[Info-vax] "Shanghai Stock Exchange" and OpenVMS

[Bill Gunshannon]

In article <D6Cdna86QfxEZeTUnZ2dnUVZ_vzinZ2d at giganews.com>,
	"Richard B. Gilbert" <rgilbert88 at comcast.net> writes:
> JF Mezei wrote:
>> Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>> 
>>> We wre talking about systems in corporate situations run by supposed
>>> professionals, not "your momma's PC", remember.  If they don't know
>>> how to set up a secure system and don't know where to find the info
>>> they belong on the breadline and not in the corporate datacenter.
>> 
>> 
>> I don't want to support Mr Main's "666 patches per week to install", but...
>> 
>> A few years ago, the whole Québec medical IT network went down. It is
>> all windows based. (pretty scary, isn't it ?). One PC got infected, and
>> it infected the windows server above it. That one not only infected all
>> other PCs below it, but also infected the server in the higher tier
>> until the top tier was infected and distributed it to all other servers
>> which distributed it to all workstations.
>> 
>> One of the arguments given as explanation is that the IT guys did not
>> have sufficient budget to hire people in charge of installing patches to
>> protect against viri.
>> 
>> In the end, what matters isn't what *could* be done to make Windows
>> secure, but what is actually done in real life. And if in real life,
>> there are sufficient sites that have insufficient protection, then the
>> fauna of Windows viri continues to expand.
>> 
>> It is relatively easy for a geek to secure his windows desktop. Not so
>> easy for a large corporate network with thousands of workstations to
>> roll out a new patch across its network.
> 
> One solution to that is to keep the computers in the data center and 
> give the users a box that runs out of ROM and has just enough smarts to 
> run a keyboard, mouse, and monitor.  ISTR it was called a "Netstation", 

ThinClient, actually.  I am moving to that for the labs this semester.
But, not so much for security as I already whipped that puppy.  I am
doing it for ease of configuration and management and the fact that it
will make having to do changes in the middle of the semester much easier
and less disruptive tot he academic environment.

> a box about the size of a book into which you plugged your keyboard, 
> mouse and monitor and an Ethernet patch cord.  

Or you just netboot the PC's that are already standing on the users desk
with ThinClient software and don't loose your existing investment.  You
can then start planning on the next replacement cycle being to real Thin-
Clients instead of new PC's.

What was old is new again....

>                                               It gave you a Windows 
> "Desktop".  The configuration of the actual computers was under the 
> control of the IT Department.  It made things MUCH easier!

Much easier!!!

bill
 
-- 
Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
billg999 at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
University of Scranton   |
Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>