Also highly recommend Ubuntu especially Xubuntu for seniors, for its simpler menu structure and less cluttered interface. Whilst placing icons for all commonly used applications in the launcher and sensible preconfiguration of the browser bookmark toolbar is good. A little basic training goes a long way. For older folks, care with fonts selection and colours can help greatly (esp for men). I have performed eleven Xubuntu installs for over sixties and they have required minimal post install support. I always get a kick out seeing the confidence and new lease of life that accompanies it, when they start receiving and sending email / photos etc from their family who previously did not have time to write. The mental, emotional and self esteem benefits of a well setup Xubuntu system for a senior can change lives. If its a friend or relative, the world you will open up for them, will enhance your life as well. I have had many attempts at configuring Windows for the same job, but eventually the virii & malware inevitably take them down. The last of those eleven was a Vista install that had become fatally infested after only being connected to the net for two days. The elderly lady owner was not only delighted with Xubuntu (prev Win98 user) but was amazed at how fast her new computer was compared to when it ran Vista.

Relying on a firewall is a very poor security policy indeed, The nature of industrial control equipment is modularised / multi vendor/ and generally and integrated by barely adequate software. In most cases the software is not audited, uses no transport level encryption, and have simple (reliable) often human readable protocols and is rarely updated. In my over two decade experience in this field, little has changed security wise. The software mentioned in the article is almost ubiquitious in large control centres, sometimes sharing the same subnet as Windows based workstations. Documented breeches are uncommon, but everyone with any time in industry could tell you stories which could keep you awake at night. The problems that exist in normal IT are magnified greatly in an industrial environment due to huge pressure to continue production and minimise testing, as well as the large variety of disparate equipment engineers are expected to maintain.