The Five Coolest Hacks of 2007

Dark Reading

Nothing was sacred – not cars, not truckers, not even the stock exchange

DECEMBER 31, 2007 | 2:51 PM
By Kelly Jackson Higgins
Senior Editor, Dark Reading

Hackers are creative folk, for sure. But some researchers are more imaginative and crafty than others. We're talking the kind of guys who aren't content with finding the next bug in Windows or a Cisco router. Instead, they go after the everyday things we take for granted even more than our PCs -- our cars, our wireless connections, and (gulp) the electronic financial trading systems that record our stock purchases and other online transactions.

Not that there's anything wrong with a new Windows or Vista flaw. But you can't help but secretly admire the ingenuity and persistence it takes to hack something that we hadn't thought of as hackable -- or that maybe that we just didn't want to think was. These are the kinds of hacks that pierce the mainsteam consciousness: Your mom's eyes may glaze over when you warn her about the risk of her PC becoming a bot, but you can bet you'll have her full attention when you show how a hacker could redirect her brand-new car navigation system to a deserted dead end street far from her intended destination.

We've selected five of the coolest hacks we covered here at Dark Reading in 2007 -- unusual vulnerabilities that were exposed and exploited this past year by researchers who don't just do Windows. So raise your glass to some innovative, and sometimes wacky, hacks that we won't soon forget (nor maybe will Mom):

Contents:

* Page 1: The car navigation system
* Page 2: WiFi 'sidejacking'
* Page 3: Eighteen-wheelers
* Page 4: 'Hacking capitalism'
* Page 5: iPhone

Next Page: The car navigation system
1. The car navigation system

DECEMBER 31, 2007 | A pair of Italian researchers earlier this year drove right through holes they discovered in some car navigation systems -- vulnerabilities that would let an attacker inject phony messages into the system or launch a denial-of-service attack against it. (See Hacking the Car Navigation System.)

Andrea Barisani, chief security engineer of Inverse Path, and Daniele Bianco, hardware hacker for Inverse Path, built tools for hacking satellite-based navigation systems that use Radio Data System-Traffic Message Channel (RDS-TMC) to receive traffic broadcasts and emergency messages. RDS-TMC is popular in vehicle navigation systems sold in Europe, and has been catching on in North America as well.

RDS-TMC provides broadcasts on traffic conditions, accidents, and detours for the driver. Its main weakness: It doesn't authenticate where the traffic comes from, the researchers say. That leaves the door wide open for a bad guy to reroute drivers to a detour, or to overwhelm it with a DDOS, killing the navigation system as well as its climate-control system and stereo.

The researchers tested their hardware and software tools with a one- to five-kilometer radius of the targeted vehicles, but they say an attacker could target a specific vehicle by adding a directional antenna, for instance. The good news is there are some emerging navigation-system technologies that may be safer -- including one that will include encryption, although that's at least five years out.

So how can you tell if your navigation system has been hacked? There's not much you can do until it's too late and your AC and stereo are out, and you're sitting on a hot and dusty, deserted road nowhere near Starbucks.

Next Page: WiFi 'sidejacking'
2. WiFi 'sidejacking'

DECEMBER 31, 2007 | First it was the Ferret, then the Hamster: WiFi will never be safe again. Researcher Robert Graham, CEO of Errata Security, wowed (and in some cases, shamed) the Black Hat DC and Las Vegas crowds this year with live hacks of attendees who dared to use the WiFi network unprotected, using his homegrown WiFi sniffing tools that basically sniff and grab WiFi traffic out of the air.

Yes, some of us got a firsthand lesson in "it can't happen to me." (See Joke's on Me.) As I checked my email during a session at Black Hat DC last February, little did I know that as Graham and colleague David Maynor were demonstrating Ferret next door, the tool was blasting my username and password up on the screen for all to see.

But Graham turned his WiFi hack up a notch in Vegas in August, with a more powerful version of Ferret -- Hamster -- that "sidejacks" machines using WiFi and accesses their Web accounts. Hamster grabs users' Gmail, Yahoo, and other online accounts. It basically clones the victim's cookies by sniffing their session IDs and controlling their Website accounts. (See 'Sidejacking' Tool Unleashed.)

"You can be in a café and see a list of people browsing [over WiFi]. And you can hijack and clone their Gmail system," for example, Graham says. And it's very easy to do, he says.

Hamster doesn't hack passwords, just the cookies and URL trail left behind by a WiFi user. The attacker then can pose as the victim and read, send, and receive email on his or her behalf. It does not, however, see the victim's actual email messages (phew).

Interestingly, Graham had a little trouble finding many users in Vegas who dared to go WiFi unprotected. Still, he recommends logging out of your Web session to wipe out your cookie trail when you're using WiFi.

Next Page: Eighteen-wheelers
3. Eighteen-wheelers

DECEMBER 31, 2007 | Truckers are sleep-deprived enough without having to worry about their RFID-based electronic product code (EPC)-based load of plasma TVs getting hacked while they park and snooze at a truck stop. But researchers from PacketFocus Security Solutions have shown that's a very real threat. (See Hacking Truckers.)

PacketFocus, along with some researchers at Atlas RFID Solutions, were able to read EPC codes using standard EPC Generation 2 readers and antennas on an 18-wheeler they rented from a local freight company. They loaded the rig with EPC-tagged boxes to test out just what data can be intercepted from it, and found it was easy to scan and hack information off the labels.

Joshua Perrymon, hacking director for PacketFocus, and his colleagues used off-the-shelf tools to hack the freight information. "We are showing you can do this with off-the-shelf products, and you don't have to be a super-hacker" to get EPC data off a tractor-trailer, Perrymon says.

EPC provides more detailed information about a product than a standard bar code, with unique tags for each item to improve inventory and shipment-tracking. But that information could also fall into the hands of a malicious competitor or criminal: "Each product has its own EPC number," he says. "If a company is using EPC numbers, we can sit outside the tractor-trailer and scan them, reference them with known EPC numbers, and know the inventory of what's on that trailer."

Aside from the obvious danger of this information falling into a competitor's hands, criminals could sniff the 18-wheeler's payload to better target their holdups: "Unless they had a lot of inside information, they don't have enough information to rob that truck," Perrymon says. "Now they can scan it if it's not secure -- they don't want to rob that toilet paper truck, but if it's got plasma TVs with surround sound, [that's their] target."

Next Page: 'Hacking capitalism'
4. 'Hacking capitalism'

DECEMBER 31, 2007 | The financial services industry is typically on the leading edge when it comes to adopting new security technologies and standards. But researchers at Matasano Security this year revealed that one of the most popular application-layer protocols used by financial services firms, stock exchanges, and investment banks for automated financial trading, has some serious security holes. (See 'Hacking Capitalism'.)

Applications written to the FIX (financial information exchange) protocol can be vulnerable to denial-of-service, session-hijacking, and man-in-the middle attacks over the Internet -- and could let an attacker "watch" transactions, according to David Goldsmith, CEO of Matasano Security, who discussed these issues at Black Hat USA in August.

Even scarier is that an attack on a FIX-based app could be silent and by the time it's detected, it may be too late. "If a hacker was monitoring or viewing [the transactions], you may never know they are there," Goldsmith says. "[He] could take that information and use it to their advantage for insider trading... or to cause significant financial damage."

Security tools are mostly ineffective for protecting financial systems from this type of attack, although Goldsmith recommends strong firewalls and external session-layer encryption. But an IDS or a vulnerability scanner isn't going to find FIX bugs, he says, and because these systems are mission-critical and can't be taken offline for testing, it's even difficult to search for vulnerabilities in them.

Goldsmith wouldn't reveal details on the actual vulnerabilities he and his colleagues found in FIX, but he says financial firms should revisit how they secure these applications, looking at changing passwords, for instance.

Next Page: iPhone
5. iPhone

DECEMBER 31, 2007 | Hacking and bypassing the iPhone's exclusive service with AT&T was all the rage when the new device first got into users' palms this year, but it wasn't until researcher HD Moore added an iPhone hacking module to the Metasploit penetration testing tool that the real iPhone hacking could begin. (See Metasploit Adds iPhone Hacking Tools and i Caramba! iPhone Hacked Already.)

Moore released an Apple iPhone shellcode for Metasploit 3.0 in September, with "payloads" for writing exploits using the wildly popular Metasploit framework. "The addition of iPhone payloads to Metasploit makes it easy for a researcher to write exploits," Moore says. "The payloads also provide an example of how to develop new shellcode for the iPhone, which could accelerate exploit development for the platform."

He had a little fun with it, too, creating a payload that lets you make a victim's phone vibrate. But the other payloads are no laughing matter -- they can give the attacker remote shell access. Moore also wrote some exploit modules for the iPhone.

The powerful stuff, of course, comes with the rootkits that attackers could use on an iPhone. "A rootkit takes on a whole new meaning when the attacker has access to the camera, microphone, contact list, and phone hardware. Couple this with 'always-on' Internet access over EDGE and you have a perfect spying device," Moore said in a Metasploit blog post.

Moore, who is also director of security research for BreakingPoint Systems, says he added the iPhone hacking tools for Metasploit in hopes that it would help researchers discover new attack vectors on the smart phone. Meanwhile, iPhone hacking has made many a 2008 threat prediction list -- so look out in the new year.

Have a comment on this story? Please click "Discuss" below. If you'd like to contact Dark Reading's editors directly, send us a message.

# Errata Security
# Matasano Security LLC
# BreakingPoint Systems
# Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL)

Copyright © 2008 United Business Media LLC - All rights reserved.

Commenting Code by Ryan Campbell

Successful Strategies for Commenting Code By Ryan Campbell · August 1st, 2005

Introduction

Commenting your code is like cleaning your bathroom—you never want to do it, but it really does create a more pleasant experience for you and your guests. Because I’ve recently adopted a new mantra to use comments frequently and appropriately in my code, I spent a few hours researching the literature on commenting readability, reusability, and guidelines.

It was a bit overwhelming to see the sheer amount of information and discussions on the topic. Basically, there are a lot of tough, but fundamental questions out there like what does “frequently and appropriately” mean? Because there are a million different beliefs and contradictions on the subject, I created this brief overview to present my findings.

Types of Comments

Code Commenting - This refers to writing descriptive variable names that are self explanatory. This is a minimalist form of commenting, and looks like this:

function addUserToDatabase(userName, userAge)

Without any additional information, you can tell that the function will add a user’s name and age to a database. A common implementation of this is called Hungarian Notation.

Inline Commenting - Specifically, these types of comments come at the end of a line of code, but we can also use this term to refer to comments inside of a function as well. This is the most basic form of commenting.

function calculateHitPoints(cUser) {
    var nStrength = document.getElementById("enemyStrength").value; // grab current enemy strength

    // subtract user size : small = 1, medium = 2, large = 3
    var nDamage = (nStrength * 3) � cUser.nSize;
    return cUser.nCurrentHitPoints � nDamage;
}

Function Commenting - This type of commenting is found on the lines above a function, and reveals all of the necessary details about that function. This includes parameters, return values, and any logic quirks or decisions that were made:

/*
 * Summary:      Calculate hitpoints after attack using formula
 *               new = current � ((enemyStrength*3) � size)
 * Parameters:   cUser � object containing hero's stats
 * Return:       Boolean indicating life or death
 */
function calculateHitPoints(cUser) {
    �
} // end calculateHitPoints

Class / Page Commenting - Comments that refer to an entire page or top level object fall into this category. Usually these comments include a broad overview, last edit date, associated files, author, and contact information. Additionally, this may include a general footer at the bottom of every page. Kevin wrote some great templates for building these types of comments in his feature on using XHTML templates.

/* 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Title : 
Author : 
URL : 

Description : 

Created : 
Modified : 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
*/

Commenting Regulars

When developing in a team environment, standardized ways of indicating the next step in the process are great ways of communicating to other programmers and making the entire process efficient. These are also known as functional comments.

[Functional Comments] serve one purpose: adding functionality to the development process.

Bernhard Spuida · The Fine Art of Commenting

They don’t tell you anything about the code, but they do provide documentation on what needs to be done as well as what has been done. Here are some common comments you can feel comfortable using in your code:

• TODO: This key phrase signifies what needs to be accomplished and should be placed on the line where the future code should go. Some development environments recognize this phrase and will create a to-do list off of it.

• BUG / FIX: Document a specific bug, or a fix for a bug, and place the comment above the line it pertains to. If you use bug tracking software, include the ID of the bug, so you can always track where it occurred and how you fixed it.

• TEAMNAME: This comment is usually different wherever you work, but is used to call attention to a certain programmer or programming team. For example, you may want to let the Artificial Intelligence team know why you made a certain decision and so you would use this type of comment to alert them. Read more about this in The Art of Code Documentation by Drew Sikora.

In addition to commenting keywords, there are programs out there that will document your code based on standard comments. While relying on these programs leaves room for error, they are still worth taking a look at. Briefly, two types are XML Comments and JavaDoc

Increasing Comment Readability

In a perfect world, reading code would be like reading a book. Unfortunately, code is written for computers to execute, not for humans to read. You can’t just read code from start to finish—they’re like those choose-your-own-ending books, forcing you to go all over the place to figure out how not to kill your main character. Comments are a great tool for adding context to your code, so that when you jump around you know where you are. With that in mind, here are some tips to make your code easier to read:

Commented Paragraphs � Write your code and comments in paragraph format. In 10 Essential Development Practices, Damian Conway suggests that we should, “Break each piece of code into sequences that achieve a single task.”

Precede comments by a blank line � Doing this creates a distinct separation between your code and comments. Plus, it’s visually pleasing.

Properly tab comments � Make sure comments are tabbed out to the line they are referencing. Additionally, make sure similar comment types align when tabbed. Here’s an example:

var MAX_USERS = 2           //all players
var MAX_POINTS = 100000     //needed to win game

Don’t insult anyone’s intelligence � All commenting is not productive commenting. Too many comments can make your code less meaningful and therefore less readable. An example:

for(i = 0; i < object.length; i++) { //loop until i hits max length

It’s not design � I see a lot of people use crazy characters all over the place and it’s really not necessary. More often than not, it distracts from the business at hand. Keep it simple, keep it sweet.

Create a consistent style � There are many beliefs on the proper way to comment code. Some feel comments should be so detailed that a non programmer could follow the logic, while others believe you use comments for support. What matters most, I think, is that you are consistent in your commenting style. This helps your reader know what to expect when going through several different projects.

Comment while you code - The chances of you commenting a finished project are slim, so do yourself a favor and comment your code immediately.

It is a good practice to write comments at the same time (or earlier than) you write your code.

MSDN · Using Comments Effectively

Commenting while you code forces you to make sure your logic “sounds right.” Plus, your comments are going to be more accurate when the understanding of what’s going on behind-the-scenes is fresh in your mind.

Reusability in Comments

The most interesting concept I came across while reading about code commenting is “comment reusability.” This is something we think about all the time when writing markup and CSS to minimize the amount of work that needs to be done when changes are made. Same principle works wonderfully when it comes to commenting. Here’s an example: Imagine that we have a textbox that’s being edited:

document.getElementById("myTextbox").style.width = "100px"; // change textbox width

The simple comment in that line is not reusable. What if we were to change the textbox to a select element? We would have to change the comment as well. While looking over some coding practices, I came across another question: Is it acceptable to comment the end of a code block, like this:

function calculateHitPoints(cUser) {
�
}  // end calculateHitPoints

I’m split down the middle on this one. With modern text editors that draw lines based on your tabbing, I would not comment the end of every code block. I do, however, see the benefits of commenting the end of a function. Functions usually remain in place, but logic blocks switch around often until bugs are ironed out. Because there are usually a good number of code blocks in a document, the commenting can get pretty heavy without adding a lot of new and useful information.

Speaking of function commenting, Cprogramming.com produced The Hows and Whys of Commenting, which stresses the importance of reusable variable names in functions. They use an example of a funciton that calculates speed. Instead of declaring the function like this:

function getSpeed(runnerDistance, runnerTime)

You should make it reusable by naming the variables generically:

function getSpeed(totalDistance, totalTime)

By doing so, you can logically calculate the distance for any object, such as a plane, car, train, and not just that of a runner.

Now, when it comes to using Hungarian Notation, I want to point out that the topic is a bit controversial, stirring up quite a few heated debates. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly believe it is inefficient to change the variable name every time you change the variable type. For example, ‘szEventType’ should not need to be changed to ‘nEventType’ if you decide to make it an integer rather than a string.

Regardless of you decide to do it, try to remember to take reusability in your comments into consideration. The more reusable the comments, the less time you’re going to spend dealing with them. More importantly, when a team member comes along and makes changes to the code, hopefully, he won’t have to browse through all the comments looking for what to change.

Why Bother?

One of the hardest hurdles in commenting code is convincing yourself to do it, so it is important to look to other sources for motivation.

Prior, clear, and extensive documentation is a key element in creating software that can survive and adapt.

Jef Raskin · Comments Are More Important Than Code.

On a more personal note, after I applied my findings to some of my recent projects, I noticed some significant improvements to my programming lifestyle:

• I was writing better code. By commenting everything, I was forced to think about why I was doing something rather than just making it work. I was programming smarter rather than harder. Because commenting my code forced me to verbalize my logic and make me think twice about a line of action when putting it into words, I usually found ways to optimize my code when it didn’t “sound right” to me. The comments lead to increased optimization and ultimately less work. Had I gone through after I finished a project to explain things, I’m positive I would have wasted a lot of time reprogramming and recommending bad logic. Time will tell if it decreased bugs as well.

• I was improving the future. You never know who’s going to be looking at your code or when you’ll need to refer back to it. Future Ryan, my co-workers, potential employers and even my mom are really going to appreciate my commenting investment, because it’s going to save them time. Time is money (especially in programming) and so shaving off time wasted on confusion and interpretation is definitely worth the effort.

• I was proud of my work. One of my biggest problems I have in my life is working on the same thing day in and day out. If I’m proud of what I doing, it basically removes that mental block. Because my projects were clean, flexible, efficient and sexy, I really enjoyed coming back to them and that, to me, is something priceless. Also, it makes it a lot easier to give a great first impression to job applicants, investors or even obsessive-compulsive blog readers when the code was created in a professional and consistent manner.

See For Yourself

I’ve written a simple JavaScript function to illustrate how even if you think all of the comments seem important, bad commenting decisions can hurt the readability of your code. Here is the result:

//-+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_-
// I wrote this script to process a battle between two units.  
// The attack member functions do the calculation, but this
// function determines the order of attacks.
// Two valid objects must be passed in, and then the function
// will return true if everything worked ok. 
//-+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_-
function beginBattle(attacker, defender) {
    var b; // boolean to hold life or death
    var teamCount; // counter for loops
    if(defender.agility > attacker.agility) {
        b = defender.attack(attacker);
    }
    // if there was a previous strike, make sure he is still alive then process the attack
    if(b) {
        b = attacker.attack(defender);
    }
    // see if any teammates want to counter attack
    // loop through the defenders teamates starting at i = 0
    for(teamCount = 0; teamCount < defender.team.length; i++) {
        var teammate = defender.team[teamCount];    //individual teammate
        if(teammate.counterAttack = 1) { // 1 means they have counter attack enabled
            b = teammate.attack(attacker);
        }
    }   
    // make sure that somewhere in here death processing is handled.
    return true;
} // end function

It’s not terrible, but it could be better. Using the exact same function, we’ll apply some of the commenting guidelines I talked about above:

/*
 * Summary:     Determine order of attacks, and process each battle
 * Parameters:  Creature object representing attacker | Creature object representing defender
 * Return:      Boolean indicating successful fight
 * Author:      Ryan Campbell
 */
function beginBattle(attacker, defender) {
    var isAlive;    // Boolean inidicating life or death after attack
    var teamCount;  // Loop counter

    // Check for pre-emptive strike
    if(defender.agility > attacker.agility) {
        isAlive = defender.attack(attacker);
    }

    // Continue original attack if still alive
    if(isAlive) {
        isAlive = attacker.attack(defender);
    }

    // See if any of the defenders teammates wish to counter attack
    for(teamCount = 0; teamCount < defender.team.length; i++) {
        var teammate = defender.team[teamCount];
        if(teammate.counterAttack = 1) {
            isAlive = teammate.attack(attacker);
        }
    }   

    // TODO: Process the logic that handles attacker or defender deaths

    return true;
} // End beginBattle

In my opinion, the code has become much more pleasant to read with only minimal changes. First, we applied some consistency. All of the comments have a blank line above them, start with a capital letter, and are tabbed properly. Next, variables such as ‘b’ were changed to ‘isAlive’ to make them self explanatory. Lastly, a ‘TODO:’ was added to make future changes stand out. By using brief and consistent pieces of language, I’ve significantly improved the readability of my code.

Build Your Own Style

Now, there is an entire movement of programmers out there that believe that code is essentially another form of personal expression and so it’s important for me to stress that I am not suggesting that these ideas and strategies are the only way to explain your code. Instead, I want people to walk away understanding that comments are important because they can affect the readability, performance and professionalism of your programming. I highly recommend that everyone take some time to reflect upon and create commenting guidelines based on what you find is important and necessary for your situation.

If you want to find more information on this topic, I suggest reading all of the articles I’ve linked to throughout this essay. And while I have not read it myself, I have heard many good things about Literate Progamming by Donald E. Knuth. As always, if you have any good ideas about commenting code, let us know because we always like to hear.

Successful Strategies for Commenting Code by Ryan Campbell

This entry was posted 2 years ago and was filed under Features.
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Interview with Linus Torvalds

February 18, 2008

Interview with Linus Torvalds

Linus Torvalds the self confessed benevolent dictator and father of Linux
recently gave a frank interview to the Linux Foundation. In it he holds a conversation with Jim Zemlin and talks about the future of Linux, patents, internal and external competition,Microsoft and so on.

The interview is in the form of a podcast and is split into two parts [ Part I and Part II
]. Linux Foundation has also made available transcripts of the
interview which you can read if you have a low bandwidth link.
Transcripts of part I and part II .

Top 50 Linux Quotes of All Time

Top 50 Linux Quotes of All Time

Saturday, January 19, 2008

This collection of Quotes came from This Blog Site
Source for technology hacks, insights, tutorials, news, reviews and more...|

I have collected 50 of my favorite "Linux quotes" of all time. Feel free to add yours. Enjoy!



50. I develop for Linux for a living, I used to develop for DOS.
Going from DOS to Linux is like trading a glider for an F117.
-- Lawrence Foard, entropy@world.std.com

49. Avoid the Gates of Hell. Use Linux
-- unknown source

48. I've run DOOM more in the last few days than I have the last few
months. I just love debugging ;-)
(Linus Torvalds)

47. By golly, I'm beginning to think Linux really *is* the best thing since
sliced bread.
-- Vance Petree, Virginia Power

46. Linux poses a real challenge for those with a taste for late-night
hacking (and/or conversations with God).
-- Matt Welsh

45. Linux is obsolete
-- Andrew Tanenbaum

44.
Your job is being a professor and researcher: That's one hell of a good
excuse for some of the brain-damages of minix. (Linus Torvalds to
Andrew Tanenbaum)

43. I
still maintain the point that designing a monolithic kernel in 1991 is
a fundamental error. Be thankful you are not my student. You would not
get a high grade for such a design :-) (Andrew Tanenbaum to Linus
Torvalds)

42. We all know Linux is great... it does infinite loops in 5 seconds.
- Linus Torvalds about the superiority of Linux
on the Amterdam Linux Symposium

41. People disagree with me. I just ignore them.
(Linus Torvalds, regarding the use of C++ for the Linux kernel.)

40. Some people have told me they don't think a fat penguin really embodies the
grace of Linux, which just tells me they have never seen a angry penguin
charging at them in excess of 100mph. They'd be a lot more careful about what
they say if they had.
-- Linus Torvalds, announcing Linux v2.0

39. Other than the fact Linux has a cool name, could someone explain why should use Linux over BSD?

38.
“How should I know if it works? That's what beta testers are for. I
only coded it." (Attributed to Linus Torvalds, somewhere in a posting)

37. "Problem solving under linux has never been the circus that it is under AIX." (By Pete Ehlke in comp.unix.aix)

36. "Besides, I think Slackware sounds better than 'Microsoft,' don't you?" (By Patrick Volkerding)

35.
"And the next time you consider complaining that running Lucid Emacs
19.05 via NFS from a remote Linux machine in Paraguay doesn't seem to
get the background colors right, you'll know who to thank." (By Matt
Welsh)

34. "...Deep Hack Mode--that mysterious and frightening state of consciousness where Mortal Users fear to tread." (By Matt Welsh)

33.
Sigh. I like to think it's just the Linux people who want to be on the
"leading edge" so bad they walk right off the precipice. (Craig E.
Groeschel)

32. Microsoft
Corp., concerned by the growing popularity of the free 32-bit operating
system for Intel systems, Linux, has employed a number of top
programmers from the underground world of virus development. Bill Gates
stated yesterday: "World domination, fast -- it's either us or Linus".
Mr. Torvalds was unavailable for comment ... (rjm@swift.eng.ox.ac.uk
(Robert Manners), in comp.os.linux.setup)

31.
Who wants to remember that escape-x-alt-control-left shift-b puts you
into super-edit-debug-compile mode? (Discussion in comp.os.linux.misc
on the intuitiveness of commands, especially Emacs.)

30.
It's a bird.. It's a plane.. No, it's KernelMan, faster than a speeding
bullet, to your rescue. Doing new kernel versions in under 5 seconds
flat.. (Linus, in the announcement for 1.3.27)

29. Those who don't understand Linux are doomed to reinvent it, poorly. (Unidentified source.)

28.
"How do you power off this machine?" (Linus, when upgrading
linux.cs.helsinki.fi, and after using the machine for several months.)

27. I've discovered that using VMS is a lot like driving a nail with your head:
sure, you eventually get something practical done, but it usually results
in a headache and some blood loss.
(submitted by Sean A. Simpson)

26.
"... being a Linux user is sort of like living in a house inhabited by
a large family of carpenters and architects. Every morning when you
wake up, the house is a little different. Maybe there is a new turret,
or some walls have moved. Or perhaps someone has temporarily removed
the floor under your bed." - Unix for Dummies, 2nd Edition (Found in
the .sig of Rob Riggs)

25. If Bill Gates is the Devil then Linus Torvalds must be the Messiah. (Unknown source)

24. LILO, you've got me on my knees!
(from David Black, dblack@pilot.njin.net, with apologies to Derek and the
Dominos, and Werner Almsberger)

23. Anyone can build a fast processor. The trick is to build a fast system. (Seymour Cray)

22.
We can use symlinks of course... syslogd would be a symlink to syslogp
and ftpd and ircd would be linked to ftpp and ircp... and of course the
point-to-point protocal paenguin. (Kevin M. Bealer, commenting on the
penguin Linux logo.)

21. A multithreaded file system is only a performance hack. (Andrew Tanenbaum to Linus Torvalds)

20. I did this 'cause Linux gives me a woody. It doesn't generate revenue. (Dave '-ddt->` Taylor, announcing DOOM for Linux)

19.
This message was brought to you by Linux, the free unix. Windows
without the X is like making love without a partner. Sex, Drugs &
Linux Rules win-nt from the people who invented edlin apples have meant
trouble since eden Linux, the way to get rid of boot viruses (By
mwikholm@at8.abo.fi, MaDsen Wikholm)

18. Be warned that typing killall name may not have the desired
effect on non-Linux systems, especially when done by a privileged user.
-- From the killall manual page

17. Only wimps use tape backup: _real_ men just upload their important stuff on ftp, and let the rest of the world mirror it "

--- Linus Torvalds

16. Linux is not user-friendly.
It _is_ user-friendly. It is not ignorant-friendly and idiot-friendly.

---Source unknown

15.
`When you say "I wrote a program that crashed Windows", people just
stare at you blankly and say "Hey, I got those with the system, *for
free*".' (By Linus Torvalds)

14.
"If you want to travel around the world and be invited to speak at a
lot of different places, just write a Unix operating system." (By Linus
Torvalds)

13. "Are Linux
users lemmings collectively jumping off of the cliff of reliable,
well-engineered commercial software?" (By Matt Welsh)

12. "Linux: the operating system with a CLUE... Command Line User Environment". (seen in a posting in comp.software.testing)

11.
“See, you not only have to be a good coder to create a system like
Linux, you have to be a sneaky bastard too” (By Linus Torvalds)

10. "What happens when you read some doc and either it doesn't answer your
question or is demonstrably wrong? In Linux, you say "Linux sucks" and go
read the code. In Windows/Oracle/etc you say "Windows sucks" and
start banging your head against the wall."
--- Denis Vlasenko on lkml

9.
"...you might as well skip the Xmas celebration completely, and instead
sit in front of your linux computer playing with the
all-new-and-improved linux kernel version." (By Linus Torvalds)

8. Linux hackers are funny people: They count the time in patchlevels. (Seen in the .sig of Gerd Knorr.)

7. Linux: the choice of a GNU generation
-- ksh@cis.ufl.edu put this on Tshirts in '93\

6. "Not me, guy. I read the Bash man page each day like a Jehovah's Witness reads
the Bible. No wait, the Bash man page IS the bible. Excuse me..."
(More on confusing aliases, taken from comp.os.linux.misc)

5. What's this script do?
unzip ; touch ; finger ; mount ; gasp ; yes ; umount ; sleep
Hint for the answer: not everything is computer-oriented. Sometimes you're
in a sleeping bag, camping out with your girlfriend.
(Contributed by Frans van der Zande.)

4. I'm an idiot.. At least this [bug] took about 5 minutes to find..
Surely, Linus is talking about the kind of idiocy that others aspire to :-).
(Bruce Perens in response to Linus Torvalds's mailing about a kernel bug.)

3. One OS to rule them all,
One OS to find them.
One OS to call them all,
And in salvation bind them.
In the bright land of Linux,
Where the hackers play.
(J. Scott Thayer, with apologies to J.R.R.T.)

2. ...the Linux philosophy is "laugh in the face of danger". Oops. Wrong one. "Do it yourself". That's it. (by Linus)

1. We are using Linux daily to UP our productivity - so UP yours!
-- Adapted from Pat Paulsen by Joe Sloan

-END-

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Linux for Business From www.virtualhosting.com

Linux for Business: 50 Apps to Get your Office on Open Source

By Christina Laun

Open source software has a lot to offer the business world. Aside from the fact that they’re generally free, many open source programs are more secure, reliable and customizable than their proprietary counterparts. In fact, many large companies, including big names like Amazon, Google, and Yahoo, run their servers with Linux rather than Windows. Open source software is often some of the best software for the job, even when cost is no consideration. So how can you make open source software work for your business? Here are 50 apps that can help your office get on track to join the growing numbers of businesses that have made the switch to open source.

Desktop and Server Distributions

1. Ubuntu Ubuntu is a free, Linux-based operating system that can be used for both desktop systems and servers. It contains everything you need for the office, including a web browser, software for presentation, document and spreadsheets, as well as instant messaging. It has regular updates, new releases, and a reputation for being user friendly and easy to install.
2. Linspire Unlike Ubuntu, Linspire is not free, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check it out as an option for desktop systems. Linspire focuses on making open source software easy to use for even the technically un-savvy with its Click’n'Run software. It comes complete with applications for multimedia, office productivity, browsers and instant messaging.
3. Fedora Fedora is another free Linux-based OS, though it’s not designed with the novice user in mind, and accordingly, is better suited to current Linux users that want to stay on the cutting edge. The system comes with OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird and a number of other open source applications pre-loaded, giving you access to just about anything you need to get work done.
4. SUSE Linux Suse Linux is enterprise-focused software created and sponsored by Novell. It is designed to be especially stable and reliable as well as meet the special needs of business owners. It comes in both desktop and server versions, which come complete with office suites, desktop search, and virus protection. While not free, it does have the benefit of a dedicated support team if you ever have any problems.
5. Debian Debian is a free Linux-based OS known for its abundance of software options. There are currently almost 18,000 software packages for eleven different computer architectures, making it highly versatile and customizable to your needs. Software available for the OS includes everything from standard web browsers to language interpreters and tools for scientific work.
6. RedHat Redhat offers some of the most popular enterprise Linux software. Available for both servers and desktops, the software offers a comprehensive suite of productivity software as well as easy-to-use and reliable options for managing multiple servers and mainframes for a price considerably lower than that of proprietary software.
7. GNOME GNOME is another free Linux-based desktop environment. Business owners can benefit not only from its cost, but also from its dedication to accessibility for the disabled, large amount of available software, and extensive development platform for building new applications.

Email and Instant Messaging

8. Evolution Evolution, designed as an open source alternative to Microsoft Outlook, gives users integrated email, an address book, and calendar functionality, among many other features.
9. KDE Kontact KDE Kontact is another freeware alternative to using Outlook. KDE Kontact provides many of the same features, plus some additional ones, which include email management, groupware, calendar and organization tools, sticky notes and even Google synchronization.
10. Thunderbird Thunderbird is Mozilla’s open source answer to a desktop email client. Thunderbird allows users to customize their inbox, easily search, and enjoy enhanced security and privacy measures that help protect your information.
11. Jabber Jabber is an open source instant messaging program. It has standard instant messaging chat features, but also gives users the ability to have VoIP conversations and transfer files.

Productivity

12. Tomboy Tomboy makes taking and keeping track of notes easy. Busy employees can save time looking for websites, emails, or ideas they jotted down by using Tomboy notes that are available at the push of a button anytime they’re needed.
13. Beagle Beagle is a desktop search application that can make it easy to find documents, emails, notes, calendar appointments, music and more. Any information that can be extracted from these and other types of data is available for you to search, making even the most disorganized desktop easy to manage.
14. F-Spot F-Spot can help you easily sort and manage your photos. It even comes complete with a basic photo editing system. Whether you’re using photos for design or just in your personal time, F-Spot can be a valuable tool for keeping track of your images.
15. Planner Planner is a great free open source tool for project management. Businesses can set up projects and use the program to track, monitor, plan, schedule, and even assign tasks to individual employees, making working together and managing a project easier than ever.
16. iFolderiFolder is also a valuable tool for those who need to work together on a project. Users simply save files to their system as they normally would, and iFolder enables them to be shared on any computer within your office by putting them on your network server. It can also be a great way to back up important information and documents.
17. K3B K3B provides businesses with an easy and free way to burn CDs and DVDs. The program allows users to compile data, music, video, and mixed media CDs, as well as the ability to create DVD projects. It’s a great way to quickly share and backup information.
18. RDesktop RDesktop is a remote desktop client. It can make it easy to share information remotely, or to access your own workstation away from the office. It can also be used to help interface Linux with desktops that are still running Windows.
19. Ekiga Ekiga, formerly known as GNOMEMeeting, is VoIP and videoconferencing software. It has numerous features and can be a practical way to meet with clients when you can’t meet face-to-face.
20. OpenOffice OpenOffice is the virtual holy grail of free business software. OpenOffice comes complete with everything you’ll need to do including word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, databases, vector drawing, and even edit mathematical formulas.
21. Horde Horde isn’t just one program, but a framework upon which a number of programs are built. This framework supports a number of applications that can be useful to businesses, including webmail, file managers, calendars, and managers for bookmarks and calendars.
22. Evince Acrobat Reader is a key application for any business, but the program isn’t always the best solution for reading documents. Evince provides an open source alternative, allowing users to view documents in a wide variety of formats with a much lighter and quicker program.
23. Automatix For those delaying the move to open source due to fears about the difficulty of installing new applications, Automatix may be the solution you are looking for. The program is designed to automate the installation of everything you could need, including fonts, applications, and codecs, making installation easy and painless.

Imaging and Design

24. GIMP GIMP is image editing software and can act as a slightly less full featured alternative to Photoshop for businesses looking to save. While it lacks some of the more advanced productivity tools found in Photoshop, many if not most of the basic features are the same and it can be a great open source alternative for businesses that need image editing software without the frills or the price tag of Photoshop.
25. Subversion Subversion was designed as version control system that can act as an open source alternative to CVS, giving business owners a free program to manage servers and edit code.
26. Inkscape For businesses that need an open source program for vector drawing, Inkscape can be a great choice, with capabilities that are similar to those of Illustrator or CorelDraw.
27. Scribus Scribus brings desktop publishing into the open source realm. Users can design and format page layouts and typesetting much in the same way as Adobe InDesign, making the creation of brochures, posters and books easy and much less costly.

Content Management

28. Joomla! Joomla! is an open source content management program, that allows businesses to easily upload and create a variety of different types of web pages. Features include page caching, RSS feeds, news flashes, blogs, polls, and website searching, making it a valuable tool for entrepreneurs doing business on the web.
29. PostNuke PostNuke is another option for businesses that want a content management system. PostNuke makes it easy to create and upload websites and can be customized by installing additional themes, modules and blocks to the existing program.
30. Xoops Xoops is a program that allows users to easily create web content and can be used to develop anything from large community portals to business weblogs. It has advanced features, including the ability to send email and instant messages within the program.
31. Exponent Even the less technologically inclined can make great websites using Exponent. Users don’t directly code web pages or manage site navigation, and instead create the page as they would see it on the web by typing, editing and rearranging in one simple window. It can be a better solution than more complicated programs for those who don’t know much coding but still need content management software for their business.
32. Smarty For users that will need more in-depth web editing abilities, Smarty can help you easily manage and edit the templates for your sites. It provides tools that can help automate tasks associated with the programming of the presentation level of webpages.
33. MySQL The most popular open source database management program, MySQL can provide businesses with a platform to create useful web applications. It’s often used in conjunction with popular content management systems such as WordPress. MySQL can also act as the database component for LAMP, MAMP, and WAMP style platforms. The company offers a version of the software created especially for businesses.
34. KompoZer KompoZer is an HTML editor based on the Nvu system that can provide web editing abilities similar to that of DreamWeaver. While aimed towards more advanced users, it can be a valuable tool when designing and publishing material for the web.
35. Eclipse For those working on developing software or web apps, Eclipse is a great open source program to try out. Eclipse is a software framework written and designed primarily for Java, but plugins can be added to make the software useful to other programming languages.

Web Tools

36. Firefox Firefox is popular even among businesses that haven’t gone completely open source because it’s packed with features and simply works well. Businesses may find Firefox’s numerous plugins and extensions useful.
37. ZenCart Businesses that want to sell products on the web can benefit from open source software like ZenCart. ZenCart is free software for creating an online shopping cart system. Unlike many shopping cart applications, ZenCart is easy to install and use, making life easier for both customers and merchants.
38. phpCollab For businesses that need to work and collaborate on projects over the internet, phpCollab is a possible solution. This fully featured program comes with tools to create team or client sites, assign tasks, keep track of workflow, discuss projects, create invoices, and send out notifications.
39. OpenAds OpenAds is used by millions of business and personal websites to sell, manage and serve ads. The interface doesn’t require any advanced knowledge of coding and can help you easily and simply create and sell advertising for your business.
40. Skype For businesses that make a lot of international and long distance calls, Skype can be a valuable and money-saving tool. It allows users to make calls through the Internet using peer-to-peer technology. The program is free and provides international calls at a greatly discounted rate. The program can also be used to set up a call center for customer support complete with links that can easily be placed on a business website.
41. phpESP phpESP is a great tool for non-technical users of php-based web applications to administer surveys, gather the results from them, and easily view the statistics. Businesses can use it as a tool to monitor customer service experiences, or gather input and advice on how to make their products and services better.

Network and Server Management

42. Asterisk Asterisk is PBX (Private Branch eXchange) software that can allow you to easily and cheaply control the telephone system in your office. Asterisk works with both VoIP telephony as well as old-fashioned telephone systems with the addition of some inexpensive hardware. It even comes complete with features usually only found in high end and high price PBX systems.
43. Zabbix Zabbix is designed to allow users to easily monitor and track the status of network services, servers, and other network based hardware. Businesses looking for a way to track and report status on network systems will find Zabbix’s easy-to-use mapping and graphing visualizations very useful.
44. Apache Apache provides some of the most widely used and stable HTTP servers available, open source or otherwise. Apache supports a variety of features including virtual hosting, SSL and TSL support, custom log files, and a proxy module, among many others. It can be used as a secure server for web pages or as a way to safely share files over the Internet.

Finances

45. GnuCash GnuCash can make keeping track of business finances easy and less costly. This free program allows users to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses with features to create reports, do financial calculations, and schedule transactions.
46. SureInvoice SureInvoice provides an easy system for creating and managing invoices. Businesses will find it useful in time entry, automated invoice generation, and customer self-service, as well as many other areas, helping them make sure they are paid fairly and on time for work.
47. EzyBiz EzyBiz is business sales chain management software for small to medium size businesses. It is highly customizable and allows businesses to track finances, including taxes with easy-to-use custom forms and magic menus.

Security and Tracking

48. Mantis Mantis is a popular bug tracking application that works in conjunction with the MySQL database system. It has a simple interface that allows users to monitor and track any issues with a color coded issue list, providing all the information needed to address and resolve an issue.
49. Snort Protecting computer systems is incredibly important, especially for businesses. Snort can be a valuable part of securing your systems. The program acts as a network intrusion detector and prevention system, helping you detect and deter a wide variety of network probes and attacks.
50. Firestarter When sensitive client and business information hangs in the balance, security is of the utmost importance. Businesses can make use of Firestarter to help protect their information and safeguard their data. Firestarter is a firewall application with features including real-time monitoring, whitelists and blacklists, and controlled access policies.

When work becomes a game From The BBC NEWS (Technology)

Video games are big business and soon they could be big in business too.

Video games are big

A whole generation is growing up for whom video games are a key part of how they relax, whether it be fragging friends in a first person shooter or backing up the main tank in a Warcraft raid.

A generation is growing up playing immersive online games

And it is not just youngsters. There are plenty of older folks who shake off the dust of the working day in many different virtual worlds.

Statistics from the the US Entertainment Software Association (ESA) back this up. It claims that the average player is 33 and has more than a decade of gaming under their belt.

All of a sudden, say academics and researchers, companies have realized that all the time employees spend gaming in virtual worlds is changing them.

Ian Hughes, IBM's metaverse evangelist, said many organizations were considering ways of harnessing the skills and familiarity their employees have with virtual environments.

This familiarity has driven many organisations to consider virtual worlds as places where employees can meet,
mix and get on with the job.

"A lot of people are more accepting of that way of working just because of games," he said.

"It's about harnessing that ability to play to get work done."

The formidable organizational skills needed to run a game team or guild, organize raids involving perhaps 40 people and co-ordinate their different abilities to defeat a game's strongest foes are all relevant to work, said Mr Hughes.

Game gear

But it is not just the skills that gamers hone in futuristic or fantasy worlds that businesses want to co-opt. Some are taking their inspiration directly from the way that online games are structured.

Skills learned on raids in games could apply to work too

Dr Byron Reeves, a professor of education at Stanford University, said some firms were taking elements from games to overcome the difficulties of working life in the 21st Century.

"The problems associated with distributed teams, collaboration and information overload right now are so severe, and the opportunities so good, that they are willing to look at anything," he said.

Dr Reeves has founded a company called Seriosity that applies game elements to workplaces.

It was working with five or six unnamed Fortune 500 companies to harness the efficiencies of those game mechanics, said Dr Reeve.

One of the programs developed by Seriosity adds a virtual currency element to e-mail in a bid to help people cope with information overload.

Anyone sending a message adds some of their limited supply of virtual coins, called Serios, to show how important they consider that e-mail to be.

It was a more finely grained grading system than the low, medium or high importance flags found in most e-mail programs, said Dr Reeves.

It had other benefits too, he said. It revealed not just the flow of messages but also started to show who people pay attention to and who did a good job of getting responses.

Some companies were starting to adopt even more of the elements familiar from games.

"There are people right now trying to map it one-to-one," said Dr Reeves.

Level playing field

Convinced that games can help them thrive some companies have turned work groups into guilds, rewarded staff with experience points when they complete tasks, giving out titles and badges when a guild finished a project and portraying objectives as quests.

Virtual worlds could become key to future business life

Some were also considering using a virtual currency as a reward system allowing workers to cash in their savings for benefits or extras for their office space. The top performing guilds also get to do the best projects.

None, so far, he said, were tying wages to how people performed in the quests and against other guilds.

"Mapping levels and points on to wages is the most extreme application," he said.

Companies were adopting game mechanics for several reasons, said Dr Reeves.

Partly because workers were so familiar with this structure, he said, and because people become powerfully motivated when they know how they compare to their contemporaries.

The main reason was for the transparency it gave to the way workplaces were organized and for revealing who got things done.

"It exposes those that do and do not play well," said Dr Reeves. "There is a leader board and you know the rules."

It had the potential to turn workplaces into meritocracies where the most accomplished are easy to spot because they have racked up all rewards, achievements and levels required for a particular post.

While it may not sweep away systems of privilege or end nepotism it had the potential to make workplaces fairer and take some of the grind out of the day job, he said.

"The whole idea here is to get the objectives of the individual players aligned with the objectives of the organization," said Dr Reeves. "Do that and you have something good."

Angela Barron, an advisor at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, said games had long been used in training to expose personal preferences and prejudices.

Many organizations also used courses that revolve around games to help make teams work together better or expose power structures among workers.

She said this was the first time she had heard of elements of online games being used in a similar way.

"I would not have thought enough people play games for it to be a great motivator," she said.

But, she said, anything that helped staff develop a better working relationship and promote team work was likely to be a good thing.

Thinking of Using Linux? Linux and Open Source Blog

Thinking of Using Linux?

This Article brought to you by http://linux.wordpress.com/

You have probably heard about this thing called Linux. Everybody seems to be arguing over it. Is it better than Windows or faster or cheaper. Some say it doesn’t support anything while others say it supports more than windows. Your curiosity is aroused and you wonder if you should give linux a try before parting with a few hundred dollars for the latest version of windows.

For a start you need to have an open mind. Linux is similar in operation to windows but it is not windows. There are differences. Sometimes significant ones. Programs will have different names and will appear different. You will definitely have some learning ahead of you. However that learning will not be much different than going from windows XP to windows Vista. The most important thing is to expect things to be different and until you get used to where everything is you will have to do a bit of searching.

Installation of modern linux distributions is very simple now and in some cases even simpler and faster than installing windows. There are very few questions asked and in almost all cases the default answers are the right ones so the familiar next,next,next routine of installing programs will feel right at home.

Once your new linux is installed you will be presented with a different looking desktop to what you will be used to. That’s normal because it is a completely different operating system. Before throwing up your hands in confusion and exasperation take a minute or two to have a close look at what you see.

You will see going across the bottom of the desktop a bar similar but not quite like the windows task bar. In fact it does the exact same thing. Right where you expect the windows start button to be you will see a button that when clicked on opens up a menu exactly the same way windows does. That button may have a picture of a gear on it or it may be something else.

On that menu, just like windows, you will see several choices. Much more than a fresh install of windows will offer. That is because a freshly installed Linux gives you all the programs you need to do 90% of your daily tasks without having to install anything else. You will have your internet, email, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, music player, instant messaging, scanning and photograph editor and of course the requisite card games. These are all ready to use as soon as you have finished installing linux.

All of these programs look and operate very similar to their windows counterparts so after a bit of playing around they will feel right at home. Until you get used to your new linux system just about all of the linux distributions will have a forum or mailing list that are populated by people from all over the world who are willing and even eager to help you on your path of learning. In fact most, if not all questions you will have will have already been answered in a document called a FAQ which is short for frequently answered questions. It is highly suggested the this document is read at least once.

Now that you are more familiar with your linux system and the time comes that you want to install some other programs. In the windows world that generally means buying a program from a supplier and then manually installing it. With linux you have access to tens of thousands of programs, for free, that can be installed with a few mouse clicks. This is possible because every good distribution has a packet manager which connects to a repository of programs and presents you with a list that can be categorised and searched. All you need to do is select the programs you want to install, click on install and the linux system does the rest. Once the program is finished installing it is ready to use.

Maintenance of a linux system is very easy too. With a good linux distribution all configuration that you need to worry about is presented in a very similar way to the windows control panel and you can easily adjust to the slightly different syntax. Upgrading and security patches are also handled automatically and in a linux system all installed programs from the packet manager are upgraded and patched by the distribution. You don’t need to have to manually monitor third party programs like with windows.

So when you decide to give Linux a try you will find that you will have an interesting time ahead of you. You will be confused sometimes, you will be frustrated sometimes. Sometimes you will feel like shooting your computer but then you have probably had those same feelings with windows. I can guarantee that your journey with linux will never be boring and you will learn a lot along the way.

- Locutus