10 Reasons Not To Use Linux?

I was browsing Linux news sites, and ran into this:
10 Reasons Not to Use Linux (Reflexion).

I started to write a comment, but it grew to the point I decided to just post it here, instead.

sudo? Please don’t.

I made a comment in a post the other day to the effect that I found the current use of “sudo” in personal computers to be an abomination.  I’m going to explain what I meant by that.

PCLinuxOS2010 Beta1 – First Impressions

I wasn’t going to install a beta release on my laptop. Then I got to thinking: a beta release from texstar is as good as a final release from some other sources.

My New Linux Laptop

A couple of weeks ago, my wife bought an Asus netbook.  It came with Win 7 Starter Edition.  Okay, I gave up long ago trying to convert her to Linux.  She’s not going to leave her comfort zone.  And that’s all right.  She’d rather beat her head against some of the idiocies of Windows than switch.  Whatever makes her happy.

What made ME happy was when she said I could have her old laptop once I backed up all her documents, music, etc. that she had on it. 

PCLinuxOS 2010 is coming!

According to texstar, PCLOS 2010 will be released shortly after KDE4.4 is finalized.  It should include:

kernel 2.6.32.4, udev, hal, initscripts, plymouth bootsplash, speedboot, xorg, compiz 3D, nvidia/fglrx drivers, ext 4 default file system, KDE 4.4.

Because of the complexity and and heavy user intervention necessary to do a straight upgrade, this release will require a clean install, like 2007 did three years ago.  There will be no ‘Big Update’.

Since KDE 4.4 is scheduled to be released the week of 8 February, that means we could see PCLOS 2010 by the end of the month!  Of course, the official line is always “it will be ready when it’s ready”, so if they run into some significant show-stoppers, it could be delayed.  But Tex and the Gang have been running with the new stuff for several weeks, now, so I’m crossing my fingers that the showstoppers have already been scrubbed out.

UPDATE (4 March 2010): Tex indicated on the forums that a public release might be seen by this weekend!

Miguel de Icaza, Microsoft MVP

Microsoft has named Miguel de Icaza as a Microsoft Most Valued Professional.

That sums it all up in a single statement.  Need I say anything more?

How to Destroy the Book

Okay, it’s not strictly about computers, but any geek who isn’t concerned about copyright doesn’t deserve the sobriquet of ‘geek’.

Back in November, Cory Doctorow (you don’t know Cory Doctorow? For shame) delivered a speech to librarians, authors, publishers, educators, and students as part of Canada’s National Reading Summit.

Calling All Dawns

Okay, this one is not about computers, directly.  The only link I can claim is that the composer of this new album also composed the award-winning Baba Yetu for Sid Meier’s Civilization 4.  I was lucky enough to get a pre-release review copy of the album, and was so moved by the music that I wanted to give it a wider audience.

My review is here.

Oh, No! My System Is Infected!!

I was just browsing the web a while ago, when suddenly I got a popup window in the middle of my Firefox browser. It was a standard Vista popup, with the default colors and buttons and stuff, and a very authentic-looking MS Windows security icon, and it was churning through my filesystem doing a security check.

“Checking C:\WINNT\System\….”

The files were whizzing by so fast I couldn’t follow them.  After a minute, it gave me the bad news:  I had 19 viruses infecting my file system and over a hundred malicious entries in my Registry!  What to do? What to do !?

Wait!  I have no Registry.  I have no “C:” drive.  I’m running Linux, KDE4 desktop, with Ozone windows decorations.  If it looks like a Vista window, it can’t possibly be really on my system.  I was actually chuckling from the moment it popped up on my screen.  When it finished, and told me to click ->Here<- to download an updated “anti-virus” product, I just clicked the little X in the corner.  Bye-bye little malware.  I hope you had fun trying to infect a totally alien system!

Why All The ‘How To Install…’ Articles?

As I’ve perused the various Linux news sites and blogs, one thing I notice is all the “How to Install <program X> in Ubuntu” – type articles.  Each time I see one, my first thought is, “don’t people know how to use Synaptic?  Or ‘Add/Remove Programs’ ?”