Well, they would just have to stage the migration through a half-name like FireGoogle or gFox. History has shown that, in exchange for other security and comforts, Firerox users will put up with anything when it comes to the name.
While I agree that it might have been instructive to include, say, RedHat 7 in the lineup, security of original XP is still an important consideration. First, to hear MS at the time, XP-SP1 should have been more solid then and should be more solid now. But far more importantly, we see how vital it is to fully patch your XP system before connecting it to the internet. And where do I get those patches from? Oops...
The catch-22 is that time-to-infection is much shorter than time-to-patch for Windows XP, even with a contemporary internet connection. If you don't have SP2 media, and don't have some other means of (manually) acquiring the latest patches, you're dead in the water. Yes, there are workarounds; you can install some ice of your own before you connect, for that matter, but that obviates all the really neat security features of SP2 with a 3rd-party solution. "Not the solution he had in mind..."
Admittedly, part of this is due to the fact that Windows is "productized", i.e. you have a box containing Windows and you can add patches. With Linux operating systems I think there's a lot more sensitivity to versioning and awareness of granularity; you aren't working on this monolithic thing in need of repair but on a collection of components which can be individually upgraded. Partly psychological, yes, but you also have the advantage of simply leaving out "risky" components until you can get everything up to date. You can run a Linux OS with no services, nothing particularly visible except the interface you're downloading updates through. That's not an option with Windows.
Actually, taking a lesson from the diary industry would mean setting up a market wherein people would have to buy more product proportionally to their angst. As it is, they're getting hammered by LiveJournal because nobody bothers to print their whining onto paper anymore.
Mod this guy up! Clear, precise explanation of economic theory with personal opinions labeled and reserved for the end. We need more of this on/.
(Yes, I have some reservations about "mod request" posting, but it does seem like I get 'em when I don't need 'em.)
Obviously, now that we have recon covered we need to think about adding offensive capabilities. I mean, what good is it to identify all the major structural supports if you have no way to take them out? Robot Wars-esque saw blades are probably unsuited for implementation on the existing hardware base, even if external power could be supplied (viz. those "anemic motors"), so I'm thinking along the lines of a small thermal lance or incendiary package.
Actually, they just need to harvest more Vespene gas before they can upgrade the armor. And you KNOW how hard it is to get up the tech tree when the fsckers keep trying to rush you.
Everyone wants to be a Marine or a Goliath pilot, nobody wants to drive an SCV.
I think there's a motivation for abuse that nobody's mentioned yet: mischief. Sure, if I'm a bigshot car theft ringleader boosting expensive autos into semis and shipping them out of the country I don't much care about this little development. But if your cow-orker leaves the key to his shiny new car in a fixed location, even his own pocket... and you just happen to already be an electrical engineer...
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Well, they would just have to stage the migration through a half-name like FireGoogle or gFox. History has shown that, in exchange for other security and comforts, Firerox users will put up with anything when it comes to the name.
While I agree that it might have been instructive to include, say, RedHat 7 in the lineup, security of original XP is still an important consideration. First, to hear MS at the time, XP-SP1 should have been more solid then and should be more solid now. But far more importantly, we see how vital it is to fully patch your XP system before connecting it to the internet. And where do I get those patches from? Oops...
The catch-22 is that time-to-infection is much shorter than time-to-patch for Windows XP, even with a contemporary internet connection. If you don't have SP2 media, and don't have some other means of (manually) acquiring the latest patches, you're dead in the water. Yes, there are workarounds; you can install some ice of your own before you connect, for that matter, but that obviates all the really neat security features of SP2 with a 3rd-party solution. "Not the solution he had in mind..."
Admittedly, part of this is due to the fact that Windows is "productized", i.e. you have a box containing Windows and you can add patches. With Linux operating systems I think there's a lot more sensitivity to versioning and awareness of granularity; you aren't working on this monolithic thing in need of repair but on a collection of components which can be individually upgraded. Partly psychological, yes, but you also have the advantage of simply leaving out "risky" components until you can get everything up to date. You can run a Linux OS with no services, nothing particularly visible except the interface you're downloading updates through. That's not an option with Windows.
Actually, taking a lesson from the diary industry would mean setting up a market wherein people would have to buy more product proportionally to their angst. As it is, they're getting hammered by LiveJournal because nobody bothers to print their whining onto paper anymore.
Latest Firefox on my computer recognizes the perfidious attempt and blocks it, displaying the yellow "I smited the evil" info bar.
Mod this guy up! Clear, precise explanation of economic theory with personal opinions labeled and reserved for the end. We need more of this on /.
(Yes, I have some reservations about "mod request" posting, but it does seem like I get 'em when I don't need 'em.)
Obviously, now that we have recon covered we need to think about adding offensive capabilities. I mean, what good is it to identify all the major structural supports if you have no way to take them out? Robot Wars-esque saw blades are probably unsuited for implementation on the existing hardware base, even if external power could be supplied (viz. those "anemic motors"), so I'm thinking along the lines of a small thermal lance or incendiary package.
Actually, they just need to harvest more Vespene gas before they can upgrade the armor. And you KNOW how hard it is to get up the tech tree when the fsckers keep trying to rush you. Everyone wants to be a Marine or a Goliath pilot, nobody wants to drive an SCV.
I think there's a motivation for abuse that nobody's mentioned yet: mischief. Sure, if I'm a bigshot car theft ringleader boosting expensive autos into semis and shipping them out of the country I don't much care about this little development. But if your cow-orker leaves the key to his shiny new car in a fixed location, even his own pocket... and you just happen to already be an electrical engineer...
Unfortunately, linking to something illegal can be illegal. Remember DeCSS?