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 Security, Microsoft, and You

 Author:  Topic:  Posted:
Dec 23, 2001
 Comments:
Everybody wants to tell you scare stories about computers and "hackers" and the Internet, but nobody wants to give you the straight facts in plain English. It's time to rip the veil of deliberate obscurantism from the face of computer security. These matters are really quite simple, and the latest news from the innovation factory in Redmond is very encouraging.
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Computer security is a big concern these days. It's a hot topic in technical publications such as Slashdot and Dr. Dobbs Weekly, and we even see a lot about it in the mainstream media. But how many people really understand the issues? As a software engineering professional and a concerned citizen, I'd like to take some time to cover the basics. The arcane, secretive priesthood of technical matters usually prefers obfuscation and bluffery, but is such an approach really in the public interest? In my view, it is not. I want to enable you, the common man, to make informed decisions about security concerns as they affect you and your loved ones in your daily lives. Life in a modern, pluralistic, democratic society demands no less.

We'll begin at the beginning. Everybody's favorite perennial security story is Microsoft. For years, their International Information Server product has been at the center of a storm of highly technical controversy, as has the Windows NT ("Network Technology") kernel. What is this controvery really about, in layman's terms? It all starts with a concept known as "Object Oriented Programming".

The Vision

In the early 1980s, Microsoft's Research department had a vision, a vision of a future where computers would be more than just adding machines and glorified typewriters. They had a vision of finding a way for computers to communicate with each other, a vision they called the "Network". They saw that this "Network" would enable the pervasive, world-wide sharing of information on a scale that had never been imagined before. There was no doubt that it would revolutionize society. Those brilliant men were gripped by this vision, and they knew that Microsoft, as the acknowledged world leader in technology with a tradition of acting in the public interest, was the only organization which had a fighting chance of bringing this miracle into being.

First, Microsoft "surveyed the literature", as they say. Government-funded academics had made abortive attempts to enable computers to share information on a small, local scale, but these efforts lacked both the wide-ranging vision of private enterprise, and the vigor of healthy competition. It was the sad lack of vision that really killed those projects: They were attempting to do everything with old-fashioned, obsolete "procedural programming", a method of software creation where an application consists of a long sequence of simple instructions, and "proceeds" from one to the next, from beginning to end. Such an application is unable to perform modern tasks such as Document creation or electronic mail. It is also unable to create the "packets" which are necessary for communication between computers. The academic attempts at crude "Networking" turned out, under close examination, to have been hoaxes: Two computers would be prepared with identical applications, which would "proceed" simultaneously. One would send the message "Hello" to the other, and the other would have been programmed to display "Hello" as input at the same moment. The unfree academic approach was clearly a dead end. Nobody but the commissars of DARPA is satisfied with a crude sham in lieu of a dream.

The Revolution

Microsoft decided to revolutionize the field of software by creating "object oriented programming", which means that an application is composed of semi-autonomous "objects", each of which reacts to input from the outside and can act entirely independently of the "mother ship" application. Some highly advanced "objects" -- such as Microsoft's crowning glory, the Internet Explorer Document -- may even be dispatched through a "Network Interface Console" such as a modern digital "modem" telephone or the Internet. This was the "philosopher's stone" which ultimately made the dream of Networking an everyday reality.

Once they knew their vision was practical, Microsoft's researchers set about creating a "application language" which would put the power of their new "object paradigm" into the hands of ordinary engineers everywhere. A "application language" is a sophisticated tool for creating applications which can view or create Documents. Microsoft didn't create just one; they created several. All of the application languages which are now widely used were created in Microsoft's labs in the late 1980s as their dream of Networking steadly matured: Visual Basic, Visual Front Page, MFC++. MFC++ and Visual Front Page are highly arcane tools used only by a few advanced "wizards" to perform specialized tasks, and as such they are not relevant to the present discussion. The real star of the bunch was Visual Basic, which made the creation of Internet Document Applications and Objects so easy and intuitive that millions of programmers around the world were able to join in. As we now know, they did, and we were all swept up in the magic and productivity of the Information Age -- the very magic which brings you the Document file you are now reading. Visual Basic replaced the old-fashioned mysterious commands of DOS-like languages with a revolutionary visual way of creating Document Applications, thus changing programming forever. Visual Basic was used to create Microsoft's revolutionary object oriented Network Operating System, Windows 95, the Operating System which made the Internet a reality.

The future had arrived, but there's always a serpent in Eden, isn't there? Microsoft had envisioned an "open architecture" of information, where users would share information as they liked. This was naïve. We all use computers and the Internet, don't we? Do you know anybody who abuses these gifts? I sure don't. Honest people want to chat online with their friends and trade jokes on email. What Microsoft forgot was that while most Americans are honest, some aren't. Furthermore, it's a big world out there, where the core American values of democracy and freedom are not always respected.

The Reaction

Microsoft's mistake was trust. It sounds crazy, doesn't it, that trust could be a mistake? I agree, it is crazy, to you and me -- but we're Americans. In technical terms, the problem was that Microsoft's revolutionary "objects" often contained private information such as passwords and credit card numbers. Now, you and I and Bill Gates don't look over a friend's shoulder when he's using an ATM machine, and we don't read our friends' mail, so these "objects" depended for security on the fact that decent people respect each others' privacy. Visual Basic does not support a feature called "private data members". This means that any user who accesses an object or Document can view all of the contents of that Document, and change them at will. Nobody thought that this would be a problem, because only a sick person would violate the privacy of somebody else's Internet Document. Besides, who needs that kind of paranoid security? I don't know about you, but I have nothing to hide.

But some people don't know right from wrong.

A shadowy underworld of "hackers" came into being to exploit this so-called "weakness" (isn't it a strange moral inversion, when trust, the great strengh of a free society, is called a "weakness"?). The "hackers", mostly college students urged on by leftist academics, developed their own application language, called "C++". It was a crude imitation of MFC++, but it had one feature which only criminals would have thought of in those innocent days: Private data members. A "C+" application could create Documents which were impenetrable to the prying eyes of other so-called "hackers". "C+" was used to create an entire underground "operating system" called "Linux", developed in the chaos of former Iron Curtain nations in Eastern Europe. It had no visionary features such as taskbars and Dialup Networking. In fact, it openly borrowed all but one of its ideas from Microsoft's legendary MS-DOS application, long since rendered obsolete by the overwhelming success of Windows 95. The one original idea the "hackers" had was, I must stress, security. You and I may have nothing to hide, but a "hacker" has a thousand things to hide, from his friends, from his parents, and most importantly from law enforcement.

Seemingly secure in the claustrophobic privacy and paranoia of their tiny "Linux" kingdoms, the "hackers" set out to wreck the Internet. They couldn't understand it and they could never have created it, but they knew that Microsoft's new vision of openness frightened them. So they released their crude, poisonous C+ objects and Documents -- called "viroses" -- out into the chat rooms and Web Sites of the Internet.

The Confrontation

Of course, the "hackers" didn't think it through. They didn't reckon on the innovative vigor of their adversary. By 1996, Microsoft had created the first experimental "anti-Viros" programs, which could sweep Document Folders and Web Sites clean of malicious viros objects. The "arms race" was on. Microsoft never fell behind again. They loved the challenge, of course. The problem was that while they could keep outsmarting the "hackers" forever, this wasn't what they regarded as an "elegant" solution. Furthermore, they were under attack by academics who had bribed officials of the United States Government to do their bidding. Without the Constitution's guarantee of liberty, Microsoft was aware that they ran a terrible risk of losing the battle. What if they did? Their anti-Viros efforts would cease, and their greatest creation, the Internet Web, would be gnawed to death by rats.

The Solution

A new urgency inflamed Microsoft Research. They were fighting the battle of their lives, and time seemed as if it might be running out. They decided to fight fire with fire: They would implement "private data members". That one audacious move would erase the viros threat permanently, and the "hackers" would become nothing more than an ugly memory like the Luddites, Ranters, Jacobins, and Thuggee of centuries gone by. The freedom of the Internet could never be threatened again.

Once the great decision had been made, progress was rapid, and the fruits are already beginning to appear. Visual Basic is to be retired with honors and replaced by a new application language called C# (pronounced "Seek"), which supports full private data members while still allowing them to be accessed by family and friends. In addition, the Internet Web paradigm is to be phased out gradually and replaced by the new .NET Architecture, a more flexible and sophisticated Document Object Model than the well-loved classic Internet Explorer.

The great "Computer Security" debate has been rendered obsolete. Oh, and there's more good news: Remember those rogue Justice Department employees who launched that crusade against the freedom of the Internet? A few took their bribes and retired to South America; the rest of them are in prison now. As for "Linux"? It was unable to compete with private enterprise, and has mostly vanished. Even their web sites are no longer maintained.




So many factual errors, where to start? (1.33 / 3) (#7)
by NAWL on Sun Dec 23rd, 2001 at 10:09:56 PM PST
their International Information Server product

I think you mean INERNET Information Server

They had a vision of finding a way for computers to communicate with each other , a vision they called the "Network". They saw that this "Network" would enable the pervasive, world-wide sharing of information on a scale that had never been imagined before.

So all the UNIX servers that were already running large Wide Area Networks (WANs) and smaller corporate LANs didn't exist? So the fact that Microsoft didn't work with IBM to develop a new Network OS called OS/2? If this is an idea MS came up with in the early 80s then they were WAY behind the time.

There was no doubt that it would revolutionize society. Those brilliant men were gripped by this vision, and they knew that Microsoft, as the acknowledged world leader in technology with a tradition of acting in the public interest, was the only organization which had a fighting chance of bringing this miracle into being.

That's why Microsoft's first networking project was simple client/server stuff the used Windows 3.1 for workgroups on the client side and Unix systems on the server side.

First, Microsoft "surveyed the literature", as they say. Government-funded academics had made abortive attempts to enable computers to share information on a small, local scale, but these efforts lacked both the wide-ranging vision of private enterprise, and the vigor of healthy competition.

Yeah projects like ARPANET (1962, way before MS was even founded) and MilNet (even sooner) were so small. The only connected systems around the world. Other countries later started there own ARPANETs

It was the sad lack of vision that really killed those projects: They were attempting to do everything with old-fashioned, obsolete "procedural programming ", a method of software creation where an application consists of a long sequence of simple instructions, and "proceeds" from one to the next, from beginning to end. Such an application is unable to perform modern tasks such as Document creation or electronic mail. It is also unable to create the "packets" which are necessary for communication between computers.

Where the hell did you get that information!?! Did you pull that out of your ass?

The academic attempts at crude "Networking" turned out, under close examination, to have been hoaxes: Two computers would be prepared with identical applications, which would "proceed" simultaneously. One would send the message "Hello" to the other, and the other would have been programmed to display "Hello" as input at the same moment. The unfree academic approach was clearly a dead end. Nobody but the commissars of DARPA is satisfied with a crude sham in lieu of a dream.

I'm starting to think you're either attempting to cause a fight between educated people and idiots that think you're serious. Either that or you're just really dumb

I can't go on. Reading the utter factual errors and total misuse of jargon and technical terms (and at times trying to make up you own) is almost sickening. Anybody else wanna take this?




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

Yeah, right (5.00 / 2) (#8)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 01:22:47 AM PST
So, you can pull a load of trash out of thin air, claim it's fact, and expect everyone here to believe you know more than eightymd about thecomputer industry?

Honestly, I find your post grossly offensive. You are obviously one of those Richard Staliman groupies who go around spreading disinformation about Microsoft products in order to increase your market share.

And to think Microsoft is accused of unfair business practices. Laughable.

Propaganda doesn't work here, boy. Now get off your ass and start going back to highschool and only after you've successfully completed come back and try to participate in an intelligent discussion.


here's my proof (1.00 / 2) (#10)
by NAWL on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 01:56:40 AM PST
I seriously cannot believe that you think any of this is factual. This article potrays Microsoft as the creator of any type of network. Yeah I suppose when the University of California was creating the first TCP/IP stack for Unix (which Ms later adapted for Windows) before Microsoft was even founded, they were just doing it for fun huh?

This article completely forgets other NETWORK operating systems (not all of them proprieatary) that existed long before Microsft was founded.



Propaganda doesn't work here, boy. Now get off your ass and start going back to highschool and only after you've successfully completed come back and try to participate in an intelligent discussion.

You want proof I'll give it to you. I will not bother with anything beyond my responses. I know that there are others like myself that were born long before the era of MS that remember the truth (and don't claim that Microsoft was responsible for everything) that would love to have a crack at this article.

Internet Information Services (IIS)

Here's a nice bit of information. Look who some of the contributors are to this information (check the bottom dumbass). Could those be MS employees?

What's this? The history of UNIX?

What could this be? A company that had been in the game before MS made its big splash?

What year was MS founded?

If you need more information I seriously suggest you do your own research from this point on. I also suggest you stay in school and learn a thing or two before you open your mouth to sound like a big dumb cunt!




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

More disinformation (5.00 / 2) (#12)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 02:29:59 AM PST
I seriously cannot believe that you think any of this is factual. This article potrays Microsoft as the creator of any type of network. Yeah I suppose when the University of California was creating the first TCP/IP stack for Unix (which Ms later adapted for Windows) before Microsoft was even founded, they were just doing it for fun huh?

This article completely forgets other NETWORK operating systems (not all of them proprieatary) that existed long before Microsft was founded.


This is utter nonsense. Microsoft has been innovating in this industry from the beginning. Maybe you should do some searching on the internet, fool. Microsoft was, in fact, the innovator of the gui, in a joint project with Xerox and Apple. In fact, Apple stole Microsoft's research in the field and only then introduced a gui interface beginning with the Apple III. All the while, using the courts to keep Microsoft from using a gui in their operating systems. To speak of anything happening in the computer industry "before Microsoft" is downright absurd. And I think you know it.

You want proof I'll give it to you. I will not bother with anything beyond my responses. I know that there are others like myself that were born long before the era of MS that remember the truth (and don't claim that Microsoft was responsible for everything) that would love to have a crack at this article.

Here you go again talking about the "era before Microsoft." I'm sure I'm older than you, son, and I can tell you that there is no such thing. Microsoft IS the computer industry.

As for the links you supplied, yeah, I can link to a hundred different pages concerning Richard Staliman and point out one lie after another. Not simply take them out of context, as you have done, but show them to be utter and complete untruths. That says a lot for your Unix movement.

...big dumb cunt!

The desperation in your comments just shows you know you are defending the indefensible. And you know it. It's always amazing how quickly Unix zealots resort to name-calling and foul language when they are confronted with facts and are not preaching to the choir. It's shameful that the only time you can win an argument is when you are talking to others who share your distorted beliefs. Think about that.


admit you're wrong (1.00 / 2) (#13)
by NAWL on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 03:14:28 AM PST
Wow now we make shit up and twist facts. Let's see:

This is utter nonsense. Microsoft has been innovating in this industry from the beginning. Maybe you should do some searching on the internet, fool. Microsoft was, in fact, the innovator of the gui, in a joint project with Xerox and Apple. In fact, Apple stole Microsoft's research in the field and only then introduced a gui interface beginning with the Apple III. All the while, using the courts to keep Microsoft from using a gui in their operating systems. To speak of anything happening in the computer industry "before Microsoft" is downright absurd. And I think you know it.

Did you pull that out of your ass? Apple released the first desktop computer (Xerox's offering was a workstation) with a GUI called the Lisa. This was well before Microsoft was contracted by Apple to develop software.

Apple III, that must be from the imaginary non-existant computer line. Apple in fact tried to sue Microsoft for stealing their ideas AFTER the release of the Mac. Do to unclear licensing Apple LOST!

As for the links you supplied, yeah, I can link to a hundred different pages concerning Richard Staliman and point out one lie after another. Not simply take them out of context, as you have done, but show them to be utter and complete untruths. That says a lot for your Unix movement.

Not a single one of those links has to do with or even mentions Richard Stallman. Two link to the Microsoft web site. The other is a trusted countlessly publish timeline. The BellLabs link was provided because they were responsible for Unix. Richard Stallman has no ties with Novell, NetWare nor do those have any connections with open source software save one. Novell's former CEO left to found Caldera which provides software solutions for Unix and Linux.

Want a really good link? Here you go The Computer Museum History Center.

Here you go again talking about the "era before Microsoft." I'm sure I'm older than you, son, and I can tell you that there is no such thing. Microsoft IS the computer industry.

That's right without MS people would be using better products rather than inferior well marketed crap. Doesn't it amaze you that Microsoft's .NET will not be available for 2 years and will only benefit Windows users and will require purchase of costly hardware/software upgrades for businesses. I'm sure it does. Would it also surprise you to know that Novell has an even better offering planned for release in 2 months!? How many of your kids have graduated college? How many grandkids you got? I can go on and on and on proving you're an idiot. Take some of elenchos' advice (along with my own twist). Just accept it and admit that you're a fucking IDIOT!




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

I'll admit YOU are wrong (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 03:57:48 AM PST
Your post was so incoherent, I don't even know where to begin. I'll just say this: I wouldn't bitch about Microsoft and computer hardware prices if I were you. It's BECAUSE of Microsoft that hardware is as cheap as it is. It's BECAUSE of Microsoft that you can even afford to have a computer. It's BECAUSE of Microsoft that you have 10GB of hard RAM in your computer. AND IT'S BECAUSE OF MICROSOFT THAT YOU HAVE A GUI, A NETWORK CONNECTION AND THE MOST ADVANCED SOFTWARE THE WORLD HAS EVER KNOWN.


Huh? (none / 0) (#37)
by SYN on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 02:17:12 PM PST
What the hell is 'hard RAM', buster?


Oh please, (none / 0) (#38)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 02:19:44 PM PST
Your post must be a troll, but I'll leave it just in case you really are so clueless as to not know what hard RAM is.


Hehe (none / 0) (#79)
by SYN on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 12:33:22 AM PST
I don't know what hard RAM is...because it doesn't exist! It must be another made up term (you guys seem to be very fond of those). Hard RAM - geez, you people sound like those senior citizens who go to computer service centers - "Uh, hi, I think my computer box's hard RAM is getting too hot, please will you fix it for me! I can't see the Interweb on it no more!" Hehe...just kidding. But seriously, I thought you guys were smarter than that. Hard RAM? Come on. You've gotta be kidding. I'm not going to bother lecturing you guys about the different types of computer storage that exist and their traditional names, considering that similiar things done by previous posters usually land up being a waste of disk space.


disk space? (5.00 / 2) (#87)
by philipm on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 07:09:13 AM PST
What is this disk space nonsense? What is disk space? Pretty soon you will be telling me we have disk ocean, disk forest. Maybe we have run out of disk lebensraum.

Go read a computer book.


--philipm

Good grief (none / 0) (#88)
by SYN on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 08:24:31 AM PST
No, sir, you are the one who needs to go and read a computer book. Very urgently. Indeed. Disk space is composed of unused regions of your hard drive (you know, that thing with the silvery platters of metal inside it that 99% of personal computers contain). Not all of the hard drive's space (ie. unallocated cylinders) are always used, and these unallocated cylinders are referred to as 'disk space'. If you have lots of 'disk space', you can put lots of 'softwarez' onto your hard drive. And don't even try arguing with me until you've designed your own OS file system extensions the way I have, or read dozens of computer books, the way I have, being an incurable g**k/coder. Run back to your Visual Basic 'language' and go and try to write 'Hello World', do, it would probably keep you busy for weeks. Adequacy is a place for intelligent, informed people, not your type. Go somewhere where your pitiful lack of neural development will be appreciated.


 
bah (none / 0) (#89)
by nathan on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 08:55:50 AM PST
If you're not sure what hard RAM is, obviously you're unfamiliar with the work of the great Jim Powers.

Honestly, get with the exciting developments in contemporary cinema.

Nathan
--
Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

 
And a little more history for you... (5.00 / 2) (#17)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:15:52 AM PST
Just to show you what a crook your hero Stalimann is:

I found this information on an Apple ex-employee's website.

The computer network is truly one of Microsoft's greatest innovations. The concept began in the early days of the industry when Microsoft developed the first operating system, which was later adapted to be used on the IBM PC.

IBM wanted a way to allow their licensed operating system to operate on multi-processor/multi-RAM systems. Microsoft answered this by devoting millions of dollars of research into what they termed "computer networking." Not only did Microsoft present IBM with their multi-processor solution, which IBM labelled "OS/2" (Operating System / 2, 2 meaning "multiprocessor"), but they also innovated the computer-to-computer connection now called the "internet."

The Internet made great strides in the educational community, due to Microsoft's dominant presence on college campuses. Microsoft continued to add new features and security enhancements to their networking system, such as the ability to read the IP address from the computer modem's ROM and use it to track illegal use of systems connected to the network. This technology was dubbed "token ring" referring to the exchange of IP addresses as "tokens" in a networking "ring."

But the wide acceptance of Microsoft's new networking system on college campuses wasn't without its drawbacks. Microsoft even allowed campuses access to their valuable computer "code" (a file containing mathematical equations and various operating system commands). Their hope was to encourage the spread of the concept of computer networking to facilitate the free exchange of ideas across the world. While Microsoft's vision of empowering the oppressed and financially underprivileged was a noble one, a band of computer "hackers", led by Richard M Stalmann, had different ideas.

This group of "hackers," operating illegally from the University of Berkely, would break into the computer labs late at night and steal the computer code from the campus mainframe. One of those codes was Microsoft's innovative networking code.

Microsoft was stunned when their networking technology appeared in a new hacker operating system written by Linux Torvaldes. This operating system (egotistically named "Linux" after its creator), has steadily gained popularity in the computer underground ever since. This incident led Microsoft founder and lead programmer Bill Gates to make the famous comment, "software should be free, as in speech, not free as in beer".

Unfortunately, Microsoft had no legal remedy in this situation. Since the hacker underground is composed of thousands of shady characters, spread across the world who all use illegal computer modems (the V-chip, which supplies the IP tokens, has been removed), Microsoft had noone to sue. The damage these hackers have caused to the internet is incalculable, since they're illegal code is used in critical portions of the internet, they are allowed to dictate many of the standards by which various subsystems of the internet are governed.



you wrote that (1.00 / 1) (#18)
by NAWL on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 05:18:19 AM PST
Written by an ex-Apple employee? Gee I wonder why. Probably because he is an misinformed idiot with bad spelling.

The computer network is truly one of Microsoft's greatest innovations. The concept began in the early days of the industry when Microsoft developed the first operating system, which was later adapted to be used on the IBM PC.

Computer networks were around much longer than Microsoft. All you have to do is look at IBM's AIX, Hewlette-Packard's HP-UX, or Compaq's Tru64 (and yes Compaq is also older than MS). Also MS did NOT create the first operating system. I can name a number of OSes that pre-date even DOS (which they didn't even develop, they bought it). How about UNIX or CP/M. Not to mention that Apple's Lisa had a GUI while MS was still screwing around with DOS.

IBM wanted a way to allow their licensed operating system to operate on multi-processor/multi-RAM systems. Microsoft answered this by devoting millions of dollars of research into what they termed "computer networking." Not only did Microsoft present IBM with their multi-processor solution, which IBM labelled "OS/2" (Operating System / 2, 2 meaning "multiprocessor"), but they also innovated the computer-to-computer connection now called the "internet."

MS answered this with millions. Of what money? MS was helping to develop OS/2 while under contract from IBM. They never finished it before IBM realised MS was devoting more time to their own projects and not IBMs. MS didn't HAVE millions to throw around. In other words they were using IBMs money to fund their work. Also the name OS/2 has nothing to do with MP. Its name realtes to the second generation of IBM offered OSes.

The Internet made great strides in the educational community, due to Microsoft's dominant presence on college campuses. Microsoft continued to add new features and security enhancements to their networking system, such as the ability to read the IP address from the computer modem's ROM and use it to track illegal use of systems connected to the network. This technology was dubbed "token ring" referring to the exchange of IP addresses as "tokens" in a networking "ring."

Huh!?! Sorry but UNIX is still dominant in the server rooms at most Universities. IBM developed Token Ring and it predates MS as well. Check history against the founding date of MS. Token Ring doesn't involve a modem, track illegal use, nor does it exchange IP addresses. A network card and a MAU are require when using token ring. You really don't know anything about networking do you? Here's a lesson.

Token passing involves a 3-byte packet, called a token, which is transmitted from one node to another around the ring. If a computer on the ring has information ti transmit, it picks up the token packet, adds the control and data information plus the destination's node address to transform the token into a data fram and then passes the token on to the next node. The tranformed token, now in the form of a frame, circulates around the network until it reaches the its intended destination. The destination node picks it up and returns an acknowledgement messageto the originating node. After the originating node receives the acknowledgement, it releases a new free token and sends it down the ring.

And before you post something stupid like MS invented Ethernet. Bob Metcalfe's Harvard PhD Thesis outlined the idea for Ethernet. David Boggs, Butler Lampson, Bob Metcalfe, and Charles Thacker of Xerox PARC filed a patent for Ehternet. They received patent number 4,063,220 in 1977. The concept was tested on Xerox PARC's Alto computers, and the first Ethernet network called the Alto Aloha System. This was only 2 years after the founding of Micro-Soft (they later dropped the hyphen) before Bill and Company went to work for IBM (the company was founded while they developed BASIC (pre-DOS) for the Altair 8800).

But the wide acceptance of Microsoft's new networking system on college campuses wasn't without its drawbacks. Microsoft even allowed campuses access to their valuable computer "code" (a file containing mathematical equations and various operating system commands). Their hope was to encourage the spread of the concept of computer networking to facilitate the free exchange of ideas across the world. While Microsoft's vision of empowering the oppressed and financially underprivileged was a noble one, a band of computer "hackers", led by Richard M Stalmann, had different ideas.

Dear God, what a load of CRAP! MS from their early contract negotiations with IBM wanted to control every-fucking-thing.

This group of "hackers," operating illegally from the University of Berkely, would break into the computer labs late at night and steal the computer code from the campus mainframe. One of those codes was Microsoft's innovative networking code.

I assume you are referring to the TCP/IP stack from FreeBSD. Kind of strange since that code predates DOS! DOS doesn't have a TCP/IP stack. Hell early versions of DOS had NO networking capabilities what-so-ever. Not to mention that MS was working on Windows while still under contract by IBM. So it was IBM's machines. For a guy that claims he's OLDER than me, your timeline is ALL FUCKED UP!

Microsoft was stunned when their networking technology appeared in a new hacker operating system written by Linux Torvaldes. This operating system (egotistically named "Linux" after its creator), has steadily gained popularity in the computer underground ever since. This incident led Microsoft founder and lead programmer Bill Gates to make the famous comment, "software should be free, as in speech, not free as in beer".

His name is LINUS TORVALDS. Linux=Linus+*nix. This proves you wrote this piece of shit. None of you adequacy.org family morons can ever get that right. MS has already stated that Windows uses the TCP/IP stack from FreeBSD. According to the BSD license they can do that. And Bill Gates never said that. Richard Stallman did.

The V-chip has no connection whatsoever to Token Ring. It's used to block certain material like TV channels from kids. There's no need to even touch your last paragraph since it makes no sense and I have otherwise destroy it in with previous responses.








Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

Now you show your true colors (5.00 / 1) (#19)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 05:41:24 AM PST
His name is LINUS TORVALDS. Linux=Linus+*nix. This proves you wrote this piece of shit. None of you adequacy.org family morons can ever get that right. MS has already stated that Windows uses the TCP/IP stack from FreeBSD. According to the BSD license they can do that.

Nobody here cares how to spell his name. He is a criminal who created a hacker tool which has cost countless corporations BILLIONS in lost revenue. He's lucky if he gets his name spelled incorrectly, since he deserves to go to the electric chair.

And Bill Gates never said that. Richard Stallman did. No. Bill Gates said that and Richard Stalimann later twisted it into his own perverse hacker credo, "software deserves to be free." This man, another criminal, actually BELIEVES that Microsoft and other software companies OWE him something. He needs to be spanked, as do you.

The V-chip has no connection whatsoever to Token Ring. It's used to block certain material like TV channels from kids.

I don't know where you're getting your information, but anyone can do a patent search and discover that the V-Chip is a device used to protect network security and give parental control over internet content by providing a means to filter specific IP tokens.

Of course, you don't want anyone to know this, since it would severely damper your illegal hacking efforts, now wouldn't it?

So, put that in your crack pipe and smoke it, bucko.


stop (none / 0) (#27)
by NAWL on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 12:04:12 PM PST
I don't know where you're getting your information, but anyone can do a patent search and discover that the V-Chip is a device used to protect network security and give parental control over internet content by providing a means to filter specific IP tokens.

You really are a simple creature aren't you? You actually think you can make up terms like IP token? Do you even know what the hell the Internet Protocol IS? Hell I gaven the definition of a token. V-Chip aren't used on networks you twit. On networks you use network filters and proxy servers.

Don't attempt to run of and actually expect me to believe that you know a damn thing about networking or computing in general. You sound like a friggin 13-year old trying to sound cool throwing around lingo that doesn't make and sense. You probably run around saying things like, ""We've got to patch the token ring into the ethernet switch in order to enhance the collision rate on the bitmap decoder algorithm!", in an attempt to sound intelligent.




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

We'll see, hacker boy (none / 0) (#30)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 01:10:05 PM PST
Right now, we have activated Microsoft server pages which will decode the IP tokens in your modem's V-chip. Once completed, your IP will be banned. Unless, of course you are using an illegal hacker modem, in which case the FBI will be visiting you shortly. Have a nice day.


The humor kills me. (1.00 / 1) (#35)
by chuckx on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 01:54:15 PM PST
I too have been threatened with legal action by Adequacy members. I still haven't heard from any legal representation. These empty threats are a joke.


- chuckx -

Oh don't worry, we haven't forgotten you (5.00 / 1) (#36)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 02:07:39 PM PST
You'll be paying the piper all in good time. At the moment, our legal department has been busy with a cease and desist letter from Natalie Portman's representatives. That will all be sorted out in good time (in our favor, since our legal staff is every bit as competent as our technical staff) and you will be getting the justice you so richly deserve.


Sure thing. (1.00 / 2) (#39)
by chuckx on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 02:28:04 PM PST
What exactly are you accusing me of? What do I deserve?

I recommend you dispense with the baseless accusations and empty threats and actually try engaging in a coherent discussion with those who do not have the same mindset as you.

This site is not the safe harbor of intelligent discussion that it's claimed to be. If you make a comment that mindlessly agrees with the article, your post gets rated high by regulars. If you make a post outright disagreeing, you're labeled a criminal, threatened and rated down. If you make a post that presents an intelligent, controversial point, it gets quietly ignored.

Yes, these are general observations. No, I'm not accusing any one person of treating comments in that manner. However, the Adequacy community does tend to act that way. The community here is just as biased and brazen as what you may find at Slashdot or Kuro5hin, creating a community that's just as tedious and tiresome as the others can be. It just so happens the people here tend to be biased in the opposite direction.


- chuckx -

Well, let's take a stroll down memory lane (5.00 / 2) (#40)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 02:36:31 PM PST
What exactly are you accusing me of?

I believe the issue in question was the time you illegaly accessed our statistics page, using an illegal modem and a hacker tool.

What do I deserve?

Normally, I would say the electric chair, but since you continue to access our site through illegal means, AND HAVE BEEN POSTING COMMENTS PEDOPHILIC IN NATURE, I think nailing you to a cross, soaking you in gasoline and lighting you on fire would be good.


You're wrong. (none / 0) (#42)
by chuckx on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 03:09:22 PM PST
I believe the issue in question was the time you illegaly accessed our statistics page, using an illegal modem and a hacker tool.
I did not access a statistics page for this site. My cable modem is the property of Time Warner Cable, and my use of it is in no way illegal. The "hacker tool" you are referrring to is Internet Explorer. If you consider that a hacker tool, please enlighten me as to what web browser I should be using to access this site (by the way, the TOS mentions nothing about not being able to use IE).

...but since you continue to access our site through illegal means, AND HAVE BEEN POSTING COMMENTS PEDOPHILIC IN NATURE...
This is great. You immediately retreat back to making baseless accusations. Once again, is Internet Explorer illegal? Pedophilic comments? Would you care to point one out?


- chuckx -

I am not wrong - YOU ARE LYING (none / 0) (#44)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 03:30:55 PM PST
I did not access a statistics page for this site. My cable modem is the property of Time Warner Cable, and my use of it is in no way illegal. The "hacker tool" you are referrring to is Internet Explorer. If you consider that a hacker tool, please enlighten me as to what web browser I should be using to access this site (by the way, the TOS mentions nothing about not being able to use IE).

That's certainly not what our IP token analyzer has told us. And, to be quite frank, I believe hard data over your cyber-hacker lies. According to our information, you accessed our PRIVATE statistics page on no less than three occassions, using Apache - an "Open Source" web browser. And we all know Open Source is just a euphemism for "Illegal Hacker Tool".

This is great. You immediately retreat back to making baseless accusations. Once again, is Internet Explorer illegal? Pedophilic comments? Would you care to point one out?

Of course IE is not illegal. But - as you well know - that IS NOT what you are using. Of course I will not point out your pedophilic comments. They have been hidden and passed along to our lawyers, along with our IP token information.


You make yourself look stupid better than I do. (none / 0) (#45)
by chuckx on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 03:42:22 PM PST
Apache is a web server, not a web browser. You all should know that better than most since you use it to serve this site.

This conversation is pointless, as is most discussion on this site. For a prime example, just take a look at the thousands of posts on the "Is Your Son a Computer Hacker" article. There you have thousands proclaiming the idiocy of Adequacy. Regardless of whether or not the comments were invited, this is hardly the home of intelligent, controversial discourse.

Continue with your babbling if you must.


- chuckx -

I beg to differ sir, (none / 0) (#47)
by Martino Cortez PhD on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 03:59:50 PM PST
As you can clearly see, if such intelligent humans as myself inhabit this site, then surely it must have merit, no? As the smartest, richest, and therefore the most glorious of humans, blessed by the grace of Jesus Christ our Saviour, I decree that this website is home to some of the most intense, witty, and challenging of website debate forums.

It's not that the regulars here are wrong, it's that your IQ is merely too low to see their underlying foundation of knowledge from which they base their rigeriously analysed arguments. Perhaps you should go back to grade school and post your childesh arguments. In the mean time, I sugest you cease posting, lest you further embarrass your unwashed self in our noble presence.

Thank you.


--
Dr Martino Cortez, PhD
CEO - Martin-Cortez Financial Corporation
Copyright � 2002, Martino Cortez.

You mean nothing to me. (none / 0) (#50)
by chuckx on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:08:47 PM PST
And I attatch the same amount of significance to your comments.

If you have a problem with that, that's too bad. It's your problem, not mine.

As long as Adequacy.org tries to caters to open, intelligent and controversial discussion, I will post my intelligent, controversial comments. You may disagree, but that's the definition of controversy, isn't it?

If my comments are too controversial for you to handle, you and you're typists should consider frequenting another site.


- chuckx -

stop telling others what to do (none / 0) (#94)
by philipm on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 08:36:11 PM PST
Martino Cortez is a valuable meber of Adequacy.

You are NOT.


--philipm

 
huh? (none / 0) (#56)
by PotatoError on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:23:56 PM PST
maybe you could have saved yourself a lot of time by just writing "shut the fuck up" instead of going into all that other stuff you wrote.
<<JUMP! POGO POGO POGO BOUNCE! POGO POGO POGO>>

because he has more than a third grade education (none / 0) (#95)
by philipm on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 08:39:12 PM PST
Unlike autistic techno geeks, we here ad adequacy do not tell people to "shut the fuck up".

Just because you have been publicly humiliated and embarassed is no reason to make your crimes worse.

I look forward to adequacy pursuing legal action due to the illegal hacking described in the above thread.


--philipm

 
You don't know shit, buddy (none / 0) (#51)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:12:31 PM PST
Apache is a web server, not a web browser. You all should know that better than most since you use it to serve this site.

Hey, I took a class in Data Processing at my local Vo-Tech. Don't try to confuse me with your obscure hacker lingo. I can just see you sitting there, alone in your parent's basement, your brain sizzling on LSD while you play your flute for your computer. You punks are all the same.

It will be a glorious day when the RIAA legislation puts an end to you all.


haha (none / 0) (#55)
by PotatoError on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:22:48 PM PST
Yes we are the hacker underworld.
Currently I am using my 'Microsoft Notepad' hacker tool to type this message.
Notice that my Keyboard has an illegal design - one of the keys is missing. It was actually the "spam web server" key but I guess I dont need one of those now that I have Norton Anti-Virus which is the hub of my hacker tool assortment.
Tommorow I plan to use Microsoft Solitare and my Apache browser (lol) to reak havoc to civilisation. I will start by turning up my anti-matter electro speaker sound system and then I will load up my ultra-radiation zip drive and insert the .22 zip cartridge into it.
Then I will cunningly turn off my monitor to avoid the fires and press THE WINDOWS KEY on my keyboard. HAHAHA bet you didnt see that attack coming!!!!

This is all factual of course. You'd have to be computer ignorant to deny it.




<<JUMP! POGO POGO POGO BOUNCE! POGO POGO POGO>>

Very cute (none / 0) (#63)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:54:23 PM PST
I just hope you enjoy getting gang-raped by the buffalo herders in Leavenworth along with your other hacker buddies who have been illegally accessing our site.


Too Funny (none / 0) (#132)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Jan 21st, 2002 at 02:35:16 PM PST
I have to give credit to OSM. His posts have to be some of the most amusing stuff I've heard in a long time. I've yet to actually read a post from one so ignorant as he. As to a previous comment regarding Christ, do you honestly believe you're a better Christian because you're rich? If so you don't beleive in God, you don't beleive in Christ, you believe in the dollar bill, nothing more, and may you burn in hell with your stack of cash.
Back to OSM, God bless this funny little man. You constant rantings about hackers and IP tokens and hacker software is all too amusing, yet untrue. You fail to admit that Apple stol the GUI from Xerox, and that Billy Bob and his cronies stole the GUI from Apple while 'developing' it for them, though the information has been documented in numerous areas and some of these have been made available to you. You also fail to admit in multiple other instances where others have provided an intelligent arguement backed up by FACTS. You also claim the Linux is a hacker's OS because it wasn't created by your precious Microsoft. Linux is an OS for the computer savvy that are sick of Windows and it's many, many failings. People who like to creat their OS to run what they want and how they want with a degree of stability unmatched by windows. So until you can get a proper computer education you can quit your idiotic and mindless bashing of Linux and it's many users. On a side note: People that disagree with you and you moronic cohorts aren't hackers, and drug adicts or pedophiles, they just know what they're talking about, because that's their job, that's their hobby, and they're damned good at them. You can also go ahead and rant about getting my IP 'token' address and accuse me of being a hacker, which is virtually impossible because they have our work stations protected very well here at MSN. Yes, that's right, MSN, that awful ISP spawned by one of the worst companies to grace God's wonderful planet. So go ahead, try your hardest to get my info, report, me and get me fired! But alas, you are full of idle threats and I expect nothing to come of this. You have a great day, fool, and may you one day be blessed with the knowledge of the extent of your stupidity.


 
OSM you are talking crap and you know 0 [NT] (none / 0) (#53)
by PotatoError on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:15:45 PM PST

<<JUMP! POGO POGO POGO BOUNCE! POGO POGO POGO>>

 
Don't count on it (1.00 / 1) (#58)
by NAWL on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:28:11 PM PST
How do xpect this moron to carry on an intelligent discussion when he doesn't even know what he is talking about.

Illegal hacker modem? What is that?

Token Ring using dial up modems, IP tokens. Give me a break. This guy doesn't have any sort of clue what the hell he is talking about. Obviously because he is talking about IP tokens he has no concept of the TCP/IP suite of protocols.

He also referrs to me as "hacker boy". Well it's nice to feel young so I thank him for that.

I would also suggest that osm and the other adequacy.org retards quit making any sort of threats. I would like to direct you to this post.




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

Oh, so let me get this straight (none / 0) (#62)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:52:22 PM PST
Illegal hacker modem? What is that?

Token Ring using dial up modems, IP tokens. Give me a break. This guy doesn't have any sort of clue what the hell he is talking about. Obviously because he is talking about IP tokens he has no concept of the TCP/IP suite of protocols.


Wow. For someone supposedly so knowledgeable about computers, you don't know much do you?

Is your modem Microsoft certified WITH THE V-CHIP INTACT?

Are you accessing this site through an approved high-speed IP token bridge like AOL?

Are you using certified Microsoft hack-proof products?

No, I didn't think so, because our IP token analyzer told us that already.

Hope you enjoy your stay in Leavenworth, asshole, though the buffalo don't smell so good.


What!?! (none / 0) (#73)
by NAWL on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 11:13:31 PM PST
Wow. For someone supposedly so knowledgeable about computers, you don't know much do you?

You have the nerve to post a response like that when you obviously don't have any friggin clue what you are talking about?

Is your modem Microsoft certified WITH THE V-CHIP INTACT?

Modems don't have V-chips you idiot. That's why firewall, proxy software and programs like NetNanny are available.

Microsoft continued to add new features and security enhancements to their networking system, such as the ability to read the IP address from the computer modem's ROM and use it to track illegal use of systems connected to the network. This technology was dubbed "token ring" referring to the exchange of IP addresses as "tokens" in a networking "ring."

Let's analyze this. Token Ring was invented by IBM. It is used on high speed local area networks. It requires a token ring car and each computer to be connected directly or through the use of a Multistation Access Unit (MAU). ROM is READ ONLY MEMORY. It's statically stored instructions sets on a chip. So it would be really hard to read someone else's IP address from this since it would be reading the same thing over and over and over again. Token Ring does NOT "exchange IP addresses". Each machine requires it's own unique IP address whether it is currently transmitting or not.

Are you accessing this site through an approved high-speed IP token bridge like AOL?

Token Ring is only used on LOCAL AREA NETWORKS. It's an old technology that was replaced by ETHERNET. It has nothing to do with dial up. Token Ring only allows for transmission at 4/16Mbps while Ethernet transmits at 10/100/1000Mbps. When was the last time you had a dial up modem transmit at 4Mbps? More like 56Kbps. Hopefully you can tell the difference between Mbps (megabits per second) and Kbps (kilobits per second.

Are you using certified Microsoft hack-proof products?

On this computer all I am using now is a fresh install of Windows XP, IE6 and MSN. That's it. I can still access all the information I did before.

No, I didn't think so, because our IP token analyzer told us that already.

A token is 3-bytes. Kind of hard to store that much information in 3 BYTES!



You are facing an uphill battle not only against readers of this site, network professionals, and EVERY piece of networking literature known to man. Not to mention anyone with at least half a friggin brain. Hell I'll mail you a copy of the Net+ and MCSE Certification Preparation manuals so you can read them and finally learn you are a retard.

Dfinition of Token Ring

Care to read the IBM whitepaper on Token ring solutions?

Here's a good page from that whitepaper




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

yeah (none / 0) (#74)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 11:28:32 PM PST
Hell I'll mail you a copy of the Net+ and MCSE Certification Preparation manuals so you can read them...

I'm sure you would LOVE to mail me your hacker virus codes. Rest assured, such an attempt will bring swift response by the Justice Department.

Dfinition of Token Ring

Care to read the IBM whitepaper on Token ring solutions?

Here's a good page from that whitepaper


You honestly expect me to follow ANY link you have provided in this entire conversation? You really think I am going to logon to your website so you can hack into my Windows and upload a virus code?

You dirty Unix hackers will stop at nothing. All I can do is shake my head.


dipshit! (none / 0) (#76)
by NAWL on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 12:09:54 AM PST
I'm sure you would LOVE to mail me your hacker virus codes. Rest assured, such an attempt will bring swift response by the Justice Department.

Yes the MICROSOFT Certified Systems Engineer manual is nothing but hacker code, ok. And I said MAIL not email.

You honestly expect me to follow ANY link you have provided in this entire conversation? You really think I am going to logon to your website so you can hack into my Windows and upload a virus code?

Are you THAT friggin stupid? Just put your mouse on the link. Then read the information on the status bar of Internet Explorer or whatever browser you use. Notice how it reads www.networking.IBM.com? I guess I own IBM if it's MY website then huh?

You have done nothing to prrove your whether your posts are accurate. Like I'm supposed to believe this "we at adequacy.org are intellectuals so all of our information is correct" bullshit. The only thing you did provide was something from "a former Apple employee" yet you offer NO link to this site.

All I can do is shake my head.

Apparently since you cannot offer anything beneficial to your argument nor to the human race.




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

You're a real piece of work (none / 0) (#77)
by osm on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 12:14:21 AM PST
After you have been shown ALL FUCKING DAY what a completely clueless FUCK you are, you STILL come back for more.

Go away now, before I kick you.


you're nuts (none / 0) (#78)
by NAWL on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 12:29:39 AM PST
I'M clueless? I have responded with nothing but the facts and links and history to back it up. You have provided nothing but a bunch of crap that doesn't even make any sense.

You sit there claiming that MS was responsible for developing the first working network and that they were doing all these thing that involved Windows WAY before Windows was even in development. You also throw around tech terms that don't make any sense. MS didn't become involved with hardware until recently, yet the developed this new modem?

Where are YOUR links and YOUR proof? You're just like all the other retards. "I don't wanna go to your links" or "your links point to hacker sites run by Richard Stallman. I guess Richard Stallman owns Microsoft too huh?




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

Stalimann owns nothing (none / 0) (#80)
by osm on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 12:36:10 AM PST
I guess Richard Stallman owns Microsoft too huh?

He is a simple Open Source thief. I am going to be publishing an article soon which will expose Stalimann and his Thieving Merry Men once and for all.

Where are YOUR links and YOUR proof?

It's simple logic, moron. When one speaks TRUTH, one does not NEED "links" or "proof". Those things are merely the tools of those who DISTORT the world to fit their own corrupt view.

Ass.


funny stuff (none / 0) (#81)
by NAWL on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 12:47:27 AM PST
I can consult ANY network professional, ANY website (run by intelligent people), and ANY documentation and PROVE you are an idiot. You have NOTHING but idiocy. You're just too stupid to admit that you're a retard.




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

A concurrence . . . (none / 0) (#114)
by Anonymous Reader on Sat Dec 29th, 2001 at 09:57:22 AM PST
I have been reading the whole exchange between 'osm' and the people who know what they are talking about, and I hate to say it, but people like 'osm' need to go out and buy a good book on PCs.

For 'osm's information, Unix was developed as a high-speed OS for network usage - Linux, an OS used on many web servers today, is a variant of Unix. Linux and Unix are not used primarily for hacking, although Microsoft zzealots seem to think otherwise.

In fact, MS-DOS, the OS that launched Microsoft on their way to commercial success, wasn't even originally a Microsoft product. The following information is extracted partially from Repairing and Upgrading PC's by Scott Mueller, 3rd Edition. (yes I know they are on the 12th now buit the 3rd has MS-DOS info in it) This book is most certainly NOT a crackers manual (hacker should be a compliment - it means highly skilled PC person, you wanted the word Cracker), rather, it is a respected manual used by many to aid them in their PC servicing needs. The remainder is a compilation of reading MANY PC books (and old manuals):

--------------------------------------------------
Before Microsoft, there was a simple OS used on variants of the Altair hobbyist PC (built by hobbyists affectionately known as HACKERS)
and the Apple II - Control Program/Microcomputer, or simply CP/M. When Intel developed the 8086 and 8088 from the (4004 to the) 8080, 8085, and Z80 chips, IBM proceeded to release the 5100-series PC - an office computer that used cp/m '86.

Seattle Computers made an operating system based on the CP/M OS and sold it to a then-fledgeling Microsoft. That became MS-DOS V. 1.0.

Eventually Microsoft and IBM teamed up to produce new generic versions of DOS (ever hear of IBM/PC-DOS?). IBM's DOS was a more reliable OS, with better support programs (Scott Mueller agrees with me!). Eventually, when the 80286 (IBM PC/AT) came out, IBM developed OS/2 V. 1, an OS designed to use the protected mode functions of the 286 over the 8086/8's 'real mode'. MS just kept using the same old DOS, eventually releasing the Windows GUI, which relied on DOS to do its work (consumer-level Windows wasn't a real OS until Win98 came out - NT was used for businesses only). Windows was HIGHLY trouble prone due to the fact that it relied on MS-DOS to do all the work.

When the 80386DX was released, IBM released OS/2 V. 2, a very powerful OS that took full advantage of the 80386's advanced capabilities over the 80286 CPU. MS still stuck with Windows, now showing it's problems. Win95 ("Chicago") was VERY unstable due to MS's lack of want to get off of DOS.

Unfortunately, due to MS's advertising campaigns, alternative better OS's like OS/2, Unix, and Linux bever gained popularity, and now we are stuck with Microsoft's WinXP, which forces non-technicians to only use Microsoft products, unless they can disable the code present in the OS that automatically changes settings on bootup.
Microsoft has sealed their monopoly, and we are stuck with a pile of feces.

Linux is still used because of a concept of "open-source", which allows you, the consumer, to modify the OS as you see fit, so it works exactly how YOU want it to, as opposed to some multibillionaire in Redmond's wants (you know who I mean).

Oh, and I don't use Outlook, and I use a third-party web browser. There, avoids most all of my "cracker" problems.
--------------------------------------------------

Oh yes, I recommend you pick up the book:

Repairing and Upgrading PC's, 12th Edition
By Scott Mueller

You will find that it will give you actual PC knowledge as opposed to the crap you put out. Your idea of a token ring network, 'osm' was totally wrong.

In fact, since I already used a lot of space, I'll just put in the Glossary definition of 'token ring'.

--------------------------------------------------
Token Ring:

A type of LOCAL AREA network in which the wrokstations relay a packet of data called a token in a logical ring configuration. When a station wants to transmit, it takes possesion of the token, attaches its data, then frees the token after the data has made a complete circut of the electrical ring. [Peer-to-Peer]
--------------------------------------------------

At that point, EtherNet wasn't much of a factor, due to the inefficiency that plagued it in 1992.
Notice, a LOCAL, NON-INTERNET network.

I am only 14 years of age, but I have been using IBM-Compatable PC's since I was 5, helping build PC's since I was 9, and have been building my own PC's with no supervision since 12. I an a huge gamer, so I have had to read MANY books to learn how to eke every drop of performance from my PC's. My father makes good money writing tech manuals and building PC's. And I mean assemble them at my residence, not go to some company and tell them what I want in it. And at this point, I am taking a Sr. High class on programming in Visual Basic to expand my knwoledge beyond Q-Basic and Z80 Assembly Language, and I'm planning to take the C++ independent study next year, so I can use the more powerful language (to the person who wrote the original article, C++ is a far more powerful language than any form of Basic).

I understand how people can be computer illiterate, but when they decide to get up and put crap like this into the world without doing research, it makes me sick. Thank you, Nawl and the others. At least there are some in this world who know what they are talking about.

-USSF Renegade
www.geocities.com/ussf_renegade

(and it's on YAHOO GEOCITIES, so you KNOW there are no viruses or porn or anything like that, not that I'd want to post crap like that anyways.)

P.S. go to www.linux.com - one of the many Linux sites out there (with a U not an O)



 
Why we ignore alakazooloom (none / 0) (#65)
by T Reginald Gibbons on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 05:49:32 PM PST
Adequacy.org is a popular site among people who have, through higher birth and a more complete education, cultivated within themselves a level of sophistication well beyond that of the common g**k. Even adequacy's more technically gifted members are more than well acquainted with the more human pastures of learned endeavour. This is, of course, quite outside the norm for "techies", most of whom would sooner sit through Fight Club ten times than read Proust. G**ks may be willing to spatter Voltaire's name across their facile justifications for theft, but open up a copy of Candide? No way, d00od!

The post to which you linked describes a question most of us addressed when we were barely adolescent. It is tediously worded and it is simply not insightful. Why should we waste our time explaining the Art to someone like alaparashazam?


Please, try again. (none / 0) (#67)
by chuckx on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 06:16:44 PM PST
It seems that my point flew right over your head.

The post I referred to may have asked a seemingly boring question, but it's poltroon's answer which illuminates. Here's an excerpt,

I think viewers often bring more to art than an artist could have fully intended. I guess the images are like saying, here this does something to me, how about you?
Here, the artist herself is saying that the meaning of the work is subjective. Whatever meaning she has attatched to the piece can be completely opposite of the meaning others find in it.

In his article, elenchos used her art to belittle those who are deemed "inadequate". Here are some of his words,

Could you name even one of the references in it? Explicate even one of the symbols? No, you could not. There is no shame in admitting it.
However, poltroon's post makes elenchos' point moot. She says that her art asks the viewer, "What do I do you for you?" There is no right or wrong answer as elenchos implied. If I found that the piece made me feel joyful or if I thought that it was symbolic for solitude, it would not be the incorrect interpretation of the piece. There is no incorrect interpretation. The viewers interpretation is subjective. This was the admitted intention of the artist.

Regardless, this is all elementary to you. But by ignoring the basics, it's hard to realize that what you construe from them can be flawed.


- chuckx -

Duuuhhhh, code is art, dood. (none / 0) (#68)
by T Reginald Gibbons on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 06:27:44 PM PST
I believe elenchos' point was that the inadequate like alabamashazbat, are unable to apply any interpretation to an artistic piece at all. Poltroon's comments are tangential to his point.


Please, try again. (none / 0) (#70)
by chuckx on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 06:56:21 PM PST
Typically I leave feeling happy that I had the opportunity to see some interesting art, and sometimes I leave contemplating something a painting made me think of...
That was from alprazolam's post. I would say that he's capable of interpreting art.

Anybody can interpret art. You may value one interpretation over another, but that doesn't invalidate the other interpretations.


- chuckx -

Anyone can misinterpret art (none / 0) (#84)
by T Reginald Gibbons on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 04:42:44 AM PST
Saying "I think this purdy picture means something", doesn't constitute a reasonable interpretation. Why don't you g**ks understand that "open to interpretation" doesn't necessarily mean "open to complete nonsense". I guess you're going to go on believing that art has no real meaning, so it's ok to make one up. No doubt you'll tell us that it's useless to actually study art theory, since art doesn't really mean anything, and the intentions of the artist should be ignored by anyone who can't be bothered to actually try to understand the piece in terms of what the artist actually meant to say.

In short, you are a ridiculous pleb, bent on rationalising your ignorance away.


 
PATENT (none / 0) (#107)
by NAWL on Thu Dec 27th, 2001 at 10:02:00 PM PST
The V-chip has no connection whatsoever to Token Ring. It's used to block certain material like TV channels from kids.

I don't know where you're getting your information, but anyone can do a patent search and discover that the V-Chip is a device used to protect network security and give parental control over internet content by providing a means to filter specific IP tokens.


History of the V-Chip

U.S. Patent number 5,828,402 has been issued to Tri-Vision Director and v-chip pioneer Tim Collings, protecting the unique, flexible V-gis v-chip technology.

Tim Collings' v-chip Patent specifies technology capable of adapting to multiple and changing television ratings systems.

The Patent and Trademark Office of the United States Department of Commerce Web Site (http://www.uspto.gov) lists the Patent as follows:

United States Patent: 5,828,402
Collings:October 27, 1998


Method and apparatus for selectively blocking audio and video signals.




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

 
One thing: (none / 0) (#131)
by Anonymous Reader on Tue Jan 15th, 2002 at 07:44:09 PM PST
Linus + *nix != Linux

Unix + Minix (Mini Unix) + LUNIX (Little Unix) = Linux

Oddly enough, even Linus explains repeatedly his name has no correlation with Linux. It's a coincidence. Linux is a replacement ( and succesor by far ) of Minix.


 
Dear Sir, (none / 0) (#21)
by Martino Cortez PhD on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 11:06:51 AM PST
While I am not sure of it completely (I am having my research experts investigate it), this young lad might be on to something. I belive you may find your information here.

I belive this writty young sir has found a way to t**ll the t**ll*rs. I might even have some anecdotal evidence. This "tigbitties" gentleman has his first post over month ago. My typists (who are more internet savy then I), inform me that this is much to long for your average discruntled, lower-class citizen to hang around. I must ask you fine sirs, is this adequacy's first instance of a t**ll who t**ll's the t**lls? If so, should you take action in light of your no t**lling policies?


--
Dr Martino Cortez, PhD
CEO - Martin-Cortez Financial Corporation
Copyright � 2002, Martino Cortez.

One would have thought... (none / 0) (#24)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 11:24:09 AM PST
that a MIT grad with a doctorate would at least be capable of spelling "believe"...
Obviously not.



Dear Sir, (none / 0) (#25)
by Martino Cortez PhD on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 11:36:01 AM PST
I would like to apologize for my nude female typists spelling abilities. Often, I do not get a chance to look over their work. I usually just say out loud what I wish them to type, and they write it and post it.

Alas, spelling was not much of my thing either. For an MIT grad with a doctorate in business, I focused my energies and synergies into more important things, like "getting some", and late, energetic parties with my fellow colleagues. As you can see by my many suscessful busninesses and corporations, my investment paid off.

Thank you kind anonymous reader sir,


--
Dr Martino Cortez, PhD
CEO - Martin-Cortez Financial Corporation
Copyright � 2002, Martino Cortez.

lol (none / 0) (#64)
by PotatoError on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 05:13:22 PM PST
type yer own dirty work!!
<<JUMP! POGO POGO POGO BOUNCE! POGO POGO POGO>>

 
You're right... (1.00 / 2) (#9)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 01:29:53 AM PST
This article really is a crock of shite, and it's beyond me how it managed to get on to adequacy.
It's littered with blatant errors, bullshit and rhetoric. No doubt it'll be ripped apart in these next few days.
To be honest, I really can't see the authors motivation in posting this kind of crap. It doesn't tell us anything new; I was reading this sort of trash years ago.
I can, therefore, only imagine that you have posted this to piss alot of people off. Personally, I'm not bothered...it's funny. In a sick and twisted kind of way.


 
Excuse me (5.00 / 2) (#11)
by fluffy grue on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 02:13:37 AM PST
But where do you come off, storming in here as though you're such a know-it-all? Perhaps you should read some other articles here, as it is obvious that you are not familiar with the level of understanding that the world's most popular and controversial website has to offer. Before you continue to spout off uninformed rhetoric, that is.
--
meep

here you go... (1.00 / 1) (#52)
by PotatoError on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:12:56 PM PST
Imagine if I had posted this article:

"A new threat has come up recently. It appears that our own cars are being used against us by the government. Last year they installed secret "distributer cap monitoring devices". These are placed under the main rotorator inside the engines dual compartment and act as a transponder signal which relays the speedometer gauge and nuclear fuel cell charge of your car straight to a secret government car factory".

Complete shit isnt it?
Well thats EXACTLY how this article sounded to me. All these jargon words are there but in weird orders and describe things which dont exist. If you dont know about computers then you might actually believe it. But I dont and neither does NAWL it seems. So he is perfectly justified to notify everyone else that it is shit. In a way it is sort of his duty to do so.
<<JUMP! POGO POGO POGO BOUNCE! POGO POGO POGO>>

More hacker lies (4.00 / 1) (#54)
by osm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:15:50 PM PST
You people just don't give up, do you?


Neither do you. (none / 0) (#59)
by chuckx on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:28:45 PM PST
You don't understand what's going on here do you? It's really not that surprising though.

As long as you post articles and comments such as this, you'll get the same type of response.


- chuckx -

 
Intriguing... (none / 0) (#69)
by elenchos on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 06:35:18 PM PST
Where did you first hear of these distributer cap monitoring devices? Have you actually seen one? Do you have photographs? I had some photographs of something very suspiciouis going on in the nuclear fuel cell of my neighbor's jeep, but they are now gone. I tried to get more, but the poor girl is already so far gone in believeing this government propaganda that she called the police every time I approached her or her jeep with my camera. I only wanted images of her for scale, you see. My neighbor is 5 feet and six inches tall, which is an ideal height. I think she weighs about 105 pounds.

So if you could write up what information you have, and include the photos, and then submit it to Adequacy, we all have a good chance of getting to the bottom of this.

Carry on.


I do, I do, I do
--Bikini Kill


 
Microsoft is that good? (none / 0) (#16)
by SpaceGhoti on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 04:00:22 AM PST
So, I suppose this recent link is invalid information. And yet, it's posted by Microsoft. But they're infallible. But...

Oh well. Back to the drawing board.


A troll's true colors.

yes it is (none / 0) (#20)
by philipm on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 06:09:17 AM PST
Sir. Please go to <a href="http://www.slashdot.org">a site that appreciates you.</a>. Do you even know that it was kiddies of scripts using the Evil Hacker Operating Conspiracy - Linix - that found this error after 20 days straioght of trying to deface MSs fine product? Have you no shame? Its just a simple error with a very quick patch. Linix doesn't have "patches".


--philipm

funny (none / 0) (#28)
by NAWL on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 12:37:58 PM PST
I find it funny how you morons can go around posting misinformation believing that no one know any better.




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

Dont understand it (none / 0) (#96)
by Anonymous Reader on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 10:03:44 PM PST
i am having trouble understanding why you are wasting your time replying to this post. Why argue if you know you dealing with below average IQ group with addon retardation twist? The posts on this forum has become my daily source of humor almost an hour.


maybe you should take your own advice (none / 0) (#97)
by nathan on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 11:43:02 PM PST
my daily source of humor [for] almost an hour.

No further comments, Yer Honour.

Nathan
--
Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

S'okay, nathan. (none / 0) (#98)
by RobotSlave on Wed Dec 26th, 2001 at 02:40:59 AM PST
Looks like we've just got another garden variety POE refugee on our hands.

Miguel-speak is still all the rage over there.


© 2002, RobotSlave. You may not reproduce this material, in whole or in part, without written permission of the owner.

sigh, POE (none / 0) (#99)
by nathan on Wed Dec 26th, 2001 at 04:07:48 AM PST
It must true - for some reason he seems to be made out of ham.

Nathan
--
Li'l Sis: Yo, that's a real grey area. Even by my lax standards.

It's only a matter of time before... (none / 0) (#103)
by RobotSlave on Wed Dec 26th, 2001 at 12:10:51 PM PST
...someone breaks out the shitting dicknipples.

Sigh.

It can be amusing, I suppose, but it leaves less room for expression than Newspeak.


© 2002, RobotSlave. You may not reproduce this material, in whole or in part, without written permission of the owner.

 
this is not true (none / 0) (#66)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 05:52:37 PM PST
Linux (please spell it right) does have patchs, if you look at RedHat Linux (www.redhat.com) it does have patchs.
Dont say things if you dont know anything about it.


Gah! Has Robert Stalliman's work been in vain??? (none / 0) (#71)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 08:05:06 PM PST
Linux (please spell it right)

No, you get it right, it's GUN/Lunix.


no spelling please - I am here to discus (none / 0) (#86)
by philipm on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 07:06:27 AM PST
The stupid spelling does not the matter! Don't be trivial!

And Linux or GUN/Lunix, or whatever, does not have de patches. Don't be like the stupid one on tv. First we have the evil one, now we have the stupid one. There is no "Wondows Update" in Gun/Linux! Why you try and rub misinformation?


--philipm

Linux rarely need patches (none / 0) (#109)
by Anonymous Reader on Fri Dec 28th, 2001 at 08:03:26 PM PST
If you ever read /. you would know that. Linux Mandrake has a Mandrake update. Note the difference, windows has windows update, Linux mandrake has mandrake update. Idioit.


Kindergarten 102. (none / 0) (#113)
by tkatchev on Sat Dec 29th, 2001 at 06:10:19 AM PST
"Idiot" is spelled "i", "d", "i", "o", "t". Five letters, not six.

Good evening, and have a productive schoolday.


--
Peace and much love...




 
you really need to learn about digitalism (none / 0) (#121)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Dec 31st, 2001 at 01:14:32 AM PST
Mandrake update is just a fugly graphic interface to the phtp www program for downloading warez which are probably infected, definitely stolen, and illegal according to the United Nations Copyright Treaty and Covenant of Human Rights. Microsoft update, on the other hand, is a true update which encapsulates the V-Chip protocol to ensure the update's integrity according to engineering standards and universal legal custom. This is only one of the myriad ways in which Microsoft software trumps the amateur efforts of GUN/Lunix scriptsmen..


duh (none / 0) (#124)
by NAWL on Mon Dec 31st, 2001 at 12:40:26 PM PST
You entire post is idiotic but I will just attack two specific points.

Microsoft update, on the other hand, is a true update which encapsulates the V-Chip protocol to ensure the update's integrity according to engineering standards and universal legal custom.

The V-chip is not a protocol nor is it a chip on a dialup modem.

osm requested patent information so I will direct you to that post. It includes a link to the US patent office if you'd like to double check.

This is only one of the myriad ways in which Microsoft software trumps the amateur efforts of GUN/Lunix scriptsmen.

What the hell is GUN/Lunix? I know what LUnix is. It's a UnixLite designed for the c64/128. Maybe you meant GNU/Linux, huh?




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

Happy New Year! (none / 0) (#126)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Dec 31st, 2001 at 04:35:40 PM PST
You entire post is idiotic but I will just attack two specific points.

This is your constant refrain. It must be lonely for you, being the only intelligent person here.


 
Adequacy - what's with all the tech news? (3.00 / 2) (#22)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 11:13:36 AM PST
What's with all the underhand jibes at the kuro5hin drop-outs? I don't want "news for nerds", but instead I want informed, but controverisial religious opinions; I want to know what the best skiing resorts are for my winter holidays and most of all I want to know how Santa Claus can be in more than one place at the same time!



lol, i agree (1.00 / 1) (#82)
by Anonymous Reader on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 04:17:45 AM PST



 
For fuck's sake! (5.00 / 1) (#101)
by iat on Wed Dec 26th, 2001 at 04:53:05 AM PST
It's not as if we're exclusively doing "news for nerds" and tech news, we're still doing the same mix of things that we've always done. The problem is that publishing articles on the Internet is like putting pearls before swine and none of you ungrateful wretches are willing to take a single minute out of your busy lives to discuss not-news-for-nerds topics. We're only trying to give our readership what they want to read (when it suits us to do so, anyway).


Adequacy.org - love it or leave it.

 
WHOOOAAAA! (1.00 / 1) (#29)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 12:43:23 PM PST
Visual Basic is to be retired with honors and replaced by a new application language called C# (pronounced "Seek"), which supports full private data members while still allowing them to be accessed by family and friends.


I won't get into everything wrong about you're information regarding C, C+, C++, and Visual Basic. Instead my one gripe is you stating that C# is pronounced "SEEK". Sorry to inform you but it is pronounced exactly as it is spelled. C-Sharp.


 
have to agree with NAWL... (1.00 / 1) (#41)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 03:05:29 PM PST
i don't surf here much, but i was a bit intrigued by the title of the article... i've got a decent background in computer history and lore, and i'm forced to agree with NAWL, here... this article is fairly misinformed. microsoft didn't invent object-oriented programming, it didn't invent the first network. these are just truisms. and that's just the tip of the iceberg... for pity's sake, who let this nut on here? your average liberal arts major could come up with something better than this in their sleep.

(as a former CS-nut-turned-writer, i have some other issues with the article; it's just poor writing. eightymd misspells "controversy" in the second paragraph. he/she uses sexist language like "the common man." (i'm not all about political correctness, per se, but that's no reason to be insensitive, right?) the links lead me to suggest that this is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek... i mean, really, dildo.com and phonesex.com? what? the last link is supposed to indicate that linux' website is no longer being maintained--but it didn't really come as a surprise to me that Linus (not Linux, as the article suggests) and his crew aren't doing a lot of work on "linox.com".)

incidentally, it's "virus," not "viros," microsoft doesn't have a big hand in the anti-virus industry, linux and its offspring are quite alive and well, as is the "computer security debate." at least, that's what microsoft told my dad last week when they asked him to download the patch fixing the gaping security hole in XP. (YT is still running 2000; XP looks like too much like candy)

sorry for the anonymous post; too lazy to go create an account right now. anyone who wants to chat is welcome to send a message to spiderwire at plastic.com...


cheers


 
Blatent disinformation (none / 0) (#72)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 10:32:44 PM PST
You must be really bored to write this crap, it isn't funny, it's just jargon.


 
Security, Microsoft, and You (none / 0) (#75)
by The dev0 on Mon Dec 24th, 2001 at 11:50:11 PM PST
Please find payment enclosed for your fine work.



The office of
The Secretary of
The Personal Assistant of


"Wild" Bill Gates






Never fight naked, unless you're in prison...

 
oH, l0oKy... I'm a H@x0R to0! (note the sarcasm) (none / 0) (#85)
by Anonymous Reader on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 05:04:48 AM PST
BeC@U$E I WrItE LiKe tHi$ I'M @ H@CkEr!!

M@N, tHe nErVe oF ThI$ gUy (O$M). He c@n't eVeN HoLd @N InTeLlIgEnT CoNvEr$@TiOn iF Hi$ LiFe dEpEnDeD On iT. t@lK NoRm@l. O$M'$ ChOiCe oF WoRd$ I$ cOmPlEtElY 'w@cK'. He $HoUlD WiN ThE @w@rD FoR Mo$t cRe@tIvE NoOb$ WiTh mIcRo$oFt oN-H@Nd$ Br@iN W@$hInG.

* I ThInK BiLl g@tE$ iT ThErE -> *

*hE'Ll pEr$oN@LlY $iGn tHe cErTiFiC@Te oF CoMpLeTiOn iF YoU @$K HiM NiCeLy*




Is that a PEARL script? (none / 0) (#90)
by T Reginald Gibbons on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 02:43:20 PM PST
Adequacy isn't perlmonks. Publish your silly little toy scripts elsewhere, thankyou.


Oh lordy... (none / 0) (#129)
by Anonymous Reader on Wed Jan 9th, 2002 at 09:29:55 AM PST
that wasn't perl. PERL! not PEARL! idiot.
that was just ordinary text. DAMN! you're stupid.


 
Network Technology? (none / 0) (#91)
by Anonymous Reader on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 07:31:02 PM PST
"Windows NT ("Network Technology") kernel" NT stands for "New Technology", it was an OS kernel first released right after Windows 3.1 was released as a more stable 16/32 bit hybrid OS kernel from Microsoft. It developed into version 3.5, or Windows NT 3.5, and then into Windows NT 4.0, a completely 32bit OS kernel with no 16bit support, and, the most stable and fastest Microsoft platform. NT 5.0, or Windows 2000 as it's popularly known as came out in February 2000. This was followed by NT 5.1, or Windows XP in October 2000. Windows XP was also released with one of the most serious security flaws/exploits ever heard of in the Microsoft community. Object-oriented programming is an idea to use common components to ease the development of programs--a wonderful idea that did NOT come from Microsoft. Visual Basic is a language that is platform-specific to Windows and is used for many functions such as simple applications and access to databases. Visual Front Page does not exist in any form whatsoever, an application was released in mid 1998 called 'Front Page' from Microsoft and has been subsequently developed year after year since then. It is normally regarded as an underpowered web development tool, because, that's what it is, I've learned that from personal experience. Most professionals use Macromedia Dreamweaver. MFC is a library that is put out by Microsoft to ease the development of C and C++ programs. C++ was developed in the early 1980's in an AT&T lab by Dr. Bjarne Stroustrup and was released to the general public in 1985. An ISO committee was setup in 1994 to form a standard for the C++ language, after several drafts this standard was finally approved in 1998. Private data members is a computer science term that means a data object, like an integer or a float, can only be accessed depending on certain heirarchy in the program. If one part of the program 'owns' that data member, then another part can't access it. Linux was developed by Linus Torvalds, a Finish Computer Science student because he wanted an open, freely available operating system for his computer since he was poor and could not afford commercial operating systems. His goal created one of the best operating systems available today, and it is freely available under the GNU GPL public liciense. Windows in any of it's current implementations is written in completely C, C++, and the assembly language. C++ is the most commonly used language to write applications of any type for any computer platform. Visual Basic is what most computer viruses are written in, for it's poor 'private data member' support and for the fact that it's code is bunched into 'objects' that allow free access to the rest of the computer quite easily. Visual Basic is also the language that Outlook and Outlook Express run on, allowing access to your address book so that viruses can easily rip through it and spread email rampantly with copies of itself. C# (pronounced c-sharp) is new language out from Microsoft that is billed as a powerful, C++-like language with easier access to data objects and web technologies. It is released with the rest of the .NET framework including C++ and Visual Basic. Linux is still around and kicking--it just released a new version--2.5. For whoever wrote this article, I surely do hope it was a joke along with this one for both are absolute bullshit.


Alright (none / 0) (#92)
by Anonymous Reader on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 07:39:52 PM PST
Way to go S.
COuld not have said it better myslef :)
then again about half of this i did not know at all -_-

enlightening in the least.
later


 
learn how to use return (none / 0) (#93)
by philipm on Tue Dec 25th, 2001 at 08:24:37 PM PST
Umm, you nead help.

First of all, please learn how to use the return key on your keyboard. It should be the large one on the right.

Second, What is your problem? This is a serious place for insightful discussion and mindless technobabble by autistic geeks is not really ANYONEs cup of tea.

Do you have a point, or are you just looking for attention?


--philipm

 
An Act of Brilliance (none / 0) (#100)
by marko on Wed Dec 26th, 2001 at 04:42:28 AM PST
I am writing this response after picking myself off the ground from laughing so hard. Both at the articles and the responses. I love the ambiguity of print. Never knowing if someone is serious or not. It's beautiful. I shouldn't read these types of articles for the same reasons I avoid movies that revise history, but I can't help myself. No matter how hard I try, they change my memory of the way things were. Pretty soon, I'll be believing that everything significant that was ever done in history was done by Americans - including the birth of Christianity.

Thank you once again!

You're one of a kind, but you're not alone.

 
Have read it all This was all a waste of my time (1.00 / 1) (#105)
by Anonymous Reader on Wed Dec 26th, 2001 at 07:12:59 PM PST
I must say when reading all these posts and the article that it doesn't make any sense.

It seems the truth is in the eye of the beholder
and OSM sees what he wants.

This is not good for this site to have people claiming that they have the truth and nobody else.

When this is utter nonsense written by somebody with no understanding of Microsoft or Open source development.

MS is not GOSPEL.
I have seen weird posts but this is truly plain
comical. :)


no, you are a waste of your time (none / 0) (#134)
by jnana on Thu Apr 18th, 2002 at 10:03:05 PM PST
I am not as well read as osm, but i am taking a course in algorythms and data structures at my local jc, and i have definitely heard of the v-chip and ip-tokens. my class is very early in the morning, so sometimes i fall asleep, but i can definitly verify that i have heard of what he speaks. You people who are attacking osm seem like you have a problem with him because he tells the truth about microsoft. at my school, we use only mircosoft products, because they are the industry standard that all professionals use. people hate microsoft because they are so successful, but perhaps you are just jealous. Just remember, if it weren't for microsoft, the internet would be nothing more than a buch of university eggheads doing long distance intellectual masterbation with each other. it is thanks to microsoft that the computer was brought to the people, out of the ivory towers. if your jealousness of bill gateses wealth prevents you from seeing that, i feel sorry for you.


 
Apache (none / 0) (#108)
by Anonymous Reader on Fri Dec 28th, 2001 at 07:58:26 PM PST
Apache is an open source web SERVER. SERVER you ass, not browser. You are the biggest idioit I have ever seen.


Apache. (none / 0) (#111)
by tkatchev on Sat Dec 29th, 2001 at 06:04:14 AM PST
I must say, Apache is the worst web-server that I've ever laid (pun intended) eyes upon. The only thing that is mildly useful about it is the large number of high-quality, innovative modules available.


--
Peace and much love...




ok (none / 0) (#123)
by NAWL on Mon Dec 31st, 2001 at 12:33:09 PM PST
That must be while this site runs Apache 1.3.20 then huh?




Hey, if you consider the fifth grade your senior year, what else can you be besides a pompous jackass?

you moron (none / 0) (#125)
by osm on Mon Dec 31st, 2001 at 02:45:32 PM PST
A website cannot be "run" off of a web browser. I don't know how you can actually sit there and outright lie like that and expect anyone on this site to take you seriously.


 
Where to begin, what to say. (none / 0) (#110)
by Anonymous Reader on Sat Dec 29th, 2001 at 02:09:47 AM PST
I have to say this, as I'm sure another hundred or so people say a day.

I first discovered this site through a link to the article of "your sone being a computer hacker". An article that made me laugh. Profusely. Thanks, for that ;p

But, the lack of facts in these tech articles is so profound, that I would almost call what the "tech writers" of this site are doing propaganda... but it's not because they have no hidden agendas (hah).

by the way, one of those links was to lunox.com and the link was supporting the supposition that linux sites were all gone... well I thought I'd try linux.com just to see, and it was there and looked to be alive and kicking.

The only thing I really want to clear up is this:

C++.

C++ is an extension of a language called C.

All C++ code could be written as C, and indeed in the olden days of C++ the first C++ compilers did nothing more than take C++ code and change it into readable C code.

C++ has been around long before MFC, which stands for Microsoft Foundation Classes, and is a package of C++ classes for windows which facilitates the creation of programs. It also sucks, imo.

Now. How could MFC(++) have come about before C++, if it is indeed nothing more than a bunch of C++ objects ready-made by microsoft for programmers to use? Well.. it just couldn't have.


Have a nice day, all.


Kindergarten 101. (none / 0) (#112)
by tkatchev on Sat Dec 29th, 2001 at 06:07:19 AM PST
"son" is spelled "s", "o", "n". Three letters, not four.

Good evening, and have a productive schoolday.


--
Peace and much love...




Nerdbonics (none / 0) (#116)
by MessiahWWKD on Sat Dec 29th, 2001 at 10:41:24 AM PST
"son" is spelled "s", "o", "n". Three letters, not four.


Actually in "h4x0r" language, they spell 'son' as 'sone.' Somehow, it makes them feel cool, or as they say, '31337.'
Guardian angel, heavenly friend, walk with me 'til the journey's end.

 
A lesson in Factuality (none / 0) (#122)
by Anonymous Reader on Mon Dec 31st, 2001 at 11:00:20 AM PST
It's all true Lunix is of the Devil, and Microsoft is truly trying to revolutionlize the industry if not for the meglomaniacal hacking culture we would live in a digital utopia. I personally think AOL is the most user friendly and responsible ISP in existence. Kudos to the man who took an interest in his son's activities to keep him out of prison. I also want to emphasize that if not for those running quake we would have a much safer world!

Cl0(kw0rk


 
Simply stunning (none / 0) (#128)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 3rd, 2002 at 06:02:42 PM PST
That's all I can say about your 'amazing' article. I am so glad that you take the time out of your busy schedule to save the minds of young people. Yes, being a highschool janitor or burger-flipping grill jockey at McDonald's is tough, isn't it Mr. Gibbons.
Listen, before I tear into your lack of even primate level intelligence, let me first warn you to never talk about something that you obviously have no idea about. If I were you I would avoid all human contact and put your kids up for adoption. I pity them even more than I pity you.
Linux makes the world go 'round. Yes it does. It is a completely legal operating system used widely. It is often used as server software. No this isn't hacker jargon (speak for you Mr. Gibbons). A server is not evil or in alliance with the forces of Satan. Yes, it is true. This very webpage is hosted on a server.
AMD processors are not manufactured by children. They are manufactured by machines. AMD Athlon and Duron processors have been found to be vastly superior to Intel processors in nearly every single way.
AOL is not a good ISP. AOL is slow, overpriced, and unreliable.
I am not sure where you are getting your ideas from, but for the world's sake please, please kill yourself. You, Mr. Gibbons, are a complete and total moron. Wait, no, I don't want to insult morons. You go beyond anything I have previously encountered. Your parenting methods could be very damaging to your children's mental health. Please, Mr. Gibbons, NEVER OPEN YOUR MOUTH IN PUBLIC AGAIN!

-Silent32
i r teh 1337 gamer!


 
Glossaries, Dictionaries and History (none / 0) (#130)
by Anonymous Reader on Thu Jan 10th, 2002 at 04:11:35 PM PST
I will admit that I frequent this site for a good laugh. I originally thought it was an engineered joke site, but sadly it is for real. I cannot believe people like this really exist... however I guess they are entitled to an opinion.

My real points, and I want to strongly emphasise these, are:

1. If you are going to post articles learn how to spell. Can you say "Linux"?

2. Represent acronyms correctly. An incorrect example for GUI is "Graphical User Implementation" in the Stallman article. It should be "Graphical User Interface".

3. Get you history right. There are so many instances of inaccuracy in all the articles I can't even think of a good one. How about the GUI "Windows" environment. I seem to remember the Xerox labs at Palo Alto having something to do with this.


 
Thank you, Thank you all (none / 0) (#133)
by Anonymous Reader on Sat Feb 23rd, 2002 at 08:35:39 PM PST
I would just like to thank all of you who posted all your comments. I got this link from a nice little "hey, check this out it's funny" post in an IRC chatroom. Naturally I was curious after someone posted the most absurd comment from it I have ever seen.

So, again I must think you all, you have made me laugh immensely. I'm not thanking people like NAWL so much, as I identify with them and already know they're right.

This was too much. This is why people fascinate me so.


 

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