On Wednesday 23 March 2005 23:30, Rick Pali wrote: > Yann wrote: > >Could you please keep this off list. > >It is way off topic. > > It's off topic to discuss how Prime95 runs on various operating systems
No - except to point out that Prime95 only runs on Windows family OSes, linux users will be running mprime or sprime (depending on which libraries they have installed) whilst esoteric operating systems must run another LL tester altogether. > and who runs those same operating systems? Allow me to politely disagree. I think Yann's point was that flaming OSes, in particular a service pack specific to one particular version of one operating system, is off topic. And I agree except that discussion of whether or not a particular system software configuration _might_ prevent an on-topic program from running, or even cause system damage, would seem to be spot on topic. My personal opinion, as a former computer networking security specialist, is that Win XP SP2 is the best thing that Microsoft have done in years. Doesn't go far enough - Internet Explorer needs to be properly segregated from the OS kernel, the firewall should limit outgoing as well as incoming connections and there is still far too much potentially dangerous stuff loaded and active by default - but it is a significant step forward. Experience of the support group at the University I used to work for was that installing SP2 on an XP Home/Pro system had little if any impact in terms of user irritation and improved rather than reduced system stability. People who are actually running public services do need to configure the firewall after installing SP2, but hey, they really should be aware that they are letting strangers into their domain. It is probably significant that the prevalence of worm outbreaks has reduced greatly since XP SP2 was released; I don't think it likely that this has been achieved entirely through user education, nor do I think that malware authors have entirely lost interest in automatic propogation (as opposed to relying on social engineering click-through attacks, or enticing people to visit web sites containing malicious code). Yann, if you think the above two paragraphs are off topic, I do have sympathy with your viewpoint, but I think it is necessary to provide a counterweight to what I consider to be unfounded denigration of a most valuable resource provided free to users of versions of Windows which have been provided with almost all new PC systems for at least two years. Regards Brian Beesley _______________________________________________ Prime mailing list [email protected] http://hogranch.com/mailman/listinfo/prime
