May I suggest a New Year's resolution?

The BBC reports that a new and "virulent form of ransomware has now infected about quarter of a million Windows computers (...) Cryptolocker scrambles users' data and then demands a fee to unencrypt it alongside a countdown clock". The article then goes on to describe a few general things about Cryptolocker and ends by providing a list of measures Dell and, by implication, the BBC recommend to protect computers from malware/viruses/backdoors:

• Install software that blocks executable fields and compressed archives before they reach email inboxes
• Check permissions assigned to shared network drives to limit the number of people who can make modifications
• Regularly back-up data to offline storage such as Blu-ray and DVD-Rom disks. Network-attached drives and cloud storage does not count as Cryptolocker can access and encrypt files stored there
• Set each PC's software management tools to prevent Cryptolocker and other suspect programs from accessing certain critical directories
• Set the computer's Group Policy Objects to restrict registry keys - databases containing settings - used by Cryptolocker so that the malware is unable to begin the encryption process

This is *laughable*.  What these corporations and corporate shills do not tell you is that all versions of MS Windows are inherently and inevitably dangerous because of deep design flaws.  Because of that, it is possible, but extremely difficult, to secure a Windows computer.  A very skilled and experienced professional system administrator can, if he takes the time, make a Windows computer more or less secure, but no home user will ever acquire that level of skills.  If you really think that by installing a firewall, an anti-virus application and, say, some kind of backdoor detector you are making your Windows computer safe you are kidding yourself. Anybody who says otherwise is lying to you.

What are your options?

Simple - use any other operating system.  OSX, iOS, Android, GNU/Linux, or any form of BSD are all far more secure out of the box then any version of Windows.

Apple products come with a long list of bad features: they are hyper proprietary, they are overpriced, they are typical bloatware, and they suffer from terminal vendor lock-in.

Android is an excellent OS, but it is designed for mobile devices and you really can't run it on a notebook, laptop or desktop.  But for mobile devices, that is the way to go.

All BSD versions are very good and highly secure out of the box, but they are not very user friendly.

The best choice, by far, is GNU/Linux aka "Linux".  Linux comes in various "flavors" (called "distributions").  Here are few I recommend:

Debian, the Universal Operating System
Mint, the easiest to use distribution
Xubuntu, distribution for older hardware
Knoppix, general purpose distro on live-CD
Puppy, small size distribution and live-CD
Tails, the privacy and security oriented distro
Ubuntu Studio, distribution for artists
Trisquel, the 100% free software distro

Frankly, if you are new to Linux, I recommend the Linux Mint distribution.  It is extraordinarily easy to install, easy to use, it comes with an absolutely superb desktop environment (user interface) called Cinnamon and it has an extremely friendly user community.  The latest version of Linux Mint is called "Linux Mint 16 Petra".  The hardware requirements to run Mint 16 are minimal:

• x86 processor (Linux Mint 64-bit requires a 64-bit processor. Linux Mint 32-bit works on both 32-bit and 64-bit processors).
• 512 MB RAM (1GB recommended for a comfortable usage).
• 5 GB of disk space
• Graphics card capable of 800×600 resolution
• CD/DVD drive or USB port

The vast majority of computers in use today fall well within these specs, so no need to spend any additional money.  And, of course, you can download Linux Mint legally and for free from here: http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php.

Finally, you can test-drive Linux Mint at no risk by burning a live-CD which you can also use to install if you like it.  You can even keep your old Windows OS if you want by installing Linux Mint and Windows side by side.  The Linux Mint installer will offer to install Mint while keeping Windows.  You will have a "multi-boot" computer with both OS installed.  And when your Windows crashes you will easily be able to access your files and rescue them using Linux Mint.

Guys, be good to yourself, don't continue to suffer in "Windows hell", ditch the damn thing and switch to the free world of GNU/Linux.  And if you don't want to do that for technical reasons, do it for political, moral and ethical ones: you cannot fight the Empire and sheepishly use its tools.

Do the smart thing and the right thing, make a really good New Year's resolution, ditch Windows and replace it by Linux Mint!

The Saker

For all you fellow techies and geeks out there

I wanted to write a long article for a while already, but I just don't have the time.  So I will pass on a few things I want to share with you, in no particular order, bullet-style presentation.

Ubuntu is undergoing a serious crisis from which it is unlikely to recover.  Without going into many details, let's just say that Mark Shuttleworth has openly stated that the Unity, the default desktop manager for Ubuntu, is inspired by - I am not kidding you! - "smartphones, Windows and Mac OSX".  The result from that kind of "inspiration" is the worst piece of over-designed bloatware I have ever come across: Unity.  To say that the latter is horrible is an understatement.

Even more depressing is Shuttleworth's openly stated belief that Canonical's "desktop experts" are the best qualified to know what we, the community, want/need on our computers.  He also wants contributors to Ubuntu to hand over their copyrights to Ubuntu, he attempted to pressure Banshee not to contribute directly to GNOME, and he is pushing various proprietary solutions like the Ubuntu One store.  Basically, Mark Shuttleworth is gradually turning into a wannabe Steve Jobs and Ubuntu is going down the "corporate Linux for the masses" road.  I don't want to go into all the details here, but let's just say that many people, including myself, are running away from Ubuntu.  The question is, where can we go?

After doing some research, I have identified the following excellent options:

1) Linux Mint.  This distribution is either Debian based or Ubuntu based (depending on its variant) and it has a rather immodest (unofficial) motto: "Ubuntu done right".  However, it also happens to be true.  Linux Mint is an extremely stable and user-friendly GNU/Linux distribution, but it is not dumbed down, it avoids the pitfall which I call "Linux for idiots" - which is exactly what Ubuntu is doing now.  I cannot write a full review of Linux Mint here, but I will say that its "main" edition is absolutely beautiful, very elegant, stable and well configured.  Linux Mint also has an extremely interesting update system which provides another layer of testing before software is updated.  Most importantly, Linux Mint is 100% community run and one of its main developers has already stated in a forum in reply to a question about the adoption or not of Unity that:

No, not Unity. We’re going for Gnome 3 using a traditional desktop layout (no Gnome Shell). Of course you’ll be able to add Unity or Gnome Shell yourself, but by default the desktop will look similar to the one we’re using at the moment.

This is wonderful news indeed.  It means that "Ubuntu done right" will continue in Linux Mint even if Ubuntu itself will from now become "Ubuntu done totally wrong".

2) Xubuntu.  Many people now that Xubuntu is a variant of Ubuntu which uses the XFCE desktop, which is true, but it is more than that.  Xubuntu is a 100% community run Ubuntu variant which does not depend on the whims of Mr. Shuttleworth or Canonical.  Furthermore, a great deal of effort has been put by the developers of Xubuntu to make it into a full-fledged, well integrated, distro, not just Ubuntu with XFCE instead of GNOME or Unity (which, technically, is a GNOME plugin).  I would say that Xubuntu is a tad more oriented to the non-newbie than Mint, and, in my experience, its also somehow more buggy. Still, it is extremely fast, very elegant, and XFCE is really turning into a powerful desktop, comparable to GNOME.

3) Debian.  Debian is the "Mother of all distros".  No distro comes even close to being in the same league as Debian.  Here are a few numbers just to illustrate this point:

• 1000+ volunteer developers
• 30'000+ applications (5 DVDs or 30 CDs)
• security and stability matched only by BSD
• runs on 9+2 (BSD) different architectures
• translated into 65 languages
• The cost of developing all the packages included in Debian 5.0 Lenny (323 million lines of code), using the COCOMO model, has been estimated to be about US$ 8 billion
• Unique bug-tracking system

But this is not the full story yet.  Debian is also a Social Contract, Free Software Guidelines, a even Debian Constitution.  Debian really is the "Universal Operating System", the GNU/Linux distribution "par excellence".  It does, however, have one feature which is an issue for many users: its "stable" branch tends to have software versions which are somewhat older than other distros.  This is due to the extremely high quality control Debian imposes on its "stable" release.  The other particularity of Debian is that while you do not need a Ph.D in computer sciences to run it, it is designed by folks who love computers for folks who love computers.  If you want to know as little as possible about how computer work and if all you need is a machine to run office software and browse the net, then Debian is probably not the best choice for you.  But if you love computers, then Debian is really a dream come true.

There is also a "bleeding edge" version of Debian called "Debian testing".  I personally love it, but it is really for hardcore techies who actually enjoy "hunting" and "squashing" "bugs" and who want to contribute to the development of Debian.  "Testing" is my personal favorite, but you need to be ready to do a lot of reading to enjoy using it.

One more thing about Debian.  There is a huge list of Debian-derivatives, beginning by Ubuntu itself and, therefore, all Ubuntu derivatives.  Some of these Debian derivatives are excellent distros in their own right, like for example Crunchbang or the excellent Debian-based live-CDs like Knoppix and Damn Small Linux.

So the disaster of Ubuntu is not the end of the world, far from it.  The current exodus of users from Ubuntu (not to mention all the distros currently moving away from Ubuntu repos to Debian repos!) is actually a good thing for the free software community because it re-centers our community around corporate-free GNU/Linux distributions, and that is most definitely a good thing.

One more item I wanted to share with you the very interesting interview with Dan and Fab recently did with Christian Heilmann, Mozilla's "Principal Evangelist" which you can download here (in mp3 and ogg formats).  Browsers are extraordinarily important applications and Mozilla's FireFox is arguably the flagship of all free and open source browsers, so listening to a Mozilla representative is always very interesting.

Okay, that's it for now.  

Cheers,

The Saker

Putin orders Russia to move to GNU/Linux

• Original article here
• Google translation of original article here
• First commentary here
• Discussion on slashdot here

Now, this is very good news indeed!  As far as I know, Russia is the last of the BRICS countries to take that decision (yes, I did put an 's' at BRICS since South Africa has now joined this group).  As far as I know, the first BRICS country to move to GNU/Linux was China which ordered all state organizations to make the move.  Brazil did something similar, but I am not sure about the details.  In the case of India, I remember that following a visit to India by Richard Stallman the Indian government also decided to favor a transition to GNU/Linux.  South Africa, the birthplace of Ubuntu GNU/Linux, has been using GNU/Linux for a while now, though I am not sure to what degree.  In the case of Russia, having a much more centralized regime than the rest of the BRICS with the exception of China, I expect that transition to be undertaken very fast.  In fact, according to Putin's decree, it should be completed by 2015.

Fantastic news indeed!

The Saker

Freedom Fry - Happy birthday to GNU!