flatfish+++ <flatfish@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> On Wed, 20 Dec 2006 09:06:50 +0000, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> __/ [ Mark Kent ] on Wednesday 20 December 2006 07:52 \__
>>
>>> begin oe_protect.scr
>>> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>>> School District Dropping Macs for More "Appropriate Technology"
>>>>
>>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>>| Mr. Willard's Mac-free schools will also use open source software
>>>>| from Lenox Softworks. The combination of Windows plus open source
>>>>| software, he said, will prevent students from downloading music
>>>>| and movies to the computers.
>>>>|
>>>>| Some Macs will be allowed to stay in elementary and middle schools
>>>>| in concentrated areas, but it looks like high schools will have to
>>>>| do without.
>>>> `----
>>>>
>>>> http://www.macobserver.com/article/2006/12/18.4.shtml
>>>
>>> Using Windows will /prevent/ students from doing things... fascinating.
>>> Of course, it'll permit all manner of other people to use the machines,
>>> but the requirement is that they come in over the network.
>>
>> I've heard of hospitals becoming a botnets, but not schools. In any event,
>> the decision-maker seems clueless. For the majority of people who use Macs
>> or /wish/ to explore alternatives *gasp* there would at least be Mac
>> options. Isn't learning about choice and exploration? I guess they would
>> rather lock it all down. More like boot camp. Before you know it they'll
>> remove all the drinks (except for Coca Cola) from the vendign machines,
>> including water. Then they'll disable all the faucets.
>
>
>
> 1. This is exactly the type of mindset that I saw at the school board
> meeting I attended a couple of weeks ago.
> However this was a new Windows refresh and a person asked about Linux.
> See my "Linux in the real world" thread for details.
>
> Unfortunately, Linux is up against these armchair experts even more so
> than Macs are and it is extremely difficult to present logical points to
> such a person.
>
> 2. I have actually seen a hospital server, a huge IBM RISC based server
> become a porn bot. It was running AIX BTW and it happened because the sys
> admin was an idiot and had the operators running as root all the time.
>
And on the subject of that, I got caught up in one of those wacky site
jumps to site jumps to site pages today whereupon suddenly up pops firefox
with a "do you want to execute this file"? This is on Ubuntu.
Now, ok if I run it (had I been so silly) in my user priviliges, but for
most people that is bad enough. A program configured to be recognised as
an exe could possibly run itself under wine and delete/corrupt your user
data. I have to "sudo" so often these days, whether it is to compile &
install from source or from synaptic that it wouldnt surprise me to see
user caught out unawares with malicious bash scripts too. Its just a
question of time. I fail to see, other than the root safety, how Linux
protects one against user incompetence any more than Windows.
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