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New user? Thursday, August 21, 2003
Outlook Express == Masochism
IMHO, any technology-savvy person who has been paying attention to current events for the last few years, but continues to use Outlook Express for their email client, deserves to get hundreds of viruses in their mailbox every day.
Why do you think virus writers target email like this? Because there are so many nincompoops that beg for it by running software that has been known to be a virus sieve for years!
I don't know how many copies of this latest virus I've gotten, probably 100 or so, but they don't worry me one bit. What worries me are the people who allow their computers to transmit it.
Get off the pot and switch email clients already! Geeeeeez.
The people who should know better
A couple of people have responded to my last weblog post saying that "tech-laymen" (as I'll refer to them) just don't know they have options. I know that, but I wasn't referring to them in my post -- even the word "nincompoop" in the 2nd paragraph was referring to the tech-savvy. Obviously that wasn't clear enough.
I want to reply to something Seth said on his weblog in response to my last post. I was going to reply on his site but then I decided I wanted it on my home page so I'll reply here instead.
Seth said:
First, there's a difference between using computers all day and being tech-savvy. If a company has 500 employees who use Windows all day, that doesn't mean they have 500 tech-savvy people. It means they probably have 10 or so IT people who are tech-savvy, and maybe a dozen or so people who are tech-savvy on their own (depending on the type of business), and the rest are like everyone else, they use computers as a tool because they have to but know nothing about how they work or how they could work.
I sympathize with the tech-layman who doesn't understand they have options. I do not expect them to know better, and I do not think it's something they should need to know better to do their jobs or use their computers at home. (That's why I'm so happy my parents are iMac users now.)
However, I feel nothing but contempt for the tech-savvy people running Outlook Express who are whining about the SoBig virus causing them grief. I could link to a few of them but I'll spare them further humiliation, I think their public whining is embarassing enough.
To me that's just plain stupid. It's like a police officer who gets blitzed drunk and then drives off a cliff or drives into a telephone pole not wearing a seat belt. Completely, utterly, stupid, avoidable. Hence, Outlook Express == Masochism.
Then Seth said:
This is another thing that bothers me. I bet the vast majority of us are one or two degrees of separation away from someone who's tech-savvy. Because so many people have asked me for free support of their (Windows) computers over the years, and it has sucked up a lot of my time, I try to refrain from discussing computers and software with most people so they don't say, "hey by the way my computer's acting funny can you come to my place and fix it?". If I did that I'd never have a night off. But still, it's sad that we're in a situation, whether for that reason or any other, that tech-savvy people don't distribute their knowledge to their "tech-layman" friends! Word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of advertising there is, and tech-savvy people can have huge influence over the technology decisions of their friends and family. If we (tech-savvy people) told all of our friends that using Outlook Express was optional and plenty of free or inexpensive alternatives exist that would simplify their lives because they wouldn't have to worry as much about receiving viruses, I'm pretty sure a lot of people would switch (and even more if we'd go over and install it for them, but that's another issue).
And another thing... why aren't the companies that make competing products getting the word out about their products? Maybe they don't have enough money because they compete with a free product bundled with a dominant operating system... but why not get creative here? Pool the money together and put out an advertisement on behalf of a bunch of software companies telling people that they have a choice.
I think the public is fed up with this, and they feel like they have no choice, that this is what the internet is like, period, and they are waiting for the government or Microsoft to fix the problem. That will not happen. People need to be informed, or force fed new software, so they can help themselves.
That new worm that exploits the same vulnerability as the Blaster worm to patch people's machines is brilliant. I found it hilarious that Symantec actually calls it a "threat" and offers a tool to remove it! The only person that worm is a threat to is Symantec's CFO. Perhaps that worm is the start of a new trend to clean up Windows machines everywhere. :-)
Dubya to the rescue!
If President Bush would take 1 minute out of his day to tell the world how to fix this email virus problem, we'd have it licked in a month.
Any of his "Cyber-Security Advisors" (I assume he has people working for him with a dorky title like that) or their underlings could come up with a VERY brief and complete message that would explain the solution. Or, he could say, "America, the virus only works if we let it. Don't let it. Go to www.safeemailforamerica.gov" for instructions on how to protect your computer from viruses delivered by email."
If he said that, say, viruses were terrorism and people who transmit viruses were borderline terrorists, negligent for not keeping their computers up to date, the whole country would rise up and fix their computers. I mean, it would be the patriotic American thing to do, and to not do it would be un-American!
Oooh, and think about how much pressure that would put on Microsoft. People would not be happy about being called a terrorist by their president.
Tampa drops face-recognition system
News.com: Tampa drops face-recognition system
Aliens used our blog roll
In honour of the blogroll on my web site, a bit of Red Dwarf about bog rolls...
Holly: Oh, I forgot, I haven't told you the news.
Rimmer: What news?
Holly: A signal. We're getting a signal. It's probably nothing but I just thought I'd mention it.
Rimmer: (Snaps his fingers) Aliens!
Lister: Oh god, aliens? Your explanation for anything slightly peculiar is aliens, isn't it? You lose your keys, it's aliens. A picture falls off the wall, it's aliens. That time we used up a whole bog roll in a day, you thought that was aliens as well.
Rimmer: Well we didn't use it all, Lister. Who did?
Lister: Rimmer, aliens used our bog roll?
Rimmer: Just 'cause they're aliens doesn't mean to say they don't have to visit the little boys' room. Only they probably do something weird and alienesque, like it comes out of the top of their heads or something.
Lister: Well I wouldn't like to be stuck behind one in a cinema.
Can't sleep
I'm having trouble sleeping. My aunt and uncle live in Naramata, which is currently under evacuation order because of raging forest fires.
I'm very worried about them. To make matters worse, my aunt's (and father'ss) two sisters from Germany are visiting my aunt and uncle right now. And my uncle's health isn't very good.
I want to go there, but I'm not sure I'm even allowed to get near the place, I'll have to find out in the morning.
I guess I better try to sleep even if it's difficult to.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
Hey, I'm still here
After a good run here last week, no updates in 5 days. Heh. Last week was the busiest week I've had since February. The beginning of this week has been just as busy. I've even slipped in keeping up with the weblogs and mailing lists I like to read.
Right now a Debian user is telling me (in IRC) all about why he loves Debian and why I should choose it as my next Linux distro. He's got a convincing argument... my biggest problem with linux has always been version dependencies and trying to upgrade a machine from one version of a distro to another.
I want to try Linux out again because I want to try the cool Python IDEs like eric3 and boa constructor. They run like shit (or not at all) in Mac OS X right now unless I use X11 and even then it's not that great. If I'm going to run X11 I might as well be using Linux.
Friday, August 15, 2003
USB-powered laptop fan plate
Antec: Notebook Cooler
I wonder if this could be integrated or used together with the RoadTools PodiumPad. My PodiumPad is basically a permanent fixture on my PowerBook.
Tips for living without electricity, from Iraqis
CNN.com: Iraqis' top 10 tips for enduring blackout in the heat -- And they should know
Python Newbies heed this advice
zephyrfalcon.org: 10 Python pitfalls (via ZopeZen)
