Microsoft Readies 'A1' Security Subscription Service for its anti-spyware and anti-virus solutions.

MicroSoft Watch ^

[Prime Choice]

How about a subscription service for keeping your PC virus and trojan free? - ping.

And so the extortion of Microsoft continues... First they sell you a broken product, then you have to pay to have it fixed.

[zeugma]

Is there even anything else that comes close to AD?

NIS and LDAP both do pretty much the same thing as far as authentication goes. The biggest problem with AD is that it only talks to other microsoft products, and not even all that well with anything but the latest versions of that. People end up completely tied to the microsoft way of life. I don't live on an island, but I find that I have extraordinarily little need for anything microsoft makes.

[Prime Choice]

Bill had ONE good idea about 15 years ago...Windows.

The sad part is, it wasn't even Bill's idea. He stole it from the creators of the Macintosh.

[Musket]

Thanks. I'm on my way out the door but I'll have to look into LDAP and NIS. My school is big on AD so that's pretty much all I know.

[MarkL]

I completely agree, but what can you do? I'm guessing - because I'm a newbie - but I'm guessing that virtually every office in the US is built on Active Directory. Is there even anything else that comes close to AD?

Iagine everything that MS promises with AD, but with about a 6 year technological lead. That's eDirectory from Novell. It scales far better than AD (it's been tested in a tree of over 2 BILLION objects!), it's a lot more resiliant to problems, less traffic in synchronization, and it will run on UNIX, Linux, Win2K Server (and I belive 2003, but they still may be working on that), as well as Novell servers.

The one thing that Novell has is terrific technology. They one thing they don't have is any sort of decent marketing capabilities. The marketing guys in Provo couldn't figre out how to market ice water in the Sahara!

Mark

[Terpfen]

Spybot 1.4 is currently in beta2, just so you guys know.

[myself6]

Novell NDS blows Active Directory away.

The netware operating system is OPTIONAL now. :) They are doing some really cool things with Linux now.

NDS has been around longer than AD and is FAR more mature.

[Bush2000]

Microsoft: Buy rather than create.

As if that matters...

[edchambers]

fee-based bundle,?!?!?!?!? I almost stopped reading right here.No way in hell I'm paying Bill Gates or anyone else for that matter, for something I can and have been getting for free for quite awhile.Of course there are people out there that will pay for this because they mistakely believe something that's free can't possibly be any good.Firefox,AVG,Zone Alarm,Spybot Search and Destroy,Spyware Blaster,Adaware.What more could you possibly need that you can't also get for free?

[Bush2000]

The sad part is, it wasn't even Bill's idea. He stole it from the creators of the Macintosh.

Sigh. Get it straight already. Apple licensed these ideas from Xerox. Microsoft, in turn, licensed these ideas from Apple.

[Bush2000]

Let me see if I understand the stupidity... Microsoft, which develops the operating system that has enough hooks into it for 'features' that mostly only Microsoft is able to take advantage of (now European countries, due to that trade decision), is going to be selling programs that will help plug the holes that shouldn't be there in the first place?

And let me understand this stupidity ... where can I find an OS that has no holes?

[Bush2000]

I predict 2005 will be a good year for linux.

You guys have been predicting the Year of the Linux Desktop for the past 7 years, at least.

[kingu]

And let me understand this stupidity ... where can I find an OS that has no holes?

I could suggest a number of them, but the point wasn't an OS that didn't have holes, it was paying a monthly fee to be protected by the same company who made the mistakes in the first place.

[Happy2BMe]

I just love it when all these techies get together on one thread.

It gives me a chance to stay out of the way (and out of trouble).

Q: Who invented the mouse?

[Prime Choice]

Q: Who invented the mouse?

Douglas Engelbart. Why?

[Prime Choice]

The sad part is, it wasn't even Bill's idea. He stole it from the creators of the Macintosh.

Sigh. Get it straight already. Apple licensed these ideas from Xerox. Microsoft, in turn, licensed these ideas from Apple.

Apple licensed certain parts of its GUI to Microsoft for use in Windows 1.0. Microsoft then went merrily on its way in ripping off Apple's look-and-feel.

In other words, my point stands: if there hadn't been an Apple GUI, the idea to emulate it (poorly) wouldn't have occurred to Microsoft.

[SpaceBar]

You guys have been predicting the Year of the Linux Desktop for the past 7 years, at least.

And every year Linux makes new inroads. Each year hundreds of new drivers written, better installers, bugs and security risks addressed, ironing out standards, and an amazing breadth of available software introduced or upgraded available for the downloading, all under the auspices of a peculiar kind of peer revue that weeds out crap quickly. Each year Microsoft's hegemony on the home computer market is nipped away at by a growing body of computer users and enthusiasts who have had enough of gaping security holes, confusing and restrictive licensing schemes and so forth. Linux is fun, fast, mature, and highly configurable to ones tastes. It also comes packaged in a highly user friendly way for installation for a variety of specialized uses and intended tasks. Local dead tree libraries are filled with books on Berkeley and AT&T style unix, so there's no shortage of resources to find out more for the curious mind. Microsoft has its place and will always have it's adherents. Linux just levels the playing field a bit and adds real choice to the equation. This is also true of the fine open source BSD products as well. Competition is a good thing.

[Happy2BMe]

I think you both are right.

But the real appealing feature of both the first Apple and Windows 1.0 (on a i286) was . .

[edchambers]

It also comes packaged in a highly user friendly way for installation That's Debatable, My last two Linux experiments ended with one distro stuck in a CD drive so badly I had to pry it open with a butter knife and the other left me at a command line interface I had no clue how to operate.At least Knoppix works as advertised from the CD.I have not had a problem installing or learning to use a Microsoft OS since DOS 5.0.

[Bush2000]

Microsoft then went merrily on its way in ripping off Apple's look-and-feel.

Not according to the federal court that heard the case.