putting Windows on the XO as anything but a ploy to destroy it. That is how they address ever other threat so this one should be no different. Well, unless they buy out Negroponte and Linux and OSS is totally removed from all XO devices delivered. THAT option is the only one Bill and Microsoft would accept and still allow the project to continue. IMO.
LoB
There is nothing preventing an XO laptop from running a very trimmed down version of Windows (XP, CE, whatever) and supplying applications that can have their source code available.
Sure there is, it's called Microsoft's desire to stop open source software. In Microsoft's eye( Sauron ) there can be no existing with OSS. Any statements of cooperation and the like are misdirection since publicly stating the goal of ending any love between corporations/businesses and OSS would harm their existing position in the market. IMO.
LoB
yes, I know that but one can also query sysobject to get tables in PHP too and therefore, there should be a good number of PHP based sites which have MS-SQL backend getting successfully attacked. But I've not seen that.
Maybe there is something in the attack which only works for MS-ASP SQL-injections since that sure looks like the case. I just figured that someone would have picked this apart and figured it out. And who knows, maybe every site out there that uses PHP, Perl, Python, etc for web site scripting just don't use MS-SQL backends. Doubtful but a possibility. Not likely since it looks like atleast two people are: http://us3.php.net/mssql_field_type
LoB
The press keeps letting Intel off the hook when they say that OLPC wanted Intel to drop support for the Classmate PC. That is now what I've read was the case. OLPC wanted Intel to continue to support the Classmate PC but as an Intel reference design so that others were the ones selling it and they could sell it everywhere. The problem was that Intel wanted the XO to use Intel technology but at the same time, it was pushing it's own hardware to the same customers the OLPC had. There's a conflict of interest here and since Intel is a chip company, they should understand the issue and if anything, hand off the Classmate PC project to another company.
So OLPC didn't want Intel to abandon the Classmate PC, just let someone else build it and sell it Intel really wanted to also be a partner in the XO project. From what's been made public recently, one can easily see that there was a kind of vicious sales force pushing the Classmate PC to exactly the customers the XO was being offered to. Non-profit or not, Intel just can't have their cake and eat it too.
There were other issues also like Intel not working with OLPC in CPU changes to make Intel chips more energy efficient. And Intel not providing any software or software services for the XO during the 6 months they were onboard the project. There were others but how many do you need before it's obvious that Intel is not acting as a partner and looks more like they just purchased some good PR for joining.
I just love how Intel said, and I quote, "I don't want to get into specifics but we met every obligation that we were committed to." but would not say that they met every obligation they were under contract to meet. What they were committed to and what they contractually agreed to were probably two very different lists. Unfortunately, nobody has asked if what Intel "was committed to" were the same things Mr Negroponte said they were contractually obligated to do. Isn't marketing speak wonderful?
LoB
he might also feel that putting a diesel generator right outside the window of the classroom so that the Classmate PC's can have power, just might not be good for the kids. I read in an interview where Intel came in an won a contract over the XO but when they got the laptops in the class, the inconsistent power they had would not allow for a full school day's use of the laptops. Intel brought in a diesel generator to provide constant power.
;-/
Somehow, it just doesn't seem to be a very efficient or effective way to get laptops to these kids. It is also a very good example of how the Classmate PC is not in the same league as the XO in its design goals.
So maybe Negroponte is on the warpath to keeping diesel fumes away from kids.
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I only went through a half dozen pages of a google search and all the sites were ASP on Windows. A few I could bust and and got error messages showing Windows/IIS so it looked like a very targeted attack. ie, there's something about the Windows/IIS/ASP/MS-SQL sites which make this an easy target. It it really was a generic SQL injection attack, would it not have found things like Windows/Apache/PHP/MS-SQL Windows/IIS/Perl/MS-SQL, etc? Especially since Windows and IIS are not the dominant web platform.
Just wondering why others haven't been hit or atleast I'd not found that to be the case.
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I too saw the common threat being IIS and ASP but also saw some ASPX sites. I was able to cause a failure on one site and the returned error page showed "Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:1.1.4322.2407; ASP.NET Version:1.1.4322.2407" at the bottom of the page.
I've not be able to dig deep enough yet to see if it is some common application or framework which is allowing the SQL injections but will keep looking.
As others have noted, the injection is targetting MS SQL Server so the fact that all the sites are running Windows is a gimme. There running of ISS could be an indicator but I'll look to see if an apache site was hit but the ASP/ASPX in most of the sites URL's could indicate that this is a flaw in one of Microsofts API's and require Microsoft software from OS all the way to web server, framework, and database.
Keep digging because so far, I've not seen the press or security sites saying what is behind the flaw. Just that it's a SQL injection exploit.
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it would really help if someone had said what application was exploited. I guess I need to go the google and search for all the infected sites and look to see what application was hacked. One would think that this would have been more upfront in any article about his since as was rightfully pointed out, just because the attack was targetting the MS SQL Server, the application is what allowed the use/infection of the database.
So, what application or framework contains the real flaw here is why is it not getting mentioned?
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and another thing about having a "languages" course is that at some point, you are going to have to use a command line and compile something to run. Besides the article authors being down on the deteriorating math skills of current CS graduates, they are pretty much blaming Java for the lack of skills associated with IDE-only development. I know a few developers today who I've shared code with and who spend a way too much time dealing with their IDE instead of just looking at the code, compiling with a simple commandline and seeing what it did. Developers are showing up who rely way to much on all the wonderful things IDE's do and have lost the understanding of the commandline tools and the speed with which they can give you.
CS classes shouldn't hide so much from the students since there are so many places where access to the underlying system is a must and an advantage.
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gotta reply to my own post since there's not 'edit' option. I just read the story and looked into who wrote the article. I will say that it does not look like Microsoft is behind getting this published except that AdaCore Inc has put a lot of effort to meld their AdaCore Pro product with the Microsoft .Net framework. They address an number if issues related to poor CS education but seem to target Java as the main reason even though they start off with how mathematic skills are getting downgraded in most CS course work and why that's bad. There is some good stuff on why different languages should be tough but really plug Ada since after all, that is what they are in business with.
So, having read the article, they are just an Ada business run by some former NYU CS professors who are seeing some universities slack off on the general CS curriculum and incorrectly( IMO ) blame it on Java.
FWIW, I had to take Pascal for my initial CS course work even though I had years of C and C++ programming experience. There was nothing that I can recall which couldn't have been taught in Java. The follow-on courses were either C or C++ with the exception of the Languages class and a class requiring assembly. IMO, most of that course work could be better taught in Java or Smalltalk or whatever as long as OOP techniques were used.
I have a hard time believing what the article said about students being able to program a GUI but not being able to developer non-GUI applications. That probably has to do the curriculum and IDE usage. How difficult would it be to show that a class does not need to access GUI API's yet still contain valid/important data. Heck, just use System.out.print() and look at the console. It's the curriculum stupid but these guys are Ada nuts so they blame Java since it's finding its way further up the CS food chain. IMO.
And they are just going to LOVE what Alice v3.0 is going to provide. not!
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There are many who still have serious financial hardships getting an university degree. And many of these are doing so in hopes of having a better life than their blue collar parents. That is where I see the mixture of people wanting universities to be more business prep and less theory. Those with the bucks and/or social connections to get any job they please when they get out of school aren't so worried about what is taught.
But having seen some noob employees coming right out of school, it's a tough on for businesses no matter what. I saw students from tech schools sleeping on the keyboard while others were running around looking for books and trying to figure stuff out. I could not put a finger on if it would be better for fine tuning IT skills since alot has to do with the person and their drive.
I will say that for those who are literally starving students and getting a job right out of college is vital, there would be more piece of mind if they knew what they were being taught was more closely related to what was needed at the businesses in the area. But I also don't think that this is a good way to go since a core education breads people who can think for themselves and think outside the box when required. Since we seldom design software down to the methods or even classes, a society full of grunt programmers isn't going to cut it. They will need to think for themselves to get the job done right.
A well rounded and well structured CS curriculum will do this and it has nothing to do with the Java language.
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Thank you, the fact that it is a curriculum issue and not a Java issue was what my post was going to say, you said and lived it. The other thing I was going to post was that it didn't take long for someone to come out and attack Java. I say "didn't take long" because there was just an article on how the Alice( http://www.alice.org/ ) project was a great programmers learning tool and it so happens that they are porting it to Eclipse and Java for the v3.0 release. If you don't know, Alice is a drag-N-drop programming tool for manipulating a 3D graphics environment/world.
.Net instead of Java. Some Universities got nailed for accepting such tainted deals. So when I read about Alice and watched the videos, besides thinking how cool it was, I also was wondering what kind of response from Redmond we would get tossed at us. It's pretty lame to say that Java is to blame for CS sudents not knowing what data structures are or what C++ programming is all about. Now I'll have to read the article and see if they advocate MS .Net instead.
Here's the spiel on the next version:
http://www.alice.org/index.php?page=sims_announcement/sims_announcement
BTW, a few years ago, Microsoft was out and about paying off university professors to change their curriculum to use MS
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way too many that I know could not purchase a new laptop or PC with Windows XP and were forced to take Windows Vista. So even with the forced OEM pre-loading, it only took 39% of the shipped PC's is an indication of the size and importance of the business/corporate purchasing departments. I do know that whitebox vendors are more than happy to install WinXP instead of WinVista and even one with no advertised Linux products was willing to install Ubuntu for free in a dual boot configuration. Free as in no charge for the installation and they even went and setup browser plugins.
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atleast the XO can take getting wet. There are quite a few other 'features' the XO has which were specifically designed for rural use by children and the Classmate PC has none of these. Talk about a fish out of water. Why else would Intel and Microsoft have to resort to such underhanded deals? I mean just look at the Nigerian Classmate PC deal. They originally found Linux/OSS fit their needs the best and ordered thousands with Linux. Microsoft came in and must have paid someone off because it wasn't too long before it was found that a deal was struck and the Classmate PC's would be shipped with Linux but get wiped and replaced with Windows and Microsoft software once they arrived. Intel doesn't seem to have this kind of hatred or fear of Linux but Microsoft sure shows they seem to. This is what makes me believe that the Intel sales rep who was asked to bid on the secondary school laptop but instead went back and tried to get the OLPC/primary school deal again...well, it looks to me like she was more motivated to terminate the OLPC/Linux deal. After all, she had a far far better chance of getting the secondary school deal since the XO is designed for primary school kids. So the writing is on the wall as to who is behind this, how badly the want not to compete but to terminate the OLPC project. And there's alot of upset people here who have seen these things over the years and are pissed. It ain't about competition.
Oh crap, I just noticed it's another AC blowing smoke out there ass...crap.
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yo, dud, shut the heck up since you don't know what you're talking about. The OLPC device is being sold at something like $1 over cost and that $1 is for management overhead to keep the project going. And to top it off, what really pissed them off was when Microsoft and Intel started the Classmate PC project and immediately started publicly attacking it. They didn't come out and say how great their product was, they came out putting down the non-profit device. And the final straw was when Intel joined the OLPC board and agreed to not attack the project or its customers. What continued to happen was Peru compared the Classmate PC and OLPC devices for primary school kids and the OLPC project won. Peru then asked Intel to bid on a laptop for secondary school but Intel came back with another bid and attempt to get the OLPC primary school contract. The Intel moron didn't go for the money and bid on the next job, she went after the existing deal with the OLPC device. Sure seems like some kind of attempt to specifically target the success of the OLPC project and NOT about making money.
All the actions of Microsoft and Intel from day one of the OLPC announcements show that they are only out to kill off that project. Those who have been following this for a few years now are really pissed to see these two massive corporations continue attacking the OLPC project. Neither have shown any interests in profits and only showing acts to destroy the project. The typical anti-competitive behavior these two companies have shown for 20 years but now, it's being directed at a non-profit designed to help children. This is despicable. IMO.
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look at how Microsoft handled the Nigerian Classmate PC deal. They are willing to pay to have Linux and OSS replaced with Microsoft Windows and Microsoft software on Classmate PC's which were originally ordered with Linux. Wanna guess as to Microsoft's involvement in Peru?
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but they lost the deal they were supposed to be bidding on and THAT has lost Intel profits and lost money for their shareholders. Not to mention the bad name they are getting for joining the BoD of OLPC and then pulling tricks like they did. I'll say it again, the deal in Peru was for Intel to bid on the SECONDARY school contract but the sales rep bid on the PRIMARY school/XO deal instead. She not only lost them the secondary school deal but she's painted a picture of a poor child sitting on the doorstep of a schoolhouse who's got a black eye. Looking closer, you see that it is an "Intel Inside" black and blue eye. Brand destruction or weakening is VERY VERY expensive and I hope she has some good reason for not bidding on the contract she was asked to bid on. But my guess is that she was offered some very large commission by Intel's partner in this. THEY have a history of these kinds of deals after all. IMO.
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did you read the article? She was asked to bid on a SECONDARY school laptop contract but the Intel salesperson returned with a bid and aggression for the PRIMARY school deal which was already a done deal. She didn't even address the contract/bid she was asked to bid on.
To me, this stinks of some kind of commission for beating the XO project and not a standard commission on Classmate PC sales. After all, why would she give up bidding on a contract the Classmate PC was better suited for and instead, go after the XO deal? The devices are not the same if you look at the software and hardware spec's. She most likely was going after some big buck commission designed to end XO contracts. Hmmm, going after a competitors throat, killing the baby, cutting off their air supply? Remind you of somebody?
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and what of that unnamed software partner. It makes me wonder what kind of incentive was behind the actions of that saleswoman who instead of bidding on a contract where the Classmate PC was very well suited( secondary school ), she went and tried to bid on the primary school project. It wasn't even part of the RFB. There must have been some kind of financial reason for her to so viciously go after the XO deal and blow off the secondary school deal.
We all know that Microsoft has special funding pools to pay off companies and governments who are moving to GNU/Linux and OSS. With Microsoft throwing 100% of their weight behind the Classmate PC and with Bill Gates publicly attacking the OLPC project, and with their history of doing business, I can only calculate that SOMEONE was putting a whole pile of money behind getting an XO contract canceled or won by the Classmate PC device. Like BayStar, if you follow the money, it will likely lead to Redmond. With Intel's hardware tie, I doubt such incentives would be financed by Intel's sales budgets. They were getting Intel CPU's inside the XO after all. Maybe Intel should do an internal investigation as to why she did what she did. She's probably sending a resume to that unnamed partner as we write.
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