Linux-Advocacy Digest #508, Volume #27 Thu, 6 Jul 00 23:13:06 EDT
Contents:
Re: Why Linux should be #1 choice for students! (R.E.Ballard ( Rex Ballard ))
Re: ## HOT ## Microsoft software for Linux (Lincoln Peters)
Re: Linux is just plain awful (Paul Wilson)
Re: Linux is just plain awful (Perry Pip)
Re: ## HOT ## Microsoft software for Linux
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: R.E.Ballard ( Rex Ballard ) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Why Linux should be #1 choice for students!
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 02:19:11 GMT
In article <8i8phe$elb$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> No-Spam wrote:
> > On Wed, 14 Jun 2000 00:17:14 GMT,
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > ><snip>
> > >
> > >Actually, Linux should be the number 1
> > > choice for students because you
> > > never stop learning. <shudder>
The key is that you can quickly get to the point where you are as
effective on a preinstalled version of Linux as you are on a
preinstalled version of Windows. Furthermore, you don't have to
break the law to get the latest upgrades.
We tell our kids not to steal, then we tell them it's O.K. for dad
to load Office from the CD he borrowed from work onto the kids
machines. It's about like a father washing down his valium
with another slug from his Chevis Regal bottle and telling the kid
not to use drugs.
> > Hahaha, curious people never WANT to stop learning.
> For the record, I'm a linux newbie,
> so I'm not coming up with counter-
> arguments just for the sake of spreading MS fud.
>
> > >In all seriousness, you're going to have a hard time convincing the
> > >average person who doesn't need to do any tricky formatting that
it's
> > >better to write reports with LaTex than with Word.
> > Who would anyone do that ????????
>
> Why would anyone do what?
Yes, you are a Linux newbie. LaTeX is a text formatting language
similar to XML or HTML, but with much more flexibility. The big
advantage is that LaTex and other TeX documents can easily be archived
and hotlinked. Nearly 10 years before the World Wide Web became
a household word, Emacs had InfoTex. This was very similar to the
link-jump style hypertext we've come to know and love, and was used
to create huge documents. What made InfoTex special was that you
could also simply print part or all of the whole archive and have
typesetter quality printouts on pretty much any printer that supported
a dvi driver (nearly all printers support dvi either directly or via
ghostscript).
Imagine being able to browse a book like a web-site and being able
to print a website like it was a book.
The advantage of LaTeX over TeX is that LaTeX supports a wide variety
of line art, tables, borders, and graphics natively (but you can still
embed images as well).
> > I've just convinced a Word *hating* writer,
> > that Lyx is the way to go.
> > She loves Lyx now, its fast, and bug free.
Since you are a newbie, Lyx is a WYSIWYG editor/viewer for
LaTex. It has most of the same features as Word, but you can
type faster, archive the documents for later retrieval using any
number of text searching tools, and you can consolidate an entire
textbook, or even an encyclopedia for that matter, into a single
document.
> Heh, so you managed to preach to the converted.
> Congratulations. What made her hate Word?
Lost documents, corrupted documents, documents that looked great
on Word 2000 but turned to chicken scratchings when it had to
be pushed down to Word 97 or Word 95 format. Documents you can't
find because you cant remember the cryptic file name, where you
put it, or even if you backed it up. When you are frantically
looking for research or reports that need to be compiled and
delivered by a certain deadline only an hour or two away, you can
really hate popping open Word document after Word document hoping
that the next one will be what you looking for, only to discover
that it's the one with the killer virus in it. Oops.
> > (Lyx is a GUI frontend for LaTex, no LaTex knowledge necessary)
> >
> > Oh one other thing she likes,
> > the Lyx docs are not full of passwords and irc
> > channel names, etc !!
>
> Passwords aren't usually a problem unless the person starts fscking
> around with the different options under the Tools menu, which isn't
> standard newbie behaviour. As for irc channel names, you'll have to
> enlighten me.
It's illegal as hell (your EULA strictly forbids this) but take a
Microsoft word document, copy it to Linux and do an "od -bc | more",
which will give you a hexidecimal dump of the word file in a format
that lets you see both the hex bytes and the text. The document will
have a number of strange strings in it. One of those strings is the
serial number of your Microsoft Word. Another string is the serial
number of your hard drive. Another string is information you provided
when you registered windows. Another string is information you
provided when you registered Office. If you document also contains
embedded objects like graphs, charts, or pictures, you'll see the
embedded objects. Nearly all of these objects are harmless, but
there are some that will look like URLs or the names of IRC addresses.
These can indicate that a hacker has embedded a stealth virus into
your document.
A stealth virus is very different from the hacker viruses that have
become so famous. These are looking for very specific types of
information. Typically, a stealth virus will look for information
about you. It will confirm, via the internet, that you are someone
"interesting". If you aren't interesting, the virus simply stays
in your word document until you mail it to somebody, at which point,
the virus will find out if that person is "interesting".
If you are "interesting", the stealth virus might then do things like
examine your history files for CGI forms, especially urls with
things like https://xx.yy.com/cgi-
bin/buyit?Name=john&CC=4717101034552345&exp=1202... (they now have
your name, credit card, and expiration dates).
Of course the strategy of a stealth virus is to be as quiet as
possible. Instead of embedded vbscript (which could be read
directly), a compiled VB program or C function is embedded
to be called by the word processor as it attempts to access the
OLE/COM object.
I don't want to go into too much detail because there might be
hackers watching and I don't want to give them too many ideas.
The key is that e-mailing word attachments is like having unprotected
sex with hookers who shoot drugs with shared needles. You don't
know what you could get, but it could be pretty nasty.
Think about every URL you've visited in the last 7 days, every
form you've filled out, every email you've sent to a friend, and
every document sitting on your PC right now. Is there anything
you wouldn't want somebody to see? The bondage photos you browsed
saturday night suddenly show up as e-mail from you to your boss?
The bid you sent to your customer comes to your competitor as an
"anonymous tip". The flowers you bought for your secretary becomes
a dozen roses billed to your wife's credit card. The quicken files
you don't want the IRS to know about show up as an attachment, along
with a copy of your 1040PC for last year showing that you might have
forgotten to claim the profit on the car you sold for a $10,000 profit
last year.
Maybe you live the life of a saint. That doesn't mean we can't make
you look a bit more exciting. In fact, with a stealth virus, you can
send mail with no records, love notes, to the CEO's secretary, complete
with detailed descriptions of things you couldn't even imagine doing
to your fantasy girl, complete with a snuf scene. That ought to get
the FBI and half the chain of command interested. What if you send
2-3 a day.
And once the damage is done, the virus quietly copies a section of
your document into it's little buffer so that all traces of the
infection dissappears. But all the copies of everything you sent
end up in the bottom of your "sent mail" folder, along with a now
unencrypted zip file containing a nice little archive.
Keep in mind, one of those little stealth viri could be Microsoft's
piracy detector. It will send a very small message, containing your
software serial number, hard drive serial number, and ethernet NIC
address to make sure you're not a pirate. It will usually rotate
through all Microsoft software at a rate of about 1/hour (when you're
connected).
Ironcially, the piracy detector is actually legal. Microsoft has
the legal right to put it there and to inventory your machine as
often as it likes. If you check the "Tell me about upgrades"
option, it will even send you information about new software,
new service packs, and even free software. But whether or not
you check the "send me something" box, you will be audited. Not
very often, but often enough to catch any real pirates.
Legally, Microsoft owns your software and only grants you a license
to use it. As a result, they have the right to alter any of their
program binaries at any time, without your consent. If you are
a pirate, they even have the right to render your software
disfunctional.
To my knowledge Microsoft has only deliberately destroyed it's own
software once, in a version of Microsoft Word for Mac. No one would
have noticed except that the copy detection mechanism depended on
the ability to write "bad-blocks" (incorrect checksums) to the
hard drive. These blocks would be checked each time the program
was started and if the blocks were good, they knew that the program
had been illegally copied. The only problem was that the MAC used
a SCSI drive, corrected the bad block by replacing it with a good one
and copying the actual contents of the bad block using an error
correction code to correct both the data an the checksum.
When Microsoft Word didn't find it's bad blocks where they were
supposed to be, a virus embedded in word erased files on the hard
drive. Many companies threatened to sue Microsoft, but were told
by their lawyers (who FINALLY decided to READ THE EULA) realized
that there wasn't a thing they could do.
Today it's a federal crime for Microsoft to damage any software
other than it's own, and the most likely type of damage would be
a trap instruction that forces the user to call for service. A
legitimate user would have no trouble making the call, a pirate
would expose himself on the phone.
> > > Bugginess with
> > >templates and macros notwithstanding,
> > > Word's a pretty decent program if
> > > all you need to do is write a double-spaced,
> > > Times 12, footnoted and
> > > endnoted, page-numbered report using two
> > > different styles (one for body
> > > text, one for quoted text),
> > Hahahahah
> > Lyx does this, on a 486/100 quickly, and for FREE!
>
> And I had an earlier version of Word
> that did all this on a 386/33, too.
The big question is, even if you could find it in an old shoebox
somewhere, could you run it on Windows 2000? Not likely!
Furthermore, could you read the default documents generated
by Word 2000? Absolutely not!
> However, I'll grant that you can't find
> that version in the stores
> anymore... (one of the reasons I don't like MS very much)
You don't have any friends, coworkers, or pack-rats that don't
have a 1992 vintage version of MS-Word? You're either not
looking hard enough, or all your friends were pirates in the 1990s.
> > > which I'm willing to bet is all the average
> > >non-science-oriented person would need to do for their thesis.
> > I'd agree too.
> >
> > > Word does all these pretty well.
Bit is Word/Office worth $600? Is e-mailing Word attachments worth
risking losses due to credit card fraud? Is piracy worth risking
the corruption of the software the day before the term paper is due?
> > > You could do way worse than strive for
> > >Word's usability at this level.
> > No you couldn't. Word costs $$$
>
> This point is moot if they already have it,
> which most students who own a computer do.
You are assuming three things:
1. ALL students purchase fully equipped computers completely equipped
with a fully functional version of Microsoft Office. This raises
the price of the computer considerably. Most Jr High and High
school students opt for the much cheaper Works and Windows 9x.
2. There is NO ALTERNATIVE to a fully equipped Windows system complete
with Microsoft Word. Clearly Windows 98 and Works, Linux and Lyx,
and Linux with Applix or WordPerfect or StarOffice would be more
cost effectives that the Windows/MS-Office option.
3. That all assignments would be printed and delivered to the teacher.
Many teachers prefer electronic copies, and many even accept it
via e-mail. Even the smallest term papers don't fit on floppies
any more.
> > is bloated, 1k text often becomes 30k Word
> > bloat doc.
4. That all students would have NO OTHER option than to use
Microsoft Word. What you are saying is that a poor assignment
delivered in Microsoft Word format gets a C simply because the
child's parents had the $2000 to purchase an MS-Office equipped
machine.
The issue here isn't whether Word is better than Lyx, but whether
an assignment created in anything other than Microsoft Word format
would be accepted and graded on it's merits. I've written some of
my best work, worth billions to the readers, on cheap text editors
running under Linux, Unix, or Netscape.
> Granted. I've had a few novel-sized documents bloat over a floppy
> disk's capacity. That sucked.
> Still, neither of your points do anything
> to take away from Word's usability.
The key Word here is usability. Word can create usable RTF documents,
HTML documents, even XML documents in the case of Office 2000. But
these documents can also be generated by other equally easy to use
programs.
Unfortunately, most people create documents in Word that can only be
written by that version of Word. Even subsquent versions of Word
will attempt to alter the document if the document is written in an
older format. This is no accident. Microsoft generates a very
substantial portion of revenue from "forced upgrades".
I once cost Microsoft nearly $250 million because I realised
after reading the new license on Office 97, that my employer
would have to not only have to purchase nearly 100,000 copies
of Office 97, but would also have to purchase 50,000 additional
licenses for employees with home PCs or Laptops.
Gartner confirmed my interpretation, and rather than
jump in with both feet only to have Office 2000 come
out immediately after we would have completed the roll-out
of Office 97, we simply went from Office 95 to Office 2000.
It saved my employer an average of $300/user plus $300/home-PC.
I left my calling card (a LinuxMall copy of Linux) on the
Microsoft's desk the day after the decision was made.
(Sorry Martha :-).
> Decent manuals about Word are one
> hell of a lot easier to find than
> decent manuals about LaTex etc.
Try printing the helps from the Word disk. It isn't easy is it?
The document isn't quite what you were hoping for either.
The manuals for LaTex, Tex, InfoTex, and Lyx are all bundled
on the same CD-ROM as the rest of the Linux distribution.
Personally, I'm a big fan of online documentation. I fly
around too much to carry a 40 lb printed manual everywhere
(which is about how big the TeX related manuals are when printed
on a postscript laser printer.) Even at 4 pages per sheet, that
book get's a little bit to heavy to be a carry-on.
By the way, there are a number of good books which include an
abridged user's guide to Lyx and LaTeX. The Linux Documentation
Project includes the "quick and dirty" documentation you need to
create nice pretty documents.
Personally, I prefer to create my documents in HTML or SGML and have
them converted to XML, HTML, or Ghostscript compatible Postscript.
Plus, the Postscript can easily be turned into PDF documents.
> -wrinkledshirt
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.
>
--
Rex Ballard - Open Source Advocate, Internet
I/T Architect, MIS Director
http://www.open4success.com
Linux - 40 million satisfied users worldwide
and growing at over 5%/month! (recalibrated 7/2/00)
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: Lincoln Peters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,alt.os.linux.best,alt.linux.sucks,be.comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: ## HOT ## Microsoft software for Linux
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 03:31:29 GMT
I don't know if there is any point in saying this, but in the original=20
post, I saw E=3DMC2. However, in this post, I saw E=3Dmc2. It doesn't =
look like a problem with extended characters, but maybe was a typo. =20
The best way to say it is probably E=3DM*C^2. That doesn't involve any =
special characters and works almost anywhere.
Anyway, what does this program do? Are you sure that it's made by=20
Microsoft rather than a clone of a Microsoft product? Is it as=20
(un)reliable as Microsoft software usually is?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Original Message <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
On 7/6/00, 4:44:00 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Douglas D. Anderson) wrote=20
regarding Re: ## HOT ## Microsoft software for Linux:
> In article <8k37km$v4o$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > Your equation is incorrect.
> > It should be e =3D m c^2 and not E=3DMC2
> E=3Dmc=B2 is correct
> (with apologies to anyone w/o extended characters enabled)
> Cheers.
> Doug Anderson
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Registered Linux User #180915 @ counter.li.org
> >
> > CyberSurfer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> >>
> >> HOT! HOT!
> >>
> >> I found Microsoft software for Linux.
> >> Its a network time tool.
> >> File is attached!
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >> CyberSurfer / Singularity
> >> In a dark room full of windows the Tux said: "E=3DMC2", and there w=
as=20
light
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
------------------------------
From: Paul Wilson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Linux is just plain awful
Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 21:42:55 -0500
Susan and Willy Wong wrote:
>
> I manage a national software chain and as far as Linux is concerned, it
> is numero uno on the return list. The next nearest competitor isn't even
> close. And for those curious ones it is a kids game that sucks real bad
> although it is advertised on a national basis. It blue screens even in
> the setup program on many computers, especially those with Win 98 SE
> installed.
Setup program? What setup program? Which distribution? What version?
Not a terribly bad attempt at a troll, I'll give it a 6 out of 10.
<snip rantings>
Paul
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Perry Pip)
Subject: Re: Linux is just plain awful
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 02:46:28 GMT
On Fri, 07 Jul 2000 01:39:47 GMT,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>
>Jokes on you dude. It ain't me..
>
Yes it is. The wording too perfectly matches your heather69 posts. And
you have another post today using [EMAIL PROTECTED], posted
with your same version of agent - 1.8/32.548 , from the same dialup
ISP - NewYork2.Level3.net, also using a prod.itd.earthlink.net news server
exactly as your post here. You really are very terrible at hiding the
connections between your different identities.
------------------------------
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: alt.os.linux,alt.os.linux.best,alt.linux.sucks,be.comp.os.linux
Subject: Re: ## HOT ## Microsoft software for Linux
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 19:51:27 -0700
Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Lincoln Peters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
>news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>Anyway, what does this program do? Are you sure that it's made by
>Microsoft rather than a clone of a Microsoft product? Is it as
>(un)reliable as Microsoft software usually is?
The original posting of this thread appeared to me to be an obvious joke by
CyberSurfer. So I played the straightman by correct the joke version of the
equation and that got the whole ball rolling. The software attached to the
original posting is the shell script listed below.
clear
echo " --------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "| Microsoft NFS Transferspeed Tool (MNTT) |"
echo "| |"
echo "| shell script to test NFS speed |"
echo "| Use rsize & wsize to optmimize your speed |"
echo "| |"
echo "| |"
echo "| This software is GPL licensed |"
echo "| |"
echo "|--------------------------------------------------------------|"
echo "| (c) Microsoft 2000. You may not use, read or copy this file! |"
echo " --------------------------------------------------------------"
echo
echo "Enter remote directory to test your netspeed with"; read path
echo "Enter the filename to copy"; read file
echo "Enter local directory to copy this file [tmp]"; read path2
echo
clear
echo " --------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "| Microsoft NFS Transferspeed Tool (MNTT) |"
echo "| |"
echo "| shell script to test NFS speed |"
echo "| Use rsize & wsize to optmimize your speed |"
echo "| |"
echo "| |"
echo "| This software is GPL licensed |"
echo "| |"
echo "|--------------------------------------------------------------|"
echo "| (c) Microsoft 2000. You may not use, read or copy this file! |"
echo " --------------------------------------------------------------"
echo "|# start : `date -I +%M:%S:%MS`
|"
echo "---------------------------------------------------------------|"
echo "|# copying.... |"
cp -p -v $path/$file $path2
echo "---------------------------------------------------------------|"
echo "|# stop : `date -I +%M:%S:%MS`
|"
echo " --------------------------------------------------------------"
exit
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Advocacy Digest
******************************
