[deep_eyes]

Microsoft Strikes Back!

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/29/technology/29SOFT.html?ex=1066017600&en=6c7df124db82c132&ei=5004&partner=UNTD

[Kamikaze]

I didn't understand the point of the article (the article title was puzzling in particular), or what MS is striking back at. Are they trying to say MS will finally get a clue and focus on security, like the sensible rest of the world?

BTW: "Minor oversights" eh? The security and stability problems of windows are inherent in the design and mind-set.

[Drew]

Originally posted by Kamikaze
I didn't understand the point of the article, or what MS is striking back at. Are they trying to say MS will finally get a clue and focus on security, like the sensible rest of the world?

BTW: "Minor oversights" eh? The security and stability problems of windows are inherent in the design and mind-set.

agreed

but u know, one of the main reasons that causes these problems are uneducated, inexperienced users (the majoraty of AOLer's for example, who dont even know how to save a file) A simple firewall and virus scan can take care of most of these problems; unfortunatly most people dont know what these things are...

btw, MS is gonna introduce automatic mandatory updates

[Kamikaze]

I like the update idea, that is, in an ideal world. However, considering that some updates actually break a system (Note the recent OSX update problems, and 2k SPs breaking lots of stuff) I'm not sure it'll always be helpful. Also think of what MS could sneak into your computer without users knowing. I'm glad you can, iirc, disable it.

[Woolie Wool]

Originally posted by Drew


agreed

but u know, one of the main reasons that causes these problems are uneducated, inexperienced users (the majoraty of AOLer's for example, who dont even know how to save a file) A simple firewall and virus scan can take care of most of these problems; unfortunatly most people dont know what these things are...

btw, MS is gonna introduce automatic mandatory updates

No firewall, filter, or other software can protect against an incompetent user. These are the people that download the virus attachments and click "always trust content from Gator Corporation". There should be mandatory computer education in schools, and I'm not talking about typing classes.

[Flaser]

Agreed.

I've gone to university and about 1/5th (!) of the students had to be told how to open or copy a file!!

[Woolie Wool]

They don't even know how to OPEN files? Did they EVER use a computer before?

[phreak]

Originally posted by Woolie Wool


These are the people that download the virus attachments and click "always trust content from Gator Corporation".

i think MS need to put in a "Never trust content from Gator Corporation" option. that'll never happen

[Hippo]

Originally posted by Drew

the majoraty of AOLer's for example, who dont even know how to save a file

so, you're rationalizing aol users like me as being completely illiterate, because their parents or whoever pays bills doesn't see a need for hsi?

[Woolie Wool]

Originally posted by PhReAk


i think MS need to put in a "Never trust content from Gator Corporation" option. that'll never happen

Gator's probably paying them not to.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Hippo
so, you're rationalizing aol users like me as being completely illiterate, because their parents or whoever pays bills doesn't see a need for hsi?

Not all AOL users are completely clueless (and Drew didn't say they were) but there are a lot of incompetent AOL users out there.

[IceFire]

The AOL statement is a generalization made about a demographic that largely buys into the big business internet providers because they offer cheap and generally easy to use systems for logging into the internet.  

It drives me nuts because I want to see the nuts and the bolts of my internet working...I'm not entirely happy with my cable experience however their no nonsense system of setting it up means that I control the stuff on my end.  My router/firewall is configured the way I want it.

The article is a "feelgood" news item about the team at Microsoft and all the wonderful things they do.  And to be honest, they do some hard work, but they haven't done a fantastic job yet and they are fighting against some of what probably amounts to the poorest and most inefficient code written in history (except for my CS projects in highschool, I'm sure those were worse ).

Microsoft really needs to be broken up as a company into several smaller companies that focuses on different areas.  The office guys should never have been crossed with the operating system guys or the security/digital rights management/mediacenter guys.

[Woolie Wool]

Actually, the plain old "nuts and bolts" providers charge less than companies like AOL because there's no fancy client that overwrites half your system files.

As for Microsoft's coding, I've seen worse:

www.somethingawful.com/games