Operating Systems > Linux and UNIX

Why do we want people to switch to Linux ?

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inane:

--- Quote from: Pathos ---Because We don't want to be stuck in the MS trap.

The GNU way is the only way this was ever possible:
- The GNU licence protects OSS developers from being ripped off. So they dedicate themselves to quality OSS software
- The resulting OS is free as in beer so anyone can get it.
.
--- End quote ---


Besides the practical advantages to a Free Software OS, we must look at the political ramifications. The societal advantages that will be brought about far outweigh anything that could be considered technologically better.

The way I describe it to people I talk to about Free Software is this...

"Imagine that your hardware is a car and the software are the roads... now imagine a world where you can't look at a map lest you risk the chance of being sued because all of the roads are copyrighted or patented. Now let's go further to envision that 90% of these roads if not most of them aren't owned by one company they are overseen... what would be the condition of these roads? (they usually come in with talk about a crapload of potholes and dilapidated bridges, I add to it and ask them how many tolls they'd pay.) How much trash and bullshit would be on the road as well as how much damage would be incurred to your vehicle... Well that is what's happening to your computers right now and the roads are only getting steadily worse, snowballing. (Here I ensure them that I'm not some kind of political extremist) Some software DOES have the right to be proprietary especially if it is specialized and for specific industries. But can you even begin to think of a world where you couldn't look at lawyer affadavits and the reasons behind laws passed down by jusdges or even worse the laws themselves, our political system is based on freely available information. The computer industry is becoming far too engrained with governmental, economic and law to be the exception. To be honest... you could directly compare Microsoft with Haliburton. Having a company reap massive profits doing the job of the government and doing it in secrecy?:thumbdwn: Want to see a fair election? Open source those goddamn voting machines software, run them on software built on freedom."

etc etc etc... I've yet to have anyone able to counter these things that I say.

mobrien_12:

--- Quote from: H_TeXMeX_H --- why not e-mail everyone and tell em about Linux. Sadly I think the ITS won't allow non-Window$ OS to run due to the "security threat". They say you gotta be running anti-virus to connect ... they may have this built into being able to access the internet. Still, it's worth a try I suppose.
--- End quote ---


No no no.  Don't email everyone.  That's spam and we don't want to be associated with that.  

Sometimes IT people at universities are like frightened children.  Sometimes they get so scared of being breached they get fixated on a policy and don't use their brains.  

When I worked at a university, I had computers on a subnet that was hacked.  They suddenly went from no security to overboard.  My computers weren't the problem.  The chief admin was a nice guy, but he really had no clue about running computers in a science lab.  He told me that I had to replace all the Windows95 operating systems with Windows2000.  I flat out told them that I would not do that and could not do that because I had legacy hardware and software that would not run under the NT kernel (which was abosoulely true).  He started to argue with me and just interrupted him by saying that that I did not have $100,000 to replace the legacy hardware or several months to rewrite the software, and what he wanted was simply not going to happen, plus he was ignoring the fact that MY COMPUTERS WERE SECURE (the breach was on one of their systems).

He backed down, but three weeks later shut down all my networking claiming my systems had been hacked.  He had a problem, instead of doing any detective work at all, he just assumed it was me (of course, by doing so, he left the problem system ONLINE).  Again, nice guy, but stopped using his brain.   I had to spend two hours holding his hand through his own netoworking logs before he realized that MY COMPUTERS WERE SECURE.  

Another time I had to install Linux.  I told him that I was going to install a Linux box (needed an IP number, and he had locked the routers out to specific MAC addresses).  When he asked what distro, I told him RedHat 8.  He sat there and told me that they only allowed SuSe because all other distributions had security holes (obviously he knew squat about Linux, SuSE is great, but not the only secure distro).  Again, he was a nice guy, but the response was rather childish.  I patiently explained to him firmly that no, that was not true, I knew what I was doing, I had several RH linux boxes exposed directly to the internet without them being hacked, I would firewall the crap out of it with IPCHAINS, and they were free to portscan it and see for themselves. They did that night.  I passed.    Two months later I got a huge portscan traffic from a random IP address in the building.  I send the logifles to them and told them that they  had a security breach.  They wrote back and said "well that was just us checking your security again.  You know, thanks for noticing it."

They never bothered me again.

My advice, put your linux box on the network, and set up a good IPTABLES firewall (you can go to firestarter.sourceforge.net for a wizard-tool if you are not proficient with IPTABLES).    They can't tell what your box is if the ports are blocked, unless they are actively sniffing your browser packets for the broswer ID (in which case I'd be alarmed for privacy reasons).  Don't set up an active mailserver (most distros have their sendmail or postfix configured not to listen to the internet these days) and use the university mail proxy so they don't see stuff coming from port 25.  In fact, leave pretty much all the servers off.  

If they call you on it, be courteous, but firm.  Understand that these guys are really really insecure because they have to deal with fuckwit windoids all the time like that Jerry Taylor guy from Tuttle Oklahoma.  Let them know you are not a fuckwit windoid, and you know what you are doing by speaking their  language.  That will make them feel better.

H_TeXMeX_H:
Hmmm ... I suppose you're right. If M$ were at least toned down, things would be a lot better. It would kill a lot of the bullshit companies, but they would deserve it. Hopefully Linux is secure enough to make viruses a thing of the past.

@ mobrien_12: so it would just be better to hand out Ubuntu CDs ? They send a lot of mail to me that isn't really spam, but it's targeted at all students ... well I suppose I shouldn't risk marketing Linux as spam. Is there a better way to advertise it without it being spam ?

inane:

--- Quote from: H_TeXMeX_H ---Hmmm ... I suppose you're right. If M$ were at least toned down, things would be a lot better. It would kill a lot of the bullshit companies, but they would deserve it. Hopefully Linux is secure enough to make viruses a thing of the past.

@ mobrien_12: so it would just be better to hand out Ubuntu CDs ? They send a lot of mail to me that isn't really spam, but it's targeted at all students ... well I suppose I shouldn't risk marketing Linux as spam. Is there a better way to advertise it without it being spam ?
--- End quote ---


I order loads of Ubuntu CDs and hand them out to almost anyone I meet that's halfway intelligent and owns a computer newer than 5 years. Even if they do not use it, it still sits in their hands for a short time and reminds them that there is more than simply one OS solution. Usually it ends up in their top desk drawer but that's better than it NOT being there. I imagine that many of those CDs will end up in CD trays if my friends are unfortunate enough to buy Vista (against my recommendations) and quickly get pissed.

TexMex, honestly, what do you think the reason for Free Software's superiority over proprietary products is?

Aloone_Jonez:
piratePenguin and I have had many discussions (well more like flame wars) about this, here are the two most prominent:
http://www.microsuck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9666&page=1&pp=25
http://www.microsuck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9566&page=1&pp=25
Because we're both so oppinionated neither of us have effected the other's views so make up your own mind.

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