[Gloucs] Linux - Good and Bad

[Barrie Haycock]

Hi All,
 
Just thought you may like to see the following excerpt from a regular 
newsletter I get from Fred Langa about Linux matters - good and bad:
 
 
1) *... A Linux Positive...*
 
     Hi Fred! Just thought I'd pass along a link to a linux
     distribution based on Red Hat. It's called JAMD and is
     available at http://www.jamd-linux.com/ .
 
     It's based on Red Hat 9, maintains full compatibility it, but
     tweaks it to include all the good multimedia features a home
     desktop user need. It also has a very helpful forum to receive
     support from it's community....which is excellent BTW.
 
     It tries to have a Mac-ish sorta look to the default desktop,
     but it's easy to change it if you don't like it. If you want
     to try linux, and just have something that works completely
     out of the box....give it a whirl! Cheers!---Pat
 
Thanks, Pat. It does look interesting: A single CD that includes the OS,
OpenOffice, Mozilla Web browser, Evolution PIM, GnuCash personal finance
The Gimp graphics editor, games, educational software, and more; a
simple 4 step install (mouse, timezone, administrator password, User
account creation); and a claim of "13 minutes from install to desktop."
 
This one'll be fun to try out!
                                      Click to email this item to a friend
                                          http://www.langa.com/sendit2.htm
 
2) *... And A Linux Negative*
 
     Is MS unique in its problems? Will switching OSes end our
     patching woes? Probably not. OpenSource may be in part
     benefiting from modular fingerpointing as practical Linux
     distributions (not just kernel) have many pieces with many
     "owning" project organizations. Any commercial organization
     that writes complete OSes, applications or kitchen sink work
     environments (MS) is going the suffer the effect of all
     fingers pointing to one place.
 
     Note the OpenSSH problem below. Sounds just like MS repeating
     RPC problems.
     http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/linux/mandrake/2003-q3/0170.html
 
     " A buffer management error was discovered in all versions of
     [Linux's] openssh prior to version 3.7. According to the
     OpenSSH team's advisory... It is uncertain whether this error
     is potentially exploitable, however, we prefer to see bugs
     fixed proactively." There have also been reports of an exploit
     in the wild.
 
     MandrakeSoft encourages all users to upgrade to these patched
     openssh packages immediately and to disable sshd until you are
     able to upgrade if at all possible.
 
     Update: The OpenSSH developers discovered more, similar,
     problems and revised the patch to correct these issues. These
     new packages have the latest patch fix applied."
 
     And OpenSSH has been having similar problems since 2001 ---
     Administrator 4. Falter
 
Thanks, Admin. Indeed, all software has weaknesses and flaws. Microsoft
has some special problems (see
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2003/2003-09-29.htm#1 ), but people who
think they'll be safe from trouble if they switch to Macs or Linux or
whatever will be sorely disappointed. No commercial OS is immune from
bugs or security problems. Probably, none ever will be. And whichever OS
is the current top dog will get the most negative attention and hack
attempts. It's inevitable.
 
No matter what OS you use, you have to stay current with patches, and
keep your guard up.
                                      Click to email this item to a friend
                                          http://www.langa.com/sendit2.htm 
****************************************************************************************************************
Best wishes
Barrie Haycock


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