News from PANUG/BizNix - July 29, 2002
http://panug.org - http://biznix.org


MICROSOFT .NET & APACHE

Good news:
Microsoft has announced plans to integrate the .NET framework with the
open source Apache Web server. This is yet more evidence you can use to
help convince your management that Apache is a viable replacement for
IIS. 

Bad news:
This integration is not being done with the cooperation of the Apache
developers. This is bad because:

1. It's likely that any needed software or modules required for the
   .NYET integration will be available only as a commercial product.

2. Microsoft's code will not be developed in an Open Source
   environment and not subject to the scrutiny that Apache undergoes.
   This means undiscovered bugs and likely security issues.

3. Security holes in Microsoft's code can now be blamed on Apache.


NEWS & SUGGESTIONS
by Christian Bayer

Novell's Netdevice turns your Pentium II or greater with 128Mb RAM or
more into NDS Administered NAS. It is licensed for unlimited connections
but less expensive than Netware 5.1 50 users.

Winternals ERD Commander 2002 is a product Wininternals.com. Drop this CD
into an X86 and turn the machine on. Assuming the BIOS enables CD booting,
the machine boots a modified version of Microsoft Windows XP Professional
(even on an old machine that does not meet XP minimum hardware
specifications) and gives you access to Microsoft type hard drive filesystems
and Microsoft Windows networking resources. This utility offers many of the
administration possibilities of booting Windows 95 from a CD (described best
here; http://www.heise.de/ct/english/99/11/206/ ).

My only complaint is that Internet Explorer (you know, that non-removable
program) is not installed. Running IE or Netscape from the hard drive did
not work. However, when you build the ISO image for your bootable CD you can
include other files. I have found that Telnet.exe and FTP.exe can be included
and work. Additionally, a little browser called Offbyone (offbyone.com) can
be included and run from the CD.

When you are done with ERD Commander, there's no "Shutdown". Just
turn the computer off. Included in ERD Commander is Regedit, Notepad and
Locksmith (to reset the Administrator password). ERD Commander is $399.00
from http://www.winternals.com.

 
Check out http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/.

My Windows NT desktop has some problems. I felt sure that something was
wrong with the 16-bit subsystem that prevents me from running certain
16-bit applications such as; Event Viewer, Disk Administrator, User
Administrator, many installation programs, etc., but I wanted to be sure
it wasn't a K_L_E_Z infection because there are some things wrong with
Norton Antivirus too. Anyhow, I visited the above link and ran a Java applet
from their website that scanned my machine for viruses.  Nifty!
(If anyone can tell me where/how Wowexec.exe needs to be started during
boot, I would appreciate it. Wowexec.exe is the program that runs as a
service allowing 16-bit apps to run. I tried making an registry key in
HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Run Services/, the program
runs but it does not do what it is supposed to do.).

Walmart is selling computers with Lindows preinstalled. I've tried Lindows.
It installed on a Compaq EVO D300V quite smoothly. WordPerfect Suite 2002
and Groupwise (for Windows) installation programs started, but then
immediately stopped upon display of the splash screen. I think Ximian
Desktop, OpenOffice.org and CrossOver Office offer better products if you
are trying to replace Windows with Linux on a desktop.
   
Since I mentioned CrossOver Office, I'll also mention some "Coming Soon"
products from CodeWeavers. CrossOver Display and CrossOver Server.  If
Citrix Metaframe, Terminal Services, or accessing Windows apps from another
OS are things you are considering, take a look at the CodeWeavers website.

The recent news that the next major version of OS X (Jaguar) will code sync
with FreeBSD 4.4 means that porting FreeBSD apps to OS X should be simpler.
Does it also mean that porting OS X native applications to FreeBSD will be
something less than non-trivial (I know, I know, different CPU architecture)?