Bitfrost and dual-boot

[Edward Cherlin]

On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 2:25 PM, Arne Babenhauserheide <arne_bab at web.de> wrote:
> Am Donnerstag 29 Mai 2008 23:07:23 schrieb Edward Cherlin:
>> The question was, how to protect Linux from Windows, in particular
>> from malware allowed in by Windows. (Or possibly from malware designed
>> into Windows, a "marketing" practice not unknown in the past.)
>> Protecting Windows-only machines is Microsoft's problem, not ours.
>
> I don't often write here, but at the moment I don't see why BitFrost should be
> used in the first case (except, because we _can_).

Because of governments that will not buy unprotected laptops for schoolchildren.

> Why protect GNU/Linux from Windows?
>
> If people install Windows on their XOs, then it's their problem.

And if the government installs Windows on your XO, whose problem is it
then? If it was just people, we wouldn't be having this argument.

> And the Virus/BotNet/... can't spread to not Windows infected XOs, so there's
> no reason to be afraid.
>
> Or did I miss Windows getting preinstalled on every XO or something similarly
> absurd?

Yes, you did. Egypt in particular demanded dual-boot XOs for all of
its students.

I guess you didn't notice us telling Nicholas he was insane a few
weeks ago, before it became clear that there were to be no
Windows-only XOs after the initial trials in the next month and a
half, and nobody at OLPC would be expected to participate in porting
Sugar to Windows. Then the shouting subsided to angry muttering in
corners.

> Best wishes,
> Arne
> --
> Unpolitisch sein
> Heißt politisch sein
> Ohne es zu merken.
> - Arne Babenhauserheide ( http://draketo.de )
>
> -- Weblog: http://blog.draketo.de
> -- Infinite Hands: http://infinite-hands.draketo.de - singing a part of the
> history of free software.
> -- Ein Würfel System: http://1w6.org - einfach sauberere (Rollenspiel-) Regeln
>
> -- Mein öffentlicher Schlüssel (PGP/GnuPG):
> http://draketo.de/inhalt/ich/pubkey.txt
>



-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay