Red Hat Linux Gets Top Govt. Security Rating

zakeria writes "Red Hat Linux has received a new level of security certification that should make the software more appealing to some government agencies. Earlier this month IBM was able to achieve EAL4 Augmented with ALC_FLR.3 certification for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, putting it on a par with Sun Microsystems Inc.'s Trusted Solaris operating system, said Dan Frye, vice president of open systems with IBM."

Comments

Re:Hrmm. Not good enough for the average user

[Jesus_666]

I'm a fairly technical user, not a tech god by any stretch of the imagination, but I know my way around. I know how to forward ports on my router, I do all my own CD rips from Grip, I can install most Windows versions without a problem, and I'm damned proficient at packages like Paint Shop Pro and the GIMP. In addition, I'm a gamer from back in the DOS/Win95 days, so concepts like editing undocumented system-critical settings (Registry hives) don't necessarily scare me.

That said, as much as I like the concept of Windows NT, I simply will not try it any longer until I hear that a number of problems have been solved.

A) Having to manually download software/worrying that nonstandard installation routines might scatter junk all over the file system and not remove it upon deinstallation. For that matter, I don't want to have to manually download and install anything, ever. Just to make this clear, never. Come up with either something akin to Ubuntu where I run Synaptic to install everything I need, or (if you absolutely have to) make it like Mac OS X where I just drag and drop the folder.

B) Any time I'm forced to to edit the Registry by hand (without documentation, to boot), you as a developer have failed. Back 10 years ago, this may have been acceptable. In this day and age, it isn't. Furthermore, while once in a blue moon I may have to change a system-breaking internal file in Linux, in Windows it's a constant occurrence. Again, you have failed.

C) A troubleshooting guide instead of proper OS documentation does not cut it. Neither does a message board where half the time I'll be told to reinstall, 25% of the time I'll be told to run random diagnosis apps, and the other 25% of the time I'll get genuinely helpful people giving me contradictory answers. If I'm expected to jump to an alien computing environment you'd best make sure your documentation is up to snuff. Most Windows apps suck in this regard.

I'm an advanced user who's in favor of feature-rich OSes, but the bizarre, arcane, and technical details I have to jump through to achieve the same things that are comparatively simple in Mac OS X or Linux make Windows a deal breaker. You will never, ever, become successful on the server until idiocy like this is exorcised from the OS.