LindowsOS or Xandros Desktop? [LWN.net]

LindowsOS or Xandros Desktop?

Posted Dec 18, 2003 8:11 UTC (Thu) by hingo (subscriber, #14792)
Parent article: LindowsOS or Xandros Desktop?

Does Lindows still persist in having a default installation where the user ends up being
root with a blank password? We should never ever recommend such a distribution to
anyone, im not-even-very-humble o.

henrik

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LindowsOS or Xandros Desktop?

Posted Dec 18, 2003 9:58 UTC (Thu) by beejaybee (guest, #1581) [Link]

Yes. Security should be taken seriously. The combination of relatively inexperienced users & relatively insecure default configurations is a recipe for Microsoft-style disasters.

LindowsOS or Xandros Desktop? -- points about lindows

Posted Dec 18, 2003 16:41 UTC (Thu) by openhacker (subscriber, #1614) [Link]

I've had very negative experiences with lindows (installing
and helping my friend).

The default is root, but you can override it. But it takes
2 minutes to explain why you shouldn't run as root...this is
such a dumbed down distro -- I don't understnad why they don't.

I helped a friend install lindows 2.0 and 4.0 -- and various
system admin tools (and man and info) are not there
(you have to see the documentation through the X help browser --
I'm not sure whether the default was kde or gnome now).

When my friend calls me on the phone, it would be very nice if I can
give her some hints to try to understand a problem, like:

type in lspci

type in hdparm

and do

man hdparm

for more information

Unfortunately, these commands don't exist in the distro (there may be equivalent
functionality in many cases with a GUI interface), but command lines
are useful to give remotely -- GUIs you have to demonstrate...

(geez, don't people realize this?)

But it did install in about 10 minutes, which was kinda amazing...

marty