There's one big gotcha here: notebooks. Your users are firewalled at work but once they get home they're probably wide open. Plug an infected notebook into your network of unpatched machines and a worm will bring you down in seconds.
A company I did some work for (re: I was a contract monkey..yes, I admit it) had a policy that plugging in a company laptop to your home network constituted grounds for firing.
Yup. They were that strict. It wasn't a technology company, (so the "brass" were a bit... over the top) and they'd been bitten hard by folks bringing infected-at-home company notebooks back into the environment, so I can understand some paranoia, but sheesh...
Exactly. And he makes the point later on (yes, I did read the whole article) that we humans are creatures of habit and it takes a while to break 'em.
Reading down at the end, he bemoans the fact that he can't figure out how to put frequently used apps in the task bar. Or that KDE has this nice clock in the lower right hand corner that was sooo conviniant. And you must have to be a windows super-geek to know how to access equivilant features under XP.
My first response was "DUH! You complete moron! Ever heard of drag-n-drop? Shortcuts? Why didn't ya try DOUBLEclicking on the time?!!"
But, truth be known, it isn't "obvious". It takes learning. Heck, it took me a while to figure out how to do the equivilant "put the app in the task bar" feature under KDE. When switching from one to the other intuition can only go so far ~ different models of doing things necessitate re-training. If indeed it was "easy" and everything he did in Linux was there the same way in XP...well, then we'd have a lawsuit on our hands. But that's another story.
I've been using windows constantly since 3.1. XP is awesome. I could niggle about Linux's crappy mouse movement (What is _up_ with that?), how friggin hard it is to change desktop resolution, (whaddaya mean I can't just right-click on the desktop and move a slider?!!!), Mozilla's odd behavior with those wierd "tab" things, or the fact that "My Computer" isn't out on the desktop (where are all my drives?!! I want my c:\ drive!!)...but if I did that, I'd sound suspiciously like our reviewing friend. =^)
Familiarity helps efficiency. One week is certianly not enough to make the switch and become efficiant. But I'll wager our friend would be just as fast and find just as many shortcuts to bemoan the lack thereof were he to switch to XP and go back to Linux in 5 years.
(at which point the slashdot crowd would beat him over the head with "It's _EASY_, the feature is _THERE_, you just have to _LOOK_ ya goofball!!")
See sun package linux. See sun sell package + support. See thousands of IT managers now say "oh yeah, _NOW_ I'll make the switch!"
Riiiight.
Linux still has the same issues...one of the biggest is...it's not windows! (oh, and the mouse movement is still not quite right..) All those MS Office licences that were negotiated, all those Seiko label printers the secretaries love and probably won't work (and if they do it'll be a pain), all the pirated copies of X-Treme Beach Volleyball that won't run, all the techs who will have to be retra[[[[tired and new ones with linux experience found...
Let's face it. The linux faithful on slashdot are all nodding their heads saying "it could work..!" The suits who run the numbers, the IT managers who make the decisions...heck, even the techs on the floor are shaking their heads.
Could it happen? Yes. Will it happen. No. Not for technical reasons (I think we'd all agree that it's very technically feasible) but for people reasons.
You probably don't gather age stats, but I wonder what the average age is? Knowledge != maturity...and not to dis those who take the "road less traveled", how many of those crackers with 'leet skilz are shy 14-19 year olds who just want a bit of recognition?
I know how I would have reacted at that age...and it wouldn't have been with deliberate and thoughtful appreciation of the gravity of the experiment. =^)
If I was doing it now (for the..err..intellectual exercise) I would _still_ be suspicious. After all, before I was young, stupid, and invincible. Now I'm an old decrepit (pushing 30!) parent with a heck of a lot more to lose! =^P
-someone who _was_ the shy 14-19 year old and is still wishing for those leet skilz
So here's a question...why don't we take responsibility for our actions today?
When was the last time you were late to work "because your alarm didn't go off"? (of course, you forgot to set it)
Late to dinner because "the boss gave me too much work" (of course, my time-management skills suck)
Didn't have that module finished and checked in to source control by the deadline because COM sucks/the network was slow/bugs in the compiler. (not to mention I was reading slashdot)
We have met the excuse makers - and they are us!
Ok, I'm off late to a meeting because...my Outlook reminder didn't go off. (and I was replying to this doggone post)
Slashdot Mirror
1.)Ooohhh...a beowulf cluster of virtual pacmen in soviet russia ...?
2.)
3.)profit, you insensative clod!
Ok, I'm only seeing 18 comments...yet the site is not responding.
I can accept that many more folks read than post but...!!!
There's one big gotcha here: notebooks. Your users are firewalled at work but once they get home they're probably wide open. Plug an infected notebook into your network of unpatched machines and a worm will bring you down in seconds.
A company I did some work for (re: I was a contract monkey..yes, I admit it) had a policy that plugging in a company laptop to your home network constituted grounds for firing.
Yup. They were that strict. It wasn't a technology company, (so the "brass" were a bit... over the top) and they'd been bitten hard by folks bringing infected-at-home company notebooks back into the environment, so I can understand some paranoia, but sheesh...
Isn't that simply a security hole? An exploit would be code taking advantage of said hole...
???
I'm sitting behind a corporate web proxy and getting access just fine...
Fire up ethereal and what's going on?
ROFLMAO
disclaimer: not recommended for cube farm environs. Got several odd looks...
It's not the size of the drive, it's how..{blech}
I see your drive is almost as...{nah}
Drivagra! Increasing Hard disk size by...{there we go!}
-i don't have a sig, you insensitive clod!-
Reading through all the comments, you'd almost think the Slashdot crowd _liked_ XP.
(or it's a mark of how really, really off kilter the XP vs Linux article was...)
My faith in the good sense of slashdotters has been restored.
(well, sorta)
Exactly. And he makes the point later on (yes, I did read the whole article) that we humans are creatures of habit and it takes a while to break 'em.
Reading down at the end, he bemoans the fact that he can't figure out how to put frequently used apps in the task bar. Or that KDE has this nice clock in the lower right hand corner that was sooo conviniant. And you must have to be a windows super-geek to know how to access equivilant features under XP.
My first response was "DUH! You complete moron! Ever heard of drag-n-drop? Shortcuts? Why didn't ya try DOUBLEclicking on the time?!!"
But, truth be known, it isn't "obvious". It takes learning. Heck, it took me a while to figure out how to do the equivilant "put the app in the task bar" feature under KDE. When switching from one to the other intuition can only go so far ~ different models of doing things necessitate re-training. If indeed it was "easy" and everything he did in Linux was there the same way in XP...well, then we'd have a lawsuit on our hands. But that's another story.
I've been using windows constantly since 3.1. XP is awesome. I could niggle about Linux's crappy mouse movement (What is _up_ with that?), how friggin hard it is to change desktop resolution, (whaddaya mean I can't just right-click on the desktop and move a slider?!!!), Mozilla's odd behavior with those wierd "tab" things, or the fact that "My Computer" isn't out on the desktop (where are all my drives?!! I want my c:\ drive!!)...but if I did that, I'd sound suspiciously like our reviewing friend. =^)
Familiarity helps efficiency. One week is certianly not enough to make the switch and become efficiant. But I'll wager our friend would be just as fast and find just as many shortcuts to bemoan the lack thereof were he to switch to XP and go back to Linux in 5 years.
(at which point the slashdot crowd would beat him over the head with "It's _EASY_, the feature is _THERE_, you just have to _LOOK_ ya goofball!!")
See sun package linux.
See sun sell package + support.
See thousands of IT managers now say "oh yeah, _NOW_ I'll make the switch!"
Riiiight.
Linux still has the same issues...one of the biggest is...it's not windows! (oh, and the mouse movement is still not quite right..) All those MS Office licences that were negotiated, all those Seiko label printers the secretaries love and probably won't work (and if they do it'll be a pain), all the pirated copies of X-Treme Beach Volleyball that won't run, all the techs who will have to be retra[[[[tired and new ones with linux experience found...
Let's face it. The linux faithful on slashdot are all nodding their heads saying "it could work..!" The suits who run the numbers, the IT managers who make the decisions...heck, even the techs on the floor are shaking their heads.
Could it happen? Yes. Will it happen. No. Not for technical reasons (I think we'd all agree that it's very technically feasible) but for people reasons.
re: not taking it seriously
Just out of curiosity...
You probably don't gather age stats, but I wonder what the average age is? Knowledge != maturity...and not to dis those who take the "road less traveled", how many of those crackers with 'leet skilz are shy 14-19 year olds who just want a bit of recognition?
I know how I would have reacted at that age...and it wouldn't have been with deliberate and thoughtful appreciation of the gravity of the experiment. =^)
If I was doing it now (for the..err..intellectual exercise) I would _still_ be suspicious. After all, before I was young, stupid, and invincible. Now I'm an old decrepit (pushing 30!) parent with a heck of a lot more to lose! =^P
-someone who _was_ the shy 14-19 year old and is still wishing for those leet skilz
So here's a question...why don't we take responsibility for our actions today?
When was the last time you were late to work "because your alarm didn't go off"? (of course, you forgot to set it)
Late to dinner because "the boss gave me too much work" (of course, my time-management skills suck)
Didn't have that module finished and checked in to source control by the deadline because COM sucks/the network was slow/bugs in the compiler. (not to mention I was reading slashdot)
We have met the excuse makers - and they are us!
Ok, I'm off late to a meeting because...my Outlook reminder didn't go off. (and I was replying to this doggone post)
Whee..!!!
1.) back up blaster worm
2.) reformat HD
3.) restore blaster worm
4.) rinse, lather, repeat.
=^)