[Wylug-discuss] Open Source attacks.

[Rob Hall]

On Wed, 2008-04-09 at 10:14 +0100, Anne Wilson wrote:
> The problems with M$ OSs are simply accepted as something that 'happens', like 
> thunderstorms.  M$ made computers easy enough to be used by monkeys.  The 
> natural corollary is....
> 

I think that Windows made computers usable by people. Prior to Windows,
I reckon that the nearest usable thing for the average human being was
the Amiga. GEM came somewhere near and then along came Windows. 

So what if it has some bugs - show me an Open Source project which
doesn't; for the vast majority of humans who want to just bang out a
letter or email their kids in New Zealand or do a bit of shopping online
it is fine. Most of the problems we see are when people don't take
adequate precautions against the threats against their chosen OS but
that also applies for Linux - 777 permissions on a php config file
containing passwords anyone?

XP has turned into quite a stable OS (when it is set up properly) and it
is a shame that it will go to be replaced by Vista (which I still can't
bring myself to like - not because it is a M$ product but because it
just doesn't feel nice to use) but I am sure that Vista will mature.

We are probably quite lucky here that most of us are tech-minded and
able to root out problems on many platforms but for the average human
being who barely knows the difference between a hard-drive and their
tower case all they want is something that just works. And Windows
does. 

Has Ubuntu made Linux usable by monkeys?! Just monkeys not afraid of the
command line!

I love OS software and I am gradually getting people at work used to the
idea that it is, sometimes, as good as a piece of paid for software. We
are using quite extensively in our school now in the background and in
the classroom but, where needs be, we will more than happily pay for
software. The two can co-exist without any one side becoming elitist
over the other.

My Debian-based mail server still blows Exchange out of the water
though!!!!

Rob