You should RTFM before posting this heresy. man revelation states that the mark of the beast is linux kernel 6.6.6, which predates the Second Coming of Christ. Older print manuals invoked kernel 6.1.6, but that turned out to be an error with a possessed dot matrix printer.

The (sensible) objections to Shuttleworth's comments all hedge on the fact that he's muddling different aspects of privacy and control over a machine with "got r00t?". Yes, those installing Ubuntu connect to Canonical repos to update their system, and there's a whole chain of trust that goes back to Debian, linux kernel devs, et al.

However, the root user (or user in /etc/sudoers) is the one that initiates system upgrades. That user is asked for their permission and supplies a password to the system, before APT contacts Canonical's repos (or one of the many mirrors). Then, files are downloaded and installed, and the machine is configured accordingly. The root user is handing over control and privacy, but it's not of the same type that people are worried about here. The user is executing code on their system that has already gone through a "community audit", and it's a big community with a good track record, and no incentive to bork your system. There are many eyes on that code, so it's really difficult to do anything (outwardly) malicious.

The worry here is the same worry people have with Google's tight integration with Android. Except in this example, Canonical drinks ur milkshake or hands it off to Amazon (with the promise of other data-miners in the future). Having this functionality and monetary incentive tightly tied to the desktop of a major distro is a threat to freedom and privacy, although how big remains to be seen...I have a feeling it won't get too far because of community outrage, or Ubuntu will lose more ground to Mint, etc.

This is one of the many reasons to install Trisquel as a base system and then add repos as appropriate. You know they'll strip out any crap like this, if not stay away from Unity completely.

I must be new here.

^ ambiguity of English grammar :P I was going in the 80's-ish, and I didn't realize *you* were the one going 100mph in your post

You apparently need to spend more time on the East Coast. I've been passed by motorcycles weaving through traffic, going that speed.

I'd try this PPA first with a LiveCD: https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa

...for your /etc/X11/xorg.conf:

Section "Device"
Identifier "intel"
Driver "intel"
Option "AccelMethod" "uxa"
EndSection

My fix is switching to the 3.4 kernel on the Eee PCs at work, and the Intel graphics problems go away. Needless to say, switching to a bleeding-edge kernel can break things, so be cautious.

...like me, here's a zoomable version. As for the comic itself, the idea isn't genius, but the implementation is very smart.

I, for one, welcome our new dice-rolling overlords.

But I thought they turned on that "Do Not Hack" HTTP header??

Anything that hurts Zynga, hurts facebook, as they reminded us over and over in the IPO filing. So, depends what you think of the Zuckerborg.

When did /. get so, um, like, emo about "linux"?

Seems to me a bacteria could be genetically engineered to eat this stuff, just like Duroplast. Could make its use in warfare untenable.

If you know you need a JRE, try GCJ or IcedTea/OpenJDK version 6, and see if your Java program will still run (or if you can tweak settings to get it to run). This comparison of Java VMs is helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Java_virtual_machines

For GNU/Linux users, there are a lot of choices to avoid this, if our platforms are even targeted. For Windows and Mac OSX users, I've been recommending:
1. Uninstall all versions of Sun/Oracle Java JRE
2. Install OpenJDK 6, only if needed (easy install packages here http://www.openscg.com/se/openjdk/index.jsp )

^ that link also has install packages for GNU/Linux, but obviously you'll want to use your distro's package manager if you have one. Also, I recommend uninstalling *all versions* of Sun/Oracle Java, not just 7, because it's a simpler instruction for users. I find a lot of people hit a cognitive wall when they have to check software versions, even if the info is right in front of them.

That's a tough one, but I'll take a shot. Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. Maybe I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never met, never had no problem with, get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', "Oh, send in the Marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number got called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some kid from Southie takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he comes back to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile, he realizes the only reason he was over there in the first place was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And, of course, the oil companies used the skirmish over there to scare up domestic oil prices. A cute little ancillary benefit for them, but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. And they're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, of course, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and fuckin' play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So now my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's got to walk to the fuckin' job interviews, which sucks 'cause the shrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorrhoids. And meanwhile he's starvin', 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat, the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what did I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. I figure fuck it, while I'm at it why not just shoot my buddy, take his job, give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.