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"Quit making of a SPECtacle of yerselves, thinking yer all SPECial demanding SPECifications," he writes, as he removes the SPECk from everyone's eyes sitting around the SPECtrum.
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Added link to description.
What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?
The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism.
Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???
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Call me old fashioned, but giving $2.2k on a laptop is a waste of money. For that kind of money you can build better desktop system and buy modest laptop for your on the go needs and still have few bucks left.
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I don't use desktop systems anymore.
What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?
The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism.
Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???
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Nice specification. A bit heavy for my taste, though.
Enjoy!
If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.
--Winston Churchill
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If I was buying a desktop replacement laptop I'd probably end up with something similar; a ~100W mobile GPU is about the minimum that will give similar ballpark performance to a mid-range desktop graphics card; and the 17" form factor makes disipating the heat without being a jet turbine simulator a lot easier.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Boots up in under 1 second. You are kidding, right?
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Nope. It seriously does. The only times it doesn't are when it is installing updates or when I do a restart (not a shutdown and power up). The restart only takes about three seconds to boot. Updates can take a while, depending on how many there are.
What do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?
The metaphorical solid rear-end expulsions have impacted the metaphorical motorized bladed rotating air movement mechanism.
Do questions with multiple question marks annoy you???
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It's interesting that almost everyone asked why I think it should be free, so here's my thinking:
Why do viruses exist? Because of bugs in the operating systems and applications that we do pay for. So, in effect, when I spend money on AV software, I'm paying someone else to "fix" the problems created by someone else. That's fine, but then it makes more sense to me that the companies who write the buggy OS's, browser, etc. should pay the AV software companies, not the end user.
Now sure, if there's some advanced features that you might need, then I can see paying for that. But the basic "keep me protected from the bad guys and the buggy OS's" functionality, seems to me like that should be something free.
Of course, with my thinking, companies like Microsoft would simply hide an "AV tax" to their software, haha. Or I could just use Microsoft Security Essentials, but I went down that route once and had some unpleasant experiences, don't recall exactly what. Might try it again on my laptop.
Marc
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Use Linux then... I use both, but definitely pay for AV on my Windows machines.
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Albert Holguin wrote: Use Linux then.
No.
Marc
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Good decision!
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Albert Holguin wrote: Use Linux then...
Because they never get pwned?
Thing is, all systems have exploits, but I have to wonder if Linux may not actually be at a disadvantage here, given that (AFAIK) there's no reputable anti-virus for Linux you can rely on. Which means you totally rely on the end user.
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It always comes down to the end user.... I mean, hell... Linux lets you delete system files, albeit you usually really have to try (sudo).
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ClamAV[^] officially runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, and BSD; and can be built for a variety of other platforms. The True64/Alpha box running an embedded system in the lab where I'm spending most of my time runs a copy our admin (who's not a dev and mostly a windows dude at that) was able to get to build with a bit of fiddling.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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Some false assumptions here:
1. There are indeed perfectly credible anti-virus solutions out there that run on Linux. ClamAV comes to mind first, and I know there are others out there
2. People with limited experience working with non-Windows and non-desktop operating systems seem to assume that anti-virus software is an essential, required security measure. In fact it is the LAST line of defence that should be relied upon and computer viruses as the general public have known them are a problem virtually exclusive to the Microsoft platform.
EVERYTHING ELSE is more important than anti-virus, from keeping systems patched to perimeter security (properly configured routers, firewalls, etc), encryption (using robust VPNs for remote access, encrypted HTTP, SMTP, IMAP and POP by default, etc) and use of strong passwords and SSL keys. Anti-virus technology in general should be LEAST relied upon of all security practices regardless of the solution used.
Linux is VERY RARELY compromised by a traditional computer virus--the vast majority of time it is a more sophisticated exploit of a kind that anti-virus would never stop, and the vast majority of time the exploit takes advantage of servers listening on ports in public addresses rather than running the wrong executable or opening the wrong attachment or visiting the wrong website. It doesn't NEED anti-virus to be secure, but like ALL networked computers of any kind all the other security measures are essential to remain secure.
Windows (and MacOS too actually) have "desktop origins"--their ancestry lies in isolated, single-user PERSONAL computer use in a time when part-time dial-up modems and exchanging floppy disks were the only practical means of sharing data (and thus spreading malware). Both Windows and MacOS are completely different beasts nowadays having both swapped rickety old kernels for much more robust NT kernel (inspired by VMS) and a Mach microkernel (used in robust UNIX systems), however everything above the kernel has been some degree of evolution and struggling to shed the old standalone PC paradigms and deal with compatability with legacy crap users just won't let go of. MacOS has a very solid UNIX foundation but Apple's userland environment is all about "just works" and "beautiful", and as such it has a less perfect security record than it could have.
Linux is unique from the other two in that it has "server origins" (as do the *BSD operating systems). There are very good Linux based desktop OSes out there but as others have pointed out there isn't a single dominant one out there (a GOOD thing from a security standpoint--just as in nature there is strength in diversity and weakness in monocultures such as Windows and MacOS). Right from the beginning multi-user use and internet connectivity were central features to Linux OSes (when the Windows NT came out it didn't even have a TCP/IP stack installed by default!). The user base was tech enthusiasts and were very often contributing developers to the software they were using. Focus was on making things work right first--looks and ease of use were secondary. This limited its potential in the desktop market but made it more secure by nature.
Saying Linux is at a disadvantage security-wise because it doesn't have good anti-virus programs for it is like worrying about not having an air conditioner in your new house in Alaska because you might have a hard time staying cool there compared to that place you had in Florida with the central air. Security and anti-virus are not really related.
Also to make note of is that I'm talking about traditional GNU/Linux operating systems here. There are other Linux based OSes that have challenges of their own. Android in particular, which is a Linux OS but does not use the normal GNU userland, has a monoculture problem to some degree (so many closed apps provided only by Google) and was focused on a much less capable, single user environment (1st gen smartphones), so it has some (but not all) the weaknesses of Windows from malware.
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Albert Holguin wrote: Use Linux then...
Are you implying that Linux is bug/virus free?
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Way closer to that than Windows... that's for sure.
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You should do stand-up.
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You're amusing. Go write some code.
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Albert Holguin wrote: Go write some code
Maybe I should write some that will stop hackers from pwning Linux servers on regular basis.
The only reason why desktop Linux is not targeted by 'commercial' virus creators in such rate is because it has so little market share fragmented in so many distros and mostly used by tech savvy people so it's not worth the effort. Suggesting that is the reason why Linux is more secure the Windows is what's called security through obscurity.
On the other hand if you're target of government surveillance, well look for yourself how secure you are by using Linux[^]. Also things like heartbleed.
Critical OpenSSL bug allows attackers to impersonate any trusted server[^]. Will you look at that! Just while I was typing this message to you, perfect time to illustrate my point.
modified 9-Jul-15 14:49pm.
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While I agree that today's Windows (v7 and later) is on par with Linux from a security POV, I'd ask who you believe is responsible for fixing the critical OpenSSL bug you referenced?
The Linux distro? A 3rd party? Or nobody - let the end-user suffer?
Contrary to popular belief, nobody owes you anything.
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Mike Mullikin wrote: The Linux distro? A 3rd party? Or nobody - let the end-user suffer?
Don't know, but that was not my point anyway. My point is that "use Linux" as a single solution to all security problems with modern operating systems is silly and dangerous.
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Nobody said it was a fix all. It's ultimately up to the user to be safe.
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So your answer to road safety would be drive a truck?
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