Monthly Archives: September 2010

Takien.com Imitating php.net

Somebody is spoofing php.net. Its never cool to see one website rip off another. Here is an example of blatant use of the look of PHP.net, the core information site for PHP programmers on the web, being taken over by a site that came up on a goggle search for a reminder on a deprecated function. I am not the greenest guy out there. I have even sat in on Chris Shiflett’s talk on Web security issues from social engineering at CodeWorks DC in 2009. But even I was fooled that this site was php.net for several minutes.

This is not PHP.net, this is http://takien.com/

http://takien.com/

takien.com is NOT php.net

This is not Takien.com, this is PHP.net

php.net website

This is not taiken.com, this is php.net

Dreams and Nightmares of Web Hosting Co-Location Centers

I have seen some front page posts recently on that site, Reddit.com, of the ugly and the beautiful in server collocation facilities.  Here we see the expressions of genius and a cluttered mind.

First the ugly:

Scary Colocation facility

Now the Beautiful:

Beautiful Colocation Facility

Here are my photos, taken in an empty colo facility, just sitting there, waiting for a reason to go to work. The collocation facility was built, and then never used:

Server Rack Power Supply for web server
Main Floor space for racks Power Supply and Battery Banks
Power Supply Terminals for building Fiber connection
Fiber Optic Terminal Box Battery Bank
Power panels and Battery Supply Ground floor area for server racks
Power Supply and Battery Banks

This location is in a Canadian town, originally built by 360 Networks, which built a number of these buildings, built to identical spec, to service its fiber optic trunk line.  360 is long gone and the property was part of an assets liquidation deal. The photos are from about a year ago, and I dont know what happened to the property. But what you are looking at is a beautiful dream job, with a super redundant clean power system, with a truck sized diesel gen set to feed the batteries. And its right beside a railway track, so you could even roll up a diesel car beside the generator for long term supply. Naturally, all the power is routed through the battery bank, the facility has air cleaning and conditioning, cooling, and the location can be cooled by ambient air 8 months of the year. It has a secure entry system, high quality trunk line, pure copper and silver components in the power system; the bank of batteries alone must be worth over a million dollars.

The collocation facility was built, and then never used…

Global TV Report Misleads about WordPress and Web Security

Re: “Flashy Website, Cheap Backend”

http://www.globaltvbc.com/video/index.html?releasePID=F2c99hC0V1kc4WrGZu0sZguKx_83_IuT

Editors,
As a web developer experienced with WordPress, I know you have made errors in your understanding of the software. If the mayor has really broken some law with regards to the bidding process, then that is another matter. It is however hard for people to find good, skilled web developers and themers, on a per project basis, when a quality website is needed.

A quick consultation of the home page of http://wordpress.org would show you that this free open source software is used by the New York Times, Wired.com, and many many other individuals and corporations much larger than Global TV. Suffice to say if it is a good choice for NYT then it is probably a good software choice for Mayor Robertson. Actually it is not even so much about the software, but the developers who take steps to ‘harden’ the software from security intrusions during the development and deployment process.

It is a shame that a member of the press such as Global TV does not understand the parallels between freedom of speech and of the press, and the openness of the Free Open Source Software community, and how both are so effective in exposing lies and moving towards the truth.

Free Open Source Software such as WordPress is free as in speech, not free as in beer. Indeed, WordPress is just one software package among thousands of others that the Internet and the World Wide Web rest upon. But I realise by the comments in your report that you are unaware of the massive worldwide movement to create and distribute Free Open Source Software. While the cost of the software may be a factor for the contractors, as it is in every other business, it is the openness that is really important. The openness of the software and the community allow for the exposure of security problems, and then expedites their repair to the entire community of WordPress users. It also allows for such things as the enforcement of high technical standards, and the independent development and release of thousands of additional software add-ons to boost and customise software functionality.

Shawn Moore of thinkprofits.com claims in the news piece that he can quickly hack and steal information submitted through the contact form on Gregor Robertson’s website. Instead of just claiming this, he should prove it. I say this because security breaches in general take more time to manifest themselves than Moore implied when he said ‘quickly’. And if Moore does know of a current security exploit WordPress, he should do the right thing and contribute the exploit to the WordPress development community, or to the head company behind WordPress, Automaticc, so that the patch may be written and released.

It is a shame that a member of the press such as Global TV does not understand the parallels between freedom of speech and of the press, and the openness of the Free Open Source Software community, and how both are so effective in exposing lies and moving towards the truth. You should be really educating your viewers on the benefits of Free Open Source Software instead of insinuating that WordPress is merely a ‘cheap’ alternative.

As I said in the beginning, I dont know if the mayor broke any laws or not. But please understand that good developers may be harder to come across than you think. Neither are they cheap. Please also educate yourselves on the benefits of Free Open Source software because it is in use widely and in many roles across the Internet.