--- "Baudouin, Andrew" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > John, > > The comments were serious. He "seriously" doesn't > help his sister because > she uses Windows. That's ridiculous.
Well, I happen to have worked with Scott in the past. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't have much experience with Windows. So, he wouldn't be of much help with supporting Windows for a home user. I think you are jumping to conclusions rather than asking questions and assessing all the information objectively. > > MS Windows is great too, especially if you like > > sharing your computer resources with others on the > > Internet. ;) > > I use XPSP2 and its personal firewall. Funny you mention that: http://secunia.com/advisories/13482/ > I create Limited user accounts for people to use > their computer with. Wheee. > I educate users to buy the latest version of Outlook > (2003) which blocks all > executable attachments. So the solution to badly implemented local security is to purchase more Microsoft software? > I educate users not to go to gambling websites and > stick with trusted sites > (msn, yahoo, google). You must be joking. I'll assume you aren't, so do you give your users a list of approved sites to go to or do you teach them how to recognize "trusted" sites? What constitutes a trusted site? Of course I'm being facetious. This tactic is a poor security method, but now that I think about it, reminds me of how Microsoft treats its users. Think about what you are saying. Say it out loud and really consider what it means: "You can't go to some websites on the Internet because the OS is not secure." Now who is being ridiculous? > Linux users that run as root all of the time would > have the same problems as > a Windows user who runs with administrative > privileges. True, but irrelevant. > If the family member wants to install, let's say, a > card game to play on his > Xandros, how is that done? Via a nice GUI front-end to apt, that's how: http://www.xandros.com/products/home/xn/xandros_networks.html > Do they know how to > apt-get? They could learn. And there are a number of nice front-ends to apt. > What if they > wanted to stop at Wal-Mart and pick up one of the > Hoyle Solitaire's for $5. Why pay $5 when you play card games on-line for free, without installing software? http://www.solitairecentral.com/sol_web.html However, this is the most intelligent question you've asked, as it brings up a number of issues beyond the scope of this message. I'll be glad to discuss it more if you would like. > Would that run on Linux? Why yes, it does: http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?appId=1483 ;) But, this is irrelevant. It wouldn't run on OSX either. > Let's say they wanted to install MythTV. Would they > know how to recompile a > kernel for bttv/ivtv support and to disable > preemption? Would they know how > to make sure their /etc/modules.autoload.d/2.6 > stayed up to date? > > There are no install CD's for device drivers for > Linux. This is a market share issue, not a technological one. There are already some hardware manufacturers that release device drivers for Linux. More will follow as Linux gains more market share. > There is no > widespread cheap software library for Linux. Um, what? Are you high? > There > is no "standard" version > of Linux. So? > It will forever be limited to us geeks. "Linux market may grow to $35 billion by 2008" http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6719248/ > The sooner we realize > that, the better. <satire mode="cyncical">Oh my gosh. You are right! Better tell all those enterprises running Linux on the desktop to go back to Windows.</satire> I say thank goodness there is no "one size fits all" version of Linux. Choice and competition is a good thing. Operating systems should not be standard, protocols should be. > If you want to give something to > your family members, > suggest they purchase OS X on a mac. $$$ > > The way I look at it, it is kinda like getting > someone > > you love to quit smoking. You know it's bad for > them, > > but convincing them to quit can cause problems. > > Hardly. Chief, you need to lighten up. Or I need to put more smileys in my email when I try to be humorous. :) There you go. John __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - What will yours do? http://my.yahoo.com
