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Manager Disables Web Server by Sneaking Away XboxComments:129

Posted by CmdrTaco on Mon May 26, 2008 09:36 AM
from the solve-with-a-post-it-note dept.

nz17 writes "While the administrator is away the managers will play. A custom Web server went missing at an unnamed public university, but who was the culprit? The department manager. Thinking that the Linux Web server (which used a Microsoft Xbox for its hardware) was a normal game console, he snuck the device out of the server room and home for his son to play over the holiday weekend. The philosophy students who used the server for their class were not amused."

+ -

Philosophy students (Score:5, Funny)

by Gothmolly (148874) on Monday May 26 2008, @09:40AM (#23544451)

What were they doing with it, sitting around asking 'what is the sound of 1 Xbox playing?' Philosophy kids don't actually DO anything, esp. on weekends, so whats all the outrage?
- Re:Philosophy students (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by nomadic (141991) <nomadicworld@@@gmail...com> on Monday May 26 2008, @10:06AM (#23544695) Homepage
  
  Philosophy kids don't actually DO anything, esp. on weekends, so whats all the outrage?
  
  Umm, hello, they play the xbox. Without the "web server" they can't do that anymore.
  
  Parent
- Re:Philosophy students (Score:4, Funny)
  
  by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 26 2008, @10:36AM (#23544953)
  
  'what is the sound of 1 Xbox playing?'
  Segggggggggggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
  
  Parent
- philosophy students were not amused (Score:2)
  
  by frovingslosh (582462)
  
  Perhaps they should have been more philosophical about it.
  But at least this will give them a chance to talk to the media, where they can work in the complaint that no one seems to want to hire philosophy students (the only know job seems to become philosophy teachers).
  - Re:philosophy students were not amused (Score:5, Funny)
    
    by pjt33 (739471) on Monday May 26 2008, @01:08PM (#23546643)
    
    Nonsense. There's plenty of work for philosophy students in retail.
    
    Parent
- Re:Philosophy students (Score:4, Funny)
  
  by ch-chuck (9622) on Monday May 26 2008, @11:38AM (#23545569) Homepage
  
  whats all the outrage?
  
  We, the students of the university philosophical society demand that you do, or do not, return the Xbox webserver !
  
  Parent
  - Re:Philosophy students (Score:5, Funny)
    
    by uglyduckling (103926) <uglyduckling@flash m a i l .com> on Monday May 26 2008, @02:51PM (#23547705) Homepage
    
    We demand that we may (or may not be) the philosophy students. We demand clearly-defined areas of doubt and uncertainty.
    
    Parent
    - Re: (Score:3, Funny)
      
      by Macgrrl (762836)
      
      We demand clearly-defined areas of doubt and uncertainty.
      
      Well... it is a Microsoft product, so you get the uncertainty and doubt as a given with a side serve of fear...
  - Re:Philosophy students (Score:4, Funny)
    
    by The_Rook (136658) on Monday May 26 2008, @07:00PM (#23549793)
    
    the philosophy students demand that there may, or may not, be an xbox server.
    
    Parent
- Re:Philosophy students (Score:4, Insightful)
  
  by elrous0 (869638) * on Monday May 26 2008, @12:34PM (#23546291)
  
  According to the Stoics, it never really belonged to them in the first place.
  
  Parent
- Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
  
  by houstonbofh (602064)
  
  They consider if the web server is actually down, or if they just perceive it to be down.
- - Re: (Score:3, Informative)
    
    by Raistlin77 (754120)
    
    Actually, it was 2 years, and even the link in the summary goes to that 2 year old story. -
The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:4, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 26 2008, @09:41AM (#23544459)

And this is news how?
- Re:The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:5, Insightful)
  
  by Rurik (113882) on Monday May 26 2008, @09:48AM (#23544531)
  
  I think we need to start slashbombing the submitters of these articles. I doubt /. has a backlog of submissions two years old, so people need to stop submitting old crap to this site.
  
  We're looking at YOU, nz17
  
  Parent
  - Re:The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:4, Informative)
    
    by Khyber (864651) <khyberkitsune@gmail.com> on Monday May 26 2008, @11:18AM (#23545319) Journal
    
    You must be new here. Old shit on the weekends is the norm for this site.
    
    Parent
  - Re: (Score:2)
    
    by 1u3hr (530656)
    
    The editors, if they notice the date at all, are often suckered by this trick of some submitters of using an article with today's date, several years ago.
    - Re: (Score:2)
      
      by Raistlin77 (754120)
      
      Except today's date is May 26, 2008, not May 28.
- Re:The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:5, Insightful)
  
  by xaxa (988988) <slashdot@sym[ ]te.eu ['bio' in gap]> on Monday May 26 2008, @09:52AM (#23544573) Homepage
  
  How do we ignore idle./. stories? I'd like to turn them off the same way I can turn off Apple stories (for instance).
  
  Parent
  - Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
    
    by somersault (912633)
    
    Since this is the idle channel and I keep seeing your name/ID popping up I'd like to say how cool I think it is :p I wonder if xa maps to 988 in any way. Anyway, I thought you could specify how important stories from different sections are to you? For example for me the gaming stories show the title but not the summary. I can't even remember what the settings were like when I did that, they may have made them more comprehensive by now.
    - Re: (Score:2)
      
      by xaxa (988988)
      
      xaxa/988988 is complete fluke, I didn't notice it myself until someone (possibly you?) pointed it out.
      
      I had a look at the settings, you can specify how important you think stories from each section are, except idle. (The settings are on http://slashdot.org/help [slashdot.org] -- choose 'Sections'.) :)
      - Re: (Score:2)
        
        by somersault (912633)
        
        Probably wasn't me, though I do have a weird fascination with the user IDs :p I can't help but think that those with cooler IDs tend to stick around longer, that may just be because I only notice the interesting ones though. It gets even more interesting when people use numbers for their name too. Someone took the username 24601 already, I don't think I've seen the actual user ID 24601 being used though.
  - Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
    
    by brianosaurus (48471)
    
    $ grep slashdot /etc/hosts
    127.0.0.1 idle.slashdot.org
    $
    - Re:The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:5, Funny)
      
      by leamanc (961376) on Monday May 26 2008, @11:42AM (#23545621) Homepage Journal
      
      How did you post here then? Running a local cached copy of idle.slashdot.org? :-)
      
      Parent
    - Re:The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:5, Insightful)
      
      by garett_spencley (193892) on Monday May 26 2008, @01:40PM (#23546991) Journal
      
      Won't take the story off the main page though. Will just prevent you from being able to (successfully) click on the Read More link.
      
      I don't mind Idle but I agree that there should be a way to filter it from the main page like all the other sections. Seems absolutely ridiculous that there isn't.
      
      Parent
      - Re: (Score:3, Informative)
        
        by Eponymous Bastard (1143615)
        
        What? You don't have GreaseMonkey installed?
Linux on Xbox (Score:5, Funny)

by noz (253073) on Monday May 26 2008, @09:44AM (#23544491)

Another reason to run Windows servers.
- Re:Linux on Xbox (Score:5, Interesting)
  
  by smchris (464899) on Monday May 26 2008, @10:20AM (#23544813)
  
  Since it's on Windows IT Pro, I assume that is the intended tone. "Business don't try anything innovative like those stupid, penny-pinching colleges."
  
  Parent
Please, Please Stop (Score:4, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 26 2008, @09:53AM (#23544581)

No more stupid stories, please.
- Re:Please, Please Stop (Score:5, Interesting)
  
  by Bryan Ischo (893) on Monday May 26 2008, @02:01PM (#23547205) Homepage
  
  I'm afraid you're not going to get your wish. I had an email discussion with CmdrTaco on this subject last summer. He basically admitted that during the 'lull time' of U.S. summer, they have to scrape around for articles to post because summer time means far fewer cool university publications, and businesses release fewer products and stuff during summer as well.
  
  I specifically complained about kdawson and the drivel that he posts but CmdrTaco defended him by saying that he (CmdrTaco) though that he (kdawson) did 'a pretty good job' as an editor.
  
  Really, at that point, I realized that there is nothing that anyone can do. I mean, if you can defend kdawson's editing and story submission quality, then I guess you can defend anything.
  
  I don't know how long the average user lasts on Slashdot before getting fed up and moving on; the first 5 years I read Slashdot it steadily improved in quality but the last 5 years have been all downhill. I'm really starting to reach my limit of tolerance for it. Many days I say to myself, "that's it, I'm not reading Slashdot at all anymore", but old habits die hard and I keep coming back.
  
  Parent
  - Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
    
    by 1u3hr (530656)
    
    I'm afraid you're not going to get your wish. I had an email discussion with CmdrTaco on this subject last summer.
    I used to send corrections to them -- typos, dupes, factual errors, and such. About half the time they did then fix them. But Taco was very bitchy and unappreciative about it. I realised I was just being an unpaid proofreader for lazy jerks who didn't give a shit, so I gave up. Now I just ignore their errors or snark about them in the comments.
    The comment moderation is the thing that makes
Holiday Qualitay (Score:5, Insightful)

by TheRedSeven (1234758) on Monday May 26 2008, @09:54AM (#23544595) Homepage

...is low as usual--a two-year old article, posted to Idle, makes the front page.

At least this line actually made me laugh:
excrement encountered the rotary cooling device
Aaaagghhh! Make it stop! (Score:5, Insightful)

by iminplaya (723125) <iminplaya@gBOYSENmail.com minus berry> on Monday May 26 2008, @10:20AM (#23544817) Journal

Keep the damn idle OFF the front page! At the VERY least, let me block it!
- Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
  
  by ZorinLynx (31751)
  
  This story was amusing! Why is everyone bitching about it?
  
  Gods, people, get a grip. If a story doesn't interest you, DON'T FREAKING CLICK ON IT. Duhh. It's not rocket science.
  
  This is the same attitude that people have when they want to ban/censor TV shows and video games they don't like.
  
  If you don't like it, ignore it.
this is what they should have used (Score:2)

by FudRucker (866063)

http://www.technudgelive.com/linux/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/linuxbox.jpg [technudgelive.com]
Reminds me of the old saying... (Score:3, Interesting)

by Noryungi (70322) on Monday May 26 2008, @10:21AM (#23544825) Homepage Journal

"Sure, you have got a PhD. Just don't touch anything".
A old desktop likey is faster then the x-box (Score:3, Interesting)

by Joe The Dragon (967727) on Monday May 26 2008, @10:35AM (#23544947)

So why can't they just use one for the sever?
XBox Server... WTF? (Score:2)

by Alphasite (1261864)

Why the hell was the server running on an Xbox?

I mean, it might be a funny thing, a cool home-made project or a public internet demostration but serously.. running an university server on an XBox? WTH were they thinking? [ironic]I guess the university doesn't get enough founds to buy a proper server so teachers have to take its personal entertainment servers to work or otherwise they can have a server for their classes.[/ironic]

Guess what? The manager should be awarded for discovering a critical secur
- Re: (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by MikeFM (12491)
  
  I have to agree. What the heck are they doing using an XBOX as their web server. Why not just plug the coffee machine in too so you can at least run Java. Doh.
My question is.... (Score:2)

by rickb928 (945187)

...why the department manager didn't confiscate this XBox as contraband.

Seriously, what's a game console doing in the server room? There are no other alternatives? No leftover hardware (PIII-almost-anything, P4-anythinbg at-all, Athlon-ditto) more than capable of doing the job?

The article was replete with references to the lack of respect management had for the proletariat IT staff, blahblahblahblahblah. Feh.

Labeling equipment in the server room is crucial. How about a decent label if, for no other reas
- Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
  
  by menace3society (768451)
  
  My guess would be that years ago some CS people got a small grant to buy an Xbox and put Linux on it, as a sort of exercise in hacking. It's all well an exciting the first time you do it, but afterwards all you've got is another Linux server, only in an XBox case. So they put it in a server room, set it up to host the philosophy department's webpage, and forgot about it.
  
  What bugs me the most is that someone who is an IT department manager saw something in the server room that was plugged in, on the networ
  - Re: (Score:2)
    
    by multisync (218450) *
    
    What bugs me the most is that someone who is an IT department manager w something in the server room that was plugged in, on the network, and turned on, and decided to turn it off and disconnect it without so much as asking someone.
    That's why this story just doesn't ring true. The article says "The manager had thought the X-Box was just a games console that the IT departments staff used for recreation when it got quiet. Noticing that the X-Box hadn't been moved from the server room for some time and that hi
    - Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
      
      by Arimus (198136)
      
      I know people will do some stupid things, but my bs detecter tells me it's one of those urban legends.
      
      If only... A long while back I was working as a programmer with 3 days in the office and 2 at home. One day while working at home I noticed our CM system had dropped off the face of the earth...
      
      Drove into work and found that a manager who was using the table in the corner of our lab had decided the server was too noisy while he was trying to work and unplugged it.
      
      And before people say why wasn't in a server
Kudos to the admin (Score:5, Funny)

by Goalie_Ca (584234) on Monday May 26 2008, @10:47AM (#23545061)

He did what no philosophy student could. He proved that the box exists!
Not Amused? (Score:2)

by EdIII (1114411) *

I guess those Philosophy students never heard the saying, "Shit Happens, Get a Helmet".
Now I'm damn sure..... (Score:2)

by 3seas (184403)

... there is a philosophy lesson in all this .... somewhere...
fairy tales (Score:2)

by nguy (1207026)

Instead of playing on the Xbox with his son, he should perhaps read him some fairy tales.

Many fairy tales emphasize the importance of not messing with things you don't understand and not taking other people's possessions.

(Here's another hint from the fairy tales: if the Xbox doesn't turn into a beautiful princess after the first kiss, stop kissing it. I don't know what it means, but it seemed relevant.)
- Re:Oooold (Score:5, Funny)
  
  by zappepcs (820751) on Monday May 26 2008, @09:54AM (#23544587) Journal
  
  And Aesop says the lesson of the story is: If it's not yours, leave it the FUCK alone already! If you don't, they will write about how stupid you are for years to come.
  
  Parent
- Re: (Score:2)
  
  by LingNoi (1066278)
  
  1) Steal old article from the worsethenfailure website
  2) Submit said story to slashdot
  3) ???
  4) Profit!!!
  - Re:OLD (Score:5, Funny)
    
    by ColdWetDog (752185) * on Monday May 26 2008, @10:28AM (#23544875) Homepage
    
    I know! Let's do something more fun.
    Let's post some Scientology documents!
    
    Parent
- Re:Fucking Digg submissions (Score:4, Insightful)
  
  by ChowRiit (939581) on Monday May 26 2008, @11:31AM (#23545477)
  
  Who cares what's been or not been on Digg? I read slashdot for my tech news, if they started only publishing stories that hadn't been published anywhere else, we wouldn't get much news...
  
  Now, a 2 year old Idle story being forced onto everyone's front page, that's a better thing to moan about...
  
  Parent

An eye in a blue face Saw an eye in a green face. "That eye is like this eye" Said the first eye, "But in low place, Not in high place."

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Manager Disables Web Server by Sneaking Away XboxComments:129

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Philosophy students (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Philosophy students (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Philosophy students (Score:4, Funny)

philosophy students were not amused (Score:2)

Re:philosophy students were not amused (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Philosophy students (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Philosophy students (Score:5, Funny)

Re: (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Philosophy students (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Philosophy students (Score:4, Insightful)

Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

Re: (Score:3, Informative)

The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:4, Insightful)

Re:The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:5, Insightful)

Re:The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:4, Informative)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re:The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:5, Insightful)

Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

Re:The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:5, Funny)

Re:The article is dated May 28, 2006 (Score:5, Insightful)

Re: (Score:3, Informative)

Linux on Xbox (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Linux on Xbox (Score:5, Interesting)

Please, Please Stop (Score:4, Insightful)

Re:Please, Please Stop (Score:5, Interesting)

Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

Holiday Qualitay (Score:5, Insightful)

Aaaagghhh! Make it stop! (Score:5, Insightful)

Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

this is what they should have used (Score:2)

Reminds me of the old saying... (Score:3, Interesting)

A old desktop likey is faster then the x-box (Score:3, Interesting)

XBox Server... WTF? (Score:2)

Re: (Score:3, Funny)

My question is.... (Score:2)

Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

Re: (Score:2)

Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

Kudos to the admin (Score:5, Funny)

Not Amused? (Score:2)

Now I'm damn sure..... (Score:2)

fairy tales (Score:2)

Re:Oooold (Score:5, Funny)

Re: (Score:2)

Re:OLD (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Fucking Digg submissions (Score:4, Insightful)

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