It’s kinda funny I think, Microsoft launched their competitor search engine to Google over two years ago, touting then that it would be a “Google killer” (as if), and now, all this time later they come out saying that they have revamped their search yet again and now they can compete with Google. Google just keeps on doing what they do best, and Microsoft keeps trying to catch up with everyone else. Check the article for details.
Category Archives: Tech News
Adobe Acrobat Flaw Puts XP and 2K3 at Risk
I found an article, again at ars technica, that talks about a flaw in Acrobat Reader that puts Windows XP and Windows 2003 at risk by allowing a specially crafted .pdf file to execute arbitrary files. You might want to be on the lookout for a patch from Adobe soon, and as always, use some common sense when opening files you don’t know about first hand.
HP to bring Linux to the U.S.?
In an article I found recently, it looks like HP might be trying to compete with Dell in the U.S. (and other areas) desktop Linux market. To me it looks like Dell has pushed HP into competition, and that’s good for us. HP doesn’t want Dell to get entrenched in the market, and maybe they figure they can get some of the desktop users back if they do Linux better than Dell. Which shouldn’t be hard from what I have seen.
Linux running in Solaris
Holy Virtualization batman, it looks like Sun Microsystems is improving it’s containers sub system and will now allow users to run unmodified Red Hat and CentOS linux under a Solaris container or zone! That’s awesome! I have already become a huge fan of Solaris containers, and now with it being able to support Linux, that’s a great boost to an already wonderful technology. Check out the article at Solaris Central. In case anyone missed it, I posted a script a while back for creating zones in Solaris 10. I’ll have to modify it (if need be) when the latest version comes out to support Linux. Enjoy!
The (In)Justice Department Opposes Net Neutrality
I found an article that tells a tale about the (In)Justice Department and their opinion that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) ought to be able to charge a fee for priority web traffic. Like, for instance, they decide that if you want to go to Google, and not have really slow speeds, you have to pay extra. But you can go to Joe Schmoe’s website for free because it’s not popular. Really, it means they can do and charge whatever they want, carving up bandwidth however it suits them and to hell with you, the paying customer. I mean, don’t we already pay for our Internet access at home? Do we now have to pay more to get better service? Don’t sites and servers using the ‘net pay for their pipes already? I know I do, this server ain’t free! Why then should I have to pay more, just so I don’t become a slow server. Since when is this sort of “tag, your it, you have to pay more” mentality a good thing? It doesn’t make sense to me, but if this goes through, it’s the start of the downfall of the ‘net as a productive and useful and even fun, time wasting tool. Greedy people are bound and determined to ruin a good thing in the name of the almighty dollar. But hey, that’s just my opinion.
Way too much information
I found an article today that I thought might be worth mentioning. It’s an interesting, if not scary read to say the least, but mainly I wanted to use it’s content as an example or reason for some of the stuff I preach here. The article is from ars technica, a great site, and it provides some sobering information about data loss. In fact, they tally up some numbers to find that in under three years, 159 million personal records have left the building. Yep, you read that right. Where am I going with this? Well, this is exactly why you would want to follow good system administration practice and secure your servers, you know actually manage them. Keep your data safe, use common sense, follow the rules and don’t break the rules just because it’s more convenient to leave telnet running and have a root password of dog. You for sure don’t want your own data captured by the nasties, and when you take hold of some customer’s data, you are taking the responsibility to keep their data safe too, as if it were your own. Don’t wind up a statistic, secure those servers, and in the words of “Madeye” Moody, practice constant vigilance!