Caspar Bowden, former Microsoft Privacy Chief no longer trusts MS

[Feathers McGraw]

I guess any case with GPS built in has to be able to connect to the internet for the maps (unless they're stored locally but you'd still need to update them).

Yeah, we'll definitely be seeing that in a few films soon!

[GreyGeek]

IIRC, the USS Yorktown suffered total computer system failure while on a fire exercise. The NT server chain, four deep, ALL crashed, leaving the ship without helm or weapons fire control. It had to be towed back to the shipyard because they couldn't get the system rebooted.

[Roguehorse]

Imagine, for a moment, that cars could dock with netbooks running Windows. Nobody patches Winodws! OMFG! With that Typhoid Mary of an OS controlling zillions of cars, it'll be CARnage (yuk yuk) on the highways! So, instead, $CAR-MFGR only docks with netbooks running Linux. Linux is much less of an attacker target. Ah, now we can relax.

Shall we rephrase the above?

Imagine, for a moment, that cars could dock with phones running Android. Nobody patches Android! OMFG! With that Typhoid Mary of a mobile OS controlling zillions of cars, it'll be CARnage (yuk yuk) on the highways! So, instead, $CAR-MFGR only docks with phones running Windows. Malware on Windows phones is practically nonexistent. Ah, now we can relax.

Just goes to show that if there is a will, there is a way. The only operating system that is secure is the one that never sees a network or can be interfaced with. Some just seem to be more vulnerable than others or are bigger targets.

[Feathers McGraw]

More vulnerable / bigger targets ...and they have a different userbase.

To be fair to other OSes, since computers don't come pre-loaded with Ubuntu (apart from System 76, but you still have to go out of your way to buy one of those), it's fair to say that everyone using GNU/Linux has actively chosen to use it, and is therefore pretty keen to learn the do's and don'ts.

I have yet to meet anyone using GNU/Linux who sees their computer as just a tool to get stuff done, and not an interesting toy to tinker with too

Communities like this one are much less vulnerable "click any pop-up without reading it" malware.

Feathers

[Roguehorse]

To be fair to other OSes, since computers don't come pre-loaded with Ubuntu (apart from System 76, but you still have to go out of your way to buy one of those), it's fair to say that everyone using GNU/Linux has actively chosen to use it, and is therefore pretty keen to learn the do's and don'ts.

I have yet to meet anyone using GNU/Linux who sees their computer as just a tool to get stuff done, and not an interesting toy to tinker with too


Feathers

Agreed.

However, I do look forward to the day (and being a part of) the movement to change the options for people to be able to go to their local supplier and have the choice between Ubuntu sitting next to the other on the same shelf. I believe it can be done, and I believe it will happen.