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Linux

Submission + - Linux indemnification from Microsoft - sort of? (desktoplinux.com)

Submitted by clemenstimpler
clemenstimpler writes: It may just be an intelligent business idea. Or it is a novel approach to the task of embracing, extending and extinguishing. You now can buy CentOS support — not from Red Hat, but from a startup called OpenLogic. However, a trip to OpenLogic's website proves to be disconcerting.

1. They offer a special Open Source Indemnification Offer. Quote: "There are many benefits to using open source software, but in some cases there are lingering legal concerns around deploying open source in the enterprise. In order for enterprises to fully embrace a broad range of open source software, they need to be able to deploy, manage and control open source while limiting the associated legal and compliance risks. For the first time, enterprises can now access indemnification coverage for a broad range of open source products from a single vendor. By mitigating the intellectual property risks associated with open source software, OpenLogic enables enterprises to safely and securely use open source software and maximize cost savings." Anyone else smelling SCOSource?

2. Their CEO is a former Microsoft employee.

3. To call this company "OpenLinux" can only be a sign of very subtle humor, because Open Linux was the name for the "enterprise linux solution" distributed by former Caldera, now SCO.

 

Comment The future of KDE bug reports: Some sample replies (Score 4, Funny) 364

by clemenstimpler (#30232650) Attached to: KDE Rebrands, Introduces KDE Plasma Desktop

Step 1: "The KDE software compilation team happily acknowledges the bug report you have filed. Why we are happy? This bug report in fact concerns the KDE workspaces team. Or so we believe. Please be so kind as to file your bug report again at the appropriate place. If the KDE workplaces team should be able to prove that this is none of their matter, please be so kind as to reopen this bug. After reopening the bug here, please be aware that it will be triaged for at least nine months as a matter of policy. If you should be obnoxious, we may decide at our own will to extend the period to at least eleven months. Thank you very much for your assistance in making the K Desktop/Compilation/Workspace/Application Experience even better. Salvatory Clause: The expression "K Desktop experience" is only preserved for the purpose of backward compatibility."

Step 2: "Thanks a lot for filing a bug report. We certainly appreciate your willingness to enhance the K Workspaces Experience (formerly known as the K Desktop Experience, an expression preserved only in order to preserve backward compatibility). However, we have noticed in your bug report that Amarok 1.1.4 has been opened while encountering your bug. Since Amarok 1.1.4 certainly cannot be regarded as part of the K Software Compilation experience, you should consider updating. If this does not remove the bug you have encountered, please be so kind as to file a bug first against the respective K Software Compilation. If this should not prove to be sucessful in the next two years, please reconsider opening the bug here. Before that, it will be futile anyway."

Comment Re:Hamburg = Texas (Score 1) 145

by clemenstimpler (#29860705) Attached to: Music Rights Holders Sue YouTube Again
At the present time, it is the district attorney (Staatsanwaltschaft) conducting an investigation (Ermittlungsverfahren). Whether this will ever go to court, remains to be seen. And if this should happen, it will be dealt with by the criminal division of the court. The judgments quoted by you concerned civil cases.
Security

Submission + - What to do with a pwned router? 2

Submitted by Headbonk
Headbonk writes: So say that theoretically you live in a big apartment building where lots of people have wireless networks... When scanning for networks you find like 10 different network names. Lets say that one day you notice a new unsecured network that still has the default network name set from the wifi router manufacturer. Say you also discovered this router still had the default administrator password set for the config pages? Assume that there are enough people and networks in the building that you can't figure out who the unsecured router belongs to.

What is the correct thing to do here? From a security standpoint and or an ethics point of view? You could turn on encryption, but that would just make the outer stop working for the people whose network it is. It would be a pain in the ass for them and there's nothing preventing them from just reseting the router or buying a new one thus going back to the same situation as before. Is it right to get involved at all? Does it even matter since the default settings of wifi routers include a firewall and the unsecured wireless just makes them vulnerable to their neighbors (like you)? Is there a right "good citizen" thing to do here to help protect the people who connect to that network?
It's funny. Laugh.

Submission + - True IT Confessions (infoworld.com)

Submitted by
snydeq
snydeq writes: "Backups gone bad, people with admin privileges who probably shouldn't, the wrong equipment unplugged — when IT pros make mistakes, they don't mess around. Entire buildings go dark. Web sites disappear. Companies grind to a halt. InfoWorld's Dan Tynan gathers up seven of the dumbest moves IT pros have been brave enough to fess up to, proving that when it comes to the dirty work of IT nobody is above fault — and that it's not just stupid users who are capable of bringing IT operations to its knees. 'In some cases, we've obscured their identities to spare them embarrassment; others, however, are perfectly willing to own up to their youthful mistakes,' Tynan writes. 'But don't laugh too hard. We know you've probably done worse.'"
Biotech

Submission + - The largest ever phylogeny reconstructed

Submitted by G3ckoG33k
G3ckoG33k writes: In recent article, scientists have reconstructed the largest single analysis ever of the organismal relationships. Including a fantastic 73060 bacteria, plants, fungi, and animals in a single run; it took the computer 2.5 months complete the run. The analysis included both DNA and morphological data and good news is also that just about all of the groupings of organisms suggested by earlier authors have been substantiated. The summary says "It seems that, for phylogenetics, the only limit that remains is the availability of data.". So, given the all-time low prices for sequencing, we probably can recover all major evolutionary events within a few decades.
Space

Submission + - Tomorrow's Science Heroes?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: As a kid (and still now) I was heavily influenced by Carl Sagan and a little later by Stephen Hawking. Now as I have started a family with two kids (currently age 5 and 2) I am wondering who out there is popularizing science. Currently, my wife and I can get the kids excited about the world around them, but I'd like to find someone inspiring from outside the family as they get older. Sure, we'll always have 'Cosmos,' but are there any contemporaries who are trying to bring science into the public view in such a fun and intriguing way? Someone the kids can look up to and be inspired by? Where is the next Science hero?

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