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Intel Head Recommends Apple
pboulang writes "noted in this
article in the WSJ:
Pressed about security by Mr. Mossberg, Mr. Otellini had a startling confession: He spends an hour a weekend removing spyware from his daughter's computer. And when further pressed about whether a mainstream computer user in search of immediate safety from security woes ought to buy Apple Computer Inc.'s Macintosh instead of a Wintel PC, he said, "If you want to fix it tomorrow, maybe you should buy something else.""
As far as I know, the most secure machine a home user can have right now would be a no-OS computer with a Knoppix disk in the CD drive. Nothing would be stored on the hard drive but user files. Updating software would mean updating Knoppix. That'd work, right?
Do _you_ have a daugther? Or a little sister?
Its hell. Kill spyware once a week, format once every 3 months.
The system had the verbosity of HTML combined with all the readability of compiled assembly viewed as bitmap images
I spent an hour today at lunch trying to remove spyware from my 13yo cousins computer.
With the reboots, multiple programs (lavasoft and spybot) updated, still couldn't get rid of pop-up windows. This computer hasn't been online yet a week. :(
Don't worry, I have a plan.
With Linux, you're automatically at a disadvantage - it's hard to NOT screw things up.
I disagree. With Windows it is easy to screw things up. With Linux, not so.
Sure, you can screw it up if you have the root password, but why would you give the root password to a child!?! You can do so much as a normal user.
I think if you had the admin password for a mac, you could screw thing up easily too...
I didn't say that I got Mac OS X to play sound on a Dell. I said that Linux couldn't play sound on a Dell. Mac OS X works just fine on my three PowerBooks, 2 iMacs, and iBook. Windows networking works on my Macs right out of the box. I'll have to spend time to figure out how to make Linux work.
And that's the problem with Linux. It's like a TR7 that a friend used to have; it's a great car if you want to spend more time working on it than driving it. He would drive from New Jersery to Virginia to see his girlfriend, and then spend all weekend working on his car so that he could get back home.
What a prude.
Seriously, exploits DO count. That's the whole point, you can break security on a windows box by running one of the MANY exploits. Your whole argument hinges on the understanding that exploits don't count and Windows is secure if you don't count them...are you CRAZY???
Think about it. How do systems get hacked/cracked? It isn't by sitting there and guessing at passwords all day...granted that's one way to do it but it is inefficient...and while that would work on virtually any system it just isn't the easiest way to get in. Crackers use EXPLOITS to get in quickly...thus if you want to be secure IT MUST BE FREE FROM EXPLOITS so they DO count.
I'm not saying Mac or Linux is free themselves...I'm just saying that your argument that Windows is secure b/c exploits don't count is just WRONG!
hehehehehe... I like you, you make me laugh!
Are you a programmer... or do you just play one on TV? Seriously, I need to burn some karma on this one.
I can't even quote sections of your post 'cause I'd be using the whole thing. First off, let me *defend* Windows (easy there, skript kiddeez, I'm typing this from my debian box)
The Win32 API is big and ungainly in some places. It's not always consistient, and it's implementation most certainly has bugs... but it IS THE MOST comprehensive application development environment ever built. Please note, I said Applications, not systems.
Win32 does not NEED an object model... repeat after me... system API's do not need object models. Would you prefer glibc to be OO? If you need classes, you've got MFC. If you need Components, you've got COM and it's ilk.
I agree, I think MFC sucks... at least for my programming style. But there are LOTS of developers who will disagree. I also feel like programming in PHP is a PITA... but I *love* coding perl (I never said I was mentally stable) To each his own.
Now, your most blatantly ignorant statement: the Windows Security Model... tell me, how log ago did you print out your degree... or are you speaking from years of inside experience? The Windows 'security model' look great on paper, doesn't it? ooooo, domain management, trust relationships, end-to-end encryption... tokens, global admins, profiles.... yep... it's pretty complex. Now imagine how many admins understand the interactions between all the parts and know how to make it work. Now imagine how many 'leet haxorz are out there slipping through the chinks... heck, I routinely slip past the security model of my company's windows network so I can actually work efficiently. To say that the model hasn't been broken is like saying President Clinton did not have sex with that woman, monica lewinski. Even fort knox can be breached if some idiot leaves a window open... and Windows is no fort knox. It's more like a tent with a professionally-printed sign that says 'this is fort knox'
Anyhow, I've gotta go... I'm busy developing SECURE systems for a living.
I'm done with sigs. Sigs are lame.