M$ is pretty much killing itself in the consumer market and is rapidly reaching the point of no return and perhaps even crossed over.
Windows (all versions): 85% and stable
OS X: 11%
Linux: 1.5%
Misc (possibly mis-ID as desktop): 2.5%
Not sure where you got those figures. Linux Desktop Market share is now at 2.27%. Not huge but definitely increasing.
One third of the 85% above is now using Win10. Half the gamers on Steam now run Win10. With Ryzen and Kaby Lake there is no Win7 support. Sorry to disappoint you, but even as people are holding on to Win7 there zero evidence of any migration away. When push comes to shove I imagine most will begrudgingly upgrade like they did with WinXP.
Again I will refer you to the URL. Windows 10 is approx 25.3% with Windows 7 approximately 47.2% and surprisingly Windows XP at 9.17%. Even Windows 8.1 is at 6.9% so that tells you how popular Windows 10 is, although as people throw away their old windows machines and purchase new ones then Windows 10 market share will increase.
In the motherboard BIOS there is an option for "Other OS" and I initially installed Fedora 24 (now 25) on the Z170 (takes Sky Lake) without any problems so I don't forsee any issues with the motherboards for Ryzen (when it comes out) or Kaby Lake which has the same LGA 1151 socket as Sky lake and will run on Z170, H170, B150 and H110 series motherboards . It will be possible to install Windows 7 (if you can get a legitimate version or do you pirate it?) under the Other OS feature but like you have said it will not be supported by Microsoft.
As far as PC games go, Microsoft Windows dominates although if you go to Steam and look at the number of games available for Linux and SteamOS there are over 5,000 and some are AAA. Good luck finding the time to play them all.
The majority of people will not upgrade to Windows 10 unless Microsoft use the same tactics when they made the OS a free upgrade if you had a legitimate copy of Windows 7 or Widows 8.1. If you wish to upgrade now you have to pay for Windows 10 and most people will not do that unless they replace their PC which in the majority of cases the new PC will come with Windows 10 as the default OS.
This is the kind of news people are forced to resort to, when corporations like M$ a lying pieces of shite. Lie, lie, lie, it's all they do, they are disgusting. Now they biggest lie of all, they have the right to install software on the computer that you bought, that you paud of the OS, against you will, against your rights, what a crock of shite. Basically screw M$ and it blatantly corrupt theft of user rights, it is the biggest abuse of the public by any corporation in history and being backed up by a corrupt US government.
No company has the right to force anything from you, not your energy, not you equipment, not your time, not your bandwidth and not your life (they do not own it and have no right to sell information about it). They are truly done as a corporation, something to be actively opposed and shut down.
I can understand "lock in" if you have a work PC since the company you work for dictates what type of PC you get as well as the operating system and applications you run on it. Obviously, if you are a senior Engineer then you can tell management to take a flying leap providing you can get your work done. Not many people have that luxury or power.
If you own the PC then you are quite correct you still have the right to decide on what operating system you put on it as well as the applications you run on it. If you have locked yourself into a proprietary operating system and applications then you have only yourself to blame.
Or use a GUI that moves stuff to a recycle bin first.:-) It's saved my bacon on more than one occasion.
May I ask what if you are required to do housekeeping on a corporate server that does not have a GUI?
Answer: In the case of a corporate server whether it is classified as production, development or test, you raise a change request and get it signed off before you do anything.
If you own the machine and are not answerable to anyone then any mistakes on your part will hopefully be a good lesson for you.
Of course, you still have to take into account weightlessness on the trip to Mars but I think the iInternational Space Station has that covered. Considering that once you leave Earth magnetic field you are going to get allot of radiation from the sun so you need protection there. When you get to Mars the only safe place is underground or in radiation proof pressurized housing since the atmospheric pressure on Mars is about 0.6% of Earth 's at sea level.
A better test would be to go back to the moon and run your tests there and it would be a lot safer for the prospective astronauts but that does not have the "wow" factor.
The Opera web browser is multiplatform, however as I have stated in the subject heading Opera Neon is currently available for MS Widows and since I only run Linux I can't really evaluate it and I am not going to fire up a Windows 10 virtual machine just to evaluate it. I am intrigued enough to download it when it becomes available for Linux.
The split screen feature may be useful like what I find in KDE's Dolphin which is extremely customizable, but then again I can easily fire up Chrome, Konqueror, Firefox, QupZilla or any browsers that I wish to install and have them running side by side or even in different desktops if I wish.
One very important feature I do like with the above web browsers I mentioned is the fact that you can setup repository updating for them so when an update becomes available I can update at my convenience. I am not that sure with Opera and I don't like updates being installed behind my back.
I have even worked at places where not locking your computer when you are away from it is a fireable offence (after a few warnings).
I have seen the chief of security frig around with unsecured workstations. (Set background to screenshot of itself, hide icons and start bar, email President from offender's account, etc).
What I run into it how many people's minds are blown when I show them Winkey+L instead of the Ctrl+Alt+Del,Enter. Same people have their mind blown at Ctrl+Shift+Esc instead of Ctrl+Alt+Del, "Start Task Manager"
Depends on what operating system you are running. Meta+L does not work on mine but my lock screen icon does or if I wish I can use Ctrl+Alt+Del and select what I want to do. I can also setup inactivity timeouts if I am working in a place where some people like to prank your computer if left unattended.
I am sure you have guessed by now I don't run Microsoft Windows.:-)
Firefox has the same kind of telemetry features. Chrome too. And pretty much everything else. But when it comes from Microsoft people freak out first, ask questions later.
When an operating system like Microsoft Windows 10 has features that are specifically used for collecting data I think most people who are concerned about privacy have the right to be concerned. Applications like Firefox and Chrome which are web browsers can easily be configured not to infringe on your privacy and if you still don't trust them then it is a very easy matter to install and use a different application.
I am well aware that it is possible to change your settings in Windows 10 (by default they are all turned on) to turn off many features that could be a privacy concern and I strongly suggest users do this. The problem you have is that Windows 10 has not just a simple "yes/no" change you have to go into the registry as well and while there are third-party applications that can make this easy you have to trust them as well. Even after all that there are still privacy concerns especially since some of the "off" settings can be turned back "on" with an update.
If you look at the methods that Microsoft used for getting existing users to upgrade to Windows 10 and compare it to the definition of malware then Windows 10 ticks all the boxes.
The only fix for having an operating system you don't trust is to use a different operating system.
I'm curious your thoughts on why Linux hasn't grabbed more laptop/desktop marketshare from Windows and MacOS over the years? It seems that with the privacy concerns around Windows 10 and Apple's lack of focus on MacOS there may be a huge opportunity in the near future. What things need to happen in the consumer marketplace and within the OSS community for it to really take off? Can 2017 be the year of the Linux desktop?
It's been Linux on the desktop for me for over 10 years and that is in the Professional and home market spaces.
You've heard of the words "Microsoft Tax" haven't you? The usage of Linux has actually increased from 1.5% to 2.21% recently so a few million people are changing over. In addition the number of Steam games for Linux is over the 5,000 mark and gaming is another major reason why people aren't changing at least for the moment.
Being forced into getting Windows 10 with its privacy issues has made some users at least try Linux but the majority of people who buy a PC which comes with a Microsoft OS won't make the change since they don't care.
As for the corporate sector, there are some changes but the majority are locked into the Microsoft ecosystem.
What a great way to ask a question. I hope you never have to front a board of directors with an outburst like that.
As to systemd causing your NFS to fail. I call BS on that although to cover all bases turn off the NFS services that are controlled by systemd (look at the manual entry "systemctl" or even use the systemd GUI) and then find out if your NFS still hangs (most likey a combination of network and target machines) and if it does then it is your job to fix the problem or barring that get in someone who can.
For years, warning flags have been raised about systemd. It more or less seems that we're bringing all the disadvantages of the Windows architecture to Linux, without any of the advantages of running WIndows.
So far lots of rants with no concrete evidence to back them up. In the Professional IT and scientific community, you need repeatable evidence to back up your claims, not anecdotal words. As for comparing systemd that is a system and service manager to Microsoft Windows which is an operating system your kidding right?
So far your rant sounds like a poor tradesman blaming is tools.
I supposed you have not heard of the Microsoft Tax? Most people stick with what they purchase and it is usually those with a few extra smarts that make the switch. Still, 2% for the desktop does translate to tens of millions at least there is hope for this world.
Time between reboots has so much to do with what is installed and running - my clean Win10 machines only reboot when updates make them do it
This is one of the many reasons why I don't run Windows 10 because when I get updates on my Linux machine I get to choose when I install them and if required when I reboot. Even if I choose to install updates they don't interfere with what I am currently doing. I also have had this freedom for years.
BTW. I do have Windows 10 installed in a virtual machine (legitimate license). I actually used the Windows 10 ISO which is a free download from Microsoft and is 4.2GB so I would recommend getting it for recovery purposes if you really want to run Windows 10. The installation is quite simple and quick although I would strongly recommend using the advanced setup rather than the quick install.
When I say use the advanced setup when installing from the Win 10 ISO you will see many settings that are by default turned on which would be the case with the quick install. Whether you choose to turn off those settings is up to you although I personally find they tick all the boxes for the definition of malware . Even if you do lock the machine down you still have to go into the registry (oh! yes everyone knows how to edit this) and even then you may not get everything. Third party software (if you trust them) can help but they still may not get everything.
Even after you think you have locked down Windows 10 if you use tools like Wireshark and/or Etherape and you will see that Windows 10 loves to chat with outside machines (Owned by? You guessed it Microsoft) which may not even be in the same country you live in.
What is interesting is the install of Windows 10 is over 5GB which is really bare bones (ie. no applications like Office.. etc) compared to my Fedora 25 desktop with over 2,200 packages (includes Multiple browsers, Office suites, Multimedia, CAD, Statistical and Scientific packages) and is only 7.2GB and all my packages get updates when available without me having to manually search for them. Even when I get updates most of the time a reboot is not needed although if I get a new kernel a reboot (when I decide) takes about 60 seconds and that includes logging in and starting my preferred applications (SSD's are great).
wireless charging is a waste ofenergy
how long does it take to plug something in
And wasting energy is particularly bad when we have climate deniers in charge of the govt
Wireless or inductive charging can be as efficient as charging via cable but there are also allot of gotchas as well. One of those gotchas is a fundament law of physics which simply states that if you want efficiency you must couple the magnet field of the charging coil with the receiving coil and the greater the air gap the less efficient the charging will be. Anyone who has done transformer design should know that.
Charging mats for your mobile are not that efficient but they are convenient and the loss in monetary terms is small so most people won't care, but if you upscale inductive charging to a car the losses are going to be much more evident and this translates to extra costs for the consumer which will far outweigh the convenience.
I'm reading this on a Vista laptop- lol it's what's I have at the moment....!
I'm reading this on a Skylake Core i7 6700 desktop running the most up to date version of Fedora 25. I also have a 10-year-old HP dual core laptop which originally came with Vista that I overwrote with Fedora at the time of my purchase. Today that same laptop runs Fedora 25 surprisingly well although for the best performance I would suggest "Puppy Linux" however since I use that laptop for testing my major upgrades (one every six months) I will stick to Fedora. That laptop is great for when I am traveling.
Note: I always do a fresh install for major upgrades since I have found that is the fastest. Twenty minutes for the install, 20 ~ 25 minutes for customization and the machine is fully functional except for updates which don't interfere with anything I want to do.
I don't mind it so much, it's more "stable" in the meaning of not crashing.
There hasn't been almost any new GUI feature since Australis in Firefox 29.
Also, when using linux, people were stuck with Firefox 3.0 when 3.6 was out.
That's strange my Fedora 25 version of Firefox says its version 50.1.0. I suppose Gooogle Chrome is better since it is version 55.0.2883.87 which is a good five points in front.:-)
most user uses chrome which has flash and will ditch it soon. why release that?
True, but if you have a Flash video (ie *.flv) you could always use VLC or MPV to play them.
Of course, if you don't like flash videos in their raw format you could use HandBreak to transcode them, although a word of warning, HandBreak is really CPU intensive so you would be better off with a decent one unless you don't mind the wait.
For most Linux distributions you can download the players or transcoder by using their respective repository allowing them to be automatically maintained. Also for your interest, all the software named does support 8bit, 10bit, 12bit as well as the H254 and H265 codecs including other formats.
The ransomers were threatening to release all of their clients' data, so the executives all got together and paid it amongst themselves, hushing up the whole thing in the process.
So here we have lawyers getting together and contributing out of their own pocket to pay the ransomers rather than taking the money out of company funds. In the eyes of the average person this could be considered commendable however in lawyer speak this is Collusion and is a criminal offence.
The next month the company's IT budget had quadrupled, so there's a happy ending.
So in this case, two wrongs made a right although you do have to ask if the IT department was doing its job properly in the first place since one of the first things any competent IT manager should do (besides finding out where the coffee machine is) is look at the companies "disaster recovery plan", make comments and recommendations if appropriate and if it had been tested and signed off on.
You want to put people in prison for being the victim of a serious crime? Sounds a little harsh.
And stupid.
Actually the term Ransomware is also known as Cyberextortion which is a criminal offence so if you as a CEO of a firm give in to extortion demands you are effectively guilty of Collusion which is a criminal offence and if convicted can result in incarceration although in many cases just having the payment being made public is punishment enough since Customers and Shareholders alike don't like their money being used to pay criminals..
It would be more appropriate to say "Most companies don't have a disaster recovery plan" and/or don't test it out which is actually the most important part of a disaster recovery plan.
The problem with paying extortion demands and ransomeware demands are extortion, only encourages these criminals to go after more lucrative targets with more sophisticated attack methods especially when their targets are willing to pay and pass on their incompetent loss of money to their customers or shareholders.
A few days ago my wife got a web warning in Chrome that all her files were encrypted so she informed me since she could not close the Web page or the browser.
Sure enough, the Web page was locked but a quick "xkill" fixed the problem and on checking I found her files were safe. Even if her files were encrypted I could have just wiped them and recovered them from backup. So to the idiots that tried to compromise my system count to four in binary or if you can't count that high may I suggest a decent prison reform school.
I hope you did not think I was running a Windows OS on my desktop. I think "xkill" would have been a dead giveaway.:-)
I'm on 3.19.0-32
Mint update says it's the recommended kernel.
I would upgrade for bragging rights but I don't wanna reboot.
My Skylake desktop is on "4.8.12-300" and rebooting for me is a chore. I mean I have to wait 40 seconds from initial power up for a login screen, then I have to wait an additional 20 seconds to log in and start up my applications (Ok most get started automatically), but 1 second to start Chrome and VLC is just far too long.:-)
Back in the early days, you may have had to wait 20 to 30 minutes for a reboot and that was plenty time to get and enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee with a nice piece of cake. Now your lucky if it's insipid instant coffee and a stale biscuit.:-)
I would laugh at Microsoft's incompetence but I'm too busy trying to get my Debian system to boot after its last update.
Yes, I can sympathize with that. I mean my Fedora 25 distribution takes 40 seconds to cold boot of which it plays around in the BIOS for 10 seconds and then it takes me another 20 seconds to authenticate, fire up a web browser, VLC and pretty much any other application that I want to run.
That's one minute of wasted time which I could have boiled a jug of water, made an insipid cup of coffee and scrounge up some stale biscuits. Oh, wait that originally took over five minutes if I was lucky. Damn those SSD's they are far too fast and there is just not enough time to make the necessities of life.:-)
Slashdot Mirror
It seems that is the only kernel everyone and their brother uses these days and no SystemD dependencies seems to be a big factor
May I ask what has systemd to do with a new Linux kernel version or the kernel in general.?
M$ is pretty much killing itself in the consumer market and is rapidly reaching the point of no return and perhaps even crossed over.
Windows (all versions): 85% and stable
OS X: 11%
Linux: 1.5%
Misc (possibly mis-ID as desktop): 2.5%
Not sure where you got those figures. Linux Desktop Market share is now at 2.27%. Not huge but definitely increasing.
One third of the 85% above is now using Win10. Half the gamers on Steam now run Win10. With Ryzen and Kaby Lake there is no Win7 support. Sorry to disappoint you, but even as people are holding on to Win7 there zero evidence of any migration away. When push comes to shove I imagine most will begrudgingly upgrade like they did with WinXP.
Again I will refer you to the URL. Windows 10 is approx 25.3% with Windows 7 approximately 47.2% and surprisingly Windows XP at 9.17%. Even Windows 8.1 is at 6.9% so that tells you how popular Windows 10 is, although as people throw away their old windows machines and purchase new ones then Windows 10 market share will increase.
In the motherboard BIOS there is an option for "Other OS" and I initially installed Fedora 24 (now 25) on the Z170 (takes Sky Lake) without any problems so I don't forsee any issues with the motherboards for Ryzen (when it comes out) or Kaby Lake which has the same LGA 1151 socket as Sky lake and will run on Z170, H170, B150 and H110 series motherboards . It will be possible to install Windows 7 (if you can get a legitimate version or do you pirate it?) under the Other OS feature but like you have said it will not be supported by Microsoft.
As far as PC games go, Microsoft Windows dominates although if you go to Steam and look at the number of games available for Linux and SteamOS there are over 5,000 and some are AAA. Good luck finding the time to play them all.
The majority of people will not upgrade to Windows 10 unless Microsoft use the same tactics when they made the OS a free upgrade if you had a legitimate copy of Windows 7 or Widows 8.1. If you wish to upgrade now you have to pay for Windows 10 and most people will not do that unless they replace their PC which in the majority of cases the new PC will come with Windows 10 as the default OS.
This is the kind of news people are forced to resort to, when corporations like M$ a lying pieces of shite. Lie, lie, lie, it's all they do, they are disgusting. Now they biggest lie of all, they have the right to install software on the computer that you bought, that you paud of the OS, against you will, against your rights, what a crock of shite. Basically screw M$ and it blatantly corrupt theft of user rights, it is the biggest abuse of the public by any corporation in history and being backed up by a corrupt US government.
No company has the right to force anything from you, not your energy, not you equipment, not your time, not your bandwidth and not your life (they do not own it and have no right to sell information about it). They are truly done as a corporation, something to be actively opposed and shut down.
I can understand "lock in" if you have a work PC since the company you work for dictates what type of PC you get as well as the operating system and applications you run on it. Obviously, if you are a senior Engineer then you can tell management to take a flying leap providing you can get your work done. Not many people have that luxury or power.
If you own the PC then you are quite correct you still have the right to decide on what operating system you put on it as well as the applications you run on it. If you have locked yourself into a proprietary operating system and applications then you have only yourself to blame.
Or use a GUI that moves stuff to a recycle bin first. :-) It's saved my bacon on more than one occasion.
May I ask what if you are required to do housekeeping on a corporate server that does not have a GUI?
Answer: In the case of a corporate server whether it is classified as production, development or test, you raise a change request and get it signed off before you do anything.
If you own the machine and are not answerable to anyone then any mistakes on your part will hopefully be a good lesson for you.
The gravity on Mars s 38% less than Earth.
Of course, you still have to take into account weightlessness on the trip to Mars but I think the iInternational Space Station has that covered. Considering that once you leave Earth magnetic field you are going to get allot of radiation from the sun so you need protection there. When you get to Mars the only safe place is underground or in radiation proof pressurized housing since the atmospheric pressure on Mars is about 0.6% of Earth 's at sea level.
A better test would be to go back to the moon and run your tests there and it would be a lot safer for the prospective astronauts but that does not have the "wow" factor.
The Opera web browser is multiplatform, however as I have stated in the subject heading Opera Neon is currently available for MS Widows and since I only run Linux I can't really evaluate it and I am not going to fire up a Windows 10 virtual machine just to evaluate it. I am intrigued enough to download it when it becomes available for Linux.
The split screen feature may be useful like what I find in KDE's Dolphin which is extremely customizable, but then again I can easily fire up Chrome, Konqueror, Firefox, QupZilla or any browsers that I wish to install and have them running side by side or even in different desktops if I wish.
One very important feature I do like with the above web browsers I mentioned is the fact that you can setup repository updating for them so when an update becomes available I can update at my convenience. I am not that sure with Opera and I don't like updates being installed behind my back.
Meta+L before you step away.
I have even worked at places where not locking your computer when you are away from it is a fireable offence (after a few warnings).
I have seen the chief of security frig around with unsecured workstations. (Set background to screenshot of itself, hide icons and start bar, email President from offender's account, etc).
What I run into it how many people's minds are blown when I show them Winkey+L instead of the Ctrl+Alt+Del,Enter. Same people have their mind blown at Ctrl+Shift+Esc instead of Ctrl+Alt+Del, "Start Task Manager"
Depends on what operating system you are running. Meta+L does not work on mine but my lock screen icon does or if I wish I can use Ctrl+Alt+Del and select what I want to do. I can also setup inactivity timeouts if I am working in a place where some people like to prank your computer if left unattended.
I am sure you have guessed by now I don't run Microsoft Windows. :-)
Firefox has the same kind of telemetry features. Chrome too. And pretty much everything else. But when it comes from Microsoft people freak out first, ask questions later.
When an operating system like Microsoft Windows 10 has features that are specifically used for collecting data I think most people who are concerned about privacy have the right to be concerned. Applications like Firefox and Chrome which are web browsers can easily be configured not to infringe on your privacy and if you still don't trust them then it is a very easy matter to install and use a different application.
I am well aware that it is possible to change your settings in Windows 10 (by default they are all turned on) to turn off many features that could be a privacy concern and I strongly suggest users do this. The problem you have is that Windows 10 has not just a simple "yes/no" change you have to go into the registry as well and while there are third-party applications that can make this easy you have to trust them as well. Even after all that there are still privacy concerns especially since some of the "off" settings can be turned back "on" with an update.
If you look at the methods that Microsoft used for getting existing users to upgrade to Windows 10 and compare it to the definition of malware then Windows 10 ticks all the boxes.
The only fix for having an operating system you don't trust is to use a different operating system.
I'm curious your thoughts on why Linux hasn't grabbed more laptop/desktop marketshare from Windows and MacOS over the years? It seems that with the privacy concerns around Windows 10 and Apple's lack of focus on MacOS there may be a huge opportunity in the near future. What things need to happen in the consumer marketplace and within the OSS community for it to really take off? Can 2017 be the year of the Linux desktop?
It's been Linux on the desktop for me for over 10 years and that is in the Professional and home market spaces.
You've heard of the words "Microsoft Tax" haven't you? The usage of Linux has actually increased from 1.5% to 2.21% recently so a few million people are changing over. In addition the number of Steam games for Linux is over the 5,000 mark and gaming is another major reason why people aren't changing at least for the moment.
Being forced into getting Windows 10 with its privacy issues has made some users at least try Linux but the majority of people who buy a PC which comes with a Microsoft OS won't make the change since they don't care.
As for the corporate sector, there are some changes but the majority are locked into the Microsoft ecosystem.
Systemd, WTF???
What a great way to ask a question. I hope you never have to front a board of directors with an outburst like that.
As to systemd causing your NFS to fail. I call BS on that although to cover all bases turn off the NFS services that are controlled by systemd (look at the manual entry "systemctl" or even use the systemd GUI) and then find out if your NFS still hangs (most likey a combination of network and target machines) and if it does then it is your job to fix the problem or barring that get in someone who can.
For years, warning flags have been raised about systemd. It more or less seems that we're bringing all the disadvantages of the Windows architecture to Linux, without any of the advantages of running WIndows.
So far lots of rants with no concrete evidence to back them up. In the Professional IT and scientific community, you need repeatable evidence to back up your claims, not anecdotal words. As for comparing systemd that is a system and service manager to Microsoft Windows which is an operating system your kidding right?
So far your rant sounds like a poor tradesman blaming is tools.
2% folks! Just 2%!
I supposed you have not heard of the Microsoft Tax? Most people stick with what they purchase and it is usually those with a few extra smarts that make the switch. Still, 2% for the desktop does translate to tens of millions at least there is hope for this world.
Well, a distribution would be shortened to distri...so a distro is naturally a...um...well I don't know what a distro is.
It can't be a distribution because there is no 'o' in distribution.
I don't think anyone knows what a distro is, to be honest.
How about Distributed Operating system. You can even make it into disros if you like.
Time between reboots has so much to do with what is installed and running - my clean Win10 machines only reboot when updates make them do it
This is one of the many reasons why I don't run Windows 10 because when I get updates on my Linux machine I get to choose when I install them and if required when I reboot. Even if I choose to install updates they don't interfere with what I am currently doing. I also have had this freedom for years.
BTW. I do have Windows 10 installed in a virtual machine (legitimate license). I actually used the Windows 10 ISO which is a free download from Microsoft and is 4.2GB so I would recommend getting it for recovery purposes if you really want to run Windows 10. The installation is quite simple and quick although I would strongly recommend using the advanced setup rather than the quick install.
When I say use the advanced setup when installing from the Win 10 ISO you will see many settings that are by default turned on which would be the case with the quick install. Whether you choose to turn off those settings is up to you although I personally find they tick all the boxes for the definition of malware . Even if you do lock the machine down you still have to go into the registry (oh! yes everyone knows how to edit this) and even then you may not get everything. Third party software (if you trust them) can help but they still may not get everything.
Even after you think you have locked down Windows 10 if you use tools like Wireshark and/or Etherape and you will see that Windows 10 loves to chat with outside machines (Owned by? You guessed it Microsoft) which may not even be in the same country you live in.
What is interesting is the install of Windows 10 is over 5GB which is really bare bones (ie. no applications like Office .. etc) compared to my Fedora 25 desktop with over 2,200 packages (includes Multiple browsers, Office suites, Multimedia, CAD, Statistical and Scientific packages) and is only 7.2GB and all my packages get updates when available without me having to manually search for them. Even when I get updates most of the time a reboot is not needed although if I get a new kernel a reboot (when I decide) takes about 60 seconds and that includes logging in and starting my preferred applications (SSD's are great).
wireless charging is a waste ofenergy how long does it take to plug something in
And wasting energy is particularly bad when we have climate deniers in charge of the govt
Wireless or inductive charging can be as efficient as charging via cable but there are also allot of gotchas as well. One of those gotchas is a fundament law of physics which simply states that if you want efficiency you must couple the magnet field of the charging coil with the receiving coil and the greater the air gap the less efficient the charging will be. Anyone who has done transformer design should know that.
Charging mats for your mobile are not that efficient but they are convenient and the loss in monetary terms is small so most people won't care, but if you upscale inductive charging to a car the losses are going to be much more evident and this translates to extra costs for the consumer which will far outweigh the convenience.
I'm reading this on a Vista laptop- lol it's what's I have at the moment....!
I'm reading this on a Skylake Core i7 6700 desktop running the most up to date version of Fedora 25. I also have a 10-year-old HP dual core laptop which originally came with Vista that I overwrote with Fedora at the time of my purchase. Today that same laptop runs Fedora 25 surprisingly well although for the best performance I would suggest "Puppy Linux" however since I use that laptop for testing my major upgrades (one every six months) I will stick to Fedora. That laptop is great for when I am traveling.
Note: I always do a fresh install for major upgrades since I have found that is the fastest. Twenty minutes for the install, 20 ~ 25 minutes for customization and the machine is fully functional except for updates which don't interfere with anything I want to do.
Why not just continue updating it, until it is sufficiently hardened against attack?
Bits don't rot.
You are quite right about "bits" but updates usually have version numbers and version numbers have a tendency to increase.
I don't mind it so much, it's more "stable" in the meaning of not crashing. There hasn't been almost any new GUI feature since Australis in Firefox 29. Also, when using linux, people were stuck with Firefox 3.0 when 3.6 was out.
That's strange my Fedora 25 version of Firefox says its version 50.1.0. I suppose Gooogle Chrome is better since it is version 55.0.2883.87 which is a good five points in front. :-)
most user uses chrome which has flash and will ditch it soon. why release that?
True, but if you have a Flash video (ie *.flv) you could always use VLC or MPV to play them.
Of course, if you don't like flash videos in their raw format you could use HandBreak to transcode them, although a word of warning, HandBreak is really CPU intensive so you would be better off with a decent one unless you don't mind the wait.
For most Linux distributions you can download the players or transcoder by using their respective repository allowing them to be automatically maintained. Also for your interest, all the software named does support 8bit, 10bit, 12bit as well as the H254 and H265 codecs including other formats.
I think those scripts that convert Java to C# are going to become very popular!
How about a Java to C++ converter at least it will run on pretty much all Linux and Windows systems or in the interim use OpenJDK
The ransomers were threatening to release all of their clients' data, so the executives all got together and paid it amongst themselves, hushing up the whole thing in the process.
So here we have lawyers getting together and contributing out of their own pocket to pay the ransomers rather than taking the money out of company funds. In the eyes of the average person this could be considered commendable however in lawyer speak this is Collusion and is a criminal offence.
The next month the company's IT budget had quadrupled, so there's a happy ending.
So in this case, two wrongs made a right although you do have to ask if the IT department was doing its job properly in the first place since one of the first things any competent IT manager should do (besides finding out where the coffee machine is) is look at the companies "disaster recovery plan", make comments and recommendations if appropriate and if it had been tested and signed off on.
Paying ransom should be a felony.
You want to put people in prison for being the victim of a serious crime? Sounds a little harsh.
And stupid.
Actually the term Ransomware is also known as Cyberextortion which is a criminal offence so if you as a CEO of a firm give in to extortion demands you are effectively guilty of Collusion which is a criminal offence and if convicted can result in incarceration although in many cases just having the payment being made public is punishment enough since Customers and Shareholders alike don't like their money being used to pay criminals..
Most companies dont have a backup regimen.
It would be more appropriate to say "Most companies don't have a disaster recovery plan" and/or don't test it out which is actually the most important part of a disaster recovery plan.
The problem with paying extortion demands and ransomeware demands are extortion, only encourages these criminals to go after more lucrative targets with more sophisticated attack methods especially when their targets are willing to pay and pass on their incompetent loss of money to their customers or shareholders.
A few days ago my wife got a web warning in Chrome that all her files were encrypted so she informed me since she could not close the Web page or the browser.
Sure enough, the Web page was locked but a quick "xkill" fixed the problem and on checking I found her files were safe. Even if her files were encrypted I could have just wiped them and recovered them from backup. So to the idiots that tried to compromise my system count to four in binary or if you can't count that high may I suggest a decent prison reform school.
I hope you did not think I was running a Windows OS on my desktop. I think "xkill" would have been a dead giveaway. :-)
I'm on 3.19.0-32 Mint update says it's the recommended kernel. I would upgrade for bragging rights but I don't wanna reboot.
My Skylake desktop is on "4.8.12-300" and rebooting for me is a chore. I mean I have to wait 40 seconds from initial power up for a login screen, then I have to wait an additional 20 seconds to log in and start up my applications (Ok most get started automatically), but 1 second to start Chrome and VLC is just far too long. :-)
Back in the early days, you may have had to wait 20 to 30 minutes for a reboot and that was plenty time to get and enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee with a nice piece of cake. Now your lucky if it's insipid instant coffee and a stale biscuit. :-)
I would laugh at Microsoft's incompetence but I'm too busy trying to get my Debian system to boot after its last update.
Yes, I can sympathize with that. I mean my Fedora 25 distribution takes 40 seconds to cold boot of which it plays around in the BIOS for 10 seconds and then it takes me another 20 seconds to authenticate, fire up a web browser, VLC and pretty much any other application that I want to run.
That's one minute of wasted time which I could have boiled a jug of water, made an insipid cup of coffee and scrounge up some stale biscuits. Oh, wait that originally took over five minutes if I was lucky. Damn those SSD's they are far too fast and there is just not enough time to make the necessities of life. :-)