[ale] Linux Distributions

[James Sumners]

On 5/18/05, Jim Popovitch <jimpop at yahoo.com> wrote:
> This yet again shows how one persons perception is not always another's
> reality.  I do use email/telent/passwords/etc but how do you know I use
> them insecurely?  I use telnet all the time, either on controlled
> networks or over a VPN.  In either case it in normal and acceptable to
> use telnet in some of these arenas it may even be prohibited to use ssh
> due to corp/govt polices.  Your assumptions that I would telnet into a
> trusted host across a public network is just plain insulting.  Woe to
> you for having so narrow a perception about how I use tools/apps.  ;-)

A typical desktop user, as you outlined in your example, does not jump
through the even more complicated hoops of something like connecting
to a VPN.

>    burn dvds
>    use /dev/ttySO
>    mount additional tmp space
>    add users (a friend might need temp access)
>    config iptables/network/tunnels
>    load/unload usb/vmware/vpn modules
>    bring up a VPN
> 
> All of the above CAN be done by a user through a 1000 hoops and loops,
> but in my opinion the risk is greater in the 1000 config/sudo/setuid
> changes than to just know what you are doing and run as root.  YMMV.
 
None of that is needed by the user that just needs to surf the web,
check email, and ssh/telnet; my Grandfather is such a user and he has
no problems that can be solved by running his machine as root. A
properly configured user can do everything you just listed; some of
the things would, and should, require a root password but most of them
do not. And don't give me your lame "1000 hoops and loops" excuse
again. Any distribution that is MEANT to be run as a destkop system
comes with a skeleton user setup that gives the new user all of those
abilities. This discussion stemmed from someone running Debian (not a
derivative) and Debian is most certainly not geared toward a desktop
out-of-the-box.

Quit being asinine. You have said the same thing about a hundrerd
times in the past day and it is getting tiresome.

-- 
James Sumners
http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
CH:D 59