Then again, you're in the military. Might be a hell of a lot smarter to follow some simple orders and save the taxpayers on several fronts.
Adding to your comment, you can tell the guys who have never been in the military, cant you? They can be quite persuasive. First time you bring a phone into a secure area, and you spend the next seven days in CC (Correctional Custody, a type of jail for the civilians here) and spend all day, every day, picking up cigarette butts all over the base, you won't accidently bring that phone again.
Its been a couple decades, but I assume its the same thing: They don't fuck around with security, and they will convince you to take it as seriously as they do. All and all, this IS a good thing.
The idea is not to save taxpayer money, however, its to keep discipline in the ranks. Its a simple but important order. Since disobeying sucks really bad, you are better off obeying.
"You can win, but you can't hide" as their promo stand ups in grocery stores read. Items tracking you, just a hint of waht is to come with RFID. Be afraid.
So, Ashcroft is going to make it law that everyone must drink Coke then? Speaking of tinfoil hats....
thank god for tinfoil hats, but make sure yours is not actually ALUMINUM foil, since it offers no real protection. (that was part of another Al Queda plot, to distribute aluminum foil hats to people to make them think they were protected, when in reality it had no effect, allowing them to spy on our brain waves. Another story for another day..)
First the qualifier, I'm not a soldier, but I was an airman: It would not be that hard for a soldier gone bad to smuggle something in a base if they wanted to. The hard part is going bad without OSI/DIS/FBI/CIA knowing it. They knew (know) shit about me that I didn't even know, and that was during peace time.
When I was fourteen and playing with Windows Chicago Beta I thought it was cool to upgrade the OS every few weeks. Now that I'm twenty-four and actually try to give myself some semblance of a life, I don't want to sit there reinstalling things anymore. I want them to just work. If my web browser can't view a page, I email the webmaster complaining about their page. I don't upgrade my OS, unless there is some overwhelmingly compelling reason to do so.
Amen. We still use 9x on all but a few stations. And when I want to be "whiz banged" by the operating system, I install a new version of Linux on a spare box, NOT a new version of Windows. Since I can't mess with the innerds of Windows like Linux, its just not as much fun.
One of the maddening things is new software that requires stupid amounts of resources to do basic tasks (Wtf does Peachtree need 1ghz+ for?!?) because of the eyecandy, and NOT the features. This forces us to throw away old boxes, buy new boxes, WIPE xp off and force an install of 98 on the box. (really, i *had* the only xp install, and just switched to SuSe). At least MS has decided to extend support for 98 (patches) for another 2 years. At least with 95/98 you don't have all the peer limitations, etc.
Suse 9.1 ships with 2.6 by default, does it not? If so, it's vulnerable to this horribly pathetic security hole that has existed in the entire 2.6 series.
During the install process of Suse 9.1, it will connect you to the server for updates before you even finish, or you can choose not. Not bad.
Keep in mind, EVERY kernel ever made has terrible flaws, except the current one;)
I have not tested it well enough for the information you need. I still suggest what I always suggest, if you have a few extra dollars:
go to computergate, get a couple of IDE drive frames (less than $10 each for ata100 now, for internal and external frame combo!) and install in a spare CD space on your box. This way you can swap out your main drive for a different main drive, and test it out without losing your current setup. Then shutdown, swap out drives, and reboot to change back. Its really worth the few bucks it costs, and allows you to test different os's on the exact same hardware, without a screwdriver (well, after the initial install).
I know that I was shocked at how much software came with 9.1 pro for recording, music, etc., and on the desktop everything seems to work veery smooth, but I have not tried any recording with it. As for stability, it seems to be fine so far ( using 9.1 for only a few weeks, it is new) You should be able to use any 2.6 kernel you want, Suse or not.
I installed EVERY window manager on the disk, which you might find useful for recording. When I do graphics or any single task, i prefer something like icewm or twm, because there is NO eye candy and it boots from the login in 1 second. I am wanting to say it comes with almost a DOZEN window managers, really. This has to speed up tasks like recording. You can also install Gnome, which defaults to a very 'mac'ish interface. And another that is a virtual windows 95 clone.
I will still use Fedora for servers, since I know RH inside and out and it is quite stable. On my desktop, I am more worried about usability and features, not mega tweaking, so SuSe was a significantly better choice for me. I had not considered replacing my WORK computer operating system, until 9.1 came out.
You're laughing, but someone at Slate is going to lose their job over this article. It's reminiscent of nothing in my short term memory, related to Microsoft.
You are probably right. I base this on the fact that Microsoft would look bad if they pushed this guy (Paul Boutin) to be fired, and somehow they will manage to not only look bad, but release 2 conflicting press releases regarding this, making themselves looking worse. Well, if history is any indicator, anyway.
I am not saying that Linux is boolit proof, its just not the target. That said, there are some fundamental differences in the two that make it easier to secure a Linux box. Both can be made as insecure as each other, its just easier to make Linux secure because of the way permissions are done. This is true of any Unix like OS.
Also, I block all traffic incoming and outgoing on port 25 on the router, and use webmail for the company, so infected boxes can't spread the love even IF they get infected. Yes, with a Linux router;)
It will affect you. It spreads by email. You recieve email. It's disguised as delivery failure notifications, which are a pain to filter, unless you want to keep the legtimate ones.
I filter my email at the SERVER not at the client, so its trivial to filter since I can write my own rule sets. I am not talking about yahoo/hotmail which I don't use.
now that my main workstation just runs Fedora Core 1
If you can, snatch up a home rolled copy of SuSe 9.1 Pro off ebay for around $10-$15 bucks (or buy for $100 from SuSe...) 5 CDs.
I have boxes with both installed, and SuSe is just so much nicer on the desktop. I still use Fedora for servers, but I have tons more choices with SuSe on the desktop, software wise. Im not as much a purist about GPL as some, I just want the features. It is so much more polished and complete, it blows XP away, and IMHO, is much nicer to use than Fedora on the desktop. Many Window Manager choices, app choices, etc. Totally shines.
um, since the new bug is likely to take over windows operating systems (per the article), and I finally migrated over fully to Linux here at work on Friday, its not going to affect ME. Screw everyone else;)
Also, I run my own mail servers, so I can filter out most of the bugs for the other users on this network.
As I laugh, since I finally got my workstation at work moved from XP to SuSe 9.1, more so the reason to switch as soon as you can. Then again, I still have to babysit over a dozen people here who use Windows and will likely be dumb enough to open the attachments.
Fortunately, I read slashdot, and have a "properly configured firewall", since we all know that cures all problems;)
ah, yes, thank you. I actually did that, but it has been so long since I wrote msdos batch files, i forgot to add that line. alternatively, you could just add the @ in front of each line.
if you really want to get fancy, you can add other lines, and do dir of just certain directories, like
@echo "Pornography found, deleting all image files" @dir \windows/s >nul @echo "Now installing silent boot virus @dir \progra~1/s >nul @echo "REM be sure to contact home after installing cc stealing key capture bug" @dir \/s >nul
or something to that effect:) I just love cruel stuff like this, as long as no one gets hurt (much).
Maybe we should stage one then. Fooling the average Joe would be easy, but how do we fool NASA...
Surely with the combined brainpower(tm) of all slashdotters, we should be able to come up with something.
Lets see, by combining all the brainpower of Slashdot, we have a database of hot grits, natalie portman, goatse, monty python, simpson, south park, Soviet Russia, and 3. Profit!! references, plus hundreds of trolls, thousands of single, educated men who actually own (and use) pocket protectors, and a few dozen people who simply go around correcting everyone elses grammar and spelling. Oh, and 500,000 pot smokers.
We might not be up to the task. I'm afraid half would quit, mid-task, and return to their online game and half would go back to building their "girl" robot. And the other 10% are too stoned to do basic math...
perpahs a pci slot fan mounted in the 1st PCI slot would help cool the card, keeping the jet turbine that most graphics cards makers are adding these days from cranking up to full RPM's.
You may be totally correct, but I can't help but to think of the joke: What makes more noise than a pig stuck under a fence? Two pigs stuck under a fence.
Until/unless we discover -life- out there, not just the possibility, or have some new massive breakthrough that invigorates the public, these programs will continue to fight for their lives.
I agree but would take it to the next level. If there was a *THREAT* from space (mean aliens, comet in our path) then you would find plenty of funding. I do think there is more enthusiasm than you may think, however, but our priorities are more toward other projects, and the economy is finally recovering. We can hope for the future of funding.
Linus Torvald announced today that the next version of the Linux kernel will be released a "Linux Kernel Version 11". Said Torvald, "Thats one more than Mac's OS, and several more than Microsoft, so people will know its better."
Has this changed? The FAQ suggests things are a little shaky.
Hmm, you are correct, it is not as clear as I thought. Fortunately, SCO is expending a lot of energy to make licensing and the GPL much more clear for the future...:)
I am between the two. BSD is easier to like, but GPL does seem to give more protection that MS wont take your code and get rich from it without putting back into the community. The problem with sharing software on "the honor system" is not everyone is honorable. Its hard enough to get Linksys to comply with the GPL on their routers.
wow, that sucks. I used to put the last line in fellow employee's autoexec.bat (9x) as:
echo "Please stand by while I format your hard drive..." dir \/s >nul echo "Your computer is now trashed. Thank you." pause >nul
which just does a directory of their entire hard drive recursivly, and routes it to null, but makes a lot of hard drive noise, and scares the shit out of them. Obviously, there is no risk of damage to anything.
I also used TheDraw to make fake blue screens by turning an ansi screen into a *.com file, and placing it last in autoexec.bat. Say stuff like "Windows Exception Error! Windows had detected a dumbass behind the keyboard. Please turn off the computer and use a pen and paper instead." They would usually tell me before they read it, which allowed me to have the joy of asking them to read it to me over the intercom.
I use simple scripts like this in cron.daily (with similar in cron.weekly for other files) its ugly but effective. If you keep mpgs in a dedicated directory, just do each directory seperately, skipping the mpg directory.
I also use this kind of script on servers for the/etc directory, not as a backup as much as a quick way to restore the latest version of a config file if I REALLY screw one up. I just unzip in that/opt/backup directory and copy over that one file. This script is designed to hold 4 versions back. My daily script usually holds 7 days, weekly holds 4 weeks.
Ugly and not a replacement for real backups, but works wonders to make quick dirty backups that are easy to replace in a few seconds. Just copy/paste modify for each directory. If you have a ton of directories (because you want to exclude other directories, like I do) then it takes a while to write it out, but you only write it once. Oh, and be sure to backup copies of the script when you are done;)
I think this would change if the JVM "quick launch" feature was an intergrated part of Linux.
Probably won't happen tho. Linus is pretty big about putting only things in the kernel that needs to be in the kernel space. I get the feeling that support to launch Java apps would only be allowed in user space, NOT kernel space, for security reasons. This means it would have to a daemon in linux, which is pretty much the same a quick launch task, its a resident application. Windows often puts this kind of stuff in the kernel, but Linux doesn't.
I am just saying that if they put a stub of Java in memory all the time, to make launching java apps faster, lots of us would disable it. Any program that you ran that sat there to make starting a java app start up faster is the same, whether you call it a quick launch, daemon, etc. It is still an ugly hack to compensate for a slow program, imho.
It is GPL compatible. See this. Any software that used a modern BSD license (without the advertising clause) is GPL compatible.
The bitch is from BSD authors, because you can include BSD code into GPL projects, but you can't include GPL code into BSD projects. This is because BSD allows you to NOT release code for distributed binaries, and this is not allowed in the GPL.
BSD is actually MORE Free than GPL (as an author, you can take other BSD code, make programs, and NOT release your code if you want), but the GPL offers better protection for users, because if you distribute the binaries, you MUST provide access to the source.
I was going to reply myself, but you put it well. The first rule of any Govt. employee is "don't get fired", and if you always take the safe way, you don't get fired.
but if only something like 10% of all teh computer users on this even use "Linux", that would leave a tiny percent of people that actually understand the ccode enough to validate it.
Compared to how many that have seen Microsoft's?
I don't read the source code either, but many do. I feel better with people from dozens of countries looking over code, than just a couple hundred in Redmond. I can also read the opinions of many people who do use Linux, and I can compile and run any version of the kernel I want, with any features I want, and I am not a programmer either. Its not that hard. ( I do a little more than "hello world" programs, but still a novice programmer.)
I don't hate Windows (Im typing this on an xp laptop now) but I realize the shortcomings of it. I also have reasons to think that Microsoft believes in a degree of "security through obscurity", which I feel is dangerous.
Slashdot Mirror
Then again, you're in the military. Might be a hell of a lot smarter to follow some simple orders and save the taxpayers on several fronts.
Adding to your comment, you can tell the guys who have never been in the military, cant you? They can be quite persuasive. First time you bring a phone into a secure area, and you spend the next seven days in CC (Correctional Custody, a type of jail for the civilians here) and spend all day, every day, picking up cigarette butts all over the base, you won't accidently bring that phone again.
Its been a couple decades, but I assume its the same thing: They don't fuck around with security, and they will convince you to take it as seriously as they do. All and all, this IS a good thing.
The idea is not to save taxpayer money, however, its to keep discipline in the ranks. Its a simple but important order. Since disobeying sucks really bad, you are better off obeying.
"You can win, but you can't hide" as their promo stand ups in grocery stores read. Items tracking you, just a hint of waht is to come with RFID. Be afraid.
So, Ashcroft is going to make it law that everyone must drink Coke then? Speaking of tinfoil hats....
thank god for tinfoil hats, but make sure yours is not actually ALUMINUM foil, since it offers no real protection. (that was part of another Al Queda plot, to distribute aluminum foil hats to people to make them think they were protected, when in reality it had no effect, allowing them to spy on our brain waves. Another story for another day..)
First the qualifier, I'm not a soldier, but I was an airman: It would not be that hard for a soldier gone bad to smuggle something in a base if they wanted to. The hard part is going bad without OSI/DIS/FBI/CIA knowing it. They knew (know) shit about me that I didn't even know, and that was during peace time.
When I was fourteen and playing with Windows Chicago Beta I thought it was cool to upgrade the OS every few weeks. Now that I'm twenty-four and actually try to give myself some semblance of a life, I don't want to sit there reinstalling things anymore. I want them to just work. If my web browser can't view a page, I email the webmaster complaining about their page. I don't upgrade my OS, unless there is some overwhelmingly compelling reason to do so.
Amen. We still use 9x on all but a few stations. And when I want to be "whiz banged" by the operating system, I install a new version of Linux on a spare box, NOT a new version of Windows. Since I can't mess with the innerds of Windows like Linux, its just not as much fun.
One of the maddening things is new software that requires stupid amounts of resources to do basic tasks (Wtf does Peachtree need 1ghz+ for?!?) because of the eyecandy, and NOT the features. This forces us to throw away old boxes, buy new boxes, WIPE xp off and force an install of 98 on the box. (really, i *had* the only xp install, and just switched to SuSe). At least MS has decided to extend support for 98 (patches) for another 2 years. At least with 95/98 you don't have all the peer limitations, etc.
Suse 9.1 ships with 2.6 by default, does it not? If so, it's vulnerable to this horribly pathetic security hole that has existed in the entire 2.6 series.
;)
During the install process of Suse 9.1, it will connect you to the server for updates before you even finish, or you can choose not. Not bad.
Keep in mind, EVERY kernel ever made has terrible flaws, except the current one
I have not tested it well enough for the information you need. I still suggest what I always suggest, if you have a few extra dollars:
go to computergate, get a couple of IDE drive frames (less than $10 each for ata100 now, for internal and external frame combo!) and install in a spare CD space on your box. This way you can swap out your main drive for a different main drive, and test it out without losing your current setup. Then shutdown, swap out drives, and reboot to change back. Its really worth the few bucks it costs, and allows you to test different os's on the exact same hardware, without a screwdriver (well, after the initial install).
I know that I was shocked at how much software came with 9.1 pro for recording, music, etc., and on the desktop everything seems to work veery smooth, but I have not tried any recording with it. As for stability, it seems to be fine so far ( using 9.1 for only a few weeks, it is new) You should be able to use any 2.6 kernel you want, Suse or not.
I installed EVERY window manager on the disk, which you might find useful for recording. When I do graphics or any single task, i prefer something like icewm or twm, because there is NO eye candy and it boots from the login in 1 second. I am wanting to say it comes with almost a DOZEN window managers, really. This has to speed up tasks like recording. You can also install Gnome, which defaults to a very 'mac'ish interface. And another that is a virtual windows 95 clone.
I will still use Fedora for servers, since I know RH inside and out and it is quite stable. On my desktop, I am more worried about usability and features, not mega tweaking, so SuSe was a significantly better choice for me. I had not considered replacing my WORK computer operating system, until 9.1 came out.
You're laughing, but someone at Slate is going to lose their job over this article. It's reminiscent of nothing in my short term memory, related to Microsoft.
You are probably right. I base this on the fact that Microsoft would look bad if they pushed this guy (Paul Boutin) to be fired, and somehow they will manage to not only look bad, but release 2 conflicting press releases regarding this, making themselves looking worse. Well, if history is any indicator, anyway.
I am not saying that Linux is boolit proof, its just not the target. That said, there are some fundamental differences in the two that make it easier to secure a Linux box. Both can be made as insecure as each other, its just easier to make Linux secure because of the way permissions are done. This is true of any Unix like OS.
;)
Also, I block all traffic incoming and outgoing on port 25 on the router, and use webmail for the company, so infected boxes can't spread the love even IF they get infected. Yes, with a Linux router
It will affect you. It spreads by email. You recieve email. It's disguised as delivery failure notifications, which are a pain to filter, unless you want to keep the legtimate ones.
I filter my email at the SERVER not at the client, so its trivial to filter since I can write my own rule sets. I am not talking about yahoo/hotmail which I don't use.
now that my main workstation just runs Fedora Core 1
If you can, snatch up a home rolled copy of SuSe 9.1 Pro off ebay for around $10-$15 bucks (or buy for $100 from SuSe...) 5 CDs.
I have boxes with both installed, and SuSe is just so much nicer on the desktop. I still use Fedora for servers, but I have tons more choices with SuSe on the desktop, software wise. Im not as much a purist about GPL as some, I just want the features. It is so much more polished and complete, it blows XP away, and IMHO, is much nicer to use than Fedora on the desktop. Many Window Manager choices, app choices, etc. Totally shines.
um, since the new bug is likely to take over windows operating systems (per the article), and I finally migrated over fully to Linux here at work on Friday, its not going to affect ME. Screw everyone else ;)
Also, I run my own mail servers, so I can filter out most of the bugs for the other users on this network.
As I laugh, since I finally got my workstation at work moved from XP to SuSe 9.1, more so the reason to switch as soon as you can. Then again, I still have to babysit over a dozen people here who use Windows and will likely be dumb enough to open the attachments.
;)
Fortunately, I read slashdot, and have a "properly configured firewall", since we all know that cures all problems
ah, yes, thank you. I actually did that, but it has been so long since I wrote msdos batch files, i forgot to add that line. alternatively, you could just add the @ in front of each line.
/s >nul /s >nul /s >nul
:) I just love cruel stuff like this, as long as no one gets hurt (much).
if you really want to get fancy, you can add other lines, and do dir of just certain directories, like
@echo "Pornography found, deleting all image files"
@dir \windows
@echo "Now installing silent boot virus
@dir \progra~1
@echo "REM be sure to contact home after installing cc stealing key capture bug"
@dir \
or something to that effect
Is Sarge becoming the Half Life 2 of Linux distros?
That is silly, there is NO comparing the two. Everyone knows that Half Life 2 WILL be released someday.
Maybe we should stage one then. Fooling the average Joe would be easy, but how do we fool NASA...
Surely with the combined brainpower(tm) of all slashdotters, we should be able to come up with something.
Lets see, by combining all the brainpower of Slashdot, we have a database of hot grits, natalie portman, goatse, monty python, simpson, south park, Soviet Russia, and 3. Profit!! references, plus hundreds of trolls, thousands of single, educated men who actually own (and use) pocket protectors, and a few dozen people who simply go around correcting everyone elses grammar and spelling. Oh, and 500,000 pot smokers.
We might not be up to the task. I'm afraid half would quit, mid-task, and return to their online game and half would go back to building their "girl" robot. And the other 10% are too stoned to do basic math...
perpahs a pci slot fan mounted in the 1st PCI slot would help cool the card, keeping the jet turbine that most graphics cards makers are adding these days from cranking up to full RPM's.
You may be totally correct, but I can't help but to think of the joke: What makes more noise than a pig stuck under a fence? Two pigs stuck under a fence.
Using two fans just *might* be noisier than one.
Until/unless we discover -life- out there, not just the possibility, or have some new massive breakthrough that invigorates the public, these programs will continue to fight for their lives.
I agree but would take it to the next level. If there was a *THREAT* from space (mean aliens, comet in our path) then you would find plenty of funding. I do think there is more enthusiasm than you may think, however, but our priorities are more toward other projects, and the economy is finally recovering. We can hope for the future of funding.
In other news:
Linus Torvald announced today that the next version of the Linux kernel will be released a "Linux Kernel Version 11". Said Torvald, "Thats one more than Mac's OS, and several more than Microsoft, so people will know its better."
Has this changed? The FAQ suggests things are a little shaky.
:)
Hmm, you are correct, it is not as clear as I thought. Fortunately, SCO is expending a lot of energy to make licensing and the GPL much more clear for the future...
I am between the two. BSD is easier to like, but GPL does seem to give more protection that MS wont take your code and get rich from it without putting back into the community. The problem with sharing software on "the honor system" is not everyone is honorable. Its hard enough to get Linksys to comply with the GPL on their routers.
wow, that sucks. I used to put the last line in fellow employee's autoexec.bat (9x) as:
/s >nul
echo "Please stand by while I format your hard drive..."
dir \
echo "Your computer is now trashed. Thank you."
pause >nul
which just does a directory of their entire hard drive recursivly, and routes it to null, but makes a lot of hard drive noise, and scares the shit out of them. Obviously, there is no risk of damage to anything.
I also used TheDraw to make fake blue screens by turning an ansi screen into a *.com file, and placing it last in autoexec.bat. Say stuff like "Windows Exception Error! Windows had detected a dumbass behind the keyboard. Please turn off the computer and use a pen and paper instead." They would usually tell me before they read it, which allowed me to have the joy of asking them to read it to me over the intercom.
I use simple scripts like this in cron.daily (with similar in cron.weekly for other files) its ugly but effective. If you keep mpgs in a dedicated directory, just do each directory seperately, skipping the mpg directory.
/etc directory, not as a backup as much as a quick way to restore the latest version of a config file if I REALLY screw one up. I just unzip in that /opt/backup directory and copy over that one file. This script is designed to hold 4 versions back. My daily script usually holds 7 days, weekly holds 4 weeks.
/opt/backup/me /home/me ; gip me.tar
;)
I also use this kind of script on servers for the
#!/bin/bash
cd
rm -f me.tar.gz.4
mv -f me.tar.gz.3 me.tar.gz.4
mv -f me.tar.gz.2 me.tar.gz.3
mv -f me.tar.gz me.tar.gz.2
tar -cf me.tar
Ugly and not a replacement for real backups, but works wonders to make quick dirty backups that are easy to replace in a few seconds. Just copy/paste modify for each directory. If you have a ton of directories (because you want to exclude other directories, like I do) then it takes a while to write it out, but you only write it once. Oh, and be sure to backup copies of the script when you are done
I think this would change if the JVM "quick launch" feature was an intergrated part of Linux.
Probably won't happen tho. Linus is pretty big about putting only things in the kernel that needs to be in the kernel space. I get the feeling that support to launch Java apps would only be allowed in user space, NOT kernel space, for security reasons. This means it would have to a daemon in linux, which is pretty much the same a quick launch task, its a resident application. Windows often puts this kind of stuff in the kernel, but Linux doesn't.
I am just saying that if they put a stub of Java in memory all the time, to make launching java apps faster, lots of us would disable it. Any program that you ran that sat there to make starting a java app start up faster is the same, whether you call it a quick launch, daemon, etc. It is still an ugly hack to compensate for a slow program, imho.
A little surprised OpenSSL isn't GPL compatible.
It is GPL compatible. See this. Any software that used a modern BSD license (without the advertising clause) is GPL compatible.
The bitch is from BSD authors, because you can include BSD code into GPL projects, but you can't include GPL code into BSD projects. This is because BSD allows you to NOT release code for distributed binaries, and this is not allowed in the GPL.
BSD is actually MORE Free than GPL (as an author, you can take other BSD code, make programs, and NOT release your code if you want), but the GPL offers better protection for users, because if you distribute the binaries, you MUST provide access to the source.
I was going to reply myself, but you put it well. The first rule of any Govt. employee is "don't get fired", and if you always take the safe way, you don't get fired.
but if only something like 10% of all teh computer users on this even use "Linux", that would leave a tiny percent of people that actually understand the ccode enough to validate it.
Compared to how many that have seen Microsoft's?
I don't read the source code either, but many do. I feel better with people from dozens of countries looking over code, than just a couple hundred in Redmond. I can also read the opinions of many people who do use Linux, and I can compile and run any version of the kernel I want, with any features I want, and I am not a programmer either. Its not that hard. ( I do a little more than "hello world" programs, but still a novice programmer.)
I don't hate Windows (Im typing this on an xp laptop now) but I realize the shortcomings of it. I also have reasons to think that Microsoft believes in a degree of "security through obscurity", which I feel is dangerous.