[OPLINTECH] public software foundation

Thu May 29 21:50:32 EDT 2008

Well Ed,
MY Network is safe and yes we have firewalls. However the average home user(most still running on windows 2000 and windows 98) doesn't have a clue most of the time and are not. And that is who I am referring to. You can wash your hands after getting germs from a book true, but you can't usually recover your hard disk after it has been trashed by malware or a vulnerability. Therein lies the difference

Jim Kenzig 
Network Manager 
Cuyahoga County Public Library 

________________________________

From: oplintech-bounces at oplin.org [mailto:oplintech-bounces at oplin.org] On Behalf Of Chad Neeper (list)
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 6:10 PM
To: OPLINTECH
Subject: Re: [OPLINTECH] public software foundation

I saw Ed's original post and out of curiosity, checked out the titles that the foundation was providing...and opted not to forward the information on to the libraries I support that don't already monitor this list for several of the same reasons already mentioned:  Frequent title changes would either rather quickly obsolete the offerings or require frequent checking, obtaining, and cataloging of new titles to keep current (hands-on staff time); and simply lack of patron demand. Although others have made some good points, those are the two things that immediately jumped to mind that made me rather quickly dismiss the idea.

Chad

-----------------------
Chad Neeper
Senior Systems Engineer

Level 9 Networks
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

--   Full LAN/WAN consulting services   --
-- Specialized in libraries and schools --

Ed Liddle wrote: 

	If I checkout a dvd or a book, bring it home and come down with an
	illness that I feel I caught from the dvd or book, does that make the
	library liable for my medical bills or loss of income from my missed
	days at work? Would I have gotten sick if I didn't go to the store on
	the way home from the library? In this scenario there are many variables
	that could have made me sick and several things I could have done to
	prevent myself from getting sick like wash my hands before I ate.  

	For example try brining up an unpatched copy of SQL 2000 on a machine

		and see how quickly you have sasser on your network. And it isn't just a
		windows thing. There are plenty of vulnerabilities in all flavors of
		linux if they are not patched. 

	How safe is your network? Do you have a firewall? Do you run as root? Is
	your windows user an admin user? Could you prevent sasser from entering
	your network from the internet by using a firewall? Even in this
	scenario there are several things a computer user can do to prevent
	their computer from getting a virus or from being hacked due to
	vulnerabilities in any type of software. Is the library liable for t
	hosed computer because you decided not to properly protect your network,
	or because of the decision made to install the software that was checked
	out from the library?

	I personally don't see how a library can be liable for bad things that
	can happen to a computer by lending software. 

	That is my opinion about it.

	-Ed Liddle

	On Thu, 2008-05-29 at 15:40 -0400, JKENZIG wrote:

		The problem with lending out software even if it is open source is that
		versioning changes so frequently that by the time you get it set up and
		lend it out you are lending an obsolete and potentionally hazardous
		unupdated release of the product. There could be numerous
		vulnerabilities out there that a user could get infected with on their
		computer as soon as they install such software. Does that make the
		library liable if their PC is trashed? 
		For example try brining up an unpatched copy of SQL 2000 on a machine
		and see how quickly you have sasser on your network. And it isn't just a
		windows thing. There are plenty of vulnerabilities in all flavors of
		linux if they are not patched. 

		I think if it was such a great idea you would see video stores and
		bookstores doing it (charge for cost of cd or something I don't know)
		I just don't think it is a service the library should offer because
		there are so many other resources for software.

		Jim Kenzig
		Network Manager
		Cuyahoga County Public Library

		-----Original Message-----
		From: oplintech-bounces at oplin.org [mailto:oplintech-bounces at oplin.org]
		On Behalf Of Ed Liddle
		Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2008 3:32 PM
		To: Nathan Eady
		Cc: OPLINTECH
		Subject: Re: [OPLINTECH] public software foundation

		On Thu, 2008-05-29 at 12:42 -0400, Nathan Eady wrote:

			Wouldn't you get a steady stream of
			requests for Microsoft Windows installation disks, from people who
			have lost their OEM ones and need to reinstall, not to mention MS
			Office and Symantec AV and such?

		We get patrons in our library from time to time who want to check out
		microsoft office to install on their computers at home. For some reason
		they assume that since it is loaded on our public computers that we must
		lend it out. In my opinion it would be nice to have an open office CD
		cataloged that you could point them to instead of a piece of scrap paper
		with the address http://openoffice.org scribbled on it, or give them the
		information that microsoft office sells for about 400 or 500 dollars at
		a retail location.
		On occasion I will download and burn some open source software to a CD
		for a patron who has a computer at home but has either no or slow (dial
		up) internet access. We have a few patrons who don't have broadband
		internet available where they live.
		We haven't gotten many requests for windows installation media or open
		source operating system installation media from patrons. I suspect it is
		because media like this is typically included with their PC purchase.
		Sadly it is often housed on a hidden restore partition on the hard drive
		with instructions in the manual to burn a copy of it to cd/dvd media and
		don't lose it because only 1 or 2 copies are allowed to be made of it.
		If the hard drive failure rate exceeds the computer replacement rate
		there may be one day frequent requests for such media.   

-- 

-----------------------
Chad Neeper
Senior Systems Engineer

Level 9 Networks
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

--   Full LAN/WAN consulting services   --
-- Specialized in libraries and schools --
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