[Sussex] Some more thoughts on the Microsoft/Novel deal

[John Crowhurst]

On Sun, November 19, 2006 15:50, Steven Dobson wrote:
> I disagree here.  Better systems were available - think Unix, think
> OS/2.

>From what I remember about OS/2 is that Microsoft deliberately coded the
installer to remove traces of OS/2 partitions when Windows was installed.

> The masses don't want security.  XP-SP2 turned on a firewall by default.
> How many just turned it straight off again?

I think this is where you separate those with little knowledge, more they
should know and power users.

The ones with little knowledge won't touch things like firewall settings
because they don't know what they do and don't know how to turn the
firewall off. These are the people who click on the banner adds that tell
them that their computer is infected with a virus.

The ones that know more than they should that will turn the firewall off
and get their security breached.

> If anti-virus & firewall providers are dropping support of Win98 then it
> is because they are not seeing a return on investment.  You don't
> shutdown a profitable line just because the product is no longer
> available.  How long to Ford & Vaxhall produce spares for models that
> you can no longer buy?

The reason why Microsoft ditched support for Win98 was because of a
critical security breach that they decided not to fix because of the
return on investment. There are a few firewall and antivirus companies
that still offer support for DOS and Windows 95 as well as Windows 98 and
ME.

> The last botted machine I saw was an XP laptop.  It had been botted
> because the user had installed software from a site he should never have
> visited in the first place.  Users are not prepared to take the actions
> they need to take to secure their own systems.

As I mentioned above, it just takes a user with little experience of the
Internet to click on the banner with the image telling them their computer
is infected, download a program to fix it and the system is compromised
from the inside out. Software firewalls can only protect the user from
attackers outside their computers.

By far the worst culprits are ISPs that send a customer a USB modem
instead of a router with an inbuilt firewall.

>> So, it is important that users are offered at minimal cost a friendly
>> Linux distro because until that happens spam will remain a constant
>> feature of our lives.
>
> No, I disagree.  We need to change habits and that is much, much harder
> than changing an OS.

We need to help others change their habits by educating them how to use
their computers more efficiently and how to eliminate spam, spyware and
viruses.

We also need to have a solution available that will meet the customer's
needs and break the anti-competitive Windows lock-in on all new PCs.

--
John