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Putty maintainer on his attitude towards security and open source

andrewducker.dreamwidth.org

21–30 of 140 posts

Re: Putty maintainer on his attitude towards security and open source

#21
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand that sentence. Why would his puzzle game collection waste anybody's time ? How come people know about it or even care ?

It's a joke -- it means they enjoyed the puzzle game.

I don't get it, the only way that sentence makes sense is if the backlink ³ Giving useful software means he's also sending people games or something which the article doesn't hint at.

Re: Putty maintainer on his attitude towards security and open source

#22
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of a puzzle game is a pastime - often considered to be “wasting” time.

But why would his puzzle game collection waste someone else's time ? He's the one collecting the games or doing the puzzles so why would it waste anybody else's time but his ?

[deleted]

Re: Putty maintainer on his attitude towards security and open source

#23
I also find the opposite true--reminding colleagues that using OSS means we have to own and maintain the software whether the original community/author does or not.

There seems to be a hesitance to fork abandoned or slow moving software to update/fix issues

Re: Putty maintainer on his attitude towards security and open source

#24
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of a puzzle game is a pastime - often considered to be “wasting” time.

But why would his puzzle game collection waste someone else's time ? He's the one collecting the games or doing the puzzles so why would it waste anybody else's time but his ?

Because his puzzle-games collection are computer games you can play yourself, they can be found here: https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/ Or in the appstore/playstore.

My current timewaster is 'patterns',a nonogram puzzle

Re: Putty maintainer on his attitude towards security and open source

#25
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But why would his puzzle game collection waste someone else's time ? He's the one collecting the games or doing the puzzles so why would it waste anybody else's time but his ?

He has a collection of puzzle games you can download and waste time playing.

Gee, thanks :D. I didn't know that at all and the article has no hints about that. I came to that possibility but it was reaaaally out of context and off without prior knowledge. Thanks for confirming it, I really didn't understand what was what. edit: I took a look at the page again and there are no links or mentions of puzzles or something, I knew I wasn't crazy (or that dense) !

Re: Putty maintainer on his attitude towards security and open source

#26
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of a puzzle game is a pastime - often considered to be “wasting” time.

But why would his puzzle game collection waste someone else's time ? He's the one collecting the games or doing the puzzles so why would it waste anybody else's time but his ?

[deleted]

Re: Putty maintainer on his attitude towards security and open source

#27
I once used PuTTY as the base for an internal SSH tool. We needed to provide data entry teams with access to a green screen but didn’t want to expose any more servers than what they were authorised to use and a simple interface because a lot of the data entry guys were technologically illiterate.

After spending hours looking for solutions that were purpose built for this kind of thing I gave up took PuTTYs source and made some tweaks to the UI.

The source was so easy to work with and I was so grateful that the license allowed me to do this.

The custom client only ran for a couple of years because the web replaced green screens. And being a *nix guy I don’t get much need for PuTTY in my day to day. But I’ll always be grateful for PuTTY for making that particular job possible (and secure).

Re: Putty maintainer on his attitude towards security and open source

#28
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a joke -- it means they enjoyed the puzzle game.

I don't get it, the only way that sentence makes sense is if the backlink ³ Giving useful software means he's also sending people games or something which the article doesn't hint at.

He also has a games collection. https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/puzzles/

Re: Putty maintainer on his attitude towards security and open source

#29
post #27

I once used PuTTY as the base for an internal SSH tool. We needed to provide data entry teams with access to a green screen but didn’t want to expose any more servers than what they were authorised to use and a simple interface because a lot of the data entry guys were technologically illiterate. After spending hours looking for solutions that were purpose built for this kind of thing I gave up took PuTTYs source and…

I too had to make a custom version of putty and LOVED the code the author wrote and how easy it was.

Re: Putty maintainer on his attitude towards security and open source

#30
> And part of that is making all the necessary security tools available free of charge, because the more money they cost, the more companies will take a cost-benefit decision not to bother with them, neglecting the externalised cost of those knock-on effects of their insecurity on everyone else.

Boy if that doesn't ring true. Kudos to PuTTY's author for making it so easy and low cost to do the right thing that those profit-seeking automatons we call "companies" actually will.

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