Patch-Fatigued Users Contemplate Ditching Microsoft

InternetWeek ^ | September 15, 2003 | John Foley, George V. Hulme

[Poser]

Thanks guys. I'll spend the afternoon acquiring software.

[HAL9000]

Okay, if you must - Linux Mandrake is one of the better distributions for the typical Linux desktop user. But they're French and in bankruptcy, so bon chance.

[N3WBI3]

Everything you need exist on the Redhat ISO's If that site is as slow as it usually is try a Mirror you only need the three which start with "shrike-i386" not the SRPM iso's.

[zeugma]

Yes, I read the thread. I also noticed your lack of reading comprehension.

"Disabling" IE doesn't remove the dangerous code from your computer. I guess you get the crap that you deserve though when you continue to use microsoft products despite the fact that it has been proven they sell crap. Windows is the Yugo of operating systems.

[TheEngineer]

...be advised that due to a particular piece of "schooling" I have received from the Linux people here I have recently added a new SECRET INGREDIENT to my venom.

And what would that be, Coral Snake?... Your "forked tongue"? :-)

[Bush2000]

Ahh a new twist dont attack the question just say that in a discussion about patch fatigue the issue of reboots is not important.

The issue of nuclear weapons is also an important issue -- but it wasn't a subject of discussion, either. Deal with it.

[N3WBI3]

Umm how is the issue of server dependancies, and reboots not subject to patch fatigue? the only people who would thinks its not are endusers who have no clue how an enterprise network keeps up to date..

[unixfox]

I see. But how would the attacker become "root" to really do damage on a *nix system?

I guess you never heard of Kevin Mitnick. He released a virus that literally took down thousands of Unix boxes. If someone wants to hack a Unix box it can be done. Nothing is sacred my friend.

[Petronski]

I'm stopping with Win2K; it's stable enough for my purposes. I'm biding my time until Linux+Wine matures enough to use it instead. Until then, there's no way XP/2003/etc. is going anywhere near my PC.

Same here, though I'm stopping with 98SE. The only thing I need Windows for is tax software. As it is now, Explorer is long gone and I'm now making the transition from Office 2000 to OpenOffice 1.1, which is pretty cool.

[af_vet_rr]

I guess you never heard of Kevin Mitnick. He released a virus that literally took down thousands of Unix boxes. If someone wants to hack a Unix box it can be done. Nothing is sacred my friend.

Are you thinking of Robert Morris back in the 1980s??

[Bush2000]

"Disabling" IE doesn't remove the dangerous that code from your computer.

So what. When IE is disabled, it doesn't run.

I guess you get the crap that you deserve though when you continue to use microsoft products despite the fact that it has been proven they sell crap.

You get everything you pay for with Linux. Free cheapware crapola.

Windows is the Yugo of operating systems.

Linux is the AMC Pacer of operating systems, minus the wheels.

[Bush2000]

Unless the "flaw" can manifest itself as a bug, it isn't a bug. It's a typo. And, I'm not concerned about typos.

You're assuming that it isn't a bug. That's an awfully optimistic assumption, considering that you don't even know what the code looks like.

But, the real problem is that the "study" proves nothing without citation of the source material so the results can be duplicated by others.

Wrong. You can reproduce the results of the study. It used Apache. See http://www.zdnet.com.au/newstech/os/story/0,2000048630,20275882,00.htm. Simply run metrics between two equivalent products -- one open source and the other proprietary.

Anyone can publish a "study" that alleges to compare two sets of source code, and make up whatever conclusion they like.

And here's where your bias becomes evident: It's your assumption that they've made up their conclusions. You didn't "discredit" anything. You merely asserted an opinion.

[jammer]

I was an opera user also--really liked it, but it didn't render some web pages, including my corporations' site, correctly. I went through Netscape and others and finally settled on Mozilla Firebird. It seems to be really great.