Practical Technology

for practical people.

July 10, 2009
by sjvn01
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Windows of mass destruction

For most of this week, prominent Web sites in both South Korea and the United States have been being bombarded by DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. At times, these assaults have knocked out multiple major sites. North Korea has been taking the blame for these attacks, but no one has any proof yet. What we do know is that the weapon that’s doing this damage is compromised Windows PCs.

Tens of thousands of Windows PCs have been taken over by an unknown botnet master. He or she is using an updated version of the ancient MyDoom Windows worm to make the attacks.

Let me put this in context. MyDoom dates from January 2004. It’s pre-historic by malware standards.

MyDoom, unlike most malware, such as Conficker was never meant to steal your credit-card numbers and the like. No, MyDoom, from its start as a DDoS attack dog aimed at SCO, was designed to wreck Web sites and, after it had done its work, blast your hard drive into randomized 1s and 0s.

Even today’s versions are primitive, brutally simple in its attacks, and, of course, powered by Windows. Without Windows, and its endless security holes, MyDoom couldn’t even exist, never mind thrive.

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July 9, 2009
by sjvn01
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Of Monopolies and Mono

Mono, the open-source development environment based on Microsoft’s .NET, has really gotten people ticked off lately. The long and short of the argument is that Mono is a Trojan-horse that will introduce Microsoft poisoned patents into Linux. After, Richard M. Stallman, free-software’s dad wrote, “Debian’s decision to include Mono in its principal way of installing GNOME, for the sake of Tomboy which is an application written in C#, leads the community in a risky direction. It is dangerous to depend on C#, so we need to discourage its use,” the fight was on.

Or, it should be said, the fight had been renewed. Stallman and many others, had often objected over the years to Linux, or other free software users embracing Mono’s implementation of C# or application written in Mono.

Stallman believes that “The danger is that Microsoft is probably planning to force all free C# implementations underground some day using software patents. This is a serious danger, and only fools would ignore it until the day it actually happens. We need to take precautions now to protect ourselves from this future danger.” Of course, no one is suggesting that any part of Linux, or any other operating system, be written in Mono. The problem is that several popular open-source programs like Tomboy, a well-regarded note-taking program; Moonlight/Moonshine, which enables users to listen and view Windows Media-bound music and videos on Linux; and Banshee, a Linux music player, are based on Mono.

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July 9, 2009
by sjvn01
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Dell is sticking with Ubuntu

I really don’t know how this rumor got started, but there are people talking about Dell no longer shipping Ubuntu-powered PCs. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The rumor might have started because Dell’s U.S. Ubuntu sales page currently only shows Ubuntu-powered laptops and netbooks without a desktop PC in sight. That’s because, according to Anne Camden, a Dell spokesperson, “We are currently transitioning desktop models, moving from the previous generation desktop (Inspiron 530) to a current generation Inspiron desktop. The Ubuntu Linux desktop offering should be back on the Website soon.”

Other sources at Dell tell me that Dell Ubuntu-powered netbooks continue to sale well. Dell will not be leaving desktop Linux.

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July 9, 2009
by sjvn01
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VirtualBox 3.0: An easy way to mix and match operating systems

Whether you prefer Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X, you can probably get almost everything you need done with your chosen OS. However, sometimes a task demands an OS that you are not currently using. That’s where virtualization programs like Sun Microsystem’s VirtualBox 3.0 come in.

What is it? VirtualBox is an open-source virtualization program which lets you run guest operating systems with your native desktop operating system. For instance, if you need Windows to run Quicken, but prefer Linux for all your other work, VirtualBox enables you to bring up Windows and Quicken without leaving your Linux desktop.

What you get is an adjustable window containing the guest operating system floating on the host system. So, for example, you could have a Windows XP guest instance entirely hiding its Linux host system.

There are currently two editions: a full package that is free for personal use (enterprises should contact Sun directly); and the Open Source Edition (OSE), which lacks a few features such as USB support and an easy installer, but comes with complete source code. Both are free.

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July 8, 2009
by sjvn01
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Go Google Chrome OS! Just don’t go too fast, too far

I love the idea of Linux-based Google Chrome OS becoming a desktop operating system force. For too long, Microsoft has held desktop users hostage with a market shared they gained from an illegal monopoly, and which they now are trying to hold on to by strong-arming PC vendors into not using Linux on their netbooks.

For a lot of reasons, which I go into another tale on Chrome OS, I think Google might be able to do what so many others, like Apple, Novell, and Red Hat, have failed to do: disrupt Microsoft’s iron-grip on the desktop.

I know some people can’t see it. They look, as have I, at the trouble that you can get into running anything that requires a constant and fast network connection. I’ve been looking closer at HTML 5 and its inherent local storage and processing abilities. I’ve also been taking a long hard look at what you can do with Google Gears. Put them together, which is exactly what Google will be doing in Chrome OS, and you have a platform that’s going to work pretty darn well for users whether they’re online or not.

So, this is all good news right? The Linux desktop finally gets a champion that everyone already knows and trusts. Users who might be puzzled by KDE or GNOME will already know how to use Chrome’s OS’ familiar Web browser interface. And, they’ll also have no learning curve to speak of to pick up Google’s well-known-and no longer beta!–applications. Put it all together with its free price-tag, and Microsoft should be worried sick.

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July 8, 2009
by sjvn01
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Why Google Chrome OS matters already, on Day 1

At last. At long last, there’s a real challenger to the Windows desktop, and its name is Google Chrome OS.

Why is Google Chrome OS going to be real trouble for Windows? After all, technically, desktop Linuxes like Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu, long ago left Windows in the dust. Mac OS X Leopard is also darn good and it and its upcoming successor, Snow Leopard, are easier to use than anything else out there. So, what’s so special about Google Chrome OS? I’ll tell you.

The most important single fact you need to keep in mind is that everyone who uses a computer already knows Google, and most of them trust it. Only PC power users know about Linux, and the ones who know what’s what about such top-Linux desktop distributions as MEPIS 8 and Mint 7 are numbered in millions compared to the hundreds of millions who know Windows. Pretty much everyone knows Apple, but, even as Apple has gained some desktop market share, CEO Steve Jobs has never moved from his stand that Macs are high-end PCs. Apple builds sports cars, and it’s not interested in selling you a truck, an SUV or, heaven forbid, a station wagon.

Everyone knows and can afford Google, though. They may not know much about Google Docs, but they trust Google for their searches and many of them are already Gmail users. You see, unlike the other alternatives to Windows, Google has the singular advantage of already being well known and well liked. That will make all the difference in the world.

That said, here’s what else you need to know about Google Chrome OS.

  1. It’s Linux-based. It is not a simple presentation layer that vendors could put on top of Windows 7. Google will be delivering a complete desktop software stack — Linux foundation, graphical environment, and Web-based application stack.
  2. The whole package will be open source. Google isn’t saying which, if any, existing distribution it will be using for its foundation. Google certainly has the chops to roll its own desktop Linux. The desktop interface is not going to be either GNOME– or KDE-based. I’m told by sources, however, that it will be using the Portland Project’s desktop APIs (application programming interfaces), which will allow existing Linux desktop applications like the groupware program Evolution and OpenOffice to work with Chrome OS.
  3. That said, Chrome OS is not a traditional desktop operating system, like Google’s own desktop and device operating system, Android. It’s a new kind of operating system that sits halfway between the old desktop operating system model and the newer idea of a Web-browser based operating system.

    At first glance, the idea of a Web browser as an operating system looks silly. It’s not. With HTML 5’s adoption, it’s functionality has made it possible for Google to create Web-based applications that can work both off and online.

    Here’s how it will work in Chrome OS. When you launch an application on the Web, say Google Docs, Chrome will use Google Gears to not only provide the ability to do work offline, but also to cache your online data in the open-source lightweight DBMS Sqlite. As a user, you’ll never see any of this. You’ll just find yourself doing most of your work in the Chrome browser interface.

    Once Google has this working really well, you may not even be able to tell when you’re on the net and when you’re not. I’m told off the record by Google engineers that the goal is to make the desktop invisible. You’ll be spending 99% of your time in the browser.

  4. This isn’t Android, is it? No, this is a different take on the desktop. Android is much more like Symbian on a smartphone or XP on a netbook. With Chrome OS, the plan is to bring Google’s strong points, it’s unparalleled collection of Web-based applications, straight to the desktop.

    This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this idea. GOS (Good OS) used it first. What’s different from the forthcoming Chrome OS and gOS 3.1 is the level of integration. GOS is a Linux desktop with a lightweight interface that uses many of Google’s applications. Chrome OS is a Linux desktop that has Google’s local infrastructure programs, like Gears and Sqlite, built in.

  5. When will we see it? Vendors are already working with Google to deliver netbooks with Chrome OS by the second half of 2010. Can’t wait that long? Don’t sweat it. I’m told by sources that bootable beta Chrome OS images will be available by this fall.
  6. How much will it cost me? Nada. Nothing. This is Linux and open source. Where Google will make its money is where it does now: online advertising and, as Chrome OS takes off in businesses, subscription fees to Google Apps. So, for businesses, instead of spending several hundred dollars a year, on average per user, for Windows, Microsoft Office, security software, etc., etc., you’ll be able to pay a flat $50 a year per user for the whole office desktop kit and kaboodle.

Take Google’s well-known and respected name, combine it with an unbeatable price tag, toss in Linux’s unmatched security and stability, and what do you get? The most serious competition Windows has seen this century.

The original version of this story first appeared in ComputerWorld.