Diary of a Network Geek

Strange, but true.

And, it’s from Microsoft, so you know it has to be good! Hey!! Stop laughing!
Seriously, though, this article on Microsoft Research has some interesting things to say about security and passwords. Now, how long before someone implements this. Or, something like it, since no doubt Microsoft already has the patent on it. Still, as a Psychology Minor, it has a certain appeal to me. Visual memory, that is a memory of an actual picture, is clearer than memory of an abstract, like, say a random string of characters. I can see how it would be helpful, but I have a hard time imagining how it will be implemented.
Food for thought, though.

Hey, that’s not cool.

Look, I think SCO are a bunch of blood-sucking bottom-feeders, but hacking their website is just not cool. And, it doesn’t help anyone but SCO in court, either. But, according to this story on Australia IT, some, un-named hacker hit SCO with a very directed DOS attack. (That’s Denial Of Service, not Disk Operating System, BTW.) C’mon, they’re going to be proven wrong in court, so why stoop to their level? It just shows some real “fuzzy thinking” on someone’s part. Linux deserves better press than this.

But, are they the right skills?

Sorry for the “l33t” speak in the title, but it illustrates a point. According to this article on Australia IT, computer people with project management skills are in high-demand. And, as we all remember from our basic Economics courses, high-demand is usually created by a small supply. So, being a very, very skilled geek isn’t quite enough to get by in today’s market-place. Project management is where it’s at, boyz and grrls. At least, in Australia it is. Based on what I’ve seen in the industry, it’s true in the States, too.
Personally, I’ve never really liked doing project management. It’s usually fairly tedious and the worst end of IT management, but, it does pay the bills. Not for me, at the moment, but it has in the past. In any case, it looks like I’ll be chasing after a project certification soon. Like I already mentioned, it pays the bills!

So speaks Linus Torvalds.

In this interview on eWeek, Linus Torvalds, the Father of Linux, refutes the claims that SCO has been making, based on the “leaked” code samples. Basically, what he says is that the code in question is really, really old code found in BSD and the “original UNIX” archive made available by Dennis Ritchie. In fact, it looks to be code written by Ken Thompson, the Father of UNIX, himself. (Ritchie is one-half of the team responsible for the C programming language, among other things.) In short, SCO doesn’t seem to have a leg to stand on, unless they’re hiding a bunch of code somewhere.

And, yes, Mr. Torvalds actually said, “They are smoking crack” in response to a question regarding SCO.

Photoshop running on Linux?

Apparently so, according to this article on eWeek, several studios have gotten together to get Photoshop working on Linux via WINE. Normally, one wouldn’t expect folks like this to get together on a project, since they’re so competitive, but they did. I guess if the need is big enough, any differences can be set aside to get things done. And, isn’t that the premise of the whole Open Source movement?
Anyway, it’s an interesting read.

Okay, kind of technical, but cool.

To me, anyway. I love these websites that tell me how stuff works. Even if they get a little technical and dry. This site, telling me how magnetic disk drives work, is no exception. Sure, it’s kind of a technical subject, but I still find it interesting. Maybe the gentle reader will, too. Enjoy.

SCO is at it again!

According to this article on Computer Business Review, SCO is going after Linux end users. The article only mentions servers, so I assume they’re going after corporate end users, but still, the insanity is the same.
First of all, these bottom-feeders haven’t even proven their case in a court of law, much less the court of public opinion.
Second, they have no case!
Third, they’re violating copyrights that belongs to Novell.
Fourth, I’m fairly sure that they’re breaking the law by charging people for something they haven’t proved they own.

Man, I’ll sure be glad when this gets settled and SCO goes away.

Hey, why not?

Okay, so the argument is that outsourcing off-shore is all about cost, right? Then why is it that we don’t do more telecommuting here? Surely it must cost the same to telecommute to India as it does to, say, Vermont, or Maine. If anything, I’d think it would be cheaper!
Well, this article over at Slashdot proposes just that. It’s a little late to make many comments, but there are several links in the article itself that are worthing following. (And, now, the websites should be up and recovered from the “Slashdot Effect“!)

Well, maybe. In New Jersey.

According to this article on Wired News, there’s a move in New Jersey to make it illegal to hire anyone who’s not a legal US Citizen, or legal resident, for certain government contracts. Now, I’m sure this is will cause an uproar with certain offshore outsource companies, but so what? If it keeps jobs in America, I’m all for it. Besides, do you want to risk a potential terrorist handling government information? Even if it’s state government?
I hope this is a growing trend among lawmakers, and technology workers. I like the idea of keeping American jobs for Americans. Call me silly, but I think we should take care of our own before we worry about the rest of the world.

It happens once in a while…

According to this article on Australia IT, a US judge struck down the move to reveal the names of suspected pirates. Of course, it was mainly due to minor technicalities, like the supeonas were issued in a state other than where the suspected pirates were allegedly located, but, still they got struck down. You still need proof before violating privacy. And, until they have proof, the RIAA needs to muzzle their over-zealous attack lawyers.