How to put your US$50 to good use

Microsoft’s US$50 per year OneCare subscription was announced yesterday. You subscribe to make your computers (up to 3) free from viruses, worms, spyware and other malicious applications. Now, consider the alternative…

1. Ubuntu Linux – free and chances of getting viruses, worms, etc. – very low
2. ClamAV – free. just for your peace of mind
3. Firefox – free.
4. Practising safe hex. free.

Use your US$50 per year and support an Open Source project. 🙂

Joining the Dark Side You Are Not

ExtremeTech‘s Jason Cross writes about his switch from Microsoft-based music players to Apple’s iPod. No, you are not joining the Dark Side, Jason, but you have seen the light! How can it be the Dark Side when Apple supports free and open source software? When Apple uses a similar core to Linux?

Apple=Darwin=Open Source=freedom. Freedom is good. Good is not Dark! 😛

Travelling light

In a few weeks, I will be travelling down south for the JEDI Night party. Since I will only be spending one night there, I have decided not to bring my notebook and simply bring my iPod (for entertainment) and my digital camera.

Without my notebook, I may need to access the ‘net for email and news. I already have Cross-platform Portable Firefox on the iPod shuffle along with Portable OpenOffice.org 2.0.1. For some strange reason, however, I can’t copy Portable Adium – it spits out an error message. Apart from OpenOffice.org, all the other portable apps run on the Mac. Anything else I missed?

Asian piracy down to Western levels in 10 years

This is Bill Gates’ prediction in Davos. Interesting, isn’t it? If I may, I’ll boldly predict piracy will be reduced considerably in 5 years as Linux continues to increase market share in Asia (with the exception of the Philippines because political will is weak here, dollars speak louder specially if you are a politician!).

C’mon open source advocates, let’s make sure that we attain the same level that Gates is aiming for in less time and using a different solution, i.e. open source. 🙂

Vista’s touted new features

Microsoft’s Jim Allchin touted Vista’s new features. In addition to the security enhancements, let’s examine the other features he mentioned.

1. “People Near Me” feature. I doubt if this implements a standard called Rendezvous or zero-conf, which has been used by Mac OS X for a long time already.
2. Parental controls. Ah, I think I saw this implemented on Mac OS X already.
3. “Virtual Folders” aka Mac OS X “smart folders”.
4. Protected Administrator. Darn, Mac OS X did this a long time ago. Linux, since its inception.
5. System Restore. Aha! This one is what Linux and Mac OS X lacks!
6. Drive encryption aka FileVault.
7. Removable Device control. Linux can do this – just don’t give mount privileges to anyone. I am still thinking how this can be done on Mac OS X.

So there… what do you think?

Ditch Windows XP and get Vista for security!

Apparently, this is what Microsoft’s Jim Allchin implied. What does it really mean? It means that Microsoft’s current operating systems suck as far as security is concerned. Yes, I know that you know that. However, what does it really mean?

For businesses, it means that for you to get Microsoft’s security-enhanced Vista product, you need to buy new licenses as well as new hardware that will be able to run it. This is a good thing for Linux – since Linux practically runs on all existing hardware. This makes more sense for servers, which do not require high-end graphics cards nor the resource hungry UI.

So, my recommendation is for CIOs and CTOs to start plotting that migration plan. I know someone from a huge local school network is currently pitching Linux to his bosses – it will definitely save them a lot of money – enough for them to purchase more hardware. Good luck! If you need help, you know where to contact me.

Interesting article on Windows and Mac OS X

Head to this article and find out about Windows’ architectural flaws.

You are on your own…

Please tell me that this is not true. A vulnerability has been identified and acknowledged but a fix will take how long? Not a good sign, I must say. It may be because of the aging OS already and that they are working on the upcoming feature-packed new one. However, the question is – how many will actually upgrade to that new OS? I am sure that local users will upgrade – legally or otherwise! 😛

Running Windows on Intel Macs

Yes, the first out the door comes from OpenOSX with their WinTel 2.0. Now this will definitely be a good test to see how fast emulation will be. I cannot wait until I get my hands on an Intel Mac. 🙂

Another Windows feature?

A Windows wireless networking vulnerability has been exposed. It is a very scary one specially if you are a road-warrior. Imagine being able to connect to someone else’s computer without you knowing it — believing that you are still connecting to your favorite public hotspot. Nyahahah. What is scarier is that it can easily be achieved within a few minutes – no complex computation needed to find out the SSID and spoof it.

Have you experienced something similar? Sometimes it is a good thing to be a step behind the leading edge technology. At least by the time you use it, most of the flaws have been exposed and patched up.

What does it mean for WISPs? Can they do something to prevent this from happening? Maybe a rotating SSID?