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Microsoft: We Make Hackers Obsolete
bahamat writes "This article explains how Microsoft was forced to yank a magazine ad by the Advertising Standards Authority. In the ad MS claims that they'll make the hacker extinct. The tagline reads "Microsoft software is carefully designed to keep your company's valuable information in, and unauthorised people and viruses out. Which means that your data couldn't really be safer, even if you kept it in a safe. Which is great news for the survival of your company. But tragic news for hackers." Does MS really think that people are too stupid to remember what happened less than 2 months ago? My favorite quote from the article is "Clarke described Microsoft's claim as "laughable". "
If anyone else was confused by the appearance of the "Advertising Standards Authority", it should be pointed out that this all occurred in South Africa, and not in the United Corporations of America.
America, naturally, would never CONSIDER such an insightful group.
Um.. perhaps someone needs to enlighten Microsoft as to the real definition of hacker.
Directly from the jargon file, a list of common definitions of hacker. Notice the 'malicious meddler' one...
(Originally, someone who makes furniture with an axe) 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. 3. A person capable of appreciating hack value. 4. A person who is good at programming quickly. 5. An expert at a particular program, or one who frequently does work using it or on it; as in "a Unix hacker". (Definitions 1 through 5 are correlated, and people who fit them congregate.) 6. An expert or enthusiast of any kind. One might be an astronomy hacker, for example. 7. One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming or circumventing limitations. 8. (Deprecated) A malicious meddler who tries to discover sensitive information by poking around. Hence "password hacker", "network hacker". The correct term is cracker. The term "hacker" also tends to connote membership in the global community defined by the net (see The Network and Internet address). It also implies that the person described is seen to subscribe to some version of the hacker ethic. It is better to be described as a hacker by others than to describe oneself that way. Hackers consider themselves something of an elite (a meritocracy based on ability), though one to which new members are gladly welcome. Thus while it is gratifying to be called a hacker, false claimants to the title are quickly labelled as "bogus" or a "wannabee". 9. (University of Maryland, rare) A programmer who does not understand proper programming techniques and principles and doesn't have a Computer Science degree. Someone who just bangs on the keyboard until something happens. For example, "This program is nothing but spaghetti code. It must have been written by a hacker".
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"In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
-- George Orwell
"814078: Security Update (Microsoft Jscript version 5.6, Windows 2000, Windows XP) Download size: 361 KB
A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to run programs on a computer running Microsoft® Windows®. The attacker would first have to send you an e-mail message or entice you into visiting a malicious Web site. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer. Once you have installed this item, it cannot be removed."
"I think you guys with quotes in your signatures should go have an original thought." -- Dan Miller
You can have .exe files on your computer that run. Basically most of the stuff is spyware and 900 numbers that charge you 400$/minute long distance
I hate those fscking sites. I work for a phone company and I get customers complaining about long distance calls they didn't make all the time. Then I test dial the number and get a modem screetch in my ear. Then I have to explain to the lady on the phone that her hubby or teenage son is a perv who has been visiting naughty websites.
Maybe they should claim compensation from Microsoft for making this possible in the first place.
(It also means I can't access those pretty picture myself using linux - bother!)
You make the mistake of thinking you can educate the fundamental stupidity out of people. You can't.
Technically speaking Gateway, as a result of the Escom buyout, which followed the Commodore buyout, owns the design patent on the two-button mouse. I kid you not.
It's great that Microsoft's advertising claims were shot down in this case for being unjustifiable, but they've still got some other pretty nasty falsehoods floating around out there.
I don't know if this particular campaign is appearing at American schools, but certainly at Canadian universities, Microsoft has launched a fairly heavy ad campaign for academic-priced software (I've seen the ads at Waterloo and Simon Fraser.) The ads feature bold print saying "Getting software for any less would be illegal", and in smaller print, below: "90% off the estimated retail price!". (See a banner ad of it at the University of Waterloo computer store.)
Hmm... given that I've paid less than their listed prices for the software on my computer, I guess they're accusing me of breaking the law. It's too bad that a lot of their competition's software is still cheaper (e.g. I use OpenOffice, myself, but I'm pretty sure I could get a full-priced copy of StarOffice for less than the student-priced Office XP.)
I would love to see Sun start a competing campaign saying "Getting certain other software at these prices would be illegal. Save money and keep yourself out of jail: use StarOffice."
I'll grant Slammer was like that.
But the second WebDAV exploit was not patchable before it was out in the open. Heck, it's only been out a few DAYS!
The new JScript bug is even newer than that.
Both these bugs are currently listed on the Internet Storm Center as pressing issues.
(-pi, Circular)
Doing the Right Thing should not be preempted by making a buck.
Hugh Trevor-Roper in his introduction to the Goebbels Diaries writes: "To those who lived through the years of Nazism, Goebbels will always be remembered as Hitler's 'Minister for Propaganda and Enlightenment', the unscrupulous propagandist whose shameless brilliance as a mob orator and a manipulator of the news vindicated the statement of Hitler, in Mein Kamph, that the greater the lie, the more chance it had to be believed.
It was in Hitler's Mein Kamph that the statement was written. That is what I remembered from a book on history (albeit one read several years ago) and found by searching Google. Documentation would be nice for your claim. But, also by researching the Stalinist regime (i.e. reading Pipes, Radzinskii, et al) it is completely feasible that much of Mein Kampf was not written by Hitler, but edited by Hitler (in the fashion of Stalin's collections of essays).
The Canadian comedy group "Three Dead Trolls In A Baggie" has a verry appropriate song about this... called "Every OS Sucks"... available here
That's Statler and Waldorf, you clod.
Microsoft probably does this because any publicity is good publicity. Seems to always get the herd moving here especially.
After switching to an iBook about a year a go from a Solaris environment (Well, the workstation is still standing under my desktop but I allways log into it from the laptop), I must say that the lack of a "two button trackpad" is actually much less frustrating than using a original Apple mouse. The system with ctrl/alt-button for mimicking the middle and left mouse works prefectly considering that your hands are already there. It is almost like Apple see the trackpad as the principal method of using the GUI... :-)Bror
I agree that the one-button mouse is absurd, but I started with PCs and currently use Macs and PCs roughly equally. Most of the people I know who've used Macs from the start have no problem with a one-button, given that Ctrl-click performs the same function as a right click.
;-)
I guess it all depends on what you're used to. I'm typing this message on my new PowerBook, and after the first couple of days I've hardly given it a second thought. I can certainly see where you might be annoyed by it, but it seems a shame that you consider it to be a deal breaker.
Another thing to bear in mind is that you always have the option of plugging in any USB 3-button mouse- no drivers required. When I'm at a desk using a full keyboard and mouse the mouse is a Compaq (Logitech) 3-button scroll mouse which works like a champ for me. Additionally, I know that Kensington makes some pretty amazing trackballs that are Mac-only, so there's really no dearth of multi-button options.
To each his own, of course.
BTW, I'd love to see your ad idea produced, but they'd have to find a way to include a couple of lingerie-clad women having a catfight.
-Cybrex
Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, Spontaneous Order- BEST DO IT SO!
It's still happening right now! Hilarious ad from MSFT, I wouldn't be surprised if it was actually an Onion pardody though. =) I guess it being from MSFT makes it even more hilarious.
I do see your point, but on this one:
Do they have statistics proving applications on OS X are really more stable than those on Windows XP?
I have:
10:20PM up 43 days, 17:01, 5 users, load averages: 0.59, 0.60, 0.62
And that's with Photoshop, Mail, Camino (Chimera until a couple of weeks ago), iTunes and Adium running.
Haven't had any apps quit on me in a long time. The uptime would be longer, but I updated to 10.2.4.
OS X and its apps are like a rock. I think I've had Chimera quit on me once since I've been using it (since 0.5), which for a beta app is pretty good.
I've had two kernel panics, both of them when I was running 10.1.5 and that was a long time ago.
I used to use a PC with Windows 2000 Pro, and while it was ok, and I was happy with the stability I had mamanged to tweak out of it, my iBook just blows it out of the water. I'm never going back to Windows.
If only more technically trained people were put in a tight-loop with markteting and advertising...
You mean like Cisco does? They require the Sales experts to be certified as well, with some requirements: Networking 101, minimum pass score: 80%
The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.
Down here below t the Mason-Dixon line, a cracker is not going to waste his time on computers. He's too busy waiting for the South to rise again.
In Holland someone sued M$ Netherlands for this commercial. You can read it in this article (dutch). M$ lost the case, so sue them in all countries! :-)