...will absolutely run well without any modifications...
If that really does happen, then the new flavor of Windows will STILL be insecure and users will have to contend with all the malware that currently can and does afflict Windows. Many programs for Windows are written with the assumtions of the user having unfettered access to every bit and byte on their PERSONAL computer. Personal computers were meant to be used by ONE user only and that user has total control over ALL of their machine.
UNIX flavored systems were and are designed with the many user premise that the ordinary user does NOT have access to the total machine unless that user is also the administrator or root user. All programs written for such a multiuser environment are aware of the elaborate permissions structure. Windows also has a permissions structure, but restricting permissions causes many Windows programs to fail. If MS enforces their permissions structure, then any old program unaware of these will likely fail. This means that all the old malware will also fail and result in a secure system for most ordinary users. If the old programs still run under their new system, so will the old malware and the users will have no more security than they have now.
Any user, on any computer can fall victim to social engineering and be tricked into facilitating the entry of malware into their system. However, if that user does not have the ability to install and run new software without knowing and/or giving the administrator password, new programs including nasties, cannot be added to the computer. Every system should have at least two accounts, a restricted one for every day use and another ONLY for tasks requiring system administrator activities.
I happen to have a very nice Bible study program on my Mac that costs nothing. It is called MacSword. I also have another one called Mac Bible and an old OS9 thing called Quickverse which I've used since 1989 and still works just fine under OSX classic mode. This old one has the fastest search mode, surprisingly. I have another program, also still running under classic called Street Atlas USA and I still use that whenever I cannot get an Internet connection to Mapquest.
Quicken on all platforms is quite lame, but they may have updated it more often on Windows. So what, that is still only a program, not a computer job. I do the JOB that Quicken does with Filemaker, where I can do things MY way rather than the way programmers of some lame finance software force me to do it. Filemaker has a Windows version also. A spreadsheet, like MS Excel can be programmed to do some rather surprising financial wizardry which Quicken can't do.
I have a very nice Newsnet program, called Unison, shareware, that does the same job as anything you can have on Windows. Whether a given program is inferior or superior is a subjective thing anyway. My point is that the job can be done on a Mac, often better, but usually just as well. Long ago I knew someone who ran his amateur radio station with a Mac SE running a program called LabView which could run any instrumentation that was compliant with the IEEE GPB488 system. I myself used that program to control precise portable instrumentation for high energy physics experiments at Stanford University using a Mac SE30.
You, like most who say that there is much more software available for Windows, are of course right, but that does not mean all that software is neccessarily better and that the software that IS available for the Mac won't do the same jobs. Some software may have some bells and whistles that doesn't really make the main task it is doing or supposed to do any easier of faster. Thousands of highly specialized programs that used to run only on powerful UNIX systems owned by the Government and Educational institutions can be or have been ported to OSX.
NASA engineers used to need two computers on their desks, an advanced UNIX style workstation to do all their rocket science and a Windows machine to do their reports and communications. Now some of them have thrown both of these into the trash and replaced them with a powerful Apple computer, in some cases even a laptop they can take out in the field with them.
My orginal challenge still stands, tell me of a JOB that the Mac cannot do, NOT a program or a million other programs, a computing JOB!!!
Visibility is a major reason, but many hackers try to attack Macs and Linux for the same reason that people climb Mount Everest; namely the challenge. It is a great challenge to hack a Mac and has not been done recently.
A large fraction of Windows malware is installed through social engineering and user education is the only remedy. Social engineering will work on *any* computer if the user is able to install software on the system. In a business situation the IT persons should ensure that the ordinary user does NOT have admin privileges and cannot install anything or make system wide changes. OSX enforces this quite well. On Macs and Linux this will work, but many Windows apps REQUIRE for the user to have admin status. This not MS fault, but the writers of so many programs assume their code has unfettered access to all parts of the system and their programs die if the OS denies this access.
Installing *any* software or making other system changes on the Mac requires administrator privileges. An ordinary Mac user CANNOT install software, including malware and is therefore immune to spy/adware. I run as an ordinary user and I *have* been prompted to enter an admin name and password when opening an e-mail. It just don't give that and that is the end of it.
On Windows many apps require the user to have admin status or they will crash. This is a legacy from the past when a PERSONAL computer user had full access to every bit on the drives. The *NIX multi-user legacy does not allow every user unfettered access to the drive, but has always had an elaborate permissions system for users and their programs.
... for consumers who have no interest in playing games..
Why anyone would want to spend huge quantities of money on a powerful computer just to play games is beyond me. Get a cheap game box specially made for games and a Mac mini to do real work with freedom from all the Windows malware and other troubles. To do photos, music or video, you can't get a better computer for your money. You can even buy MS Office for it if your boss tells you must be compatible with the Windows folks.
If your present hardware is up to running the long delayed *next* thing from MS now called "Longhorn", expect to re-purchase or at least upgrade most, if not all of your software that you spent your hard earned money on. If the new Windows OS will truly be secure, then most present software CAN'T run any longer unless modified, in some cases substantially. Much software dies already when the latest XP service pack is installed. Maybe MS will include a "classic" Windows environment for the old software to run under.
Obsolescence is a computing fact of life, but old Mac software is much more likely to run on a modern Mac OS than old Windows programs.
It would be nice if that could be done. Unfortunately, there are many programs that will bomb if they cannot access certain system areas and write to them. This is not the fault of MS, but of the fact that historically, the buyer of a PERSONAL computer always had complete, unfettered access to EVERY part of their machine. OSX and other flavors of *NIX come from a multi-user background where the ordinary non-admin user had the ability and need to be able to run programs that did NOT require access to all parts of the computer system. The latest service pack for XP broke many programs because of the increased security denying access to certain parts of the system that the programs were used to having. I expect that "Longhorn", whenever it finally shows, up will break most, if not all old programs that want to have willy-nilly access to any place on the hard drive. If it does NOT, then it will still not be much more secure than the present flavors of Windows.
...Putting an unpatched machine on raw DSL connections sucks...
Why can an out of the box Mac be put on a raw DSL connection without the slightest trouble? It's not because there are fewer Macs, but because Macs are not anywhere near as vulnerable. Hackers love challenges and are desperately trying to do to Macs what they are doing to Windows boxes. There was even a comany that offered a large cash prize some years ago to anyone, worldwide, who could mess up their web site which was running on a Mac. The prize went begging.
...So, if I may ask, when did a Mac EVER come standard with gaming-level video for $1000...
A Mac is a computer for those who need to or want to work without the computer intruding on that process every day with viruses, worms and all the other maladies and maintenanace efforts that plague Windows users. Macs just work reliably and securely, right out of the box, without requiring the user to futz with updates and downloads from MS and expensive extra anti-virus software and updates at once or twice a week.
If you want to play games, get an X-box or Playstation, both of which offer much more gaming horsepower for your money and you get a vast selection of games, including the latest titles. Outfitting and upgrading a general purpose computer, Mac or PC just to play games on is a huge waste of money. Of all progam genres, games often make the biggest mess of a computer system, even if the absence of an internet connection to add assorted malware to the mix.
...to retrain them on everything they've ever known...
Of course Microsoft Office on the Mac is VASTLY different than the Windows version, so it'll take months of training to get your workers to be able to use those Office programs on the Mac. It is either that or your business workers are significantly dumber than average. It could be that having suffered Windows for so many years without dumping that bug infested mess may have impaired their minds so much that they cannot learn anything now. Microsoft stole their ideas from Apple years ago and then screwed up those ideas royally. Requiring to use the START button to shut down the Windows computer is just the beginning of their follies.
...then at least the DSL service provider should have added...
What a bunch of hogwash. That's like saying the gasoline vendor has an obligation to make sure your car is safe and that the wheels don't fall off or the tires go flat. I'd say the maker of a product (Microsoft) is solely responsible to ensure the product causes no harm to the customer if used as directed.
...It still does not have the software base Windows does...
I am getting so tired of that old saw. Please tell me a computer JOB that the Mac cannot do rather than telling me what programs it can't run. Outside of small number of special proprietary programs and games, what computer function is there that 99.9% of all users need, that a Mac does not have software for? I also have Windows, and like Windows itself, most software that runs on it also sucks.
There are quite a few programs that will not run under anything less that admin status becaue they write to certain system areas that become inaccessible to restricted users. The software writers must fix this, not Microsoft.
...With alternative OSs there are just too many things one can't do...
Tell me ONE thing that a Windows machine can do that a Mac cannot. I don't mean specific programs or games, but any real work. Developing Windows software and malware doesn't count either.
...Anyone who wants to play today's games today, and not in six months or a year, is using Windows...
Only someone with 2 - 3 thousand dollars to blow to get the same game experience to be had with a Playstation or X-box for a couple hundred or less. Many games come out for these dedicated game boxes before they mak it to a PC or Mac. Hardware will always be faster than software and the game boxes have special hardware just for games.
... It takes a full 15 minutes to secure a Windows machine...
It takes zero minutes to secure a Mac permanently. That is infinitely faster. The article writer is right, if any carmakers behaved the way Window computers do, nobody would buy those cars and the makers would be sued into oblivion.
Forget about conduit. I used 3 pair direct burial phone cable. One pair for the network running at 2.3Mb/s and two phone extensions about 1200 feet to my workshop from the main house. An ethernet extender is used to at each end. You'd need a cable and a pair of extenders to each greenhouse from the central location. Wireless is nowhere near as reliable and secure if you can run a wire and most likely cheaper also. Use wireless ONLY if you cannot reasonably bury a cable.
I am using two old X500 SDHL ethernet or USB Bridge/Gateway boxes made by Telmax Co. of Fremont CA. I do not know if they are even in business any more under that name. The technology is very similar to the DSL services the phone companies provide. Two ethernets are tied together this way.
Things like that are sometimes found at electronics flea markets. The two boxes negotiate the fastest rate a given pair will allow and have a range of about three miles max. With proper filters, the pair will still also work as a regular phone extension. However I have a dedicated pair to the workshop.
...ability to remotely control another copy of iTunes...
I use Timbuktu to control my iTunes server, an old G3 iMac (purple) from either my Powerbook in the living room or from another old G3 iMac (blue) located in my workshop about 1200 feet from the main house. There is a 2.3Mb/sec twisted pair link between the network at the main house and the network in the workshop. A stereo system attached to the iMac fills the workshop with sound.
The sound is transmitted from the iMac main music server in the house via a 2.4Ghz audio/video sender/receiver pair to the stereo system in the living room, so the wireless Powerbook is only needed if I don't want to go to the computer room to change the music selections. An Airport Express would likely be better, but I've had these 2.4Ghz video/audio gadgets for much longer than Airport Express has existed. In the bedroom I just use my iPod.
Is copying and pasting really that hard? A database program or even a spreadsheet can be set up to take care of most personal finance needs. Why spend money on a one trick pony like Quicken or MS Money? A spreadsheet or database can be used to keep track and organize other belongings and contact lists, not only money.
...also guess that there would be an additional service fee...
There still are banks that offer their service, including bill pay for free. Since I have to keep tabs on other things besides money, I decided years ago to use FILEMAKER to manage my money as well. This way I can do it the way I want to do it rather than what some programmer at Intuit or other company decided. Setting up a data base and a few report and entry screens in Filmaker is not very hard. My web browser handles the on-line aspect of banking quite well. I enter my transactions in filemaker and then paste the needed entries into the browser which sends it to the bank. I still get a paper statement from the bank each month which mostly agrees with what the database indicates. If it does not, it is usually because I forgot to enter a transaction.
I think that most people's finances are not all that complicated to even NEED a computer. After all, people have kept track of their money with pencil and paper long before computers existed. Computers however are ideally suited to keeping track of stuff, including money. Once the data is in the computer, it is easy to learn where the money disappears to so quickly these days.
On a couch or a train, the control key works there and everywhere else I have tried it. Most people have two hands, one for the trackpad and the other for the keyboard.
Slashdot Mirror
...will absolutely run well without any modifications...
If that really does happen, then the new flavor of Windows will STILL be insecure and users will have to contend with all the malware that currently can and does afflict Windows. Many programs for Windows are written with the assumtions of the user having unfettered access to every bit and byte on their PERSONAL computer. Personal computers were meant to be used by ONE user only and that user has total control over ALL of their machine.
UNIX flavored systems were and are designed with the many user premise that the ordinary user does NOT have access to the total machine unless that user is also the administrator or root user. All programs written for such a multiuser environment are aware of the elaborate permissions structure. Windows also has a permissions structure, but restricting permissions causes many Windows programs to fail. If MS enforces their permissions structure, then any old program unaware of these will likely fail. This means that all the old malware will also fail and result in a secure system for most ordinary users. If the old programs still run under their new system, so will the old malware and the users will have no more security than they have now.
Any user, on any computer can fall victim to social engineering and be tricked into facilitating the entry of malware into their system. However, if that user does not have the ability to install and run new software without knowing and/or giving the administrator password, new programs including nasties, cannot be added to the computer. Every system should have at least two accounts, a restricted one for every day use and another ONLY for tasks requiring system administrator activities.
... I just don't buy into Apple's version of what the Free software world...
Apple's software is free with your new Mac. You pay for the hardware. You can erase the HD and put Linux on your new Mac. Apple would not object.
...a bank will wait for five business days to credit your account...
Maybe your bank doesn't trust you. Mine trusts me and credits my account immdiately on that same day.
...Bible study software sucks on the Mac...
I happen to have a very nice Bible study program on my Mac that costs nothing. It is called MacSword. I also have another one called Mac Bible and an old OS9 thing called Quickverse which I've used since 1989 and still works just fine under OSX classic mode. This old one has the fastest search mode, surprisingly. I have another program, also still running under classic called Street Atlas USA and I still use that whenever I cannot get an Internet connection to Mapquest.
Quicken on all platforms is quite lame, but they may have updated it more often on Windows. So what, that is still only a program, not a computer job. I do the JOB that Quicken does with Filemaker, where I can do things MY way rather than the way programmers of some lame finance software force me to do it. Filemaker has a Windows version also. A spreadsheet, like MS Excel can be programmed to do some rather surprising financial wizardry which Quicken can't do.
I have a very nice Newsnet program, called Unison, shareware, that does the same job as anything you can have on Windows. Whether a given program is inferior or superior is a subjective thing anyway. My point is that the job can be done on a Mac, often better, but usually just as well. Long ago I knew someone who ran his amateur radio station with a Mac SE running a program called LabView which could run any instrumentation that was compliant with the IEEE GPB488 system. I myself used that program to control precise portable instrumentation for high energy physics experiments at Stanford University using a Mac SE30.
You, like most who say that there is much more software available for Windows, are of course right, but that does not mean all that software is neccessarily better and that the software that IS available for the Mac won't do the same jobs. Some software may have some bells and whistles that doesn't really make the main task it is doing or supposed to do any easier of faster. Thousands of highly specialized programs that used to run only on powerful UNIX systems owned by the Government and Educational institutions can be or have been ported to OSX.
NASA engineers used to need two computers on their desks, an advanced UNIX style workstation to do all their rocket science and a Windows machine to do their reports and communications. Now some of them have thrown both of these into the trash and replaced them with a powerful Apple computer, in some cases even a laptop they can take out in the field with them.
My orginal challenge still stands, tell me of a JOB that the Mac cannot do, NOT a program or a million other programs, a computing JOB!!!
...Why would a malicious coder create a trojan...
Visibility is a major reason, but many hackers try to attack Macs and Linux for the same reason that people climb Mount Everest; namely the challenge. It is a great challenge to hack a Mac and has not been done recently.
A large fraction of Windows malware is installed through social engineering and user education is the only remedy. Social engineering will work on *any* computer if the user is able to install software on the system. In a business situation the IT persons should ensure that the ordinary user does NOT have admin privileges and cannot install anything or make system wide changes. OSX enforces this quite well. On Macs and Linux this will work, but many Windows apps REQUIRE for the user to have admin status. This not MS fault, but the writers of so many programs assume their code has unfettered access to all parts of the system and their programs die if the OS denies this access.
...would do any better against adware...
Installing *any* software or making other system changes on the Mac requires administrator privileges. An ordinary Mac user CANNOT install software, including malware and is therefore immune to spy/adware. I run as an ordinary user and I *have* been prompted to enter an admin name and password when opening an e-mail. It just don't give that and that is the end of it.
On Windows many apps require the user to have admin status or they will crash. This is a legacy from the past when a PERSONAL computer user had full access to every bit on the drives. The *NIX multi-user legacy does not allow every user unfettered access to the drive, but has always had an elaborate permissions system for users and their programs.
... for consumers who have no interest in playing games..
Why anyone would want to spend huge quantities of money on a powerful computer just to play games is beyond me. Get a cheap game box specially made for games and a Mac mini to do real work with freedom from all the Windows malware and other troubles. To do photos, music or video, you can't get a better computer for your money. You can even buy MS Office for it if your boss tells you must be compatible with the Windows folks.
...need to repurchase for the Mac...
If your present hardware is up to running the long delayed *next* thing from MS now called "Longhorn", expect to re-purchase or at least upgrade most, if not all of your software that you spent your hard earned money on. If the new Windows OS will truly be secure, then most present software CAN'T run any longer unless modified, in some cases substantially. Much software dies already when the latest XP service pack is installed. Maybe MS will include a "classic" Windows environment for the old software to run under.
Obsolescence is a computing fact of life, but old Mac software is much more likely to run on a modern Mac OS than old Windows programs.
...not even have any sort of admin access...
It would be nice if that could be done. Unfortunately, there are many programs that will bomb if they cannot access certain system areas and write to them. This is not the fault of MS, but of the fact that historically, the buyer of a PERSONAL computer always had complete, unfettered access to EVERY part of their machine. OSX and other flavors of *NIX come from a multi-user background where the ordinary non-admin user had the ability and need to be able to run programs that did NOT require access to all parts of the computer system. The latest service pack for XP broke many programs because of the increased security denying access to certain parts of the system that the programs were used to having. I expect that "Longhorn", whenever it finally shows, up will break most, if not all old programs that want to have willy-nilly access to any place on the hard drive. If it does NOT, then it will still not be much more secure than the present flavors of Windows.
...Putting an unpatched machine on raw DSL connections sucks...
Why can an out of the box Mac be put on a raw DSL connection without the slightest trouble? It's not because there are fewer Macs, but because Macs are not anywhere near as vulnerable. Hackers love challenges and are desperately trying to do to Macs what they are doing to Windows boxes. There was even a comany that offered a large cash prize some years ago to anyone, worldwide, who could mess up their web site which was running on a Mac. The prize went begging.
...So, if I may ask, when did a Mac EVER come standard with gaming-level video for $1000...
A Mac is a computer for those who need to or want to work without the computer intruding on that process every day with viruses, worms and all the other maladies and maintenanace efforts that plague Windows users. Macs just work reliably and securely, right out of the box, without requiring the user to futz with updates and downloads from MS and expensive extra anti-virus software and updates at once or twice a week.
If you want to play games, get an X-box or Playstation, both of which offer much more gaming horsepower for your money and you get a vast selection of games, including the latest titles. Outfitting and upgrading a general purpose computer, Mac or PC just to play games on is a huge waste of money. Of all progam genres, games often make the biggest mess of a computer system, even if the absence of an internet connection to add assorted malware to the mix.
...to retrain them on everything they've ever known ...
Of course Microsoft Office on the Mac is VASTLY different than the Windows version, so it'll take months of training to get your workers to be able to use those Office programs on the Mac. It is either that or your business workers are significantly dumber than average. It could be that having suffered Windows for so many years without dumping that bug infested mess may have impaired their minds so much that they cannot learn anything now. Microsoft stole their ideas from Apple years ago and then screwed up those ideas royally. Requiring to use the START button to shut down the Windows computer is just the beginning of their follies.
...then at least the DSL service provider should have added...
What a bunch of hogwash. That's like saying the gasoline vendor has an obligation to make sure your car is safe and that the wheels don't fall off or the tires go flat. I'd say the maker of a product (Microsoft) is solely responsible to ensure the product causes no harm to the customer if used as directed.
...It still does not have the software base Windows does...
I am getting so tired of that old saw. Please tell me a computer JOB that the Mac cannot do rather than telling me what programs it can't run. Outside of small number of special proprietary programs and games, what computer function is there that 99.9% of all users need, that a Mac does not have software for? I also have Windows, and like Windows itself, most software that runs on it also sucks.
There are quite a few programs that will not run under anything less that admin status becaue they write to certain system areas that become inaccessible to restricted users. The software writers must fix this, not Microsoft.
...With alternative OSs there are just too many things one can't do...
Tell me ONE thing that a Windows machine can do that a Mac cannot. I don't mean specific programs or games, but any real work. Developing Windows software and malware doesn't count either.
...Anyone who wants to play today's games today, and not in six months or a year, is using Windows...
Only someone with 2 - 3 thousand dollars to blow to get the same game experience to be had with a Playstation or X-box for a couple hundred or less. Many games come out for these dedicated game boxes before they mak it to a PC or Mac. Hardware will always be faster than software and the game boxes have special hardware just for games.
... It takes a full 15 minutes to secure a Windows machine...
It takes zero minutes to secure a Mac permanently. That is infinitely faster. The article writer is right, if any carmakers behaved the way Window computers do, nobody would buy those cars and the makers would be sued into oblivion.
Forget about conduit. I used 3 pair direct burial phone cable. One pair for the network running at 2.3Mb/s and two phone extensions about 1200 feet to my workshop from the main house. An ethernet extender is used to at each end. You'd need a cable and a pair of extenders to each greenhouse from the central location. Wireless is nowhere near as reliable and secure if you can run a wire and most likely cheaper also. Use wireless ONLY if you cannot reasonably bury a cable.
...ethernet link..
I am using two old X500 SDHL ethernet or USB Bridge/Gateway boxes made by Telmax Co. of Fremont CA. I do not know if they are even in business any more under that name. The technology is very similar to the DSL services the phone companies provide. Two ethernets are tied together this way.
Things like that are sometimes found at electronics flea markets. The two boxes negotiate the fastest rate a given pair will allow and have a range of about three miles max. With proper filters, the pair will still also work as a regular phone extension. However I have a dedicated pair to the workshop.
AAW
...ability to remotely control another copy of iTunes...
I use Timbuktu to control my iTunes server, an old G3 iMac (purple) from either my Powerbook in the living room or from another old G3 iMac (blue) located in my workshop about 1200 feet from the main house. There is a 2.3Mb/sec twisted pair link between the network at the main house and the network in the workshop. A stereo system attached to the iMac fills the workshop with sound.
The sound is transmitted from the iMac main music server in the house via a 2.4Ghz audio/video sender/receiver pair to the stereo system in the living room, so the wireless Powerbook is only needed if I don't want to go to the computer room to change the music selections. An Airport Express would likely be better, but I've had these 2.4Ghz video/audio gadgets for much longer than Airport Express has existed. In the bedroom I just use my iPod.
...and then enter it again online...
Is copying and pasting really that hard? A database program or even a spreadsheet can be set up to take care of most personal finance needs. Why spend money on a one trick pony like Quicken or MS Money? A spreadsheet or database can be used to keep track and organize other belongings and contact lists, not only money.
...also guess that there would be an additional service fee...
There still are banks that offer their service, including bill pay for free. Since I have to keep tabs on other things besides money, I decided years ago to use FILEMAKER to manage my money as well. This way I can do it the way I want to do it rather than what some programmer at Intuit or other company decided. Setting up a data base and a few report and entry screens in Filmaker is not very hard. My web browser handles the on-line aspect of banking quite well. I enter my transactions in filemaker and then paste the needed entries into the browser which sends it to the bank. I still get a paper statement from the bank each month which mostly agrees with what the database indicates. If it does not, it is usually because I forgot to enter a transaction.
I think that most people's finances are not all that complicated to even NEED a computer. After all, people have kept track of their money with pencil and paper long before computers existed. Computers however are ideally suited to keeping track of stuff, including money. Once the data is in the computer, it is easy to learn where the money disappears to so quickly these days.
...ctrl click means something completely different...
In what Mac program does ctrl click do something different than clicking the right mouse button?
...make using an external mouse a royal pain...
On a couch or a train, the control key works there and everywhere else I have tried it. Most people have two hands, one for the trackpad and the other for the keyboard.