Security suggests switch to Macs

> guess they have bad breath or stinky armpits or something

Far more EVIL and insidious tuxchick.

(whispers) 'it's free!'... Free as in 'free love'!... Free as in welfare fraud!... Free as in pinko commie pot smoking hippies! They even give it away to the Arabs!

And, security, well, it's like that there Kremlin place... KGB, secret police, and all. Imagine having it so secure it's hard for the FBI to get in... Well, you wouldn't want that... It's downright unAmerikan!

Stay with a nice Amerikan OS like Winders or Apple and just make sure you "Do not open e-mail messages that look suspicious and do not click on e-mail attachments you were not expecting"

Email can be suspicious? My operating system is not terrified of plain text.

Nor mine grouch :)

jimf:

I've heard rumors that some operating systems are scared of links, javascript, zipped files and even images! It's pretty far-fetched, I know.

I mailed the BBC expressing disappointment and concern that the story was lopsided but have not as yet received a reply. Based on previous badly reported stories I'm not holding my breath. But it is both sad and infuriating. Especially when you think that the BBC were at LinuxWorld in London last October showcasing their (then) new OpenSource codec. So it's not that they don't know. If then they can't claim ignorance, you have to wonder why such blatantly innaccurate reporting is taking place. Surely a good reporter should put a story in as much contect as possible rater than just repeat, parrot like, the words of others?

Sounds like people are getting a little snitty here.

I'm not surprised at the failure to mention Linux, though I agree it was a dropped ball.

Linux is afflicted with a well-earned geeky image. Never mind that its latest incarnations are approachable, useable, and even enjoyable for the non-geeks.

Mac, at least, is something average people will recognize by name.

Quoting:"Do not open e-mail messages that look suspicious Do not click on e-mail attachments you were not expecting"

I give that advice to people at work all the time. It's not that it's great advice. It's just all that the average person can handle. Anything that sounds more complicated than "Grog put rock in hole" goes ignored.

> all that the average person can handle.

Don'cha just hate talking down to people. It's actually repugnant to think that I have to, but, my experience tells me I, all too often, need to. "Grog put rock in hole" indeed....

Quoting:Don'cha just hate talking down to people.

I do but it sure makes for some good storytelling later.

"Grog put rock in hole" is exactly why GNU/Linux is perfect for Grog. It's the way I set up systems for people who literally confuse the computer with the monitor.

"You have 3 desktops. Click on each of the little monitor icons to see each desktop in turn."

"Click this envelope if your email is not showing on one of your desktops."

"Click this little globe icon if your browser isn't showing. Give it time to start up."

"Click this sky-looking thing for word processing and stuff."

"Click the house icon near the top of your browser to see your home page. It has help for more stuff."

"If you have something on the screen that you think is broken, click this camera icon and then email me."

Grog doesn't want to have to learn about anti-virus and updates and which magic mouse movement can destroy everything.

Quoting:Grog doesn't want to have to learn about anti-virus and updates and which magic mouse movement can destroy everything.

Grog doesn't want to learn at all.

> Grog doesn't want to learn at all.

Which is why MS will always have Grog as a vict... er.. customer.

Quoting:Which is why MS will always have Grog as a vict... er.. customer.

I have to agree and that idea is causing me to develop a bunker mentality.

Fine. Let Grog remain a loyal MS user and let him/her continue to have a buggy, insecure, OS and spend all of his/her time fighting off spyware and viruses when he/she could be...oh...hunting for meat or rooting for berries.

I'll just stay in my cave, happy with Linux until the obelisk appears.

> I'll just stay in my cave, happy with Linux until the obelisk appears.

You'll have time to build a nice house... Grog is the one that will still be in the cave.

Brothers and sisters, it is time for you to go forth and rescue Grog from the Evil Ones! Do not wait for the obelisk to appear to raise Grog's consciousness; you *are* that obelisk! Give Grog a tool which does not attack him, which does not contain A Snake, Poisonous, which does not End the User's Life Anonymous, which does not entrap him in a .NET, which does not Boast of Sudden Attacks. Give Grog a tool which serves and obeys Grog, which Gives Proper Loyalty. Unchain your brother Grog and set his feet on the path to freedom and enlightenment!

We've been trying grouch, but, dispite advise to the contrary, Grog keeps dropping that great ugly stone on his foot... OOH!

grouch :)

One more: Grog must apply Soap Over All of his Person before rescuers can get near Grog.... heeheee, recursive and everything!

Poor Grog keeps getting weird advice from self-appointed experts. He's been brainwashed to just accept what they say ever since he first saw the pretty clouds and flying stained-glass windows. Now he's being told that everything he was told before (by the same self-styled pros) was wrong and that he should trade one faith-based computer system for another, with the only real difference being a different wizard controlling the new system. No wonder he keeps bashing his foot.

tuxchick2:

At least it's not an endless loop like HURD has become.

'According to Thomas Bushnell, BSG, the primary architect of the Hurd:

`Hurd' stands for `Hird of Unix-Replacing Daemons'. And, then, `Hird' stands for `Hurd of Interfaces Representing Depth'. We have here, to my knowledge, the first software to be named by a pair of mutually recursive acronyms. ' http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/hurd.html

It's funny you start about HURD and it's meaning, since I was reading about it yesterday. Wikipedia calls it an "indirect recursive acronym" (which can be abbreviated as IRA).

BTW, for real security, wait for CoyotOS, the first OS with formal provable security. http://coyotos.org/

Lol tuxchick, Grog doesn't understand technical terms like 'recursive' or 'soap' for that matter...