Andre wrote regarding 'Re: [SLE] spyware' on Sun, Oct 03 at 08:36:
On Sun, 2004-10-03 at 08:08 -0500, David Krider wrote:
On Sat, 2004-10-02 at 23:40, Maura Edelweiss Monville wrote:
Nevertheless Linux is affected by spyware. My computer is unfortunately a victim of this form of advertising although I've been running SuSE since I bought it 3 years ago.
Please. She knows enough to get Linux installed and usable, and knows spyware when she sees it, but can't give us an attack vector? Or even a process name? What I'm saying is that surely a Linux user (of 3 years) knows enough about the situation to recognize a popup saying something to the effect of "your computer has been infected!", which is the only "spyware" problem that Linux has.
I think this is the same sort of thing as the stupid thread on performance problems. What a bunch of FUD.
Please be aware that everybody that use Linux is not a Linux guru. On
[...]
It turned out that Maura has been getting a lot of spam recently and she thought this was because of spyware that were installed on her machine.
Understanding the idea that spam comes from *other* computers isn't guru material, though it's probably something that could have been presented in a bit less antagonistic way. :) [...]
If we want Linux to effectively make a dent in the desktop world, then we need to cater for users who use Linux as tool to get a job done, like they would use a microwave oven to heat up a TV dinner.
Just think quickly for yourself how many people that use a microwave oven know how the machine actually works? Do you learn what a magnatron is before you heat up your TV dinner?
Yes, actually, but then, it's important to me that I understand what I'm doing before I do something. Other people somehow feel that ignorance is just fine. I guess it is, to an extent. If one choose to be ignorant about the world around them, though, they should not expect the same experiences as those who do seek education. For example, I drive a car. As part of that, I feel that it's important to know how everything in the car works. From that education, I can tell when things are going wrong, and can fix them when they're wrong. My automobile owning and driving experience is largely positive. Other people commonly don't know how their car works, so they don't know that they have problems until something major happens. They don't understand why it's important to change traditional ethylene-glycol coolant every couple of years, or why their water pump seal went out again. Their automotive-owning experience is somewhere between "don't care" and negative. Computer operation is much the same. Sure, one can own and operate a computer with one of a variety of operating systems, and not know a thing about how it works. The computer won't work to its maximum efficiency, but that doesn't matter. When things go wrong, though, it'll be a bit harder to find the cause. The uninformed owner will probably break some other things trying to "fix" the problem. At some point, the owner will take their problem to a "professional", who may belittle them or may not. The pro may fix the problem or may not. That's the expense, though, of not knowing what one's doing. Problems down the road. Probably. Ignorance works just fine, most of the time. That doesn't mean that it's the ideal situation, or that it's something that should be promoted. Docs exist, and lists like this also exist. In Maura's case, she's learning (I hope), so that's good. But it's never OK to just remain ignorant. It will likely never happen that "Linux" is dumbed-down enough for a big dent to happen in the Windows world. Dumbing-down isn't the big thing keeping Linux out - it's the entrenchment of Windows combined with the ignorance of those making the decisions. Combating ignorance is the key to getting on the desktop, but unfortunately, education is undervalued. This is especially true with regards to computer operation and "why Linux would be a good choice". --Danny, the typical cynical sysadmin