We got stuck with Exchange when the boss's new secretary wanted to do calendaring. All she knew how to use was Outlook with Exchange calendaring. We got called in one day and were told point blank to purchase a new server and deck it out with Exchange.
The really sad part is the secretary lasted less than six months. Now two years later I still have to feed the beast. So yes the IT Department deployed it. But we are not the staff that selected it.
Depends on what you think taxes are for. Are they there for social engineering purposes? Are they there to encourage some activities and discourage other activities? Or are they there as a legitimate way to raise revenue related to usage?
As a practical manner. I don't think politicians really care. They want the revenue, they want it from as many sources as possible. They want to be able to allocate it how they want. They don't care if they have to say, we will tax "A" and only use it for "X". They will try to expand it from A to A B C. And they don't care that it was only for X, they want to use it for X Y Z. The bottom line is if revenues fall because people do less of something. They will be looking for a way to make up the revenue.
Forth is as close to a write-only language as I ever care to experience. In my class there was effectively a different language created by every student.
It is write-only for newbie code. It takes effort to learn to do it properly. You have to read code by others that has been written well. You have to learn good technique and style.
The old school tools are really good for this. Like the version of Forth called F83 for the IBM PC. You could create a "block file" that was 300k in size. That would be 150 screens of Forth and 150 shadow screens for commentary. You work with triads. You Write a Load screen on blocks 0, 1,2. load your favorite utility words from lexicons on blocks 4 to 29. Then start major Blocks of code on 30, 60, 90, 120.
If you observe working code in blocks of 3. Every screen using line 0 for comments. Every time a triad starts something new, UPPERCASE, and the following screens Lowercase and indented. 3 pages of Forth print to one sheet of paper.
When done like that Forth can be very readable.
Moreso than most other languages. Where else do you have anything like a load screen breaking down what a program does? Well factored, properly organized and written Forth is a joy to maintain.
Well, it is much closer to how computers think than infix notation is. Your compiler will take you infixed ()^*/+- stuff and rearrange it to pretty much what Forth Does.
On the plus side. You can do a better job, knowing how it is goiing to be used, data structures, range of possible values, etc. On the down side, you are required to do this and there is no way to avoid the manual optimization process.
In some cases like an embedded environment, there may not even be an optimizing compiler available. There is value in knowing how to do things like memory allocation and management. Even if you program in a language where you don't have to do it. You appreciate both having a garbage collector, and understanding it's limits when you have worked in a language without it.
The implicit data passing can be cool. You don't have a bunch of temp variables to deal with. The scope is "automatic" and everything is about data transformation. The key is sticking with it long enough to go from hating it to at least getting "Forth Think".
Forth is NOT the right tool for every job. I am however glad that I did learn it. I know not to design around control structures. I know how to factor code. I also now have a little voice telling me when my code is getting to complex that I am moving away from "elegance". When that happens I am also moving away from simplicity, correctness, ease of debugging, ease of adapting to change and ease of code-reuse.
Personally, for me is Thinking Forth by Leo Brodie. I re-read it at least once a year.
A very lucid discussion of writing software and the philosophy that was often employed by very successful Forth Programmers. The hallmark of which was "elegance".
In a nutshell, you can remember 7 items plus or minus 2. So any programming construct that had less than 10 commands (as opposed to syntax "noise") could be read and comprehended. When it comes to hiding data, what needs to be hid, is what can change. Build a program from small modules. Some are private, which are designed to deal with stuff that changes. Then there are more public modules that are the interface to those private modules that can change. A good program is built from lexicons of these private/public modules.
The reason it is important to design lexicons of code around modules of "stuff that can change" is for correctness, elegantness and code-reuse. Control structures are superficial. Elegant designs can withstand change because they are not built around control structures, they are built around data and event transformations.
There was plenty of stuff in the specific to how Forth really made this method of rapid prototyping software development work. Such as the implicit method of passing data and calling functions.
If I had my way. No matter what language you end up working with. You should program in Forth for a few months first. Having to deal with a 64x16 character, 1024 byte blocks and a block file editor. The discipline in learning to factor code to fit in a standard screen is a good thing. Once you can start writing code that is small and elegant like that, you will be a better programmer in whatever language you eventually use. In addition you learn to use a simple IDE, program in both low level and high level functions. You get to work with a virtual machine that is simple enough to learn in an afternoon. You also get to learn such advanced techniques as building compilers, interpreters, and text parsers. Working with data structures such as threads, hashes, dictionaries, and vectored execution.
I prefer it. I am in my 40's and grew up in the 80's. Piracy was rampant among the geeks then. In the 90's more so. Then the kids that only remember a world of the Internet. Do you really believe that they consider making a digital copy of a file is a crime? That it robs somebody? Remember these kids will be Judges and Lawmakers someday. No matter how much money the RIAA throws at it, it won't help in the long run.
Button makers had a monopoly at one time. Can you imagine that, buttons that go for 5 cents each now. Can you see someone approaching a Senator now and offering a suitcase full of money to write legislation protecting Taylors and button makers? I am sure they would love to take the money, but they just could not write the legislation. No one would take it seriously, no one would follow the law, and yes, they would even be voted out of office.
I think the same holds true for trying to make digital copies go away. The price for digital copies wants to be very cheap...or free. No amount of laws that they can buy now will stop that.
Even the older folks are on board with this. I did virus removal for Symantec back in 2004. I can't begin to tell you how many old ladies in their 60's and 70's had Kazaa and Limewire running at startup on their computer. I would ask them to disable it as we were troubleshooting and they would complain that they did not want it stopped. That was how they got their music. I had to explain that it was just temporary till we could isolate the problem. Trust me, the RIAA has an uphill battle. Enough people feel that "steeling music" by downloading MP3's is about as wrong as jaywalking that piracy will not go away. It has taken them a better part of a decade to realize that suing their best customers was NOT a good business decision.
They don't have enough money to give away to keep the politicians happy. Everyone depends on the Internet now. 3 strikes and no Internet will cause problems. To many people NEED the Internet. Piracy will not stop, making ISP cops will not help. Ways to hid traffic will become more sophisticated. It will cost more for ISPs to try and monitor. They will not be making money on it. The old fashioned music media is a dead man walking and their grasp is getting shorter and shorter.
The difference is that your bank can be in one state. You can be in another state. Your residence is in a different state. The web servers were the transaction takes place is in a different state. The company you purchased from is in another state. The product is shipped or downloaded from servers in another state.
All of those states involved would like to tax your transaction. Not all of them are deserving. This needs to be figured out.
Washington State says that if you buy a gift certificate and don't use it, the purchaser gets the money (where Amazon is at). Idaho says the company that sold it gets the money (where Amazon sells there certificates from). Where I live Oregon, the State gets the money. Which law should apply? Where did the transaction take place at?
Should not that state be the one that taxes my transaction?
Teachers fault. She should have written a better letter. His posting took her letter at face value. She said she saw linux on the computer, the kid said it was free and was passing out disks. She confiscated them.
She could have made more of the situation clear. But yeah. Actually talking to her first before posting would have been a smarter thing to do.
Then again this is slashdot, we have ALL posted first then read the article. Nothing is a much fun as getting corrected around here when you don't have all the facts
It may have been hokey to have Itchy look at porn on that little box. Or for Nala to watch the cooking show with Harvey Corman playing a woman with four arms. Most of the original cast at least phoned in performances.
But the level of disappointment at seeing Galactica 1980. Invisible ships, flying motorcycles into space. Apollo and Starbuck gone.
Face it, the show sucked and blows at the same time
Only if it is on the contract OR something that is state law
I always ask questions about any NDA/NCA before I go to work for a company. If I worked for a company that wrote software for chemical analyzers there are things I would need to know
If I came up with an idea at work to improve the product, is it theirs?
If I came up with an idea at home to improve the product, is it theirs?
If I came up with an idea at work on improving web serves or something else not work related, is it theirs?
If I came up with an idea at home on improving web serves or something else not work related, is it theirs?
Can I contribute code to open source projects that are NOT related to chemistry analyzers?
Can I do on the side consulting work if it is NOT related to the industry. For instance help setting up an inventory system for an RV store?
You should know going in how much of your life the company you are going to work for expects you to sign away. Then you can worry about other things like was the contract written with generic non-compete/non-disclosure language, or something very specific? Was it written with the state you live and/or work in in mind? How enforceable are those clauses?
Just because the contract says you can't work for any other software firm for the period of 1 year after leaving the company OR the period of 3 years for any company that directly competes with this company. Does not mean that they can enforce anything past 1 year in your state.
Knowing what they think, knowing what they have in the contract and knowing what a lawyer who practices contract law dealing with NDA/NCA's in your state thinks is what matters.
A company I worked for was based out of another state. The NCA we had to sign had that states language in it and was a 3 year non-compete.
Someone left and went to work for a competitor. Our company could not do anything. Any NCA longer than 1 year in the state where I live is pretty much null and void.
That NDA/NCA they have may be gold...or worthless. You need a lawyer that works with NDA/NCA's to tell you. An hour of time to have them look at 1 or 2 paragraphs should be between $150 and $500. If you would say you can't aford to do it. I would say you can't afford not to.
It is not a strawman arguement. You stated that if more people used Mac and Linux they would be just as ridden with spyware as windows. I submit to you that if most non-tech types ran linux. They would stick to software in the main repos. Yes they are on their own if they config / make / make install or add the zango channel repo.
Most Linuxes don't have oodles of software that expects to run as root because it has that 38 year history of NOT running as root. Instead of 20 years of history running as root and 3 years of history trying to fix it.
Who cares what choice Microsoft had with Vista? The topic here is whether MacOS and Linux will be riddled with spyware if they had the market share Microsoft has.
I submit that MacOS and Linux won't have those problems. Microsoft is laying in the bed of monopolistic, antitrust lock in and putting security last while lying to their customers about how great their product is. They now have to sleep in it. Their products are widely adopted but second rate. Security is NOT job one at Microsoft and their users pay for it on a daily basis. This is not true for any other OS out there.
Some sites actually use features of Flash 8, 9 or 10. Or even more likely, they have the site set up to work with Flash 9 or better. Even if they don't use any features that are not in Flash 7.
But give it time, there is nothing about OSX or Linux that makes it more secure against idiots installing keyloggers, rootkits, and other malware into their systems. If they ever have the same sizeable legions of inept users then the malware authors will target them too.
I usually try not to be inflammatory but are you smoking crack? XP is a member of the Microsoft OS Family. All work on it from 1985 to 1993 or so was based around the fact it was to be a non-networked, single user machine. Anytime there as a trade off between speed, ease of use and security. Well, security lost. After 1993 they tacked networking on top of that, then in the early 2000s they started trying to combat the internet and the bad security rep they had.
Since Microsoft OS's have to support legacy apps and still contain plenty of old code. It is like a building with no locks on doors, windows or elevators on the first 5 floors, only above that point. If someone lands on the helopad on top, it is all locked down and takes some work to get into. If someone arrives at ground level they automatically own the first 5 floors.
Both Linux and MacOS are based on Unix. An operating system that was designed from day one to be networked, multi-user and have at least a modicum of security right from the start. Now with almost 40 years of security improvements.
MacOS and Linux have both learned from Microsoft's mistakes. The difference is MacOS and Linux have been able to leverage this knowledge and make things more secure and better. Microsoft can't. It is hamstrung by legacy compatibility.
There is also the Microsoft Monoculture. MacOS Suffers somewhat from this as well. Find an exploit in windows, and there is a good chance it can run on 2000, XP, Vista and Seven. Find an exploit on Linux and well. It might work on Redhat but not Fedora. It may be a problem for Ubuntu, but not Slackware. Even if "Linux" owned 90% of the market. It still might be 35% Ubuntu, 30% Fedora based and 35% everything else. Heck, if you are paranoid, just run FreeBSD or Slackware. Still all of the great linux goodies but on a platform known for being secure or obscure. It is not likley someone is going "I am going to write an exploit and p0wn all of the Arch Linux users out there!"
Now to point. Most Linux users install software via their repositories. If it is not in the repository, they don't run it.
You so deserve to get p0wned if you download a java app, have to modify your.bashrc to include JAVAHOME. Or to do a apt-get build essential & configure & make & make installl.
Tell them to remember, synaptic good, gdebi bad.
Most linuxs force you to run as a non-privelaged user and don't bug you as much as Windows UAC does, so that you don't actually disable this security. Same with the Mac. Running as a non-privelaged user is easy to do. Doing admin things takes a password, but the system does not beat you over the head asking for authentication like Vista does.
Off the top of my head, I can recall hardware that was "new" in April of 2007 and October of 2008 that needed slipstreaming. The 2007 system was a $900 HP. The 2008 was a $3,000 DELL XPS system.
I did not say all SATA systems have this problem. But enough of them do that you can still end up having to slipstream some SATA drivers every once in a while. Of course Linux is not perfect either. Most live CD's do not come with dmraid. At least you apt-get it while running an Ubuntu or Mint LiveCD.
I am running the nvidia 3d drivers on Hardy with the Intrepid 2.6.27 kernel. I had to download the nvidia-177-kernel file and patch. I then ran envy-ng and then manually ram the NVIDIA-setup in the nvidia-177 file.
Just as well clue everyone in. PearsonComputing are hosting their own deb repository for KDE 3.5 in Intrepid.
I fully expect the slashdot effect to kick in by November 1, 2008. I am positive that the repository will shit the bed when thousands of Kubuntu users who finaly see that their cam is supported in Intrepid running a 2.6.27 and still want KDE 3.5. Hardy won't cut it or them. Ubuntu will not have published a 2.6.27 Kernel for Hardy. They will still want 2.6.27 AND KDE 3.5.
I am set, already have my wifes Acer One on Intrepid in Xubuntu and KDE 3.5 added. As for me, it does not matter I run fluxbox or xfce. Besides, I am alrady running 2.6.27 with Hardy.
I will further add. When I do switch to Intrepid in a few months. I will probably use Linux Mint's Fluxbox or XFCE edition. Gives me a better looking desktop and I don't even have to spend an hour downloading codecs to get video codes, mp3 and flash working.
Try installing Windows XP on a new system with SATA disks and no floppy drive. That having access to a running system and slipstreaming the correct drivers into the XP Installer CD.
And don't wine about about Windows XP being an OS from 2002. It was always stupid that the only way to load a driver was from floppy. Also SP2 CD's are more circa 2004/2005
You don't want to worry about keeping anti-virus or anti-spyware software up to date. Or to do scans. Or taking the performance hit for running that software.
The problem then is where did this media sentry evidence come from? They are not a licensed investigation service. I am sure that issue will be revisited.
And before Windows 95, they promised a badass new system codenamed Cairo, remember that? It would rival what NeXT and IBM had back then... and people believed that shit. Always keep in mind, Microsoft is a master in overpromise and underdelivery.
To bad to most people what they are looking for is "at least as good as Windows XP". For most people Vista seems to be a step BACK not forward. They need to underdeliver at a level that the average user would consider equal to or greater than that of XP. If Seven delivers at a precived sub XP level people will continue to clamor for, pirate and stay with XP as long as they possibly can
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Hey! You insensitive clod!
We got stuck with Exchange when the boss's new secretary wanted to do calendaring. All she knew how to use was Outlook with Exchange calendaring. We got called in one day and were told point blank to purchase a new server and deck it out with Exchange.
The really sad part is the secretary lasted less than six months. Now two years later I still have to feed the beast. So yes the IT Department deployed it. But we are not the staff that selected it.
Depends on what you think taxes are for. Are they there for social engineering purposes? Are they there to encourage some activities and discourage other activities? Or are they there as a legitimate way to raise revenue related to usage?
As a practical manner. I don't think politicians really care. They want the revenue, they want it from as many sources as possible. They want to be able to allocate it how they want. They don't care if they have to say, we will tax "A" and only use it for "X". They will try to expand it from A to A B C. And they don't care that it was only for X, they want to use it for X Y Z. The bottom line is if revenues fall because people do less of something. They will be looking for a way to make up the revenue.
Forth is as close to a write-only language as I ever care to experience. In my class there was effectively a different language created by every student.
It is write-only for newbie code. It takes effort to learn to do it properly. You have to read code by others that has been written well. You have to learn good technique and style.
The old school tools are really good for this. Like the version of Forth called F83 for the IBM PC. You could create a "block file" that was 300k in size. That would be 150 screens of Forth and 150 shadow screens for commentary. You work with triads. You Write a Load screen on blocks 0, 1,2. load your favorite utility words from lexicons on blocks 4 to 29. Then start major Blocks of code on 30, 60, 90, 120.
If you observe working code in blocks of 3. Every screen using line 0 for comments. Every time a triad starts something new, UPPERCASE, and the following screens Lowercase and indented. 3 pages of Forth print to one sheet of paper.
When done like that Forth can be very readable. Moreso than most other languages. Where else do you have anything like a load screen breaking down what a program does? Well factored, properly organized and written Forth is a joy to maintain.
Well, it is much closer to how computers think than infix notation is. Your compiler will take you infixed ()^*/+- stuff and rearrange it to pretty much what Forth Does.
On the plus side. You can do a better job, knowing how it is goiing to be used, data structures, range of possible values, etc. On the down side, you are required to do this and there is no way to avoid the manual optimization process.
In some cases like an embedded environment, there may not even be an optimizing compiler available. There is value in knowing how to do things like memory allocation and management. Even if you program in a language where you don't have to do it. You appreciate both having a garbage collector, and understanding it's limits when you have worked in a language without it.
The implicit data passing can be cool. You don't have a bunch of temp variables to deal with. The scope is "automatic" and everything is about data transformation. The key is sticking with it long enough to go from hating it to at least getting "Forth Think".
Forth is NOT the right tool for every job. I am however glad that I did learn it. I know not to design around control structures. I know how to factor code. I also now have a little voice telling me when my code is getting to complex that I am moving away from "elegance". When that happens I am also moving away from simplicity, correctness, ease of debugging, ease of adapting to change and ease of code-reuse.
Only if you start at the beginning and remember to stop once you reach the end of it.
Personally, for me is Thinking Forth by Leo Brodie. I re-read it at least once a year.
A very lucid discussion of writing software and the philosophy that was often employed by very successful Forth Programmers. The hallmark of which was "elegance".
In a nutshell, you can remember 7 items plus or minus 2. So any programming construct that had less than 10 commands (as opposed to syntax "noise") could be read and comprehended. When it comes to hiding data, what needs to be hid, is what can change. Build a program from small modules. Some are private, which are designed to deal with stuff that changes. Then there are more public modules that are the interface to those private modules that can change. A good program is built from lexicons of these private/public modules.
The reason it is important to design lexicons of code around modules of "stuff that can change" is for correctness, elegantness and code-reuse. Control structures are superficial. Elegant designs can withstand change because they are not built around control structures, they are built around data and event transformations.
There was plenty of stuff in the specific to how Forth really made this method of rapid prototyping software development work. Such as the implicit method of passing data and calling functions.
If I had my way. No matter what language you end up working with. You should program in Forth for a few months first. Having to deal with a 64x16 character, 1024 byte blocks and a block file editor. The discipline in learning to factor code to fit in a standard screen is a good thing. Once you can start writing code that is small and elegant like that, you will be a better programmer in whatever language you eventually use. In addition you learn to use a simple IDE, program in both low level and high level functions. You get to work with a virtual machine that is simple enough to learn in an afternoon. You also get to learn such advanced techniques as building compilers, interpreters, and text parsers. Working with data structures such as threads, hashes, dictionaries, and vectored execution.
I prefer it. I am in my 40's and grew up in the 80's. Piracy was rampant among the geeks then. In the 90's more so. Then the kids that only remember a world of the Internet. Do you really believe that they consider making a digital copy of a file is a crime? That it robs somebody? Remember these kids will be Judges and Lawmakers someday. No matter how much money the RIAA throws at it, it won't help in the long run.
Button makers had a monopoly at one time. Can you imagine that, buttons that go for 5 cents each now. Can you see someone approaching a Senator now and offering a suitcase full of money to write legislation protecting Taylors and button makers? I am sure they would love to take the money, but they just could not write the legislation. No one would take it seriously, no one would follow the law, and yes, they would even be voted out of office.
I think the same holds true for trying to make digital copies go away. The price for digital copies wants to be very cheap...or free. No amount of laws that they can buy now will stop that.
Even the older folks are on board with this. I did virus removal for Symantec back in 2004. I can't begin to tell you how many old ladies in their 60's and 70's had Kazaa and Limewire running at startup on their computer. I would ask them to disable it as we were troubleshooting and they would complain that they did not want it stopped. That was how they got their music. I had to explain that it was just temporary till we could isolate the problem. Trust me, the RIAA has an uphill battle. Enough people feel that "steeling music" by downloading MP3's is about as wrong as jaywalking that piracy will not go away. It has taken them a better part of a decade to realize that suing their best customers was NOT a good business decision.
They don't have enough money to give away to keep the politicians happy. Everyone depends on the Internet now. 3 strikes and no Internet will cause problems. To many people NEED the Internet. Piracy will not stop, making ISP cops will not help. Ways to hid traffic will become more sophisticated. It will cost more for ISPs to try and monitor. They will not be making money on it. The old fashioned music media is a dead man walking and their grasp is getting shorter and shorter.
The difference is that your bank can be in one state. You can be in another state. Your residence is in a different state. The web servers were the transaction takes place is in a different state. The company you purchased from is in another state. The product is shipped or downloaded from servers in another state.
All of those states involved would like to tax your transaction. Not all of them are deserving. This needs to be figured out.
Washington State says that if you buy a gift certificate and don't use it, the purchaser gets the money (where Amazon is at). Idaho says the company that sold it gets the money (where Amazon sells there certificates from). Where I live Oregon, the State gets the money. Which law should apply? Where did the transaction take place at?
Should not that state be the one that taxes my transaction?
Teachers fault. She should have written a better letter. His posting took her letter at face value. She said she saw linux on the computer, the kid said it was free and was passing out disks. She confiscated them.
She could have made more of the situation clear. But yeah. Actually talking to her first before posting would have been a smarter thing to do.
Then again this is slashdot, we have ALL posted first then read the article. Nothing is a much fun as getting corrected around here when you don't have all the facts
In a word...yes
It may have been hokey to have Itchy look at porn on that little box. Or for Nala to watch the cooking show with Harvey Corman playing a woman with four arms. Most of the original cast at least phoned in performances.
But the level of disappointment at seeing Galactica 1980. Invisible ships, flying motorcycles into space. Apollo and Starbuck gone.
Face it, the show sucked and blows at the same time
Only if it is on the contract OR something that is state law
I always ask questions about any NDA/NCA before I go to work for a company. If I worked for a company that wrote software for chemical analyzers there are things I would need to know
You should know going in how much of your life the company you are going to work for expects you to sign away. Then you can worry about other things like was the contract written with generic non-compete/non-disclosure language, or something very specific? Was it written with the state you live and/or work in in mind? How enforceable are those clauses?
Just because the contract says you can't work for any other software firm for the period of 1 year after leaving the company OR the period of 3 years for any company that directly competes with this company. Does not mean that they can enforce anything past 1 year in your state.
Knowing what they think, knowing what they have in the contract and knowing what a lawyer who practices contract law dealing with NDA/NCA's in your state thinks is what matters.
Yeah Lawyer
A company I worked for was based out of another state. The NCA we had to sign had that states language in it and was a 3 year non-compete.
Someone left and went to work for a competitor. Our company could not do anything. Any NCA longer than 1 year in the state where I live is pretty much null and void.
That NDA/NCA they have may be gold...or worthless. You need a lawyer that works with NDA/NCA's to tell you. An hour of time to have them look at 1 or 2 paragraphs should be between $150 and $500. If you would say you can't aford to do it. I would say you can't afford not to.
Disclosure: I once worked for a lawyer
Cool! The only computer that I know of that runs on an ARM cpu only has Flash 7 on it.
It is not a strawman arguement. You stated that if more people used Mac and Linux they would be just as ridden with spyware as windows. I submit to you that if most non-tech types ran linux. They would stick to software in the main repos. Yes they are on their own if they config / make / make install or add the zango channel repo.
Most Linuxes don't have oodles of software that expects to run as root because it has that 38 year history of NOT running as root. Instead of 20 years of history running as root and 3 years of history trying to fix it.
Who cares what choice Microsoft had with Vista? The topic here is whether MacOS and Linux will be riddled with spyware if they had the market share Microsoft has.
I submit that MacOS and Linux won't have those problems. Microsoft is laying in the bed of monopolistic, antitrust lock in and putting security last while lying to their customers about how great their product is. They now have to sleep in it. Their products are widely adopted but second rate. Security is NOT job one at Microsoft and their users pay for it on a daily basis. This is not true for any other OS out there.
I believe that is Flash 7.
Some sites actually use features of Flash 8, 9 or 10. Or even more likely, they have the site set up to work with Flash 9 or better. Even if they don't use any features that are not in Flash 7.
But give it time, there is nothing about OSX or Linux that makes it more secure against idiots installing keyloggers, rootkits, and other malware into their systems. If they ever have the same sizeable legions of inept users then the malware authors will target them too.
I usually try not to be inflammatory but are you smoking crack? XP is a member of the Microsoft OS Family. All work on it from 1985 to 1993 or so was based around the fact it was to be a non-networked, single user machine. Anytime there as a trade off between speed, ease of use and security. Well, security lost. After 1993 they tacked networking on top of that, then in the early 2000s they started trying to combat the internet and the bad security rep they had.
Since Microsoft OS's have to support legacy apps and still contain plenty of old code. It is like a building with no locks on doors, windows or elevators on the first 5 floors, only above that point. If someone lands on the helopad on top, it is all locked down and takes some work to get into. If someone arrives at ground level they automatically own the first 5 floors.
Both Linux and MacOS are based on Unix. An operating system that was designed from day one to be networked, multi-user and have at least a modicum of security right from the start. Now with almost 40 years of security improvements.
MacOS and Linux have both learned from Microsoft's mistakes. The difference is MacOS and Linux have been able to leverage this knowledge and make things more secure and better. Microsoft can't. It is hamstrung by legacy compatibility.
There is also the Microsoft Monoculture. MacOS Suffers somewhat from this as well. Find an exploit in windows, and there is a good chance it can run on 2000, XP, Vista and Seven. Find an exploit on Linux and well. It might work on Redhat but not Fedora. It may be a problem for Ubuntu, but not Slackware. Even if "Linux" owned 90% of the market. It still might be 35% Ubuntu, 30% Fedora based and 35% everything else. Heck, if you are paranoid, just run FreeBSD or Slackware. Still all of the great linux goodies but on a platform known for being secure or obscure. It is not likley someone is going "I am going to write an exploit and p0wn all of the Arch Linux users out there!"
Now to point. Most Linux users install software via their repositories. If it is not in the repository, they don't run it.
You so deserve to get p0wned if you download a java app, have to modify your .bashrc to include JAVAHOME. Or to do a apt-get build essential & configure & make & make installl.
Tell them to remember, synaptic good, gdebi bad.
Most linuxs force you to run as a non-privelaged user and don't bug you as much as Windows UAC does, so that you don't actually disable this security. Same with the Mac. Running as a non-privelaged user is easy to do. Doing admin things takes a password, but the system does not beat you over the head asking for authentication like Vista does.
Off the top of my head, I can recall hardware that was "new" in April of 2007 and October of 2008 that needed slipstreaming. The 2007 system was a $900 HP. The 2008 was a $3,000 DELL XPS system.
I did not say all SATA systems have this problem. But enough of them do that you can still end up having to slipstream some SATA drivers every once in a while. Of course Linux is not perfect either. Most live CD's do not come with dmraid. At least you apt-get it while running an Ubuntu or Mint LiveCD.
I am running the nvidia 3d drivers on Hardy with the Intrepid 2.6.27 kernel. I had to download the nvidia-177-kernel file and patch. I then ran envy-ng and then manually ram the NVIDIA-setup in the nvidia-177 file.
Just as well clue everyone in. PearsonComputing are hosting their own deb repository for KDE 3.5 in Intrepid.
I fully expect the slashdot effect to kick in by November 1, 2008. I am positive that the repository will shit the bed when thousands of Kubuntu users who finaly see that their cam is supported in Intrepid running a 2.6.27 and still want KDE 3.5. Hardy won't cut it or them. Ubuntu will not have published a 2.6.27 Kernel for Hardy. They will still want 2.6.27 AND KDE 3.5.
I am set, already have my wifes Acer One on Intrepid in Xubuntu and KDE 3.5 added. As for me, it does not matter I run fluxbox or xfce. Besides, I am alrady running 2.6.27 with Hardy.
I will further add. When I do switch to Intrepid in a few months. I will probably use Linux Mint's Fluxbox or XFCE edition. Gives me a better looking desktop and I don't even have to spend an hour downloading codecs to get video codes, mp3 and flash working.
Try installing Windows XP on a new system with SATA disks and no floppy drive. That having access to a running system and slipstreaming the correct drivers into the XP Installer CD.
And don't wine about about Windows XP being an OS from 2002. It was always stupid that the only way to load a driver was from floppy. Also SP2 CD's are more circa 2004/2005
http://bp0.blogger.com/_Q8OWC_n6WMU/SGQ3FBUapPI/AAAAAAAABEg/60TP2sxd_8I/s1600-h/bear+arms.bmp
The problem then is where did this media sentry evidence come from? They are not a licensed investigation service. I am sure that issue will be revisited.
Good call. It was the same with Vista.
I think Microsoft would do well to either a) leave everything control panel wise where it is at or b) move back to where it could be found in XP
There is just no need to "improve" the panel and move everything around yet again.
And before Windows 95, they promised a badass new system codenamed Cairo, remember that? It would rival what NeXT and IBM had back then... and people believed that shit. Always keep in mind, Microsoft is a master in overpromise and underdelivery.
To bad to most people what they are looking for is "at least as good as Windows XP". For most people Vista seems to be a step BACK not forward. They need to underdeliver at a level that the average user would consider equal to or greater than that of XP. If Seven delivers at a precived sub XP level people will continue to clamor for, pirate and stay with XP as long as they possibly can