mydoghasworms asks: "I have done much thinking lately about Linux Standards Base. The idea makes lots of sense: Adopt a standard which will ensure that if some piece of software is compiled on one LSB-compliant system, it will run on any other LSB-compliant system. This would be great for members of the general public who are looking for an alternative to Windows, don't want to pay for Mac, but are looking for a platform where installing and running software is as easy as on the platform they are used to. Seen in that light, if LSB lives up to its promise, it could be the step in Linux's evolution that could see it adopted by the general public. That leaves the question: Why is LSB not seeing greater adoption?"

Today, read the continuation of Larry Sanger's account of the early history of Nupedia and Wikipedia (below), in which Sanger talks about the difficulties of governance in a large, free-wheeling project, some final attempts to save Nupedia, and how he came to resign from the organization. (And if you missed it, you might want to start with yesterday's installment.)

cluge asks: "It seems that several large providers give their users DNS servers that simply ignore DNS time to live (TTL). Over the past decade I've seen this from time to time. Recently it seems to be a pandemic, affecting very large cable/broadband and dial up networks. Performing a few tests against our broadband cable provider has shown that only one of the three provided DNS servers picked up a change in seven days or less. After turning in a trouble ticket with that provider - two of the three provided DNS servers were responding correct - while the third was still providing bad information more than two weeks after that specific change. What DNS caches ignore TTL by default? Is there a valid technical reason to ignore TTL?"

Kez writes "HEXUS.net caught up with Michael Robertson, CEO of Linspire, at the UK launch of Linspire 5. Their interview with Mr. Robertson covers everything from hardware support to software patents, but a comment from Mr. Robertson on using root is perhaps the most interesting: "I defy anybody to tell me why is it more secure to not run as root. Nobody really has a good answer. They say 'oh, yeah, it is!', but it really isn't." I would imagine a few Slashdotters would dispute that."

slashdot_commentator asks: "My bookmark collection has hit a few thousand at this point. Anything that looks interesting, or may be of interest in the future, I tuck away. I group them in roughly 30 different subfolders based on topic. I've decided I consume too much effort in organizing them, and need to find a better solution. I've looked at radically different systems like del.icio.us, but its not for me. I'm even toying with writing a plugin/replacement to the current built-in bookmark manager. Can anyone recommend a plugin or package? Or alternately, features they would like to see in a 'bookmark manager'?"

dnnrly asks: "I've been writing software professionaly for a couple of years now for more than 1 company and I've noticed a recurring pattern: I get put on a new project that already has a bit of history and I get told to read the design documents and then implement XYZ. What happens is I read the document, find that it gives me a lot of information about certain aspects of the system we are building, but leaves huge gaps in others. We're going to be rewriting some of the procedures very soon and I'll be able to influence the software side so I wanted to ask Slashdot readers what sort of things have they seen in design documents that they've liked/thought are a good idea? What have they found works and what doesn't? If all else fails, where's a good place to find all this stuff out?"

kimanaw writes "Due to a particular infrastructure need, and increasing OS support for 64 bitness, I'm looking into building a large memory server box (at least 16 gigs, possibly up to 64 gigs, probably config'ed into a big ramdisk). I only need a single CPU, and just minimal disk; most prebuilt systems w/ large memory seem to focus on more CPus and big RAID, all of which (over)inflate the pricetag. I've searched several websites (including Tom's Hardware), and I've googled, but can't seem to locate any commercially available AMD MBs supporting more than 4 sticks of RAM, or 4 gigs. Have any Slashdotters built a big-RAM server? Any pointers, hints, and tips much appreciated."

Eh-Wire writes "Although prisoners Internet access is highly restricted, this hasn't prevented many inmates from getting around the restrictions with the judicious use of phone and snail-mail privileges to network with friends, relatives, activists, and associates to provide content to their websites. Some use their websites to badger witnesses and prosecuters, while others plead their case or phish for pen-pals. Some have successfully challenged their convictions through their websites, which complicates efforts by authorities to silence them. Websites domiciled outside of the respective jurisdictions further complicate the issue. Yahoo News has additional commentary on this controversial subject."