[a short YouTube clip of Ballmer "doing the monkey"... :-) ...]
Posted on 12/10/2009 10:24:00 AM PST by Gomez
Windows 7 is less secure out-of-the box than Vista, despite Redmond's protestations to the contrary, a top security firm has claimed.
Trend Micro said that the default configurations of Windows 7 are less secure than Vista. Raimund Genes, CTO of Trend Micro, said that Windows 7 had sacrificed security for useability - at least for default configurations.
"I'm not saying Windows 7 is insecure, but out of the box Vista is better," Genes told El Reg.
The User Account Control (UAC) feature that debuted with Vista was a security safeguard that asked users for permission before allowing applications to run. The nagware technology irked users and was blamed for producing numerous largely meaningless pop-ups that users blithely clicked past.
Even senior Microsoft execs, for example UK security advisor Ed Gibson, have taken to describing the technology disparagingly as "User Annoyance Control" over recent months. A toned down version of UAC has been developed for Windows 7, but Genes regards this and other changes as a step backwards.
"I was disappointed when I first used a Windows 7 machine that there was no warning that I had no anti-virus, unlike Vista," Genes said. "There are no file extension hidden warnings either. Even when you do install anti-virus, warnings that it has not been updated are almost invisible."
"Windows 7 may be an improvement in terms of useability but in terms of security it's a mistake, though one that isn't that surprising. When Microsoft's developers choose between usability and security, they will always choose useability," Genes argued.
Genes said the security of Windows 7 for consumers might be improved by offering virtual XP, a sandboxed version of the older OS, with Windows 7 home editions. The virtualisation technology (criticised by other security firms, most notable Sophos, as a security risk in its own right because it needs separate patching and security protection) was only released in enterprise versions of the operating system.
Trend's unfavorable default security comparison between Vista and Windows 7 was released alongside its Trend Micro 2010 Future Threat Report. The main focus of the report places the security implication of the wider IT industry shift towards cloud computing and virtualisation under the spotlight.
While offering significant benefits and cost-savings, the architectural shift means cybercrooks are likely to turn their sights towards manipulating the connection to the cloud, or attacking the data center and cloud itself, instead of trying to infect desktop or server systems.
"The focus for security firms has been protecting desktops or servers, but this needs to shift to providing security for the cloud, where sensitive information such as credit card records will be held. Using encryption to establish shielded containers for sensitive data and improving the security and back-up of cloud computing systems needs to be improved so that we can have safe cloud computing," Genes explained.
An interesting article for you about Windows 7...
ping
Microsoft is like Obama.....cannot trust a word either of them say.
The User Account Control (UAC) feature that debuted with Vista was a security safeguard that asked users for permission before allowing applications to run. The nagware technology irked users and was blamed for producing numerous largely meaningless pop-ups that users blithely clicked past.
Oh I see how this works...
First have UAC, bark about how annoying it is.
Ok, tone UAC down...
NOW bark about how “less safe” Windows 7 is!
Send to a notorious MS bash site, summon Apple fanatics, bash Windows 7.
How idiotic.
Much as I like Trend Micro’s products, I disagree with them here. Things that are too annoying get turned off. Completely off.
The smoke alarm by my kitchen has no sensitivity control. In addition to battery it has hard wired power. In addition to hard wire it “talks” to the other eight smoke detectors. It goes off when spaghetti is boiled, making the whole house go off. If you remove the wired connection, it uses the battery to complain about the lack of a wired connection. So, I had to completely disable it.
In likewise, obnoxious Windows nags get turned off ... really off. If the defaults aren’t too obnoxious, they’ll be left alone. How many of us got nagged every 10 minutes to restart our PCs when a significant patch was put in? At lease 7 lets you slow the nagging on demand to every few hours.
First time I got on Vista I couldn’t believe all the UAC messages.
How it got past the testing/validation people without review is beyond me.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2378046/posts
Bottom line. If you are running without any anti-virus software, you're an idiot.
Okay... Thanks for sharing that. I’m sure he’s a real idiot seeing how he’s makes more cash in an hour, than the guy calling him a monkey at every chance, does in a year.
Windows 7 is awesome; I haven’t had one glitch yet. It also boots and shuts down faster than Vista I also liked Vista and had no problems with it either except for UAC; which probably every user turned off.
What, now we need another program to tell us our virus dats are out of date; c’mon, this is not a big or even little problem, especially if you once again, turn off UAC.
More FUD.
I’ve got a G3 MAC I’m dying to get os/X on it but it won’t install. I put in a DVD reader, added 1gb of memory but it won’t load past the first step. Any Apple experts with any ideas! Thank you.
Steve Jobs and Steve Ballmer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR8SAFRBmcU
“The only problem with Microsoft is that they have no taste. They have absolutely no taste!” [Steve Jobs]
“They [Microsoft] don’t think of original ideas and they don’t bring much culture into their product.” [Steve Jobs]
“I have a problem with the fact that they [Microsoft] make really third-rate products.” [Steve Jobs]
“I will admit, quite frankly, that I think Windows, today, is probably four years, behind — three years behind, where it would have been had we not danced with IBM for so long.” [Steve Ballmer]
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
There are very few people in the tech world who annoy me quite like Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft. It’s not just that he’s loud, dismissive and arrogant. It’s that he manages to be all these things while usually being spectacularly wrong, especially when it comes to Apple. Take for example his thoughts on the iPhone from a USAToday article in 2007:
“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance,” said Ballmer. “It’s a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.”
As you might imagine, I experienced a moment of pure schadenfreude last week when Canalysis senior analyst Pete Cunningham announced that not only did the iPhone have 13.7% of the global smartphone market, but that it had surpassed Windows Mobile devices which had slipped to only 9%. Even worse for Microsoft is the fact that in the last 2 years, Apple has sold more iPhones than all the Windows Mobile devices from all its vendors combined.
I can only imagine that somewhere in Redmond, behind a very heavy door…Steve Ballmer is throwing a good old-fashioned hissy fit, cursing Apple, sweating profusely and gnawing on the furniture.
The fact is that Microsoft has never truly understood Apple and that confusion has grown in part out of their unparalleled success with Windows. With Windows, Microsoft found a superior product in the Macintosh OS, produced a cheaper knock-off and then created a large ecosystem of partners for wide distribution and support. The result was global domination. Unfortunately, cheaper and more plentiful doesn’t automatically win in every situation. As computers sink into every facet of daily life and the costs of consumer technology continue to drop, more and more value is being placed on finding products which are easier, more capable or simple more enjoyable to use.
Microsoft was unable to stop the runaway success of the iPod and it’s looking more and more unlikely that they’ll be able to contain the growth of the iPhone either. Why? Because they cannot fathom a formula for success that isn’t a function of feature set divided by price. It’s how they think and it’s also how they ultimately view the products they compete against. No wonder Ballmer spends so much time shouting at the rain. From his perspective, anyone who willingly pays more for the same features is a brainwashed idiot. What he doesn’t understand is that the experience of a product is more than the sum of its component parts. It’s how the device works, how it feels and even more elusively, how it makes you feel. Can you think of a Microsoft product that is truly a joy to use? I don’t mean one that works well, because many of their products work well enough. I mean one that is a joy to use. Neither can I. That’s because Microsoft isn’t in the joy business. They’re in the “nearly as good for less” business and that isn’t an appeal to the heart. It’s an appeal to the wallet.
So Mr. Ballmer, here’s some friendly advice. The next time you feel yourself ready to mouth off about how Apple is doomed to fail because it doesn’t understand the realities of the marketplace, take a moment and think about Windows Vista and the fact that roughly 50% of Apple Store customers are new to the Mac. Think about sales figures for the Zune as compared to the iPod. Think about the millions of people ditching their Windows Mobile devices for an iPhone. Think about the $35 Billion that a zero-debt Apple has sitting in the bank and all the money it continues to make made through this harsh economic downturn. Then if you’re still confident that you’re the smart one and Apple is the delusional one, then by all means have your say.
Just understand that with your miserable track record in predicting Apple’s future, there’s an excellent chance that you’ll end up eating your own words. Better make sure they’re palatable.
Bottom line. If you are running without any anti-virus software, you're an idiot.
EXCEPT in the case if you're running Mac OS X -- then you won't run into the kinds of problems that one has with running into over 100,000 viruses on the Windows platform.
Heck! The anti-virus programmers haven't figured out a way, yet, to get Macintosh users to buy their programs... LOL...
by Steven Sande
on Oct 1st 2009 at 3:30PM
Forbes Magazine published their annual "400 Richest Americans" ranking yesterday, and as usual Mr. William Gates of Microsoft leads the list at a net worth of US$50 billion. Others in the PC world are in the list -- Microsoft's favorite screamer Steve Ballmer is at #14 with US$13.3 billion, the Google twins Sergey Brin and Larry Page are tied for #11 at US$15.3 billion, and Michael Dell is lucky number 13 with US$14.5 billion -- but the "cultish king of the iGeeks", Steve Jobs, is on the second page of the list at #43 with a measly US$5.1 billion fortune.
The Forbes article notes that Jobs' best investment was picking up Pixar from George Lucas in 1986 for US$10 million. He sold Pixar to Disney in 2006 for US$7.4 Billion in stock, and is now Disney's largest shareholder.
Jobs still pulls down a salary of only US$1 per year as CEO of Apple, but he makes up for it in Apple stock and free use of a corporate jet. By the way, someone at Apple needs to update Steve's official company portrait (right) -- he looks a lot older now...
I’ve got a G3 MAC I’m dying to get os/X on it but it won’t install. I put in a DVD reader, added 1gb of memory but it won’t load past the first step. Any Apple experts with any ideas! Thank you.
I'm not an expert, but I did sleep at the Holiday Inn Express last night... LOL...
[ Get Smart, Stay at a Holiday Inn Express... ]
Topic : Power Mac G3 (Blue and White): Can I install Mac OS X 10.2?
[also, I know how to use Google... :-) ...]
![](http://www.google.com/images?q=tbn:-DOv-V08_IT3cM::www.cultofmac.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/images-2001-12-13-steve-jobs.gif&h=78&w=110&usg=__M0BKNzbMfbJQ5odcrxqINA46ktQ="/)
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