[ubuntu-uk] Leaflets

[Jim Kissel]

Mark Harrison wrote:
> Jim,
> 
> You make a lot of good points.
> 
> 1: Your list of extra applications that users want that I'd not come up 
> with is excellent, and I'd certainly want to include it.
> 
> 2: Your observations about the "ongoing licencing cost of carrying on 
> with the copy of Windows you already have doesn't take into account 
> Anti-Virus and other subscriptions" is a DAMNED GOOD ONE, and gives me a 
> fantastically better answer to the "so what if it's free - I've already 
> got Windows" argument when talking about "as in pizza."
> 
> BTW, I know that pizza isn't the traditional one here, but I don't drink 
> beer, and the phrase "free, as in red wine" just doesn't translate :-)
> 
> 
> I want to further explain myself in a couple of areas, and disagree with 
> you on one :-)
> 
> 1: The logic of the "linux is stable... most of the www and email 
> servers use it" was not intended to imply "These people use it, and they 
> have needs similar to yours..." Instead it was meant to imply "The kind 
> of people who REALLY care about their machines not crashing choose 
> Linux", and "because Linux is build to this level of reliability, then 
> it's certainly going to be reliable enough for your needs."
> 
> 
> 2: The NTL problem is specific to some regions. NTL have grown not by 
> rolling out a standard system, but by buying up legacy local cable 
> companies. As a result of this, there is a mismash of odd "cable 
> broadband" solutions out there under the NTL brand. (This is why I wrote 
> "...in some areas.") In some areas, for example Clanfield (just north of 
> Porstmouth), a friend of mine had exactly this problem. The broadband 
> solution was two-box - a set-top-box that was provided, and a specific 
> USB network card, that came with Windows software that "registered" as a 
> one-off, the MAC address of the NTL card with a particular subscriber. 
> Looking back, I was trying to set up a router as well as a Linux box, 
> and in the end the only way we could get it to work was to firstly 
> register the MAC address in Windows, then go into the router's config 
> and use MAC address spoofing to make it look as if it was the USB thing 
> that NTL had supplied, then set up the linux box via the router. This is 
> why I said something that boiled down to that "you may need a local 
> expert to set this kind of thing up". Had it been a single PC running 
> Windows, it all worked out of the box.
> 
> 
> 3: I want to disagree with you on one thing you pulled me up for. And 
> it's a "taken in context" disagreement rather than an absolute 
> disagreement...
> 
> I wrote:
>  >>Ubuntu applies a set of defaults that mean that, even if a user 
> clicks on a virus by mistake, they won't make it infect the PC.
> 
> You responded:
>  > Don't just single out Ubuntu for praise. All *nix's share these 
> attributes.
> 
> Firstly: We're in the middle of a thread about Marketing on the 
> Ubuntu-UK mailing list :-) I make no apology for promoting Ubuntu 
> generally, but specially not on this particular list :-)

Apologies.  I forgot that the thread was Ubuntu.

> 
> Secondly: It is, alas, not true that all *nix's share these attributes. 
> There have been well-publicised examples of Linux distributions where 
> the ONLY user account created was root, and that all applications the 
> user ran ran as root. I agree it doesn't apply to Debian / Suse / Gentoo 
> / Fedora / [insert your favourite here], but the point behind this is 
> that the security model is only as secure as its set of default choices.
> 
> I wanted to allude to the fact that in choosing Linux, the average user 
> is in fact choosing a specific distribution, and wanted to play up (as I 
> did again later about applications working together) Ubuntu as a good 
> choice :-)
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Mark
> 

-- 
Simple effective migration to Open Source based computing

Jim Kissel
Open Source Migrations Limited
w: http://www.osml.eu
e: jim.kissel at osml.eu
p: +44(0) 8703 301044
m: +44(0) 7976 411 679