Linux-Advocacy Digest #254, Volume #26 Tue, 25 Apr 00 12:13:40 EDT
Contents:
Re: on installing software on linux. a worst broken system. (Stuart Krivis)
Re: Red Hat Linux Backdoor Password Vulnerability (Stefan Ohlsson)
Re: Government to break up Microsoft ("Otto")
Re: Linux kernel 2.4 (Glitch)
Re: Red Hat Linux Backdoor Password Vulnerability ("Otto")
Re: Become a Windows Registry Expert! ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: i cant blieve you people!! ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: These OS debates are simply Hillarious! (Jason Long)
Factory pre-installed Linux. (mlw)
Re: KDE is better than Gnome (David Steuber)
Re: "Technical" vs. "Non-technical"... (was Re: Grasping perspective...) (George
Russell)
Re: "Technical" vs. "Non-technical"... (was Re: Grasping perspective...) (The Ghost
In The Machine)
Re: "Technical" vs. "Non-technical"... (was Re: Grasping perspective...) (The Ghost
In The Machine)
Re: Grasping perspective... (was Re: Forget buying drestin UNIX...) ("Drestin Black")
Re: Microsoft tries to scam its Insurance Company (Stephen Bodnar)
Re: Red Hat Linux Backdoor Password Vulnerability ("Drestin Black")
Re: Backdoors in Windows 2000? ("Drestin Black")
Re: MS caught breaking web sites ("Drestin Black")
Re: Why Linux should be pronounced with a long I (The Ghost In The Machine)
Re: "Technical" vs. "Non-technical"... (was Re: Grasping perspective...)
(Christopher Browne)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Stuart Krivis)
Subject: Re: on installing software on linux. a worst broken system.
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 07:30:24 -0400
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Sun, 23 Apr 2000 12:58:11 GMT, The Cat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>>rpm -Uhv etherape-0.5.3-1.i386.rpm
>>>error: failed dependencies:
>>> gnome-libs >= 1.0.0 is needed by etherape-0.5.3-1
>>> libglade >= 0.11 is needed by etherape-0.5.3-1
>>Excellent, now you know what you need.
>
>But you just told him he didn't know what he needed. You need to make
>up your mind here Terry, you can't have it both ways. Now did he know
>what he needed? Or did he not know what he needed?
>
>>>
>>>>rpm -Uhv gnome-libs-1.0.58-1.i386.rpm
>>>error: failed dependencies:
>>> gtk+ >= 1.2.1 is needed by gnome-libs-1.0.58-1
>>> libjpeg.so.62 is needed by gnome-libs-1.0.58-1
>>Ditto.
>
>Seems to me that these are basic libraries that should have been
>installed with 11 gig of SuSE "install everything" option .
This is one place where debian's dselect and the *BSD ports system are much
better. They handle the dependencies for you.
I could envision a frontend for rpm that would keep track of what the sytem
had, then look at what a new rpm requires, and finally, go out and grab the
required stuff off the net. I bet someone could even make money off a thing
like this by charging a subscription fee. It sure would save a lot of grief
by avoiding "dependencies hell" is a RH-type system. :-)
The one saving grace with Linux (or other unix) is that it is generally
possible for a knowledgable user to figure out what is needed and then
provide it when installing new software.
With Windows, you may never know why something doesn't work or is flaky in
use. You also don't stand much chance of fixing it. (I hope that Win2K does
indeed solve some of the problems with DLL versions.)
--
Stuart Krivis
*** Remove "mongo" in headers for valid reply hostname
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Stefan Ohlsson)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: Red Hat Linux Backdoor Password Vulnerability
Reply-To: Stefan Ohlsson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 25 Apr 2000 13:32:56 +0100
Chad Myers wrote:
>Seeing as how a simple buffer overrun was mistreated as a "backdoor" that was
>purposely placed by Microsoft, I thought it was only fitting to see how
>Open Sores can fall victim to the same thing.
>
>http://xforce.iss.net/alerts/advise46.php3
>"With this backdoor password, an attacker could compromise the web server as
>well as deface and destroy the web site."
>
"If the affected "piranha-gui" package is installed and the
[default] password has not been changed by the administrator, the
system is vulnerable."
So, if the admin installs the package and does not alter the default
password, then people who know this default password can log in.
Any secutiry-concious admin would change it upon installing.
/Stefan
--
[ Stefan Ohlsson ] · http://www.mds.mdh.se/~dal95son/ · [ ICQ# 17519554 ]
Gabe: [burning stolen money] It costs a fortune to heat this place.
/Cliffhanger
------------------------------
From: "Otto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.lang.java.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: Government to break up Microsoft
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 11:42:45 GMT
"JEDIDIAH" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> >Quality is not the issue here usability is.
>
> That is how one typically judges 'desktop quality'. This is
> why Microsoft is a featured OS at the user interface hall of
> shame. They implemented a poor copy of other's work (MacOS,
> NeXT, OS/2).
The price of the product, availability of the applications, ease of use,
etc, has more to do with the user's choice than the quality in itself.
> >Sour grapes, pulling the uptime card again? Do you need the advantages of
> >clustered environment spelled out?
>
> As an admin, I'm more concerned about downtime than I am speed.
> While speed (or rather) responsiveness is certainly a concern,
> it is far more damaging to be unavailable to users, or to lose
> transactions. Clustering a DB has it's own constraints.
And as an admin for a web site with 15 NT 4.0 servers I'm yet to see
downtime on any of my servers. That's not to say that I'm not concerned at
all, but I'm more concerned about the security of the site than anything
else. The site also has a clustered SQL 7.0 database and didn't notice any
constraints.
> >And that "good chunk" is what, 5%?
>
> They're big enough to be in the top vendor list for the US.
> While the number may seem small represented as a percentage,
> it still represents a considerable market.
The question is that will the software companies write programs for that
platform? Most of them aren't willing to take the risks and do so. That's
not to say that there isn't any, there are, but the majority is quite
satisfied with one platform. Financially it is more profitable to develop a
program for the largest segment of the market, than for the arguably minor
desktop segment.
>
> If 5% of otherwise WinTel users could do without (microsoft),
> then whynot 10% perhaps, or 20% perhaps or even more.
Perhaps one day it will be possible, provided that financially the Apple
platform will be equal to Wintel. Otherwise the majority of the end users
will differentiate based upon their wallet, as it has been in the past.
> >And most of those companies are just like Corel, which tried to
revitalize
> >their WorldPerfect by making it available for Linux. After it bombed on
the
> >Windows platform.
>
> It didn't quite so much bomb as it was a casualty in the Microsoft
> hegemony game.
That's arguable at best. Even under Linux I prefer StarOffice 5.1 over
WorldPerfect. At least it's free vs. whatever Corel costs. And this fact in
itself goes back to what I said earlier. For most people the cost of the PC
and the applications does matter a great deal when all things are pretty
much equal.
Otto
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 07:25:27 -0400
From: Glitch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Linux kernel 2.4
so when have the developers said it may be ready?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> In the land of open-source the code is released when it is ready.
>
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> > Hi!
> >
> > Anyone know when this kernel is being released? Has it
> > been put back?
> >
> > _____________________________________________________________
> > Want a new web-based email account ? ---> http://www.firstlinux.net
> >
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: "Otto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: Red Hat Linux Backdoor Password Vulnerability
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 11:50:01 GMT
"Chad Myers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:CM8N4.6410$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Seeing as how a simple buffer overrun was mistreated as a "backdoor" that
was
> purposely placed by Microsoft, I thought it was only fitting to see how
> Open Sores can fall victim to the same thing.
>
> http://xforce.iss.net/alerts/advise46.php3
>
> 'cept, it's not just a buffer overrun, it's an actual password placed in
the
> product so that your linux box can be more easily used for DDoS'ing large
> eCommerce sites without having to mess around with actually hacking the
box
> (not that that is harder or anything).
>
> "With this backdoor password, an attacker could compromise the web server
as
> well as deface and destroy the web site."
>
The more user friendly the OS becomes the more it's likely that there are
engineering mistakes made. Makes me wonder if the Corel's Webmin has similar
backdoors.
Otto
------------------------------
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Become a Windows Registry Expert!
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 07:46:13 -0400
Russell Wallace <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
>Bob Lyday wrote:
>> Win 95 here runs pretty good for about a month and then it needs
>> a reinstall. Damn that is stupid!
>And yet I've been running Win 95 for the last three years and never
>reinstalled it, nor tinkered with the registry. It's crashed once so far
>this year, and that was when I was debugging some of my C++ code that screwed
>up the message queue - and then it gave enough warning that I could have
>saved work in memory if I'd had any. I've installed and uninstalled many
>gigabytes of software - applications, development tools, games - without
>trouble. I do find it advisable to reboot once a week or thereabouts,
>otherwise performance starts dragging, presumably due to memory leaks and
>suchlike. Other than that the machine is up 24 hours a day, and under pretty
>heavy load for a desktop machine.
>What conclusions to draw from these anecdotes, I will leave up to the reader.
If you were doing something like word processing with M$ crapware the machine
would not stay up for a full morning, much less the weeks you claim. -- BTW,
if you have a cure I know a major corporations, several actually, who will pay
big bucks if you can show them how to make Wincrap stay and running.
_____________
Ed Letourneau <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
------------------------------
Crossposted-To: comp.sys.mac.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: i cant blieve you people!!
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 07:37:43 -0400
steve jobsniak <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
>i cant believe you peolpe... micorsoft is going down, taking the rest of the
>tech stocks down alogn with it, and you folks are
>*happy*!!! will you only be happy when the entire stock market
>crashess, taking the economy, your job, and preciuos apple with it??? of
>course you'll change you're minds then, but why not change your mind now
>WHILE YOU CAN STILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE and keep it from happening?
We have the attitude of M$ gates: Tough shit!
-- We knew it would happen someday. We warned others. They didn't listen. So
its tough.
_____________
Ed Letourneau <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
------------------------------
From: Jason Long <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: These OS debates are simply Hillarious!
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 12:19:56 GMT
SamIam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Another important app for me and one that gets mentioned here often is
> tax software like Quicken. Yea, I could do them the old fashioned way
> by hand but why when there are great tools like this available.
> Fortunately, tax time only comes once a year but I'll have to keep Win98
> available for this purpose until a solution comes around for Linux.
Actually, there's already a pretty good solution to this. I used the free
online version of TurboTax (www.turbotax.com) with no problems at all. The
whole process is done through SSL and the data is kept on their server so that
you can come back anytime from any machine to continue work. I was very
impressed with the quality of the application. You only have to pay for the
filing service - $10 for a federal return.
Anyway, it's a good alternative to buying a Windows app that can only be used
once.
Jason
------------------------------
From: mlw <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Factory pre-installed Linux.
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 08:25:19 -0400
OK, lets say we can get some OEM's to do a good job at factory
pre-installation. The box arrives at the door, excited, happy user
connects the color coded wires, and violla! It boots. What should that
user see?
What kind of startup screen? Presumably an initial startup program that
creates a new user name and password? Music?
Here is a list of "pre-configured" apps that must be setup and ready to
function:
Applix or StarOffice (Depending on the kind of deal you can get)
Netscape, of course. With Shockwave and RealAudio
KDE and/or Gnome (I prefer KDE)
AcrobatReader
Java
Modem setup and configured.
PPP dialup ready to go with modem and dhcp.
Sound card setup and configured.
Video setup and configured.
Optional network, setup and configured.
All the mime-types have to be configured.
All the file types have to have icons.
The user must be able to "click" on a file and start the correct
application.
It all should have the commercial quality fit and finish of a fully
configured system.
Are the KDE or GNOME program menus sufficient, or should the OEM
rearrange them to a more logical order? The default menus I see are
biased toward the Window manager, not necessarily ordered as an end user
would like.
What are the best multimedia programs?
Would anyone care if we mixed and matched Gnome and KDE applications?
Any suggestions?
--
Mohawk Software
Windows 9x, Windows NT, UNIX, Linux. Applications, drivers, support.
Visit http://www.mohawksoft.com
"We've got a blind date with destiny, and it looks like she ordered the
lobster"
------------------------------
Crossposted-To: comp.windows.x.kde,tw.bbs.comp.linux
Subject: Re: KDE is better than Gnome
From: David Steuber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 13:00:02 GMT
David Faure <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
' CORBA has nothing to do with Drag and drop. You can't drag from KFM and
' drop on gimp, but you can drag from konqueror and drop on gimp, since
' Qt 2.x / KDE 2.x use the XDND protocol.
Thanks for the correction.
I come from a Windows world. It shows, doesn't it?
--
David Steuber | Hi! My name is David Steuber, and I am
NRA Member | a hoploholic.
http://www.packetphone.org/
"Death is nature's way of saying `Howdy'".
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (George Russell)
Subject: Re: "Technical" vs. "Non-technical"... (was Re: Grasping perspective...)
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 13:07:12 GMT
>How about remote admin ?
>
>Under Linux I can remotely admin a remote Linux box, using a GUI app
>running on the remote box. Please explain how NT can do this. Your not allowed
>to spend over $10 to obtain this facility either so the comparison remains
>fair.
VNC , from the AT&T lab in Cambridge, UK. GPL'ed. Works on Mac, Win*, X11,
RiscOS, and Java.
PCAnyWhere + Clones, from CD Roms on less than Ģ5 computer mags.
With any sense, all admin is centralised and rdisted out at boot or need.
George Russell
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (The Ghost In The Machine)
Subject: Re: "Technical" vs. "Non-technical"... (was Re: Grasping perspective...)
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 13:18:11 GMT
In comp.os.linux.advocacy, sea_Dragon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote on Tue, 25 Apr 2000 06:17:05 GMT
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>On 25 Apr 2000 12:14:41 +0800, Terry Porter
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>He can't be specific, becuase he has no clue what he is talking
>>>about. He is just repeating what looks like a technical terms
>>>so he sounds like he knows something.
>>>
>>>One can do asych IO very easily on Unix. Any basic Unix
>>>programming book will show him how to do it. Do not know what
>>>he mean by 'nice' model here. 'nice' model does not seem
>>>to mean anything.
>>>
>>>pete
>>>
>>
>>Oh I know its nonsense terms , as I've writen Linux i/o code for my Micro
>>burner design (working and released GPL).
>>
>>The whole project was easy, Linux i/o is very "nice" ;-)
>
>Do you have ANY CLUE AT ALL, Terry Porter, what asychronous I/O means?
Having worked with some variant of I/O on about a half-dozen systems, I
feel somewhat compelled to comment.
I'll admit that the VAX/VMS model was the nicest, and probably the easiest
to work with; one used SYS$QIO (and its many helpers, which basically
specified some of the arguments "by default"), and could define an
"asynchronous service trap", which was a routine that was called when
the I/O was completed, with specified arguments.
The Amiga wasn't bad either; the idea was to DoIO() (which encapsulated
everything), or SendIO(), which set things up; the message would come
back when the I/O was complete to a message port of the user's choosing.
Message ports, however, merely woke up; they didn't call a routine.
Implementation of devices was also a bit tricky; the Amiga equated
"dynamically loadable library" with "shared library" (it didn't have
a memory management unit), meaning that library code had to be reentrant
or mutex-locked, and a device driver was essentially a library with 6
special routines.
NT seems to have asynchronous I/O capability, which is presumably
what you are referring to. I haven't analyzed it fully, not having
had a need to use it, but it seems to be similar in general mechanics
to VMS, although the routine names are different. (NT does have the
peculiarity of such routines as WaitForMultipleObjects(); VMS and Amiga
didn't have this capability and instead waited on signals or event bits.)
Linux does not have asynchronous I/O capability, but does have non-blocking
I/O on pipes and sockets. While this is hardly the same, for many
programs it's good enough. Many Unices have similar capability.
Unix and Linux also fork off processes where NT might create threads;
many daemons essentially copy themselves.
However, Linux has no capability at this time that
I know of to facilitate asynchronous I/O, although I've heard rumors
of it being in work. (I envision a mechanism similar to signal(),
probably implemented through ioctl(), although I haven't studied
recent efforts in this area.) Linux also has poll() and select(); the
latter manages a set of files, specified as a bit vector (actually,
three bit vectors).
MSDOS didn't have asynchronous I/O at all, and yet was used
by millions. :-)
It's not clear what value-added asynchronous I/O notification gives
to a program if the program also uses threads, since a thread can
simply sit on a socket or pipe and wait; it's clear that this is another
tool in the arsenal of problem-solving that augments NT's already
feature-rich operating system.
[rest snipped]
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- insert random misquote here
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (The Ghost In The Machine)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: "Technical" vs. "Non-technical"... (was Re: Grasping perspective...)
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 13:22:24 GMT
In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Craig Kelley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote on 24 Apr 2000 22:33:14 -0600 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] (sea_Dragon) writes:
>
> [snip]
>
>> >Named has had a memory leak in all but the latest couple of releases
>> >so you might want to update it. A check with 'top' once a month or
>> >so would show if you are starting to use swap space and you could
>> >restart the just the processes that are hogging memory.
>>
>> Ah - that explains it. I guess Unix will just require constant
>> babysitting (unlike my non-Unix machines which just run, and which
>> I forget about).
>
>I hope you're not implying Windows NT here. Try to run that puppy
>while it's swapping it's brains out of memory.
Try to run *any* system while it's swapping its brains out.
NT is hardly unique in this regard, although it does tend to
use more memory for some reason. :-)
[.sigsnip]
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- insert random misquote here
------------------------------
From: "Drestin Black" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: Grasping perspective... (was Re: Forget buying drestin UNIX...)
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 09:15:41 -0400
"mlw" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> "Stephen S. Edwards II" wrote:
> > Honestly, I find it very odd that a member of a community that purports
to
> > advocate "free thinking" and such follows the government with such
fervor.
> >
> > Am I the only one who thinks this is a tad hypocritical?
>
> I do not follow the government with "fervor." I have worked in the
> industry and seen the damage that MS does to companies. I have
> personally been exposed to various practices. I think the government, in
> this case, is absolutely 100% right.
>
such as? Be specific? Exactly which MS practices have you personally been
"exposed" to and to what impact? This I've love to see documented...
------------------------------
From: Stephen Bodnar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Microsoft tries to scam its Insurance Company
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 05:23:01 -0800
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Aaron Kulkis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> Stephen Bodnar wrote:
> >
> > Well, I dunno. We had a firsthand experience with it here in our neck of
> > the woods. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill just about put Lloyd's of
> > London out of business when Exxon claimed that the oil spill related
> > damages were included in the liability insurance of an oil tanker.
>
> Sounds reasonable to me.
>
> Sounds like Lloyd's just plain screwed up and under-bid the coverage.
They just figured that the chances of a major spill were so small
and so unlikely, that they didn't have the resources available
to cover it when it did indeed happen.
I would imagine that it is much the same case with Microsoft -
the insurance company, even in their worst nightmare never
dreamed of having to cover something like this - and are left
short cash wise - it's part of the insurance game
Stephen
------------------------------
From: "Drestin Black" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: Red Hat Linux Backdoor Password Vulnerability
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 09:20:26 -0400
I claim the trademark on "Open Sores(tm)" :)
p.s., this is only the beginning of what we predicted a year ago...
remember? I sure do!
"Chad Myers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:CM8N4.6410$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Seeing as how a simple buffer overrun was mistreated as a "backdoor" that
was
> purposely placed by Microsoft, I thought it was only fitting to see how
> Open Sores can fall victim to the same thing.
>
> http://xforce.iss.net/alerts/advise46.php3
>
> 'cept, it's not just a buffer overrun, it's an actual password placed in
the
> product so that your linux box can be more easily used for DDoS'ing large
> eCommerce sites without having to mess around with actually hacking the
box
> (not that that is harder or anything).
>
> "With this backdoor password, an attacker could compromise the web server
as
> well as deface and destroy the web site."
>
> -Chad
>
>
------------------------------
From: "Drestin Black" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy,comp.sys.mac.advocacy,alt.conspiracy.area51
Subject: Re: Backdoors in Windows 2000?
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 09:26:00 -0400
I call it like I see it.
Besides, for all those that claim there ARE backdoors in MS products ...
how can you be so sure?
Did you revise the code? Do you even have *access* to the code?
See the hypocracy? Realize why my response was fitting?
Grow up, one day you'll surely be half as old as I am now, but only maybe
1/4 as intelligent.
If there is a backdoor in W2K - show it to us, if not, shut up.
Otherwise, modify your claims to: "There is a backdoor in every OS written."
"Marc Schlensog" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:8e1e50$i83$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>
>
> Drestin Black <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > bullshit
> ^^^^^^
> Sophisticated answer...
>
>
> Drestin, your are so cool, you just know everything.
> How can you be so sure, that MS products donīt have backdoors in them?
> Did you revise the code? Do you even have *access* to the code?
> How old are you anyway? You sometimes seem to me like a teen who
> needs attention.
>
>
> Greetz, Marc
>
>
>
>
------------------------------
From: "Drestin Black" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: MS caught breaking web sites
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 09:28:26 -0400
"Cary O'Brien" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:8e0222$l2q$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> In article <8dvs60$1np$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >In comp.os.linux.security The Ghost In The Machine
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >> Linux makes a good server OS, but the desktop convenience isn't
> >> quite there yet. (To be fair, I haven't evaluated KDE and Gnome
> >> recently; I'm an old Unix-head and use fvwm (not fvwm2-95) as a
> >> window manager, :-) and I'm not up on BeOS -- which sounds like the
> >> hottest thing since the Amiga, from a multimedia standpoint.)
> >
> >my girlfriend has, unlike me, a dual OS setup and she actually uses the
> >linux desktop with the 'old' KDE 1.2.x the most.
> >
> >If set up properly, it _can_ be done. also, the children of her sister (9
> >and 7 iirc) only use linux under kde here. ok, more for the fun but they
> >_are_ using it.
> >
>
> Linux is *GREAT* for families with small children. My 6 and 9 year
> olds have no trouble at all typing their name and password into the
> xdm login box. And once they are logged in, they can only mess
> themselves up. I put netscape, applixware, xpaint, and logo into the
> root menu and they are good to go. Diald handles the internet access.
> And if they abuse the privilege, zap goes the password.
>
> Plus I am comfortable with the kids doing whatever they want with the
> same machine I do real live paying work on. Plus I can use cron to
> email stock quotes to my cell phone.
>
i feel sorry for these kids... no games, forced to type arcane commands in
mixed case and rewarded by having a non-crashing machine that faithfully
returns a constant stream of error messages. I'm sure they suddenly lite up
when they hit startx and suddenly discover they can actually use the
computer productively and easily.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (The Ghost In The Machine)
Subject: Re: Why Linux should be pronounced with a long I
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 13:33:42 GMT
In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Marada C. Shradrakaii <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote on 25 Apr 2000 04:41:25 GMT
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>>DINOSAUR!!! WITH SUNGLASSES!!! AND A CUSTOMIZED RACECAR!!!
>>Let's petition Linus and make him change the logo.
>
>I vote for a big evil dragon, wearing a huge fur coat and riding
>in a modified Hyundai.
Would probably look too much like the Mozilla logo. :-)
[rest snipped]
--
[EMAIL PROTECTED] -- insert random misquote here
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christopher Browne)
Crossposted-To: comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy
Subject: Re: "Technical" vs. "Non-technical"... (was Re: Grasping perspective...)
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2000 13:39:54 GMT
Centuries ago, Nostradamus foresaw a time when The Ghost In The Machine
would say:
>In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Craig Kelley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>wrote on 24 Apr 2000 22:33:14 -0600 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
>>[EMAIL PROTECTED] (sea_Dragon) writes:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>> >Named has had a memory leak in all but the latest couple of releases
>>> >so you might want to update it. A check with 'top' once a month or
>>> >so would show if you are starting to use swap space and you could
>>> >restart the just the processes that are hogging memory.
>>>
>>> Ah - that explains it. I guess Unix will just require constant
>>> babysitting (unlike my non-Unix machines which just run, and which
>>> I forget about).
>>
>>I hope you're not implying Windows NT here. Try to run that puppy
>>while it's swapping it's brains out of memory.
>
>Try to run *any* system while it's swapping its brains out.
>NT is hardly unique in this regard, although it does tend to
>use more memory for some reason. :-)
The problem is not that NT "uses more memory", or that it is necessarily
unusually bad _at_ swapping.
The problem is that it appears that memory is never returned to the
"free" pool.
The NT boxes at work have to be rebooted every few days to free up
memory.
I suspect that solving this would be roughly equivalent to curing cancer;
it would be heralded as an act of genius, but merely leave the system to
"live" to be killed by the _next_ problem that came along.
[After all, even if cancer were "cured," people would still, eventually,
die...]
--
"Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of
one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent
programmer." -- Edsger W.Dijkstra
[EMAIL PROTECTED] - - <http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/lsf.html>
------------------------------
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