Menchise

I think it's my turn to make a few things clear. 1. Hamblin, I hope your last post was intended to be humourous. In fact, it had better be. 2. In my opinion, expressing one's appreciation is not ass kissing. 3. I think the friction in this thread should stop right now. [ 07-08-2001: Message edited by: Menchise ]

Relax Jim. Expressing one's appreciation is a nice change from all the ranting detractors we read about.

This happens to me everytime I play the scenario. It doesn't happen with every fighter though (I tend to lose all of them). It happens with up to two of the four FCs. In some cases, one of the pilots or co-pilots appear on board the CC after their craft is destroyed!

LOL!

I recently sent an e-mail to the developers of Debian (a Linux distribution) regarding this issue. After receiving the reply, it has become clear that I made a wild assumption about the vulnerability of Unix and Linux. Gibson's article criticizes the implementation of Full Raw Socket support in Windows XP, not the feature itself. Unix and Linux OSes also support Raw Sockets, but only users and applications with "root" privileges can access the feature. Windows XP has no such restriction (all users have 'root' privilege). In the words of a Linux developer, "Allowing unprivileged users to use raw sockets, of course, is a terrible idea. Shipping an operating system that doesn't restrict superuser access is an even worse idea." [ 07-05-2001: Message edited by: Menchise ]

Which Linux OS are you using (just curious)? I'm thinking about getting Debian.

$iLk, I think you should have a landing pad object underneath the ship in the hanger bay. BTW, the new building is brilliant! [ 07-05-2001: Message edited by: Menchise ]

Err...Darkvenom, I don't think you read the whole article. Gibson provided concrete evidence that Full Raw Socket support will be a disaster for Internet security. It's already being exploited in Unix based systems despite the security measures (only programs with "root" privileges can access the feature). Windows XP will have no security measures at all for this feature. Any application can use it, which means that more malicious hackers will be able to send DDoS attacks to defenseless ISPs. The feature is also completely unnecessary, since the only programs that benefit from Full Raw Socket support are: 1. Internet Research Projects (the original reason why Berkeley implemented the feature in Unix). 2. Malicious hacks.

If you thought Windows XP was bad enough now, wait until you read these articles about the bleak future of Internet Security, written by a high profile expert on the subject. Why Windows XP will be the Denial of Service Exploitation Tool of Choice for Internet Hackers Everywhere Microsoft Does Not Understand Security. What This Means About the Future of Denial of Service

quote: I often wonder whether we acutally need to upgrade to the next version of office. I run with office 95 on my w2k system. I have yet to use even the power of the package so I can see no real reason to update to a later version. Hehe. This is one of the issues mentioned by Mike Wong in one of his rants. Apparently, Office 95 can't read Word documents that were created with Office 97, Office 97 can't read Word documents that were created with Office 2000 and so on. They might be able to open the files, but the contents aren't displayed correctly. This is because Microsoft keeps changing the Word format. Why? To maintain its stranglehold on the market. One of the biggest complaints that people make about non-MS word processing software such as Wordperfect is that it can't read Word documents while Microsoft Word can read Wordperfect documents. This is because Word document files are written in a proprietary format which is a closely guarded secret at Microsoft. Microsoft keeps changing the format for two reasons: 1. It forces consumers to buy yet another version of Office if they expect to continue reading Word documents, which are used by just about everyone else these days. 2. It prevents Microsoft's competitors from reverse engineering the format. Since you are using Office 95, I suspect that you have been in one or both of the following situations at least once: 1. You download a Word document from the Internet. You double click on the .doc file from Windows Explorer or, depending on your preference, use the Open dialog box in Word itself. Word attempts to open the file, fails, and returns an error message stating that the file cannot be opened because it's either damaged or corrupt. 2. You download a Word document from the Internet. You double click on the .doc file from Windows Explorer or, depending on your preference, use the Open dialog box in Word itself. Word opens the file, and the document is littered with empty box characters where there should be letters and punctuation marks. This used to happen when I had Office 95. It stopped happening after I installed Office 2000. The problem was not caused by a bug or an error in the file. The problem was that the document was written in a more recent version of Word. [ 07-04-2001: Message edited by: Menchise ]

With all of the negative press going around about Windows XP, consumers are probably going to encounter a whole new series of dirty tricks from Microsoft after the release of the OS. [entering conspiracy theory mode] If sales of Windows XP go down as a result of the negative publicity, I will not be surprised if Microsoft starts releasing a series of updates and service packs across the board for every existing MS product in widespread use, featuring so-called "enhancements". Hidden among these "enhancements" will reside a piece of code that causes the software to require Windows XP to work properly. Microsoft will use its propaganda machine (known as the "Freedom to Innovate Network") to claim that this was done to make the products, you guessed it, more innovative. [exiting conspiracy theory mode] Does anyone trust Microsoft anymore? [ 07-04-2001: Message edited by: Menchise ]

Shit!!! We just bought Office XP! It's in the mail now! This Product Activation thing is the worst feature that Microsoft has ever conceived! The 44 unit re-activation key in case of hardware change or upgrade (or bug that makes it think such a thing) is going way too far!!! [entering pissed off and ranting mode] I'm not touching Office XP or Windows XP with a ten foot pole! Gates and co. are growing horns as we speak! Upgrading is hard enough without this pathetic excuse for a feature! MS can get screwed as long as this "innovation" continues! [calming down] Hmm...I wonder where the official Debian web site is. [ 07-03-2001: Message edited by: Menchise ]

Wow! That Mike Wong guy knows what he's talking about. Here is a working link to the page Hamblin referred to: http://www.stardestroyer.net/Mike/RantMode/Microsoft.shtml [ 07-03-2001: Message edited by: Menchise ]

Yay! The Directory is back, safe and secure. $iLk and I are the only people who can change its contents. [ 07-01-2001: Message edited by: Menchise ]

Classic upgrade fumble story: We bought all the parts of a computer from one shop, including a Pentium 3 1Ghz CPU and AOpen motherboard, and took everything home for assembly. Gradually, everything was coming together in the brand new case, then came the time to insert the P3 chip and the heatsink on top. Guess what? The heatsink doesn't fit! The capacitors on the motherboard were in the way! We had to get a circular heatsink (that's right, they come in a variety of shapes ), which fit in nicely. [ 07-01-2001: Message edited by: Menchise ]

My office is back (again). I also made some repairs to the Myrmidon's Offices (there's still some fixing to do there, Jerold). The Directory is down until further notice. When it returns, it will be completely secure.

Microsoft is already charging $35 for tech support.

A quote from my post. quote: Microsoft bought the rights from Patterson and demonstrated DOS to IBM, which subsequently licensed the system for the IBM-PC (which is known as the 'PC' today). Gates had nothing to do with this deal; it was all the work of Paul Allen. Read that last sentence again. It was Paul Allen's business acumen that put Microsoft on the map. [ 06-30-2001: Message edited by: Menchise ]

quote: The same could be said for Andrew Carnegie, JD Rockefeller, and a host of other millionaires. Why negate thier business acumen jsut because they were at the right place at the right time? Why does wealth and it's accumulation always have to be a crime? Shingen, read my post again and you may notice a couple of paragraphs stating that Gates had nothing to do with the success of DOS and that Windows was a ripoff of MacOS. You call that business acumen?!

quote: Sorry but the idea is a waay too socialistic for my tastes! (IE: communist -- Yeah I know Menchise, but socialism IS communism--they just use different terms..) Can I please enter a debate WITHOUT someone mentioning Socialism?!

My turn. quote: I think Netscape should have spent less money on lawyers and more money on releasing a funtioning browser that could compete with Internet Explorer. Netscape Communicator does compete with Internet Explorer. It's more stable, consumes fewer system resources, and includes a decent wysiwyg program that's easier to use for amateur web authors (I hated Frontpage Express, I love Netscape Composer). OK, so Netscape is not as functional as IE, but at least the system doesn't crash when Communicator stops working properly. quote: I see no reason why MS couldn't add IE to the OS. If you want Netscape, then go get. I have no problem with Microsoft bundling its own software in Windows as long as I can uninstall it if I don't want it. IE is a waste of space on my hard drive, not to mention all of the other non-essential rubbish that Microsoft likes to include in Windows (has anyone EVER changed the Appearance settings in the Display Properties?). quote: I also gotta say, that even though I'm not really that fond of M.$. Windows OS (I'm still partial to DOS 'cause it's ain't got so many damn 'extras' cluttering up my harddrive), Mircosoft became a monoploy because of a strong business sense and a product that CREATED it's own demand! I gotta admire ol' Mr. Gates for that. Gates is definitely proficient in business, but his overwhelming success had more to do with luck. Microsoft did not create DOS. It was created by Tim Patterson at Seattle Computer Products. Microsoft bought the rights from Patterson and demonstrated DOS to IBM, which subsequently licensed the system for the IBM-PC (which is known as the 'PC' today). Gates had nothing to do with this deal; it was all the work of Paul Allen. Windows was not an original MS thing either. Windows 1.0 had an interface that looked so much like the Macintosh OS that Apple sued Microsoft for stealing the idea (even the buttons were identical!). The interface was changed by the time Windows 3.0 came out. Since Windows would only work in DOS, which had become the standard OS on the IBM-PC due to the long term collaboration between IBM and Microsoft, the monopoly was inevitable. Even IBM failed to beat Microsoft with OS/2 Warp (their collaboration ended in 1991). Gates was at the right place at the right time. I have no reason to admire his abilities.

The New Commanders' Village Directory has been updated.

quote: Uhm, just send everyone who's already posted new coordinates. There's no need to do all that again, I don't think. The coordinates are the same as before. The entrance is at the same location; it just looks different.

I would also like to express my apologies to $iLk. Epsilon 5 and I jumped to conclusions. By the way, my assumption was also based on the editing of Jerold Keenan's place the day before the attacks started. The avatar that inserted those pics had your name on it and was speaking to me and EP5 at the time. Since you say that you never touched that structure, it must have been someone else. In any case, I'm sorry. [ 06-26-2001: Message edited by: Menchise ]