If you look at system architecture, user separarion, no medium autorun, no executable by default etc. -- you'll clearly see how that eliminates most attack vectors used by malware now. And I strongly doubt that Ubuntu will make it big alone, so there will be diversity, no monoculture, much harder for worms to spread. Besides, there's that user problem. In Windows you install program by downloading it and clicking on it. Normal user practice, malware gets in the same way. In Linux you normally fire up package manager and tell him to get and install software for you. Different user practice, bad for malware.
And if you compare a Linux distribution to pre-installed Vista, it'll get much worse -- with Fujitsu-Siemens, for example, you get no CD's anymore, not even recovery ones, you have to ORDER them instead. Sorry, what? I order every Ubuntu edition via ShipIt for free and I didn't purchase my laptop from Canonical! And even with recovery CD's you cannot make a clean reinstall. Hello? I mean, my Amilo costs 500 EUR. Do they really expect me to buy Vista Home Premium for another 100 EUR if anything goes terribly wrong and I'll want a clean install?! And then there is this driver issue -- Linux support isn't perfect, I have to boot with acpi_osi="!Windows 2006", to make my display control buttons work, but that's it. Installing XP on my laptop (Amilo Pi 2515) is a major PITA instead (and no Vista support for my scanner, how nice of them). And Vista drivers -- you can't scroll with the touchpad on my laptop, it doesn't have a scollbar (and that is official responce from their support)! Works fine with standard Linux drivers though. Then, it is a 16:10 display. On Windows the screen is ugly streched on 4:3 resolutions. No way to change it, so the support said. And guess what -- I have a choice of three behavior modes in X -- streched, centered and streched but maintain ratio. Tell you what -- Linux distributions are much more consumer-friendly. If that's the reason for Microsoft to fight against -- well, that looks bad for MS then.
Microsoft has been actively fighting FLOSS since at least 1998. Just read Halloween documents or internal documents regarding EDGI group from Iowa case (dated 2002 IIRC) with ist infamous "under NO circumstances lose to Linux" quote. You may also read Bill Gates' concernes about how they can cripple ACPI so Linux won't be able to use it (they have made their own DSDT compiler which allows for much more errors than industry-standard intel compiler Linux uses). They were afraid back then and fought tooth and nails, they continue to do it now. And if you read the documents I mention, you'll see that they have understood that the relative success of Linux on servers was due to open standards. What we have now is that main reasons which hinder Linux' adoption has nothing to do with Linux itself. Office formats, Exchange, DirectX, ActiveX -- all of the above are closed standards and technologies not to mention crippled HTML. Combine that with iron grip on OEM's and you'll get some more reasons for relatively slow growth. Ultra-cheap netbooks and falling hardware prices have changed the landscape though. Now MS isn't able to threat OEM's with raising per-CPU lincense costs if they sell something else pre-installed. They have prolonged XP's live and give it away for a bargain price instead. They will be able to maintain their grip for some time but this time they'll have to lower the prices. Sure, they remain profitable as all they sell is hot air, but they'll raise much less money than expected.
I also heard there are bombs which react to people's brainwaves. Now if one of THOSE is deployed, it will be very scary.
Probably nothing to worry about if you are of US origin though. And to disarm a high-sensitive version you can always call George W. Bush and tell him tere are salty crackers inside -- chances are, he'll break it in no time.
With this technology widespread it will be so much easier for a nerd criminal to create an alibi or set somebody else up. Hell, if we had RFID's spread a couple of years earlier, we would have a stable in-kernel version of Reiser4 now.
At the end of the day it is still about a woman who spilled her own coffee and has sued McD for that. But I am sure that similar arguments you have provided had helped her lawyers to win the process. But it's all OK now, you have "Hot" and "Cold" labels on coffee and ice cream accordingly. How touching... Tell you what -- if I'd need a nanny, I would hire one.
If they earn money with software, they should pay for it. If they earn money with it, the costs will pay off eventually. If the wages are too low or software too expencive -- they have to learn other software which isn't. But that is not a major problem here. If you look deeper -- it's corporations who encourage piracy. Microsoft and Adobe now have monopolistic hold on all developing markets without spending a cent. Once the market is developed enough, they'll milk it. First comes the government, then companies and eventually OEMs. Pirated copys will remain for general public to compete with free alternatives and to prevent the marketshare to slip. There is no ??? before profit here. The world would be a much better place without software pirates, but not for the reasons corporations tell you about. Imagine millions of chinese using something else than Windows and MS-Office... Sweet...
Communism works on a small scale and if no one is cheating. But there is one realm where similar ideas are possible on a large scale too. Non-material realm, it is, where an additional copy costs very close to nothing so everyone can actually take all he wants with no expense from the rest of the community. From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. Sounds familiar? I know that anyone who point such similarities between communism and free software is modded as a troll, but you can surely spot some. Ideas aren't that bad in this case, but limited resources make them impossible in the real world.
Didn't know this. Nice -- three ex-Soviet lands, plus two East Block land plus China. 6 out of 10 it is... Democracy is bad for your programming skills;) Note how a Belarus with ist 10 million population is almost on par with all-mighty USA. Very interesting statistics indeed. Sure, western nations can buy those programers from Eastern Europe and China, but they don't seem to be able to educate enough themselves. We still see remnants of a very stong soviet education system (IMO world's best).
Malware for OSX is being written already (remember infected pirated iWork on torrents?). But full-scale infections like that of Downadup are yet to be seen.
It is not efficient, it might be faster but it is much more prone to abuse. Just look at IE6 vs. standards. Microsoft sure as hell wants you to believe that a monoculture is the only way to establish interoperability, but open standards are more effective in this case. Just look at the things that prevent flawless interoperability between different OS's -- you'll find out that most of them are closed-technology related.
The main attack vectors for Linux machines are either weak ssh passwords or some weaknesses in various hand-made php scripts. None of those applies to desktop PCs. It is also much harder to use social engineering on Linux boxes (even harder with noexec). Autorun tricks don't work either. And if a user has no previous Windows experience -- he's even safer because downloading and launching random crap isn't a common practice in Linux distributions -- you use package managers for that. Linux cannot give a 100% guarantee, but let's face it -- a default Linux install is much safer than a default Windows install. And properly configured Linux box is close to bulletproof (you can keep Windows safe too, but you need more work to achieve acceptable level of security). And a Linux box is easier to keep safe -- system-wide updates alone make a huge difference.
A sound advice indeed. By contributing to Open Source project you add experience to your c.v. *while* searching for a job. Besides, a coder needs constant practice to stay in form.
Oh, they are. Especially when it comes to marketing. They have started the fight against free software when they were officially ignoring it. The saddest part is -- they have enough resources to prolong their existence and to hold the entire market back for decades to come. Monopoly allows them to compete with "good enough" products against good ones, users get hooked onto their products, aggressive marketing can stop most OEMs from offering alternatives and deliberate crippling of even open standards (like ACPI) creates a bad reputation for the competition, not for themselves. They are smart. That's the saddest part, and most disturbing and uncomfortable one because they are smart in marketing, not so much in programming.
Downloading and executing random software isn't normal way of behavior in Linux distributions. Package manager are being used and it is very close to impossible for a trojan or a virus to sneak through. Users are neither encouraged nor expected to use anything besides package manager. And software included there is more than enough for most users. Of course, if you want to download some binary and launch it -- you still can do it. But, in contrast to Windows or (to some extend) MacOS, the whole system isn't centered around this behavior. It's an exception, not a rule.
Still, a much lower percentage will be able to go through all these hassle to infect themselves. Besides, downloading and launching crap is true for (ex)-windows users as this OS has download-and-click installation principle. Let a user start with Linux and he'll know that you install programs via package manager aka Install programs. Downloading and launching random crap simply isn't normal practice.
I've been using OO Portable to restore broken word documents for my colleagues at work on a monthly basis. People do backups, sure, but even losing a couple of hours of work and re-doing it is annoying as hell.
As for equations -- I have yet to see an equation editor superior to LyX's one.
Slashdot Mirror
If you look at system architecture, user separarion, no medium autorun, no executable by default etc. -- you'll clearly see how that eliminates most attack vectors used by malware now. And I strongly doubt that Ubuntu will make it big alone, so there will be diversity, no monoculture, much harder for worms to spread.
Besides, there's that user problem. In Windows you install program by downloading it and clicking on it. Normal user practice, malware gets in the same way.
In Linux you normally fire up package manager and tell him to get and install software for you. Different user practice, bad for malware.
And if you compare a Linux distribution to pre-installed Vista, it'll get much worse -- with Fujitsu-Siemens, for example, you get no CD's anymore, not even recovery ones, you have to ORDER them instead. Sorry, what? I order every Ubuntu edition via ShipIt for free and I didn't purchase my laptop from Canonical! And even with recovery CD's you cannot make a clean reinstall. Hello? I mean, my Amilo costs 500 EUR. Do they really expect me to buy Vista Home Premium for another 100 EUR if anything goes terribly wrong and I'll want a clean install?!
And then there is this driver issue -- Linux support isn't perfect, I have to boot with acpi_osi="!Windows 2006", to make my display control buttons work, but that's it. Installing XP on my laptop (Amilo Pi 2515) is a major PITA instead (and no Vista support for my scanner, how nice of them). And Vista drivers -- you can't scroll with the touchpad on my laptop, it doesn't have a scollbar (and that is official responce from their support)! Works fine with standard Linux drivers though. Then, it is a 16:10 display. On Windows the screen is ugly streched on 4:3 resolutions. No way to change it, so the support said. And guess what -- I have a choice of three behavior modes in X -- streched, centered and streched but maintain ratio.
Tell you what -- Linux distributions are much more consumer-friendly. If that's the reason for Microsoft to fight against -- well, that looks bad for MS then.
Microsoft has been actively fighting FLOSS since at least 1998. Just read Halloween documents or internal documents regarding EDGI group from Iowa case (dated 2002 IIRC) with ist infamous "under NO circumstances lose to Linux" quote.
You may also read Bill Gates' concernes about how they can cripple ACPI so Linux won't be able to use it (they have made their own DSDT compiler which allows for much more errors than industry-standard intel compiler Linux uses).
They were afraid back then and fought tooth and nails, they continue to do it now. And if you read the documents I mention, you'll see that they have understood that the relative success of Linux on servers was due to open standards. What we have now is that main reasons which hinder Linux' adoption has nothing to do with Linux itself. Office formats, Exchange, DirectX, ActiveX -- all of the above are closed standards and technologies not to mention crippled HTML. Combine that with iron grip on OEM's and you'll get some more reasons for relatively slow growth.
Ultra-cheap netbooks and falling hardware prices have changed the landscape though. Now MS isn't able to threat OEM's with raising per-CPU lincense costs if they sell something else pre-installed. They have prolonged XP's live and give it away for a bargain price instead. They will be able to maintain their grip for some time but this time they'll have to lower the prices. Sure, they remain profitable as all they sell is hot air, but they'll raise much less money than expected.
I prefer kdenlive.
You can install mplayerthumbs (v. 1.1 or newer) and get your previews. I use it since 4.1.
I also heard there are bombs which react to people's brainwaves. Now if one of THOSE is deployed, it will be very scary.
Probably nothing to worry about if you are of US origin though. And to disarm a high-sensitive version you can always call George W. Bush and tell him tere are salty crackers inside -- chances are, he'll break it in no time.
With this technology widespread it will be so much easier for a nerd criminal to create an alibi or set somebody else up.
Hell, if we had RFID's spread a couple of years earlier, we would have a stable in-kernel version of Reiser4 now.
At the end of the day it is still about a woman who spilled her own coffee and has sued McD for that. But I am sure that similar arguments you have provided had helped her lawyers to win the process.
But it's all OK now, you have "Hot" and "Cold" labels on coffee and ice cream accordingly. How touching... Tell you what -- if I'd need a nanny, I would hire one.
If they earn money with software, they should pay for it. If they earn money with it, the costs will pay off eventually. If the wages are too low or software too expencive -- they have to learn other software which isn't.
But that is not a major problem here. If you look deeper -- it's corporations who encourage piracy. Microsoft and Adobe now have monopolistic hold on all developing markets without spending a cent. Once the market is developed enough, they'll milk it. First comes the government, then companies and eventually OEMs. Pirated copys will remain for general public to compete with free alternatives and to prevent the marketshare to slip. There is no ??? before profit here.
The world would be a much better place without software pirates, but not for the reasons corporations tell you about. Imagine millions of chinese using something else than Windows and MS-Office... Sweet...
Some people fail to see even the most obvious sarcasm...
Communism works on a small scale and if no one is cheating.
But there is one realm where similar ideas are possible on a large scale too. Non-material realm, it is, where an additional copy costs very close to nothing so everyone can actually take all he wants with no expense from the rest of the community.
From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs. Sounds familiar? I know that anyone who point such similarities between communism and free software is modded as a troll, but you can surely spot some.
Ideas aren't that bad in this case, but limited resources make them impossible in the real world.
Their translation is still much better and more complete than that of the summary not to mention the headline.
Didn't know this. ;)
Nice -- three ex-Soviet lands, plus two East Block land plus China. 6 out of 10 it is... Democracy is bad for your programming skills
Note how a Belarus with ist 10 million population is almost on par with all-mighty USA. Very interesting statistics indeed. Sure, western nations can buy those programers from Eastern Europe and China, but they don't seem to be able to educate enough themselves.
We still see remnants of a very stong soviet education system (IMO world's best).
Malware for OSX is being written already (remember infected pirated iWork on torrents?). But full-scale infections like that of Downadup are yet to be seen.
It is not efficient, it might be faster but it is much more prone to abuse. Just look at IE6 vs. standards. Microsoft sure as hell wants you to believe that a monoculture is the only way to establish interoperability, but open standards are more effective in this case. Just look at the things that prevent flawless interoperability between different OS's -- you'll find out that most of them are closed-technology related.
The main attack vectors for Linux machines are either weak ssh passwords or some weaknesses in various hand-made php scripts. None of those applies to desktop PCs.
It is also much harder to use social engineering on Linux boxes (even harder with noexec). Autorun tricks don't work either. And if a user has no previous Windows experience -- he's even safer because downloading and launching random crap isn't a common practice in Linux distributions -- you use package managers for that.
Linux cannot give a 100% guarantee, but let's face it -- a default Linux install is much safer than a default Windows install. And properly configured Linux box is close to bulletproof (you can keep Windows safe too, but you need more work to achieve acceptable level of security). And a Linux box is easier to keep safe -- system-wide updates alone make a huge difference.
A sound advice indeed. By contributing to Open Source project you add experience to your c.v. *while* searching for a job. Besides, a coder needs constant practice to stay in form.
My religion is best described here:
http://xkcd.com/505/
Oh, they are. Especially when it comes to marketing. They have started the fight against free software when they were officially ignoring it. The saddest part is -- they have enough resources to prolong their existence and to hold the entire market back for decades to come. Monopoly allows them to compete with "good enough" products against good ones, users get hooked onto their products, aggressive marketing can stop most OEMs from offering alternatives and deliberate crippling of even open standards (like ACPI) creates a bad reputation for the competition, not for themselves.
They are smart. That's the saddest part, and most disturbing and uncomfortable one because they are smart in marketing, not so much in programming.
I'm a Ballmerian. Mind tricks don't work on me! Only money.
Downloading and executing random software isn't normal way of behavior in Linux distributions. Package manager are being used and it is very close to impossible for a trojan or a virus to sneak through. Users are neither encouraged nor expected to use anything besides package manager. And software included there is more than enough for most users.
Of course, if you want to download some binary and launch it -- you still can do it. But, in contrast to Windows or (to some extend) MacOS, the whole system isn't centered around this behavior. It's an exception, not a rule.
Still, a much lower percentage will be able to go through all these hassle to infect themselves.
Besides, downloading and launching crap is true for (ex)-windows users as this OS has download-and-click installation principle.
Let a user start with Linux and he'll know that you install programs via package manager aka Install programs. Downloading and launching random crap simply isn't normal practice.
They don't need R&D anyway -- by the looks of it they are already looking at KDE screenshots instead.
The Impress mode I am talking about is there in 3.0 for sure (have just tested it). Well, it's go-oo I am using, but nonetheless...
I've been using OO Portable to restore broken word documents for my colleagues at work on a monthly basis. People do backups, sure, but even losing a couple of hours of work and re-doing it is annoying as hell.
As for equations -- I have yet to see an equation editor superior to LyX's one.