In response to an offline query — Folks in general are reluctant to learn about computer security. For all our reliance on computer technology, our society is amazingly ignorant of it. Indeed, you can sense a vast undercurrent of resistance to learning. This is intentional. That is, the folks in government and business don’t want you interested in that stuff.
This is all a part of the elitist attitude that dreads having to handle human freedom of choice. Uniformity is an utter necessity for them, and the best single tool is ignorance. Not just ordinary ignorance due to lack of exposure, but an enforced ignorance from actively hiding the information. The whole point of the Microsoft MVP program, for example, is to create a barrier to ordinary folks. It’s not just hiding stuff behind educational barriers, but intentionally finding ways to make it Byzantine (highly complex or intricate and devious, intended to torture the mind and discourage). The folks who design the system management look for ways to obfuscate, coming up with the most bizarre names and layouts possible to protect their control over user behavior.
Part of this is the fundamental weirdness of geek culture in the first place, but it has a huge amount of corporate psychopathy added in the mix. So while Linux might be a little confusing, it is not intentionally so, just confusing because it’s designed by people who understand the rest of us very poorly. Their “norms” are quirky, to say the least. Some of them are frankly hostile to our ordinariness — to wit, the guy who originally designed Kmail. I’m told by someone who knew him personally that he was spiteful and abusive to us ordinary folks and harbored a strange despite for anyone who wasn’t as much of a genius as himself. Those folks are part of the Open Source community, but they don’t have the social intelligence to dominate in any organized fashion. They understand computers, not people and definitely not organizational politics.
The folks who do manage the projects aren’t quite that obnoxious and they intend for the system to work and don’t want to actively deny access to the inner workings for the most part. So while a certain amount of Windows stuff is within reach, going beyond that requires a concerted effort most people don’t have time to invest in something that changes so frequently. In Linux Land, once you learn something, it isn’t arbitrarily thrown out next year simply to keep you chasing your tail.
Let me reiterate: The folks who design Windows and similar software want your money and your loyalty, but they have no intention of getting it honestly. They are desperately struggling to keep you in the dark and shape your mental habits and typical human weakness to exploit you to the max. It shows up all over the technology market.
Google advertising? They intentionally took over the market; it was an evil plot with the darkest of motives, guided and assisted by several government agencies. They created an atmosphere that is so overwhelming that you cannot escape. They give just a little to scratch an old itch, and take back from you everything not nailed down. So now, when Google Adsense orders you to change your content or lose their support, you can’t afford to argue or you’ll lose the one avenue you have to get your message out.
The system tolerates Linux because they can’t afford to alienate the geeks who make it possible for them to oppress us. Yes, it takes a little time and effort, but if you need the Internet and the means of global instant communications that it offers — I sure need it — then you can either be a mindless slave to the corporate interests and their herding methods, or you can take the initiative to invest a little time on something that will free up your other resources.
Debian Linux is free and runs very well on old computers. It runs pretty well on cheap computers made from junk commodity parts. It can be coaxed into providing just about all the same usages you get from Windows, but you will need to spend some time learning it. I’ve published two recent free books on getting started — Debian 8 for Beginners and More Debian 8 for Beginners. I’m here to help you and what I don’t know I can help you find out. Keep your money and your sanity, too. Go ahead and bug me; I dare you.
Hi Ed, Re O>S> is the kde installer the whole OS or do I have to download kernels,Debian OS also?
I have a dell gx760 that would probably fly with that on..Although I have a copy of win 7, I am really fed up with Microsots’ software, having had to support it from win 3.11.
Paul, the KDE ISO image is the whole OS. The image is smaller because all the other desktop collections have been pared and you get just the one. What I wrote about Kubuntu in a previous series (particularly chapters 6-8) apply, but you’ll need to add some goodies not included by default. I’ll have to write something about that in my next post.