Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Windows Is 'Insecure By Design,' Says Washington Post

Posted by timothy on from the tradeoffs-are-everywhere dept.

Circuit Breaker writes "A Washington Post article says Microsoft Windows is insecure by design. Quote: 'Between the Blaster worm and the Sobig virus, it's been a long two weeks for Windows users. But nobody with a Mac or a Linux PC has had to lose a moment of sleep over these outbreaks -- just like in earlier "malware" epidemics. This is not a coincidence.'"

1 of 1,326 comments (clear)

  1. Installing Linux - Insecure out of the box- by purduephotog · · Score: 2, Flamebait

    A few years ago there were a few rants because Linux (redhat) wasn't secure out of the box. It shipped with a few packages that had a few exploits- yet the fault fell on the user for not updating their package.
    My grandmother hasn't updated anything on her computer- she's 81 and more concerned with knitting and talking to her grandchildren. I just walked her thru an update.
    Can you imagine if I had to tell her how to do that on linux ?? (without a subscription mind you) - Yeah grandma, type wget -? ...

    Windows Update did- and worked- and fixed it. But it's easier to bash MS for the people whom didn't patch their systems in a timely manner than to target the blame where it ought to be.
    In the past 3 years, since my Grandmother got her computer, how many new Redhat versions have rolled out? How many of those versions would seamlessly install over the other one? I believe the answer is 3 versions and none, Bob.
    Lay off the MS bashing- most of my software I have to use is closed source and several $K per seat- I'm not going to stop using MS until.... well, never. If they move to a different system then I move. I'm tied to the company that writes the code I need to do my job, as are many people in the engineering fields. Leverage one, move the other.