The answer is simple: We are Nerds. If you screw up, you say: I screwed up, sorry. And if others screw up, you tell them what is wrong and expect them to not blame others. Case closed. But most people that are not Nerds have the tendency to screw up and blane others. We do not tolerate this behavior amongst us. It's bad enough that the normal guys do that. Hand in your Nerd-Membership card if you think that stupid excuses and blaming others is a valid way of life. It may be for others. It is not for us. We went through a lot because we are what we are. We like working with others as long as they search for the best possible solution with reasonable effort tohügether with us. We get in a loud argument while we search for the best way. And we accept it when the other solution is better. We take pride in being proven wrong and admitting it. Let the stupid folks do the screwup and blame others.

This is Slashdot. It is for Nerds. It says so in the title. Nerds by definition are not the best ar social skills. Slashdot is not for the normal guys that make life so miserable for everyone who works in some Nerd-related field. We are the guys that e.g. think about different browsers and define them. Saves us lots of trouble in the future because the webbased app will most certainly not be broken just because the company decides to migrate vom Internetexploder 6 to a real browser. It is the incompetent Other Guys [tm] that think only 6 months into the future.

And I do not even use Linux. But Linus is obviously right to be upset. Not because of the error. But because of breaking the unwritten major rule for Nerds: If we screw up, we say so. And we do not blame others.

Period.

This is slashdot, right? Everybody knows what can happen to software that ru s devices. It can be manipulated. In Germany, thy tried this. Once. Until somebody filed a lawsuit. Our constitutional court heard experts (including the white hats from the ccc in Germany), gave it a lot of thought and after seeing the evidence (how easy it is to manipulate) came to the following conclusion:

Screw that. The voters have the right to get a result that they can verify (every German has the right to atend the counting of the votes). This is part of the constitution and can not be exchanged for faster results or easier counting. They did not rule out voting machines alltogether, until the results are easally verifyable. The software con not be verified by the public, so there must be a form of proof. Like a printed paper vor each vote that could later be counted. So the government would have to count the votes TWICE. It did not help the case when the ccc installed a chess program on one of the machines on that vote - while nobody was looking - within two minutes, reproducable in the courtroom.

The court ruling was rightout sarcastic when it pointed out that a publicly verifyable counting procedure was indeed a constitutional right, while there is no such thing as a constitutional right for faster projections or making the election cheaper for the government...

As the government found no way to get voting machines in a way that the vote would be equally secret AND verivyable and thus the automated voting procedure could not be made constitutional, those machines are now rotting somewere.

I mean: come on. How often will you rely on something that has failed before? And if we get a relational voting system with paper working: what exactly makes it so hard for the US? Do you like to play chess while voting or what is the f...ing problem with you guys?

Nack.
This is a known environment, containing only Linux boxes. If it's a not trustworthy network, you are supposed to select 'public network'. And the password does not substitute a security. And we are talking about at least about 10 reboots. But alas: if you don't trust your own network you are connecting to telling windows you trust it, set an admin password and pray for the best.

But again: the security gain is not as big as it used to be and the steps were there for the original submitter whom I tried to spare the fuss. If the target group were joe average with a bit of windows experience and an unknown environment, I would include the admin password and:

0. partition into at least three partitions: one for windows and common programs, one big for games and another big one for the user profile. Install to first parition.

7a. Format the remaining partitions and set the letters accordingly, so that the hdd partions have c: d: and e:. Open regedit and set the path for the user profiles to d: install the games to e:. When you now create the user account, the complete profile is on d:, so that a new installation of windows leaves the saved games unscratched.

Yes. It's amazing how often psi complains about vulnerable software while the applications own update mechanism is still silent. It is often faster than windows update to report that it is time to fire up windows update manually in order to search for new windows patches.

Notorious slow update alerts from the applications own update mechanism also include Java, Adobe flash, air and reader, firefox (patching fast, but the patch appears too late). PSI often offer patches directly without the infamous "bonus software" like search bars and security scan software that is kindly preselected to slip it under the radar for the impatient user that is trained to click "continue" all the time when he installs anything.

Since psi informs about patches that fix the holes left wide open by the software manufacturers own notifications mechanisms (if there are any) and since they are trusted by heise.de psi should be included into the security precautions. There are similar programs, but unless they have been recommended by a really trustworthy source, I do not trust them. I am always very cautious when it cames to install software that somehow "improves" windows, so I did not use psi unless heise.de recommended them. I do not know how well known it is in other parts of the world, but psi or a trustworthy alternative are essential in order to stand a chance against the update hell.

Oh crap. I had a lengthy answer to that that just disappeared after the login, because I normally do not use the iPads standard browser. Short version: User Acount Control (UAC) is enough at that stage. He will need to reboot and update until like forever at this stage. He is not supposed to surf around at this time, just setup the system from trusted sources. Trusted German source ct from www.heise.de who brought us a script to make it easier to work without administrative rights in XP and the famous, totally legal XP homepro have even suggested that working as a non administrative user is no longer worth the fuss because of all the bad stuff that could happen to a standard user and the level of security added with Windows 7 combined with the improved UAC.

But alas, I believe it still adds some minor security. But not at this stage of the business, which you could trust your mother to do: reboot, install updates using the program windows update, reboot,... until it's over. The driver part would be a bit tricky for my mom at least, but he will only visit very trustworthy sources at this stage and typing in a complicated password after each reboot really is a bit too much, compared to nearly NO security gain at this stage of the setup procedure.

Ok?

Ok. But the basic security steps should be:

1. Use windows 7 64 bit, it is more secure
2. install Windows and create a user you will use for the "root" work. Call ist root, if you like, or boss orbwhatever. Do NOT set a password yet! Search for updates using windows updates. Do not hesitate to install all optional updates. MSIE will end on the machine anyway, so it's best to have the least insecure installed. The optional drivers are propably crap, but they're better then the generic drivers that came with Windows. Install updates. Reboot, install updates. Reboot, install updates. This is the most annoying part, but eventually, Windows update, when asked to search for more updates, will report it has none in store for you. Phew.
3. If it didn't install already, install MSE.
4. in order to work correctly in games, you will now need to install the latest drivers for the video card and for the soundcard. Do not rely on the optional windows drivers for these two components, replace the ones you got in step 3. These are the important drivers that get glitchy in games. First place to look is NOT the producer of the laptop, but the producer of the chips that are used in the laptop for sound and graphics. Google for it. Only if step 4 breaks it, try the producer of the laptop for drivers. Only if the producer of the laptop has no drivers and the drivers from the producers of the chips break the installation, repeat step 1-3 and omit step 4.
5. install the desired games and software
6. Install chrome or Firefox. Chrome might be a bit more secure. Install a PDF reader.
7. Install PSI from secunia in order to keep the update-hell in check. Run it once to check if everything is up to date.
8. Now set up the account of your son as a normal user, give him a password. Now give the root account a password, as you will soon expose the laptop to your son the real world, not just a few sites.
9. Backup and setup a backup-routine.

Give your son the computer and the password for root. Explain to him that it is his responsibility to doublecheck if a program is OK to run with Admin-privileges. From time to time, make him login as root/admin and check if any bad written programs ask for updates and check if PSI complaints about old programs and keep them up to date.

Most importantly: the best antimalware is a brain. Inform him, that he must double-check (with google, for example) that a source of downloadsoftware is reliable if he downloads software from the internet. If something sounds too good to be true, it propably is.

Actually, this is not correct. The release date was released only a month ago. The development took eight years, but it's not like you could plan ahead like for a solar eclipse.

http://wiki.piratenpartei.de/wiki/images/0/03/Parteiprogramm-englisch.pdf

This is the manifesto in english. The changes to this manifesto need 2/3 of votes on a party conference.

The statues are not available in english, so I'll post the translated German version:
  http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&twu=1&q=piratenpartei+grundsatzprogramm?sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A//wiki.piratenpartei.de/Bundessatzung%0A

As for the rest (positions, election program) please try to find it yourself or ask.

I second that.

I disagree. First because MS fucked up big time before Ballmer: http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2773391&cid=39620577

People tend to forget what a mess XP was securitywise until SP 2. Or what crap they sold to the mass market between Win 3.11 and XP (first usable OS if you were not so keen on spending hundreds of dollars for one decent OS).

And I see multitouch as an important addendum to the already available inputdevices. There are things far more easily done with multitouch, while others are faster done with a mouse and others with the keyboard. The essential thing is a good integration. I assume that it will be done fine in Windows 9. Win 8 will make themlearn (like Vista on 3D) and Win 9 will be the the windows7 for multitouch and Desktopintegration. We will see.

I am shure they will integrate multitouch and mouse/keyboard better. I don't expect it to give up multitouch.

To give him credit, Windows 7 was a good OS. And Office 2010 was the first Office since 10 years which was actually better than an open source derivat. One reason being it doesn't implode just because you use too many screenshots in a word document...

The 16-bit-crap they sold the masses for decades while NT was available at astronomic rates was not. XP was a big (!) security mess until SP 2, so I REALLY think the claim that Bill decided for better / geekier products from a thechnologic point of view shoulkd be doubted. For the time between Windows 3.11 and XP SP2 M$ as a company needs to burn in some special nerd hell.

So I pirated NT and 2000 as a matter of self defense because I paid for Windows 95 and Windows 98, which were unusable crap. How often have you played top notch games back then and the system hung altogether? A nearly non-issue under NT.

On the other hand, what we've seen from Windows 8 makes it unusable for Desktop Users, because it is a step back. And the new Home Server 2011 is pure crap. Boy, did they mess WHS 2011 up. And I don't mean the missing drive extender.

So what I am suggesting here is that under the evil Ballmer Microsoft made some really good products while Bill is responsible for the really bad ones, just saying.

I personally have no problem at all with the OS being bigger every time. The hardware is following moores law for decades, so there is no limiting factor here. But you are wrong, Windows 8 is actually not using that much more ressources than windows 7. What I have a problem with ist stability, usability and security. And the usability is a step back if it stays that way. And this will need to go away in Windows 9. For Windows 9 I want an inputdevice on my PC (beside the PC and the monitor, which I doon't want to be multitouch) like a multitouch tablet and a mouse and a keyboard. With all three combined the user interface adapts to your specific tasks. And who knows: If M$ kann make multitouch OSes, maybe in a few years time the more open Windows environment is superior to the walled gardan Apple has to offer. Maybe. I bought the iPad 3 despite the limmitations though because the other tablets optically are not worthy to be used as a bookreplacement. And a kindle is ONLY a book.

I don't give up my hopes yet: Windows 8 could MS make understand multitouch. And Windows 9 could combine the best of two worlds. We'll see.