Hmm ...
"the enormous potential for manipulation and moral corruption that are nested in the modern social communications" - so that's the potential they see in it: a new vector for their mind-virus.
744 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Jul 2007
Power off, disconnect the cables, seal the box in concrete and sink it to the bottom of the ocean.
In fairness though, Linux isn't *that* secure. It's just all right. If you want real security from a modern OS readily available to everyone, there's no alternative to OpenBSD as far as I know.
I'm so glad someone's actually doing this! FAT may be terrible but killing Microsoft's patent would make it more of a universal format, which in itself would make it useful. Also, anything that loosens their grip on the industry and makes it easier for others to innovate has got to be a good thing.
I just got my first Windows XP machine last week, and they're discontinuing it next week?! Back to Linux all round for me then.
Seriously, why don't they just switch to free support for the 'old, boring' version when they introduce the trivial respray to sell to the morons? Some people are trying to do some work here.
Street View's number plate blurring is a bit patchy I find. There's a classic van in my street with a black number plate that has no blur effect on it at all. If it was mine I'd be pretty annoyed with Google (but I would also own a pretty awesome van, which would cheer me up).
"If they have no legal right to stop you walking to your house and walking to your house is not suspicious activity so they have no right to conduct a search or stop you in any way, in which case people should just walk straight past the police and ignore their requests for ID"
Unfortunately, I can't second your suggestion. They'll shoot you repeatedly in the face at point blank range without warning in a crowded confined space and claim you ran.
Funny, last I heard it was Vista that had driver compatibility problems. Last week I bought a cheap (and I do mean *cheap*) USB WiFi adaptor, plugged it into my Ubuntu box and was connected within 5s without any hassle - just entered my network encryption key and away it went. Tried to set up a Windows XP box - two hours of hassle and it still won't 'activate' for some reason, necessitating a phone call to MS, who'll treat me like a pirate even though I own a CoA. Once I eventually squeeze activation out of them (he said optimistically) I'll still only have a borderline useful toaster whose entire purpose in life is to work with their proprietary formats every now and then while my 'loonix' boxes get on with the real work.
Please, can we stop using this stupid argument now? Linux's superior security record is not down to obscurity. It is the majority webserver platform after all.
It comes down to massive, continuous source code peer review and good kernel design. Windows NT lacks both and unless they open source it (and wait a couple of years for the massive refactoring effort that would follow) the writing's on the wall for this decrepit VMS clone.
I believe that 'grass roots' MS advocates are generally either MS, paid by MS, or unaware of the facts. Obviously since I'm a FOSS advocate (oh, all right, fanboy) you could be forgiven for having a chuckle at that paranoid-sounding statement, but there are plenty of well-documented cases of MS astroturf and anyway, this doesn't need to be an accusation of foul play. MS has a marketing budget, and FOSS effectively doesn't - most of its advertising comes from its advocates, who advertise it for free.
Of course, sometimes we're more part of the problem set than the solution set. I'm not an advertising type, I'm a software developer, and because I feel strongly about FOSS as a concept I know I rant a bit. If I was good at pushing a product, I'd probably be more diplomatic and be better at avoiding sounding like I was suggesting that users of MS software are idiots.
Finally, that there are advocates for both sides does not mean the sides are of equal merit. Consider the fact that there are people who believe, and work to spread the notion, that a sky fairy takes an interest in their daily lives, while others argue that there is no such entity; each side has advocates, but one is clearly more correct.
I suppose it comes down to whether you would prefer to be tactlessly given good advice, or diplomatically manipulated into a particular choice by someone who is very good at it, and does so for financial reward, regardless of their actual opinion (if they have one).
I wish I could say I could see both sides of this argument, but an efficient, stable and moderately secure OS you can use, modify and redistribute as you wish, and for which you need not pay, is vastly superior to a defective, fundamentally insecure, expensive proprietary system with outrageous hardware requirements you need to pay to use and never own and may not copy or fix.
and arithmetic.
It's all in the way you set up the questions.
You can *prove* anything with arithmetic, you just have to ask the *right* (or in this case, the *wrong*) questions.
Arithmetic is not, IMHO, a science. Its an art. A bit like magic. Looks impressive if done well, but deep down you just KNOW it's all smoke and mirrors.
Which is just another term for Bullshit!
Goggle guy, closest arithmetic will come to real science.
"Hell the Germans had it all wrong. They should of did a few terrorist attacks and we all would of fell in line"
Actually, the Nazis did use this method - they set up secret prisons, a secret state police, a department for homeland security and set fire to the seat of Parliament (the Reichstag) in Berlin as their mini 9/11.
It's all very familiar.
Server OS doesn't do well with several different services running on it? Set up virtual servers to make life simpler for each of them. Huge waste of resources? Get a bigger server.
OS so riddled with holes it's a matter of time before malware and crackers creep in? Let's run a resource-hungry service to crank through every file checking it for known threats. Huge waste of resources? Buy a faster processor.
Can't write a secure browser? Sandbox the whole damn thing in a dedicated virtual machine. Huge waste of resources? Add some more RAM.
I love it. The motorcycle license requirement could actually be a plus for it - it's one of the reasons Reliant 3-wheelers* did OK for a while (although it wasn't actually a requirement for those of course - either license was acceptable**). Compared to a car it's very small, low, and minimal - but compared to a bike it's enclosed, comfy and electric, so maybe that's a better way to look at it. I do wish it was cheaper though.
* actually, small 4-wheelers (e.g. Kitten, Fox) also, it was a weight thing, not a wheel count thing
** note past tense; relatively recent bike licenses are unfortunately no good