To Linux or not to Linux

Linux over the past few years has really started making its way into the home desktop market, albeit not very sucessfully. You see the thing is Linux is hard to use, even for people experienced with computers (experienced with Windows anyway). Sure installation is simple enough, but getting support for uncommon drivers is an absolute nightmare.

Recently I tried to setup an Orinoco Wireless card on my Mandriva 10.1 (formerly know as MandrakeLinux) laptop and it fully rejected it. I went through the list of included drivers and none of them liked my card. Even when I looked under the linux section of my driver cd it only supported linux kernels 2.0, 2.2 and 2.4. Well I'm sorry for being too computer savvy as to be using a 2.6 kernel but news flash - its been out for quite a while. Heading over to their website it still wasn't available and googling it came up with instructions, but none I could follow.

So why is it that its so darn hard to do anything on? I think that's simple and can be summed up in one word: exposure. Windows is by far the most common (popular?) operating system around. Recent versions, such as XP, are actually quite good but tend to destabilise heavily after about a year without a good reformatting. It's this reason that has prompted me to set up a dual boot system with Mandriva Linux 10.1 and Windows XP Professional. This way I get the best of both worlds: reliability and security when I need to access the internet, and good multimedia capabilities when I just wanna play some games or listen to music (linux doesn't properly support my sound card).

Now you know it can be done. I'm a student, I don't do any programming, hard core binary, hex, l33t or other complex computer courses. I can use word, make a web page in notepad and install linux as a dual boot system. So why can't you? Just go download the community bittorrent cds from www.mandriva.com, ask a tech savvy friend for some help and Bobs your uncle, you got a working dual boot system!

Firefox Phinished?

Recently all over the internet there have been reports about security exploits and possible phishing vulnerabilities in the fastest growing web browser, Mozilla Firefox. So what to make of all of this? Should me move back to Internet Explorer or try something completely different like Opera?

My answer is lets wait and see. Sure Firefox has had a couple of serious bugs but look at Microsoft's track record. IE6 at the moment still has more serious exploits than Firefox, yet is a far more mature program.

What it really boils down to is which you find more secure. Both browsers have bugs. All software has bugs. What really matters is how well the organisation addresses them and how quickly they fix them. Firefox usually takes about one to two weeks to fix a problem, and is happy to announce that an issue has been found. Microsoft on the other hand releases updates once a month, and being the money making organisation they are, fear the public knowing about critical weaknesses until they have a suitable patch.

All of these factors however can be attributed to the Open-source vs. Closed-source development structure of the browsers. While in my opinion neither is superior, it does influence the way security is dealt with. Closed source relies on lack of information about the way software works, while open source relies on a community of volunteers to scrutinise over the code and analyse it for errors.

But don't just listen to me. Make up your own mind. I personally am a Firefox user, and not for security reasons: I love the clean interface and the ease at which it can be customised with themes and extensions. So go ahead, make up your own mind. Choice is the way of the future and good competition between the major browsers (IE, Firefox and Opera) will hopefully ensure higher quality web browsers in the future.