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World Govs Choose Linux For Security & More
pjones writes "Government Technology reports that "For reasons of national security and national pride, government officials in countries like China, France and Germany are increasingly adopting the free, open-source computer operating system known as Linux." Noted in the article are China's Red Flag, NSA's Security-Enhanced Linux and much more."
Other possibilities:
- Russia: Red Square (or Fur Hat)
- France: Red Beret
- Afghanistan: Red Turban
OK, that's enough cheap humor based on national stereotypes for today.- GNA (Gna's Not American)
Yeah, that's pretty weak, I admit."Our desire is simply to use software products other than Microsoft's."
Doesn't Bill have feelings too?
Great story!
Go Linux!
Someday the average computer user will have a real operating system.
Needed for Linux: 1) Easier installation and configuration. 2) Better documentation.
Bush's education improvements were
And the reason why they don't is beyond me. Truthfully, if the reason is to support "our" software industry, its just pathetic. They even charged MS with being a monopoly.
The real problem is that no one in the government knows any better. Why the hell do you think we get all these crap laws like DMCA in the first place? Its cause the very loud kaa-ching sound of coins in big business's pocket drown out the yells of the under-funded consumer group lobiests. And the fact that there is only maybe 10 people in congress who had a person computer before the age of 20.
I mean, I'm glad to see the rest of the world smartening up and kicking the MS habit, but unless the U.S. gives up it's vision of a global industry dominated by "their" companies (heh), I don't think they will push alternatives very hard.
Also, how deep are the ties between MS and the present Administration? That will make a big difference in how the Gov't treats MS.
I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.
There have been a couple of articles on IX about the German parliament considering a migration from NT4 to either Linux or Windows, the latest news from that battle was that Microsoft promised to make the sourcecode of Windows XP available to the German government for inspection.
...
One thing that keeps me curious is how they (the closed source evil-doers) could possibly guarantee that the source code they give out to selected people is the code they build the actual system from, I mean do they actually say "build your own windows"?
Encouragement and expression of happiness is meaningful content. The fast growth of Linux is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Shouts of joy are meaningful.
It is a stretch to say this has any connection with terrorism.
Bush's education improvements were
You can get ahold of Red Flag Linux, no problemo. You should be able to read chinese, however.
http://www.redflag-linux.com/
A nation hell bent on suppressing free speech (China) embracing an operating system thats underlying belief structure is pure free speech. What next? Microsoft using the BSD TCP/IP stack? Oh... wait... ;-)
It's good to see people are finally realising that in using Microsoft products they are losing comptetive advatage. They're exposing themselves to the mediocrity of MS and all the dangers it entails. Improved security in Linux is just one example. As the net and IT infrastructure becomes increasingly improtant into the future, companies will realise the folly of blindly following Microsofts lead.
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Well,
In Finland the goverment and some of the biggest cities like Turku are currently spending quite serious money to find out if Linux / Open Office would offer a more sensible option than the MS-products. The reason -money. The new MS-lisence scheme has really irritated the local decicion makers. It's not easy to find 30-50% more money for software licenses at the same time as unempleyment rates have started to raise again...
The added security of OSS-products is of course nice benefit, but it's not the main factor.
v.
Also, slowly, people realise that when you have source, you are not dependent upon that corporation , wherever they are.
Many people are amused by the Finnish link but it doesn't necessarily sell the product as 'european'.
See my journal, I write things there
"Microsoft Web server software powers about 30 percent of the world's Web sites -- and 62 percent of the sites that have been hacked, according to data collected by two Internet sites, Netcraft's Web Server Survey and the Alldas Defacement Archive."
Yeah for sure, most of us are developing sickening feelings whenever we see how our culture is being overridden by americanization. Not just with computer software, but with music and movies etc too. The backlash against this is slowly building up steam, but a lot of the young'uns still see america as the coolest place in the world. Once they get to high school though, cynicism plays its part, and people start to question americas dominance of everything.
It's not just the Government, schools are switching as well!
We just finished switching servers to (SuSE 7.3) linux (vs Novell) for Wentzville, Missouri school district. (wentzville.k12.mo.us) The workstation machines might be next!
Not because anyone hates Microsoft or Novell, just because it was going to cost them a minimum of $13,000 a year for Novell licenses and who knows how much for Microsoft licenses.
They simply can't afford it and don't want to resort to piracy as so many other schools and companies have.
On top of that their getting a lot of added functionality they didn't have previously such as in house email, dns and web hosting.
We also got them setup with NAT, DHCP, and a firewall. None of which they had previously!
They are very excited to see it up and running so quickly. We're going to train them with what they need to know and they've got other training in their future budget plan.
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. - Benjamin Franklin
as a non-finnish German I have to deny it and I guess most Finnish Linux contributors also would. As much as I love the Finnish people for their extraordinarily black humour (finnish movies rule!) and their kindness, I think this argument only reflects the view of a non-European. "National pride" and the Open Source spirit don't fit together. Linux is a truly international endavour and I love this fact. If Linux were a reason for "national pride", it would lose most of it's attractivity for me.
european govs _talk_ about using linux - but they talk for a couple of years now.
;-)
The german "bundestag" diskusses about switching from NT to linux - but the same time windows-based e-gov solutions are presented.
( Windows 2000 for virtual city-halls (e))
Meanwhile MS announces to show theire sources to european govs (XP-source for gov of austria (e))....
i hope, linux will make it into our govs - but i do not really believe into it.
re china: they are not realy "anti-MS" anymore - their mayor ISPs switched to MS - most of them predicted to sitch to linux half a year ago ( breakthroug for MS in china (e))
sorry for all the links to german heise news - i read things like this on other (austrian/german) news-services, but heise has the better search-engine
Oh
... that explains it - i've spilled cofee on my shirt
b.
--
"Just believe everything I tell you, and it will all be very, very simple."
The problem with Fur Hat Linux is that it makes your CPU overheat when you use it in places where the local temperature above -20 degrees farenheit. However, this problem wasn't discovered until the Siberian hackers who developed it sent it to a more temperate part of Russia to put it into widespread government use...still, looking at the bright side, they are however looking forward to becoming the world's largest operating system provider in walk-in freezers everywhere.
In SOVIET RUSSIA... erm...NSA AMERICA, the Internet logs onto YOU!
I took the bait!
.jpgs.
1) Drop the CD in and type 'setup' and Windows installs itself, whereas you need a manual to tell you what should be installed for Linux.
So I've got this PC sitting here with no operating system or I just installed a new hard drive and I just drop in a cd and hit install? Like windows' comes on a CD that is bootable? Oh they finally got around to that with XP and 2000... gotcha
2) Hmm, all the best games and software are written for Windows, whereas Linux scrapes all of the leftovers and second class software from the people who don't get paid very well for their work.
*All* the best games are written for Windows? You are right. Linux doesn't have many big selling games available for it like Quake [I, II or III] The Sims, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Unreal Tournament, or anything else. Maybe this isn't anyone's fault except the game writers?
3) If you have a problem with your computer, you can always call the company who put it together for you, whereas with Linux you have to work your problem around the schedule of some pasty unshaven lout who is wired to explode after drinking one too many Red Bull energy drinks.
Always? After a year and a day most will tell you to go fuck yourself. You can't call M$ - most of the time they say call your builder. Have you ever dealt with anyone's tech support? Most companies either replace the part[s] or nothing. No one holds your hand - they sell you a book, yes there is books for Windoze. OH! If your hardware isn't supported yet it maybe supported one day under linux. Under windows, it either is or isn't. People at M$ don't just sit around writing drivers for fun, but the linux community does.
4) So what if Linux is cheaper? You get what you pay for, people. Why buy a used car and worry about getting the thing running (a problem with Linux) when you can buy a new car and not have to worry?
Unfortunatly you don't get anything with your cash when you buy windoze. Solitare, and other apps that you need to rush back to the store to upgrade... worth 99 bucks? And if your shit ain't supported in winbloze M$ will tell you to suck it and call the maker - which will tell you to suck it because they don't support windows X9000 or whatever.
Oh yeah, how many thousand of apps come with windows? How many CDs in the box? By far more software *comes* with Linux. I've always wondered... how much does the Norton [Symantec] stock price jump when a new version of windows is announced.
5) Does your computer crash when you install Windows on it? Maybe that's because you built the thing from the guts of obsolete machines. Also, if you want to buy your parts off of pricewatch.com, expect to get parts that don't work properly. Does this mean that Linux is better because it has a higher compatibility with different components? NO. It means that Windows has higher standards.
Windows is SUPPOSED to be the umbrella that all computer parts, and standards sit under! Higher standards - like memory leaks, daily 'defrags', no security, control over hardware makers? I once tried to install 98 on a machine of a friend that had recently lost all of his data because of 'registry' errors and the like. Pre-built system 2 months over warrantee. No recovery CD was supplied from the PC maker and his machine sat for months because 98 would not finish the installation. Now he bought XP, can't wait for that! PS: Pricewatch doesn't sell a fucking thing.
6) Windows users, on average, copulate far more than Linux users. Windows users also don't smell like cheddar cheese.
Bill Gates is laid daily by women of all races from around the globe! You could be as well if you bought Windows XP Professional and not Home Edition! Gimme' a break.
7) My mother knows how to use Windows. Does your mother know how to use Linux?
Leave my mother out of this! Actually she is a dual booter! RedHat on one drive [doesn't use] and Mandrake on the other. She got rid of Windows when she bought ME and it froze every hour or so. She would wake up... go to the PC and see that nice pretty blue-screen saver.
8) Nobody has -EVER- been able to hack my machine or install any virus simply because I turn off Active Scripting. You take scripting away, and suddenly my Windows machine is more secure than your bodged up Linux b0xen.
Mind sharing your IP address with us? How much did you get raped for your Anti-Virus software?
9) Programs written for Windows work in Windows, whereas you have to know the program inside and out to get the thing to compile in *nix.
Compile? That's so 20th century. Desktop users these days are apt-getting and rpm'n this and that.
10) Don't like the way something is running in Windows? Change it with the click of a button. Don't like the way something is running in Linux? Recompile the god damned kernel and pray the thing doesn't hex dump over your Sarah Michelle Gellar
I don't like how things stop running in windows frankly. How do I change that? You seem to be someone that when shown a DOS prompt you say WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?
Sound about right to you? Well, I thought so.
By the way, 'No Money' sounds more appropriate than 'National Pride' as a reason for using Linux.
When you pay for basic software on thousands, maybe millions of PC's then you tend to be lighter in the wallet.
Sincerely,
Linuxisforlosers
Drugs are for losers! Remember that and stay off the crack.
Otherwise, thank you for the amusing post even if you are a fanboy.
I'm not a fanboy - your argument is just silly.
Get your Unix fortune now!
Presumably this is due to 1) cost, 2) backdoors inserted by Microsoft, NSA, or other source.
:)
I think #1 is main because of a friend who got school and goverment in a French town to convert to his linux based preinstalled machines, and also because of the Florida examples.
Here's some questions then..
1. What if Microsoft provides source code or even ability to make own builds to selected institutions/countries if they pay/sign enough paper? Is there a price point at which Microsoft becomes interesting again? In Japan some cell phones cost a penny up front. Paid $5 for mine, but have to pay $100 a month..
2. How do apt-getters and up2daters really know they are getting nsa-backdoor-free binaries (besides having a server in their country rebuild all the binaries automatically..) I.e. how to make best case for linux security over M$. Doubt full answer is "duh, MD5".
3. Same as #2 for general case where citizen of country A wants to download distros/binaries from scary country B. "Scary" could be redefined as "France or worse" (regarding government-funded economic espionage policy). Maybe we need to have local, private, secure, trusted cross compiler studios to create a positive force at purifying the net..
4. Perhaps library/binary from non-U.S. country X might be relatively unsafe due to CIA-inserted backdoors/virii? Figure for example that China *will* make lots of attempts at doing this themselves against their own citizens now that we all and the U.S. government are giving them all these great ideas. 'Course maybe they would then promote linux to the hilt and then one democracy virus would wipe out their "Red Lantern" infrastructure..
5. (No, no need to flame) Are Microsoft ideas of subscriptions, or shared source, repugnant to government customers mainly because
a) they are morally bankrupt (i.e. crime against humanity)
b) would be a prior lien on a nation's prosperity (i.e. crime against your constituents)
c) your business and/or government could fail or worse if you made Microsoft an enemy by say falling in arrears
d) "information security"
e) "national security"
f) moot, we want MS (preinstalled base in our govt)
g) moot, we want MS (old established firm)
h) repugnant but only game in town
i) moot (who cares)
j) other (what?)
6. What is an effective way for private open source developers to make money on market constituted of all world governments' organs?
Obviously there is some kind of a barrier here regarding currency, local requirements, trust, obtaining contact information, every country being set up differently, etc.
I'm thinking 1) education software.. ideology agnostic (woops thats not really true). and 2) a best-practices database that would tell them what to buy. Oh, and 3) make something that saves money and sell to everyone including governments.
In Germany, I have worked at a financial institution that had client software installed throughout Germany. You know, big time problems and adverse newspaper coverage when we went down.
Typically we had software that was purchased locally and to a degree even supported. However, the help they got from the US end was extremely variable as on the mother corp's radar, we were invisible. In the end, what seemed to be important was getting the source code where we could influence maintenance.
See my journal, I write things there
Lots of US government agencies use Linux for various purposed. NASA uses it. NSA is developing their own hardened distrobution. Etc.
What's important is that we continue to provide them with a good Linux experience. Treat US government employees like royalty in newsgroups etc(when they ask about linux), and we just might increase our brainshare and marketshare.
Stop the brainwash
While everyone cheers the increased used of Linux by governments, I think you're all missed the fact that BSD variants of UNIX (OpenBSD/FreeBSD) have been heavily used by many governmental agencies long before Linux became the latest hip OS to have.
After all, BSD variants can handle very high volume transaction loads and has generally pretty good security, something that government agencies really want.
Oh, come on, surely you can put together a better Microsoft troll than that - I've seen you do it in the past :).
Corrupt and powerful governments will act evilly no matter what tools they have, and I don't see how the use of Linux has made their actions much easier. They could just as easily spy on dissidents, etc. with Microsoft products.
And in fact, if you are a dissident in China, it is probably safer for you to download independent Linux sources and compile your own apps, than it is for you to use Microsoft China's products and hope that they haven't added any government-required back doors. The government's standardization on a platform that is available from many independent, non-government-controlled sources besides the official government version is a Good Thing for the people of China.
I don't think anyone here is in favor of torturing political prisoners. And I, for one, would love to be given the choice of whether or not to buy Microsoft. Unfortunately, in many cases Microsoft's actions have been concentrated on removing that choice. So I have little sympathy for when they find themselves in a situation where a government has removed them from being a choice - turnabout is fair play, says I.
Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and
Well, you know there are only four things America does better than anyone else: Music, movies, microcode, and high-speed pizza delivery.
I think that you're overstating things a bit. For example, one of America's most important contributions to world heritage is the "value meal". However, we only really added packaging and marketing to this phenomenon. At its core, it still is comprised of two European concepts: the French fry and the Hamburger.
I am very pro-Microsoft. I am more pro-Microsoft than Bill Gates. In my opinion, correcting the problems below would be very healthy for Microsoft.
The registry is a single point of failure. If I install a program, and something goes wrong, the registry may become corrupted. There are many kinds of registry corruption that cannot be fixed for a practical price.
Microsoft operating systems cannot be trusted. Microsoft often builds attempts at making money and crushing competitors into its operating systems. For example, if I make a mistake in typing an address into the Internet Explorer address bar, I am connected instead to MSN.com, a commercial activity of Microsoft.
A recent service pack upgrade to Microsoft operating system software disabled a competitor's software (Apple's QuickTime). There was no notice. The fact that there was no notice means that users may spend time troubleshooting why QuickTime would not start.
Microsoft cannot be trusted to try to make a good operating system. The registry problems are, apparently, caused by trying to mix all programs together so that the mixture will act as copy protection. This is putting interest in making money before interest in trying to make a good operating system.
Microsoft Windows 95, 98, and ME contain deliberate limitations. They crash even when there is plenty of memory, because of deliberate limitations in operating sytem resources. This was done apparently because of the desire to sell everyone a better operating system later.
I estimate that this message could go on for 1,000 more pages. Just the very limited U.S. Justice Department complaints against Microsoft, in which Microsoft was found guilty of breaking the law, were more than 200 pages.
Part of the complete definition of an operating system is that it is software you can trust completely. By that definition, in my opinion it cannot be said that Microsoft has ever made an operating system.
Bush's education improvements were
As someone more clever than me pointed out, if you teach the compiler itself to make backdoors you can backdoor any system, even if the user recompiles the compiler.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
From recent laws, outrageous patents and what not, it's more like when M$ is going to push "their" government to bully the world?
M$ delendo est.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
Ken Thompson wrote a paper a few years back that demonstrates that source code alone is insufficient to gaurantee security. Suppose that you have source code for the OS and all the various utilities and applications. You inspect the source code, then compile it, and you now feel pretty secure - yes? No, because, what about the tools used to compile the code? What Thompson demonstrated was a compiler, that a) looks for and hacks the Unix login code to add a back door and b) recognises and similarly compromises compilers that it builds! Here's a link to a subsequent article Thompson wrote for the ACM revisiting the issue.
[Insert pithy quote here]
I've more often heard that about M$ "products" here at work. Nice to see how large orgainzations have constants, regardless of who's in charge and what they say they think. If only there were something there about "empowerment".
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
As you noted, enemies of freedom are happy to use all the tools others develop to secure their power. They have the freedom to choose, those under them do not.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
While I can't speak for up2daters, I know that Debian Maintainers would scream if anyone tampered with a mirrored version of their work. It would be reported at www.debian.org and here before you could say "reinstall" from trusted source. DNS attacks are evil, but they will be reported.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
Why do you think that's true? Given enough money, Microsoft (like, it seems, all big corporations nowadays), would probably be more than happy to sell a "security enhanced" version of Chinadows XP. Make no mistake, when money talks bullshit walks; if it was profitable, and Chinese gov't paid the bill, there's no reason why Bill & co would NOT do it. Same goes for Apple, IBM, probably also for a few (if not all) linux distro makers.
Similar things have been going on for all kinds of hardware/system exports; especially projects in rich oil countries have had all kinds of weird 'customizations' done, related to various local regulations or customs (women can't use systems, or are the only ones allowed to use, depending on where the system is installed).
I'm not saying it's good that companies do that, or that it's even unpreventable (companies are regulated, export regulations could, in theory, include restrictions on exporting eavesdropping stuff, ie. prevent including that in OS), but it is a fact that these things are done.
Remember the stories about virus detection software makers kissing US gov't butt (as a result of 9/11 attacks), announcing they have absolutely nothing against looking the other way when FBI virus creeps in? See the parallels here?
I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization -- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Err...you mean windoze is not secure and linux is really secure (and *BSD is really REALLY secure - or the NSA linux is also really REALLY secure).
Insecure is what windoze is and always will be, simply because to make money, Gates and Co. insist on having their fingers directly in your database and information transfer, PARTICULARLY with their .Net nonsense.
In Bushworld, they struggle to keep church and state separate in Iraq as they increasingly merge the two in America.
No they could not as the instruction could be removed from the source without the compiler forgeting. The compiler can be instructed to copy parts of itself that are missing from the source. The only way to tell is to compile with a non corrupted version of the same compiler and get a different sized output.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
The classic paper on this is Ken Thompson's Reflections on trusting trust