Comments from the darkness where only a den of iniquity exists or perhaps I'm in the White House.
A New Cutting Edge!
Published on July 10, 2005 By Chuck In Personal Computing
A great idea and good style to boot-Knoppix. A friend brought over the latest issue and said give it a try to see what you think. Admittedly, I was accustomed to prior black and white releases until the booting process began and then there it was: COLOR. A fantastic GUI with color; they finally bridged the gap and now have a fully functional color GUI to convince people to use as a weapon against viruses, phish, malware, spyware, etc.

Somehow, I like the idea of a sitting computer that each employee pops in a Knoppix cd,boots up, does their computing, saves materials on a separate instrument, and then retrieves their own software from the CD tray before leaving. How much easier can it be compared to the present networking, perpetual security updates, etc? How much money and time can be saved?

The question, however, seems to be how to convince those many Microsoftites that much of their system work isn't really necessary. Just pop it in, process and remove from tray. You see, I tend to think simplicity is too much for a hard core Microsoftite to fully grasp initially, but will sink in. Many of us become involved in processes until the imagination kicks in to reveal perhaps a better way. There are no security releases; or 8-12 updated weekly; or SP1 or 2 to hurriedly install before Sodom and Gomorah of the cybernet occurs; a separate mentality to maintain; nor a annual monetary tithing to Redmond. I Knoppix has gained quite a following in Europe and the community is really responding to suggestions being given by the public for future innovation. Its really time for imagination to take hold again and provide the public with viable alternatives to overwhelming security concerns. If a major corporation like Microsoft cannot respond in a timely fashion, then third party vendors will step up as before to fill the void.

It's conceivable the entire system can be placed on Cruzer SanDisk or similar, 1Gb, with other software as needed and still have more than enough room to store correspondence, etc. This whole concept is stimulating; finally Linux is taking hold to the tremendous research and development capability worldwide.

Sorry, Bill, it seems apparent there are more exciting concepts coming out of homes than from your facility. The once cutting edge Microsoft had has been diluted with profit motive to the point where better solutions took hold. It won't be long before larger computer manufacturers will be offering Linux based systems again, perhaps even Knoppix, and all the king's horses, all the king's men, will never be able mount their throne again.

Think!!


Comments
on Jul 10, 2005
Dream on.
on Jul 10, 2005
How much easier can it be compared to the present networking, perpetual security updates, etc? How much money and time can be saved?


That's like buying a car and never getting a tune up. Eventually, it'll break.
Yes, I do agree that it might be less time consuming and quicker to install, but that doesn't (ever) mean it's better.
Last I heard, WindowsXP was working on a new version that only installs the basics.
on Jul 10, 2005
There are no security releases; or 8-12 updated weekly; or SP1 or 2 to hurriedly install before Sodom and Gomorah of the cybernet occurs;


I don't know about Knoppix, but my Suse distro has had more security updates than Windows ever has. Linux is no better secured than Microsoft, it's just not a target.


Sorry, Bill, it seems apparent there are more exciting concepts coming out of homes than from your facility. The once cutting edge Microsoft had has been diluted with profit motive to the point where better solutions took hold. It won't be long before larger computer manufacturers will be offering Linux based systems again, perhaps even Knoppix, and all the king's horses, all the king's men, will never be able mount their throne again.


Linux is no competition for Windows. If people with Windows can't handle simple tasks already, do you think they can figure out how to get their hardware working on Linux? I don't think so. I'm not trying to be anti-Linux, but Linux has many problems that the "average" XP user is not going to deal with.
on Jul 11, 2005
Fits... I just imagined Joe User sitting in front of an all fuzzy monitor like me on the weekend after installing Suse 9.3 just to notice that it overclocks the TFT after complete and (seemed so) good installation and fiddling with the console and sax2 to get the tft to show something in KDE. As long as simple things like these aren't adressed, Linux will always be a system for some freaks and experts...
on Jul 11, 2005
Ok, here is a newsflash: There does exist a version of XP that does essentially the same. Its called XP embedded. Problem is it does NOT solve the security issue! Most viruses attach themselfs to either your mail-storage or your documents.

Try to make THEM write only...

Add to that that, that if you want do patch against a vulnerability you would have to make a new CD. So prepare to have a CD of the day. Not efficient. Not safe.

And i guess THAT is why no one else is using ROM opereating systems for anything than simple "dumb" devices.

You, dear sir, need to get a clue.
on Jul 11, 2005
You guys should try Ubuntu. Great distro.
on Jul 12, 2005
It is always a pleasure to learn more.....;thanks all for commenting....