OT: worldwide worm

[Bob Eager]

Essentially, he left because they wouldn't let him develop Son of VMS.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I already did at the very very first post of this thread.

[The Natural Philosopher]

And the fact that XP is out of support now

[Robin]

What stopped Trusts (individually or collectively) deciding to buy XP support from MS by spending a bit less on (say) diversity officers or art (and art curators) or chaplains?

[Robin]

"The NHS is thought to have been particularly hard hit because of the antiquated nature of its IT infrastructure. A large part of the organization's systems are still using Windows XP, which is no longer supported by Microsoft, ..."

That you consider a report "it's thought that" by persons unknown is evidence explains a lot.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I don't claim to be an IT expert. But I do know saying just don't allow internet access is a nonsense.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Oh - sorry. The last Tory government's fault, then.

Apart from money.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

This is your post EU Nirvana? Ban people from receiving emails?

[T i m]

Really?

Ok, say you have an iPod / Phone / Pad and want to access the iTunes store (because they want to, no matter what you may think of that), ok on Windows / Mac, useless on Linux.

Or if you want to run the software that comes with or to update your GPS (again, because it comes with such software, because it's easy and no matter what you think about that).

Or to run MS Office because everyone else in your organisation does and they use change control and you need to be able to do so also (no matter what you think about that).

Or if you want to use a whole range of kit that has no drivers or software for Linux, like loads of car diagnostic software for example (no matter if you need to do that or not).

Or if you want to run loads of different mobile phone diagnostic / patching / unlocking software ... or even some simple stuff like many printers and scanners ... there are bound to be Windows drivers for the vast majority of it (of the same era as the hardware especially) but rarely would there be any mention of 'Linux compatibility'.

Or try getting nextdoors kid (or the local PC shop for that matter) to fix your Linux desktop as easily as most could fix a Windows machine.

Or find a network backup solution that would automatically create a 'bare iron' image that you could easily restore with a couple of mouse clicks using a generic boot CD (like I have with my WHS)?

The list of course just goes on and on and equally 'of course' is what one would expect from something that has nearly zero presence on most desktops around the world. Therefore it is only any real interest to those (often 'geeks') who have issues with Microsoft or Apple (for political / commercial / moral reasons) in the same way most people buying a potentially over-polluting car ... don't.

'Most people' aren't interested in security or even backups and many would carry on using a 'less secure' OS if the alternative was something that didn't do what they wanted.

I have been 'playing with' Linux for a good few years now (running an AX.25 packet node on Slackware 0.9 or summat) and still to this day, I couldn't replace even this old XP machine (an Apple Mac Mini) with the latest Linux distro and be able to do all I can *still* do on XP.

Now, if you are a software engineer (and therefore probably also a 'geek') and just need a good software development toolchain and nothing much else, then I'm sure Linux could be considered perfect.

OOI, If I come across a new app or hardware I often boot my Ubuntu PC (or one of my several Mint laptops) and see if there is a Linux version or close equivalent (like Gimp isn't an equivalent for Photoshop etc) and if it can see / use the hardware and if it can, can I access as many of the features as I can under Windows or even OSX. It rarely can as if it could, I too would be running Linux as my 'daily desktop', rather than just for interest or as an alternative (to Windows).

What I do use Linux regularly for though is as a hardware test tool via the boot DVD / USB feature and tools like Gparted for general partition deletion / re-sizing etc.

Cheers, T i m

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Of course. Whitehall controls the purse strings.

So you don't actually know the difference between Scotland and Wales?

Crikey. Talk about making things up. Criticise a government and you're automatically from another camp.

You'd better ask them.

[Bill]

In message , dennis@home.?.invalid writes

The problem is that there doesn't appear to be any well-written, decently designed simple and stable OS with long term commitment that I could ever find. Something like a properly tidied up W2k or XP just might have been a contender as a basis for a decent industrial OS.

No, of course I don't, but I doubt if they have the resources to keep re-interfacing and re-testing their machines every time MS does a prancing stage relaunch either. My W10 machine has failed for the last month every time it has tried to update a Dell printer driver. Today it failed to install again, but then a rescan said the machine is up to date. Not sure I want my life support machine running on something that works like that.

[Robin]

Why when you know it all?

[Martin Barclay]

You posted: Linux is useless for a lot of things,

I asked: Such as?

[T i m]

And at least you (the numpty user) *can* automate that process, unlike Linux.

Except that you actually have to get / allow it to do so, rather that having them apply automatically, as you shut down (or not).

*Every* Linux machine I've installed for others is *never* updated when I see it next, irrespective of me telling the user how to apply the updates and explaining why they should. e.g. They don't get applied unless the process could easily be made automatic.

Cheers, T i m

[Bill]

In message , Martin Barclay writes

I let T i m answer for me with his very long list.

The ones on it that I'm aware of personally include vehicle diagnostics and audio devices that need drivers.

I use Linux on a couple of servers, and Android phone and tablets, but find XP and W7 much more useful and flexible on desktop and laptops.

[Tim Streater]

I just saw an ad posted on Twitter for a "Diversity" officer for the NHS, at around £50k/annum. There's a source of funds right there.

If the IT Dept is short of funding, it needs to make a stronger argument to have its budget increased.

[Tim Streater]

Why?

[Tim Streater]

You calling Blair and Brown Tories? That's novel.

[Tim Streater]

Filter them out centrally. Why else d'ye have an IT Dept if not to enable stuff like that.

[dennis]

You can't easily get a linux driver for my laser printer even though I can get one that runs on my phone as an application.

Don't confuse linux android and tablets with desktop linux they aren't very similar other than in name.

I use linux on NAS boxes but even they don't have the hardware page managers and such needed to run proper linux with virtual memory, etc.