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Test-Drive a Linux Desktop From Windows

Posted by timothy on from the hey-lookit dept.

debiansid writes "The Open Soucre Region Stuttgart is now offering a free demo of the Linux Desktop to users through their web browsers. They had earlier launched a German version before which received more than 100,000 responses, after which they decided to launch an English version. The website requires you to download and run an exe - it does not install anything on to the hard drive. The demo system is Debian based with a v2.4 kernel and KDE."

3 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. Not Install??? by infernalC · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "The website requires you to download and run an exe - it does not install anything on to the hard drive."

    How is placing a copy of an executable binary on your hard disk, with the intention of copying said binary into RAM and executing its instructions, not installing something on your hard drive? Am I missing something here? Are they assuming your browser saves to a RAMdisk or removable media or something?

    1. Re:Not Install??? by RangerRick98 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      While I agree with you, their meaning is that the user doesn't have to run an installer in order to use this software. To the typical end user, saying "run from current location" is equivalent to running it directly from the Internet; they don't know or care that a temporary copy of the file is saved to disk and run from there.

      --
      "You're older than you've ever been, and now you're even older."
  2. And that's a big problem by infernalC · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Users need to know that just because a program doesn't come with another program which "installs" it doesn't mean that the program isn't put on their computer and can't do some sort of harm to it. People have a false sense of security about downloading programs. Users should know what "running a program from the Internet" really means: copying the instructions to the hard drive, and then to memory, and then executing them. Period. Registering (or not) the software in some list maintained in the operating system or placing the software in a temporary file path or in a designated program file path makes no difference as to whether the software can effect malicious ends - that's what I'm saying. The whole concept of what it means to "install" something needs to be clarified to the end user.

    I could accept that the software is not "installed" if it were sandboxed in some way.