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When Does Usability Become a Liability?

Posted by Cliff on from the stuff-to-discuss dept.

nasteric asks: "I caught myself in the middle of a very interesting discussion last Friday over Krispy Kreme donuts and coffee. The discussion had to do with usability and security. Many of the Microsoft Administrators I work with argued the more user friendly Linux becomes, the more vulnerable it becomes. They claimed making Linux a friend of Joe User will require it to 'open itself up' and become more susceptible to attack. Needless to say, this became an endless debate between our Microsoft Administrators and our Linux/Unix Administrators that will undoubtedly continue into the morning. Therefore I pose this question to the Slashdot community. Will making Linux more user friendly result in it becoming less secure? Hopefully your expertise will help shed some light on (and bring to and end) our discussion." Does decent usability necessarily imply the presence of vulnerabilities? Macs seem to have this area down pretty well, with little in the way of vulnerabilities. Can Linux software follow the same route?

7 of 930 comments (clear)

  1. Simple by Limburgher · · Score: 5, Funny

    As soon as autoexec.bat runs.

    --

    You are not the customer.

  2. Usability is always a liability. by ArsSineArtificio · · Score: 5, Funny
    I agree absolutely. If only we'd go back to using toggle-switches for computer input, the risk of viruses or security breaches would diminish enormously.

    --
    All employees must wash hands before seeking equitable relief.
    1. Re:Usability is always a liability. by platypibri · · Score: 5, Funny

      But with toggles switches, I could do a DoS attack on your machine with a pair of pliers. What is more primitive than that?

      --
      Yeah, I guess I'm funny like that.
    2. Re:Usability is always a liability. by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 5, Funny

      A large rock.

      --
      You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
  3. MS Admins are experts on Linux security? by contrapuntalmindset · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Many of the Microsoft Administrators I work with argued the more user friendly Linux becomes, the more vulnerable it becomes. " Ummm... what makes a Microsoft Admininstrator the authority on vulernability and usability?

  4. The List by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 5, Funny
    Hmm, I'll have to add one to my list.
    1. Security through obscurity.
    2. Security through obsolescence.
    3. Security through unusability.
  5. Re:Wha? by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 5, Funny

    Even with 4 byte words (or 8 byte words on some monster big iron), 4000 bytes is not enough for all but the tiniest gif file. Now, gif being a 256 color only format, with no serious compression and an inability to depict sharp photographs of any significant resolution, I contend that no,

    A picture is not ~1000 words.