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Was: Ubuntu wierdness Now: Disabling security in the name of availability



>   Here is something that I personally am against.  Do we all agree
> that the more ubiquitous Linux becomes, the more security will become
> an issue?

Most of the time the reason why the operating system that shall not be
named seems to have a lot of trouble with users is that it gives users
almost no power and gives anyone the user may know who is experenced
exactly the same amount of no power over the way the software works.
contrast that to the gnu platform where everything can be changed by
anyone; if a security problem exists then someone will solve it, not
just for themselves but for all of their 'lazy' user friends too.

>   Not that I'm against Linux on the desktop, and I applaud SuSE,
> Ubuntu, and whoever else is making these strides.  But we have to
> relearn people to the ways of the computer.  We have to motivate the
> large amount of lazy users today into realizing that their lives are
> in the hands of these computers that they take for granted.

I don't think it's worth talking about educating users in a formal
manner. There users are using computers to get stuff done. I wouldn't
appreciate being forced to learn about tcp/ip before I could connect
to the internet for exactly the same reason: why all learn what a few
can learn and reshape the tools and best practices for everyone else?

This was really my point, if experienced users are helping their non
experenced (or lazy as you put it) users; then should they be making
sure there is more not less securty. take for instance the enabling of
the root account, on a Debian machine there is hardly any reason to do
that unless you know what your doing and why.

>   Is it possible?  Can we get helpful people like Why The Lucky Stiff
> to make manuals that are fun to read and easy to understand?  I wish
> J.K.Rowling would write a book about these things.

And I wish Terry Pratchett would write Doctor Who episodes... not
going to happen.

Best Regards, Martin Owens

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