[liberationtech] Concerns with new Stanford University security mandate

[Jonathan Wilkes]

On 01/29/2014 04:50 PM, Guido Witmond wrote:
> On 01/29/14 19:57, Jonathan Wilkes wrote:
>> On 01/26/2014 08:12 AM, Guido Witmond wrote:
>>> BigFix: the missing package manager for Windows. What every self
>>> respecting unix/linux/bsd/etc system already has. Good.
>> How is a centralized service that requires the user to download and
>> install a binary from the web anything like apt?
>>
>> Don't get me wrong, nearly anything is better than just bare Windows.
>>
>> But an honest, courageous approach would actually encourage the oddball
>> student who runs Debian Wheezy or whatever else that is lightyears ahead
>> of Windows in terms of security.  Does this security mandate do that, or
>> does it merely hope that the ideal of academic freedom will just get fed
>> up and go find some other domain to bother?
> I fully agree, being Microsoft free since 1999, myself. However, the
> apt-package manager doesn't upgrade anything compiled into usr/local,
> hence, the need for a scanner.

Hi Guido,
      Before I write anything else: Is the BigFix client free software?  
Couldn't figure it out from a quick look at the website.

Thanks,
Jonathan