Mark Evans wrote:
Interestingly one of my complaints about packages such as Netscape, Star Office, Kmail, etc is that they are very much tied to the "Windows" way of handling multiple users. i.e. end users are expected to enter all sorts of details, POP3 usernames/passwords, etc. Rather than the approach used with traditional unix applications (even old Netware email apps) where information is infered by the username/UID.
The concepts of "Your email is in /var/spool/mail/<user>, ~/Mailbox, ~/Maildir/ or even \\server\<user>\Maildir\, SYS:MAIL\<bind-id>, etc"; "Your details are in /etc/passwd, passwd.byname, bindary, NDS tree, etc keyed to your username/UID"; "Your bookmarks/history/cookies live in your user directory"
So valuable for having workstations easily usable by any user appear to have passed many current programmers by.
I couldn't agree more! <rant> The (other) very real issue, is readily apparent as well. Look at Melissa, ILOVEYOU, and associated virii... they can't DO anything on a system where permissions are set on a file by file basis, rather than " you got past the login, so you must be okay" mindset. I have the utmost respect for the business and marketing ability of M$, and if it weren't for them I'd probably still be driving RoadTrains. But by enabling all sorts of people to have access to a data medium like the interenet, in such a haphazard way, they have created a rod for their own backs. </rant> -- Regards Don Hansford ECKYTECH COMPUTING Surfing the Net (without crashing) With SuSE 6.4 Linux (Thanx Linus!) "Microsoft democratised the computer market and served as a catalyst in making computers available to everybody. Later, however, they did as many revolutionaries do -- they became dictators. History has taught us the inevitable fate of dictators." -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/Support/Doku/FAQ/