Comment Think of Java (Score 1) 251
Linux assures that IBM can happily sell lots of IFL or general purpose CPUs which are necessary to compensate for this inefficient use of
mainframe resources.
Oh, and Java! They are very happy that their customers convert their mainframe stuff to be mostly Java, because it's so inefficient and causing them to buy more processing power from IBM!
Comment Designed for Linux is just FUD (Score 1) 251
two specialty mainframe processors designed for Linux
Seriosly? That's just marketing FUD. They are not designed for Linux, they just have some features deactivated so that z/OS can't run on them, so that they "could sell them cheaper".
Package Managers As Achilles Heel 263
An anonymous reader writes "Researchers from the University of Arizona have released a study that takes a look at the security of ten popular package managers. They were able to show all ten were vulnerable to attacks from a mirror or man-in-the-middle that allow an attacker to (along with other things) crash the system or obtain root access. Furthermore, the researchers created a fictitious administrator and company name and were able to lease a server and get it listed as an official mirror for all the distributions they tried (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, CentOS, and OpenSUSE). This raised the question: What keeps you up at night, the thought of attacks on your package manager or previously discussed and patched vulnerability in DNS?" justin samuel (one of the Arizona researchers) also points out a synopsis on CERT's blog.
Comment Re:Keeping up with the times (Score 1) 367
And people realize this - why should you pay for a CD/DVD, which will eventually become obsolete, when you can get what you want in a digital format (for a cheaper price)?
Now to state the obvious: at least the medium is already digital, in contrast to VCR. People were able to copy the content from VCR to the computer (barring Macrovision, but there were hacks available), just like they were able to do so with CD until copy protection came out (and again, there was the famous CSS {h,cr}ack). DVD made it harder, but was eventually cracked too. People always wanted to copy the content they bought to their hard disks. It's the industry's fault they did invent those protections and tried to make it even more secure with Blu-Ray.
No wonder people don't want to buy content in formats they cannot preserve forever.
Internet Explorer Drops WGA Requirement 220
Kelson writes "The Internet Explorer team has updated the installer for IE7. Mostly they've adjusted a few defaults and updated their tutorials, but one change stands out: The installer no longer requires Windows Genuine Advantage validation. Almost a year after its release, IE7 has yet to overtake its predecessor. Was WGA holding back a tide of potential upgrades, or did it just send people over to alternative browsers?"
Journal Journal: M$-SPAM
What is this pseudo Microsoft-SPAM about I got in today's mailbox?
Two times an urge to upgrade. Am I stupid? I'm using Linux, why should I execute an
