FireFox 1.5

The final release of Mozilla Firefox 1.5 is now available for download from GetFirefox.com for most major operating systems or from the mirrors. Users of the release candidates should receive the update soon.

Firefox 1.5 introduces several new features, including an improved software update system, faster Back / Forward page navigation, a new options to clear private browsing data, drag-and-drop reordering of browser tabs, a redesigned Options/Preferences window and more robust popup blocking. Standards support is also improved, with support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), JavaScript 1.6 and additional CSS properties. Accessibility is much improved (including new DHTML accessibility features), security has been enhanced and Mac OS X support has also been improved.

How does it play with the Extensions that I recommend?
The following components are not compatible with the new version of Firefox you have just installed:

• googlebar 0.9.12.01
• Copy Plain Text 0.3.1
• Bookmarks Synchronizer 1.0.1

So they will be disabled until updates are available

[1] GetFirefox.com
[2] http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/
[2] Firefox 1.5 Final Now Available [SlashDot]

Technorati Tags: FireFox 1.5

Shit, Bugger, Damn!

Well, from the Blog on the 2005-11-27 you’d probably gathered all was not well. Ike had been moved from Monash Clayton to Monash Moorabbin. It seems that the cancer had permanently damaged her liver, and she passed away at 11:55am on Monday 28th November

MORAN. _ The Funeral Service
of the late Irene Rose Moran will
be held in The Edithvale Uniting
Church, Cnr Edithvale and
Clydebank Rds, Edithvale on
FRIDAY (Dec. 2) commencing
at 1.30 p.m. At the conclusion
of the Service the Cortege will
proceed to Bunurong Memorial
Park, 790 Frankston
Dandenong Rd, Dandenong
South for cremation.

[Herald Sun, 30 November 2005]

 

[1] National Breast Cancer Foundation - Pink Ribbon

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS)

Whale saviours in fresh bid to stop Japanese hunt
24 November [The Age]

THEY have sunk half of Norway’s whaling fleet. Poachers hate them and seal hunters attack them. But the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is likely to be warmly welcomed in Melbourne as it prepares to fight Japanese whale killing.

Its vessel, the 50-metre, ice-breaking Farley Mowat, arrived in Port Phillip Bay yesterday on its first Melbourne visit. On December 5 it will travel to Antarctic waters in a bid to “harass, hinder and obstruct” the Japanese whaling ships from their prey, which this season will include up to 935 minke whales — double the previous catch.

The Sea Shepherd “pirates”, founded by Paul Watson, are more combative than Greenpeace, which Mr Watson helped to establish. Indeed, it is unlikely there will be co-operation between Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace, which has two ships on the way to the whale-hunting area.

The Farley Mowat was last night anchored in the bay because a lack of insurance prevented it from docking. The ship is equipped with high-tech anti-whaling devices: protesters will use small speedboats, robotic helicopters (to remotely film the whale slaughter) and power-skis.

…

In December, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society will engage the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The Sea Shepherds say the Japanese whale kill is illegal. They will be acting in accordance with the United Nations World Charter for Nature in their intervention. The groups objective is to “hunt down the Japanese whaling fleet and harrass, block, obstruct, and intervene against their illegal whaling operations.”

 AUSTRALIANS – THE SEA SHEPHERD SHIP IS COMING TO MELBOURNE!
Please visit the WHALES100,000 website which has been created specially to inform Australians about the Sea Shepherd campaign to save the whales of Antarctica and how you can help.

Paul Watson is founder and president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. He is preparing to sail his ship Farley Mowat from Melbourne to Antarctica next month in an attempt to disrupt Japanese whaling.

 

[1] http://www.seashepherd.org/ [SSCS]
[2] Whaling Around the World: The Aussie Factor [SSCS]

___

WHAT IS THE “PINK RIBBON”?
The Pink Ribbon is an internationally recognised symbol that represents hope and awareness for those affected by breast cancer. In Australia specifically, this symbol embosies the National Breast Cancer Foundations (NBCF) aim of finding the cure, finding the cause. It signifies the progress Australia has made towards quality research that has resulting in increased survival rates and improved quality of life.

[1] National Breast Cancer Foundation - Pink Ribbon

2006 Mac SOE Software list?

2005 saw the last of our support for the Mac “Classic” environment, from 2006 we will be supporting OS X.3.x and OS X.4.x

Function		Product(s)		Support Level
----------		----------		-------------

AntiVirus		Virex 7.2		(A)

Bibliographic		Endnote 8		(C)
Software

Calendaring		Oracle Calendar 10.x	(A)
			Oracle Calendar 9.x	(A)

Database		FileMaker Pro		(C)

Database Query		GQL 3.3.3		(D) no longer supported
					   	 use Windows BI-Query

Electronic		Eudora 6.2.x		(A)
Mail			Eudora 7.x		(C)

FTP			Fetch 5.x [5.0.4]	(A) use SCP/SFTP 
						    where possible

Graphics/		-			-
Diagram

Graphics		Adobe PhotoShop		(B)
[MM Lab]		PhotoShop Elements	(B)
			Illustrator		(B)

Office*			MS Office X		(A)
			MS Office 2004		(A)
			Open Office 2.0		(C)

Page Layout		Adobe Pagemaker		(B)
(Desktop Publish)	Quark			(B)

Portable Document	Acrobat Reader v7.0.x	(A)
Format (PDF)		Acrobat Pro v7.0.x	(B)

SCP			Fugu 1.2.0		(A)
(Replaces FTP)

Statistics		SPSS			(B)
			NVIVO			(C)
			MiniTab			(C)

Terminal Emulation	to be revised
(Telnet/SSH)		OSX has a built in client	(A)

WWW Browser		Firefox v1.0.x		(A)
			FireFox v1.5		(B)
			Mozilla			(B)
			Netscape 7.x, 8.x	(B)
			Internet Explorer 5.2.3 (B)
			Opera 			(C)
			Safari			(C)

WWW Authoring		DreamWeaver		(A)		
			BB Edit LITE		(B)
			Macromedia StudioMX2004	(A) [MMLab]

* Office contains a WordProcessor, Spreadsheet and Presentation package

2005 SANS Top 20

2005 SANS Top 20
Published: 2005-11-22,
Last Updated: 2005-11-22 16:51:57 UTC
by Marcus Sachs (Version: 1) [SANS]

This year’s SANS Top 20 Internet Security Vulnerabilities were announced this morning.  Details are at http://www.sans.org/top20.   You will see that the format has changed a bit this year.

Top Vulnerabilities in Windows Systems

• W1. Windows Services
• W2. Internet Explorer
• W3. Windows Libraries
• W4. Microsoft Office and Outlook Express
• W5. Windows Configuration Weaknesses

Top Vulnerabilities in Cross-Platform Applications

• C1. Backup Software
• C2. Anti-virus Software
• C3. PHP-based Applications
• C4. Database Software
• C5. File Sharing Applications
• C6. DNS Software
• C7. Media Players
• C8. Instant Messaging Applications
• C9. Mozilla and Firefox Browsers
• C10. Other Cross-platform Applications

Top Vulnerabilities in UNIX Systems

• U1. UNIX Configuration Weaknesses
• U2. Mac OS X

Top Vulnerabilities in Networking Products

• N1. Cisco IOS and non-IOS Products
• N2. Juniper, CheckPoint and Symantec Products
• N3. Cisco Devices Configuration Weaknesses

[1] 2005 SANS Top 20 [SANS]
[2] The Twenty Most Critical Internet Security Vulnerabilities (Updated) ~ The Experts Consensus [SANS]

Technorati Tags: SANS TOP 20

DRM = Dumb Record-company Management?

Texas sues Sony BMG for spyware violations
By Matt Daily
Mon Nov 21, 6:21 PM ET [Yahoo News]

“Texas is seeking civil penalties of $100,000 per violation of the state’s Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act, which was enacted earlier this year.”   …

DRM= Dumb Record-company Management?
Yay SONY! you are our hero what a marketing bonanza;

“a technological version of cloak and dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers.”[1.]

Just in case you want to play a ‘Record Company Manager” in a game such as the SIMs, here’s a quick guide to CD DRM.

1. Install a root-kit onto your users hard drives. Don’t let them know what you have done (It’s a big secret! Shhh!)
2. When the public forces you to make changes, update your root-kit with an updated root-kit
3. then have your root-kit used by trojans & Viruses
4. Code your uninstaller in Active-X to allow other compromises/exploits
5. Place a back-door into the software to monitor users
6. Disable the customers hardware (CD drive) if they remove the software
7. Make sure to copyright infringe Open Software by using it in your package against the licensing terms!
8. Have management that don’t know WHY this is a bad thing!

You may also want to play for a trump card of being seen as a danger to National Security …

“I wanted to raise one point of caution as we go forward, because we are also responsible for maintaining the security of the information infrastructure of the United States and making sure peoples’ [and] businesses’ computers are secure. … There’s been a lot of publicity recently about tactics used in pursuing protection for music and DVD CDs in which questions have been raised about whether the protection measures install hidden files on peoples’ computers that even the system administrators can’t find.” …
… ” It’s very important to remember that it’s your intellectual property — it’s not your computer. And in the pursuit of protection of intellectual property, it’s important not to defeat or undermine the security measures that people need to adopt in these days.”
- Stewart Baker (US Department of Homeland Security’s assistant secretary for policy) [4.]

Don’t forget the important press relations …

When interviewed on the radio, the president of Sony BMG’s Global Digital Business, Thomas Hesse, said, “Most people, I think, don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?””
Note to Mr. Hesse: ”Who cares?” is seldom a good response. [5.]

 

[1] Texas sues Sony BMG for spyware violations [REUTERS]
[2] Texas sues Sony BMG for spyware violations [Yahoo News]
[3] Muzzy’s research about Sony’s XCP DRM system
[4] DHS Official Weighs In on Sony [Washington Post]
[5] Where was Sony’s Privacy Officer? [Datamation]

Eudora v.7.0

Up until recently the latest version of Eudora has been 6.2.5.6, over the last week Eudora v7.0.x has been made available via the Eudora website as the “latest version”. My testing with version 7.0.0.16 shows that the University of Melbourne’s current Site License does not flow onto the v7.x release.

The currrent registration information (v6.x) does NOT work with Eudora v7.x. Currently the user will need to be converted from licensed to Sponsored mode to keep functionality.

 

The information published by the Information Division regarding the Eudora license currently indicates that the “current/latest” version of the software is licensed;

“The current agreement provides the University staff and students the latest version of Eudora software for Mac or PC.”[1]

“This licence is inclusive of maintenance for the life of the Agreement” [3]

I have requested that information be published with a timeline for the renewal/update of the Site License with Qualcomm, or a post outlining that our Site License is bound to the v6.x product. Let’s see if we get an update …

 

[0] Eudora 7.0 on ed-Server [Restricted Access]
[1] Special Software Licence Agreements: Eudora [COMPSS]
[2] Information Technology Policies, Strategies & Procedures Guide – 5. Desktop Software and Licences [ITPP]
[3] Special Software Licence Agreements – Eudora SITE LICENSE PROGRAM [UCS]
[4] Eudora Software [ftp unimeb-only]
[5] Eudora 6 Registration Details [Restricted Access]

Technorati Tags: Eudora

 

I’ll just check my Calendar …

An Oracle calendar client upgrade from v9.x to v10.x

 

your rights at work – worth fighting for

Listening to Jon Faine (774 ABC) on the drive into work this morning, you’d think that only a bus load of rabble had turned up to today’s protest. But as 8:45 ticked over the crowds swelled, and even as Jon Faine was talikng to Heather Ridout (boo! hiss!), the volume of the crowd could be heard in the back ground … and then Jon admits that there might be a pretty good turn up after all.

After a quick visit into the office to clear up a few issues, it was off to the rally.

 

Protesters engulf Melbourne CBD
By Renee Barnes
November 15, 2005 – 12:16PM [The Age]

Burly blue collar workers joined suited office staff and mums with strollers to protest against the Howard Government’s workplace changes in Melbourne’s CBD this morning.

The crowd, estimated at up to 175,000 people, stretched from a crammed Federation Square up Swanson Street to La Trobe Street in a sea of union flags and placards.

Speeches by union officials and politicians at Federation Square were broadcast on the square’s large televison screen and relayed to crowds down the street on loudspeakers.

Anti-workplace legislation speakers were met with cheers, horns and whistles; recorded clips of John Howard’s industrial relations speeches brought boos and jeers from the crowd. …

 

HUGE CROWDS AT RALLY [1]
Tue Nov 15, 2005
Hundreds of thousands of people have joined together to fight against the Howard Government’s unfair workplace reforms.

 

[1] http://www.rightsatwork.com.au/ [ACTU]
[2] Protesters engulf Melbourne CBD [The Age]