kanotix.com
Anything goes - The Windows Vista Challenge for Microsoft
piper - 26.06.2006, 18:45 Uhr
Titel: The Windows Vista Challenge for Microsoft
The Windows Vista Challenge for Microsoft
eco2geek - 26.06.2006, 23:38 Uhr
Titel:
Nice rant, but, it's completely anecdotal. Before you ask, "Is this the end of Microsoft?", show me some numbers.
First: How many OEMs in the US preinstall Windows on their business and end-user computers? What's the percentage of computers in large businesses that have Windows installed? The SoHo market? The home market? What's their share of the server market?
Then: Have those numbers significantly decreased in the last 5 years? Are they decreasing now?
I remember going to a Microsoft sales presentation with a friend in the tech business, prior to the release of Windows 3.1. It was obvious to us then that Mac had a superior OS. You know how that turned out.
(The author bitches about lack of support for podcasting. WTF? Yeah, Microsoft's lack of support for Apple's proprietary, DRM'd MP3 player, that's really going to kill adoption of Windows Vista.)
piper - 27.06.2006, 00:34 Uhr
Titel:
Numbers mean nothing (to me), He is talking about Vista, (which is not out yet) so can't show numbers over the last 5 years, bessides, do you really think that business's are really going to jump to Vista, I don't think so, XP if anything, You will be suprised how many business's still use 98, use google cache because posts have been deleted on msn & msft blogs.com, ms own employees pretty much say that Vista sucks. I don't think that it is a rant, but a wake up call to MS. I pretty much got out of this article to fix what is broke and not do another opererating system till you get ONE right, or even close to right. Leave the "eye" candy to someone who can do it. Leave the DRM scene and other things that MS is pushing that customers don't want it. Basically fix XP that still sells for $100.00
Although the way I look at it and the way you look at it is different 
my rant
Some people can't grasp that Microsoft is totally screwing you over.
They're selling you a product with a history of security problems.
Now they're selling a product to protect you from those problems that you paid for.
Why does this not bother you?
Reminds me of the Dilbert cartoon where they paid the developers to find bugs in their own code
Let me get this right...
1) Microsoft roll out one insecure OS after another.
2) Users of MS's OS's are plagued by malware.
3) Microsoft enter profitable anti-malware market with products that purport to solve problems caused by insecure MS OS.
Ummm... I know we're supposed to just pay up but are we also supposed to cheer whilst being shafted by MS yet again?
If numbers mean something, WHY do we use linux ?
End of rant and VERY proud to be ANTI - M$
jackiebrown - 27.06.2006, 00:41 Uhr
Titel:
I tried the public beta and it was pretty.
That is about the only positive I have to say.
piper - 27.06.2006, 00:45 Uhr
Titel:
Having been a beta-tester for microsoft products since windows 95
I have long believed that Microsoft bases its business on stupid users. I never thought about stupid buyers. But that
only works for the first generation of computer-ignorant people. No wonder Microsoft is worried and pay's 3rd party
companies to spread so much FUD about Linux/Macs and Microsofts "Trusted Computing"
And people wonder why Micrsoft is always the butt of some joke! Seriously though this is rediculous. Think of all the band width being wasted by these Windows zombies or windows period (virii itself), think of all the slow downs others have to experience as these crap machines are flooding the networks with their filth.
Bottom line is this is getting out of hand.
Software is like sex...it's better when it's free.
I'm practically frothing at the mouth to serve up my money to Microsoft. And look at all the goody-goodys I get for it. Free spyware, free DRM, the chance to let them do whatever they want to my computer.........
Why I can hardly wait for the release of Vista so I can run out and plunk down three to four hundred bucks for it, + the chance to fork over a chunk for their new "security system". hehe
My hourly rates:
$25 per hour.
$35 per hour if you want to watch.
$45 per hour if you want to help.
$75 per hour if you already tried to fix it.
h2 - 27.06.2006, 01:18 Uhr
Titel:
Piper, you're saying I can get BOTH free spyware AND DRM, from the same vendor? Plus allowing MS to peak into whatever they feel like in my computer? That's too good to be true. Normally you'd have to pay for any one of these, but, again, MS is delivering added value to its end users, while still retaining very competive pricing. It reminds me of DOS days, when MS started giving away the free TCP/IP stack that had previously been selling for about $100.
Oh, and in case you missed it, it's now official: windows is finally totally giving up on winfs completely. What's winfs you might ask? Doesn't matter now, it will never be implemented. That was one of several key 'must have' killer apps that NT 3.51... I mean, Vista, was supposed to have. But they could never get it working right.
Why? Newsflash: the standard, hierarchical file system works just fine. Users understand them. Files as objects work great. It's not necessary to rewrite the world every 5 or 10 years, some things are in fact just fine the way they are. Change does not equal progress in all cases, especially not change for the sake of change.
Does anyone here not believe that Bill's retirement announcement and the immediate takeover of the role of chief MS software architect by some other ms drone is not directly linked to the complete failure to actually complete this new Vista successfully? And in fact, given the fact that search.msn.com saw a similar failure after much fanfare, to the point that it is now being said that they expect a competitive search engine, not this summer, nor next fall, but in 5 YEARS, is it maybe just possible that bill took a look at the messes, the failures, and suddenly one day woke up and said to himself: this isn't fun any more?
All I can say is, I hope that another key component piper forgot to mention, but which, amazingly enough, as if the above 3 items were not value enough, you also get for FREE, is MS GENUINE ADVANTAGE stuff, begins to drive even more people on the edges to open solutions. And the other big software companies, same idea. Make the stuff as hard to pirate as possible, make it impossible, there is nothing that big software can do to speed up open source desktop adoption than making it too hard to pirate their stuff..
I think the linux desktop is going to pick up some market share, not a lot, I mean, let's be honest, for 99.9% of applications, windows 2000 is still totally fine, and xp won't go anywhere for at least 5 years. The lack of a stable programming api is going to keep holding desktop linux back from average joe blow consumers for a few more years I think, same with hardware support for things like printers, scanners... [while my scanner does 'work' in linux, it definitely does not work well, in fact, it makes sounds while scanning at times that I thought no scanner could make...]. And gtk stuff on kde... the pain, hate it, groan... that has to get fixed, if I never see that damned gtk file manager dialoge again in my life it will be too soon.
But for the people who have the ability, I can see the higher end pc users moving to linux in larger and larger numbers, whittle away from the edges until all you have left is a big mediocre center, that's vista's market.
I wish I could say I missed using windows, but it would be a lie. It's that damned session management stuff in Kate that is getting to me, that's just too cool.
And think of this, with barely 0.25% real world desktop market share, this is what we have today. Very good, excellent in some areas. With 1%, larger user base, larger code hacker base, more eyes, think of it.
Then at Mac's 3%, there would be no comparison, the linux desktop would be clearly superior in almost every way, including software. Only dorks would program for windows at that point. That's the real thing, still too many of the best and brightest programmers/whiz kids are releasing for windows because that's where the users all are.
Re the article: I agree, it's weak. Big networks won't go with vista for at least 1 year, until sp 1 comes out. Home users will have no choice, their dells will come with it.
piper - 27.06.2006, 01:45 Uhr
Titel:
Dang it, as usual I ferget something MS GENUINE DISADVANTAGE and winfs (old news) but now is official
eco2geek - 27.06.2006, 02:42 Uhr
Titel:
Oh, I agree with your points, h2. (Except the timing of Gates' retirement -- unless you have inside info, I'd bet that had squat to do with Vista.)
But as far as I can tell, it doesn't really matter whether businesses are going to jump on the Vista bandwagon, as far as Microsoft's market share goes. Maybe their profits, but not their market share.
And that's really what the goal is, increasing the number of Linux users.
I don't have anything but intuition and what I read to go by. That said, even if businesses are still using Win98, they're still using Windows. Even if they stick with Win2K (like the government agency I work for does), they're still using Windows. And even if Vista sucks, if history is any guide, they're still going to use Windows. They jumped on it with the sucky Win3.1 (actually, they started jumping on it in the DOS-only days), and they've been buying it up in droves and using it ever since.
Short term (next 5 years), I don't see the situation changing. Microsoft left with a warehouse full of unpurchased Vista boxes, as the article says? Maybe, but I'll believe it when I see it. Ranting won't make it so.
Show me the numbers.
Anyway, I posted this blog entry on the tuxmachines.org site. It got bumped to the front page. Hopefully it'll get some folks to try Kanotix.
piper - 27.06.2006, 02:51 Uhr
Titel:
In the real world, what does Numbers mean, I am nothing but a number as are you, in windows it means to me that the con artist (microsoft) pulled alot of wool over peoples eye's and mislead them with lies of innovation that MS stole and ..........well I can go on but it's useless.
If all you do is count numbers, I kind of feel sorry for you, I look at the product, yes it has sold alot but that don't mean it is good, hell the ford pinto and the corvair sold alot too, numbers mean nothing unless it involves lives
eco2geek - 27.06.2006, 03:30 Uhr
Titel:
Heh, alrighty then.
There's a ton of ranting about Microsoft on Linux boards. Most of it is true. It reminds me of all the ranting about the current US administration on the political blogs I read (and I detest the current US administration, a hell of a lot more than I detest Microsoft). But, ultimately, I don't think ranting about the Republicans gets many Democrats elected, nor do I think ranting about Microsoft will get many people to switch to Linux.
Cathbard - 27.06.2006, 05:40 Uhr
Titel:
It doesn't matter anyway. There are two types of computer users. One type wants an appliance to do a task, they will use macs and winblows (probably XP in the forseeable future lol). The other type of user is the computer enthusiast; that's us linux users.
I don't see this changing and in many ways it's probably best for us if it doesn't.
piper - 27.06.2006, 05:45 Uhr
Titel:
I must be reading it alot different than you, as I see no politics (which usually in any kind of discussion is always thrown in, why, I have no idea, it is irrelevent) mentioned, I see one instance of Linux, but what I do see is a guy saying
"Microsoft is just now coming to grips with the fact that their biggest competitor is their own Windows XP."
and goes into detail about it, not republicans, not linux, not mac, or that they are superior (sp) but microsoft (not saying they suck, or a piece of shit, you want to hear that go to microsofts employees forums or blogs) and the problems they are having.
A little bit about the author who can be found at Lockergnome
Matt has been helping individuals learn how to use their computers for many, many moons, and he plans on doing so for many, many more. Aside from the time he took a short break from the computer world to pursue other endeavors, he's been tinkering with machines since he first received his TI 99-4A running BASIC as a youngster. More recently, he's been involved with PC repair and maintains a large catalog of contacts from which he's gained a great deal of insight.
More recently, Matt has been a featured guest on Tech Watch Radio, a public speaker on technology, and guest interviewer for IT Conversations in addition to his work here at Lockergnome. When he is not driving Chris and Bob up the wall with his constant need for attention, he can be found working on the IT Professionals newsletter,and the Web Developers newsletter as well. As if that were not enough to guarantee that he is a geek to the core, he also maintains his own little corner of the Web called Ctrl-Alt-Del. There you can stay up to date on a variety of technology related subjects that include his upcoming comic strip "Phil, the IT guy."
I was going to really get into this article and kind of break it down, but once politics was mentioned, I gave up. No use.
h2 - 27.06.2006, 06:40 Uhr
Titel:
eco2geek, the thing with microsoft is interesting for many reasons. Personally, if you strip away the money etc and leave just the hacking, I would really not be surprised if Bill took a look at where everything at MS was going and decided this was the right time to quit, or start quitting. Just wouldn't surprise me. And he did at least used to be a hacker of some ability, maybe not the best, but ok.
I don't think people walk away from their babies, especially when they have the kind of massive emotional involvement bill would have, without a pretty good reason, and I think the systematic failure revealed by the vista thing may just be that. Plus just completely not being able to compete with google on any level with any product. Must get annoying.
I'm fairly interested in what the real world adoption rate of linux desktop will be, currently it seems to be just below what could be considered a critical mass, you can see that in the software, too much stuff sits there unfixed version after version, features don't get implemented, basic stuff that is not hard to do. Just not quite enough users/hackers working on the desktop yet. But it's getting much closer than it was even a year or two ago.
Still power user level os, hopefully it will stay that way for a while, I don't see that changing either, it's just not a stable enough platform for home users yet. Which is good.
I think everyone has a basic shopping list of what their OS needs to do for them, I know that it was only once kanotix 2005-4 came out that I found a linux that fit my needs, I'd been trying for years. Other users have different shopping lists, but there's a lot of work being done to get as many items as possible included.
We'll see how it goes. It's looking pretty good so far though.
The state of MS is always worth watching though, Sun and IBM are also interesting, the big companies are all having to deal with very similar issues. For example, the windows live stuff, 10 to 1 odds that fails to get much play, and google will get something people actually like and use. Luckily apple can be ignored.
eco2geek - 27.06.2006, 08:08 Uhr
Titel:
h2, it certainly could be that somebody close to him said, "Look, Bill, our stock's not doing too good, we're way behind with Vista, our Internet initiatives aren't working out...maybe this would be a good time for you to do that "go save the world" thing you talked about. For the good of the company." Then again, some books about him say he has a huge ego and an abrasive personality. So who knows?
(For the record, I think that Microsoft's gotten where it is today, not on the strength of its technology, much of which it's borrowed, bought, or stolen, but because of its marketing abilities -- including the way it can spread FUD, blow smoke up peoples' asses, and bully people.)
Once Linux reaches some "critical mass," good things will start happening in terms of driver support. The nature of the open source license will be a hard pill to swallow for many who are accustomed to the idea of proprietary software (think ATI and nVidia). The more demand there is for hardware that works on Linux, though, the more incentive there'll be for them to play.
I think Linux is quite stable enough for home users. Certainly it's currently as easy, if not easier, to install than Windows. It's just not as simple as it could be to use. Although I think people expect computers to be as easy to operate as toasters, and guess what? They're not. (OK, there's a rant I shouldn't go into.)
Piper, I don't know why we need to argue. The article reads like a rant. Rants are great. My point with the similarity between political rants and anti-Microsoft rants is that people who do them are usually "preaching to the choir." (Which, again, is all good and fine.)
The article (which, for some reason, I can't access at the moment) seemed to say that this was the "end" for Microsoft because no one would adopt Vista. Maybe, but I'm not buying it until I see some evidence proving it.
h2 - 27.06.2006, 08:56 Uhr
Titel:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060615.html
good overview of these questions.
Next week's blog entry should have an even more in-depth analysis. Give that one a read though, I'd quote it, but really every word is worth quoting so just read it.
Zitat:
Although I think people expect computers to be as easy to operate as toasters, and guess what? They're not. (OK, there's a rant I shouldn't go into
LOL... my pet peeve as well, like you, I won't go into it. One thing I actually like better about debian/kanotix is that this fact is not nearly as hidden or disguised. I've used this very analogy many times as well. They are not toasters, though MS/apple have tried their best to market them that way.
devil - 27.06.2006, 09:11 Uhr
Titel:
...to stay in the picture:
in some ways people should think of win pcs like toasters.
if they would, they would stop bying them.
just imagine a toaster telling you, you use the wrong kinda toast,
or a toaster you put your slices in and the damn thing just "reboots" and sits there, sending you off to work without breakfast. same analogies could be defined for cars or many other things.
just with computers people still buy all the FUD they would reject with most other items of daily use.
the user should start thinking about it.
greetz
devil
piper - 27.06.2006, 09:22 Uhr
Titel:
eco2geek
hehe I wasn't arguing, not even close, maybe a slight debate 
as for a Rant, I don't think that either, but, that is just my opinion, I actually think it has alot of truth to it, yours is different, and is by CHOICE . I also find this to be intersting also http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060615.html and if you haven't been surfing the web lately (ms employees, ex employees are starting to speak out), there is alot of this going on - opinions - alot of opinions have alot of truth to them, sorry if I seemed I was arguing to you, I thought I was just giving my opinion. Looking back at M$'s track record (proven by a court of law) why would I argue. I see Vista as windows ME and a terrible operating system, having used it for awhlie, I feel I can voice my opinion on the subject and I don't compare it to politics at all, why should I. As a matter of fact I don't compare politics to anything, hmm, maybe a used car salesman
The article to me says that microsoft themselves are their worst enemy right now, not linux, mac, the republicans, democrates, and if they do die, they have no-one to blame but themselves, you may read it differently.
I will not debate no more, I am not in a position to do so, and I won't argue.
Cathbard - 27.06.2006, 16:41 Uhr
Titel:
After working in a huge bureaucracy for many years I can tell you that even when you get the hang of it it still grinds you down. It takes a special (read retarded) kind of mind to keep it up forever. It isn't so bad when you are down the food chain a bit but if you are dealing with management it is a strain on the membrane.
M$ has become a huge bureaucracy and this is evident in the whole Vista saga. M$ don't have the govt to keep it alive (well not directly) so it must be getting to be a huge strain. He's probably just had enough and this would be the time to get out.
When you release a beta and determine that the entire codebase needs to be rewritten you are in serious trouble. I can't see how a bureaucracy can deal with that sort of thing; it's too slow to get moving and even harder to stop.
h2 - 27.06.2006, 19:01 Uhr
Titel:
cathbard, that's the problem, exactly, some of the ms stuff that's been coming out, the bloggers, that's exactly what they've been saying, 10, 11 layers of managers, that kind of thing.
And you know what's also interesting, that just happens to reflect the actual architecture of vista, 50 layers of interaction possible, incomprehensible. Software is like any other product, it reflects the entity that creates it, internally. Nothing can make that process not happen, since it's made by people, and it has to work with the people who make it. It's just like 80's american cars, they reflected the companies that made them, now chrysler is owned by mercedes, ford and gm are both facing bankruptcy. And nobody ever though US car companies could possibly ever fail. Same story with IBM back in the 60s. Same problems.
MS isn't unique, it's stuck in the same traps any other large company gets stuck in, and when your product at some point depends on attracting and keeping the best and brightest creative minds, and you can't get or keep them because your corporate culture is a big swamp of petty bureaucrats, you have a big problem.
Version 2 of vista, that was completely dumped, and that Bill took over as chief architect, was apparently made by a large group of young programmers, without good guidance, and their output had to be totally junked.
This isn't a normal type messup on MSes part, this is significantly worse than normal.
Piper, I'd say you're reading that article more or less right, it's hard to see it when companies this big start to get stuck in themselves, but it happens all the time, especially when the company is headed by a guy as arrogant as Bill and his closest friends. I know, I've seen that first and second hand, it's totally disgusting to watch it.
noahsark - 28.06.2006, 18:14 Uhr
Titel:
I do think it's a bit 'interesting' that MS is getting into the business of selling fixes for it's flawed OS. It bugs the heck out of me, really. I am an engineer, not a software developer, but couldn't they have just done it right the first time? Would it really have been that hard?
However, wouldn't linux have the same sorts of issues w/ spyware and malware if there were equal numbers of MS and linux machines running on the planet? Granted, the bad guys may have to look harder to find the exploits in linux, but won't they still be there?
piper - 28.06.2006, 19:18 Uhr
Titel:
Simply stating that the reason Windows is hacked so often is related to its popularity is absurd. The problems with Microsoft Operating Systems stems back to its original MS-DOS operating system and it's thrown together at the last minute from scraps of stolen code nature. Bill Gates has made billions by stealing code from smaller companies and subsequently loosing lawsuits proving he did in a court of law (and people still support him, his ways, and his monopoly, this actually makes me p*ss my pants laughing). His monetary gain from stealing the code far outweighed the resulting fines, so he proceeded on.
The problem with MS is that they left the security barn door wide open for far too many years (31 to be exact). Instead of rolling up their sleeves and doing what they said they were going to do when Longhorn (Vista) was announced (a complete rewrite of the OS from the ground up) they pursued a "patch as patch can" approach in the interim with a predictable lack of permanent meaningful results.
Now that Vista is about to arrive, it appears to be hardly the "complete rewrite" as advertised (infact they take more stuff out of it). The system registry, ActiveX controls (one of the biggest security problems that they have not learned from or listened to the security experts who told them long before they released it), long the malware authors tools of the trade for infecting Windows PCs are coming along for the ride in Vista. No doubt MS has taken some very small steps to offer greater protection of these long compromised Windows OS "features," but I'm afraid the malware authors of today will find the Vista of tomorrow all too familiar when the rubber meets the road.
t-bone - 29.06.2006, 12:35 Uhr
Titel:
Hence the computer industry continues to thrive...vulnerability = money!
Why do you think that most Linux distributions are free? There is very little vulnerability, thus no need for money.
noahsark - 30.06.2006, 01:44 Uhr
Titel:
piper hat folgendes geschrieben::
Simply stating that the reason Windows is hacked so often is related to its popularity is absurd.
No fair putting words in my mouth, Piper. I didn't say (and don't think) MS OS gets hacked ~merely~ because it's popular.
My original question still stands (rephrased for clarity, I hope): If you get enough malicious eyes looking over linux to write spy/malware and virii, won't they still find the exploits/ways to do it?
piper - 30.06.2006, 04:11 Uhr
Titel:
noahsark hat folgendes geschrieben::
However, wouldn't linux have the same sorts of issues w/ spyware and malware if there were equal numbers of MS and linux machines running on the planet? Granted, the bad guys may have to look harder to find the exploits in linux, but won't they still be there?
wouldn't linux have the same sorts of issues w/ spyware and malware if there were equal numbers of MS and linux machines running on the planet?
I still read this as linux "as" popular as windows which = the reason Windows is hacked so often is related to its popularity is absurd
My english is not the greatest, but I don't know how else to read what you are trying to say, maybe someone can draw me a diagram, to me in both your posts you mention "equal numbers of MS and linux machines running" = "enough malicious eyes looking over linux" and I basically wrote M$ was built insecure, now you can vice-versa the scene, lets say Linux was as popular as windows is today and MS is as popular as Linux today, MS would still have all the mal/spyware because it was built insecure or like crap, and Linux would be chugging along because it is open source not closed (ms) which means things get fixed faster, etc, and everyone knows the code and can use it, etc, no patch tuesday for linux because only MS has the code and only MS can make changes. Maybe I am reading everything you said wrong, but this is how I see it. If they did find exploits they would be quickly fixed hence open source
noahsark - 30.06.2006, 06:07 Uhr
Titel:
My first question really wasn't very well written. Looking back at it again I can see how you might assume that I believe "windows get's hacked because its popular" based on that question, even though that's not exactly what I wrote.
piper hat folgendes geschrieben::
My english is not the greatest, but I don't know how else to read what you are trying to say, maybe someone can draw me a diagram, to me in both your posts you mention "equal numbers of MS and linux machines running" = "enough malicious eyes looking over linux" and I basically wrote M$ was built insecure
Your english seems fine to me Right, windows was built insecure and is, therefore, easy to hack. I understand that. However, my question was trying to get at this: What would happen to linux if it was undergoing the kind of thorough examination that windows does? Wouldn't people still find holes/bugs to write malware for? (Maybe I should have written it that way in the first place, eh?) And now, you give me the answer I understand:
piper hat folgendes geschrieben::
lets say Linux was as popular as windows is today and MS is as popular as Linux today, MS would still have all the mal/spyware because it was built insecure or like crap, and Linux would be chugging along because it is open source not closed (ms) which means things get fixed faster, etc, and everyone knows the code and can use it, etc, no patch tuesday for linux
because only MS has the code and only MS can make changes. Maybe I am reading everything you said wrong, but this is how I see it. If they did find exploits they would be quickly fixed hence open source
You are reading things right. Maybe I wrote better that time? Now, having this answer in hand, I can see how the first answer WAS an answer to my question. I just didn't understand it because I was missing the info you just gave me. Thanks for your patience
piper - 30.06.2006, 13:15 Uhr
Titel:
noahsark hat folgendes geschrieben::
What would happen to linux if it was undergoing the kind of thorough examination that windows does? Wouldn't people still find holes/bugs to write malware for?
Who says that it's not being thorough examined
h2 - 30.06.2006, 19:11 Uhr
Titel:
Linux web servers are hacked constantly. Usually it'd done through unpatched holes in php, various cms/blog/forum software. But it's also done through worms testing for known vulnerabilities. In the cracker world, you get points for hacking in the following order, 1 is the least:
1. Windows pre 2003 servers
2. Windows 2003 servers
3. Linux servers
4. Unix servers
Windows stuff, especially pre 2003, gives very little status because it's so easy to hack. I could post links to relevant sites with more precise hack stats, but I doubt the forum mods would want those linked to here. Plus they don't give the vulnerability exploited, just the OS hosting the server.
By far the biggest factor influencing whether or not as system gets hacked is the skill of the administrator of that system. That means if he/she keeps up with all patches to the system and its applications in a consistent manner.
If you follow sites like www.lwn.net you'll see a weekly report of bug fixes on the major distros, most bug fixes that close security holes. All software has bugs, and anything exposed to the web will have security issues.
Windows, however, on the desktop, because it forces users to run it in admin/root mode [this will not be the case in Vista apparently], gives all vulnerabilities exploited instant access to full system control. Same problem exists with MSIE and Active X. Linux desktops do not have either built in weakness, neither does OS X, so these are by design more secure than windows, no matter what the market share is. OS X, for example, still has no known genuine viruses, though it has been susceptable to more or less the same worm danger that other freebsd systems are.
eco2geek - 04.07.2006, 09:01 Uhr
Titel:
Piper, I'm not going to argue with you any more. I would say, however, that Windows' popularity certainly is a factor in how often it gets hacked. Of course, the fact that it's apparently so easy to hack is a larger factor.
Anyway, this part of the Cringely column mentioned earlier floored me:
Zitat:
Microsoft is in crisis, and crises sometimes demand bold action. The company is demoralized, and most assuredly HAS seen its best days in terms of market dominance. In short, being Microsoft isn't fun anymore, which probably means that being Bill Gates isn't fun anymore, either. But that, alone, is not reason enough for Gates to leave. Whether he instigated the change or someone else did, Gates had no choice but to take this action to support the value of his own Microsoft shares.
Let me explain through an illustration. Here's how Jeff Angus described Microsoft in an earlier age in his brilliant business book, Managing by Baseball:
"When I worked for a few years at Microsoft Corporation in the early '80s, the company had no decision-making rules whatsoever. Almost none of its managers had management training, and few had even a shred of management aptitude. When it came to what looked like less important decisions, most just guessed. When it came to the more important ones, they typically tried to model their choices on powerful people above them in the hierarchy. Almost nothing operational was written down...The tragedy wasn't that so many poor decisions got made -- as a functional monopoly, Microsoft had the cash flow to insulate itself from the most severe consequences -- but that no one cared to track and codify past failures as a way to help managers create guidelines of paths to follow and avoid."
Fine, you say, but that was Microsoft more than 20 years ago. How about today?
Nothing has changed except that the company is 10 times bigger, which means it is 10 times more screwed-up.
Think about that for a moment. If it's true, it means that Microsoft got to where it is today, with almost no business skills whatsoever.
Now that's breathtaking.
Alle Zeiten sind GMT + 1 Stunde
PNphpBB2 © 2003-2007