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The Microsoft Protection Racket

Posted by Zonk on from the friday-afternoon-fightin-words dept.

bonch writes "Dvorak writes about the 'Microsoft protection racket' in his latest column--'charging real money for any sort of add-on, service, or new product that protects clients against flaws in its own operating system.' Dvorak argues that someone took a look at the expense of Microsoft's monthly 'Patch Tuesday' and decided to find a way to make money from it instead of fix the code (e.g., abandoning the use of the registry)." I enjoy salt with my Dvorak, but that's just me.

3 of 539 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft addresses Windows security concerns by It+doesn't+come+easy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Microsoft Windows - Operating system. Provides resource allocation to underlying computer hardware. Note: No warrantee, no guarantees, may have security issues.
    Microsoft Security - Subscription security service. Provides security monitoring of underlying insecure operating system. Note: No warrantee, no guarantees, may have security issues.

    --
    The NSA: The only part of the US government that actually listens.
    1. Re:Microsoft addresses Windows security concerns by RobinH · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Ultimately, all monolithic, and particularly authoritarian human endeavors FAIL! Microsoft seems to be amongst that group, and I question if they can escape it easily.

      Yeah, that whole apollo program was a complete failure wasn't it? Or the manhattan project? Or building any modern skyscraper? Or any serious engineering project of our time? They all fail miserably, don't they.

      What is the alternative to authoritarian human endeavors? There were several X-prize contenders that tried to use a more open-source, everybody pitches in, communism type approach, and they were all bested by Burt Rutan.

      And stop calling Microsoft a failure. It's the opposite of failure, obviously. Are you just trying to troll?

      --
      "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
  2. Registry is the problem? by Se7enLC · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What's wrong with the registry? Sure there are better ways to do it from an end-user point of view, but you can't blame the registry for all of windows problems. All the registry is is a database of configuration options for applications, system, etc. What would you rather have, a mess of unorganized and inconsistent files in /etc and ~/.appname? In either case, the registry has NOTHING to do with spyware infection. It's merely the underlying system that gets edited once a malicious program gets in. SOMETHING has to contain system and application configuration options, and whatever it is will be called a registry. The actual implementation is irrelevant.

    Whatever Dvorak would like to see replace it (notice that he didn't make a suggestion for improvement, just that "there has to be something better") will suffer the same problems as the registry if the security holes allowing unauthorized programs to edit it aren't fixed.