nerds......

[pentode]

well then... i do not think it was a screw up. i think it was a test.

and i am rapidly becoming a fan of linux.

I just said this a couple days ago in another thread, but I always start with Hanlon’s Razor: never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
Microsoft said yesterday if you rebooted 15 times it would clear the fault, so assuming that’s true I think it’s safe to say it was a screw up. However, you can bet your bottom dollar that every state hacker is looking very carefully at this and getting all kinds of new ideas.

If anyone’s interested in a thread on how to switch over to Linux (or just try it out) I’d be happy to start a thread over in the computer section.

 

[bobbywalter]

i know i regret not going to it back in 07 or so....

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

well then... i do not think it was a screw up. i think it was a test.

and i am rapidly becoming a fan of linux.

Did you hear about the recent CDK cyber attack that took car dealers back to the stone age for like a month?

 

[pentode]

i know i regret not going to it back in 07 or so....

Never too late. And easier than ever to try it out, all you need is a USB key.

 

[bobbywalter]

is this a trap?......where is the star wars its a trap meme???

 

[pentode]

Did you hear about the recent CDK cyber attack that took car dealers back to the stone age for like a month?

I sure did. There are so many huge networks, cloud-based platforms and software packages that are being run by semi- competent or incompetent people.

Lack of talent or Peter principle, I’m not sure.

 

[RobbieD]

is this a trap?......where is the star wars its a trap meme???

 

[bobbywalter]

Never too late. And easier than ever to try it out, all you need is a USB key.

 

[JoshT]

Why in the holy &@&$* is a dialysis machine dependent on a windows network to function? Or cancer treatments? That’s nuts!

FIFY. Windows, Linux, ETC doesn't matter. Why is any medical device relying on a network to function? Why is any crtitical medical device network connected at all? If it is network connected it can be compromised, and there is some sick f*** out there that will target it.

My experience is more personal side of IT. I've got nothing against Linux, it just doesn't have the support and has too many variations to go mainstream. Everything consumer is written for either Apple or Windows, and I won't touch an apple product if I can help it. For the majority of users out there, Linux requires too much knowledge, experience, and tinkering to setup and keep performing as it should. Most users want plug it in and push the power button and just it isn't that simple. Android (linux based) has gotten things right with the cellphone OS, but that does not translate to laptop or desktop operating systems very well. Also a large part of the PC users left use them for gaming and Linux doesn't have near the support in that arena without jumping through extra hoops.

Just my 2 cent.

 

[pentode]

FIFY. Windows, Linux, ETC doesn't matter. Why is any medical device relying on a network to function? Why is any crtitical medical device network connected at all? If it is network connected it can be compromised, and there is some sick f*** out there that will target it.

My experience is more personal side of IT. I've got nothing against Linux, it just doesn't have the support and has too many variations to go mainstream. Everything consumer is written for either Apple or Windows, and I won't touch an apple product if I can help it. For the majority of users out there, Linux requires too much knowledge, experience, and tinkering to setup and keep performing as it should. Most users want plug it in and push the power button and just it isn't that simple. Android (linux based) has gotten things right with the cellphone OS, but that does not translate to laptop or desktop operating systems very well. Also a large part of the PC users left use them for gaming and Linux doesn't have near the support in that arena without jumping through extra hoops.

Just my 2 cent.

Just a couple thoughts- if you _had _ to connect something to the internet (agreed those things shouldn’t be) my first choice would be Linux and my last choice windows (of those 3 choices). Totally agree on the sick f***s.

Also your complaint about user-friendliness is the one I’ve heard by far the most over the years and all I can say is it has gotten _much _ better over the last several years. I’m certain anyone on here regardless of computer knowledge could boot up a live Linux USB drive and be posting on this site within 15 minutes. If all you need is general internet, email, music, streaming video, the basics, I think you’ll find that something like Ubuntu is really for the masses. There can be exceptions but if your computer is relatively typical, Ubuntu will just work out of the box. I would argue that on normal hardware its actually easier to get running than windows now.

EDIT: why bother? I think selling point #1 is that you can suddenly stop worrying about every virus, Trojan and malware currently making the rounds, as well as anti virus software, updates etc. That alone is worth it to me.

 

[SenorNoob]

I'd be willing to bet all of that medical equipment is network connected so It can be monitored form the nurse's station up the hall. Far simpler that way. Although I'd say a hospital should have 2 separate physical networks in that case. One which connects to all of those things, and another for admissions/insurance claims. It doesn't even need to cover the whole building. just those 2 offices.

 

[pentode]

I'd be willing to bet all of that medical equipment is network connected so It can be monitored form the nurse's station up the hall. Far simpler that way. Although I'd say a hospital should have 2 separate physical networks in that case. One which connects to all of those things, and another for admissions/insurance claims. It doesn't even need to cover the whole building. just those 2 offices.

100% correct. In fact you might argue that doing any less would be malpractice.

EDIT: before I stir the pot too much, I guess I should say I have no first hand knowledge of exactly why or how any of these health care procedures were disrupted; I seriously hope none of these machines run windows . But more likely, simply trying to report back to a windows machine down the hall that was offline.

 

[SenorNoob]

The user friendly thing is less true than it used to be. I remember having to compile my own kernel to get both my WiFI card and graphics to work on the same machine. (It was Toshiba Portege 7010CT)

Most people stick with windows now because they don't know (or care) enough to do anything else.

 

[Roert42]

I ran Ubuntu for a few years in high school when I first built my pc.

Biggest complaint was that because I built the pc for playing computer games, I had to run wine ( windows emulator ) to run anything.

It also seemed to hog a lot more resources just doing basic tasks like internet browsing.

Honestly, most people just use computers for basic internet browsing, email, maybe some word processing or spreadsheets. That’s all easily done on a Linux OS.

from my point of view, the main reason people don’t use Linux, is because if you buy a pre built laptop or desktop at a store it will come with windows. Requires much more effort to end up with essentially the same thing with Linux.

look at the chrome books, it’s essentially a cheap laptop with Linux on it, and they are pretty popular.

 

[pentode]

The user friendly thing is less true than it used to be. I remember having to compile my own kernel to get both my WiFI card and graphics to work on the same machine. (It was Toshiba Portege 7010CT)

Most people stick with windows now because they don't know (or care) enough to do anything else.

Ahh, those were the days. . Seriously though, it’s been a very long time since I’ve come across any hardware that didn’t run out of the box on modern Linux EXCEPT certain PITA wifi chipsets which are thankfully fairly rare.