Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories

[Owen DeLong <owen () delong com>]

Well, then bad hardware and application software are a lot more prevalant
under Windows than Linux.  I install/deinstall games and other application
software all the time under Linux.  I have the usage pattern you describe
for others (except the part about patching my system regularly), and I just
don't have any difficulty keeping the system up for months at a time,
not having to reinstall the OS until I choose to upgrade major versions,
and, generally, it just keeps on ticking.

Admittedly, it's even better under MacOS with Apple hardware, but, given
the extent to which Linux is more reliable than Windows in the same usage
pattern as you described, I find it hard to blame the hardware.

Windows is a poorly designed operating system, which, although they have
plugged lots of holes, is constantly discovering new ones.  Worse yet,
Micr0$0ft has always chosen a "functionality at any cost" approach to
their software, so, if they want to implement a feature and it can't
be done securely, they implement rather than scale back.  Yes, their
current default settings are more secure than ever before, but, they're
still pretty leaky.

Owen


--On Sunday, August 15, 2004 7:00 PM +0200 Mikael Abrahamsson 
<swmike () swm pp se> wrote:

> On Sun, 15 Aug 2004, Hank Nussbacher wrote:
>
> > Retina scan on something and some virus/worm got in and it took some
> > registry editting and safe mode work to get it removed - and I know what
> > I am doing.
>
> As far as I know, there is no remotely exploitable hole in windows that
> doesn't have a patch for it, nothing majorly in the wild anyway. I run my
> fully patched XP laptop without firewall directly connected to the
> internet all the time and the above you mention doesn't happen to me.
>
> A lot of the problems with windows that people complain about, isn't
> Microsoft caused apart from them designing a bad driver/library/registry
> model for how things are installed and ran. I usually run windows boxes
> for two-three years without reinstalling them, other people have to
> re-install every 3-6 months. Looking at their usage pattern and mine,
> they  install games and other programs and de-install them all the time,
> whereas  I usually stick to a fixed set of programs and rarely install
> new ones,  and I always apply new patches when they're available via
> Windows Update.  I can also run my machine for months without it
> crashing, which seems an unobtainable feat for a lot of other people. I
> see a pattern.
>
> Bad hardware and application software cause a lot more problems than
> the operating system itself.
>
> --
> Mikael Abrahamsson    email: swmike () swm pp se



--
If it wasn't crypto-signed, it probably didn't come from me.

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