Re: ILoveGNU

["Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar@debian.org>]

On 9 May 2000, Robert Bihlmeyer wrote:

> 
> There are a number of scriptable things already. You can send my
> mailer (XEmacs/Gnus) some emacs-lisp. But you'd still have me jump
> through some hoops to get it actually executed ... it's certainly more
> than a single click.
> 
> I trust that most Unix developers grasp the security implications, and
> believe that the user is smarter than their app, not the other way
> around.
> 

The difference between Emacs, and KDE/GNOME is the latter dramatically
decrease the level of smartitude that users need to have.  All the
security features in the world will not help if users decide to do dumb
things.  And they will.  Even Microsoft software does have some
security features.  (I remember turning off Javascript and HTML in Outlook
even before the first virus hit.)  But people don't even use those fully.

>From what I've read about computer security, I've learned that it is as
much a social matter as a technological one.  Perhaps the open nature of
Linux will help educate users more about good security habits but I
plan on thinking pessimistically. 

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar@debian.org>