Sounds like what you really want is FreeBSD. Seriously, give it a try, you'll love the ports collection and the easily available documentation.
As for your gripe about the security setting: If in doubt, just select "standard", the default setting. After you have finished installing the system, log on and fire up Mandrake Control Center. You can change the security level there and also exercise fine grained control over each level. The install program really should tell you this though, so you don't sweat over it.
This is a great idea, but you need to do it on the server, not (just) on the client.
How's about as a plugin to SpamAssassin? Scan the icoming email as usual. If it's determined that it's unlikely to be legit, pass it on to the URL scanner. Auto-whitelist hotmail.com and other common URL taglines etc. Follow each of the other URLs in the message.
Optional: If, after scanning the URLs, the pages linked to are determined not to contain spam, pass the message back to SpamAssassin flagged as clean and for delivery to the intended recipient.
GNU/Linux has an amazing amount of native software packages and supports a modest number of CPU architectures. It can easily do symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP) with up to 16 CPUs (the 2.6 kernel can do up to 32) unlike Free/Open/NetBSD which is still struggling with proper SMP implementation
Oh, really? I know OpenBSD isn't quite there yet. but what's not proper about the SMP implementations in FreeBSD (5.x) and NetBSD? Inquiring minds want to know, can anyone here shed some light?
Didn't I read right here on/. that the Chinese have started to develop and test their own CPU? Yup: The Dragon Chip. They've already got Linux booting on it.
With most of the world's electronics manufacturing business in China anyway, I guess this means we'll all be running Linux on Chinese developed and manufactured hardware in a few years, while Microsoft, Intel and AMD all sit around in the wreckage of their once profitable empires wondering what went wrong.
Here's a hint guys: You forgot what made the PC platform great in the first place: Freedom.
Call it freedom to innovate, freedom to fsck up a computer beyond repair, freedom to write a virus or freedom to swap files. Whatever. But try taking our freedom away and you will face the consequences.
Now that would be a deliciuos irony, wouldn't it. America and the West taking away the freedom of all computer users, and the Chinese coming to the rescue and restoring our freedom.
> You could bother actually reading about Trusted Computing*
I did, but didn't think I had to explain it to this audience.
Palladium/TCPA relies on certificates, as in "this software is certified to run on this platform", where platform can be anything from the hardware (or parts of the hardware) to the OS, or "this software is allowed to manipulate these bits of data" etc.
Every certificate is part of a chain of trust. In the case of AIX, I would assume that IBM would issue the certificate, but hold on a sec: IBM's own use of the software and their right to license it on to you is persuant to a license from SCO. In a situation like this, can SCO break the chain of trust by revoking their license to IBM, thus invalidating IBM's certificate for AIX?
That is the question. The proponents of Palladium/TCPA claim it's all about security, but please wake up and smell the coffee: It's about DRM. In this case SCO would claim that in order to protect their Intellectual Property rights, they would have no option but to revoke the license/certificate issued to IBM, which they in turn used to sign their AIX license/certificate to you.
In this situation the TCPA hardware would simply refuse to run the operating system. Game over.
> and doesn't have any features to make me worry, especially not on an Open Source platform
From this I can only conclude that you are boundlessly naive.
1 ESR is basically redefining everyone around you to only exist in your own personal universe, where you of course are the most important person alive. Thus 1 ESR is the maximum this unit can ever attain, anything above 1 would mean instant insanity.
> Why would you want a sound meter or a calorie tracking application in a cell phone?
You are not getting it. In some markets, to some people, cell phones are fashion accessories. It's not about Bluetooth or standby times, it's about the latest and the greatest in design and gadgets.
You and I may find that to be silly, but Nokia is just going where the money is.
There's no difference between a flesh-and-blood cop running a check on your license plate and this automated system. It just maximizes the capability.
Yes, well, sounds perfectly reasonable and logical... so why am I feeling glad this has not been proposed in my country (yet)?
I mean, as opposed to most people of the American persuasion (or so it would seem), I do not believe that the authorities are out to fsck and enslave me all the time. Even so, this system definitely sounds creepy and a bit over the top. I think it just rings too much of "1984".
I'm already uncomfortable with the automatic speed cameras (which we do have here) and their potential for abuse. Couple them together with monitoring cameras on toll booths, anti-crime cameras in the centre of cities, surveillance cameras in parking garages and on other private property like petrol stations and we are already far too close to the glum predictions of that fine work of fiction.
The problem, however, isn't that the authorities are proposing new measures like this all the time. After all, if you are a policeman and your job is to catch criminals, then it follows that you want the best possible tools to carry out your job. Whether or not you are an honest policeman doesn't really come in to it, you want to be able to do your job properly and without one arm tied behind your back. Especially if you have a sinking feeling of fighting a losing battle against crime...
No the problem is that most people don't care, don't want to know and can't be bothered to find out. Those who do in fact care, tend to care passionately. On the one hand you have those of us who are worried about the potential for abuse and the implications for our privacy. On the other hand you have the sort of people who live behind tall walls in the suburbs and who have a panic attack every time their kids go outside. The latter group are a lot more vocal than the former, and will have their perceived sense of safety no matter what the cost and who ends up paying it.
"Just an engineer", eh?
on
Linus on DRM
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Linus wrote:
> On the whole, this is just
another example of why rms calls me "just an engineer" and thinks I have
no ideals.
Perhaps what the world needs is more engineers and artists, and less flaming zealots. I think Linus has been, and still is, getting it just right. In fact, I think his statements above and the way he views this issue is 100% in the spirit of the GPL. The code is supposed to be free, remember? This includes free to be used in unspeakable ways, so long as the source is always included and freely redistributable. You can't claim freedom for only the ideals you like, that's tyranny.
Essentially, the West is beginning to turn its collective back on science and progress - to remain comfortable in what is known or at least doesn't require really hard work. (like math) Most of what I mention happens in the US, but those same things have analogs around the rest of the Western world, so don't pretend non-US shouldn't worry.
*Ahem*. AFAIK there are no other western countries seriously considering teaching "creationism" in schools alongside or instead of evolution and natural selection. I think the US has more or less cornered the market on falling ass-backwards back into the dark ages. Read any book by Stephen Baxter, but in particular Titan, for a dark view of where this might lead.
Also I just think the information age is a much more important and far reaching societal change than the environmentalism started in the 60s.
I don't think so. It looked that way for sure in the early nineties, but society has pretty much caught up with and regulated the 'net into submission. Witness what happened to Napster, the DMCA/EU-Infosoc, the way WIPO always hands over domains to big corporations, the DSL fiasco and so on. It's not going to get any better, even in the long run, only worse.
One day you'll wake up and the 'net will be nothing more than an advanced telephone somewhat integrated with a TV and a radio. Governments will regulate what you can do with it, how you can connect it and what you can watch/listen to on it. Just like they regulate the telecomms "market" and the airwaves today.
The technology to harness the 'net and its users is already on the drawing boards. Many big corporations are lining up to provide the necessary technology, Microsoft with Palladium and Intel with LaGrande, to just name two of the more important ones.
The irony of them implementing the Infosoc-directive (Euro-DMCA)
But we haven't implemented it (yet)! Where did this misinformation come from?
The good thing about the way the public prosecutors have pushed this case with a very high media profile since day 1, is that it has raised awareness on the issues at stake amongst "ordinary" (non-geek) people. Check out this op-ed commentary (sorry, Norwegian only) in the Norwegian daily Dagbladet for example. I quote (my translation):
"Based on directives from the EU as well as the UN intellectual property organization WIPO, the Ministry of Culture is currently working on implementing new laws for the protection of intellectual property in Norway. The EU Infosoc-directive is very loosely defined, but could open for very strict interpretations, like for example making ripping MP3s from your own CDs illegal, even if only for your own use. DVD-Jon's work in providing a DVD player which lets you skip advertising could also be banned by this (what next, books which can only be read while sitting in sofas made by Ikea?)."
End quote.
The verdict today is not just a great victory for Jon Johansen, and a temporary relief for consumers in Norway, it could seriously impact the way Infosoc is eventually implemented into law here. At least I hope so.
Copyright protection lasts only 50 years in Europe compared to 95 years in the United States
Only 50 years?
"The import of those products would be an act of piracy," said Neil Turkewitz, the executive vice president international for the Recording Industry Association of America
Piracy? When it's perfectly legal, not to mention more than reasonable?
Mr. Turkewitz said, "We will try to get these products blocked," arguing that customs agents "have the authority to seize these European recordings even in the absence of an injunction brought by the copyright owners."
In other words, only abide by the rule of law as long as it's convenient and profitable?
We are going about this the wrong way, methinks. Why are we so desperate to recreate the process of fusion (cold or hot) here on Earth when we have a whopping big old fusion reactor just next door?
The Sun produces all the energy we will ever need, tends itself and has fuel enough to last for billions of years.
Instead of spending tens of billions of dollars in order to recreate the process here on Earth, we should spend most of the money trying to harness the energy of the giant fusion reactor kindly provided to us by Nature.
That's not to say we shouldn't strive to understand the process(es) of fusion, so we do need the research, but our energy needs are already met.
I tried a traditional Windows CE PDA, but stopped using it after a while. Too bulky, too heavy, too much hassle.
I used my cell phone (Nokia 7110) instead, just to keep track of phone numbers and jot down notes. Then I got my Nokia 7650. I carry around a cell phone all day anyway, but this phone also doubles as a very capable PDA. I can even play Doom on it.
The classic PDAs are converging with cell phones to create a new class of devices that people actually do carry around and use everyday. The sheer volume of phones produced by the likes of Nokia and Sony Ericsson will ensure that prices will continue to fall, the devices will become smaller and more capable and the traditional PDAs will morph into cell phones or disappear.
I've seen 100% failure rate on a batch of 10 and 20 gig Fujitsu drives installed in the summer of 2001. They started failing after 10 months or so. This was in Norway.
Re:AltaVista vs. Google: speed and relevance shoot
on
Altavista Renewed
·
· Score: 2
> Where are the freakin' cats?!
They're there on both Google and Altavista, page 3 and 4 of the results, respectively. But you have a point, no wonder they're "near endangered" when they hardly turn up in a web search at all.;-)
Slashdot Mirror
As for your gripe about the security setting: If in doubt, just select "standard", the default setting. After you have finished installing the system, log on and fire up Mandrake Control Center. You can change the security level there and also exercise fine grained control over each level. The install program really should tell you this though, so you don't sweat over it.
This is a great idea, but you need to do it on the server, not (just) on the client.
How's about as a plugin to SpamAssassin? Scan the icoming email as usual. If it's determined that it's unlikely to be legit, pass it on to the URL scanner. Auto-whitelist hotmail.com and other common URL taglines etc. Follow each of the other URLs in the message.
Optional: If, after scanning the URLs, the pages linked to are determined not to contain spam, pass the message back to SpamAssassin flagged as clean and for delivery to the intended recipient.
Bill Gates must be giggling uncontrollably by now...
omfg, that would explain a lot!
GNU/Linux has an amazing amount of native software packages and supports a modest number of CPU architectures. It can easily do symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP) with up to 16 CPUs (the 2.6 kernel can do up to 32) unlike Free/Open/NetBSD which is still struggling with proper SMP implementation
Oh, really? I know OpenBSD isn't quite there yet. but what's not proper about the SMP implementations in FreeBSD (5.x) and NetBSD? Inquiring minds want to know, can anyone here shed some light?
With most of the world's electronics manufacturing business in China anyway, I guess this means we'll all be running Linux on Chinese developed and manufactured hardware in a few years, while Microsoft, Intel and AMD all sit around in the wreckage of their once profitable empires wondering what went wrong.
Here's a hint guys: You forgot what made the PC platform great in the first place: Freedom.
Call it freedom to innovate, freedom to fsck up a computer beyond repair, freedom to write a virus or freedom to swap files. Whatever. But try taking our freedom away and you will face the consequences.
Now that would be a deliciuos irony, wouldn't it. America and the West taking away the freedom of all computer users, and the Chinese coming to the rescue and restoring our freedom.
An error has
occured:
null
I'll say! Commendable journalism: short, quick and to the point! And they still manage to get it partly wrong... (occurred, not occured)
I did, but didn't think I had to explain it to this audience.
Palladium/TCPA relies on certificates, as in "this software is certified to run on this platform", where platform can be anything from the hardware (or parts of the hardware) to the OS, or "this software is allowed to manipulate these bits of data" etc.
Every certificate is part of a chain of trust. In the case of AIX, I would assume that IBM would issue the certificate, but hold on a sec: IBM's own use of the software and their right to license it on to you is persuant to a license from SCO. In a situation like this, can SCO break the chain of trust by revoking their license to IBM, thus invalidating IBM's certificate for AIX?
That is the question. The proponents of Palladium/TCPA claim it's all about security, but please wake up and smell the coffee: It's about DRM. In this case SCO would claim that in order to protect their Intellectual Property rights, they would have no option but to revoke the license/certificate issued to IBM, which they in turn used to sign their AIX license/certificate to you.
In this situation the TCPA hardware would simply refuse to run the operating system. Game over.
> and doesn't have any features to make me worry, especially not on an Open Source platform
From this I can only conclude that you are boundlessly naive.
Wham, come Saturday June 14 thousands of boxes with AIX all over the world would suddenly shut down.
Now tell me why DRM is a good idea and explain how it will never be misused or abused.
I could have posted a witty retort here, but since you're just a figment of my imagination anyway, I can't be bothered right now.
1 ESR is basically redefining everyone around you to only exist in your own personal universe, where you of course are the most important person alive. Thus 1 ESR is the maximum this unit can ever attain, anything above 1 would mean instant insanity.
With apologies to Douglas Adams.
There's also the small matter of reliability. The Russian rockets just work, every time.
You are not getting it. In some markets, to some people, cell phones are fashion accessories. It's not about Bluetooth or standby times, it's about the latest and the greatest in design and gadgets.
You and I may find that to be silly, but Nokia is just going where the money is.
Yes, well, sounds perfectly reasonable and logical... so why am I feeling glad this has not been proposed in my country (yet)?
I mean, as opposed to most people of the American persuasion (or so it would seem), I do not believe that the authorities are out to fsck and enslave me all the time. Even so, this system definitely sounds creepy and a bit over the top. I think it just rings too much of "1984".
I'm already uncomfortable with the automatic speed cameras (which we do have here) and their potential for abuse. Couple them together with monitoring cameras on toll booths, anti-crime cameras in the centre of cities, surveillance cameras in parking garages and on other private property like petrol stations and we are already far too close to the glum predictions of that fine work of fiction.
The problem, however, isn't that the authorities are proposing new measures like this all the time. After all, if you are a policeman and your job is to catch criminals, then it follows that you want the best possible tools to carry out your job. Whether or not you are an honest policeman doesn't really come in to it, you want to be able to do your job properly and without one arm tied behind your back. Especially if you have a sinking feeling of fighting a losing battle against crime...
No the problem is that most people don't care, don't want to know and can't be bothered to find out. Those who do in fact care, tend to care passionately. On the one hand you have those of us who are worried about the potential for abuse and the implications for our privacy. On the other hand you have the sort of people who live behind tall walls in the suburbs and who have a panic attack every time their kids go outside. The latter group are a lot more vocal than the former, and will have their perceived sense of safety no matter what the cost and who ends up paying it.
> On the whole, this is just another example of why rms calls me "just an engineer" and thinks I have no ideals.
Perhaps what the world needs is more engineers and artists, and less flaming zealots. I think Linus has been, and still is, getting it just right. In fact, I think his statements above and the way he views this issue is 100% in the spirit of the GPL. The code is supposed to be free, remember? This includes free to be used in unspeakable ways, so long as the source is always included and freely redistributable. You can't claim freedom for only the ideals you like, that's tyranny.
Then again, IANAL.
*Ahem*. AFAIK there are no other western countries seriously considering teaching "creationism" in schools alongside or instead of evolution and natural selection. I think the US has more or less cornered the market on falling ass-backwards back into the dark ages. Read any book by Stephen Baxter, but in particular Titan, for a dark view of where this might lead.
I don't think so. It looked that way for sure in the early nineties, but society has pretty much caught up with and regulated the 'net into submission. Witness what happened to Napster, the DMCA/EU-Infosoc, the way WIPO always hands over domains to big corporations, the DSL fiasco and so on. It's not going to get any better, even in the long run, only worse.
One day you'll wake up and the 'net will be nothing more than an advanced telephone somewhat integrated with a TV and a radio. Governments will regulate what you can do with it, how you can connect it and what you can watch/listen to on it. Just like they regulate the telecomms "market" and the airwaves today.
The technology to harness the 'net and its users is already on the drawing boards. Many big corporations are lining up to provide the necessary technology, Microsoft with Palladium and Intel with LaGrande, to just name two of the more important ones.
Not quite. Our head of state is King Harald and AFAIK he has never been ordained.
You may be thinking of our Prime Minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, who is indeed a priest (Lutheran Minister).
But we haven't implemented it (yet)! Where did this misinformation come from?
The good thing about the way the public prosecutors have pushed this case with a very high media profile since day 1, is that it has raised awareness on the issues at stake amongst "ordinary" (non-geek) people. Check out this op-ed commentary (sorry, Norwegian only) in the Norwegian daily Dagbladet for example. I quote (my translation):
"Based on directives from the EU as well as the UN intellectual property organization WIPO, the Ministry of Culture is currently working on implementing new laws for the protection of intellectual property in Norway. The EU Infosoc-directive is very loosely defined, but could open for very strict interpretations, like for example making ripping MP3s from your own CDs illegal, even if only for your own use. DVD-Jon's work in providing a DVD player which lets you skip advertising could also be banned by this (what next, books which can only be read while sitting in sofas made by Ikea?)."
End quote.
The verdict today is not just a great victory for Jon Johansen, and a temporary relief for consumers in Norway, it could seriously impact the way Infosoc is eventually implemented into law here. At least I hope so.
Copyright protection lasts only 50 years in Europe compared to 95 years in the United States
Only 50 years?
"The import of those products would be an act of piracy," said Neil Turkewitz, the executive vice president international for the Recording Industry Association of America
Piracy? When it's perfectly legal, not to mention more than reasonable?
Mr. Turkewitz said, "We will try to get these products blocked," arguing that customs agents "have the authority to seize these European recordings even in the absence of an injunction brought by the copyright owners."
In other words, only abide by the rule of law as long as it's convenient and profitable?
I guess this just goes to show, yet again, who's really in charge.
The Sun produces all the energy we will ever need, tends itself and has fuel enough to last for billions of years.
Instead of spending tens of billions of dollars in order to recreate the process here on Earth, we should spend most of the money trying to harness the energy of the giant fusion reactor kindly provided to us by Nature.
That's not to say we shouldn't strive to understand the process(es) of fusion, so we do need the research, but our energy needs are already met.
I used my cell phone (Nokia 7110) instead, just to keep track of phone numbers and jot down notes. Then I got my Nokia 7650. I carry around a cell phone all day anyway, but this phone also doubles as a very capable PDA. I can even play Doom on it.
The classic PDAs are converging with cell phones to create a new class of devices that people actually do carry around and use everyday. The sheer volume of phones produced by the likes of Nokia and Sony Ericsson will ensure that prices will continue to fall, the devices will become smaller and more capable and the traditional PDAs will morph into cell phones or disappear.
"I used to carry a pedometer, for example, but I've just taken it off. I never found I needed it."
So, no pedos in his neighborhood, or have they employed devious countermeasures to his meter?
I've seen 100% failure rate on a batch of 10 and 20 gig Fujitsu drives installed in the summer of 2001. They started failing after 10 months or so. This was in Norway.
They're there on both Google and Altavista, page 3 and 4 of the results, respectively. But you have a point, no wonder they're "near endangered" when they hardly turn up in a web search at all. ;-)
Here ya go: Jaguar Panthera onca. And here, and here, for starters.