PuTTY alt-keys (was Re: 16-User Network)

[Fairlight]

With neither thought nor caution, Jay Ashworth blurted:
> ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Fairlight" <fairlite at fairlite.com>
> 
> > Anzio is feature-rich, but in ways the interface is just...it's like
> > terminal emulation for dummies. Anyone that should actually be -using-
> > a terminal emulator should know enough to know what the hell they're
> > doing--not be guided through wizards and all sorts of stuff.
> 
> I will throw a flag there.
> 
> "Anyone who should actually be *configuring* a terminal emulator" should know
> enough.
> 
> Those who are using them, generally, should only have to double click and
> log in, and this -- incidentally, Bob -- is the other reason why I like
> pre-configured screen/tmux beind the emulator: the user doesn't have to 
> think about the fact that they have multiple emulators running locally...
> cause they don't.

I largel disagree.  For the same reason I disagree with linux as a common
desktop, and the dumbing down of linux/unix.  *nix was never -meant- to be
easy or plug-n-pray, and there's too much power under the hood for people
that don't know what they're doing to shoot themselves in the foot with.
Unless someone dumbs down and jails their environment for them, which I'm
staunchly against for anything except ftp or sftp use.

My belief is that if you can't configure a simple terminal emulator, you're
quite possibly a menace with an operating system a few hundred times as
complex.  All the chmod 0777 monkeys out there haven't done anything but
reinforce my opinion over the years.  There are some notable exceptions,
but I'm wary of putting non-technical people in front of an actual shell
prompt.

And I've never been a fan of pseudo-jailed environments.  I've yet to find
one I can't find -some- way out of (including at a bank, who overlooked
the fact that WordPerfect had a shell escape buried in it!), and admins
place way too much trust in the stupidity of the users they fool into
thinking their access is limited.  Sorry, changing the prompt to look like
a several-choice menu is -not- security.  (Yes, I know a company that does
this.)

If it's on their box, okay, no problem.  I get paid to fix whatever they
break, chew it up all you like, if you really want to be that masochistic
enough and ignore my warnings about how this is a bad idea. :) 

But I'd never let someone near my own box if they can't even configure a
PuTTY connection to it.  Oh, -hell- no. :)

There are only two companies that have ever done a desktop on *nix that
was remotely user-friendly, safe, and actually productive.  NeXT, and
Apple.  Both benefitting from NeXTStep's roots.  And Apple is getting
bitten with a slew of security issues in the last year or two, as they
become more popular and overlook things they shouldn't be overlooking.
NeXT was too expensive to go mainstream enough to be a hazard.  Apple's
security struggles lately just signal to me that even they can't make it
safe in the hands of end-users.

mark->
-- 
Audio panton, cogito singularis.