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When is Microsoft going to get their finger out and buy a Linux vendor.
I thought they should buy Red Hat. Microsoft didn't have the need for a cloud vendor, as IBM did, but I still reckon that Microsoft could have made good use of Red Hat. And it would have stopped IBM getting them.
In the enterprise Linux vendor marketplace there is still Suse but this isn't ready for sale yet. Its private investor owners are busy building it up (and they do seem to be intending to build it up and not just rip its insides out as others might do).
And then there's Ubuntu. Ubuntu is in my opinion and under-performing company. It doesn't make as much money as one might think it does -- or could. There is a great opportunity there, if Microsoft plays it right, to increase value through synergies. Yes, sorry about the corporate-speak but I think it's true. From Canonical's side, I understand they are looking for an investor. Going to IPO might well be underwhelming for Canonical as, as I note, they seem to be underperforming. A trade sale to someone like Microsoft who really can take them to the next level might be the best way forward for both both MS and Canonical/Ubuntu.
Microsoft would of course need to make sure that people believed they were still committed to Windows, but by bringing Ubuntu into the fold they could sell themselves as OS agnostic: "We have Windows and the best Ubuntu, and cloud offerings for Windows and Ubuntu desktop and servers; we have all your needs covered in house".
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Compromised update mechanism for Passwordstate pushes malware that steals data. Hurrah for central password stores
This is what has always made me nervous about password managers
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Kent Sharkey wrote: This is what has always made me nervous about password managers
That and lack of reason to manage "P@ssword1"
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Kent Sharkey wrote: This is what has always made me nervous about password managers
Same for me...
That's why I don't use any. I have my own local encrypted container with a text file containing hints instead of plain passwords. Basic, ugly, no extra functionality (i.e. auto-fill web sites) but personalized, non main stream and totally offline (I mean not needing the internet at all for it)
It is similar as with home automation. I will do it myself in my house, not because I think I will do it better than many commercial brands (although I might do it better than some), the biggest point is... not being commercial brand / mass system.
A local custom solution will always be more secure (at least in my opinion) because it requires more time to get it bypassed as you are not having the standard things and needs specific reverse engineering / local hacks.
I know there is no 100% security, but it is secure enough if you do it a bit more difficult / annoying / time consuming than your neighbors.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Kent Sharkey wrote: This is what has always made me nervous about password managers
Yup, they are a great big high value target.
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[^]Quote: The company, Global Resource Systems LLC, kept adding to its zone of control. Soon it had claimed 56 million IP addresses owned by the Pentagon. Three months later, the total was nearly 175 million. That's almost 6% of a coveted traditional section of Internet real estate - called IPv4 - where such large chunks are worth billions of dollars on the open market.
The ultimate honeytrap ?Quote: What is clear, however, is the Global Resource Systems announcements directed a fire hose of Internet traffic toward the Defense Department addresses. Madory said his monitoring showed the broad movements of Internet traffic began immediately after the IP addresses were announced Jan. 20.
Madory said such large amounts of data could provide several benefits for those in a position to collect and analyze it for threat intelligence and other purposes.
The data may provide information about how malicious actors operate online and could reveal exploitable weaknesses in computer systems. In addition, several Chinese companies use network numbering systems that resemble the U.S. military's IP addresses in their internal systems, Madory said. By announcing the address space through Global Resource Systems, that could cause some of that information to be routed to systems controlled by the U.S. military.
«One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.» Salvador Dali
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I often brag about my worst bug, when I was 19 (looong ago). Cost a factory 14k-16k in cleanup, after a debug-statement (resulting in overriding a true/false) caused a factory to dump a few ton of freshly mixed cement on the floor. People scrambled to take it away, because it was a quick-hardening cement. A few tons of it.
Never been prepared for that during school. My boss' reaction? "Well, you will be more carefull because you remember this."
And we did.
..but a bug that puts people in jail? I'd be checking it, claiming how sorry I'd be. So, definitely not a manager who can claim "software is right". Those should be held accountable, because in that field, one has to know software not always right.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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That bug will be hard to beat! 
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Nope; new records being made every day. My bug was expensive, but none saw a judge. And never had anyone fired.
Worked for some years at a pharmacy after that. More aware of any danger, and making less mistakes like that. Of course, three weeks ago I got supplements for women "before or during pregnancy". I'm a man. (folic acids) The girl giving out meds (not a pharmacist!) fell silent when she had to legally explain what the meds do if you a first time user.
I explained that I not a first time user and been pregnant before. Had a black/blue eye at the moment, and she looked at me as if mad. A man, one black eye, not pregnant.
Bugs exist in every layer of the system, not just the automated part.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Eddy Vluggen wrote: I explained that I not a first time user and been pregnant before. Had a black/blue eye at the moment, and she looked at me as if mad. A man, one black eye, not pregnant.
That's evil. I like it. 
The odd thing is that Folic acid is needed not only by pregnant women. I would expect the patient information insert to at least acknowledge that fact.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Daniel Pfeffer wrote: The odd thing is that Folic acid is needed not only by pregnant women. I would expect the patient information insert to at least acknowledge that fact.
Dunno about other countries; but if you haven't had it in a year, it is a "new" medicine, and the salesman (they not pharmacists with education) has an obligation by law to tell you what it for.
Folic acid. That's mostly prescribed during pregnancies. So, a parrot in an pharmacy..
Bastard Programmer from Hell
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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It's also an anti-oxidant and proscribed for people with heart issues.
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
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Quote: There is evidence that the Post Office’s legal department was aware that the software could produce inaccurate results
Heinous. The victims should go postal on these folks.
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From my experience, it's typical UK "we don't really give a damn" software. The miscarriage of justice based upon anything related to it is all but a given.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Yes, quite, especially in big taxpayer-funded projects. It only matters that there is something to show. It doesn't matter if it works correctly or well (or sends people to prison). The people are merely inconvenient annoyances.
It must have frustrated a great many stakeholders (the ones who actually count) to find that the project was seriously faulty and that people who were its victims weren't just going away quietly.
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Written words and other information can be encoded in synthetic molecules and then recovered by analysing the chemicals. Oh great - now we'll have great volumes of Jane Austen floating in our oceans and lakes
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The Northanger Abbey Pacific Gyre?
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a researcher in possession of a sizeable grant, must be in want of a singularly useless research project.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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There is a pretty big controversy in the software development community about logging time. Excluding those developers where one is inside the other
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Quote: But it can be invaluable for making those important business decisions.
Let's see.
"Hi Marc, management has noticed this task took longer than we expected. Do you need a faster computer? Can we provide better requirements? Would it help if we purchased some tools? Would it help if we paid for a course on the third party technologies we are using? Can the work environment be improved? Are our tools up to date? Should we invest in some better internal documentation? Should management have listened better to your estimate rather than us making an unrealistic commitment to the customer? Are the other people on the project that you had to work with adequately trained and have the right experience? Or were you basically having to pull their weight too?"
Yup. Those important business decisions.
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Quote: What can a dev do if their manager only worries about Butt Time?
Explain why this makes no sense. If your manager doesn't get it, find another one to work for, because the one you have has mush for brains. If the place you're at is big enough, an internal transfer could do it. If not, start to actively look outside.
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As IT operations continue drifting into the cloud, it's important to ensure that organization personnel keep pace with the latest skills and practices. "It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall"
Ideally *before* they tell you to migrate everything to the cloud (so you can tell them if it's actually possible)
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Quote: Why IT leaders should make cloud training for them a top priority, to stop hyping and buzzwording bullsh1t
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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It is actually possible - but it may be too expensive a transition to be viable.
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