Forget Hardy

[mwbesemer at cox.net]

I never took Karl's side, did I?  Karl and I are subscribed to many of the same lists, so there's a good chance I know more about him than you do.

True... you mentioned Firefox, which (as far as I can tell) has nothing to do with the Kernal... thus if Firefox is the only security issue you were concerned about (as you indicated in your original post) then Karl is correct in stating that he doesn't need support for non-supported versions.  But, since you point out that the Kernal can have issues as well, my statement regarding Linux security stands correct.  

I was merely stating a fact that, per my experience, the helpfulness I was assured was available is lacking.  

Now... a question regarding your post.  If the fact that a code is open/free source encourages due diligence in finding/patching security problems, does it not as well encourage the lunatics out there who have nothing better to do then find and exploit those holes?

Mike
---- Mario Vukelic <mario.vukelic at dantian.org> wrote: 
> 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.
> 
> 
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