[NBLUG/talk] GPG on Windows?

S. Saunders sms at sonic.net
Mon Mar 21 09:03:26 PST 2005


On Mon, March 21, 2005 7:56, Lincoln Peters said:

> > Or a bootable Linux CD that includes GPG?
>
> I'm sure that this would work, but it would be a bit scary for a typical
> Windows user with little or no experience with other operating systems
> (aside from the occasional Macintosh).

I'll note that (except for the technophobe, and those whose minds sort
of stop their normally-intelligent habit of "connecting-the-dots" and
making one plus one equal two, when they compute) most people who have
used 2 WIMP interfaces (i.e. both MS-Win & Mac) usually have *very*
little problem in moving over to XWin; they've already done the hard
part of generalizing, so X is just another specific instance.

I don't deny that it might seem "scary" to boot an unfamiliar OS & GUI,
and thus not have your familiar tools at hand to help lookup answers to
your inevitable questions, but it's likely do-able.

That said, I'll also note that if the recipient is "supposed to" be able
to use the received data on his system, it should probably be read under
the MS-Win OS (if it just needs to go into his head, then a bootable
Linux CD might indeed be a viable option).  Yes, I *know* there are ways
to write to the HD under a linux-booted CD, or to a floppy, or a thumb-
drive, etc; but too often, those add yet another layer of complexity.


- Steve S.






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