RE: Anti-MS drivel

["Schmehl, Paul L" <pauls () utdallas edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: full-disclosure-admin () lists netsys com 
> [mailto:full-disclosure-admin () lists netsys com] On Behalf Of 
> Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu
> Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2004 1:55 AM
> To: David F. Skoll
> Cc: Gregh; full-disclosure () lists netsys com
> Subject: Re: [Full-disclosure] Anti-MS drivel 
>
> Moral of the story - in the past 2 decades, the users have 
> gotten stupider, and many of the software designers have as well.....
Yes, and this little story puts the lie to David's tiresome rant about
MS.  Regardless of how secure or insecure any OS is "by default"
(whatever that means), the *real* problem is users who don't understand
what they're doing.  We can sit here and fight OS wars until we all turn
to dust and not one damn thing will change.  Or we can start taking
action to educate users and *perhaps* change the nature of computing
entirely.

So long as we have users who ignore basic computer safety, we will have
problems with malicious software attacks, regardless of what OS that
user is using.  I've had to clean viruses and worms out of Linux and
Solaris, just as I've had to do with Windows.  In *every* case, the
problem was a user who was either ignorant or didn't care.  Are the
problems easier to avoid when using Unix?  Perhaps.  But the *real*
problem isn't the OS, it's the users.

Paul Schmehl (pauls () utdallas edu)
Adjunct Information Security Officer
The University of Texas at Dallas
AVIEN Founding Member
http://www.utdallas.edu/~pauls/ 

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