ferret
Aquarium Advice Addict
Er. Well, here's why I use Windows XP Pro: It works. I go 2 weeks without reboots usually, and generally only then because I've installed a new game or driver, or thunderstorm, etc. This was not possible with any 9x/ME versions of Windows, so I consider it a drastic improvement, especially in areas of memory management (I remember how often I used to have to run a RAM defrag in 98SE, never do in XP Pro). Granted XP Home is pretty much crap, but Pro has just about anything anyone could need.
I'm not particularily pro-Microsoft, but as far as desktops go, I view it as "Don't fix what isn't particularily broken" .. I find most people using Linux for a desktop do so merely because its not Microsoft. My games all run under WinXP, I have backwards compatibility with NT, 2k, 9x, and ME, and it doesn't crash. I don't need anything else.
Yes, patches are released MONTHLY. Its not daily. Guess what? Linux patches are released monthly/daily as well, depending. Debian recieves various security updates about every 15 days, from what I can tell. Depending on the distribution, you may see more or none. Some distribution groups simply don't bother to keep you up to date, it doesn't mean you're secure because you haven't had a patch shoved down you.
Let's address the virus thing. You don't worry about viruses with linux because there's only approximately 470 in the wild, compared to 60,000 for Windows. Viruses don't particularily relie on vulnerabilities.. Vulnerability ALWAYS exist somewhere in the OS. They rely on Numbers. The more Linux desktops that appear, the more likely Linux viruses will start to appear. In a way, by advocating Linux desktops, you're bringing about the end of a 'virus free' era.
Linux servers get hacked regularily because server operators don't correctly patch or keep their applications up to date, quite similar to NT/2k servers. The number may be lower than Windows servers, but its not a great deal of difference. Got the latest patches to ssh, mysql, ssl, apache, php, perl, etc? I hope so. They can be hacked as easily as IIS by anyone really determined to get in.
Like I said, I'm NOT pro-Microsoft. But I'm tired of anti-Microsoft people sprouting about Linux without looking at the whole picture.
*goes to server, types apt-get update, apt-get upgrade, patches up a few holes in Debian*
I'm not particularily pro-Microsoft, but as far as desktops go, I view it as "Don't fix what isn't particularily broken" .. I find most people using Linux for a desktop do so merely because its not Microsoft. My games all run under WinXP, I have backwards compatibility with NT, 2k, 9x, and ME, and it doesn't crash. I don't need anything else.
Yes, patches are released MONTHLY. Its not daily. Guess what? Linux patches are released monthly/daily as well, depending. Debian recieves various security updates about every 15 days, from what I can tell. Depending on the distribution, you may see more or none. Some distribution groups simply don't bother to keep you up to date, it doesn't mean you're secure because you haven't had a patch shoved down you.
Let's address the virus thing. You don't worry about viruses with linux because there's only approximately 470 in the wild, compared to 60,000 for Windows. Viruses don't particularily relie on vulnerabilities.. Vulnerability ALWAYS exist somewhere in the OS. They rely on Numbers. The more Linux desktops that appear, the more likely Linux viruses will start to appear. In a way, by advocating Linux desktops, you're bringing about the end of a 'virus free' era.
Linux servers get hacked regularily because server operators don't correctly patch or keep their applications up to date, quite similar to NT/2k servers. The number may be lower than Windows servers, but its not a great deal of difference. Got the latest patches to ssh, mysql, ssl, apache, php, perl, etc? I hope so. They can be hacked as easily as IIS by anyone really determined to get in.
Like I said, I'm NOT pro-Microsoft. But I'm tired of anti-Microsoft people sprouting about Linux without looking at the whole picture.
*goes to server, types apt-get update, apt-get upgrade, patches up a few holes in Debian*