A Few Modest Software Suggestions

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This web site will look better if you are using a modern browser such as recent versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera, or Konqueror, all of which render Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) reasonably well. Most older browsers compromise the site pages’ aesthetics but not readability, except the home page, which will get butchered. The site even looks OK in ACT 10, a very lightweight alternative browser!

This site is hosted on a server that uses Unix (FreeBSD) as an operating system. Microsoft’s Windows-derived server operating system and IIS Web page server combination has had an abysmal record when it comes to security. Making site reliability and the security of any client data that is temporarily on the server priorities in turn made the decision to use an alternative to the Microsoft offering an easy one.

We recommend that you develop contingency plans for escaping from the Microsoft guilded desktop cage. The integration of Internet Explorer, the email client Outlook, and other Microsoft network applications with the Windows operating system itself has caused the Windows and associated applications morass to be the biggest source of software security holes in history. The latest incarnations of Windows, Vista and now 7, bring a new set of indignities, especially a nasty set of “digital rights management” background routines that impose a major drag on your PC’s performance and further compromise your privacy and freedom. Closing the security holes and virus vulnerabilities inherent in Microsoft’s software is too massive an undertaking to foresee substantive progress ever being made, while Microsoft’s anything-you-can-get-away-with corporate culture defies comparison with any other non-government organization. (Unfortunately, Google – who actually creates decent products and services – looks like it may compete here, down the line. Apple’s control freak approach does not sit well either.) Internet Explorer is designed to promote and encourage the use of other Microsoft products and services, so anyone using IE is forced to deal with this as well.

Using the latest versions of Windows and its accomplices puts your data and your privacy at risk. Where Microsoft is not itself the intentional violator here, there is no real commitment to do anything beyond the minimum to be able to claim it is trying. If you must use Windows, we recommend that you stick to XP-Service Pack 3 plus all security updates (usually put out weekly), or an earlier version of Windows.

Legacy Windows 9x/Me systems, which are still viable for lower powered machines – although fewer and fewer applications work on them – are probably relatively safe to use as long as you use a firewall and do not use IE, Outlook, or MSN Messenger (and do not invoke obvious security risks such as opening executable files sent as email attachments) – in part, somewhat ironically, because virus and worm writers are concentrating their efforts on the newer versions of Windows.

One way to have the use of Windows without IE, Outlook, or a multitude of bloat or security-risk or bloat contributors, is to use LitePC or nLite to customize your installation. The legacy versions of Windows will ultimately stop working with new hardware and software, as is the case with more and more recent program releases. Vista demonstrated massive incompatibility with existing software from inception. Have your escape route lined up in advance.

Linux is now a viable desktop operating system alternative, even though it has taken a loooooooong time to smooth its rough edges. Progress has been continuous, if painstaking. Competing (What a concept!) firms are working hard to fabricate the Linux “distribution” (operating system core and accompanying tools and programs) that will generate a significant mainstream (as opposed to geek) desktop user interest. We will stick our neck out here and pronounce that Linux is finally a viable desktop option for all but the worst technophobe. There are still some rough edges, but basically it is a matter of being willing to sustain a few transition costs and annoyances. Using desktop Linux at this point is akin to moving a portion of your resources offshore, or going against the herd in any domain for that matter. Things are not quite as convenient – although now even this can be argued – but your foundation is more secure.

A quote we saw years ago now in Linux Today summarizes the situation nicely: “Microsoft sacrificed quality and data security in favor of user-friendliness in order to dominate the desktop; that was a marketing decision made by the year 1987, with Windows 3. It continued with the same philosophy by 1997, when MS was implementing Windows NT which would become Windows 2000. It is now trying to insert quality and security as an afterthought. That is impossible. ... Therefore, there are no solutions for the Microsoft problem, but to migrate to a Linux distribution.”

The “Linux Resources” section of our Resource Directory supplies links to several sites useful for people starting to use Linux (“newbies”), or those who want to follow the community’s progress. OpenOffice.org (and its commercial alter-ego, StarOffice) is a legitimate, cross-platform, office suite alternative to Microsoft’s ultra-expensive, Windows-only office suite. OpenOffice makes Linux a viable full-time platform for business users.

The is no shortage of Linux websites nor of Linux distribution reviews. Per its name, the Desktop Linux website is one useful place to track advances in Linux distributions and applications oriented towards the desktop useful.

The browser alternatives not tied to Internet Explorer are not intimately intertwined with the Windows operating system and do not support Microsoft’s proprietary Active X plugin-like technology, hence are more secure out of the box. Opera 10.6x is a leading edge, cross-platform, standards-compliant (HTML, CSS, Javascript), highly configurable, relatively lightweight browser that should fulfill your browsing requirements. The version without a Java Virtual Machine – your machine probably has one already, and they are rarely necessary anyway – is a slightly greater than 10MB download. A Linux version of Opera is available.

Mozilla Firefox is not quite as lightweight as Opera, but is a reasonable choice for any but the most ancient of machines. Mozilla is cross-platform, with Linux as well as Windows versions. Firefox has quickly become the leading IE-alternative. And now Google is successfully muscling in on the browser market with Chrome, which has received generally favorable reviews.

Another Mozilla code-based browser called K-Meleon is leaner than Mozilla Firefox or Opera. It is, however, a Windows-only project, and also does not have Firefox’s huge number of browser function-augmenting plugins. Moreover, lack on manpower on the project means it is updated infrequently. The Wikipedia page on K-Meleon offers a good summary of the project.

There are several decent email client alternatives to Microsoft Outlook. Go to the email clients section of a freeware/shareware review site such as SnapFiles or Nonags and check out the alternatives. Mozilla’s Thunderbird features spam filtering, support for IMAP and POP protocols, support for RDF Site Summary/Rich Site Summary (RSS), and more, and has matured into a leading alternative to Outlook. The page author retains an fondness for Foxmail – now at version 5.x – going back to v. 2.1. (Unfortunately, version 5 may be the last English language version.) For those who just need a simple POP-only client, nPOPQ is worth a look. The issue of secure email communication is treated on this page.

Firefox 1.0 was released in early November 2004. As of the summer of 2010, the latest version is 3.6.x (security and other bug-fix updates, the “x” part of the version number, are frequently released). Many pundits and IT departments are recommending replacing IE with Firefox for security reasons, although it is hardly security issue-free. Mozilla Thunderbird 3.1 was released this year. Other than Linux itself, Mozilla has emerged as the flagship alternative to Microsoft applications.

Opera 10.6x is the latest version of that browser. It too has received its share of praise. It did take a fair amount of work to configure it to our liking, but this is a one-time effort associated with major releases, i.e., we do not foresee such reconfiguration until version 11 comes out. Opera comes with an email client which embodies a noble effort to rethink things from the ground up, but falls short in too many areas at this stage. Opera further includes a news reader, RSS reader, chat client and BitTorrent client! They all provide adequate functionality for the non-power user.

The Internet Explorer alternatives are clearly viable, and superior in many ways. Unfortunately some sites are sufficiently tied into IE’s proprietary extensions that the browser alternatives are shut out. We suggest avoiding any such site unless the cost to you is prohibitive (not just inconvenient). The progress in alternative browsers did force Microsoft to update IE ahead of their original plans. Version 7, which shiped with Vista, demonstrates improved security. IE version 8 is far more standards-compliant than its predecessors – something of a minor miracle and demonstating the value of competition.

An interesting Web site, PortableApps.com, makes available “portable” Windows versions of several important applications, including Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org and powerful accounting application GnuCash. “Portable” means that no entries are made in the Windows Registry and all required accompanying files are installed within the installation directory tree. Thus one can install on, or copy one’s installation to, a CD or jump drive and run the application on another PC without having to make a special effort to port the program settings files (or Registry entries). Anti-bloat fans will appreciate the total lack of additions to the Registry and Windows system folders as desirable in and of itself.

Linux desktop distributions continue to make news for their absolute ease of use and the ready transition path some lay for Windows users. This review of newcomer-oriented Linux distribution Xandros 4 proclaims that it is, “The best desktop Linux for Windows users.” As the rest of the review makes clear, Xandros’s ease of installation and configuration, and ability to run many Windows programs – including MS Office, make it an attractive option for those looking to make the switch. This review extolled SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 as a good business desktop alternative that “should be at the top of your shopping list.” Now OpenSUSE, a a community-maintained version of SUSE, has released version 11. Ubuntu Linux has come into prominence in recent years to become a Linux community leader. Here is one review.