Reminds me of a meeting I had a couple of years ago with some representatives for one of the largest market making houses in the US. Bascially we were promoting an automated trading system and the first question I get is...
When they said 'because the threats are real and alternatives exist to mitigate Web browser vulnerabilities.' they really ment 'please change browser, so that we can continue slacking on the job'.
I am tired of hearing this as an excuse. It's bs. I've been administrating a company's IT resources since 2000 and what have we had... 0 virus outbreaks (from mail, files brought in etc), 0 trojans and other windows/IE related issues, 0 spyware.
Now why is this I ask myself... Oh yes, proper anti-virus software, proper firewall software and keeping all the computers up to date at all times. All is managed from a central server. I don't even have to visit each computer.
You'll be amazed how crappy computers are administered these days. I've been to tons of companies where their Windows workstations haven't seen an update since the last ice-age. I'm tired of admins who are not doing their job properly. What's the problem?
Stop blaming vulnerabilities and take a 101 course in computer administration instead.
Why are most hung up on the "Well if your scanner produces blurry images, it doesn't matter what OS you got" argument?
To me, it's only a potential part of the problem. Switch the argument around. Say you have a $1,000,000 scanner and an OS which cannot cope with proper CM. What then? It's the same thing.
The main issue here, as I see it, is linux. Not the scanner he is using. The issue is that linux isn't adequate enough to handle a professional photo workflow. Do you think prefessional are just talking out their a*ses when they say Mac and even Windows and Photoshop is superior to solutions on linux? No they aren't.
What we have among certain people is a rabiate "you must use linux" mentality. No matter the cost. Windows and Mac is evil and linux is the salvation that will embrace us all in a warm blanket of free minded spirits.
The heaviest argument for me however is whether things are working or not. Period. Doesn't my digital workflow work on linux? Well, then I use Mac or Windows. Simple as that. I won't be dictated to what OS to use by someone who blatantly refuses to really understand where I'm coming from and my needs.
Don't get me wrong here. I don't really like Microsoft, I swear over it constantly. I use tons of open source software. I love it. I love to contribute, experiment and whatnot. Sometimes you have to compromise however, the world isn't just black and white.
"Congratulations! You can now have the hamburger in one hand and the mouse in the other, hunting without physical activity in the comfort of you own home".
I recognize the importance in the disabled hunter's case, of course, but for the rest this just comes off like just another step to make sure you never leave your house.
Yeah, I started with Debian and I still use debian. All the way from buzz (debian 1.1) =)
Tried SuSE, slackware and redhat - no one stuck to me like debian. I just love my little debian pengiun:P
hehe, no worries about that panic. I'm usually happy with a bang with my fist on the desk and I'm set for that exploit:P
SUS - Using it already, it's the thing that I want instant respons. Exploit known - fix available:) Ok, I realize that can't happen simultaneously, but I'm happy with the response time for most exploits on the un*x machines (read: not on windows).
Filter email - Doing that aswell (using anomy Sanitizer, very good btw), so Outlook is really out of harms way, I guess I included that for dramatical purposes =) But I can't do anything for the IE exploits...
About StarOffice - That would be no problem whatsoever if the documents were only used internally, but almost 1 out of 2 documents are exchanged with other companies, and I can't just call them up and say that they should save in 95/97 format. That's really where the achilles heel is:(
I'm an administrator at a software company. A couple of times a week I almost cry when I see new exploits for IE, Outlook and so on... What can I do then? Nothing. All our workstations are running Windows 2000 and I can't just tell them to stop using IE and Outlook. Sure, you could deactivate scripting and other stuff, but then they come to me boggling about pages that don't work and mail which look screwed up.
This frustrates me, since I cannot just dowload the latest version of the software and compile it myself. I have to way for MS to get their head straight and release a patch. In the meanwhile, I go nuts since every workstation has classified documents on it.
And I can't run any other OS on the workstations either since Word, Powerpoint and such are widely used. Well, you think, use staroffice. Been there, done that. The thing is that EVERYONE (well almost) are using MS Office and so on, making it very hard. StartOffice and other have converters but there is always some small thing that doesn't work. And this leads to more upset people than I'm payed to handle.
Cudos to StarOffice, it's a great office suite. The interoperability between MS Office and Straoffice works fine if you're using fairly simple documents. When they get advanced, like very advanced Excel documents used by finance institues, things get messy.
I love unix though. All our servers are either Linux or BSD (even have a solaris somewhere). For a server system, un*x is the way to go. No question. I would NEVER hook up a windows system directly to the internet. Even with a firewall. This is because you aren't in control of the OS.
* Windows is great for gaming, no question about it. * Mac OSX is great for publishing and image editing. * Un*x is great for a server OS, or a workstation if you don't rely on 100% interoperability with windows documents or users.
Slashdot Mirror
"Anyway..."
http://www.f-secure.com/security/fsc-2005-1.shtml
I got a security notice form F-Secure today that outlined a similar vulnerability in several of their products (execute code).
Reminds me of a meeting I had a couple of years ago with some representatives for one of the largest market making houses in the US.
Bascially we were promoting an automated trading system and the first question I get is...
"Does it use XML?"
There you have it.
When they said 'because the threats are real and alternatives exist to mitigate Web browser vulnerabilities.' they really ment 'please change browser, so that we can continue slacking on the job'.
I am tired of hearing this as an excuse. It's bs.
I've been administrating a company's IT resources since 2000 and what have we had... 0 virus outbreaks (from mail, files brought in etc), 0 trojans and other windows/IE related issues, 0 spyware.
Now why is this I ask myself... Oh yes, proper anti-virus software, proper firewall software and keeping all the computers up to date at all times.
All is managed from a central server. I don't even have to visit each computer.
You'll be amazed how crappy computers are administered these days. I've been to tons of companies where their Windows workstations haven't seen an update since the last ice-age.
I'm tired of admins who are not doing their job properly. What's the problem?
Stop blaming vulnerabilities and take a 101 course in computer administration instead.
Why are most hung up on the "Well if your scanner produces blurry images, it doesn't matter what OS you got" argument?
To me, it's only a potential part of the problem. Switch the argument around. Say you have a $1,000,000 scanner and an OS which cannot cope with proper CM. What then? It's the same thing.
The main issue here, as I see it, is linux. Not the scanner he is using. The issue is that linux isn't adequate enough to handle a professional photo workflow.
Do you think prefessional are just talking out their a*ses when they say Mac and even Windows and Photoshop is superior to solutions on linux? No they aren't.
What we have among certain people is a rabiate "you must use linux" mentality. No matter the cost. Windows and Mac is evil and linux is the salvation that will embrace us all in a warm blanket of free minded spirits.
The heaviest argument for me however is whether things are working or not. Period. Doesn't my digital workflow work on linux? Well, then I use Mac or Windows. Simple as that.
I won't be dictated to what OS to use by someone who blatantly refuses to really understand where I'm coming from and my needs.
Don't get me wrong here. I don't really like Microsoft, I swear over it constantly. I use tons of open source software. I love it. I love to contribute, experiment and whatnot.
Sometimes you have to compromise however, the world isn't just black and white.
What will be the ad for this thing?
"Congratulations! You can now have the hamburger in one hand and the mouse in the other, hunting without physical activity in the comfort of you own home".
I recognize the importance in the disabled hunter's case, of course, but for the rest this just comes off like just another step to make sure you never leave your house.
and go Ericsson P800 :)
Yeah, I started with Debian and I still use debian. All the way from buzz (debian 1.1) =) Tried SuSE, slackware and redhat - no one stuck to me like debian. I just love my little debian pengiun :P
hehe, no worries about that panic. I'm usually happy with a bang with my fist on the desk and I'm set for that exploit :P
:) Ok, I realize that can't happen simultaneously, but I'm happy with the response time for most exploits on the un*x machines (read: not on windows).
:(
SUS - Using it already, it's the thing that I want instant respons. Exploit known - fix available
Filter email - Doing that aswell (using anomy Sanitizer, very good btw), so Outlook is really out of harms way, I guess I included that for dramatical purposes =)
But I can't do anything for the IE exploits...
About StarOffice - That would be no problem whatsoever if the documents were only used internally, but almost 1 out of 2 documents are exchanged with other companies, and I can't just call them up and say that they should save in 95/97 format. That's really where the achilles heel is
I'm an administrator at a software company. A couple of times a week I almost cry when I see new exploits for IE, Outlook and so on... What can I do then? Nothing. All our workstations are running Windows 2000 and I can't just tell them to stop using IE and Outlook. Sure, you could deactivate scripting and other stuff, but then they come to me boggling about pages that don't work and mail which look screwed up.
This frustrates me, since I cannot just dowload the latest version of the software and compile it myself. I have to way for MS to get their head straight and release a patch. In the meanwhile, I go nuts since every workstation has classified documents on it.
And I can't run any other OS on the workstations either since Word, Powerpoint and such are widely used. Well, you think, use staroffice. Been there, done that. The thing is that EVERYONE (well almost) are using MS Office and so on, making it very hard. StartOffice and other have converters but there is always some small thing that doesn't work. And this leads to more upset people than I'm payed to handle.
Cudos to StarOffice, it's a great office suite. The interoperability between MS Office and Straoffice works fine if you're using fairly simple documents. When they get advanced, like very advanced Excel documents used by finance institues, things get messy.
I love unix though. All our servers are either Linux or BSD (even have a solaris somewhere). For a server system, un*x is the way to go. No question. I would NEVER hook up a windows system directly to the internet. Even with a firewall. This is because you aren't in control of the OS.
* Windows is great for gaming, no question about it.
* Mac OSX is great for publishing and image editing.
* Un*x is great for a server OS, or a workstation if you don't rely on 100% interoperability with windows documents or users.
EOF 2 CENTS