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Slashback: Dell, 800, Disclosure
from the stunning-lunch-at-t.ho-in-knoxville dept.
Spinning so had they can feel it in Ft. Worth. L-Wave writes: "This Story is running on linux.com. Apparently Dell has written an open letter toLinux users. 'Dell has published an open letter to its Linux customers "clarifying" its position as regards the insurgent OS. Actually, the letter is headed "Clarifying Dell and Linux," but either of these would be a massive task, and we think we know what they meant to say.'"
Please note that all Dell is saying here is that they will load customer-specified software at the factory -- it's probably convenient for some customers, but nothing new for Dell. In the case of software with expensive licenses, it means some simplified paperwork. With Free software, it just means convenience. The letter is therefore rather lukewarm, but at least a lot better than refusing to install software that doesn't include a licensing markup.
Brush up on your polite conversation skills. doublem writes: "This site lists the toll-free numbers of known Spammers, so they can be called, harassed and otherwise vented against for their crimes. Something tells me the ./ crowd will like this sort of thing as evidenced by this recent article. I'd like to add 1-888-288-9043 as the number for the well-known VORTEX SUPPLIES, a collection of jerks who refuse to take me off their mailing lists." I started doing the same a few months ago, but this guy has me beat by miles, even if he doesn't list Miss Cleo's number thanks to Psychic spam that knew I'd react with a call.
Yessir, our team goes into action right after the first fortnight. jeffy124 writes "Microsoft has admitted knowledge of an IE bug a full week before a security firm announced it. Turns out sec firm Online Solutions privately informed MS of the bug Nov. 1, but MS initially said they first heard of it Nov. 9 after Online made the find public the same day. MS claims standard procedure of allowing themselves two weeks in order to make sure someone's not cryin wolf and write a patch. They also claimed that no breaches occured during that wait. MS says that Online acted responsibly in their actions, and "'apologizes for innacurate statements.'"
You mean the lawsuits didn't kill it? Far from certain conpiracy theories advanced after Bleem published their own epitaph ShadeEagle writes: "Here we find out that Sony didn't know about Bleem's death until they were asked about it. Gamespot has more relevant information as to the possible (or impossible) future of Bleem." And another gaming note: mickeyreznor writes "According to this article on CNet, Sega appears to be in good financial shape despite the trouble they've had with the dreamcast. In addition, 60 games are being planned for X-box and PS2 over the next year. Sega's future looks bright, and that can only be a good thing for gamers."
microsoft were probably just patching (Score:1)
Yehaw! (Score:1)
Now I wan't some turkey!
Emulation (Score:2, Interesting)
He released some tools such as a disassembler which while of course not for emulations, Sony did not like so much. Sony sent him an unfriendly letter and unfortunately my friend removed his tools from public access
It is especially bad since he was simply trying to assist the hobbyist PlayStation programmer. It is too bad Sony does not realize their loss.
R. Suzuka
XBox, bah (Score:1, Offtopic)
But I was thinking, since MS looses about 100 dollars or so on the sale of each Xbox, why not make a huge cluster of them at MS's expense (by using Linux, obvioulsy)?
why anti-MS? (Score:1, Troll)
can anyone argue with this? think how easily a crapflood of spurious security vulnerability reports could erode MS' product reputation. i would say if they didn't do this, they'd be acting irresponsibly.
so why the anti-MS tone? there's enough about them that's worthy of criticism; let them alone on the other points.
Re:why anti-MS? (Score:5, Insightful)
respond instantly--we have to sieve the wheat from the chaff to determine how reliable the vulnerability warning is," said Neil Laver, Windows product marketing manager for Microsoft. "Until we can investigate the issue, we are not going to issue a bulletin, as that would create a crying wolf situation."
can anyone argue with this?
I can. It doesn't take a week to recreate an exploit like this and say, "OH shit!"
br>Microsoft is a large enough company to have someone on the job whose exclusive responsibility is to read incoming exploit reports and IMMEDIATELY test the described method. Immediately after that (ten minutes after the report arrived, if they have a bunch of configured machines immediately available - again, MS is big enough to afford this) they can say, "Report verified. Issue a bulletin and get the engineers on the job fixing that bug."
In the case of a major (or any) exploit, there is no excuse for a large outfit like MS to require more than an hour or two to verify that a problem exists. Actually fixing it will probably take longer, but the fact that the expolit exists should be immediately published so those running the affected software can decide if they want to take their servers off-line or take some kind of self-protective action.
Re:why anti-MS? (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow! you really have no idea how software development and engineering departments work. With an engineering department that can switch gears and start projects as fast as the one you described we would be able to get a new version of windows ever 2 months.
I will explain to you how most large bug reporting/engineering systems work. First a secretary or intern will be assigned to read the bug mail and sort out the legitimate problems from the lunatics writing in that your product just SUCKS.
If it is a legitimate bug report and it includes all the information necessary to reproduce it then it gets entered in the bug tracking/administration system. An email or memo will be sent to the manager of the division that handles testing.
The manager will assign the bug to a tester who will try to reproduce it. That is after he has worked on all the other items in his queue that have a higher priority. Once he has reproduced it he identifys what component causes the problem (or guesses). And add adds the item as a reproduced bug to the bug tracking system.
The manager in charge of the division that handles that system or component will get the notice and eventually get around (depending on priority) to assigning the bug to an engineer.
The engineer will then start working on the bug, but only after he has already completed what he was working on at the time, and cleared any higher priority items out of his queue as well.
It would take at least a day to go through any one of these steps. And even more time depending on how busy people are and what priority rating the bug gets. Plus in larger companies these things actually go through more steps such as priority assignment meetings and impact analysis.
In short your expenctations are insane. When you are dealing with a company of any size about 30 employees you have to use a system to kepp all of them working, or you are loosing money. That means you need to manage tasks and verify bugs before assigning them to engineers. And you don't have 30 engineers just sitting in the back room waiting to work on whatever you give them. They are probably already working on fixing another terrible exploit. The resources have to be allocated as you go based on what you see the threat as.
Anyway i hope this gives you a little more respect for the engineers who actually do this.
Regards,
A couple of notes (Score:5, Informative)
Also, he talks about some 800 lines being on a flat monthly rate. Don't let that stop you from calling up and wasting their time anyway (or calling and setting the phone down for the 3-minute message). When 10,000 bored Slashdot readers call these guys and rack up the minutes, believe me, the phone company will notice. Enough calls might be enough to make the telco selling a flat rate line think twice about renewing a contract.
-Legion
Law (Score:5, Informative)
If you are so inclined
lets cost the spammers some real money!!! (Score:5, Informative)
there is a script (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.lenny.com/spam/
Dell and Linux kinda a big deal (Score:5, Insightful)
The importance is not that they load the OS, it's that they are treating Linux the same as Microsoft. PHB's like to feel secure, and knowing that Dell, a major player in the OEM server / PC market, is offering Linux as a platform they stand behind just like Netware and NT/2000 - makes them feel secure. It all comes down to big management catch words like "Enterprise" "Scalable" and maybe even a little "TCO."
The fight for Linux is not a fight of technical profecciency, that is already achieved, it is a fight of making managers at 35,000 feet feel comfotable with it. (IMO)
Dell letter (Score:1)
McLinux pre installed? (Score:1)
--
Still an improvement... (Score:1)
Disloyal Dell (Score:4, Informative)
First they jumped on the almighty Linux bandwagon a few years ago, claimed open source this and that, but in reality they never did anything to help the cause.
In fact, when they were selling linux on machines you could configure two exact systems - one with linux and one with windows, and the windows box was always around $200 less than the same linux box! It makes economic sense to buy the window box then wipe the drive and install your own linux. No wonder they had no demand.
Dell does not give a sh*t about their customers, their employees, or GNU/Linux.
Too late Dell ... too late.... (Score:5, Interesting)
A buddy of mine bought 5 rackmount servers with cabinet and a kit to convert his company's current server to a rackmount.
We had to call Dell multiple times and sit through at least half a dozen nested menu options (the dead end ones that force you to hang up suck) trying to get the bundled Red Hat deal with them. Half of the reps didn't even know they offered linux, this is from the server people mind you. And then, come to find, the linux options are just as expensive as the windows options, if not more.
"No, I want Linux, I don't want you to email me information about win2k advanced server." Say that a few dozen times. sigh.
So, the poor wretch bought the Red Hat 7.1 package "specialy certified to run on Dell hardware" for $150.
When the servers arrrives he gets the cardboad box for RH7.1 (no cover, so you can't even put it on a shelf to look cool), and NO STICKERS. Oh yeah, a photocopied sheet of instructions for installing Redhat.
Dell buys Red Hat, and then jacks up the price, THEY COULD HAVE AT LEAST GIVEN US THE DAMN REDHAT STICKERS!!
Don't let any of these OEMs try to kiss up and say that they support linux, and they are doing everything they can to help the community blah blah
So far, IBM is the only large company that is doing a damn to help Linux. At least HP was smart enough to say "We don't know shit about Linux or their community, let's hire Bruce Perens...."
Re:Too late Dell ... too late.... (Score:4, Interesting)
I have a Dell on my desk which was bought with Linux on it (actually, they sent it to me with a blank hard drive, but that is a different story). Why? Because if I had bought a machine from one of the many vendors [linux.org] that sell Linux boxes, I would have had to file Selection of Source paperwork, get references for the vendors, et cetera. With Dell, all I had to do was get a web quote and send it to purchasing. Their mediocre Linux support was just barely sufficient to not drive me to another vendor.
Note that they flat-out refuse to sell hardware with Linux installed to an individual consumer. Why? They charge more for Linux than for Windoze, so the profit margin is higher. The only possible reason is (dare I say it?) anti-competitive marketing agreements with MS. Pure speculation on my part, of course.
These phone numbers are helping spammers. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:These phone numbers are helping spammers. (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah...ok...but I believe that tthe point is that they're 800 numbers, so these companies will *pay* for that call whether or not you talk to a real person.
The most noble thing for Bleem to do... (Score:2, Interesting)
pre-paid toll free lines (Score:2, Interesting)
Stop bashing the X-Box! (Score:3, Informative)
Operating system is hardly the most important consideration with regard to the X-Box. All consoles are sold at a loss, so if Microsoft decides to start selling outsourced hardware at a loss that runs Linux, that's pretty much a victory for us right there.
That said I think it's obvious to everyone in the industry that the X-Box is by far and away the most technically advanced [consolehaven.com] console ever built. With nearly five times the polygon fill rate of a PS2 and 5 times the MHz of comparable Sega systems, this thing puts the wimpy PowerMac-wannabe "GameCube" to shame.
Don't let your prejudices blind you. The X-Box is an impressive piece of hardware - once everyone starts using them as Linux web servers you'll stop bitching.
Re:Stop bashing the X-Box! (Score:5, Insightful)
Second, the Dreamcast is Windows CE compatible. The OS is actually on the CD (shades of AppleDOS!) and its up to the developer which OS to use. I have three DC games (D2, Seaman, Shenmue), and only the D2 uses Windows. Sega's in-house developers seem not to like it -- can't imagine why.
Meanwhile... (Score:4, Funny)
Nov. 20: Don't mess with RedHat Package Manager files
RedHat Package Manager (RPM) files are compiled and prepackaged programs which can be downloaded and installed on Linux systems. It is possible corrupt the data in an RPM file so code is executed on a Linux system when the RPM is queried for version information. This is a difficult thing to do since the memory location of the hacker shellcode would need to be known. However, It's possible so don't mess with RPM files from untrusted sources.
I'd suspect Taco is moonlighting over there if it weren't for the correct use of the apostrophe in "It's."
Reason enough to boycott Sony? (Score:1)
My beef with Dell (somewhat offtopic) (Score:4, Informative)
If you have a newer dell machine that has Windows (tm) on it, check the uptime of the os (seems to be only machines that were built before may of 2001). If you are unsure on how to do this, just go to download.com, search for windows uptime, and download the Windows Uptime 1.3.3, its a tiny download, but you will be able to check this quickly... The problem with these machines is that they are not reporting a correct uptime of windows. I am not sure if this happens with other os's, my job only lets me see these that have Windows on them.. I saw a dell machine last week, it was a week old, but reported an uptime of 40 days. Ive seen another dell machine that said it had a 6 hour uptime on a fresh boot, and an hour later it says 30min uptime.
Dell isn't taking any responsibility in this.. I am really not too sure if it is Dell's fault, but it is only happening on new Dell machines. I have had 4 people call them up, and ask them why their machine does this, and they get one of 2 answers:
1 - We have never heard of this problem before, but don't worry about it
or
2 - This is a Windows problem, call Microsoft
Soo.. if you do have one of these newer dell machines, try looking at the uptime for windows. Heck, if it has linux on it, check it too. I know of a few games that will base their internal clock off of the Windows Uptime (dont ask me why, im really not too sure why they use windows uptime, Links 2001 is an example of a game that will use the uptime for the internal clock.) If you have a machine with this problem, document it and send the info to dell. They do have responsibility over the OS that ships with a new machine, but they are just pawning it off and screwing customers over.
Well there is my rant, I used to like dell quite a bit but lately their support is just utter crap. I am really suprised that if someone spends 3 grand on a machine, and then gets that from dell when asked about the problem, I would take the machine back myself..
If anyone knows/has a fix, or knows why this might be happening, please reply back, im kinda dying to know you could say =)
Zeno
Modem dialing... (Score:2, Insightful)
Of course, I'll have to modify the init string so that it doesn't try to negotiate a modem connection, otherwise it will fail too many times and the numbers will become BLACKLISTED.
Oh - and I need to move to the US since it won't be free otherwise
Who needs Dell? (Score:1)
Mines been up and running for several months now and I've yet to have a single complaint. This is so much better than the last time I went mail order and spent the entire first two months on the phone with tech support.
Regards,
-l
Bleem!'s Countersuit (Score:1)
Wow, they were scraping the bottom of the lawsuit barrel with that one.
"Vortex Supplies" (Score:3, Interesting)
As "Benchmark Print Supply", Khuri nearly went to jail for spewing out of his spamhole, and is really under a court order that prohibits him from spamming. He's just hoping that nobody would notice that it's really him.
So Dell will ship boxes with Linux? (Score:3, Interesting)
typo (?) (Score:1)
I can't put my finger on it, but something with that just seems wrong
Bleem - any mirrors? (Score:1)
One word about Dell Linux (Score:4, Informative)
-BUT-
The installations REALLY sucked. I had to go back and re-install Linux on both. On top of that, I also needed to dload the newest Linux (at the time, Dells shipped w/ RH7.0, when Red Hat had been shipping 7.1 for a long time). The problems ranged from not being able to have the CD drive toast CD's, or even read stuff to having the computer randomly lock up. All problems were fixed upon the re-installation, but it was a (minor) inconvience. I think that all Dell did was make one install image and then use them for all the machines, from laptop to desktop. I seemed to have fewer problems on the OptiPlex...Oh well
Just letting the public know about how *much* Dell cares about Linux. Next time I want a computer, I'll just buy the parts. (I would have done that, but these damned grants don't let you do that, now do they?) If people are really interested in getting a quality linux box, they should go to Penguin Computing [penguincomputing.com] at . My buddy just got a machine from them, and he tells me that they are the Alienware of the linux world.
formmail.pl (Score:1)
Anyone out there have a good script to put in place of formmail that can do some "interesting" things?
Just Dell, no Wincrap, no Linux? (Score:2)
While having a Linux preinstalled may be good for some people, I don't really care. I'd probably re-install my own fav distro anyhow (especially as some manufacturers preinstall Caldera or something equally exotic/nonstandard).
Most essentially, I absolutely refuse to pay for any Microsoft software, especially if I wouldn't even use it.
one more idea how to hit those spamming idiots (Score:2, Interesting)
The proposal: make a central database of 800 numbers,e-mail addresses and websites advertised through spam (rather big I figure). Then, anytime you get annoyed (about 10 times per day probably) by a spammer, first report the contact details and then run a script that randomly grabs say 100 email addresses from the database and sends loads of crap to them. Do the same with 800 numbers and website forms. If we get 10000 angry sysadmins sending loads of random crap or just angry letters to poor souls who decided to advertise through spam we may quickly make them get some clue and stop annoying us.
Of course, reasonable filters are mandatory - e.g. an 800 number gets added to the database only after 10 people from different subnets report it.
Beat the Telemarketers (Score:1)
In some cases, I believe they have to offer certain information up front by law! If they don't I believe there are also legal remedies that can be employed.(For instance, in Fl. there are significant fines placed on people who call folks on the states' do-not-solicit list.) Hit 'em in the wallet if you want to get their attention. Find out what laws are protecting you in your area. Get yourself on a do not call list for God's sake.
Perhaps, if enough time is taken out of their day, they'll practice better target marketing. You can protect yourself.. anyone who says "they won't take me off their list", may simply not be placing their energies in the correct channels.
l-wave's register quote (Score:2)
-Paul Komarek
Re:Crapback (Score:2, Funny)
Well, at least it's not splashback. I hate when that happens. I mean, unless the bowl was flushed with alcohol, you never know what you might catch from that. Therefore, I propose the government mandate that all public toilets for #2 use should have at least a 6 foot drop to the water line. Sure some little kid might fall in and drown, but at least I won't have to deal with splashback.
Re:What kind of support you people want? (Score:1)
I'm the same way with my own R2 unit at work and everybody around me knows it. How do they know this? Because I am the local Computer Geek. I'm just an Administrative Assistant, true, but I run Linux at home and Win95 at work and people know that I'm the man to come to when the computer isn't doing what it's supposed to do.
But there are limits to my POWER and my knowledge. I have no way to affect the print servers, Java applications, and other things outside of my own system. These are things only (whatever their equivalent is) ROOT users can affect. I am not a root user on a print server locked upstairs and, even if I was, I don't know that I could do anything to it because I WOULDN'T USE A LOUSY HUNK OF JUNK WINDOWS PRINT SERVER TO BEGIN WITH! I'd use an old 133 MHZ, 32 MB machine with Linux left over in the "abandoned" pile to do it.
So, to answer your question, the kind of support I want is EFFECTIVE support. I want people to know what's what when I call them to fix a problem that I CAN'T DIRECTLY AFFECT! Too damned often this is not the case. They take no action and take no responsibility for the operation of these machines and the applications that go with them.
{begin Sgt. Hartmann rant} And to those who can't install Linux to begin with, well...get your greasy dickskinners off the hardware and go pick up a book! It's numbnuts know-nothing yardbirds like you that fuck up things for skilled people! Now get on your keyboard and compile me 30!{end Sgt. Hartmann rant}