Slashdot Mirror
Windows Is 'Insecure By Design,' Says Washington Post
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.'"
Except the Mac and Linux users in charge of those systems... ;)
On the plus side, if you work as a contractor, it's billable hours. :D GG SoBillable^H^H^H^H^H^H^HSoBig!
"People will pay big bucks for the luxury of ignorance."
.
If nothing happens then you have a reasonably secure linux box.
Like a Linux PC owner sleeps anyway....
Here's a modest proposal: Microsoft should use some of its $49 billion hoard to mail an update CD to anybody who wants one. At $3 a pop (a liberal estimate), it could ship a disc to every human being on Earth -- and still have $30 billion in the bank.
...
Please Microsoft, use CD-RWs. I already have a wall covered with silver AOL CDs
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Visualize the world of wine
oh yes. they could call it MSUX.
There're two issues:
1. There's this bug users didn't patch for
2. The system's default configuration made almost everyone vulnerable being attacked via the bug, even if the user isn't actually making use of the buggy service.
On item [1], yes, there's a really strong argument that it's the user's fault. On item [2], though, it's pretty damn clearly the vendor's negligence.
Lord, give me the strength to forgive those who do not know what they are doing ....
Can he give you the strength to forgive yourself?
Uh, hate to tell you, but unless you're sueing somebody you're not participating in society in normal ways.
Stop the Slashdot effect! Don't read the articles!
Of course, the next big trojan (it's supposedly to be called DamnTiny.Bill) will include something like that.
From: BillG@ms.org
Subject: I hate you, b1tch!
Text:
It was joke. Ahaha.
Take a look at this. Finest Klatchian
waterbeetle clock, it's really quite
humorous.
*****
ALL MY EMAIL IS FOLLOWED BY THIS NOTICE.
IF IT IS NOT PRESENT, BE AWARE THE MAIL
IS NOT FROM ME AND MAY BE A VIRUS!
*****
Attachment: fkwbc34.vbs
Marxist evolution is just N generations away!
Some of us developers working for smaller businesses need to handle EVERYTHING.
"Hey, Dave, make our fundamentally different, colocated e-commerce sites securely share all their data amongst each other and seemlessly integrate it with this new proprietary MRP solution. Upgrade our computers when we're not using them. Find a legal way to install this one copy of Office onto all these computers. Make our computers faster and better. Don't touch my computer. Upgrade our Norton Antivirus server and all our clients. None of us want login passwords, but we do want security. This one mid-90's era server ought to be enough for all our needs. We want video conferencing on all our sites. We don't want to buy anything."
I do almost as much IT support as I do development.
I thought it was amusing when I surfed over to the Post to read the article there was an ad for "Windows 2003 Server" on the page. I had to take a screen shot. If you want it it's here --> http://johnford.net/images/windows_ad01.jpg
It's so nice to see Microsoft finally get something right.
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."