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Security as a Profit Center?
Harry Erwin writes "This article seems to suggest Microsoft is now considering charging for security. I don't mind vendors like Counterpane Internet Security selling security services, but I would prefer operating system vendors to treat security as part of the core functionality of their products, if only because effective security has to be designed into the operating system from the start. This proposal would create a two-tier Internet and probably make things worse rather than better. Security is like public health and education--if you think it's expensive, consider the alternative."
Do we have to pay for stability next? Uh-Uh!
Life sucks.
Haven't we ALL already paid for Microsoft security? Trojans, worms, and virii have cost my company a hell of a lot.
Oh, you want the tires that don't explode? They cost extra...
The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,
Sounds like vaporware to me.
...when Microsoft are going to start charging for other vital parts of their operating systems?
"Oh so you want a file system, network ability, and you want to run applications? Thats another $X per machine per month I'm afraid - the initial $300 is just for the operating system..."
...now promise E coli-free food for an extra fee. A spokesperson for McDonalds said, "Our revenue model doesn't normally lend itself to our being held responsible for the hygenic quality of our food; however, for a fee as disclosed in our End Eater License Agreement, we will make sure your burgers don't carry a horrid, filthy plague."
All's true that is mistrusted
US healthcare ain't competitive or inexpensive...but it sure is private. I know! I bet the only thing that keeps it from being great are those darn laws that protect consumers. Just take those away, and I'm sure Big Insurance will drop your rates REAL QUICK.
Microsoft is charging for something that should be free? When did this start?
About the same time they started giving away something for which they should have charged.
In case you haven't noticed, a good many people pay Microsoft for lots of things. Despite what you'd like to believe, this is not due to extortion. Many people actually choose to do business with Microsoft.
But what you said reminds me a lot of an episode of Charles in Charge, where Buddy and I were in the pizza parlor when some shady looking guys showed up to ask for "protection money" from the owner. We thought for sure it was mobsters, and we couldn't figure out why the owner was paying them. After arguing with the owner about doing the right thing (and the argument was filled with misunderstandings and double entendres: "If you give them money for protection, they'll just come back again for more!" "I'd rather pay him now than have my roof cave in!"), Buddy and I went to the police about it, and the police ended up busting the termite exterminator!
It really makes me wish I was still working.
Microsoft Windows XP: $100/license.
Microsoft Office XP: $300/license.
Paying extra for security: Thousands of dollars per site.
Realizing there's a free, secure alternative: Priceless.
Some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's Microsoft.
"I may be quite wrong." - Socrates
I get lots of good ideas. I'll even give you some for free. But hire me afterwards, OK?
1. Well, you can charge people less for running at lower resolutions like 640x480. See? It even sounds better than saying 'our higher res clientele will have to pay more'
2. You can also charge extra licensing fees for users that think they might need a mouse. Heck, Linux does it... yes linux does too, since the mouse functionality costs nothing, which is precisely as expensive as the whole OS...
3. You might as well begin to start charging admission fees to all buildings that contain a machine with windows on it. KA-CHING!
That's it. 3 ideas are all you get. Now will you hire me?
Blearf. Blearf, I say.
Hey, it takes a lot of work to install Unix, set up WINE, and then get all the MSOffice applications to work well on top of WINE :-)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
The secret is that Bill Gates is a precog and the actual Windows code base has been frozen for the last 20 years. The entire OS runs in 640K and will continue to operate on Intel hardware until they go belly up in 2069 when the transistor density of their final design combined with the intense heat it generates spontaneously punches through time/space to form a black hole.
Each new release is the last version with an exponentially increasing "fudge factor", a data file of randomized pRon collected by a web spider. This makes it look like they are actually doing work in Redmond instead of playing CounterStrike 24/7.
All Windows development ("cat Windows2000 pRon.dat > WindowsXP") occurs on a single IBM XT running Minix.
Windows 2004 Home Edition
Windows 2004 Stable Edition
Windows 2004 Secure Edition