[softwarelist] Re: Another Windows horror story
- From: Richard Brock <badger.sett@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: davidpilling@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2007 23:25:25 +0000 (GMT)
In article <$8c1mNErG9bHFwq4@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
David Pilling <flist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> In message <476FA83E.4000304@xxxxxxxxxxx>, Philco <philco@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> writes
> >> Hard to believe that it is now over ten years since Acorn were
> >>working on their own network computer.
> >Was that 'twenty years'
> The Archimedes came out at the end of 1987, the Acorn NC was 1997.
> >We'd have still had the hacks on RiscOs I guess..
> Anything subjected to the attacks that MS software is would be broken,
> but MS are a special case, they're rich enough to get things right.
> Looking at some of the guidance they offer programmers it is apparent
> they've gone a long time without using the simplest good practices.
> If Acorn had kept RISC OS in ROM it would have been difficult to hack.
> RISC OS needed to be transformed the same way that the Windows 9X line
> was, or Mac OS - into a "proper" operating system with the protection
> that implies.
> Leaves me wondering is there a solution that satisfies my requirements -
> web, email, word processing, no messing about?
> The "One Lap Top per child" machine sounds a bit like it, but last time
> I looked was not on sale in the first world. Possibly a mobile phone
> would do ;-)
Zonbu? I've bought/leased one to see if it would meet the needs of some
of my clients... no moving parts, 11-15 watts power consumption (plus
peripherals), requires (more or less) continuous broadband connection to
the Internet because there's only minimal local storage and Zonbu provide
online storage and maintain and update the operating system which is
Linux Gentoo based, no possibility of adding programs (or problems!)
other than those supplied (Firefox, Open Office, photo manager, Sribus
DTP (well, Ovation Pro isn't available for Linux yet!) and other bits and
bobs). $99 up front plus $54.50 shipping, $14.95 monthly sub for a two
year contract, plus another £30 odd if you're unlucky enough to have your
hardware package checked by customs! My experience has been good, though
I've only used it in a lightweight way so far. Not going to be everyone's
cuppa, but worth looking at www.zonbu.com
Richard
--
Richard Brock
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