[QUOTE=naf546;5502440]Ever heard of Richard Stallman?
He's one of the founders of GNU/Linux.
The whole idea behind GNU/Linux was to create a computer platform owned by no one.
Sometime in the 1980's, Mr Stallman discovered that companies were developing software privately: they refused to distribute the source code. Their programs were closed source programs. Closed source programs are potentially harmful, potentially hiding malicious features that can exploit your computer and your privacy. Not only that, closed source programs commonly uses licences that take away freedom from it's users, demanding that users must never tamper or distribute the software.

...(snip)
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Growing up we each heard our parents say "Work hard and save up and have a good life." Or words to that effect. It is no surprise that Companies who paid for software programs are slow to let them get away. Problem with software being "MINE" became apparent very soon after the initial sales. Remember the other end of the phone saying things like "I'm sorry about your problem but the guy who wrote it no longer works here."? You take a look at your delivery time tables and -- realize you are going under.

War is expensive. Companies immediately began a war of poaching the others programmers. Programmers base pay soared. Companies' patrons departed. Outflow beat inflow and Companies departed. GNU/Linux appeared as much from necessity as rebellion. I am NOT knocking Richard. GNU/Linux has saved many a Companies rump. Some of the best programs have come from people who would never have written them under the old regime. They would never have had access. A free OS that comes with a plethora of tools, works on most any old PC, and lets you do it "your way" have benefited the Mars rovers, Auto production lines, gaming, the computer in your wrist watch and the list goes on.

Yep - Mr Stallman and friends, the whole of humanity owes you.


Norseman01

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Get paid for services not royalties or we're all doomed and\or.

Sorry, off topic I know, if one is opening SSH to the internet then, really, passwords should be turned off in favour of public keys and root should definitely not be allowed to log in through SSH. Personally, I also use a non-standard port for SSH but bear in mind that this is not more secure it just stops various logs filling up with script kiddie attempts at getting in so they are easier to read.

Maybe it is a good time to re-read Neal Stephenson's "In the Beginning Was The Command Line".
http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html

Sincerely
Linux user since 1994 (Slackware 2.1)

I'll start by saying that I haven't read much by Richard Stallman which I disagree with and the things I did disagree with were details and I don't recall them. In other words, I would be happy to live in a world where software and hardware worked the way he would like it.
Sadly, I live in the UK where, in order to watch shows my taxes pay for I have to install DRM in the form of Flash. For Music I'm Linux only -- all in FLAC on my PCs and portable player. For videos... There's DVD (expensive for things I want to watch once) or the cheaper NetFlix or Amazon -- both of which require binary blobs. For networking -- I could plug my laptop into my router (provided by my ISP, with proprietary firmware, probably based upon Linux) but if I want to use it in other rooms I need non-free firmware.
I could go on...
There are also some certain forms which must be filled in to work in certain roles in the UK (and, possibly, other countries) which pretty-much require Windows or some Apple PC OS.
So, yes, use GNU if you care about freedom but you're limiting your choices in a lot of things from entertainment to employment. If you're Richard Stallman you're probably too busy writing code and messing with hardware to watch movies or take a badly-paid job but, for the rest of us, the freedom aspect may not be a plus side...


Edit:
He's one of my favourite authors even though he annoys me sometimes. Definately worth a read and more relevant than most would have guessed, I think?

One big reason the average Joe might have to switch is that it's free of charge for most distros. Another is how the system updates, it's not as intrusive as Windows updates are. And you dont have to worry about viruses like you would compared to a Windows PC.

Those are probably the biggest three for the average Joe, I think. Also, I'm assuming that the average Joe you're talking about is not in the IT field whatsoever, or a techie for that matter.

The average techie obviously likes these three things, too, but for us there are a hundred other reasons to switch from Windows to Linux.

By the way, I've never had a Mac laptop before. Two of my coworkers, one being my manager, uses a mac book pro as their primary computers, and they both love it. I've always wanted to get one, but the price, though... I'm a buy-a-windows-laptop-and-put-linux-on-in-type-of-guy. I'm not cheap, just frugal. I personally have a Samsung R480 laptop with Debian on it and cant see a reason why Windows will ever touch this hardware again. stay back windows! Or I'll rm -rf your ass!

Hmm. http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2994

s will DL from anywhere? "compared to a Windows"

Well, if you download it in a browser, it is easy to overlook. And the distributions are not making it any easier to use tools like "wget" by hiding the URL behind fancy buttons etc.

I don't think it has to do anything with windows, linux users are normal people with all the shortcomings of normal people. It just shows that there is no reason to feel 100% protected just by using linux.

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True. Perhaps most of us GNU\Linux user think we're more secure (perhaps further back rightfully so, or conversely;) in the long run I think we become administrators, quicker and more so, than any at home proprietary system user?

Tho: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7qQ6_RV4VQ
https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorial...une-to-viruses

Free virus scanners... o.O

Yes, but in the context of viruses it is important to note that this was a wordpress exploit, not a Linux related issue.

So even in the hypothetical case that Linux itself were perfectly secure, the attack vector would still result in compromised Linux machines.

If it demonstrates nothing else, it demonstrates the ultimate futility of existing security models... there will ALWAYS be another attack vector.

It also should point out that thinking of such things as "vulnerabilities" is a bit misleading. We tend to think of a vulneraability as something that can and should be fixed. But this is more akin to our common human vulnerability due to blunt force impact to the skull! That doesn't mean that our skulls are defective, it means that we must create an environment where blunt force to the head is a rare event!

In the current internet environment, exploits are the rule, not the exception. Until someone can fix the human race so that we no longer do these things to each other, we must seriously rethink the internet model as the only workable solution.

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Thanks! Well put, good analogy.

That's why I want to learn Gentoo, so you only put on your system what you need effectively reducing the attack vector..

This kind of thing really anoys me -- I understand that there are. Various load-balancing mechanisms going on but lack of a simple, wget-able, link is very annoying.