Linux's NEW 8 year old privilege escalation bug

[kpedersen]

For kids, 'productivity' is not the point, 'aptitude' is. 'productivity' is what the boss can get out of you. 'aptitude' is a measure of potential that gets realized (and paid for) by the boss later.

I was discussing productivity specifically once their smart phone is "pulled through into industry with them". From what I have experienced, ancient computers are still more productive than smart phones due to their openness and ability to get things done / developed on them. This same thing happened with macs ~2007 (before then, they were very rare!) but wasn't quite as damaging because they are still workable as fairly capable workstations. Phones are not (terrible keyboards for one).

But whilst you are bringing up aptitude, this is relevant too. I strongly feel that someone brought up in a "click and play" environment like a phone appstore vs being exposed to the problem solving required for i.e DOS, computers back in the day will be at a disadvantage. I *think* this is starting to show from some of the recent candidates I have interviewed. But it could also be too early to tell.

 

[richardtoohey2]

I strongly feel that someone brought up in a "click and play" environment like a phone appstore vs being exposed to the problem solving required for i.e DOS, computers back in the day will be at a disadvantage. I *think* this is starting to show

This is getting very off-topic, but I don't think it's just phones and apps - it's the overall "modern" operating systems (on all "devices" and computers) too.

Most decisions are hidden from you, most configuration options are hidden from you, you point and click or type one command at the most, and huge complex applications are downloaded, auto-configured, auto-started.

Then when there's a problem - you have no idea where to start. Well, you go and post questions on forums or elsewhere on the internet.

Sometimes the *BSDs and older-style Linux distributions are put down for being complex, or forcing the user to make "choices" or forcing the user to "know too much" about configuration files, where they are stored and so on. Or that the default settings are "too conservative" and the the "poor user" has to find the configuration files, do some R&D, tweak, trial & error etc.

With *BSDs you are forced to make some decisions at installation time, things are rarely completely auto-configured or auto-started - you have to do some reading, some thinking, and some decision-making and configuration. You'll probably have to find out where error logs go as you make mistakes.

Which can seem a waste of time or painful when you just want to install & run application "X". But in a few months time when "X" isn't behaving, you know where to look for errors, you know where the configuration files are, etc. so personally I think you end up better equipped than the user who just typed "install X".

That's not to say I don't really appreciate the ease of use of "install & run application X" without having to think about it too hard - but I think the approach that forces a bit more thinking from the end-user (myself included) does help in the long run.