For one it can't be hijacked as easily as these ISPs are doing.
...which they're *not* doing. This article is a farce written by someone who can't even configure his email client to use the correct port for submission. He's trying to use port 25 which is only for MX to MX communication and not for submission, he should be using 587 and if he did there would very likely be no problems.
Bell Sympatico in Canada uses port 25 for encrypted client to server connections Port 587 times out. Completely non-standard fuckery, I realize, but it's certainly possible that this guy's ISP does something similarly stupid.
Server 2K3 also uses PPTP, which is known to be broken, and no fix is planned from MS, despite the fact that 2K3 is still supported til next year sometime.
Before looking at the technological failure point I would like to know why that much data is exposed to a vpn connection in such a way that it can be exploited.
Because idiot IT "consultants" generally view the firewall as the only important line of defence. I can't count the number of business I've gone into to clean up a mess, and found the perimeter firewall to be....well...mediocre, and the internal security to be absolutely non-existent. Basically, the assumption is that anything that's on the network is supposed to be there, so you don't set anything up to question it.
I've seen databases set up to allow root/sa access to anything, with no password. If I question the IT genius who set it up, the response is usually something like: "Well, that way everybody who needs it has access to it, and the firewall blocks any outside access, so it's secure."
It's a 2011 Ford.
That doesn't narrow things down a lot. Is it an entry level 2011 Fiesta? Or is it a loaded 2011 Mustang GT500? (I would have used the Ford GT as the high end, but they stopped making those in 2006.)
. It takes about six hours to drive from the Aurora center to the Farmington center near Minneapolis, and that's not counting going home and packing for an extended stay.
Drive? Why would they drive that far? It's much quicker to fly.
Well, duuh. All the planes are grounded. How are they supposed to fly?
Is it though feasible to set up the the system so those controllers can go home, login to a VPN and have a nation wide system that they can load their area into and continue work?
And then when some Chinese hacker breaks in and redirects every plane in the country to Newark, you'll be bitching about the stupidity of connecting the air traffic control system to the Internet.
For a start, Ubuntu is a high-memory distro, because it tries to be everything to everybody, simple to install and use, and as automated as possible.
Blow it away, install Debian 7 with lxde, and you'll run the entire thing in nicely in your 512MB with room to spare.
99% of Windows is exactly the same to the user for Windows 8 vs Windows XP. The only difference is, if you click the start button you get a screen of icons vs. a menu of icons.
Plus, that stupid "PC Settings" screen, with a bunch of toggle switches for options, instead of a real control panel....oh, wait...it DOES have an actual control panel, but the organization of it is completely different than XP, Vista, or 7. And what settings do you find in the Control Panel, and what ones are in PC Settings?
Then there's turning it off. Where the heck is the Shut Down option? Oh...it's over here at the opposite side of the screen, completely hidden by the desktop equivalent of "mystery meat navigation."
Then there's the whole hideousness of the UI itself, and its flat, Windows-2-esque window chrome. When the graphical elements of your quarter century old OS are more appealing than your latest and greatest, you know you've screwed the pooch. Royally.
That is the reality of wanting an alternative operating system, and is a choice of the people. If you want simplicity as an end user, windows is currently OS of choice, as its specifically built to install itself automatically with all the necessary drivers and settings by OEM.
Errr....you've never actually installed Windows, have you?
In all your examples, the part that you're suggesting should be left out is made by the same company that makes the rest of the item.
In the Microsoft/hardware manufacturer case, they're two different companies.
In the obligatory car analogy, rather than the paint removed, it would be more like every car manufacturer (except for some niche ones like TVR, Saleen, Koenigsegg, and Caterham, none of which you can afford) sold you a car, but required you to buy a Nokia cellphone along with it. You already have a perfectly functional Samsung cellphone and plan, but you can't buy a car without this extra Nokia phone and plan being forced on you.
The thing they're removing is the Nokia, not the paint on the car.
A law that forbids selling hardware and software together would increase innovation. Consumers would only be able to buy hardware and software separately. That way, hardware vendors are encouraged to document the hardware and software vendors will compete on quality. Installation procedures would become very easy very quickly due to market pressure.
Normal people don't like that though. Let's say that you try and sell product A to somebody that requires product B to function. This person has neither used nor ever had interest in A or B. Most people aren't interested in one or the other. Normal people want an A+B product where somebody else has worked out all of the compatibility problems.
The thing is, in this case, product A doesn't require product B to function. It can use product B, but it can also use product C, product D, product E, or product F. It only requires one of them, but when it's sold to you, even if you want to use it with product C, D, E, or F, you are required to buy product B.
Apple doesn't develop their own supporting chipsets, CPU or GPU hardware, or any other such thing. At most, there may be some proprietary "System Protection Chip" that isn't needed at all for the system to work.
In fact, Apple themselves have instructions on their website for how to install Windows on Mac hardware. I guess you need to catch up to what the world has known for a while.
What people? A handful of geeks who've heard of Linux?
Maybe the municipal government of Turin?
Which is probably the case. 1 idiot mayor says Linux is gone. A whole bunch of council members say it's not.
Life is a healthy respect for mother nature laced with greed.
