Tony Mobily writes, "The first issue of Free Software Magazine is out! Free Software Magazine is
a new magazine entirely dedicated to free software. It contains quality
🕑Jan 13, 2005 🖋John Locke
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Blog
🕑Jan 03, 2005 🖋John Locke
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Getting rid of Quickbooks
LinuxPlanet has a review of open source and Linux accounting software. Unfortunately, they omitted what I consider to be the best for most small businesses, the fantastic SQL Ledger program.
🕑Dec 28, 2004 🖋John Locke
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Open Source sneaking into small businesses
Many small businesses are starting to use Linux and open source solutions without even realizing it. They're helped along by consultants who offer better solutions at lower costs, a nice combination for any business. Nice story at the MIT Enterprise Technology Review:
🕑Dec 22, 2004 🖋John Locke
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Quick Do-It-Yourself Greeting Cards
Tux magazine has a quick how-to about creating greeting cards in Linux using Scribus. Quick Do-It-Yourself Greeting Cards | TUX.
🕑Dec 21, 2004 🖋John Locke
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Ben Franklin was an Open Source guy
While reading a biography of Ben Franklin, I learned that Mr. Franklin routinely gave his inventions away to the public, without collecting a nickel.
🕑Dec 21, 2004 🖋John Locke
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Make sure your VPN is secure...
There is now a tool that can easily crack PPTP authentication, which is what is used in the basic Virtual Private Networking standard included in Windows. Because of its wide deployment, PPTP is perhaps the easiest type of VPN to deploy--but it should no longer be considered secure.
🕑Dec 21, 2004 🖋John Locke
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Hard Passwords made easy
Why use a strong password
In the online world, security plays a role in all online activities. Passwords are the most commonly used method to limit access to specific people. In last month's newsletter, we discussed assessing the relative value of systems protected by passwords, and grouping passwords across locations with similar trustworthiness.
In a nutshell, don't bother creating and remembering strong passwords for low value systems, and certainly don't use the same passwords for low value systems that you use in high value systems.
🕑Dec 15, 2004 🖋John Locke
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Now there's proof that open source is better
A four year analysis of the Linux source code conducted by five Stanford University computer science researchers found a tiny fraction of the number of security holes and bugs, compared to similar studies of proprietary software.
🕑Dec 13, 2004 🖋John Locke
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Not all TCO studies favor Microsoft
In Australia, at least, it appears that deploying Linux results in an overall cost savings of at least 27% in a medium-sized company over Microsoft solutions. And that's not even counting costs associated with viruses and downtime during reboots!
🕑Dec 02, 2004 🖋John Locke
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Bluetooth Security issues
Wired magazine is running a story about "bluesnarfing," the practice of sniffing out your address book or calendar, making calls with your phone, and other more nefarious activity, hijacking your phone via Bluetooth. A must read.
🕑Nov 24, 2004 🖋John Locke
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Turning profit as primary motive upside-down
In an interesting story in Fast Company, competition favors the generous. An interesting take on Darwinism and Open Source.
Only the Pronoid Survive.
🕑Nov 22, 2004 🖋John Locke
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Smarter Password Management
The problem with weak passwords
Your dog's name. Your anniversary. Your childrens' initials, birthday, or birth weight. Your favorite hobby, or the name of your boat. Which one do you use for your password? Network Administrators and hackers know that most people choose passwords like these to protect anything from logging into web-based bulletin boards to buying things online.
Why does it matter? Identity theft. Corporate espionage. Loss of your data, or digital photos. Do you want to risk these things? In many cases, a weak password is all that separates your data from any bad guy who chooses to impersonate you online, or worse.