Mad As Hell: Metaphor 1.42

Security Awareness for Ma, Pa and the Corporate Clueless ^ | 5/30/2005 | JX Bell

[Swordmaker]

I will remind you, little man, of your comments at the beginning of this thread:
"The comments on the Blog are interesting too... especially the clueless Windows users."

Windows users are clueless when they comment negatively on something they know nothing about. Do you accept that as an insult to you? Did you comment on that Blog? No, probably not.

Therefore, my statement stands... I have NOT insulted you.

Bush, there is a world of difference between attacking ME personally with denigrating comments such as "little man" and a general commentary about some posters on another thread. I made a judgment of the level of their comments as being clueless. YOU use an insulting term to address me personally absent any knowledge of me. That is ad hominem attack and a fallacious argument methodology... not to mention it won't win you any friends.

That said, the rest of your post is fairly reasonable. Of course your viewpoint (and apparently Microsoft's) will condemn all newbies for the next year and a half to security hell.

I do disagree with the following...

Considering FireFox's current rate of vulnerability, it is very high risk spyware.

That is just idiotic. If that is the case, then Internet Explorer is FAR more of a risk.

[Swordmaker]

Having checked the dictionary, I find "confuted" is a word, and though I disagree with your use thereof, it wasn't grammatically or orthographically incorrect.

If you had been using a Mac, you could have merely highlighted the word and pressed CTRL-APPLE-D and you would have had a pop-up box on screen with the Oxford Dictionary definition of the word... instantly. ;^)>

Oh, should I mention it works in every application... except Microsoft Office for Mac which insists on using the more limited MS dictionary. Yeah, I think I should...

[Swordmaker]

Post 42 was also meant for you...

[Turbopilot]

If you had been using a Mac, you could have merely highlighted the word and pressed CTRL-APPLE-D and you would have had a pop-up box on screen with the Oxford Dictionary definition of the word... instantly.

Sounds like a pain. I just right-click and select "Look up word". Speaking of which, is "right-click" unfamiliar or has Apple finally figured out how to fit more than one button on a mouse? ;-)

[Turbopilot]

My analogy to a can-openner is adeqate to communicate the desireable operating characteristics of an appliance

But not those of a computer, which was my point. I got a little zinger in; sorry that offended you.

If my family would have bought Mac, there wouldn't BE any issues!

That's the arrogance and dishonesty that I think rubs so many Mac-heads the wrong way. It can't be "I like my way better," it's "Macs are flawless and failure-proof, and people who recommend anything else should be 'horsewhipped' (your word)."

And no one has to "push" Windows. It's already a universal standard, versus Apple struggling for 3% market share. The only thing being pushed here is the notion that it's easier for the average user to buy all new hardware and learn a new non-standard OS than it is to secure Windows at little difficulty and zero cost.

[Swordmaker]

Speaking of which, is "right-click" unfamiliar or has Apple finally figured out how to fit more than one button on a mouse? ;-)

Right click work also so long as the word is highlighted... but it takes a second longer longer because Right Clicking returns the entire definition, not just the quick basic definition in a pop-over window that disappears when you click again the other method provides instantly. With that method, if you want the entire definition, you can click on "more" or if you want synonyms of antonyms, change to the thesaurus option with a click.

The Apple mouse still has only one mouse button. However, Apple has supported multiple button mouses for years... plug in almost any pointer input device and they work - no need to install drivers or any of that stuff. True Plug and Play.

[papertyger]

But not those of a computer, which was my point. I got a little zinger in; sorry that offended you.

Yes that of a computer. Gainsaying doesn't change fact, pal. Car doors lock by pushing a single button. Can you lock up your windows machine by pushing a single button? Any other answer but "yes" means you've been lying; answering "yes" means you ARE lying. And your "zinger" is right up there with Bob Bechel once again working in "Bush was selected, not elected" for cleverness.

... That's the arrogance and dishonesty that I think rubs so many Mac-heads the wrong way.

I'm assuming you mean to say that's what rubs windows people the wrong way about Mac-heads. But where is the arrogance and dishonesty? What part of "just works" don't you get? You've already admitted you don't know Macs, so who are you to call me arrogant and dishonest when I say there wouldn't be any problems.

I've run into your type before, and interestingly enough, it was over cars.

Back in the eighties and ninties many of the old timers I work with just refused believe toyotas would go a hundred thousand miles without anything breaking. I'd tell them my experience, and that of damn near everyone else I know that owned one, but they simply refused to believe it. Well it's not so unbelievable now, is it?

I bought my first Mac in 1989, and in all that time I've never had a single, not one, corrupted file. Can you say that about your windows machine? I've never lost the a single piece of data to a crash. Can you say that? I've never had to re-install a program because it wasn't working correctly. Can you claim the same? Now I'm not going to claim the service I've gotten out of Macs is completely trouble free, but I am going to claim every incidence of trouble I have had was not because the Mac did something it wasn't suppose to do. If you're on the level you say you are I know you can't say the same thing.

Windows isn't the universal standard because it's good. It's the universal standard because it's what the witch doctors know. Guys like you are living proof of Planck's Dictum: major advances in science occur not because the proponents of the established view are forced by the weight of evidence to change their minds, but because they retire and eventually die."

[Turbopilot]

plug in almost any pointer input device and they work - no need to install drivers or any of that stuff.

I didn't know that - very Windows-like ;-) That one-button thing was always one of the things I disliked about Macs.

[Turbopilot]

I didn't really get where you were going with the car door analogy. Yes, it is possible to lock up a Windows machine, just like any other computer. I never said otherwise. But you appear to claim that it is not possible to do so with a Mac, which is what I called arrogant and/or disingenuous. I have no interest in Macs now, but when I worked on them as a tech in the mid-90's they most certainly did crash, get viruses, etc. So they certainly haven't been perfect since 1989, and that sort of disingenuity doesn't incline me to believe that they're perfect now.

You can continue to believe that "one day" there'll be a Mac revolution and your preferred system will ascend to dominance. Mac-heads have been waiting on that for twenty years. Despite what you may think, there are valid reasons to dislike Macs, and your 2.9% market share is not a result of evil techies lying to their eldery family for no good reason.

[papertyger]

Wanna take a breath and try that again. Your post makes no sense.

[Turbopilot]

Wanna take a breath and try that again.

Nope. If you've still failed to understand that some of us disagree with the premise of the original article or that there are reasons an "average" user might not want a Mac, you're not gonna get it. Enjoy your appliance.

[Swordmaker]

I didn't know that - very Windows-like ;-) That one-button thing was always one of the things I disliked about Macs.

I prefer to use a five button wheeled trackball... but I am not too sure that Apple made the wrong decision when they went single button on their mouse user interface.

I used to take people completely unfamiliar with computers (literally homeless people off the streets in some cases) and train them to use a database I designed for an emergency Food Bank. The database ran on Macs. (Classic - OS8) Some of the Macs on the network had single button and some had two button mouses... INVARIABLY, I had the most problem training these newbies on the two button mouses... while those who were on the one button learned much quicker. I could usually turn them loose to do interviews after two hours... but the two button trainees took at least twice as long!

(By the way, the best way to get these REALLY new users used to the idea of a pointing device was to let them play solitaire on a computer for about a half an hour!)

I finally pulled all the two buttons meese and tossed them and installed only one button mouses. Problem solved. I no longer heard "oops, wrong button." or "Hey, which button do I click (push, poke, press)???" or "What happened?! Where'd it go!?" or "Damnit!". (or worse language).

Incidentally, that database is STILL running, ten years later, still tracking the large database of clients, donors and their donations. In fact, it is still running on several Mac PowerMac 6100s (accelerated with G3s) It took me a year to "idiot" proof it... and I had a lot of guinea pigs to test it on... it was amazing what they could do that I had to fix.

One of the things I learned working with these people on the fringes of society is that there are GOOD reasons why some people are unemployed.

One year a group of homeless people offered to paint the Food Bank's reception area. I bought them paint, brushes, rollers and left them to it. When I came back I found they had painted everything... including the clock hanging on the wall (but not the wall under the clock) so that the dial could no longer be seen! The guy "supervising" this paint crew asked to be trained on our interview computers so he could be an interviewer... surprisingly, although he had never touched a computer before, he was interviewing in less than an hour and became one of our best interviewers. Just don't put a paint brush in his hands... very dangerous.

[Swordmaker]

I have no interest in Macs now, but when I worked on them as a tech in the mid-90's they most certainly did crash, get viruses, etc. So they certainly haven't been perfect since 1989, and that sort of disingenuity doesn't incline me to believe that they're perfect now.

Turbo. The mid-90s Mac and OSX have no code in common.

But even then, the total number of OS1-9 viruses for the Mac number less than 50 (counting varients - 114). In 1997 a Swedish company offered a 100,000 Kroner ($16,500 US) prize for any hacker who could alter a web page running on a PowerMac 8500/150 straight out of the box. The Crack-a-Mac Contest went for two months... and the prize money was never won despite thousands of attempts.

Or you might want to read this article from 2003:

Mac Viruses By The Numbers - Word Macro: 553, Classic Mac: 26, OS X: Zero

Were now two years farther along on the development of OSX... and the count of OSX viruses is still ZERO.

No one has said the Apple Mac or OSX is perfect... just that the combination offers a safer and more enjoyable computing experience than the other alternatives.

Yes, it is possible to lock up a Windows machine, just like any other computer. I never said otherwise. But you appear to claim that it is not possible to do so with a Mac, which is what I called arrogant and/or disingenuous.

I have been using Mac OSX since the first day it was released. After it reached OSX.1, I have NEVER seen a system crash or lockup. I am a power user, often running as many as 50 apps at the same time... occasionally, an app will cease responding... but it is easy to force quit and restart it without impacting any other running app or the system. I have diligently tried to crash my system and have failed miserably.

One of my clients called one day to report one of his seven OSX Macs had frozen. It had... the hard drive had failed (it literally let out the magic blue smoke). I put in a new harddrive, re-installed OSX, dragged an Applications folder from a backup DVD I had burned months before to the new HD, and it was back on the network in 45 minutes. His office network of seven Macs has been running for four years with no firewall, no anti-virus, no anti-spy or adware and until this failed HD, no problems. The only time the computers were restarted was after an OS update.

Uptime is what counts. MI2G, a Computer Security Consulting firm working with major banks, reported in November 2004 ,that:

"When applying the benchmark of Uptime on the full sample of permanently connected 235,907 machines, the mi2g Intelligence Unit found that the only computing environments left standing without the need for a single reboot at the end of the 12 month period were either BSDs or Apple Mac OS Xs."