Its Time For Windows Users To Switch. what do you think about this open letter

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

a virsu could bypass that easily, the problem with linux is its open souce so a virus writer can find out how to compromize it easier.  Linix has holes too.  every os does,

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The idea you are thinking of is security by obscurity, in that windows would ahve an advantage by being an unknown, in terms of code. It only works when things are acutally obscure, which windows isn't, and hasn't been for a long time.

 

As for linux/unix, cracking a server running one of those os's(which most are) is worth a lot more than cracking a random home PC. For one, they are used on corporate webservers and such, and you would have access to so so much more than even a few dozen home PCs(not to mention the bragging rights).

 

Furthermore, OpenBSD is legit. It doesn't have holes. That is what it exists for, to be secure.

 

Or, you could ask the NSA. What do they put out: Security enhanced linux. A version of linux designed to be like openBSD, to minimize POTENTIAL hacks, including hacks not yet known. If the NSA is willing to say its good, then I am betting they are correct.

[the empty calorie 0]

A Windows user could never understand this concept...Obviously he has not ever attempted to harness the power of UNIX...Listen dude, first off, it saddens me to see that your name is Ryan. My name is Ryan. Don't make all us other Ryans look like idiots, okay? I'm willing to bet that you've never even used a UNIX command line, or even a DOS command line for that matter. The problem these days, is that there are so many people that I run into, just like you, that claim that they know EVERYTHING about computers, because they know where to find the trash can, and because they know what the right mouse button actually does. Some of them can even install new hardware by pointing and clicking! Wow, aren't you just so talented. But I sit these people in front of a DOS command line...and they are completely lost...the big thing in the 80's was the Graphical User Interface... A way for the computer to be useful to grandma back in the day. Well, nowadays, Grandma's dead, and a lot of people didn't even know that at one time, computers didn't have graphical interfaces... I notice this especially with people in my age group (I am 19). So many people in CAD class...one "hacker" in class didn't know how to change directories in DOS or UNIX (same command "cd foo", either way). I've been using these commands since i was four! (when I was four, I was given an IBM-XT) I've been using text-based interfaces since i was two! (before the IBM-XT, I had an Apple II) The command line to me, back then, was so incredibly SIMPLE! That's right, I just called the command line "simple". And most other people probably would too, had they actually learned how to use a computer, not how to use just a Graphical User Interface. And when it comes to Graphical interfaces for the IBM-PC/XT/AT...Windows was the worst one. Had Digital Research put effort into marketing GEM, continued it's development, and got more commercial applications desgined for it, GEM would be kicking the **** out of Windows. Anyways dude, you obviously have NO clue what you're talking about. Windows isn't even good for the point-and-click only imbeciles it was designed for! Get a Macintosh if you want a stable point-and-click experience. If you actually have a sack hanging between your legs, with two balls in it, learn how to use a Command Line interface, like the REAL computer users do...You see, you can't understand people who use command lines is DOS and UNIX, like me...I am Samaurai...a Keyboard Cowboy....and all those point-and-click people out there just like you...are the cattle......................moo!

[qwijibow 0]

.the big thing in the 80's was the Graphical User Interface... A way for the computer to be useful to grandma back in the day. Well, nowadays, Grandma's dead

like me...I am Samaurai...a Keyboard Cowboy....and all those point-and-click people out there just like you...are the cattle......................moo!

haha....you have a amusing way with words.

Ryan, Linux is a multi user envoronment... unlike winows which just seems to emulate a multi user envoronment. in linux, and other unix's like BSD and MacOSX, files have owners... you cannot alter someone elses files without permission, you cannot just right cloick a file and un check the "read only" flag.

[the empty calorie 0]

Heh, I LOVE that feature that Windows 98 has for multiple users...you see about 5 users there, but if you don't know any of the passwords, who cares, just click the cancel button to gain full read/write/execute access! Yeah, I LOVE the security that Windows offers, let me tell you...(and one of these "hackers" I've run into that's my age says he can bypass any login password, even my BIOS password, by clicking ""cancel" (idiot...there's no cancel button, let alone any buttons or a mouse pointer in the BIOS)Tell me this, Ryan... tell me, if you were sitting in front of my computer right now, and of course you don't know the root password, or even the password to get past the BIOS...How would you be able to get on my computer and delete /home/root/foo.rtf. For every way you say you can do it, I will tell you each security feature I have that would prevent that.I want to see what you actually know.

[Ryan1405241476 0]

Heh, I LOVE that feature that Windows 98 has for multiple users...you see about 5 users there, but if you don't know any of the passwords, who cares, just click the cancel button to gain full read/write/execute access! Yeah, I LOVE the security that Windows offers, let me tell you...(and one of these "hackers" I've run into that's my age says he can bypass any login password, even my BIOS password, by clicking ""cancel" (idiot...there's no cancel button, let alone any buttons or a mouse pointer in the BIOS)

 

Tell me this, Ryan... tell me, if you were sitting in front of my computer right now, and of course you don't know the root password, or even the password to get past the BIOS...How would you be able to get on my computer and delete /home/root/foo.rtf. For every way you say you can do it, I will tell you each security feature I have that would prevent that.

 

I want to see what you actually know.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

first off 98 can be bypassed that way but a simple registry key would log the user right back off when they login, as for bypassing the BIOS password, i can clear it by using the jumper on the motherboard if I wanted to. and 98 isn't meant to be secure, clicking cancel is like the xp guest account, given 98 dosen't use NTFS to keep the user out of some files it can be disabled as i mentiond with a simple registry key which if you want i can get you the exact key.

 

as for deleting /home/root/foo.rtf a simple script could install itself when you view the email its in and run the command to delete it simple, you have to be logged in as root for it to work or a more complex method to get around that would be to have the program write over it in the hard drive without sending the request though the os to stop it, that would take more work to get it to do thoough.

[the empty calorie 0]

First mistake, my motherboard is completely jumperless. Second, my case is locked. And you don't have the key. Normally, to reset the BIOS, you remove the battery and put it back in. I've never heard of anyone using jumpers for that, although I wouldn't doubt it, why would they use the jumpers if the battery is right there, in plain view. Second, my motherboard isn't your motherboard. If it had jumpers, you wouldn't know what jumpers did what, because it's different on every motherboard. But either way, you're not getting inside my case. Second mistake: Simple registry key you say? Too bad. I'm using UNIX, dumbshit!Third mistake, you don't know my root passphrase, chump! You're done! You can't even get a prompt without a correct password, let alone install a script in my computer...Fourth mistake, my email does not allow emails with embedded scripts, or HTML. Why? I use elm, dumbass! It doesn't accept HTML-encoded mail. The only emails it will open are text-only.Fifth mistake...uh, dipshit, EVERYTHING requires permissions in UNIX. To Read a file, to write a file, or to execute a file, YOU MUST HAVE PERMISSION. Duh! We've only told you several times now...Sixth Mistake, whenever I receive email from turds like you, it's deleted before it's even read. Why would I want to read the useless **** that flaps out of your asscheeks and onto your keyboard??? Do you really think I care that much about anything you have to say?And last, I doubt you even know the proper commands to even get in that directory and delete the file. Don't bother posting them, I know you'll just cut and paste them from a HOWTO somewhere you found on google. Just admit it, you're just another point-and-click dumbshit that thinks Microsoft must be the best, cause it's what your pathetic-*bottom* Dell came with. You're probably that douchebag that was on the old Dell commercials that everyone hated! If you're so damn smart, WHY are you using A. An X86 Processor, and B. Windows, of all things. Windows, is absolutely the WORST OS there even has been in the history of computers! But why is it so popular? A person is smart, people are dumb, stupid, and complete idiots. A person uses a better operating system. People, use Windows. The person has the better OS. The people NEED a better OS. But the people NEED to do what we did back in the day. Actually KNOW how to use your computer. That's the evil side of the GUI...they put too many people in front of their computers that don't know what they're doing, and don't really care to take the time to learn at least a few simple DOS commands...Bill Gates should have stayed in the traffic business...and he knows that Windows sucks. He doesn't care. It's what generates most of his income. If you have stable software, people see fewer reasons to upgrade, and fewer people call technical support. Do you know how much money Microsoft makes off of technical support alone??? Last time I checked (in 1996), it was around $30 per incident. I bet you half of those calls were from people trying to figure out how to open up the nifty built-in cupholder...Bill knows how to make money, and how do you make more money than anyone? Sell your products to the suckers who will probably make about 5-6 incidents worth of calls to Microsoft after they buy your horrible OS. That, is how to make lots of money with a crappy product, now go out there and be somebody! Remember this classic quote from a discussion in 1985...Steve Jobs: "We're better than you. We make better stuff."Bill Gates: "But Steve, that doesn't matter."(Me: "Personally, the Amiga kicks the living **** out of BOTH of your OS'es, AND the computers they run on.")And by the way, Ryan, here's a nickel. Get yourself a better computer. And actually learn how to use it too.

[qwijibow 0]

a simple script could install itself when you view the email its in and run the command to delete it simple

Yes, on windows that would work, but like i said, windows is just a toy, no securety.
for that to work in *nix i would need to save the file from the email then run the following commnds....

su -<root password>mv theScript /bin   (because my home directory is mounted as "noexec")chmod +x /bin/theScripttheScript

My second computetr was an Amiga1200 with workbench 3.0. 2megs of ram, half a gig hard drive (which came seperatly) ahh thegood old days.

[Ryan1405241476 0]

First mistake, my motherboard is completely jumperless. Second, my case is locked. And you don't have the key. Normally, to reset the BIOS, you remove the battery and put it back in. I've never heard of anyone using jumpers for that, although I wouldn't doubt it, why would they use the jumpers if the battery is right there, in plain view. Second, my motherboard isn't your motherboard. If it had jumpers, you wouldn't know what jumpers did what, because it's different on every motherboard. But either way, you're not getting inside my case.

 

Second mistake: Simple registry key you say? Too bad. I'm using UNIX, dumbshit!

 

Third mistake, you don't know my root passphrase, chump! You're done! You can't even get a prompt without a correct password, let alone install a script in my computer...

 

Fourth mistake, my email does not allow emails with embedded scripts, or HTML. Why? I use elm, dumbass! It doesn't accept HTML-encoded mail. The only emails it will open are text-only.

 

Fifth mistake...uh, dipshit, EVERYTHING requires permissions in UNIX. To Read a file, to write a file, or to execute a file, YOU MUST HAVE PERMISSION. Duh! We've only told you several times now...

 

Sixth Mistake, whenever I receive email from turds like you, it's deleted before it's even read. Why would I want to read the useless **** that flaps out of your asscheeks and onto your keyboard??? Do you really think I care that much about anything you have to say?

 

And last, I doubt you even know the proper commands to even get in that directory and delete the file. Don't bother posting them, I know you'll just cut and paste them from a HOWTO somewhere you found on google. Just admit it, you're just another point-and-click dumbshit that thinks Microsoft must be the best, cause it's what your pathetic-*bottom* Dell came with. You're probably that douchebag that was on the old Dell commercials that everyone hated! If you're so damn smart, WHY are you using A. An X86 Processor, and B. Windows, of all things. Windows, is absolutely the WORST OS there even has been in the history of computers! But why is it so popular? A person is smart, people are dumb, stupid, and complete idiots. A person uses a better operating system. People, use Windows. The person has the better OS. The people NEED a better OS. But the people NEED to do what we did back in the day. Actually KNOW how to use your computer. That's the evil side of the GUI...they put too many people in front of their computers that don't know what they're doing, and don't really care to take the time to learn at least a few simple DOS commands...Bill Gates should have stayed in the traffic business...and he knows that Windows sucks. He doesn't care. It's what generates most of his income. If you have stable software, people see fewer reasons to upgrade, and fewer people call technical support. Do you know how much money Microsoft makes off of technical support alone??? Last time I checked (in 1996), it was around $30 per incident. I bet you half of those calls were from people trying to figure out how to open up the nifty built-in cupholder...Bill knows how to make money, and how do you make more money than anyone? Sell your products to the suckers who will probably make about 5-6 incidents worth of calls to Microsoft after they buy your horrible OS. That, is how to make lots of money with a crappy product, now go out there and be somebody! Remember this classic quote from a discussion in 1985...

 

Steve Jobs: "We're better than you. We make better stuff."

Bill Gates: "But Steve, that doesn't matter."

 

(Me: "Personally, the Amiga kicks the living **** out of BOTH of your OS'es, AND the computers they run on.")

 

And by the way, Ryan, here's a nickel. Get yourself a better computer. And actually learn how to use it too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

most motherbpoards do, most computer cases don't lock, the jumper work right away, as for batteries you have to remove them, levae it for like 3 days then come back after its forgot the BIOS password, sencoly thats youur fault for using UNIX, a simple program could run below the level of os security and still write to your hard disk, windows is so much beter than UNIX, if you actually wouldn't be so cheap and buy it you would know that, and for someone who doesn't care you sure write long post arguing an inncorrect point.

[qwijibow 0]

If someone broke into my house... i would be more worried about my TV than by bios battery.

im not going to even argue with you anymore, because its painfully obviouse your making it all up as you go along. do you really belive what you are saying ?

sencoly thats youur fault for using UNIX, a simple program could run below the level of os security and still write to your hard disk

i mean.. to blive that you must understand nothing about OS design ?

you are either making this all up as you go along, or you are trying to start a flame war.

i wonder, have you ever used UNIX ?
ever studdied OS design either at university or seriously studied it out of curiocity ?

could you write a bash script ?