Ubuntu: Linux for the rest of us

It's pronounced oo-BOON-too and the word expresses a south African concept that roughly translates to "humanity toward others". It's a Linux distribution that's based on Debian GNU/Linux, but it has a strong emphasis on ease of installation. Installation has always been a challenge for Linux users. The average computer geek can install it, but the average person cannot. Mark Shuttleworth, who is an extremely wealthy resident of South Africa felt that a free desktop operating system that comes with a variety of open-source applications would be worthwhile. I have to agree.

If you're a computer geek, Ubuntu is probably not for you. But if you're an average computer user who needs a basic word processor, a basic spreadsheet program, e-mail, and a Web browser, Ubuntu might be worth looking at. The first thing to consider, at least for me, is whether an operating system can run all the programs I need. The answer is no for Apple's OSX. It is also no for any Linux distribution because I need some applications that run only under Windows.

Maybe you don't need Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, InDesign, and The Bat. If so, Ubuntu might have just what you need because it tries to use only free software (much of which is installed with the operating system) to provide an easy-to-install, stable operating system for the average user.

I had been hearing about Ubuntu, but hadn't looked at it until October 2007, when version 7.10 was released. The release coincided with my decision to upgrade my Toshiba notebook computer to a larger hard drive. Doing that left me with a 60GB hard drive that required nothing more than a caddy (about $40) to become a drive I could swap into the notebook when I wanted to run whatever operating system I installed on it. So I downloaded the 700MB Ubuntu distribution (and ISO file) and burned it to a CD. The CD created is bootable, so you can load and run Ubuntu Linux on any computer with a bootable CD drive. Once you've done that, the installation consists of double-clicking the "install" icon on the desktop and answering a few questions such as what your name is, what login you want to use, what your password should be, what language to use, and where you are. You can also decide whether to create a partition in an unused part of your hard drive or to use the entire hard drive.

It's in there

What impressed me was how many applications the Ubuntu distribution includes so that you can start using the computer right away. There are standard Linux system tools, of course, but Ubuntu comes with OpenOffice (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation), Firefox (Web browser), Pidgin (an IM client that used to be called GAIM), and GIMP (a graphics application). You'll also find a bunch of games (card games, sodoku, and chess.) If a 700MB download is too much for you, you can request a CD (free, but it will take perhaps 10 weeks to arrive). Because you can boot and run Ubuntu from the CD you create or have mailed to you, you can see immediately whether the operating system is compatible with your hardware.

You may also hear about Kubuntu and Xubuntu. These are official sub projects that offer optional desktop environments (KDE and Xfce) and there are also Edubuntu, a subproject designed for school environments, and Gobuntu, which adheres strictly to the Free Software Foundation's "Four Freedoms".

	By default, the Start Menu equivalent in Ubuntu Linux is at the top of the screen. Apple is afraid to copy this better idea from Microsoft (who put the Start Menu at the bottom of the screen), but Ubuntu will allow you to place the menu at the top, bottom, left, or right edge of the screen. CLICK THE IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW
	Add/Remove applications looks a lot like what you'd find in Windows, but it does more than Microsoft's Control Panel function.
	If you ask Ubuntu to install an application that depends on another application that isn't present on the machine, you'll be asked to approve installing the "dependency" application.
	The console ("command line") has been installed.
	Here's a generic Linux command "ls -al" that displays all files (long format) in the directory.
	If the application you're trying to install isn't an open-source application, Ubuntu Linux will let you know.
	I plugged in a thumb drive and it was immediately detected and mounted. It also showed up on the desktop. How Mac-like!
	Some might say that this is the way applications should be installed. I would be one of those who would say that.
	Ubuntu Linux also calls out "community-maintained" applications such as the VLC Media Player.
	When you add programs, Ubuntu clearly delineates open source, community-maintained, and commercial applications.
	Here I've selected 4 applications to install. Ubuntu will handle all packages and dependencies. If you've installed other versions of Linux, this will amaze you.
	During the download and installation process, Ubuntu keeps me appraised of what's going on.
	If you do something stupid (such as deleting the top panel "Start Menu") you can find on-line resources that tell you how to recover.
	What makes Microsoft nervous? This should. This is the Ubuntu Linux discussion board. In the overall scheme of operating systems, 8000 users isn't a big deal. But Ubuntu is just one of several Linux distributions and the numbers for Linux are increasing.

Ubuntu has been around since late 2004 and the goal has been to release a new version every 6 months. Ubuntu includes the latest GNOME release. GNOME is the GNU Network Object Model Environment, an international effort to build a desktop environment entirely from free, open-source software. The primary emphasis is on simplicity, usability, and making things "just work'.

GNOME runs on most Unix-like systems and is the default desktop environment for many GNU/Linux distributions in addition to Ubuntu. In May of 2007, Dell announced plans to sell computers with Ubuntu installed. These machines are available in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.

Storm continues to mutate and annoy

The worm known as "Storm" continues to evolve and each new generation is worse than the one before. Storm is spread by a botnet of infected computer. A "botnet" is a group of software robots that run automatically on groups of computers that have been turned into "zombies" so that they may be controlled remotely by crackers. A new variant of Storm runs what's essentially a hot-fix on antivirus programs; the process doesn't remove the antivirus program but effectively turns off the application.

This makes the process harder to detect. The antivirus process continues to run, but it can no longer detect Storm. These applications will appear to be running properly, so users won't be concerned. Even worse, the process can fool network access control (NAC) systems that are designed to deny network access to any computer that's not running an current antivirus program.

Storm has its own rootkit and can make itself invisible. It also changes its signature twice an hour. Even the rootkit changes every few weeks. This is one of the reasons it's so difficult to tell how large the botnet is. The estimate is 6 to 15 million machines, but it might be as high as 50 million. The most reasonable estimates are in the lower range, but even that is pretty scary.

Storm has powerful defenses, too. It you try to set up a debugger or follow its trail, Storm launches a counter-attack in the form of a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. Researches are cautious about announcing too much because of Storm's defenses. There's one account of an Israeli company that developed an antispam program in 2006. Maybe a little too good because the company found itself on the receiving end of a relentless series of DDoS attacks from spammers and eventually went out of business.

Stupid spam of the week

Those wild and crazy Viagra guys are at it again. This time they want to sell me Viagra (from the "Official Site" for 70% off. Or maybe 73% off. Wait! Make that 74% off. Or 79% off. Within a few days, I received all of those "October Special" offers. Within 60 seconds, 4 offers came in with "discounts" ranging from 71% to 79%. This raises a question, but one thing is certain. They're not selling Viagra.

My question is this: Why so many different discounts? Your first thought might be that they change the number to avoid spam filters, but the creeps who send this crud have other ways around spam filters. I think what we're seeing here is some good old-fashioned test marketing.

Direct marketers know that sometimes minor changes in the offer, the headline, of the illustration can have a dramatic effect on response. Does a magazine that offers 6 issues for $9.99 pull better than one that offers 12 issues for $18? Does one offer or the other have a better conversion rate (the number of test subscribers who stick around after the trial has ended and pay full rate)? When a direct marketer does tests such as these, the list is segmented so that the marketer know which prospects received what offers.

In this case, I got all the offers. Instead of being an effective test marketing tool, it's just stupid. Of course, anyone who thinks they'll be able to buy any legitimate medicine for such a gigantic discount probably isn't too bright, so maybe it's not a big deal.

Nerdly News

Europeans can now join the scramble for Iphones

Apple's Iphone went on sale in Germany and Britain toward the end of the week. The Internet-enabled cell phone includes an Ipod media player. People lined up for the devices in the US and about one and one half million have been sold since the end of June. Apple dropped the price of the 8GB Iphone $600 to $400 and discontinued the $500 4GB version. The company then had to apologize to those who paid full price and offer $100 credits to them.

In Britain, buyers will shell out about $570 for the 8GB Iphone. It will sell for $590 in Germany. The difference is accounted for by value-added taxes.

The phones will go on sale in France through the state-run telephone system on November 29.

Because the phone was designed for the slowpoke US market, it will not operate on Europe's fastest cellular networks. However, if the user wanders within range of a WiFi hotspot, it will connect using the faster technology.

Help! I'm in Nigeria and I need money!

If you receive a message from a friend who claims to be stuck in Nigeria and out of money, you should ask yourself a couple of questions before sending cash: First, has your friend ever expressed a desire to visit Nigeria? Second, does the message sound at all like something your friend might have written? The response to both questions will likely be no.

The New York Times has the story of a man who lost control of his Yahoo e-mail account. Someone broke in to the account and started sending messages to everyone in his address book. "HOW ARE YOU DOING?" the all-caps message began. "I WANT YOU TO KEEP THIS CONFIDENTIAL BETWEEN BOTH OF US, I KNOW THAT I CAN PUT MY TRUST IN YOU ON THIS. PLEASE DO NOT LET ME DOWN. RIGHT NOW I AM IN AFRICA, NIGERIA. I CAME HERE ON A TRIP TO SEE A FRIEND AND WHEN I GOT HERE I LOST MY WALLET CONTAINING THE ADRESS OF MY FRIEND AND HIS CONTACT PHONE NUMBER, ALONG WITH MY ATM CARD AND OTHER VALUABLES."

Now chances are that the guy with the Yahoo account knows about the caps lock key and probably doesn't type his letters in all caps, but the scammers (at least the Nigerian kind) seem not to have figured that out. And they're a little tentative about whether spaces should appear before or after periods and commas. "SO RIGHT NOW I DO NOT EVEN HAVE ANY MONEY ON ME . I AM STAYING IN A HOTEL NOW , AND THE MANAGER IS ALREADY RANTING OVER HIS MONEY AND AS TIME GOES BY THE BILLS ARE INCREASING."

What was is they wanted? The New York Times quoted the rest of the message, "I WOULD WANT YOU TO LOAN ME $2000. I PROMISE TO PAY YOU BACK AS SOON AS I GET BACK… I WOULD WANT YOU TO HELP SEND THE MONEY VIA WESTERN UNION . GET BACK AT ME ASAP.
HOPE TO READ FROM YOU…
(NAME OF VICTIM)"

Would you respond to a message like that? "Get back at me ASAP" is a dead giveaway. Americans don't talk like that.

These messages went out to the 600 contacts in the victim's contact list. Many of those contacts were journalists and some of them called the victim to ask what was going on.

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