Actually, it was only about 45 Million. That is a lot to us, but I doubt it is enough to make the banks quake in their boots. They'll just use this as an excuse to up percentage points by one and walk away with a nice profit from the ordeal.

The contract is between the contestants and the producers not the producers and the viewers. Have you read it, or have you just decided you already know what it must say? They may say in their advertisements that "Your vote helps decide decide", but does it say anything about them being weighed equally with the network executives votes?

In a game show scenario there is an objective measurement that comes into play. For example, the answer is what it is, and it can be proved. A "talent" contest is subjective, so there is no way to hold it to the same standard.

You aren't quite getting it. The tool is designed to only allow people who have logged in (auth'd) to perform tasks that require root access, limiting said access to only certain configuration files that they should be able to change, and to make only certain kinds of changes. It has a security flaw which can be exploited. It is no different than any other software that requires root access and has a security flaw that can be exploited from a non-privileged environment. It is akin to a GUI based sudo with nice dialogs as a front end to various tools. If a particular implementation of sudo is flawed it doesn't mean the concept of sudo is flawed.

CPanel is often used to allow Web Hosting customers to have control over their pay per month websites / accounts. If a company allows their customers to create email accounts, enable ssh, etc. on a shared host this is how it is typically done to reduce the huge overhead of fielding requests for such tasks from every Tom, Dick, and Harry, since you clearly cannot give them root access.

Implemented an idea poorly does not make it a bad idea.

I vote we send everyone on the planet who.

Splits a sentence in the middle and starts a whole new paragraph with the second fragment!

No. It isn't. Please learn basic computer security and terms. It is ONLY exposed to the VPN. If you don't hack into their internal network (i.e. VPN) it doesn't show on a port scan nor can you get to it.

You seem to be under the mistaken impression that you can't use it if it isn't exposed to the internet. Look into VPNs and how they work. It should provide you with a serious Homer Simpsonesque DOH moment.

My reading comprehension skills are excellent. The South used their privately owned weapons to form a militia. It doesn't matter that they didn't win. It is a classic example of the second amendment in action, not a counter-example that shows it could never happen. It is true that they didn't stop them permanently, but .they did stop them. If I put a barricade in your way I successfully stop you. The fact that you subsequently find a way to destroy the barricade and start again doesn't mean I didn't stop you.

Either you didn't read what I wrote, or you don't know what a counter-example is.

"The problem is, how can you trust it (or other "solutions") to be free from malware?"

Yes. That is the problem with Windows regardless of where you get it from. I'll go one step further and say that you can just assume it already has malware. Windows Genuine Disadvantage anyone?

I just read the Wikipedia article on Lake Wobegon, and it seems that you are referring to "The Lake Wobegon Effect". Unfortunatley this term is ill-coined. It is indeed possible for all the children to be above average in fictional Lake Wobegon, since they are a very small subset of all the children in the world.

"What is this third kind of software that is neither open source nor proprietary which is bringing down the average industry standard for software quality?"

As far as exceeding industry standards you are confusing a standard with a mean. For example, the industry standard size for a byte is 8 bits. If your bytes have 9 bits in the software you design then you have exceeded industry standards ;-)

I almost agree with you. I'll take the programmer who would have lost because they took the time to do a robust job, but didn't because he didn't waste his time and focused on something productive instead.

Since the prize is a job interview the two are cumulative rather than mutually inclusive. Also, you're fired.

" I'm head IT manager "

That is beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the biggest problems your company has right now.