Re: [PLUG] Interesting Article from eWeek

[Paul <gyoza@comcast.net>]

I love and hate people who act like you.  I can be annoying in the same 
way.  I'm just curious why you are trying to "enlighten" this Linux list?

Having only reviewed 1/3 of the "Open Source Security Tools" book that I 
received from one of our own, I would say that Linux as a security 
workstation, which is really just a specialized desktop, is far superior 
to using Windows.  This is also my experience.  (I'm happy to say that I 
haven't learned too many new tricks from the first 1/3 of the book.)  
This is significant considering that the book also covers security tools 
for Windows.

One of the first improvements that I made to Windows, based on new 
information from the book, was loading "Sam Spade".  Now I have the 
basic tools in Windows that I have always had available under Linux.  I 
have also used Ethereal in Windows, which is something that I had used 
long before under Linux.  Oh, and Kismet and Nessus blow away anything 
that I've seen in Windows.  (Well, there is a Windows client for Nessus.)

What I'm trying to get at is that Open Source software if good and 
getting better.  Linux is just another piece of the OSS pizza pie.  
(Pizza, I'm sure many people will agree, is essential.)

I'm happy that OSS is making it's way to the Windows desktop.  I'm even 
more happy that many of the applications have been ported from Linux.  
Some examples of the OSS programs I use in Windows and/or Linux follow: 
The GIMP, OpenOffice.org, Audacity, Mozilla, wget, OpenVPN, GPSMap, 
Cygwin, X-Chat, FileZilla, CDex, Bit Torrent, OpenSSH, JLookUp, nmap, 
Apache, PHP, MySQL and all those Web applications, etc..

Why then, do I write e-mail from Windows?  Well, the family likes to 
play games developed for Windows.  I could cure that by buying a 
dedicated game console for the TV, but I choose not to.  (Well, that and 
I don't have the spare cash.)

So, while Linux and OSS may not be officially superior to Windows, OS X, 
and commercial software, to me it is an equal and sometimes more 
functional.  Who am I?  For what it's worth, I'm just a Linux user on a 
Linux users list.  No drama, no mystery.
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