Slashdot Mirror
Apple and Microsoft Release Critical Patches
SkiifGeek writes "Both Microsoft and Apple have released major security updates in the last 24 hours. Microsoft's single update (MS09-017) addresses fourteen distinct vulnerabilities across all supported versions of PowerPoint, but it isn't the number of patched vulnerabilities that is causing trouble. Instead, the decision to release the patch for Windows versions while OS X and Works versions remain vulnerable to the same remote code execution risks (including one that is currently being exploited) hasn't gone down well with some people. Microsoft have given various reasons why this is the case, but this mega-update-in-a-patch is still interesting for other reasons. Meanwhile, Apple has updated OS X 10.5 to 10.5.7 as part of the 2009-002 Security Update, as well as a cumulative update for Safari 3 and the Public Beta for 4. As well as addressing numerous significant security risks, the 10.5.7 update provides a number of stability and capability enhancements and incorporates the Safari 3 update patch. Probably the most surprising element of the Apple update is the overall size of it; 442MB for the point update, and 729MB for the ComboUpdate."
It has come to my attention that the entire Linux community is a hotbed of so called 'alternative sexuality,' which includes anything from hedonistic orgies to homosexuality to pedophilia.
What better way of demonstrating this than by looking at the hidden messages contained within the names of some of Linux's most outspoken advocates:
I'm sure that Eric S. Raymond, composer of the satanic homosexual propaganda diatribe The Cathedral and the Bizarre, is probably an anagram of something queer, but we don't need to look that far as we know he's always shoving a gun up some poor little boy's rectum. Update: Eric S. Raymond is actually an anagram for secondary rim and cord in my arse. It just goes to show you that he is indeed queer.
Update the Second: It is also documented that Evil Sicko Gaymond is responsible for a nauseating piece of code called Fetchmail, which is obviously sinister sodomite slang for 'Felch Male' -- a disgusting practise. For those not in the know, 'felching' is the act performed by two perverts wherein one sucks their own post-coital ejaculate out of the other's rectum. In fact, it appears that the dirty Linux faggots set out to undermine the good Republican institution of e-mail, turning it into 'e-male.'
As far as Richard 'Master' Stallman goes, that filthy fudge-packer was actually quoted on leftist commie propaganda site Salon.com as saying the following: 'I've been resistant to the pressure to conform in any circumstance,' he says. 'It's about being able to question conventional wisdom,' he asserts. 'I believe in love, but not monogamy,' he says plainly.
And this isn't a made up troll bullshit either! He actually stated this tripe, which makes it obvious that he is trying to politely say that he's a flaming homo slut!
Speaking about 'flaming,' who better to point out as a filthy chutney ferret than Slashdot's very own self-confessed pederast Jon Katz. Although an obvious deviant anagram cannot be found from his name, he has already confessed, nay boasted of the homosexual perversion of corrupting the innocence of young children. To quote from the article linked:
'I've got a rare kidney disease,' I told her. 'I have to go to the bathroom a lot. You can come with me if you want, but it takes a while. Is that okay with you? Do you want a note from my doctor?'
Is this why you were touching your penis in the cinema, Jon? And letting the other boys touch it too?
We should also point out that Jon Katz refers to himself as 'Slashdot's resident Gasbag.' Is there any more doubt? For those fortunate few who aren't aware of the list of homosexual terminology found inside the Linux 'Sauce Code,' a 'Gasbag' is a pervert who gains sexual gratification from having a thin straw inserted into his urethra (or to use the common parlance, 'piss-pipe'), then his homosexual lover blows firmly down the straw to inflate his scrotum. This is, of course, when he's not busy violating the dignity and copyright of posters to Slashdot by gathering
I'm not one of those Steve Jobs idolizers, so I think I can look at this with at least a somewhat even-handed view.
Apple never had this kind of problem of serious security vulnerabilities while the Mac ran on non-x86 CPUs. It's only been in the past year that we've seen serious problems like this Safari browser vulnerability and the remote wifi vulnerability.
It's easy to point fingers at Microsoft for a faulty OS, but with Apple also suddenly suffering from the same type of security problems, I have to wonder if it isn't related to the choice of application processor.
These patches really lock security down on my vista computer. I mean there is no way anybody is exploiting anything after I apply these patches. Yep, no one is getting an ounce of data, even me, its that secure. I mean, you can try, but I'm pretty sure the bsod keeps everyone out. Until that day when I embrace the blue screen thoroughly, I'll have to run on my un-patched insecure computer.
Apple's "everything bundled in the .app" policy may help avoid DLL hell, but this is the price you pay for it.
I am trolling
Like what? Most of the new features in XP is just so your DRM will still keep working. And the security fixes are for problems that OS X doesn't have.
Besides 1 small problem may require a lot of changes to fix. The size of code changes and the problems corrected are not always linked. I remember back in the day when they switched from a.out binaries to elf binaries. If you just wanted to use the Distribution for Elf Binaries (Without a.out support) you needed to get new binaries for the whole distribution, a simple change that required a lot of data to be changed.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Being 0wn3d has nothing to do with the platform
Two decades in the field has left you with the impression that all platforms are equally secure? You must not have been paying much attention.
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
There's a gigantic conflict of interest here. By treating MacOS as a second-class citizen, they can hurt a competitor in the OS market. If MS can make people perceive Windows as the only first-class platform on which to run Office, it makes MS more likely to retain market share for Windows. MS's interests in this case are diametrically opposed to the interests of their users.
I talk a walk around my office the other day - not one desktop machine was running OS X or Linux.
Then I went into our server room - lots of machines running Linux, Windows, Solaris but... nope, not one OS X machine in their either.
This tells me Linux and Solaris compete with Windows in the server space but nothing competes with Windows on the desktop.
So get used to it - OS X is no competition on the desktop. Neither is Linux but I still love it and use it for most of my computing tasks and find that XP fills in for the things Linux cannot do. Thus my computing needs are fulfilled by both OSes and I'm a happy bunny who doesn't give a shit about "The Battle For The Desktop".
You Apple fanbois have a real chip on your shoulders about reminding the rest of the world how wonderful your platforms of choice are - despite the fact that most of the world doesn't give a toss about OS X.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Updates which include both PowerPC and Intel, and which span more than the most recent OS update tend to be quite large.
Add to this 32-bit and 64-bit variations for each chipset, multiple languages, and you really have something very large. At the same time there is also very a good possibility that even if one minor thing changes in a file, it is the whole file that is replaced, instead of simply having a binary diff applied.
Whatever way you look at it, it is big, but who cares? Of course if you are limited to dial up then that is an issue.
The thing that should be pointed out is the way the article summary makes it look like the 10.5.7 update is simply a security fix. It isn't and is more the equivalent of a Microsoft Service Pack.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
whereas I KNOW that windows fan-boys are non-technical hicks that haven't touched a mac in at least ten years. And most of them are using illegal copies of windows someone else downloaded.