I had may as well go back to PC gaming. I went to consoles expecting the simplicity and ease of the traditional 5-year life cycle and standard hardware.
That's quite a bad reason to go to console gaming. A gaming rig that's just a little more expensive than the Xbox or Playstation will last ten years or more (i.e. you can play games 10 years later at near-max settings without much problem). Plus you get an awesome desktop for when you're not gaming.
Reminds me of those scammers that call people and say "Hi we're from Microsoft and we found a virus on your computer. Do you want us to clean it?" Then they pass the phone to somebody in the sales department to piddle some 'antivirus suite' (really malware). The scammer technically didn't sell you anything so he's not liable for it; he just told you something (outrageous it may be) and forwarded your call to somebody to sell you something.
Even if this telemetry were perfectly innocent (likely not, if Windows 10's spyware is any indicator), the fact of the matter is that Microsoft have now compromised their own compiler using Ken Thompson's compiler attack.
When will this madness end? Is MS now just an arm for the NSA?
I will never buy a Lenovo computer because of Superfish, and I will never buy another Lenovo/Motorola phone after you advertised the 2015 Moto E as guaranteed to receive support and updates and then EOL'd it after only a month.
Although you joke, those who use Linux, especially those who use it seriously and for the long term, should be getting worried right about now.
We're seeing turmoil within the wider Linux community, mainly thanks to systemd. Regardless of your take on systemd, it has been very divisive.
It's been very divisive only because of people spreading FUD like yourself.
It goes beyond systemd, including problematic software like GNOME 3, PulseAudio, and even newer versions of Firefox.... Linux users who don't want to be part of this monoculture are told to use obscure niche distros, which is a polite way of telling them to "fuck off and die".
Pick one:
1. I want a niche distro to accommodate my specific need (i.e. to boycott software maintained by people who work for Red Hat and Mozilla).
2. I want a mainstream distro that uses technologies that the majority is OK with.
3. I will roll/maintain/fund my own distro that is a preferential combination of 1 & 2.
So while we're seeing the Linux ecosystem disintegrate, we're seeing the FreeBSD and OpenBSD ecosystems becoming even stronger.
I am just curious if you have a single stat to back that up with. Because the financials of Red Hat, SUSE, Oracle, IBM, etc. (all rising Linux revenues) versus OpenBSD (continuously has to beg for funding) don't at all corroborate your observations.
You're maybe thinking of this very article, where Microsoft is offering FreeBSD for their cloud services. You're aware that before they announced this, they already rolled their own version of Debian for the same purposes, right?
Those distros you mention are not replacements for modern, mainstream distros like Debian or Ubuntu in any way.
Slackware is ancient, and requires far too much work to get it reasonably usable. Maybe it's good if you're a hobbyist Linux user who likes to tinker on the weekend, but Slackware is just not an option for anyone who needs to get real work done quickly.
Pick one:
1. I want a niche distro that accommodates my needs (i.e. to use an otherwise unsupported init system that most people now view as antiquated).
2. I want a mainstream distro that utilizes mainstream technologies.
3. I will create/maintain/fund my own distro that is my specific preferential combination of 1 & 2.
Please do your parents a favor and move them off of Windows XP. It will take work and lots of aggravation no doubt, but their safety is worth that.
Wow, some great FUD there. How is XP so horribly worse than all the other OSes, pray tell? And what is the balance between prefect security, the misery of the elderly who are "just trying to send an email", and the unbelievably minuscule chance they'll get hacked because of XP, not because of email phishing or web ads?
"Unbelievably minuscule chance they'll get hacked..." right. For all of us who have to suffer to botnet DDoS attacks because of people like you, please move your parents off of an OS that no longer receives security updates. They may be interested in Ubuntu or Linux Mint if you explain it to them well.
As difficult as it may be to believe, BlackBerry has an intense cadre of shills (or perhaps rabid insane fans) that pollute every Internet article they can find which sheds a bad light on BB.
For us normal humans with functioning brains, we're just waiting for when BB goes under, hoping they sell their patent for a physical keyboard to a respectable Android OEM.
If you hate systemd, you have the options of using Slackware, Gentoo, CRUX, and soon Devuan (currently it's in beta). But please stop anonymously infesting every single Linux article with this. If the fear, uncertainty and doubt didn't prevent most Linux distros from switching to systemd years ago, it's not likely to have any thrust today. All you're doing is scaring newbies away from FOSS.
My parents are 60+ years old and used Outlook Express exclusively. To teach them to use another client will be almost impossible. I don't think they were ever in danger for only using SSL.
Please do your parents a favor and move them off of Windows XP. It will take work and lots of aggravation no doubt, but their safety is worth that.
Web browsers have to be colossal in size and features because nowadays many people do all of their work, all of their shopping, and interact with all of their multimedia through it. For better or worse, Firefox/Chrome/Safari/IE/Edge are practically entire operating systems, lacking only a kernel.
If you'd like a browser that "does one thing and does it well", you might want to stick to Lynx. I think most people want more than that though. And if you want more than that, the modularity and security features of the aforementioned browsers are invaluable.
No. Linux is already incapable of connecting to modern email systems like Gmail. This will not change anything in anyway you will notice.
Pray tell, what OS kernels have POP3/IMAP built in? Pretty sure it's not Windows, anything POSIX or iOS, because all of them rely on userspace tools for email.
Sandboxing all of FF's plugins is good security practice.
If I understand correctly, Mozilla is re-writing their layout engine in Rust, which should be considerably more secure than Blink (Chrome's engine). But that's still in alpha stage.
You know what would be even more secure? No printers or photocopiers. If someone wants to write a document, they have to do it longhand. If someone wants a copy, they have to copy it longhand as well. That will really slow down the leakage of information!
Of course a truly secure society would get rid of writing altogether. Important secrets will be passed down using special people with trained memory (often called "bards"). They use song and rhyme to help with the large amounts of memorization required. Ever heard of anyone running off with the vital military secrets of an Amazonian or Pigmy tribe? No? That's why.
Efficient dissemination of information is for suckers.
Very clever, but I point out that local copies -- while still vulnerable to inside leaks and what not -- are NOT vulnerable to hackers across the world. It might be less efficient, but then again, how many billions of dollars are companies/governments pouring into infosec only to get breached anyway?
Slashdot Mirror
Whenever there's a story on the Internet about an Islamist act of terrorism, the comments will talk about how evil Christianity is.
I had may as well go back to PC gaming. I went to consoles expecting the simplicity and ease of the traditional 5-year life cycle and standard hardware.
That's quite a bad reason to go to console gaming. A gaming rig that's just a little more expensive than the Xbox or Playstation will last ten years or more (i.e. you can play games 10 years later at near-max settings without much problem). Plus you get an awesome desktop for when you're not gaming.
Reminds me of those scammers that call people and say "Hi we're from Microsoft and we found a virus on your computer. Do you want us to clean it?" Then they pass the phone to somebody in the sales department to piddle some 'antivirus suite' (really malware). The scammer technically didn't sell you anything so he's not liable for it; he just told you something (outrageous it may be) and forwarded your call to somebody to sell you something.
Because you can turn it off easily and clearly. It's not stealthily inserted into binaries you compiled.
When you consider that MS backdoored OS, compromised compiler is, comparatively, much lesser sin.
Not at all. I can avoid their OS. I have almost no way of knowing what binaries were compiled by VS.
Even if this telemetry were perfectly innocent (likely not, if Windows 10's spyware is any indicator), the fact of the matter is that Microsoft have now compromised their own compiler using Ken Thompson's compiler attack.
When will this madness end? Is MS now just an arm for the NSA?
I will never buy a Lenovo computer because of Superfish, and I will never buy another Lenovo/Motorola phone after you advertised the 2015 Moto E as guaranteed to receive support and updates and then EOL'd it after only a month.
Am I the only one that laughed at "pre-Madonnas"?
Although you joke, those who use Linux, especially those who use it seriously and for the long term, should be getting worried right about now.
We're seeing turmoil within the wider Linux community, mainly thanks to systemd. Regardless of your take on systemd, it has been very divisive.
It's been very divisive only because of people spreading FUD like yourself.
It goes beyond systemd, including problematic software like GNOME 3, PulseAudio, and even newer versions of Firefox. ... Linux users who don't want to be part of this monoculture are told to use obscure niche distros, which is a polite way of telling them to "fuck off and die".
Pick one:
1. I want a niche distro to accommodate my specific need (i.e. to boycott software maintained by people who work for Red Hat and Mozilla).
2. I want a mainstream distro that uses technologies that the majority is OK with.
3. I will roll/maintain/fund my own distro that is a preferential combination of 1 & 2.
So while we're seeing the Linux ecosystem disintegrate, we're seeing the FreeBSD and OpenBSD ecosystems becoming even stronger.
I am just curious if you have a single stat to back that up with. Because the financials of Red Hat, SUSE, Oracle, IBM, etc. (all rising Linux revenues) versus OpenBSD (continuously has to beg for funding) don't at all corroborate your observations.
You're maybe thinking of this very article, where Microsoft is offering FreeBSD for their cloud services. You're aware that before they announced this, they already rolled their own version of Debian for the same purposes, right?
Those distros you mention are not replacements for modern, mainstream distros like Debian or Ubuntu in any way.
Slackware is ancient, and requires far too much work to get it reasonably usable. Maybe it's good if you're a hobbyist Linux user who likes to tinker on the weekend, but Slackware is just not an option for anyone who needs to get real work done quickly.
Pick one:
1. I want a niche distro that accommodates my needs (i.e. to use an otherwise unsupported init system that most people now view as antiquated).
2. I want a mainstream distro that utilizes mainstream technologies.
3. I will create/maintain/fund my own distro that is my specific preferential combination of 1 & 2.
Please do your parents a favor and move them off of Windows XP. It will take work and lots of aggravation no doubt, but their safety is worth that.
Wow, some great FUD there. How is XP so horribly worse than all the other OSes, pray tell? And what is the balance between prefect security, the misery of the elderly who are "just trying to send an email", and the unbelievably minuscule chance they'll get hacked because of XP, not because of email phishing or web ads?
"Unbelievably minuscule chance they'll get hacked..." right. For all of us who have to suffer to botnet DDoS attacks because of people like you, please move your parents off of an OS that no longer receives security updates. They may be interested in Ubuntu or Linux Mint if you explain it to them well.
Their development image is rolling release: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam...
As difficult as it may be to believe, BlackBerry has an intense cadre of shills (or perhaps rabid insane fans) that pollute every Internet article they can find which sheds a bad light on BB.
For us normal humans with functioning brains, we're just waiting for when BB goes under, hoping they sell their patent for a physical keyboard to a respectable Android OEM.
If you hate systemd, you have the options of using Slackware, Gentoo, CRUX, and soon Devuan (currently it's in beta). But please stop anonymously infesting every single Linux article with this. If the fear, uncertainty and doubt didn't prevent most Linux distros from switching to systemd years ago, it's not likely to have any thrust today. All you're doing is scaring newbies away from FOSS.
You make some radical claims about the quality of life in a certain era and your only citation is an HBO miniseries.
There is not much here to refute. Good day sir.
AMD should've made a lightweight CPU using ununpentium instead of Silicon.
My parents are 60+ years old and used Outlook Express exclusively. To teach them to use another client will be almost impossible. I don't think they were ever in danger for only using SSL.
Please do your parents a favor and move them off of Windows XP. It will take work and lots of aggravation no doubt, but their safety is worth that.
Web browsers have to be colossal in size and features because nowadays many people do all of their work, all of their shopping, and interact with all of their multimedia through it. For better or worse, Firefox/Chrome/Safari/IE/Edge are practically entire operating systems, lacking only a kernel.
If you'd like a browser that "does one thing and does it well", you might want to stick to Lynx. I think most people want more than that though. And if you want more than that, the modularity and security features of the aforementioned browsers are invaluable.
I suppose one of the bigoted moderators really didn't like my question. No surprise here.
It might have something to do with the fact that your comment was 100% off-topic.
No. Linux is already incapable of connecting to modern email systems like Gmail. This will not change anything in anyway you will notice.
Pray tell, what OS kernels have POP3/IMAP built in? Pretty sure it's not Windows, anything POSIX or iOS, because all of them rely on userspace tools for email.
I don't understand why no one just uses pgp to sign documents or hash them.
I would venture to say that it's primarily because it's too difficult a process for non-tech people to grasp right now.
Sandboxing all of FF's plugins is good security practice.
If I understand correctly, Mozilla is re-writing their layout engine in Rust, which should be considerably more secure than Blink (Chrome's engine). But that's still in alpha stage.
Lowercase "draconian" means any (generic) kind of harsh law or treatment. Uppercase indicates that Draco himself issued this protocol.
You know what would be even more secure? No printers or photocopiers. If someone wants to write a document, they have to do it longhand. If someone wants a copy, they have to copy it longhand as well. That will really slow down the leakage of information!
Of course a truly secure society would get rid of writing altogether. Important secrets will be passed down using special people with trained memory (often called "bards"). They use song and rhyme to help with the large amounts of memorization required. Ever heard of anyone running off with the vital military secrets of an Amazonian or Pigmy tribe? No? That's why.
Efficient dissemination of information is for suckers.
Very clever, but I point out that local copies -- while still vulnerable to inside leaks and what not -- are NOT vulnerable to hackers across the world. It might be less efficient, but then again, how many billions of dollars are companies/governments pouring into infosec only to get breached anyway?
the Draconian policy
The capitalized 'D' indicates that this is some kind of proper name. I take it this policy was enacted by a man named Draco?