Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 4th Jun 2010 22:20 UTC, submitted by Preston Gralla
So, what to do with this. If we don't run it, we're pro-Linux. If we do run it, we're pro-Microsoft. And I'm sure that whatever we do, we're anti-Apple somehow. In any case, here we go: the latest market share figures from IDC about servers show that Windows is by far the most popular server operating system in terms of unit sales, increasing its market share even further. Linux, on the other hand, saw its market share in the server market sink a little.
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Member since:2010-06-07
You can do some of those things on Linux, but only in a way that requires huge amounts of arcane knowlege to
set up and maintain. Some fundamental stuff, like filesystem permissions, will require enormous, pervasive changes to many layers of tools to work nicely.
However, When you can do the following in Linux using the native, gui, non-samba management tools supplied out-of-the-box by a distro:
<snip long list of things>
Then a lot of people who are dependent on Windows will sit up and take notice. Until then, that's why Windows server is popular.
set up and maintain. Some fundamental stuff, like filesystem permissions, will require enormous, pervasive changes to many layers of tools to work nicely.
However, When you can do the following in Linux using the native, gui, non-samba management tools supplied out-of-the-box by a distro:
<snip long list of things>
Then a lot of people who are dependent on Windows will sit up and take notice. Until then, that's why Windows server is popular.
All these things can be done NOW, with SLES.
RE[2]: Stuck in the 1970s
by IkeKrull on Mon 7th Jun 2010 05:51
in reply to "RE: Stuck in the 1970s"
Member since:2006-01-24
Wow, it looks like that might actually be the case.
Its almost like Novell is dragging Linux, kicking and screaming, into the 1990s.
I'm sure its actually not quite as simple in the real world (especially where users changing POSIX permissions meet NFS4 ACLs), but SLES11/SLED11 looks like a pretty decent NFS4 server/client.
Member since:2005-11-02
This is all sadly true.
What Linux is missing is not capability (not technically) but this kind of integration and usefulness. Why oh why is it so difficult to set up a Linux network with integrated authentication and file exchange? Why does every single Linux box still insist on defaulting to such "what network?" configuration?
I know UNIX was designed pre-network (and it shows!) but surely there is a way, today, to make it all work nicely and *easily* in a way that requires no hand-tuning or HOWTO-reading.
Is there any distribution that lets me set up a windows-like domain (meaning kerberos+ldap) out of the box? How about one that lets me "join" such a domain with nothing more complicated than a few clicks? I don't need this myself, but it's a damn hard sell to most people that you need someone like me to make it work.
Member since:2006-04-22
This is all sadly true.
What Linux is missing is not capability (not technically) but this kind of integration and usefulness. Why oh why is it so difficult to set up a Linux network with integrated authentication and file exchange? Why does every single Linux box still insist on defaulting to such "what network?" configuration?
I know UNIX was designed pre-network (and it shows!) but surely there is a way, today, to make it all work nicely and *easily* in a way that requires no hand-tuning or HOWTO-reading.
Is there any distribution that lets me set up a windows-like domain (meaning kerberos+ldap) out of the box? How about one that lets me "join" such a domain with nothing more complicated than a few clicks? I don't need this myself, but it's a damn hard sell to most people that you need someone like me to make it work.
What Linux is missing is not capability (not technically) but this kind of integration and usefulness. Why oh why is it so difficult to set up a Linux network with integrated authentication and file exchange? Why does every single Linux box still insist on defaulting to such "what network?" configuration?
I know UNIX was designed pre-network (and it shows!) but surely there is a way, today, to make it all work nicely and *easily* in a way that requires no hand-tuning or HOWTO-reading.
Is there any distribution that lets me set up a windows-like domain (meaning kerberos+ldap) out of the box? How about one that lets me "join" such a domain with nothing more complicated than a few clicks? I don't need this myself, but it's a damn hard sell to most people that you need someone like me to make it work.
There are distros like ClearOS that try to replicate Windows SBS, and is a quite useful OS for really small businesses in static markets. However, as I tried to point out earlier the differences between these two operating systems is night and day (at least for me).
I know that you can set up Linux to use Samba+LDAP to create a domain environment, but what environment have you exactly set up? Something akin to 1990s NT4. While that may suffice for some smaller shops, it simply does not cut it for the vast majority. Active Directory domain services in 2008 is far beyond what you can do anywhere else. Couple that with Group Policy Management and AD Rights Management and there simply is no alternatives. Through in Terminal Services and you really have no choices.
The same can be said for Windows in regards to those that wish to set up large storage networks, multi-node clusters for dB, web, virtual machines, etc.. Do many run Windows Server in large data centers of VMs? Not many (not a single one that I am aware of).
Just because you can get an OS to do something doesn't mean squat. I can get my car to drive backwards at good speeds, but I sure in the hell don't drive down the road backwards.........often that is.
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/20/13 6:17 UTC, submitted by MOS6510
"In the first episode of Microsoft's new film series 'On the Whiteboard', Editor Pamela Woon chats with two-time Oscar winner Randy Thom about the (often underestimated) importance of sound in human-technology interactions. Thom, the lead sound designer at Skywalker Ranch who worked on films such as The Incredibles, Castaway and Forrest Gump, says that people rarely consider the significance of those signature sounds that come from their trusty devices, whether it be a cell phone, a computer or a tablet."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 23:02 UTC, submitted by M.Onty
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/19/13 22:28 UTC
"A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:33 UTC
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
Linked by Anonymous on 06/18/13 22:26 UTC
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 22:25 UTC
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:45 UTC
"I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/18/13 17:32 UTC, submitted by poundsmack
A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)".
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:58 UTC
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/17/13 17:52 UTC
"MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.More News »
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Member since:
2006-01-24
Centralised authentication, useful filesystem ACLs, a network filesystem that doesnt require total lockdown for any client accessing it,GUI tools for management of the above - all of this is missing from Linux, and present in Windows.
You can do some of those things on Linux, but only in a way that requires huge amounts of arcane knowlege to
set up and maintain. Some fundamental stuff, like filesystem permissions, will require enormous, pervasive changes to many layers of tools to work nicely.
However, When you can do the following in Linux using the native, gui, non-samba management tools supplied out-of-the-box by a distro:
Add 2 users to the system, and create 2 groups.
Add the first user to the first group, and give the group read and write access to a folder.
Add the second user to the second group, and give that group read-only access to the same folder.
Share that folder across the network
Give User B a home directory on the server.
Share a printer across the network as Printer A, and give print access to both groups created earlier.
Have User A change their password when they next login.
Allow User B to log in from their personal laptop, which uses a different set of uid/gids to the company server.
Set a print quota for Group A so they can be billed per-page from Printer A
Back up and restore the files on the system such that all file permissions are retained.
Then a lot of people who are dependent on Windows will sit up and take notice. Until then, that's why Windows server is popular.
Edited 2010-06-06 00:28 UTC