I have no pity for Zango whatsoever. I am sure you remember the days of trying to remove Zango through the "supported uninstaller." Uninstalling Zango often left a corrupt registry, files still on the hard drive, and/or didn't actually remove anything. I hope Zango looses this one very badly and attorneys fees and court costs force them to reconsider stupidity. Unscrupulous marketing schemes like Zango and it's former name deserve nothing. Only on the internet can the "criminal" sue the "good guy" and win. The whole thing is positively laughable.
FiOS does not use the POTS system but a fully fibre optic network. Also, Verizon does not require you to purchase telephone service. I have FiOS and I do not have telephone service.
I wonder what flawed logic Bill Hilf bases his prediction on? His baseless remarks, if anything, are indicative of the fear that must be pervasive in the Microsoft culture. Linux is not the moot point that Hilf claims it is nor are the BSDs. Mostly his statement is a FUD attack that is so desperate that it is laughable. As little as five years ago, statements like these were apt to be taken more seriously. Free/Open Source Software is here to stay. Once the Samba Project completes its version 4, Microsoft Windows Server becomes the moot point because active directory features will be freely available. If Microsoft allowed some of their arrogance to deflate a little, they would consider open sourcing the active directory protocols and claim victory over Samba. By open sourcing their protocols, they tap a large and freely available programmer base. Active Directory could concievably become so much better for markedly less in terms of development costs. Why not have the community develop for you? Red Hat does just that and is a very profitable company. Instead Bill Hilf et al. remain blind to the potential benefits and see open source as a "cancer." This just might be their own undoing.
They should absolutely patch bugs when discovered, regardless of classified severity. They should take the OpenBSD approach and regularly and aggressively audit their code. I think customers that have paid good money for a product, deserve one as bug free as possible. OpenBSD is an OS that you get for free that has far fewer flaws and is proactive about letting its users know when a bug does crop up. If a free/open source project with an even tighter budget, there is absolutely no reason a commerical vendor cannot do the same.
I don't hate Google like I do Microsoft. I staunchly disagree with Google's censorship of information in China, but, Yahoo does it too so that is not reason alone to hate either of them. I hear people grousing about Google's "monopoly." No, you have a number of choices: Yahoo, Altavista, Lycos, and Webcrawler (note: I am not endorsing any of these.) This is quite unlike the Microsoft of the 1990s. Linux was still quite immature and you really needed a stronger compsci and UNIX background. BSD was and still is a viable choice but it really took more advanced users. As much as I hate to admit, Microsoft was unfortunately, the only real choice for the non technically savvy until recently.
So, why do I hate Microsoft? They stifle innovation under a pretext of encouraging it. As other Slashdotters have noted, Microsoft takes the embrace, extend, and patent attitude towards open source. This is what happened with Kerberos and the infamous PAC. They extended the olive branch to MIT then effectively changed Kerberos enough to make it their own. If that wasn't IP theft, it damn well should have been. Beware of any project sponsored by Microsoft as, "the appearance differs from reality." My eye is presently on the XORP Extensible Open Source Router Project as Microsoft has taken a keen interest. Fortunately, there exists an implementation of BGP and OSPF that has been around longer than XORP and already outperforms it. See the OpenBSD project. Google, thus far, hasn't behaved quite like Microsoft; the coming years remain to be seen.
But it really only works for programmers. On the infrastructure side, you really have to be on site for a lot of things (correct me if I am wrong.) I work in a small company where I wear many hats so sometimes I need to interrupt a maintenance task or project to fix someone's PC. I'd love a telecommuting position but that would mean a radical change. I'd really like to find a telecommuting help desk analyst position. It would be worth even a small pay cut for having such flexibility
Global warming may be happening and it may not be. Who can say with any absolute certainty that global warming is really happening? Who can say with any certainty that global warming will lead to abrupt climate changes? As Michael Crichton points out, all we have are computer models and theories. A computer model is just that, a prediction that is quite error prone. I think rather than being concerned about global warming, we should be actively conserving our natural resources and engage in environmentally friendly practices. It is my belief that money, time, and energy are better spent in actively reducing air, ground, and water pollution than throwing money into global warming research. Also, conservation of our forests and open spaces should be paramount. I think we can say only one thing with certainty: we are polluting our air and water. Let's deal with the immediate problems that are within our power to solve.
I am from and live in, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has a strange attitude towards alcohol. It is remarkably easy to get a license to serve alcohol yet liquor is a state run enterprise. It is kind of a schizophrenic balance of control and freedom. If only you should have seen the public outcry when the state liquor store was going to have hours on Sunday. I was vaguely amused because many of those in the public outcry, I am sure, went to buy a bottle of wine on Sunday. This girl is going to win her lawsuit, hands down. What Millersville University did was attempt to flex its muscle. In doing so, that attempt just went way too far and will end up generating negative publicity for an otherwise, fine state school. I hope Millersville's administrators are arrogant and blind enough to see this to a public venue. Universities are supposed to be about academic freedom and thought freedom . ..or maybe once upon a time they were. The egregiousness of this is simply shocking.
Well, I could only hope that further intrusion from the government and Homeland Security will not happen. Well, at least I try to be optimistic. Realistically, TJX should be punished because it was widely known that WEP is weak encryption. Presumably, TJX should have a competent IT Department. At my job, we have wireless, which on its face appears to be open. It is instead protected by IPSec. Anyone can get an IP address but without IPSec, you'll get absolutely nowhere. I would really like to see consumer models incorporate this ability. It is not difficult to implement. Linksys could even provide a setup wizard that would automatically configure IPSec on the client side. In home networks, simply take the CD from computer to computer and run the wizard. This is by far the best way to secure a wireless network. No need to muck with WPA and its poor hardware support or WPA+radius (a bear to configure for the home user.)
I am sure many of the columnists would agree with you that IT is seeing growth. But, how accurate is that information? I have only a layman's knowledge of economics but I am sure the analysts would agree that a 40% reduction in IBM's Global Services is bound to have ripple effects. Now, there will be a lot more qualified applicants that will be searching for employment than there are positions available. Thus, downward pressure is placed on salaries; simple supply and demand economics. When the supply of qualified applicants is high, companies can shop for or demand lower wages. When inflation is rising and salaries go down, trouble begins to brew. So, this causes yet another ripple. The true good days of IT are over, permanently. Finally, the U.S. Corporate Legal System automatically and overwhelmingly favors business.
I understand your frustration with the policy and the attitude that it might imply but let me show you the other side of the story. The OpenBSD team works very hard to produce these releases and get little support in the form of donations from large companies that use pieces of the operating system. Theo De Raadt asked Sun for a donation for one of his hackathons and was not even given the time of day. He was not even answered which is tantamount to a 'no.' Given that OpenBSD provided extensive assistance to Sun in the integration of OpenSSH and voluntarily reported bugs in Sun's version (as well as others), I think it really would have been no skin off of Sun's back to provide a donation. The principle form of income for the project to function comes from sales of OpenBSD CD-ROMS. You could still make your own ISO, but please keep in mind the hard work of this project. Honestly, 50.00 is a drop in the bucket and you help keep the future of a good project stable.
Yes, you are right. I have seen large BSD deployments and they are extremely stable. Personally, I am a big proponent of FreeBSD and OpenBSD. They are very stable which might explain why there is less bleeding edge hardware support. I am actually not surprised at all.
I am going to say it. I have already shown Microsoft Office who is boss. I am the boss and I have decided to go with Open Office, save some money, and still be reasonably compatible with M$.
that many slashdotters here make a good point about it really not being necessary to have an open source CA. CACert does the job really well and I use it for internal communication security. If you really need your own CA, it is not terribly difficult to put together a very rudimentary one. In fact OpenSSL provides just that, a very simplistic, basic CA that is not terribly user friendly at all. See the man pages for openssl ca and openssl.cnf.
Actually, I am quite ashamed of my country's behavior toward its own citizens. And, do your homework because the Indian Government was mentioned on slashdot or arresting people posting public criticisms of public officials.
Ah, right - same as Craig's List and....and...and...on & on. How is this a problem?
In someone's weak mind, maybe - in reality, no.
Well, let's just say that,"Members are told to click a button to report any 'misconduct' by other users." does not quite have the same connotation in China as it does the United States. The primary difference is that by reporting misconduct in China, you are essentially placing that person's freedom and very existence in jeopardy by inviting a visit by the National Police. Here in the United States, Craig Newmark simply removes the post, and as long as the said post does not violate the law, nothing happens. The definition of a crime in China is intentionally left very broad and up for interpretation. Therefore any simple criticism or perceived criticism can result in arrest or detention. This is a very important and serious distinction that cannot and should not be marginalized.
The Indian Government is notorious for quashing dissention on the internet. This may be a really radical conspiracy theory, but, by offering free internet access, the government gains control over its populace. Therefore, appearance differs from reality. By controlling internet access, the Indian Government gains certain amounts of control over content through filtering, port blocking, monitoring, etc. It is a great way to track would-be dissidents and others speaking out against the government.
I for one, agree. It is time for Americans to stand up and hold the Bush Administration accountable for its actions. I would also hope that Americans would not be so quick to quietly aquiesce when their civil liberties are being infringed upon. I could only hope that a future politician will muster the gumption to take on the Patriot Act and render it null and void. I could only hope for disbanding of the Department of Homeland Security. But it will take Americans to wake up and smell what the people it elected are shoveling.
So, if I correctly interpret the motive, we should widen our already broad criminal laws and punish those who have open wireless networks. Wow, the burden on our Criminal Justice system is heavy enough. Could you imagine the back log of criminal complaints and cases awaiting trial? Not to mention the implications of enforcement. I am sure Homeland Security would love this kind of criminalization because it would give them far reaching search and seizure powers. Our freedoms are already impacted enough by the Patriot Act, should we allow our government to become more gestapo-like?
Want a Windows Home Server? Load a copy of Linux/*BSD and Samba on to a spare PC. There you go, all the power of a basic domain without all the costs associated with an M$ product.
Well, data can be used for both good and bad purposes. I tend to lean a bit to the left and I think Universal Healthcare is a wise and necessary move. Due to the fact that many employers are not providing healthcare benefits, what is a hard working, sick person to do. If control is privatized, there will also be opportunity for rampant abuse. There is no easy method for oversight but something needs to be done. I welcome ideas
No, I am not naive. I used to be a cop so perhaps I should be more jaded. If you managed to not be so literal you would see that the point I am trying to drive home is that this particular threat, on its surface, will probably not be acted upon. It doesn't mean all threats are this way. Don't you have anything better to do than tear up one line of an otherwise lucid and well thought out response?
There is a group working on an open source clone of Exchange using a reverse engineered version of MAPI. This is still pre-alpha, but it is interesting. The project is called Openchange.
This won't solve a thing. It is trivial to fake headers; apparently the author did not do his homework. I could easily set up a spam spew to send phishing email from say, www.bankofamerica.safe or the like. A better, more practical solution is to use email signing like OpenPGP or GNUPGP. This is much, much harder to fake. See the Wikipedia article subsection Security quality. Bank customers simply obtain the PGP public key from the bank's website and use it to validate any email received. This will put the phishers to bed (at least for a long while) as it will be virtually impossible to fake the PGP signature. The next thing you do is educate the public about email signing and verification. It is not terribly difficult to use and deploy as there are freely available PGP plugins for popular email clients. GPG4Win is a complete installer that contains plugins for Mozilla Thunderbird, Outlook 2003, and Outlook Express. Read about it at http://www.gpg4win.org/.
While the comments posted against Kathy Sierra are despicable, I really feel that they are quite empty threats by a lonely, angry, frustrated, and upset individual. I understand Kathy's cause for alarm given as we live in times of media sensationalism that has encouraged copycat criminality. Yet I urge her and everyone to proceed slowly and methodically because we may travel down a slippery slope that we will be unable to recover from. If history is any indicator, look at George W. Bush, the passing of the Patriot Act and the formation of a Homeland Security Department. The Patriot Act has had disastrous effects on civil liberties because it was enacted far too hastily with powers broad enough to destroy everything our forefathers worked for. This is why I am a proponent of anonymous blogging: it may be some of the last ways to safely express dissatisfaction with our government and status quo. Craig's List has built a hugely successful community moderation system wherein inappropriate, threatening, or criminal posts are removed or appropriately referred for action. Use Craig Newmark's system as a model for a blogging system.
Slashdot Mirror
I have no pity for Zango whatsoever. I am sure you remember the days of trying to remove Zango through the "supported uninstaller." Uninstalling Zango often left a corrupt registry, files still on the hard drive, and/or didn't actually remove anything. I hope Zango looses this one very badly and attorneys fees and court costs force them to reconsider stupidity. Unscrupulous marketing schemes like Zango and it's former name deserve nothing. Only on the internet can the "criminal" sue the "good guy" and win. The whole thing is positively laughable.
FiOS does not use the POTS system but a fully fibre optic network. Also, Verizon does not require you to purchase telephone service. I have FiOS and I do not have telephone service.
I wonder what flawed logic Bill Hilf bases his prediction on? His baseless remarks, if anything, are indicative of the fear that must be pervasive in the Microsoft culture. Linux is not the moot point that Hilf claims it is nor are the BSDs. Mostly his statement is a FUD attack that is so desperate that it is laughable. As little as five years ago, statements like these were apt to be taken more seriously. Free/Open Source Software is here to stay. Once the Samba Project completes its version 4, Microsoft Windows Server becomes the moot point because active directory features will be freely available. If Microsoft allowed some of their arrogance to deflate a little, they would consider open sourcing the active directory protocols and claim victory over Samba. By open sourcing their protocols, they tap a large and freely available programmer base. Active Directory could concievably become so much better for markedly less in terms of development costs. Why not have the community develop for you? Red Hat does just that and is a very profitable company. Instead Bill Hilf et al. remain blind to the potential benefits and see open source as a "cancer." This just might be their own undoing.
They should absolutely patch bugs when discovered, regardless of classified severity. They should take the OpenBSD approach and regularly and aggressively audit their code. I think customers that have paid good money for a product, deserve one as bug free as possible. OpenBSD is an OS that you get for free that has far fewer flaws and is proactive about letting its users know when a bug does crop up. If a free/open source project with an even tighter budget, there is absolutely no reason a commerical vendor cannot do the same.
I don't hate Google like I do Microsoft. I staunchly disagree with Google's censorship of information in China, but, Yahoo does it too so that is not reason alone to hate either of them. I hear people grousing about Google's "monopoly." No, you have a number of choices: Yahoo, Altavista, Lycos, and Webcrawler (note: I am not endorsing any of these.) This is quite unlike the Microsoft of the 1990s. Linux was still quite immature and you really needed a stronger compsci and UNIX background. BSD was and still is a viable choice but it really took more advanced users. As much as I hate to admit, Microsoft was unfortunately, the only real choice for the non technically savvy until recently.
So, why do I hate Microsoft? They stifle innovation under a pretext of encouraging it. As other Slashdotters have noted, Microsoft takes the embrace, extend, and patent attitude towards open source. This is what happened with Kerberos and the infamous PAC. They extended the olive branch to MIT then effectively changed Kerberos enough to make it their own. If that wasn't IP theft, it damn well should have been. Beware of any project sponsored by Microsoft as, "the appearance differs from reality." My eye is presently on the XORP Extensible Open Source Router Project as Microsoft has taken a keen interest. Fortunately, there exists an implementation of BGP and OSPF that has been around longer than XORP and already outperforms it. See the OpenBSD project. Google, thus far, hasn't behaved quite like Microsoft; the coming years remain to be seen.
But it really only works for programmers. On the infrastructure side, you really have to be on site for a lot of things (correct me if I am wrong.) I work in a small company where I wear many hats so sometimes I need to interrupt a maintenance task or project to fix someone's PC. I'd love a telecommuting position but that would mean a radical change. I'd really like to find a telecommuting help desk analyst position. It would be worth even a small pay cut for having such flexibility
Global warming may be happening and it may not be. Who can say with any absolute certainty that global warming is really happening? Who can say with any certainty that global warming will lead to abrupt climate changes? As Michael Crichton points out, all we have are computer models and theories. A computer model is just that, a prediction that is quite error prone. I think rather than being concerned about global warming, we should be actively conserving our natural resources and engage in environmentally friendly practices. It is my belief that money, time, and energy are better spent in actively reducing air, ground, and water pollution than throwing money into global warming research. Also, conservation of our forests and open spaces should be paramount. I think we can say only one thing with certainty: we are polluting our air and water. Let's deal with the immediate problems that are within our power to solve.
I am from and live in, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has a strange attitude towards alcohol. It is remarkably easy to get a license to serve alcohol yet liquor is a state run enterprise. It is kind of a schizophrenic balance of control and freedom. If only you should have seen the public outcry when the state liquor store was going to have hours on Sunday. I was vaguely amused because many of those in the public outcry, I am sure, went to buy a bottle of wine on Sunday. This girl is going to win her lawsuit, hands down. What Millersville University did was attempt to flex its muscle. In doing so, that attempt just went way too far and will end up generating negative publicity for an otherwise, fine state school. I hope Millersville's administrators are arrogant and blind enough to see this to a public venue. Universities are supposed to be about academic freedom and thought freedom . . .or maybe once upon a time they were. The egregiousness of this is simply shocking.
Well, I could only hope that further intrusion from the government and Homeland Security will not happen. Well, at least I try to be optimistic. Realistically, TJX should be punished because it was widely known that WEP is weak encryption. Presumably, TJX should have a competent IT Department. At my job, we have wireless, which on its face appears to be open. It is instead protected by IPSec. Anyone can get an IP address but without IPSec, you'll get absolutely nowhere. I would really like to see consumer models incorporate this ability. It is not difficult to implement. Linksys could even provide a setup wizard that would automatically configure IPSec on the client side. In home networks, simply take the CD from computer to computer and run the wizard. This is by far the best way to secure a wireless network. No need to muck with WPA and its poor hardware support or WPA+radius (a bear to configure for the home user.)
I am sure many of the columnists would agree with you that IT is seeing growth. But, how accurate is that information? I have only a layman's knowledge of economics but I am sure the analysts would agree that a 40% reduction in IBM's Global Services is bound to have ripple effects. Now, there will be a lot more qualified applicants that will be searching for employment than there are positions available. Thus, downward pressure is placed on salaries; simple supply and demand economics. When the supply of qualified applicants is high, companies can shop for or demand lower wages. When inflation is rising and salaries go down, trouble begins to brew. So, this causes yet another ripple. The true good days of IT are over, permanently. Finally, the U.S. Corporate Legal System automatically and overwhelmingly favors business.
I understand your frustration with the policy and the attitude that it might imply but let me show you the other side of the story. The OpenBSD team works very hard to produce these releases and get little support in the form of donations from large companies that use pieces of the operating system. Theo De Raadt asked Sun for a donation for one of his hackathons and was not even given the time of day. He was not even answered which is tantamount to a 'no.' Given that OpenBSD provided extensive assistance to Sun in the integration of OpenSSH and voluntarily reported bugs in Sun's version (as well as others), I think it really would have been no skin off of Sun's back to provide a donation. The principle form of income for the project to function comes from sales of OpenBSD CD-ROMS. You could still make your own ISO, but please keep in mind the hard work of this project. Honestly, 50.00 is a drop in the bucket and you help keep the future of a good project stable.
Yes, you are right. I have seen large BSD deployments and they are extremely stable. Personally, I am a big proponent of FreeBSD and OpenBSD. They are very stable which might explain why there is less bleeding edge hardware support. I am actually not surprised at all.
I am going to say it. I have already shown Microsoft Office who is boss. I am the boss and I have decided to go with Open Office, save some money, and still be reasonably compatible with M$.
that many slashdotters here make a good point about it really not being necessary to have an open source CA. CACert does the job really well and I use it for internal communication security. If you really need your own CA, it is not terribly difficult to put together a very rudimentary one. In fact OpenSSL provides just that, a very simplistic, basic CA that is not terribly user friendly at all. See the man pages for openssl ca and openssl.cnf.
Actually, I am quite ashamed of my country's behavior toward its own citizens. And, do your homework because the Indian Government was mentioned on slashdot or arresting people posting public criticisms of public officials.
Well, let's just say that,"Members are told to click a button to report any 'misconduct' by other users." does not quite have the same connotation in China as it does the United States. The primary difference is that by reporting misconduct in China, you are essentially placing that person's freedom and very existence in jeopardy by inviting a visit by the National Police. Here in the United States, Craig Newmark simply removes the post, and as long as the said post does not violate the law, nothing happens. The definition of a crime in China is intentionally left very broad and up for interpretation. Therefore any simple criticism or perceived criticism can result in arrest or detention. This is a very important and serious distinction that cannot and should not be marginalized.
The Indian Government is notorious for quashing dissention on the internet. This may be a really radical conspiracy theory, but, by offering free internet access, the government gains control over its populace. Therefore, appearance differs from reality. By controlling internet access, the Indian Government gains certain amounts of control over content through filtering, port blocking, monitoring, etc. It is a great way to track would-be dissidents and others speaking out against the government.
I for one, agree. It is time for Americans to stand up and hold the Bush Administration accountable for its actions. I would also hope that Americans would not be so quick to quietly aquiesce when their civil liberties are being infringed upon. I could only hope that a future politician will muster the gumption to take on the Patriot Act and render it null and void. I could only hope for disbanding of the Department of Homeland Security. But it will take Americans to wake up and smell what the people it elected are shoveling.
So, if I correctly interpret the motive, we should widen our already broad criminal laws and punish those who have open wireless networks. Wow, the burden on our Criminal Justice system is heavy enough. Could you imagine the back log of criminal complaints and cases awaiting trial? Not to mention the implications of enforcement. I am sure Homeland Security would love this kind of criminalization because it would give them far reaching search and seizure powers. Our freedoms are already impacted enough by the Patriot Act, should we allow our government to become more gestapo-like?
Want a Windows Home Server? Load a copy of Linux/*BSD and Samba on to a spare PC. There you go, all the power of a basic domain without all the costs associated with an M$ product.
Well, data can be used for both good and bad purposes. I tend to lean a bit to the left and I think Universal Healthcare is a wise and necessary move. Due to the fact that many employers are not providing healthcare benefits, what is a hard working, sick person to do. If control is privatized, there will also be opportunity for rampant abuse. There is no easy method for oversight but something needs to be done. I welcome ideas
No, I am not naive. I used to be a cop so perhaps I should be more jaded. If you managed to not be so literal you would see that the point I am trying to drive home is that this particular threat, on its surface, will probably not be acted upon. It doesn't mean all threats are this way. Don't you have anything better to do than tear up one line of an otherwise lucid and well thought out response?
There is a group working on an open source clone of Exchange using a reverse engineered version of MAPI. This is still pre-alpha, but it is interesting. The project is called Openchange.
This won't solve a thing. It is trivial to fake headers; apparently the author did not do his homework. I could easily set up a spam spew to send phishing email from say, www.bankofamerica.safe or the like. A better, more practical solution is to use email signing like OpenPGP or GNUPGP. This is much, much harder to fake. See the Wikipedia article subsection Security quality. Bank customers simply obtain the PGP public key from the bank's website and use it to validate any email received. This will put the phishers to bed (at least for a long while) as it will be virtually impossible to fake the PGP signature. The next thing you do is educate the public about email signing and verification. It is not terribly difficult to use and deploy as there are freely available PGP plugins for popular email clients. GPG4Win is a complete installer that contains plugins for Mozilla Thunderbird, Outlook 2003, and Outlook Express. Read about it at http://www.gpg4win.org/.
While the comments posted against Kathy Sierra are despicable, I really feel that they are quite empty threats by a lonely, angry, frustrated, and upset individual. I understand Kathy's cause for alarm given as we live in times of media sensationalism that has encouraged copycat criminality. Yet I urge her and everyone to proceed slowly and methodically because we may travel down a slippery slope that we will be unable to recover from. If history is any indicator, look at George W. Bush, the passing of the Patriot Act and the formation of a Homeland Security Department. The Patriot Act has had disastrous effects on civil liberties because it was enacted far too hastily with powers broad enough to destroy everything our forefathers worked for. This is why I am a proponent of anonymous blogging: it may be some of the last ways to safely express dissatisfaction with our government and status quo. Craig's List has built a hugely successful community moderation system wherein inappropriate, threatening, or criminal posts are removed or appropriately referred for action. Use Craig Newmark's system as a model for a blogging system.