[plug]

[Sol]

Bravo. Well said!

And thankyou for acting as quick as possible to bring dhammaloka.org.au back 
up.

Kind regards,
sol hanna


On Sun, 26 Jan 2003 04:10 pm, Jeremy Malcolm wrote:
> This is a message to clients of Terminus Network Services to apologise
> for the unscheduled downtime that has been experienced earlier today,
> and to advise that the problem has now been resolved.  The downtime is
> believed to have resulted from a denial of service attack against our
> network caused by a worm (or virus) that spreads using a security bug in
> Microsoft SQL Server software.  Although our network does not use any
> Microsoft software, the denial of service attack can affect other
> Internet-connected devices.  A new router is now in place to replace the
> device that was affected by the attack, and rules have been put in place
> to deflect future attacks arising from the Microsoft SQL Server worm.
>
> As an aside, we would also like to take this opportunity to caution all
> our clients against the continued use of Microsoft software,
> particularly on servers.  The security record of Microsoft software is,
> on any view, appalling.  Two years ago, independent IT consulting firm
> Gartner recommended businesses to immediately cease using Microsoft's
> Web server software, stating "Using Internet-exposed IIS Web servers
> securely has a high cost of ownership... Nimda has again shown the high
> risk of using IIS and the effort involved in keeping up with Microsoft's
> frequent security patches."  Regrettably, many businesses have ignored
> Gartner's warning, as the latest crippling network attacks demonstrate.
>
> In our view it is no longer necessary, and you should have no confidence
> that it is safe, to run any Microsoft software on your network.  Please
> consider using the following mature, high-quality open source software
> to replace your current insecure Microsoft-dependent network:
>
> TO REPLACE THIS				CONSIDER USING THIS
> ---------------				-------------------
> Microsoft Windows 2000 Server		Linux (and Samba if needed;
> or Microsoft Windows NT			http://au1.samba.org)
>
> Microsoft SQL Server			PostgreSQL Object Relational
> 					Database (www.postgresql.org)
>
> Microsoft Exchange Server		Exim (http://www.exim.org)
>
> Microsoft Internet Information		Apache (http://www.apache.org)
> Server
>
> Microsoft Office			OpenOffice.org
> 					(http://www.openoffice.org)
>
> Microsoft Internet Explorer		Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org)
>
> Until recently, it is fair to say that the use of open source software
> to completely replace proprietary software was not a real option for
> most office networks.  Now, that is no longer true.  Many businesses,
> schools and government departments are turning away from Microsoft right
> now.  The Federal Government is in fact holding a seminar next month on
> how departments can make the switch.  When you switch to Linux, you can
> also forget about being forced to upgrade, or paying annual licence
> fees.  Worrying about software audits can also be a thing of the past.
>
> Australian research shows that the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of a
> Linux-based office network is 34% lower than an equivalent Windows
> network, including the cost of hardware, software and support.
> Additionally, Linux is immune to almost all computer viruses.  Although
> bugs and security flaws are found in open source software, since code is
> peer-reviewed by thousands of paid and volunteer programmers around the
> world, the bugs are typically found and corrected within hours, rather
> than days or weeks.
>
> Another concern that was previously raised about making a switch to
> Linux was that support is unavailable; for example some of our clients
> ask us, "What if Terminus Network Services goes out of business, I
> wouldn't know where else to turn!".  This need no longer be a concern,
> with the establishment of the Society of Linux Professionals (WA)
> (http://www.slpwa.asn.au), a professional association for Western
> Australians using Linux and other open source software to provide
> technology solutions.  Many highly qualified consultants are members of
> this Society.
>
> Linux is now incredibly easy to use, even on the desktop.  If you can
> use Windows XP, then you can use Linux, and you don't need to sacrifice
> any of the functionality that you now take for granted.  Exchanging data
> with Windows users is not a problem either, since modern open source
> office software such as OpenOffice.org is able to import and export
> Microsoft Office documents seamlessly.  You can even run many of your
> old DOS or Windows applications, if you really need to, by using the
> open source Windows emulation software, WINE.  (Alternatively, you can
> run OpenOffice.org and Mozilla on your existing Microsoft Windows
> machines.)
>
> Last week, Australia's annual national Linux Technical Conference was
> held in Perth.  In attendance were speakers and representatives from
> organisations such as IBM, Sun Microsystems and Hewlett Packard (who are
> all investing heavily into Linux), along with some of the world's
> leading open source developers including the original developer of
> Linux, Linus Torvalds.  I presented a paper at the conference, and came
> away with the strong impression that the ascendancy of Microsoft has
> reached its peak, and that open source software such as Linux will begin
> to attain dominance in a matter of years rather than decades.
>
> Although this may seem like a lengthy diversion from the main topic of
> this message, which was to advise you of the cause and resolution of our
> network downtime today, I do seriously recommend that you consider
> whether you can continue to afford running Microsoft software on your
> network.  If you would like to discuss the available alternatives, I
> would be happy to discuss them with you.  Please also feel free to
> obtain independent advice from Linux Australia (http://www.linux.org.au)
> about how more and more real organisations are making the switch every
> day.