[Info-vax] 2009 VMS Bootcamp notice

[Johnny Billquist]

Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> In article <ab43de16-f8a4-4249-8274-dfe95872bd5b at s1g2000prg.googlegroups.com>,
> 	johnwallace4 at yahoo.co.uk writes:
>> What is possible in an ideal world is not always the same as what is
>> commonly seen in the real world. It is common for Windows systems to
>> be exploited, surely you couldn't disagree with that. Partly that is
>> because Windows boxes are defective by design (especially a Windows
>> system fresh from a Windows CD, as you have already acknowledged).
>> Partly that is because of the level of competence and experience and
>> motivation of the typical Windows-centric IT department (or home
>> user). Your experience seems to be very different from that of many
>> people in the Windows world, be they home users, corporates, or
>> whatever.
> 
> Well, I hardly consider myself a Windows expert.  I don't even like
> Windows. :-)  Which begs the question: "If I can do it, why are the
> supposed professionals having such a hard time?"  My answer is really
> quite simple.  There are millions and millions of Windows boxes out
> there.  A hacked Windows box sells newspapers and magazines.  A Windows
> success story does not.  We are being innundated now with stories of
> "4.9 million" Windows boxes infected with a worm that MS published a
> fix for months ago.  So, who's fault is it that these machines are now
> getting infected?  Windows? MS? Or is it maybe closer to home.  (Hint:
> none of the machines under my control have been hit nor are they even
> vulnerable.  Go figure!)

Oh, come on. That's an argument I've heard a million times, and it just 
don't hold water. That's basically the Microsoft excuse for the problems 
they have - "hey, we don't have any more problems than anyone else, it's 
just that our systems are so much more common, but proportionally they 
are actually better".

They never give any numbers to back up that statement with, though. And 
most people are *not* using MS IIS as their web servers (even if they 
are using Windows), and yet the biggest number of security problems and 
fixes are for IIS. OSes like Linux, *BSD and others are fully free, and 
anyone can audit the code. And that is one reason you have a bunch of 
security problems discovered there, and fixed. Windows do not have such 
auditing, and yet the number of security problems reported are more 
numerous. Granted, the number of systems out there are more, but the 
number of bugs are not proportional to the number of systems you sell.
(Or atleast, they shouldn't be. I can't really speak for how MS works...)

So, it's basically bollocks. Windows have more security problems. And I 
haven't even started on all the brilliant ideas that Microsoft gets, 
such as automatically executing code in incoming mails just in case it 
provides some nifty, fancy extra functionality which makes the user 
experience more pleasant (forgetting that virus programmers just love 
such features).

	Johnny

-- 
Johnny Billquist                  || "I'm on a bus
                                   ||  on a psychedelic trip
email: bqt at softjar.se             ||  Reading murder books
pdp is alive!                     ||  tryin' to stay hip" - B. Idol