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Microsoft Designed UAC to Annoy Users

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the at-least-they-are-being-honest dept.

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "At the 2008 RSA security conference, Microsoft's David Cross was quoted as saying, 'The reason we put UAC into the platform was 'to annoy users. I'm serious.' The logic behind this statement is that it should encourage application vendors to eliminate as many unnecessary privilege escalations as possible by causing users to complain about all the UAC 'Cancel or Allow' prompts. Of course, they probably didn't expect that Microsoft would instead get most of the complaints for training users to ignore meaningless security warnings."

26 of 571 comments (clear)

  1. oblig. by cvd6262 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It appears you are trying to make a snide comment.
    [Cancel] [Allow]

    --

    I'd rather have someone respond than be modded up.

  2. VISTA is awesome, real world story by n1_111 · · Score: 0, Funny

    My son has a $600 HP laptop that is running home premium edition and sp1 (absolutely no problems) Kid figured out UAC completely. It really goes away after the first day or two. All yo uhave to do is read the prompts and understand when and why you are prompted. UAC is awesome, makes my and my kid's laptops super secure and reliable.

  3. At last - an MS Success! by fatmal · · Score: 5, Funny

    It Worked!

  4. Microsoft and the United Aerospace Corporation by the_other_one · · Score: 3, Funny

    whatcouldpossiblygowrong

    --
    134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
  5. Frustration Detection patent by OMNIpotusCOM · · Score: 4, Funny

    It does make sense, when you think about it, since they've found step 2 and patented a frustration detection system.

    I have to steal this comment from one of the posts from that story, but...

    Step 1: Make frustration and annoying software
    Step 2: Patent frustration detection system
    Step 3: Profit.

  6. Just a typo.... by Naughty+Bob · · Score: 4, Funny

    If this is true.... I think it's just that the story submitter accidentally included the letters UAC in the headline.
    --
    "Be light, stinging, insolent and melancholy"
  7. Re:A difference so subtle, I nearly missed it by Justabit · · Score: 3, Funny

    You have come to a sad realization...Cancel or Allow? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKM1cAtAdtQ

    --
    "Persistance is Fertile" - Me. I can quote myself if I want to.
  8. Re:Of course... by tepples · · Score: 5, Funny

    If they'd done this from the start, no one would be complaining. In the era of Windows 95, home PCs weren't considered to have enough CPU and RAM to enforce proper privilege separation.
  9. Let me fix this for you... by actionbastard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Microsoft Designed UAC to Annoy Slashdot Users.

    There. All better.

    --
    Sig this!
    1. Re:Let me fix this for you... by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 2, Funny

      Microsoft Designed UAC to allow Slashdot Users to gloat. There. All better. There! Fixed it for you.
      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  10. Re:A difference so subtle, I nearly missed it by dwater · · Score: 3, Funny

    never mind that old one...did you see the South Park one youtube referenced after it finished :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id_kGL3M5Cg&NR=1

    Now that's funny :D

    --
    Max.
  11. Well..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Aha! They annoyed me so much that I actually switched to linux. /success

  12. Re:A difference so subtle, I nearly missed it by dwater · · Score: 2, Funny

    and it gets better when Linux joins :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4iyksLeo7w&feature=related

    --
    Max.
  13. End result by edwardpickman · · Score: 2, Funny

    Uograde to Vista, Cancel or Allow. Cancel.

  14. Re:you, my friend, made an incorrect assumption... by plover · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because it's much easier to sit on Slashdot and make up bullshit and lies about Microsoft because it's trendy to hate them. Oh, it's not trendy. We've always hated them.
    --
    John
  15. Microsoft's David Cross by HAKdragon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, I guess they really blue that one.

    --
    "Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
  16. Re:you, my friend, made an incorrect assumption... by dryeo · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't know about that. Personally I didn't start hating them until I migrated to the IBM PC in the early 80's. Before that they were just another software vendor.

    --
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
  17. Why are you still using windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Duh! That was so 90's.

  18. Microsoft designed Vista to annoy users by thewils · · Score: 2, Funny

    There, fixed it for you.

    In fact, now I come to think of it, Microsoft designed all of Windows to annoy users. I use it and man, I'm annoyed as hell right now.

    --
    Once I was a four stone apology. Now I am two separate gorillas.
    1. Re:Microsoft designed Vista to annoy users by stewbacca · · Score: 2, Funny
      I would say "annoyance" is definitely Microsoft's legacy. Remember Clippy? How about the daily reminder that you have unused shortcuts on your desktop? Ever try to "defeat" Microsoft's attempt to format YOUR Word document the way MICROSOFT thinks it should be outlined? Have you ever tried to use interesting and creative sentence structure, say for artistic endeavors, only to be green underlined? Thanks Microsoft, but I actually WANTED to use the passive voice there. Thanks for your help though!

      Should I really have to hit F5 to refresh my screen after I rename a bunch of files, or is that "annoyance" a feature that actually helps me as a user somehow? Have you ever tried to rename a file that is open? Move it? Is it really that hard to keep a desktop shortcut link after you rename the original file? Do I really have to sit through ten minutes of copying a file, only to have it cancel 80% through because the target disk doesn't have enough space (why didn't it check before it started)? What other device on the planet has a 99% success rate for the following trouble shooting procedure: "Reboot"? Why do special characters require the alt key then three or four random numbers from the keypad (not the number row, gasp!), when a simple alt key plus letter/number suffices for other operating systems?

      Man, I could go on forever.

  19. Re:you, my friend, made an incorrect assumption... by rishistar · · Score: 2, Funny

    And please don't accuse anyone on slashdot of being trendy.

    --
    Professor Karmadillo Songs of Science
  20. Re:Of course... by Lost+Engineer · · Score: 2, Funny

    Of course root exists.

    sudo whoami

  21. it's working! by nguy · · Score: 2, Funny

    UAC is annoying people into uninstalling Vista and switching to Linux and OS X. So, it's working: UAC really is improving PC security.

    For the next release, however, maybe Microsoft should be more straightforward and simply boot into a display that says "please go to www.ubuntu.com to upgrade your OS and applications".

  22. Re:And Microsoft was the biggest offender. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    "It's much easier to implement the UNIX security model on Windows than the other way around."

    Why in hell would anyone want to implement Windows "security" on Unix?

  23. Microsoft Designed UAC to Annoy Users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    So? They want a prize for creating something that works as planned?

  24. XBox by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2, Funny

    Shift the blame for the infection to the user, away from the system. That's all UAC is about.

    Yes, and once everybody declares Vista too difficult to use and administer, Microsoft will have an alternative for you.

    Since I wrote that essay last year, Office Live has become real(-ish).

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)