Softpanorama Russian Software Bulletin, 2004

[Oct 15, 2004]  The table of equivalents - replacements - analogs of Windows software in Linux. (Official site of the table) by Valery V. Kachurov, Artem Nesov and  Timofey Korolev

[14 Oct 2004] Google Desktop  Google Desktop is the newest thing from Google. It integrates seamlessly with the web-based Google; any search on the web now shows desktop results as well. Email messages that it finds are displayed in the browser window. It's supposed to index AOL chat logs as well as all the usual document types.[May 20, 2004] Linux security system. VXE

VXE - Virtual eXecuting Environment

Main problem with UNIX security is that superuser can do with system anything he wants. There are programs (daemons) which work with superuser privilegies, for example popd, sendmail, and accessible from network (Internet/Intranet). There could be bugs in any program, so intruder connects to such programs via network, exploit existing bugs in it and get a control over all host.

VXE (Virtual eXecuting Environment) protects UNIX servers from such intruders, hacker attacks from network and so on. It protects software subsystems, such as: SMTP, POP, HTTP and any other subsystem, already installed on the server. There is no need to change configuration of existing software - just PROTECT it.

So, VXE solve the following problem: protects host and particular subsystems, which work as superuser and can have bugs. This is the situation we have in real life.

VXE can be used for various tasks, for example:

- daemon protection, as mentioned above;
- provide user access to command line (shell, telnet) with restrictions (VXE describes - what tools and files are available for each user, and these restrictions can't be broken by any tricks);
- with VXE it is possible to allow user CGI hosting; VXE limits resources available to programs supplied by user, so it is painless to have user uploaded CGI scripts;
- etc.

VXE is available under GPL license at http://vxe.quercitron.com

[Jan 25, 2004] NYT Dr. Olga Ladyzhenskaya, 81, Mathematician, Dies By JEREMY PEARCE

Dr. Olga Ladyzhenskaya, a mathematician whose work with differential equations contributed to advances in the study of fluid dynamics in areas like weather forecasting, oceanography, aerodynamics and cardiovascular science, died on Jan. 12 in St. Petersburg, Russia. She was 81.

The cause of death had not been determined, according to a spokeswoman for the Association for Women in Mathematics, in College Park, Md. Dr. Ladyzhenskaya was a member of the organization.

Her primary work was on calculations that were developed in the 19th century to explain the behavior of fluids and known as Navier-Stokes equations. As a researcher first at St. Petersburg University and later at the Steklov Institute of Mathematics, also in St. Petersburg, she worked through the solutions for the equations, which show how a number of variables relate in time and space.

Among other practical uses, the equations enable meteorologists to predict the movement of storm clouds.

In the 1960's, Dr. Ladyzhenskaya published her observations in a text that is still cited in the field. "Ladyzhenskaya did not describe the basic equations, but she contributed significantly to their solutions," said Dr. Peter D. Lax of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. "She was also always a rebel and treated as one by the Soviet government."

Olga Aleksandrovna Ladyzhenskaya graduated from Moscow State University and received a doctorate from Leningrad State University before earning another doctorate from Moscow State in 1953. After teaching in the physics department at St. Petersburg University, she joined the Steklov Institute, which is affiliated with the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Marshall Slemrod, a mathematician with the University of Wisconsin, said Dr. Ladyzhenskaya had an American counterpart in John Nash, the Princeton mathematician and Nobel laureate whose life is depicted in the film "A Beautiful Mind," and who also studied partial differential equations.

"She was perhaps the premier worker on the Russian side," Dr. Slemrod said. "If you believe your weather forecast, you have to solve the exact equations that she studied."

Her later work involved the study of elliptical and parabolic equations that are used in probability theory.

Dr. Ladyzhenskaya's reputation as an independent spirit was furthered by her friendship with Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, the author and dissident, and by reports that her father had been killed by Soviet officials, Dr. Lax said.

She was head of the Steklov Institute's laboratory of mathematical physics and was made a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1981, before becoming a full member in 1990.

Earlier in her life, Dr. Ladyzhenskaya was briefly married. She has no immediate survivors

Russia Russian 'Brain Drain' Leaves Future In Doubt (Part 1) By Francesca Mereu

Russia's scientific establishment -- once among the world's best -- has been reduced to a skeleton of its former self, living off crumbs from the federal budget. The post-Soviet decade saw tens of thousands of science professionals leaving the country for better opportunities abroad, and more than a million scientists leaving the profession for other jobs within Russia. In the first of a two-part series on the state of Russian science today, RFE/RL looks at the problem of "brain drain."

Moscow, 30 July 2002 (RFE/RL) -- After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia inherited nearly all of the Soviet era's scientific resources. But the Russian research establishment, like many other sectors of Russian society, was hit hard by the economic crisis that followed the collapse of the communist system.

According to a research project conducted by Harvard University history-of-science professor Loren Graham, the past decade of transition has seen Russian government funding for research and development drop from about 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to less than one-third of 1 percent. In Soviet times, this figure never dropped below 2 percent. This, combined with the steady decline in GDP figures over the past 10 years, amounts to a bleak picture for science, once the keystone of Soviet glory.

Further emphasizing the decline of Russian science is the steady outflow, or "brain drain," of science professionals seeking opportunities abroad. The Harvard study indicates that Russia has lost between 10,000 and 30,000 scientists since 1991. Other estimates put the number far higher, at some 200,000.

Aleksandr Karasik is a professor at the Moscow Engineering Institute and a laser-technology researcher at the Moscow General Physics Institute. He said that nearly all of his former colleagues are now working abroad. "The outflow [of personnel] in science is really noticeable [in Russia]. For example, I used to be the head of a leading lab for nonlinear fiber optics. Now 90 percent of my [former] lab employees are working abroad: in the United States, in Mexico, and other countries," Karasik said.

The situation is even more dire when one looks at the problem of "internal brain drain," where science professionals remain in Russia but give up their vocation to pursue better ways of making money. Recent estimates in Russia suggest that as many as 1.5 million scientists -- researchers and technicians -- have left their jobs over the past decade.

Petr Zverev is the head of the Laser Department at the General Physics Institute. Now in his 40s, Zverev said nearly all of his university colleagues have changed their profession during the past 10 years. "If we take the group of 20 people with whom I graduated from the Moscow Physics Institute, now only five of them work in the science sector. Others are working in the banking sector or do business. Among those five [still working in science], only two of them are working in Russia. The other three have emigrated to other countries," Zverev said.

Low salaries are one factor driving scientists away from the field. Scientists' wages during the Soviet era were considerably higher than average. By 1997, however, their salaries had dropped to 30 percent below average, and since then have dropped even further. Now, scientists' salaries rank 10th out of 11 employment categories in Russia, ranking above only those working in arts and culture.

In practical terms, this means even those professors who work as department heads and maintain impressive research and publishing schedules may earn as little as $100 a month. Postdoctoral researchers may earn only $60 a month.

Olga Zharenova is a researcher with the Center for Political Information and the coauthor of a book on brain drain in Russian science. She said depleted government coffers mean not only low salaries for scientists but also little or no resources for new equipment. This, as much as anything, she said, is driving Russian scientists abroad. "The problem of money [for salaries] is not the most important one [for scientists]. The most important thing for them is to make progress with their research. [This is the reason why] the lack of modern equipment and technology is tragic for them," Zharenova said.

In the Soviet era, where the national interest was focused on advancing the country's space and military-industrial sectors, scientists were provided with the most modern technology and equipment available. But now, Zharenova said, Russian scientists are often struggling to conduct research with equipment that is upwards of 15 years old.

Karasik said buying his lab a modern laser system would cost about $100,000 -- "money we wouldn't even dream of," he added.

The combination of poor salaries and impoverished research budgets has, not surprisingly, turned many of Russia's best and brightest students away from science. The average age of Russia's scientists today is between 50 and 55 years, compared to the West, where it is 45. This, Karasik said, is another big problem. "The main problem is that now you don't have young people coming to work in science. The best-qualified groups we prepare [at the institute] usually leave after they get their degree. They either go abroad or they just give up working in science and start doing something else. You can understand them. Science isn't prestigious anymore. [Scientists] earn next to nothing, and [young people] can easily earn more just by selling telephones," Karasik said.

The situation, Karasik added, is only likely to get worse. Although the number of students enrolling in scientific institutes is still high, many are looking only to get an inexpensive, high-quality education they can then take abroad. But as the last generation of Soviet-era professors ages and retires, Karasik said, there will be no one to take their place.

The Kremlin appears to be addressing the problem. Gadzhimet Safaralev, deputy head of the State Duma Committee for Education and Science, said Russian President Vladimir Putin is aware of the crisis facing the scientific community. In the past two years, researchers received all the funds allocated to them in the budget. Moreover, budgets are once again on the rise. In 2000, funding for science increased by almost 39 percent, and Russia now spends some $1.3 billion on science annually. The numbers are expected to increase even further in the 2003 budget.

But such improvements still fall dramatically short of science budgets elsewhere. The United States, for example, spends some $652 billion annually on research and development.

Earlier this month, a group of scientists held a demonstration in Moscow asking the government to honor a 1996 law stipulating that at least 4 percent of federal budget funds be directed at research and development. The Finance Ministry said this target will be realistic only by 2010, a time many Russian scientists say will be too late.

Safaralev said it is difficult to argue for higher science expenditures at a time when Russia is facing economic crises in a number of crucial sectors. But he said even now many scientific institutes can improve their economic standing by renting out space to commercial firms. He also said scientific institutes enjoy considerable tax breaks from the state. "There is a lot of tax relief. On the whole, if you calculate how much academic institutions get, it is much more than 40 billion rubles [some $1.3 billion]. In real terms, the financing for science turns out to be 56 billion rubles [some $1.8 billion]. But a simple scientist doesn't know about this," Safaralev said.

But Karasik said he feels the government is not truly interested in improving the situation. "It is unclear how the problem is going to be solved in the near future. I feel that the government is not interested in [solving] it. It seems to me that, on the one hand, [authorities] want to keep the country's [former scientific] prestige alive and [don't want] science to be destroyed. But on the other hand, you don't see any concrete changes that make you think the situation is going to change for the better in the near future. We're going to lose forever the rich scientific potential we amassed over many years," Karasik said.

Both Karasik and Zverev say their research has survived during the past 10 years thanks to help from foreign foundations. Since 1991, foreign organizations have provided more than $4 billion to research and development. U.S. billionaire and philanthropist George Soros has personally donated some $130 million. The Harvard University study on Russian science indicates that currently nearly 17 percent of research-and-development work in Russian science is funded from abroad. At some of the country's most prestigious institutes, that number rises to between 25 and 50 percent.

Russian science funds are doing their part as well. But scientists say they themselves are limited in the amount of support they can provide -- often it is only enough to cover the cost of a single computer. For now, dedicated scientists like Zverev and Karasik spend a few months of every year working abroad at foreign research centers in order to make ends meet at home.

(This is Part 1 in a two-part series.)

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Groupthink : Two Party System as Polyarchy : Corruption of Regulators : Bureaucracies : Understanding Micromanagers and Control Freaks : Toxic Managers :   Harvard Mafia : Diplomatic Communication : Surviving a Bad Performance Review : Insufficient Retirement Funds as Immanent Problem of Neoliberal Regime : PseudoScience : Who Rules America : Neoliberalism  : The Iron Law of Oligarchy : Libertarian Philosophy

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Bulletin:

Vol 25, No.12 (December, 2013) Rational Fools vs. Efficient Crooks The efficient markets hypothesis : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2013 : Unemployment Bulletin, 2010 :  Vol 23, No.10 (October, 2011) An observation about corporate security departments : Slightly Skeptical Euromaydan Chronicles, June 2014 : Greenspan legacy bulletin, 2008 : Vol 25, No.10 (October, 2013) Cryptolocker Trojan (Win32/Crilock.A) : Vol 25, No.08 (August, 2013) Cloud providers as intelligence collection hubs : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2010 : Inequality Bulletin, 2009 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2008 : Copyleft Problems Bulletin, 2004 : Financial Humor Bulletin, 2011 : Energy Bulletin, 2010 : Malware Protection Bulletin, 2010 : Vol 26, No.1 (January, 2013) Object-Oriented Cult : Political Skeptic Bulletin, 2011 : Vol 23, No.11 (November, 2011) Softpanorama classification of sysadmin horror stories : Vol 25, No.05 (May, 2013) Corporate bullshit as a communication method  : Vol 25, No.06 (June, 2013) A Note on the Relationship of Brooks Law and Conway Law

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Fifty glorious years (1950-2000): the triumph of the US computer engineering : Donald Knuth : TAoCP and its Influence of Computer Science : Richard Stallman : Linus Torvalds  : Larry Wall  : John K. Ousterhout : CTSS : Multix OS Unix History : Unix shell history : VI editor : History of pipes concept : Solaris : MS DOS :  Programming Languages History : PL/1 : Simula 67 : C : History of GCC development :  Scripting Languages : Perl history   : OS History : Mail : DNS : SSH : CPU Instruction Sets : SPARC systems 1987-2006 : Norton Commander : Norton Utilities : Norton Ghost : Frontpage history : Malware Defense History : GNU Screen : OSS early history

Classic books:

The Peter Principle : Parkinson Law : 1984 : The Mythical Man-Month :  How to Solve It by George Polya : The Art of Computer Programming : The Elements of Programming Style : The Unix Hater�s Handbook : The Jargon file : The True Believer : Programming Pearls : The Good Soldier Svejk : The Power Elite

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The Last but not Least Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage and those who manage what they do not understand ~Archibald Putt. Ph.D

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