DeathElk - Slashdot User

Journalist "arrested" at IT security conference-> 0

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DeathElk

on Tuesday May 17 2011, @06:38PM

DeathElk writes "Fairfax media IT journalist Ben Grubb was detained by police in Australia after publishing an article on events at a security conference in Queensland. The article describes methods used to bypass Facebook security controls, as presented by security expert Christian Heinrich. Although police deny "arresting" the journalist, he was detained for questioning and his iPad was confiscated. Is it no longer safe in Australia to report on events and the facts arising from these events?"
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Australian Tax Office - Sorry, Windows only!-> 0

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DeathElk

on Friday July 25 2008, @08:49AM

DeathElk writes "The Australian Taxation Office has come under fire from Mac and Linux users due to the ATOs continued failure to offer a non-Microsoft Windows version of their popular e-tax program. The ATO e-tax program is used by millions of Australian tax payers to submit their annual tax returns. The ATO has responded by suggesting Mac and Linux users "come into a Tax Office shopfront and use e-tax on a shopfront computer". Linux users may be able to run e-tax under wine, however this doesn't leave many options for less technically oriented Linux users or Mac users. Aside from paying the Microsoft Tax, either by licensing Windows under VMware or other virtual machine software, the only option for non-windows users is to turn off the computer — and complete their tax return manually or pay a tax consultant."
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Chuck Norris Backs Down-> 0

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DeathElk

on Monday June 09 2008, @07:04PM

DeathElk writes "Has Chuck Norris found a soft spot? Possibly so, after he dropped a lawsuit against university student Ian Spector and Spector's publisher Penguin Group Ltd. Spector had previously penned a compilation of well known "Facts" about Chuck Norris."
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Microsoft introduces MAR Program-> 0

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DeathElk

on Tuesday November 13 2007, @05:16PM

DeathElk writes "Microsoft now offers discounted Windows XP licenses to PC refurbishers through their Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher program. From the ARNnet article: 'Observers say MAR also attempts to ameliorate another risk: that refurbishers, frustrated by the high cost and difficulty of following Microsoft's arcane Windows licenses to the letter, will simply install a free Linux operating system on renewed PCs instead.'"
Link to Original Source

Australian teachers try to shut down website

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DeathElk

on Wednesday May 02 2007, @06:21PM

DeathElk writes "New South Wales teachers are attempting to have a website based in the United States closed down due to "defamatory" content. The site in question encourages students to rate teachers at their school, which obviously results in some colorful content. Now the story has hit the media, with some insightful quotes such as "The president of the NSW Secondary Principals Council, Jim McAlpine, said the Federal Government should block access to 'scurrilous American websites'." What's next — the great fwall of AU?"

Linux adoption widens, why is it still a hard sell

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DeathElk

on Thursday December 14 2006, @07:09AM

DeathElk writes "A blog article from September 2006 referring to possibly Australia's largest Linux desktop rollout to date was followed up recently with comments by the same author on the continuing hard sell for SME integrators of desktop Linux.

As the IT manager of a company of 100 employees, I strive to adopt the most suitable solutions for our staff. Many of our workstations such as POS stations and inventory management have no concrete requirement for Windows compatible software, so I plan to migrate these in the near future. Indeed, around 30% of personal computers I have managed during my career have few "desktop specific" requirements at all — they are there as a tool to serve a specific purpose, and certainly don't need IE, Solitaire, Hearts etc... let alone the maintenance and security involved

So why the continuing hard sell for Linux integrators that target smaller companies? Perhaps it is time for integrators to break the standard "desktop mentality" and adopt a more utilitarian approach, with the cost benefits this offers."

Linux desktop ready - mainstream media says so

Submitted by

DeathElk

on Wednesday September 13 2006, @06:50PM

DeathElk writes "Who says you need to be a tech guru to run Linux for everyday use? Not according to the Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney's main broadsheet and online format newspaper, who recently featured an article espousing the virtues of desktop linux. See Linux wins over new fans.

From the article: "Linux is shedding its hard-core techie image in a bid to woo ordinary human beings seeking an easy-to-use operating system that can be downloaded for free."

Is this a positive step forward for widespread GNU/Linux desktop adoption? Unfortunately the article doesn't mention the large range of live CD/DVD distributions available for try before you fly, or the range of Windows applications tested and working under Wine."