Re: [newbie] Mandrake Linux not yet ready for primetime

[Jack]

JoeHill wrote: Oh, and Bittorrent is *not* a security risk. In fact, I would imagine, downloading via FTP is probably more 'insecure' than Bittorrent. Then it's different from most peer to peer. Running ad-aware or other such often picks up a few hits after I've used peer to peer in the past. So what is it about BT that makes it invulnerable to the idiots who want nothing more than access to your computer? LOL! Okay, lesson number one in *open source*. If Bittorrent, or its MDK packagers, were to try to sneak in some 'spyware', they would be defamed, pissed on, their houses burned to the ground and their DNA permanently erased from the gene pool. It is only closed source, proprietary code like that Kazaa crap (or Windows...I assume you have no problem with the multitude of 'phone home' mechanisms built into XP, or the 200 known but unpatched vulnerabilities in IE) that allows greedy fscks to install shite on your box without your say so. You've no need for AdAware or Norton on Linux, let me assure you. Don't hold back, Joe... Say what you feel!!!  :-)   Seriously though, you are right that perhaps I'm attributing to Linux what only exists in the Windows world.  As a sidenote, I am quite diligent in Windows ---> Ad Aware, SpyBot, and SpySweeper have pretty much kept my system clean, as well as AVG anti-virus.  I have also disabled most of the Window services that try to dial out (Love that gpedit.msc!) On another tack... would Bittorrent Windows version be as safe as it is in Linux? *Praise*, as well as criticisms, Joe... and I did indirectly specify problems to which I've already received some answers. So it *has* gotten me somewhere. (I personally don't get "attached" to software, so I don't get upset when someone critiques a software package. Besides, I do believe that my comments were "newbie-type" comments!!!) ;-) Ya, we got the praise. It's just that every time there's a new release, there's a post with subject line that contains the line 'not ready for prime time'. It's annoying in a general sort of way. I guess I'm not built that way.  I like WinXP; I like Linux.  I could have listed what I don't like about XP here also but the caveats that I have for XP do not "get in the way" as much as they do for Linux.  However, I *am* a newbie to the Linux world, and my percerption is that Linux is getting more and more robust as time goes on.  God knows, I would love to see it become a serious player in the OS market.  That would drive Windows prices down, make MS more open to users' needs, and destroy a de facto monopoly (which is never a good thing in the open market.)  As an example of what I'm talking about, Rogers cable internet got a whole lot more responsive to the market once Bell came out with adsl.  Besides, there are things in Linux that are superior to XP; it would be great to be able to go to one or the other as my needs dicated... - Jack