This is the personal blog of Chris Grant. I'm an Information Security professional that loves the work I do. I'm somewhat technology agnostic, although I have a fondness for both Microsoft and FreeBSD (and other Unix'es). Its just techology, not a religion. If you find the tool for the job in a Windows toolbox, then use it, otherwise use he tools you find in a Linux toolbox. They are all just tools, get over it. Given that, all vendors have security to think about, but many don't, so all vendors have security issues. That's why we're here, to guide all areas of the planet that use information technology and the public toward secure solutions that can be sustained. This includes financial services (like banks, credit card companies and the like), health care (hospitals, clinics, etc) and governments (who get very involved in the information security business for various purposes, both as a creator and a customer of the technology). I try to post things that are of interest to the world of computer, network and general information security. Thanks for coming to the site and feel free to sign up and contribute! -Chris
"There's lots of money to be wasted (and made by companies) fixing symptoms and not solving core issues that seem difficult to deal with..." - Me! Chris Grant
Friday 29 May 2009
Windows 7 Starter for netbooks only, new hardware requirements rumored
According to TechARP, via CNET, Microsoft is going to limit Windows 7 Starter edition to US-based netbooks (including my own HP Mini 2140). Windows 7 Starter will be limited to netbooks, basically, given the processor limitation is rumored to be 2.0Ghz (up from 1Ghz, thankfully) and the screen size to 10.2". In my own experience, Windows 7 Ultimate RC runs great on the HP Mini 2140 that I'm typing on right now. I assume you'll be able to upgrade from Starter to the higher-end versions just like normal, for a hefty premium for a low cost machine, though.
The issue driving these decisions are that the OEMs are looking for cheap OSes for their low end netbooks, and Microsoft is providing an option. MSFT does not want Windows 7 Starter to be sold with higher end systems though because it would both reduce the end-user experience for Windows 7 to what's provided by Windows 7 Starter (reduced eye candy and multi-tasking capabilities) and also MSFT's profit from selling a higher-end version with more fetures and higher cost.
This may push folks who want to really tap the capabilities of their netbook to run Linux, which is unrestricted by licensing, OEMs or costs. Or they may end up paying $300 for a netbook and another $300 for capable a version of Windows 7.
SketchUp used to visualize North Dakota volunteer sandbagging effort
This a fun article using SketchUp to illustrate the sheer volume of sand bags that were prepared by volunteers to help protect the cities of Fargo and Moorhead against the Red River flooding this year. 3.5 million sand bags are hard to fathom by our tiny human brains. This should help.
Posted by
cgrant
on
Tuesday 07 April 2009 - 23:29:38
While I was looking for information security related RSS feeds to populate RSSOwl, I ran across the Tools page on SecurityFocus. In this page I saw there was a new release (okay, in February) of OSSEC, which is an Open Source Host-based Intrusion Detection System. On the surface this looks pretty good. You can install standalone or you can install a manager and then clients which are centrally managed by...wait for it...a manager. Lots of operating systems are compatible. I may check this out if curiosity gets the best of me. Let me know if you do! --Chris
Posted by
cgrant
on
Monday 09 March 2009 - 15:41:00
All trademarks are copyright their respective owners, all other content is copyright Chris Grant, 2001-2009. e107 is copyright e107.org 2006 and is released under the GNU GPL license.
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