Well, not quite, but it’s getting there. Benny has updated his blog.

With part one of a two-part article on Windows user account types, no less. Anyone who’s ever tried to do the right thing and run Windows as a mere mortal user knows that the experience is painful in the extreme, owing to the blanket assumption by third-party developers that everyone runs as the all-powerful Administrator.

It says something that even Microsoft’s own employees run their workstations as administrators. There is talk of a change in policy when Vista surfaces, a move that’s likely to upset some within The Beast, but should give the rest of us a workable system. In theory, at least.

User privileges is something that Linux has got right all along. Access to files and other resources is fine-grained, with users able to restrict the ability to read, write, or execute their files (or folder, where ‘executing’ becomes ‘traversing’) based on user ID, group membership, or lack thereof. Thus you can allow everyone to reach your public_html folder without letting them see the contents of your home directory beneath it; or you can make things read-only; or you can let your fellow users execute one of your programs without being able to read the executable itself, if you feel like it.

To most newcomers to Linux, this sort of control - and the need to be logged in as the root (admin) user to perform most system maintenance tasks - is a completely alien concept, because they’re used to being the Administrator on their Windows system and able to do whatever they like. File permissions have existed in Windows since Windows NT, but for the average home user - even the average home user with Windows XP Professional - this feature is deactivated by default and confusing if you turn it on.

In theory, better ‘limited user’ accounts in Vista should encourage their uptake and make the Unix-style permissions and user paradigm familiar to more users. In practice? Everyone will still run as Administrator unless Microsoft stops them.

Still, get yourself over to Benny’s blog and read all about the pain of limited user accounts in Windows XP. And perhaps give it a go. It’ll make your online experience a little bit safer.

If you’ve ever doubted my geek credentials, shame on you. You need look no further than this site to witness my insane devotion to all things sad and nerdy. For further proof, observe!

An Amiga on the Internet. Running the DS port of ScummVM. A Sinclair QL print server. An Xbox-based media centre. A rarely-updated blog with a backend written from scratch. Past projects, undertaken with minimal good reason, all.

And now, I’ve fallen for the ultimate geek affliction, the desire to run Linux in strange places. Thanks to the DS Linux project, it’s possible to surf the web, listen to stuttery MP3s, configure your wireless network connection and admittedly not do much else, all in the kind of user-friendly environment that only a command-line interface driven by an onscreen keyboard can provide.

Be still my beating heart!

Honestly, Linux DS is extremely impressive. Shoehorning the Linux kernel and a useful amount of the core functionality into the paltry 4MB of RAM available is a great achievement. But unlike ScummVM DS, it’s difficult to see the point of the project. Although I find it difficult to understand the desire geeky types have to attempt these difficult and ultimately doomed projects, my own track record indicates I know exactly what drives them. Tinkering is fun, no matter how pointless the end result. Sadly!