Practical Technology

for practical people.

November 10, 2009
by sjvn01
2 Comments

Where is the Linux desktop going?

While I like the Linux desktop a lot, I don’t pretend that it’s that popular. That’s why I found it fascinating that, despite everything Microsoft has been able to throw at it, desktop Linux still managed to claim 32% of the netbook market.

And Microsoft has thrown everything but the kitchen sink at desktop Linux. For example, the Redmond giant has strong-armed vendors into not selling Linux-powered netbooks; lied about Linux sales; and all but gave XP Home away to keep vendors from including Linux instead . Despite all that, it seems, according to ABI Research, that desktop Linux has actually grown in the last year.

ABI reports that almost a third of the netbooks that will have shipped in 2009 came with Linux. Last year at this same time, ASUS, then the world’s biggest netbook vendor, said that only three out of ten of its netbooks were shipped with Linux. In fact, looking ahead, Jeff Orr, an ABI analyst, predicted that Linux will overtake Windows on netbooks by 2013.

Why? Because it’s cheaper. The rise of ARM-powered netbooks with Linux that will bring laptops to the $100 price range is expected to help Linux take over the bottom-end of computing.

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November 10, 2009
by sjvn01
0 comments

Microsoft violates GPL

Microsoft has long ripped off free software. The canonical case is that Microsoft’s first version of the fundamental TCP/IP network stack, which underlies the Internet and almost all business networking, was swiped from the BSD-licensed Unixes. Years later, it seems Microsoft still can’t resist stealing from open-source software.

Rafael Rivera, a Microsoft fan, reports in his “Within Windows” blog that Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, a program to help netbook XP Home users to upgrade to Windows 7, contains “source-code source code was obviously lifted from the CodePlex-hosted (yikes) GPLv2-licensed ImageMaster project.”

CodePlex is Microsoft’s open-source project hosting site. It’s also the name of Microsoft’s new ‘open-source,’ non-profit group, the CodePlex Foundation. The Foundation’s job is to bring open-source and proprietary software companies together to work on open-source projects. Well, now we know why: so that Microsoft can walk off with any goodies that they produce.

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November 9, 2009
by sjvn01
1 Comment

Child Porn: Malware’s ultimate evil

If you lose files, you can probably restore them. If your credit gets stolen, you can eventually restore it. But, if malware starts storing child pornography on your PC, you’re done. In a world where anything goes-as Paris Hilton’s ‘career’ and SC governor Mark Sanford continuing in office after his ‘hike’ on the Appalachian trail shows–there are still some things you cannot do and survive in society. Near the top of that list is child pornography. Now, thanks to some particularly nasty Windows malware, your computer might be being used to store it and you may never know it until it’s too late.

A recent AP report revealed that pedophiles are using “virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they’ll get caught.” It’s not just sick people though. “Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites. Whatever the motivation, you get child porn on your computer – and might not realize it until police knock at your door.”

The AP “found cases in which innocent people have been branded as pedophiles after their co-workers or loved ones stumbled upon child porn placed on a PC through a virus. It can cost victims hundreds of thousands of dollars to prove their innocence.”

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November 6, 2009
by sjvn01
3 Comments

An important Linux fix

Most of the time you can go for months, years, without patching your Linux distribution and not be in any real danger. A recently uncovered security hole in the Linux kernel does deserve your attention.

Specifically, Earl Chew, a Linux developer, and, at about the same time, Brad Spengler, creator of the Linux security program Grsecurity, discovered that there was a possible null pointer error that could, in theory, enable non-root users grab administrator privileges. You don’t want that to happen.

This particular bug, known in developer circles as CVE-2009-3547, hits all modern versions of the Linux 2.6 kernel It’s been fixed in the upcoming 2.6.32 RC (release candidate), but unless you’re running on Linux’s bleeding edge, you’re not running that version of the kernel.

So chances are you might have this problem. I say might because for this security hole to be open the value to the mmap_min_addr pointer has to be zero. If it’s not, you’re safe.

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November 6, 2009
by sjvn01
2 Comments

Could Microsoft switch to Linux?

You’d expect, as my friend Preston Gralla did, that when someone says “proprietary software is eventually going to be doomed,” and that Microsoft’s future might best be served in releasing its own version of Linux that he’s a Linux fan. Wrong, this prophet of Windows doom and gloom was Keith Curtis, a former Microsoft Research staffer. Could he be right? I think the answer is yes and no.

Yes, proprietary software is on the decline. Forget about the free software ideology that holds that free access to code is morally right. Businesses have figured out that not only does open source tend to produce better code, it’s cheaper to produce it. Economic reality has made even Microsoft to, ever so reluctantly, embrace some open-source projects.

Sure you have to share the fruits of your efforts in open-source development, but you end up creating better code faster. As many developers have discovered it’s a lot easier to build on top of other programmer’s good work rather than waste time with proprietary software development constant reinvention of the wheel.

And, yes, Microsoft could release a Linux of its own with a Windows Aero-like interface on top of it. Why not? It’s not that hard to make a Linux desktop distribution.

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November 4, 2009
by sjvn01
2 Comments

Linux for grandma & grandpa

Like a lot of technically savvy people I’m the default technical support person for friends and family. I’ve no problem with that, but I can’t spend all my time answering my mother-in-law’s questions and worrying over what malware she might stumble over. So, I put desktop Linux on her laptop and ever since then I’ve had a lot fewer late night calls.

What’s that? Linux is much too complicated and techie for someone who might have trouble navigating Outlook Express? Sorry, that’s not been the case for years. Take a look at the new Ubuntu 9.10, and you’ll see what I mean.

Besides, think about it. If your older relatives are like mine they use the desktop for e-mail and the Internet and that’s about it. Firefox, with GMail for e-mail, looks and works the same both on Linux and Windows.

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