Businesses need documents. They then need to communicate with those document files to all and sundry other businesses, government institutions, consumers etc.
So they need an open document format. Luckily, one exists: ODF.
In the EU, the right-wing ex-commissioner for Competition, now commissioner for Digital Agenda,Neelie Kroes, understands this, as she said:
"In other words, as I said on that occasion: choosing open standards is a very smart business decision."
(http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-10-300_en.htm) in 2010.
You could actually say that being physically violent toward one another is the single biggest motivating factor in scientific development, next to medicine.
You could also actually reason that being physically violent toward one another will be the single biggest factor in the sudden destruction of our civilization: See the following fictional doomsday scenario: Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
To quote Albert Einstein (who apparently heard it from someone else):
"I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones"
Exactly why this is another troll piece. There is no evidence of "stigma"... Linux has never had stigma attached, except maybe in the minds of Microsoft management.
That's not true.. the minds of Microsoft management control the purse-strings of Microsoft-hired PR firms like Waggener Edstrom, and they are presumably experts in the fabrication of stigmata.
Then there was the "Get the Facts" campaign (remember what happened to the London Stock Exchange?)
And the director of a large multinational software company compared Linux to "Linux is not in the public domain. Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches. That's the way that the license works. ". People like CEO's of large and famous companies exert some influence when they say things like that in public.
Good question.
Because, if the shopping street shops only sell locked-down MS Windows computers anymore, when the antitrust complaints reach the judge, and the judge has never seen linux or doesn't know anyone in her surrounds who has ever seen or used linux, that judge isn't going to take the consumer complaint seriously that "i bought this MS Windows computer but now I can't put this Linux distro on it and I want my money back". Computers run MS Windows. MS Windows is what is on a computer. Who (except for a technical minority) has any need for anything different? Only a minority of people who speak in difficult technical terms.
But if the judge or other authority knows elderly people using a ridiculously cheap ancient computer with a lightweight Linux distro for the computer illiterate, or children using Skolelinux, or just regular families having (K)Ubuntu on their desktop computer, then this would draw attention.
With UEFI secure boot set to "microsoft only", nobody can just try out a linux distro to learn what it's like. Now think what the effects of that would be in 10 years time.
I certainly wouldn't expect that if I was staying over at a friend's house, I could have ubiquitous unsupervised access to using their home computer - why would I? I might expect that they would let me log in to print something or to check my email while they were there, but hang out on it and install sketchy software while my friend wasn't around? Why would you let your friends do that?
The way we live now, we're happy if any friends decide to stay over anyway.. basically the answer to your (rhetorical) question is that I'd like my guests to feel at home when they are here, including that they can quietly play with the computer for a bit and don't have to feel the need to always interact with us.
That being said, your comment shows two separate sources of anxiety: you are afraid that your friends can (knowingly or unwittingly) damage your computer by playing with it. That can mean that (1) you are afraid that they try to subvert your computer and do dodgy things with it, or (2) you are afraid that they try to behave as good guests (print boarding pass etc.) but accidentally damage your computer.
I believe the solutions to these two separate problems are exactly as all the other comments in this discussion:
The answer to problem (2) is to use a secure Linux live CD (maybe a special Kiosk mode like in internet cafés) and let them play like they are at home. Help them when they feel on unfamiliar ground, explain that it may look a bit different then at home, but the red fox is also an Internet just like the blue E.
And the answer to problem (1) is to get better friends:-) and maybe have two separate firewall configurations for how the other computers must interact with the "possibly dangerous" one: as a normal part of your house network, or as "potentially hostile" when you entertain guests or make a living as an internet café.
I'm sorry but I feel the need to throw in an additional, personal comment (mod me troll if you like): I think it's sad that nowadays people have this attitude towards computer use that it is seen as a danger to let others use your computer. And I really believe that is is due to most people using MS Windows. No Windows = less paranoia needed. In the old days, uni mainframes and workstations had guest accounts. It is only now that insecurity has become the norm.
My reply would be no. Because that would be like giving not my trusted guests, but some unknown "boot CD with antivirus software" author, physical access to my computer.
Maybe on a spare computer that gets re-installed from CD afterwards and with the other computers' Shorewall configured to "don't listen to anything the potentially evil guest computer says".
I am not sure why users give you funny looks with Linux.
Sort of the same reason for getting funny looks when you show up at a wedding in shorts and a Bud Lite T-shirt.
Oh the insecurity...;-)
Please stay with MS Windows!
"No, no. You would far prefer Windows. That’s like a nice normal bottle-blonde girlfriend who has a proper office job and dresses cleanly from Primark and has a sweet smile and lives in a proper bedsit and knows everyone and how to act normally and is accepted in society. She gets headaches a lot and fits of rage where she smashes everything and there’s an odd smell of decaying human flesh coming from the drains and the toilet backs up every now and then filling the entire block with sewage and bits of bodies, but this is entirely normal and nothing to worry about.
"
Because malware doesn't exist for Linux, right? And phishing is impossible as well?
If the live CD is set up to not mount your harddisk, and if it has a guest account without root privilege, then only malware that does privilege escalation (becoming root) after exploiting a bug can do damage.
Now I'm not a real security expert at all, but I think if the live CD is paranoid enough to not have any harddisk kernel modules, have SELinux on in "setenforce 1" mode, and if the live CD is burned to a DVD-R instead of DVD-RW then I think you'd be quite safe.
Seeing as Linux is used for a lot of different tasks, I believe (but I'm not certain) that there are several distros especially *for* this purpose; hardened Linux distros for computer forensics, penetration testing etc.
A quick look at distrowatch.com shows (N.B. I haven't tested any of these, my family are not computer criminals AFAIK):
"privacy" -- 5 distros; these sound useful esp. LPS
"forensics" -- 8 distros
"live medium" -- 210 distros, many are i18-ized
Now if your guests are not only hardened computer criminals but also very old, consider the extreme user-friendlyness of the Italian project "ELDY":
http://www.eldy.eu/ I haven't tried it yet, but I respect their philosophy: "when you were a baby, they taught you how to walk and cycle. Now that you're grown up and they are getting senile and feeble in the head, you can teach them computer use. Do your best to try, anyway". (I paraphrase..slightly.. )
And it can be answered by a quote from Nancy Reagan: "JUST SAY NO!"
"We have tried using a Linux boot CD but usually get funny looks or confused users."
, my foot.
Look into these:
distrowatch.com search for "live cd"
If you say to your guests "you can either play on our computer using this CD, and look funny or confused at me (or leave in disgust to go to a proper friend with Real Windows(TM) instead), or we can go play frisbee or twister or Risk", they still have the choice and you don't have the computer security problem.
As a bonus, they may want to play frisbee or Twister or Risk with you instead of slaking their computer addiction.
How about like the french. We reprocess what we can, and bury what we can't. Safe and Effective.
Um.. I'm not convinced...
From the wikipedia article about the french Superphénix fast breeder from 1968:
"A public inquiry was launched in April 2004 to consider plans to set up a plant to incorporate the 5,500 tonnes of sodium coolant in 70,000 tonnes of concrete. The plan is similar to that used following the closure of the Dounreay Fast Reactor in the United Kingdom."
"A public inquiry was launched in 2004 to consider plans to set up a plant". Sounds like they're almost finished solving the waste problem then!
Remind me: Any update on whether those 5500 tonnes are still there, or have they been neutralized already? I'm guessing Sodium was used as coolant for the reactor because it cannot be neutron-activated, otherwise it's 5500 tonnes of corrosive highly-radioactive Sodium that burns in water. Anyone got a safe and effective solution?
They would not have built them, if they didn't make financial sense...
I take it that you were born after the cold war...
That's very insightful, except for the fact it's apparently also totally wrong:
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_debate#Indirect_nuclear_insurance_subsidy, if the nuclear industry was forced to pay its own insurance instead of letting the taxpayer pay all accident damage above a certain ceiling, then nuclear would make less financial sense than solar.
In other words, it's subsidized.
OK, agreed, if they are challenged and upheld in a court of law then they're by definition valid in that jurisdiction. And you're right that I believe we'd be better off without them:-)
It needs sandy soil, well drained, and there's a special trick: after it has grown for several seasons and the soil has become "tired", you need to leave that patch fallow for an incredibly long time (15 years at least if I recall correctly). Must be some spore elements it takes out that do not replenish easily. Yes, this contradicts my previous post about 5000 years of agriculture. Sorry about that.
Slashdot Mirror
So they need an open document format. Luckily, one exists: ODF.
In the EU, the right-wing ex-commissioner for Competition, now commissioner for Digital Agenda,Neelie Kroes, understands this, as she said:
(http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-10-300_en.htm) in 2010.
You could also actually reason that being physically violent toward one another will be the single biggest factor in the sudden destruction of our civilization: See the following fictional doomsday scenario: Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
To quote Albert Einstein (who apparently heard it from someone else):
"I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones"
See also: Mutual Assured Destruction
But, that's all just for laughs.
THIS is the reality of our situation (if you dare to read it): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanislav_Petrov.
Heh.
Did you ever read "Galápagos" by Kurt Vonnegut?
Can anyone tell if you can train tesseract to be a bit better at recognizing a specific font?
I'm using the Debian version but if you have a 300 dpi scan the OCR is often gobbledygook.
(Yes, "use the source Luke" is also a valid answer in this case...)
That's what the Internet Archive uses, isn't it?
How disappointing that they didn't use a Tarantella dance as soundtrack.. Missed opportunity..
That's not true.. the minds of Microsoft management control the purse-strings of Microsoft-hired PR firms like Waggener Edstrom, and they are presumably experts in the fabrication of stigmata.
Then there was the "Get the Facts" campaign (remember what happened to the London Stock Exchange?)
And the director of a large multinational software company compared Linux to "Linux is not in the public domain. Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches. That's the way that the license works. ". People like CEO's of large and famous companies exert some influence when they say things like that in public.
Good question.
Because, if the shopping street shops only sell locked-down MS Windows computers anymore, when the antitrust complaints reach the judge, and the judge has never seen linux or doesn't know anyone in her surrounds who has ever seen or used linux, that judge isn't going to take the consumer complaint seriously that "i bought this MS Windows computer but now I can't put this Linux distro on it and I want my money back". Computers run MS Windows. MS Windows is what is on a computer. Who (except for a technical minority) has any need for anything different? Only a minority of people who speak in difficult technical terms.
But if the judge or other authority knows elderly people using a ridiculously cheap ancient computer with a lightweight Linux distro for the computer illiterate, or children using Skolelinux, or just regular families having (K)Ubuntu on their desktop computer, then this would draw attention.
With UEFI secure boot set to "microsoft only", nobody can just try out a linux distro to learn what it's like. Now think what the effects of that would be in 10 years time.
The way we live now, we're happy if any friends decide to stay over anyway.. basically the answer to your (rhetorical) question is that I'd like my guests to feel at home when they are here, including that they can quietly play with the computer for a bit and don't have to feel the need to always interact with us.
:-) and maybe have two separate firewall configurations for how the other computers must interact with the "possibly dangerous" one: as a normal part of your house network, or as "potentially hostile" when you entertain guests or make a living as an internet café.
That being said, your comment shows two separate sources of anxiety: you are afraid that your friends can (knowingly or unwittingly) damage your computer by playing with it. That can mean that (1) you are afraid that they try to subvert your computer and do dodgy things with it, or (2) you are afraid that they try to behave as good guests (print boarding pass etc.) but accidentally damage your computer.
I believe the solutions to these two separate problems are exactly as all the other comments in this discussion:
The answer to problem (2) is to use a secure Linux live CD (maybe a special Kiosk mode like in internet cafés) and let them play like they are at home. Help them when they feel on unfamiliar ground, explain that it may look a bit different then at home, but the red fox is also an Internet just like the blue E.
And the answer to problem (1) is to get better friends
I'm sorry but I feel the need to throw in an additional, personal comment (mod me troll if you like): I think it's sad that nowadays people have this attitude towards computer use that it is seen as a danger to let others use your computer. And I really believe that is is due to most people using MS Windows. No Windows = less paranoia needed. In the old days, uni mainframes and workstations had guest accounts. It is only now that insecurity has become the norm.
My reply would be no. Because that would be like giving not my trusted guests, but some unknown "boot CD with antivirus software" author, physical access to my computer.
Maybe on a spare computer that gets re-installed from CD afterwards and with the other computers' Shorewall configured to "don't listen to anything the potentially evil guest computer says".
It's actually quite enjoyable printing your visiting mother-in-law's boarding pass together.
Oh the insecurity... ;-)
Please stay with MS Windows!
Link: http://newstechnica.com/2008/11/09/ask-jack/ (probably NSFW)
If the live CD is set up to not mount your harddisk, and if it has a guest account without root privilege, then only malware that does privilege escalation (becoming root) after exploiting a bug can do damage.
Now I'm not a real security expert at all, but I think if the live CD is paranoid enough to not have any harddisk kernel modules, have SELinux on in "setenforce 1" mode, and if the live CD is burned to a DVD-R instead of DVD-RW then I think you'd be quite safe.
Seeing as Linux is used for a lot of different tasks, I believe (but I'm not certain) that there are several distros especially *for* this purpose; hardened Linux distros for computer forensics, penetration testing etc.
A quick look at distrowatch.com shows (N.B. I haven't tested any of these, my family are not computer criminals AFAIK):
Now if your guests are not only hardened computer criminals but also very old, consider the extreme user-friendlyness of the Italian project "ELDY":
..slightly.. )
http://www.eldy.eu/
I haven't tried it yet, but I respect their philosophy: "when you were a baby, they taught you how to walk and cycle. Now that you're grown up and they are getting senile and feeble in the head, you can teach them computer use. Do your best to try, anyway". (I paraphrase
"We have tried using a Linux boot CD but usually get funny looks or confused users."
, my foot.
Look into these:
distrowatch.com search for "live cd"
If you say to your guests "you can either play on our computer using this CD, and look funny or confused at me (or leave in disgust to go to a proper friend with Real Windows(TM) instead), or we can go play frisbee or twister or Risk", they still have the choice and you don't have the computer security problem.
As a bonus, they may want to play frisbee or Twister or Risk with you instead of slaking their computer addiction.
Um.. I'm not convinced...
From the wikipedia article about the french Superphénix fast breeder from 1968:
"A public inquiry was launched in 2004 to consider plans to set up a plant". Sounds like they're almost finished solving the waste problem then!
Remind me: Any update on whether those 5500 tonnes are still there, or have they been neutralized already? I'm guessing Sodium was used as coolant for the reactor because it cannot be neutron-activated, otherwise it's 5500 tonnes of corrosive highly-radioactive Sodium that burns in water. Anyone got a safe and effective solution?
I take it that you were born after the cold war...
That's very insightful, except for the fact it's apparently also totally wrong:
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_debate#Indirect_nuclear_insurance_subsidy, if the nuclear industry was forced to pay its own insurance instead of letting the taxpayer pay all accident damage above a certain ceiling, then nuclear would make less financial sense than solar.
In other words, it's subsidized.
N srj lrnef ntb gurer jnf n GI cebtenz "Qentba'f Qra" jurer n thl gevrq gb sybt uvf vqrn sbe n "Erttnr Erttnr" oneorphr fnhpr (vg unq npghny Fpbggvfu Obaarg crccre va vg).
Uvf cyna jbexrq naq uvf fnhpr vf abj va cebqhpgvba. Ohg vg pna'g unir orra rnfl gb tvir lbhe frperg fnhpr erpvcr gb fbzr snzbhf ragercerarhe/vairfgbe va gur ubcr gung gurl jvyy abg evc lbh bss naq yrg lbh rnea n qrprag crafvba ba gur cebprrqf.
PS replies in ROT-26 please
posting to remove wrong moderation. sorry.. i tried to mod you "insightful" but failed.
Hark the word of Andersen the UA string chronicler!
Jay verily, thine blog hath shone a bright light upon this string's murky history.
OK, agreed, if they are challenged and upheld in a court of law then they're by definition valid in that jurisdiction. And you're right that I believe we'd be better off without them :-)
So do I, it was called BASICODE.
Could you please elaborate how this is a given, because I don't understand it.
[This page intentionally left blank.]
Second Variety is available via the Gutenberg project: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32032
I read it as a kid and it totally creeped me out.
It needs sandy soil, well drained, and there's a special trick: after it has grown for several seasons and the soil has become "tired", you need to leave that patch fallow for an incredibly long time (15 years at least if I recall correctly). Must be some spore elements it takes out that do not replenish easily. Yes, this contradicts my previous post about 5000 years of agriculture. Sorry about that.