Forget Hardy

[Mario Vukelic]

On Tue, 2008-06-10 at 16:22 -0400, mwbesemer at cox.net wrote:
> When I first started experimenting with Ubuntu/Linux, I expected to
> find a community that was full of knowledge and ready to help.
> I'm sorry to say that what I've experienced has not been at all
> like that.  Mario's comments below seem all too typical. 

Please. You should know a bit about Karl's history on this list (and, as
we were told, the Fedora list) before saying that. If you really are
interested in my own ratio of helpful vs. annoyed posts, I suggest to
use Google to search the list archives.

Also, if you just look at the list archives for, say, June, I doubt you
can deny that indeed the list community is full of knowledge and ready
to help.


> Regarding security updates, those touting the Linux Kernal are always
> quick to point out that Linux is unlike Windows in that it does not
> have security concerns as Windows does, then those of us to are brave
> enough to give it a try quickly find out differently.

First of all, my post did not even mention the kernel, but Firefox. But
anyway, the kernel can have security issues, too (e.g., in the network
code), and thus you are correct that it is a good idea to make sure that
needed security updates are applied.

No code is free of errors, as nothing is that humans build when it is
sufficiently complex. The free/open source software community displays
an astounding diligence in finding and fixing security issues (which is
enabled through the free and open development model), and this is
precisely why free software is secure.

If somebody told you that free/open source software is better by magic,
they were wrong.