[mdlug] A big opportunity for Linux?

[Aaron Kulkis]

Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
>>> And all the noise about how bad Vista is misses the point - the fact is
>>> that XP is in most cases good enough, hence the lack of a business case
>>> for the pain/expense of Vista.
>>  Yes, that's what I said - Vista doesn't offer anything new that people
>> want, and it's a substantial cost to upgrade.
>>  However... XP will not *stay* 'good enough'. MS can't (politically) afford
>> to put much support effort into XP. XP will stagnate, while alternatives
>> move forward.
> 
> Of course, nothing stays good enough;  but I know lots of places and
> organizations still using 2000.  These technologies remain viable for
> much longer than we techies remain infatuated with them.
> 
>>> While techy types get worked up about, often obscure, security issues
>>> most businesses, especially small business (all small businesses?) just
>>> do-not-care.
>>  ...until they get hit with a security problem. 
> 
> Of course.
> 
>>> <aside>Not to mention that enforcing a decent security policy among
>>> LINUX desktops is a major PITA and almost completely 
>>> undocumented. 
>>  Well, enforcing a *Windows-ish* security policy, perhaps.
> 
> No, there is nothing Window-ish about notifying users of password change
> requirements, etc...
> 
>>> GDM is going to tell you that the DSA is going to expire your 
>>> account in 14 days if you don't change your password.... nope.
>>  I'd thought GDM 2.x had been revamped to deal with things like that...
> 
> Some yes,  it a-l-m-o-s-t works.  Unfortunately there really aren't any
> standard/open ways for GDM to know,  unless you are still using an
> obsolete technique like shadow passwords via NIS.
> 
>>> You can view/edit file ACLs from nautilus... nope.
>>  What, specifically, do you need ACLs for that can't be accomplished with
>> more traditional u/g/o permissions?
> 
> A user wants two other user's to be able to edit their file, and the
> secretary to be able to read the file?    The u/g/o permissions from
> UNIX are basically useless to users.

In actual practice in the workplace, I've never seen
u/g/o rwx to be insufficient for that sort of task.

I suppose the CIA would be an exception...but that's a VERY
special exception.

Even in the combat environment of Baghdad, ACLs are an
extremely heavy-handed way of solving the problem (and
in many ways, even clumsier than u/g/o rwx).