I've been gainfully employed for well over a decade working on it and it's been around in one form or another for over 40 years. We're constantly improving performance and capabilities, adding support for more hardware, supporting the specific needs of our customers etc... Just like any modern operating system, it's never really "complete". STOP is a "security from the ground up" OS, where security isn't just a first-order priority, it's the entire point, typically used in/as multilevel security solutions.
There's a link in my profile to the company products page for my group, which includes a link to the STOP OS page. There used to be additional documents you could download from those pages, but it looks like they're not working any more.
The short version is that it implements three different MAC (mandatory access control) policies (RBAC, Bell-LaPadula, Biba) and the standard *nix DAC policies. It's designed for safely handling/moving data on/between multiple classification levels. (See the SCOMP section in [0] for history). From a user perspective, it's very similar to Linux, with a largely Linux-like ABI and similar user interfaces, including a full X/xfce GUI environment if you want, though most actual deployments tend to run headless with only required software loaded. It runs on both small embedded boards and large enterprise servers and a bunch in between.
The data diode one reminds me of a null-modem cable I once did where I forked the TX line to a second DB-25 so that a server could eavesdrop the data coming from the PABX to the call tracking box. The server would then push it to all stations connected to a socket, where a Java applet would display the proper greeting the support agent would use when the call came in.
At our company (almost entirely engineers) we're pretty near 100% thin client usage. It's nice to be able to "download more RAM" for a big analysis job and not have to go try to buy a new system or something.
I also travel a lot, and it's great to have all of my applications and data right where I left them from any desk in any office
Originally we used PCoIP server software and various Zero Clients (they all run the same software). Their video performance is really great, but we found it very difficult to get support for basically anything else (USB, licensing, host OS, etc).
One thing lead to another and now we're building our own server software, thin client OS (no hardware yet, we load our image on COTS x86 devices), and public VDI cloud.
The Sun Ray is a strong inspiration for building https://warpstations.com (currently in closed beta).
The main challenge has been building a modern remote desktop protocol that achieves high performance but without requiring GPUs for each user and works on Linux. VNC is really showing its age, and X forwarding isn't really usable over the Internet. We are also using Yubikeys instead of smart cards, though I'm looking forward to testing some of the FIDO2 cards that are on the market.
One of our colleagues said something that really resonated with me "When you're working using our system it should feel like you're sitting down at a personal supercomputer". There are always more features to build, but the basic vision of being able to sit down at any desk with our Warpbox and connect to your virtual desktop within a few seconds is a really nice workflow.
"and X forwarding isn't really usable over the Internet."
Well, maybe not directly so, but NX (or rather X2Go) over ssh or VPN was working fine for me some ten years ago. Before that I happily used Sun Rays, but maintaining the Sun Ray server software was tedious after Oracle gave up on it.
This looks really cool. I didn't quite understand what the product did on the website, but once I read your comment, I got it.
Is there a short trial period before I pay? I didn't see it on the website. If it really does feel like real time usage like GeForce Now with gaming, then that is seriously cool.
Thank you for the feedback about the website. I'd love to hear more of your thoughts about what was unclear or how we could improve if you can email me (email in profile).
I'd be glad to set you up with credits to run the system through its paces. Right now our most valuable payment is feedback
Excessiveness in the injection of normative notions to a market seems like a bad idea.
In any case, the content is only an aspect of the value, and without the value add many services would be rather useless. If the cost of content dwarfs the use's value add, something with potential becomes something untenable.
I mean without streaming, multiple platform support, browsing/searching, etc., what would Netflix be? The delivery method and interface themselves have value, and it's not insignificant at all.
Remember the purpose of copyright isn't to give creators rights. It's to drag as much out of them for as little cost as possible for the sake of the enrichment of society as a whole.
Apple's store does the same stuff and takes a 30% cut. They aren't directly comparable, but they are charging the 30% for similar services (streaming/downloading, platform support, browsing/discovery, and they add payment and distribution on top of that...)
In an idealized, theoretical economy where skills are highly liquid and exchangeable, yes.
Real life doesn't quite work that way. Many people develop skill tracks that do not easily (or at all) adapt to another skill track. When one (or a few) players monopolize the demand for said skill track, there are frequently few choices.
We, as software engineers, are fortunate in that we live in an age where people are practically bashing down our doors to give us jobs in a wide array of subfields. Not everyone is as fortunate, and indeed, it is impossible to create a population where this is the case for everyone.
It is extremely easy for us to say, to another programmer, "man that sucks, you should get a new job", the reality fo the vast majority of the population is much, much harder.
She could go to a totally different industry, but she'd be starting her career over again at the bottom.
She loves flying & traveling, so she'd probably want to go to another airline. However, Delta (one of the largest airlines) accepts a only few thousand new flight attendants per year out of many tens of thousands of applicants. Smaller airlines would be even more difficult to get a job at. All the airlines are also seniority based, so she's have to start her career over again at the bottom. Experience at other airlines wouldn't contribute one iota to her standing in a new airline.
College put her (and everybody else) in substantial debt, so she can't start a business or do anything really risky like that.
This is a story you have all heard over and over again...
If you're a well paid engineer, it might be hard for you to understand: Educated, hard working people, are constantly screwed by the system and consistently ignored by people who don't understand their plight.
That's probably something that's dictated by the union contract, just as it is with school teachers and other unionized workers. If it was up to the airline, they'd probably promote based on how well people did their jobs rather than seniority. So in this way, the unions are decreasing the ability of employees to look for jobs elsewhere.
> If it was up to the airline, they'd probably promote based on how well people did their jobs rather than seniority.
How does an airline know how well people do their jobs?
There are thousands of flight attendants based in NYC alone. It's not uncommon for the flight leader to never lead a particular team member a second time. How are you going to have peer reviews?
The best they can do is find bad people via complaints and the best people via complement cards. Finding the best people by process of elimination isn't really a good strategy. And complement cards are only really provided by frequent flyers and in first class, which is predominantly staffed by more senior crew members.
But this generalizes too: What does it mean to be the best factory workers? For some employers, the definition would be "doesn't get sick and/or complain".
The best flight attendants are only twice as helpful and friendly as the pretty good flight attendants. Should they get paid double for something so subjective as "friendly and helpful?" Meanwhile, the best engineers are (some say) 10X (or even 100X) more productive. Yet they only make what 3X to 6X the pay on average, but only if they know how to negotiate... oh and by the way, they work in the field with the lowest supply and highest demand. Unlike effectively unskilled labor that most of the world has no choice but to do.
"There are thousands of flight attendants based in NYC alone. It's not uncommon for the flight leader to never lead a particular team member a second time."
Just because this is the way that flight crews are scheduled today doesn't mean that it's the only way it can be done. Why can't the schedule be arranged so that the same crew and leader stay together (as much as possible) on subsequent flights? Of course, there's no reason for the airlines to try any new approaches as long as unions won't budge on seniority.
We're now way off topic into the details of a particular industry, but I'll entertain your comment anyway. I just want to stress again: These problems generalize to many many many other industries.
> Why can't the schedule be arranged so that the same crew and leader stay together (as much as possible)
Because...
1) Flights get delayed or canceled
2) Crew member get sick or stuck elsewhere around the world
3) Planes are of varying size with varying size crews
4) Destinations change seasonally
5) Holidays and events alter flight schedules
6) People quit
7) People move and transfer bases
Never mind that flexibility to travel is the #1 job perk that they have to offer as career bait. Flight attendants trade flights, full trips, and destinations all the time. They are in that line of work so that they can go to interesting locations, if only for a short while. You could half their pay and they would still complain much more loudly if you halved their destination flexibility.
Not every profession has high mobility and low competition. In fact, the overwhelming majority of professions, even highly skilled ones, have medium-low mobility and high competition. Even doctors and lawyers have pretty low mobility these days, thanks to crushing debt.
What do you think would happen if the > 90% of workers in low mobility jobs just magically got high mobility jobs? There would be no one left doing the sorts of critical jobs that make civilized life possible for us pampered engineers.
> There would be no one left doing the sorts of critical jobs that make civilized life possible for us pampered engineers.
I don't think so. If a job is critical for a functional society, "market" will ensure that it will be done. Right now, lots of critical fields have low paying jobs because there is high supply of labor.
Are you refuting what I'm saying? Or are you making an additional point in my favor? I'm not sure...
Because if high supply of labor means low paying jobs, then you're suggesting that if everybody suddenly became skilled enough to get a high paying job, then those jobs would become low paying jobs due to labor surplus.
Either side of the hypothetical makes it clear that it is absurd to think that everybody can magically be more mobile via shear force of will.
I was commenting on "There would be no one left" part. I don't think that is ever possible for critical jobs. If a job is essential for the society, usually there are enough workers to do it.
You are right about this point - if too many people have skills to perform "high paying jobs", those jobs won't remain "high paying" for long.
She could go to a totally different industry, but she'd be starting her career over again at the bottom.
She loves flying & traveling, so she'd probably want to go to another airline.
So why didn't your girlfriend research the industry she was going into? Just because she loves flying and traveling doesn't mean she had to make a career out of being a flight attendant.
And it's not like she was a the top of her "career" anyway as a flight attendant, so what's the big deal.
Your sense of entitlement is disturbing, but pretty common.
You're missing the point. She was treated very well at Northwest pre-merger and at Delta until the union vote failed. She's have to take a major pay cut to reboot her career. I'm not saying that due to a sense of entitlement. That's a fact. But other than the recent changes, she likes her job, so she's started volunteering for the union and otherwise actively working to improve the situation for her and her coworkers.
Your willingness to parrot the party line (specifically the word "entitlement") is disturbing, but pretty common.
Sure, but most US companies would start her at 0 or 1 week of vacation and she'd need to work there for years to accrue what she might have already had. For average people, businesses aren't going to give an inch.
I have a friend who is a fantastic programmer at a telecom in Texas. He was a contract employee before they decided to bring him on full time. They invented a position specifically for him in order to pay him what he wanted. What they would not budge on? Vacation time. One week, non-negotiable. Of course, now he's worked there for several years, and he's earned a couple more weeks.
