The Sharer - An interview with Linus Torvalds
The Sharer - An interview with Linus Torvalds

People position you as the nemesis to Bill Gates. He started Microsoft and you started Linux, the big competition to Microsoft's dominance of operating systems. Is that an unfair or inaccurate characterization?

The thing is, at least to me personally, Microsoft just isn't relevant to what I do. That might sound strange, since they are clearly the dominant player in the market that Linux is in, but the thing is: I'm not in the ''market.'' I'm interested in Linux because of the technology, and Linux wasn't started as any kind of rebellion against the ''evil Microsoft empire.'' Quite the reverse, in fact: from a technology angle, Microsoft really has been one of the least interesting companies. So I've never seen it as a ''Linus versus Bill'' thing. I just can't see myself in the position of the nemesis, since I just don't care enough. To be a nemesis, you have to actively try to destroy something, don't you? Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect.

rest of article at NY Times (registration required)

For the real geeks in the crowd
Implementing internet based protocols over a new form of medium - Bongo Drums

article at Click Here

AtStake fires executive over Microsoft criticism
AtStake fires executive over Microsoft criticism
By Ted Bridis, The Associated Press Sep 25 2003 1:29PM
The chief technology officer for a technology firm that works closely with Microsoft Corp. lost his job after he helped write a study critical of the insecurity of Microsoft software.
Daniel E. Geer Jr., an expert with nearly three decades studying technology and computer security, learned Thursday he was no longer employed by AtStake Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.
AtStake declined to say whether Geer resigned or was fired. Spokeswoman Lona Therrien said Microsoft did not call for Geer's dismissal, which AtStake said was effective two days ago. Microsoft also said it was not involved in the decision.
But critics said Geer's firing was reflective of Microsoft's far-reaching ability in Washington and across the technology industry to silence experts who complain about weaknesses in its software or its aggressive business practices. The Justice Department struggled years ago to find technology executives willing to testify against Microsoft in its antitrust trial.

Security Focus

Winternals aims to reverse the effects of malicious-code attacks
Winternals aims to reverse the effects of malicious-code attacks
By Dave Kearns
Network World Windows Networking Tips Newsletter, 09/22/03

...
Winternals Software, which made a nice market for itself in the crash protection and system recovery market, recently released Winternals Recovery Manager (WRM) targeted at Windows Server 2003, XP, 2000, and NT4 systems. It allows network managers to quickly reverse the effects of malicious-code attacks while helping to mitigate the risks associated with emergency installation of critical updates. That's right, it protects from both the disease (worms, viruses) and the cure (patches)! You can get all the details at http://www.winternals.com/es/solutions/recoverymanager.asp but here are the highlights:
* Recovery Manager allows you to identify and undo changes to critical system files and settings.
* The Recovery Manager Boot Client can boot infected machines to an offline environment for safe and secure access, analysis, and repair, immediately suspending newly opened security holes, and preventing systems from further infecting themselves and others on the network.
* When an infected machine would otherwise require reinstallation or re-imaging, WRM provides a fast system repair option, reducing downtime and leaving application and user data intact.
* In the event that emergency installation of a critical update causes undesired behavior (e.g., the patch crashes your system), systems can be rolled back to previous working states, whether simultaneously in large groups, or individually.
* Recovery Manager even tracks and can undo system-level changes made by anti-virus solutions. More than a few of us have been unpleasantly surprised when our AV software did more damage than it prevented.

Entire article at Network World

Reliance On Microsoft A Danger To National Security
Reliance On Microsoft A Danger To National Security

By Gregg Keizer, TechWeb News
4:14 PM EST Wed., Sept. 24, 2003 A panel of leading security experts Wednesday blasted Microsoft for vulnerabilities in its software, and warned that reliance on the Redmond, Wash.-based developer's software is a danger to both enterprises and national security.

The group, which debuted its report at the first day of a two-day conference hosted by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), was headed by Dan Geer, the chief technology officer of @Stake, a security consulting firm.

"As fast as the world's computing infrastructure is growing, vulnerability to attack is growing faster still," said Geer.

"Microsoft's attempts to tightly integrate myriad applications with its operating system have significantly contributed to excessive complexity and vulnerability. This deterioration of security compounds when nearly all computers rely on a single operating system subject to the same vulnerabilities the world over," Geer added.

Rest of article at Computer Reseller News

New version of SAMBA released
Samba News
(24th Sep, 2003) The Samba Team announces the first official release of Samba 3.0 The first official, stable release of the Samba 3.0 code base has been posted on samba.org for download. After many months of hard work by a large number of developers, we have reached another very significant milestone in the life of the Samba project. Thanks to everyone who donated time, code, and testing resources to make this release possible. The source code and GnuPG signatures can be found on Samba mirrors. RedHat RPMS for 7.3, 8.0, and 9.0 are also available in the Binary_Packages download area. Packages for other platforms will follow shortly. The full release notes are available on-line as well. Here is the official press release.

More info at samba.org

Turning In Exchange - E-mail Migration to Lotus and Novell increases

By David Strom
VARBusiness
- 12:51 PM EST Thurs., Aug. 28, 2003
VARs interested in capitalizing on a trend are looking at e-mail migration away from Microsoft's Exchange and onto Lotus Notes and Novell's GroupWise. The opportunity is fueled by a combination of end-of-life pronouncements from Microsoft, high hurdles to upgrading to the latest version of Exchange, virus attacks, competitive promotions from Lotus and Novell, and some very capable migration tools from independent software vendors (ISVs).


rest of article at Network World

How much did Microsoft's quality cost you today?
Network World, 09/15/03
Windows is rusting, like cars did in the Midwest during the 1970s. There's another problem, too: Like cars of that era, Windows is fully loaded with user options. The myriad options make quality assurance a very difficult - if not undoable - undertaking.
Japanese automakers - like the Linux world in the Windows scenario - figured out how to not only use better metal in their cars, but also to limit the possible user options to a customer-pleasing high common denominator. Thinking first, then calmly adding things such as fuel economy gave them an arguable lead in quality and market share that still holds true.

rest of article at Network World

ESCAPING CYBERIA - open source support by governments around the globe
With final plans being set for the World Summit on the Information Society, the UN will call for deployment of Open Source software, to provide freedom of choice and Internet access by all citizens at an affordable cost. Excellent, but what if friends of proprietary software play the WTO card?

All around the globe, governments at all levels have been moving to embrace Open Source software in one way or another. Four months ago, the city government in Munich decided to switch 14,000 computers to SuSE's Linux Desktop distribution. Close on the heels of this announcement, the city government of Vienna announced that it plans to decide by the middle of 2004 whether it too will start phasing a migration from MS Windows to Linux on desktop systems. At risk for Microsoft in the Austrian capital are potentially some 15,000 desktops and the publicity such a move would incur.Throughout Europe, governments demonstrate support for Open Source. What's more, in many countries in and out of the EU, proposals have surfaced in support of Open Source. The list is formidable and includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. The Spanish regional government of Andalucia has gone so far as to decree that state-run universities and libraries use "free" software.

rest of article at Open Magazine

Boycott Verisign and Network Solutions
Full article at Slashdot

As of a little while ago (it is around 7:45 PM US Eastern on Mon 15 Sep 2003 as I write this), VeriSign added a wildcard A record to the .COM and .NET TLD DNS zones. The IP address returned is 64.94.110.11, which reverses to sitefinder.verisign.com. What that means in plain English is that most mis-typed domain names that would formerly have resulted in a helpful error message now results in a VeriSign advertising opportunity. For example, if my domain name was 'somecompany.com,' and somebody typed 'soemcompany.com' by mistake, they would get VeriSign's advertising.

...

Some have pointed out that this will make an important anti-spam check impossible. A common anti-spam measure is to check and make sure the domain name of the sender really exists. (While this is easy to force, every little bit helps.) Since all .COM and .NET domain names now exist, that anti-spam check is useless.