Ubuntu forum hacked

[Garak]

Like I said, the attacks on your computer are certainly plausible. I've seen it on really innocuous websites. And I suspect the admins on a Linux forum on a Linux server might not care about protecting threats against Windows users.

And you're right about the switch from 7 to 8. I really don't know what to make of that. And they, of all people, should know that desktops aren't irrelevant and won't become irrelevant for some time. I hate cell phones, tablets, and even lap tops. I type well and prefer a real keyboard. I'm sure as heck not going to switch in the near future.

 

[Mystic]

Obviously tablet computers are becoming more common, and for some people they may be fine. To me they seem like an expensive toy. The last thing I want to take on a trip is a computer. I prefer to take my camera gear and clothes and other essentials. I don't like cellphones, tablets, and lap tops either. The only time I think a cellphone would be useful would be if I had trouble on the road or saw an accident.

Microsoft has literally shot itself in the foot. If they have serious competition from Apple and others in the future they can blame themselves. They needed to develop an operating system that would work on tablets also, but it should have been obvious to an intelligent person (I assume they have intelligent people at Microsoft) that desktop computers (with Microsoft Office software on many of them) should not be thrown out with the bath water. What were they thinking? Do they really believe the nonsense that the desktop computer is dead? There will be desktop computers far into the future. In view of the fact they are apparently going to develop a 'Metro' version of Microsoft Office for tablets apparently they really do believe that the era of the tablet computer is here. You don't see Apple doing goofy stuff like Microsoft. They have operating systems for their computers and operating systems for their iPads and iPhones, etc. Microsoft apparently cannot even copy well.

And if the current Microsoft executives really think the PC era is over it is becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy because with Windows 8 sales being so bad PC sales are declining. Those people at Microsoft really will conclude that they are brilliant.

Microsoft also had in the past their own software for working on photographs. It was called Visual Basic Studio or something like that. If they had kept it they could maybe compete with Adobe Software Lightroom and Apple Aperture. I never used it but I hear it was decent for the time. With a little work they could have been selling thousands upon thousands of copies of that software because there are so many unhappy photographers with Adobe going to a subscription only service.

 

[Garak]

When someone needs a portable computer, great. But, if I want to do up a document or do some reading, I want to use a desktop. Heck, I grumble enough at reading on a desktop instead of actual paper. And don't get me started about cell phones. Current cell phones try to do so many things that they actually do none of them very well.

MS and the chip manufacturers should remain in collusion. Keep bloating Windows so you need more and more processor to run it, and then with extra processing power available, Windows can add more "features."

 

[Mystic]

Like you I like a real keyboard. Heck, when I bought my new iMac the mouse was great but the keyboard (this is for a desktop computer!) was so tiny it was very uncomfortable. I kept the keyboard from my old computer. And I don't have massive hands.

I suppose a laptop computer could be made more useful if a person had a larger monitor and a dock that the laptop computer could be connected to when you were at home.

I heard something on TV about there being a cancer risk with cellphones. If so you see people walking around with cellphones attached to their ears all day long. It would drive me crazy talking on the telephone all day long.

 

[Garak]

I need one of those buckling spring keyboards, I think. They're not cheap, but it would be nice.

Yes, for laptops, I've seen people get larger external monitors and keyboards. That's the only way I would want to use one, but if I were doing that, I'd spend less money in the first place and get a desktop.

I don't know about cancer risk with cell phones, but if I had one, it would be at risk of being thrown into the street during rush hour. Without trying to sound too much like a curmudgeon, the only thing that makes me every think about getting a cell phone is the reduction in pay phone availability. But, I have no use for texting or emailing or eighty bajillion apps on a phone. My telephone philosophy is similar to my computer philosophy. I don't buy systems with Windows preloaded (or I just format the darned thing) because I don't want a bunch of idiotic nonsense for which I have no use. Why would I want that in a telephone?

If I buy a computer and it's for browsing, I'll browse with it. If I buy it for gaming, same deal. If I buy a telephone, it will be for talking to people. If people enjoy texting so much, they should get a telegraph.

Maybe we can steer Richard Stallman into a cell phone rant.

 

[Mystic]

Well you are a Linux kind of guy and I am a Windows/Mac kind of guy but we seem to think the same. A desktop computer from my point of view makes so much more sense. I have a custom built Windows computer and an iMac. There are parts on that Windows computer that date back to the Windows Vista days. I just upgrade whatever parts need to be upgraded or replaced and keep right on going. When I get home after going someplace and taking pictures the computer is ready to go and already hooked up to my photo printer and my scanner. Even if a laptop computer could be docked to a larger monitor and decent keyboard it seems like a waste of time to me. I don't need the laptop when I am traveling and I am not going to walk down the street and try to use the computer while I am walking down the street. These tablet computers seem kind of silly to me. And like you said a desktop computer is cheaper in the long run. At least it is for me because I use the same equipment as long as I can even with new operating systems. The secret is to have the fastest, best computer built you can for the least amount of money and have a good case. And then you just keep going.

I like a decent keyboard so much I even think from time to time about buying a really good keyboard. Trying to type with some tiny useless keyboard is hard on your fingers and hands and wrists. When I bought my iMac I liked the mouse but the keyboard was so small and useless it surprised me. I am using the old keyboard for the new computer. It is pretty decent and the Microsoft keyboard and Microsoft mouse I have for the Windows computer are both pretty good.

Some people talk on cellphones all day long. That would drive me flat out totally crazy. But a cellphone would come in handy if you saw a bad car accident or a forest fire starting or if you had trouble on the road. Otherwise a cellphone is completely useless from my point of view. And potentially dangerous if there really is a cancer risk.

 

[Garak]

And whether one is a Windows guy or Linux guy, upgrading is much simpler (and more cost effective) on a desktop. I can see the value in tablets, cell phones, and laptops from a computing perspective. But they're not an acceptable replacement for desktops in all situations, if you ask me.

I laugh at people who were only two or three years ago talking about how great it is to get a nice, big widescreen monitor for their computers. Now, the smallest screen they can get their hands on is desirable? A 24" TV is way too small these days for any home theatre system, yet people watch TV on their telephones? Some people are going backwards. Instead of improved sound and picture and larger picture, they're watching TV on a tiny screen and with the sound quality of a transistor radio. If they learned how to fix a car, would they remove the electronic ignition and retrofit points into the stupid thing?

As for cells and cancer, some of these people will go brain dead long before the cancer strikes.

 

[Mystic]

The thing that worries me the most about Microsoft is that the executives there seem to have bought in to this weird concept that soon the desktop computer will be gone and everybody will have a tablet. They really seem to have drunk the Kool-Aid. Could you imagine people in a computer design and graphics company using tablet computers to do their work? Or somebody in an office having to use a tiny tablet computer all day to do work in Microsoft Office? Talk about eye strain! The only way that would work would be to have some sort of dock that you can connect the tablet to so that you could use a larger monitor. And the tablet computer could hardly be more powerful than a desktop computer or more upgradeable than a desktop computer. In a work environment where somebody is in an office a desktop computer simply makes more sense.

Of course desktop computers could become more like the iMac. A computer and monitor combined into one. But you still lose easy upgradeability and if the monitor goes out the entire computer becomes useless. I had an eMac where the monitor went out. Fortunately I had an extended warranty. The rest of the computer was fine.

Not to mention the fact that there are still hundreds of millions of desktop computers in the world. Would businesses toss all of those perfectly working computers into the trash and issue everybody, even the intern, a tablet computer?

Desktop computers will be around for a long time at least in the business world. If the people running Microsoft today could figure that out maybe they could come out with a clever operating system that could be used on tablets or desktops. And just have to be setup for whichever device it will be working on. Go to InfoWorld and look up the Windows Red concept or whatever they call it.

 

[Garak]

They should make the executives use tablets only and get rid of their secretaries. We'd see how long they would last without a desktop. That is, of course, assuming they have any computer skills in the first place.

I've been there and done that with respect to the computer and monitor combined into one. I had one TRS-80 Model IV and don't want another.

There's something to be said for being able to upgrade monitor sizes or being able to relocate the enclosure.

 

[Mystic]

Yes, these executives live in a different world than most of the rest of us. If they had to do what other people do they might make more logical decisions.

I imagine that if they need something they send the servants to go get whatever they need at Wal-Mart or wherever. So the big wheel executives never notice that there are still lots of CDs and DVDs and Blu-Rays in Wal-Mart. All the executives have high speed internet and have no clue what DSL is like. Some of these people are so rich they may have a secretary at home to do anything they need done on the home computer. Maybe they have a butler, housekeeper and kitchen staff also. Their children probably attend elite schools and they may live in gated communities. Kind of like the Roman elite in the days of Rome. Since they are so different from the rest of us they are totally disconnected from the ordinary people in the country and have no clue to the lives of those people.

Not much choice when it comes to Apple desktop computers. There is the mini, the iMac, and the Mac Pro. Not many ordinary folks can afford a Mac Pro so for desktop computers it comes down to a Mac Mini or the iMac.

 

[Garak]

Perhaps they need a little more work in the R&D department. They also forget that some people prefer CDs and DVDs and Blu-Rays and to actually type on a real keyboard.

When they develop handwriting recognition that can accurately read my handwriting, I'll believe it. Until then, I need a keyboard. Besides, I'm faster at that than at writing.

 

[Mystic]

I think whoever designed that iMac keyboard needs to have some typing experience in the real world. A lot of typing experience. Maybe then a more comfortable keyboard would be designed. Makes you wonder a little bit if that Apple exterior design is quite as awesome as everybody thinks.

I don't have servants to send to Wal-Mart to get stuff I need so whenever I go into Wal-Mart there are still an incredible number of CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Rays. So I guess Steve Jobs was a little off in his statement that the DVD was dead. According to what I have read there are still 120 million Americans who still have DVD players. And exactly how common is high speed internet in Africa? How about the typical South American country?

And then you have Microsoft coming out with an operating system that seems to be trying to leave the desktop computer behind. They seemed to have backed up a little bit with 8.1. There are still hundreds of millions of desktop computers in the world and lots of those computers have expensive Microsoft Office on them. Microsoft still makes most of its money with operating systems and Microsoft Office software, right? When Windows 8 came out PC sales dropped.

I thought the computer industry people were supposed to be smart. I like my new iMac but here I am typing this right now on a keyboard from my old iMac. This keyboard is about six years old. I tried the new keyboard in the store and my hands hurt just putting them on that tiny keyboard. And I don't have usually large hands. I told the guy in the store I loved the mouse but the keyboard was not going to cut it. They let me keep the old keyboard.

 

[NJC]

Back online now .. with a new authentication.

 

[Garak]

Steve Jobs just wished the DVDs were dead. He would have liked iTunes to replace buying music and movies from Amazon, the record store, and Walmart. Personally, I'm not relying on hard drives (or the cloud) and a bunch of finicky, gimmicky DRM nonsense. I buy a CD and I have the right to play it in any CD player I own, and, under Canadian law, I have the right to transform it into any other media required for other devices I have. That's absolutely counter to the iTunes philosophy, where you have to synch everything and do a special dance to get your stuff on other devices, and only if they're approved devices.

Microsoft might learn a valuable lesson if a bunch of desktop people suddenly migrated to OpenOffice or LibreOffice for a couple cycles of MS Office. The average office could do it, and it might light a fire under certain behinds.

@NJC: Checking it out now!

 

[Mystic]

GE developed a new holographic storage technology making it possible to store 500 GB on one disc the size of a CD, DVD, or Blu-Ray. I will get one of those when they come out. I will backup my computer using that technology instead of hard drives that can quit working at any time. I had an external hard drive fail on me with a lot of data on it.

And imagine what games could be like with that new storage technology!

No storing my data in the 'cloud' (server farms in some unknown location). For one thing I don't have fast enough internet. But I like the idea of storing data locally and not having to worry about somebody sorting through it (like the NSA or the IRS).

 

[Garak]

I'm no fan of the cloud either. I may have reasonably fast internet, but there are limits. Plus, if I wreck my own data or don't back it up, that's my problem. I don't like it out of my control. As far as privacy is concerned, there is encryption, and I do encrypt the few things that I keep on Google Docs for the sake of convenience.

 

[Mystic]

I will never trust the 'cloud' with what is going on in the world today. And if I was the CEO of a corporation there is no way I would put my companies data on the internet. If you have your own IT staff you know where to start looking if there are any security issues. For sure I would insist on everything being encrypted. But common encryption probably means nothing to the NSA, and probably nothing to the Russians or Chinese either.

They ever get that Ubuntu user forums website up again?

 

[Garak]

I have a little more faith in encryption than that. I actually had the pleasure of discussing the matter with Phil Zimmerman himself a number of years ago. Rubber hose cryptanalysis is the real threat, aside from people not implementing encryption correctly. So very few people actually know how to use it, it's really not a concern for government. For those that have an incentive to learn how to do it, the ignorance of the physical security aspect makes it child's play for government. If a thief can skim debit and credit cards with a few dollars of hardware, it's nothing for a law enforcement or intelligence agency to set up video surveillance and keystroke loggers, plus all the other things I haven't thought up yet. To keep things as safe as the theoretical limit of the encryption requires one's password to be inviolable (not to mention sufficiently strong) and one's private encryption key to stay out of anyone else's hands.

If an attacker can't access the private key, the easiest brute force path (the password) disappears. However, making one's private key absolutely inaccessible to others would make it very inconvenient for oneself to use it, which would defeat the purpose of being able to encrypt something on demand. As for passwords, people cannot be trusted to choose sufficiently strong ones to save their own souls.

Yep, the forums are back up. I got my account restarted. I don't go there too often, unless I'm wanting to figure out how to do something that's got me stymied, or to research a package, or to read reviews when I'm not sure which package or upgrade I want.