The widespread acceptance of open source continues to grow as a cost-effective alternative to traditional network deployments. Well-known projects such as Linux have proven themselves to be in the enterprise environment, helping to dispel the fear, uncertainty and doubt preceding open source implementations. In the past two years, the industry has begun to shift from a total dependence on proprietary applications to a desire for more cost-effective, scalable and collaborative solutions.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Member since:2005-10-02
In the default installation? Very seldom. But fixing serious vulnerabilities in their packages (not default installation) ? Constantly. Just because a port isn't a part of the default installation, doesn't mean it's not meant to be fixed
And OpenBSD has so far fixed their holes within hours. It is typical for MOST FLOSS-projects. Security! Security! Security!
It is silly to choose compatibility over security. It is wiser to choose reduced functionality than it is to choose reduced security.
Member since:2005-07-06
It is silly to choose compatibility over security. It is wiser to choose reduced functionality than it is to choose reduced security.
That depends entirely on the application and situation. If the actual loss in productivity due to reduced functionality overshadows the cost of a potential security breach, then you probably want to reconsider. You want to find a balance between ease of use and security, taking into account all surrounding factors.
Member since:2006-02-06
Keep this in perspective: Packages vs. what's needed to bring up a system are entirely different concepts.
If someone wrote a program to exploit a hole in the kernel, that's one thing. If an admin installs an FTPd, for example, they do so knowing that just because it's made to be compatible with the OS, doesn't always mean it's the most up-to-date port when dealing with Free/OpenBSD, which can result in an exploited system if the package goes unchecked - and that's up to the maintainer at that point.
If the port/package maintainers are lazy, then there's a HUGE problem. If the original authors are lazy, there's an even bigger problem with the solution to fork or take over the project somewhere else.
I've not meddled with the BSD's long enough to get into who's lazy and who isn't, so I'll let this one off here, but I will re-state that the differences between OS and other software packages are clearly distinct.
And yes, I get a "Thank you, Captain Obvious" here as well.
Member since:2005-07-06
What if the fix introduces another security hole? What if it breaks a major feature? I'm sorry, but except in extreme cases (say a worm thats been spreading over the net fast using the exploit), you need to properly test the fix first.
When possible, some companies do provide temporary workarounds until the fix is properly tested and released.
It requires a massive coordination to implement a proper fix.
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run.
"There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
The new WebKit Opera for Android has been released. "Opera 14 for Android is built on top of Chromium 26, with a total overhaul of the UI in native code, making it fit well with the latest Android design guidelines. Go get the build from Google Play or point your browser to m.opera.com, and give it a spin!"
The Verge pointed me to a blog post by Leap Motion - which reveals how their Kinect-like motion control works with Windows 8. "From the second you plug in your Leap Motion Controller, you'll be able to browse the web and interact with your computer just by moving your hands and fingers in the air. With Leap Motion technology and Windows, you can do everything that's possible with multi-touch inputs - without actually touching anything. This also means that existing applications in Windows 7 and 8 will respond to your natural hand and finger movements. Soon, we'll show you how Leap Motion will work with Mac OS X." Quite cool.
PocketNow interviews Marc Dillon, and there's an interesting note about why Jolla is keeping the display properties under wraps: "We're leaving some of those details out because we do understand that there are a lot of really big players in the market and they tend to take certain components in the market and dominate them. We created the ability to actually be able to run Sailfish on multiple hardware displays and be able to swap components, so this is part of the demand and supply planning phase. We are committed to this industrial design which is a 4.5-inch display, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a front-facing camera at the front, and the exact specs of the display we'll provide when we're close to delivery." Something you rarely hear anything about.
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Appfour added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Member since:
2005-07-06
Huh? Did you misread what I said?
How often has OpenBSD had to fix a serious security hole? How fast did they fix it?
Edited 2007-09-13 16:47