[SWLUG] Samaritans

[Steve Hill]

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On Thu, 21 Apr 2005, Dick Bain wrote:

> I have a friend who is a Samaritans volunteer and they are having a
> debate about going broadband and the vulnerability to trojans spyware
> and viruses. As I understand it they use web based email and would also
> be  researching things from the  WWW, so they don't need any special
> software.

Certainly sounds like a perfect place for Linux.  Put FireFox and 
Thunderbird on a Linux system (or maybe Evolution since that's more 
OutLuck-alike and they can use the extra bits like calendars, address 
books, etc).

It's probably worthwhile showing them a working system that's set up to 
look very Windows-alike and explain the security benefits as well as 
possible cost savings - they don't need to pay for licences for the 
OS, or any of the user software.  They may even be interested in having 
Open Office on there in the long run to replace their word processor 
before they have to pay to upgrade to the next version of Office.

I think it should be noted that whilest having an always-on connection is 
a potential security risk, it also makes it much easier to keep the 
systems secure by running auto-updates overnight.  Much easier to 
auto-update machines on DSL rather than a dial-up connection.

Also, something that's not often thought about is what do they do if a 
machine "breaks" (hard drive explodes, system gets cracked, general "oops 
I deleted the drive" breakage, etc).  Supplying a restore CD that they can 
easilly reinstall a machine from and have it all working with no technical 
knowledge is a good thing and is well within the realms of possibility.

  - Steve    XMPP/Jabber: steve at nexusuk.org    Web: http://www.nexusuk.org/

      Servatis a periculum, servatis a maleficum - Whisper, Evanescence

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