nanog mailing list archives
RE: WashingtonPost computer security stories
From: "Joe Johnson" <jjohnson () jmdn net>
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 14:31:05 -0500
Owen Wrote:
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
Everyone can argue until they are blue in the face over Linux vs. Windows, but the big point is: what comes on your machine when you buy it? Windows does. Now, there is definitely a big backstory to why it does, but the point is that people buy it knowing (or maybe not knowing) that it is a flawed product. The manufacturers still put it on the machines because they know people will buy it and because Microsoft makes it cheap for them. I can agree that Linux makes a good product for the niche market that it fills now, but there needs to be a dumbed-down version for home machines that is widely available and supported across the market for it to really make an impact. The closest thing now is maybe a Red Hat or a Mandrake, but both require you to pay for their OS (or download the CDs in iso format and burn them to CD yourself, a task beyond most suburban soccer moms and the like). Not everyone needs kernel level access and the such, they just want a machine that turns on and gets them online and their email (whether that's IE and Outlook or Thunderbird and Firefox). Now, I love Gentoo and use it on my 2nd home desktop and for the servers at work (the few I trust on Linux, haha. Just kidding, we use Linux first and Windows as a last resort). But, the first time I installed Gentoo it took me three tries to get it right. Now, Windows installs right the first time, every time, and lays itself out in regular plain English. The day that someone creates a wildly popular, easy to install Linux that has a basic user interface much like Windows, then Linux will win. Unfortunately, the only possible business model that works is to market such a product for a profit, not for free. Joe Johnson
Current thread:
- Re: Phishing (Was Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories), (continued)
- Re: Phishing (Was Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories) Petri Helenius (Aug 17)
- Re: Phishing (Was Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories) Alexei Roudnev (Aug 17)
- Re: Phishing (Was Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories) Eric Kuhnke (Aug 17)
- Re: Phishing (Was Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories) Tim Wilde (Aug 17)
- Re: Phishing (Was Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories) Edward B. Dreger (Aug 17)
- Re: Phishing (Was Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories) Petri Helenius (Aug 17)
- Re: Phishing (Was Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories) Brett (Aug 18)
- Re: Phishing (Was Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories) Christopher L. Morrow (Aug 17)
- Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories Alexei Roudnev (Aug 15)
- Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories Fred Baker (Aug 15)
- RE: WashingtonPost computer security stories Michael . Dillon (Aug 16)
- Re: WashingtonPost computer security stories Jeff Shultz (Aug 16)