“Be afraid. Microsoft thinks it knows what’s best for you. Microsoft Senior Vice President Craig Mundie recently suggested that in the name of security, it may be appropriate to force you to install Microsoft patches or updates, and if that breaks your existing applications, well, it’s for your own good.” Read the editorial at Wired.
Is Microsoft Truly ‘Trustworthy’?
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
if this is what the Microsoft Executives really think, then it is just another good reason to use an alternative Operating System. Not saying that people should jump boat because of it, but I’m sure it makes people wonder.
Anyways, I don’t believe Microsoft is trustworthy, and I don’t like the idea of Palladium, I mean, I always was lead to believe that America was the land of the free, not the home of the encaged.
I mean who didn’t expect Microsoft to play on the fear of citizens. I mean why did gun sales go up 70% after 9/11? Because the media made people feel insecure and unsafe, now Microsoft is playing the security card to make people using older versions of Windows “unsafe”, and “vulnerable”, it’s a good sales tactic, especially with the now widely broadcasted news about viruses and worms that are now on CNN and MSNBC.
So, how can they really push this if people still use 56k modems? Will MS end up sending free CD’s out every week, or some alternative? or will they just deny modem users access to the Internet? Downloading a 10M file is painful on a modem, but a 100M service pack…let’s not even think about that. The people in Redmond need to step out of their offices, and step into an average home for a while.
Microsoft’s definition of security is job security for the bad guys and professionals who fix the stuff.
http://www.trustworthycomputing.com
And if I switch to Linux then it’s for my own good! so :p to you Microsoft.
Seriously, the day I can run Photoshop on Linux is the day i’ll switch for good. I mean i can already play UT2003 on linux!
http://www.wearethewayin.com :^)
Trustworth no. Look at their history!
Is Microsoft Truly ‘Trustworthy’?
Perhaps this question displays a nice
sense of humor, (in rhetorical sense that is…)
/r?
Will MS end up sending free CD’s out every week, or some alternative
Be sent me a free CD 3.x on it, after I bought r3, I was very impressed.
You can get the service packs from MS on CD aswell, just fill out the form for them to mass mail you all the demo cd’s they have (120 day free try of Exchange etc), and included is the lattest service pack
That’s hardly news.
Just try to ‘kill’ one of the ‘required’ services under Windows – access denied – even if you’re administrator.
So what do you expect? Forced “updates” is just the next step…
The free CD idea isn’t bad at all!
AOL does this and, in spite of all the hate this provokes, from a marketing point-of-view, it is very sound.
MS could make the SPs available for free or for a fee in supermarkets, via mail or alike.
The only problem would be the huge holes which must be patched immediately…
This article is ridiculous.
“…it may be appropriate to force you to install Microsoft patches or updates, and if that breaks your existing applications, well, it’s for your own good…”
Gee, ya think? So what? Big deal. This stuff happens all the time. Who would be crazy enough to not upgrade to the latest version of, say, Apache, if they are running a version of Apache with a root exploit? Even if the upgrade means you’ll have to change a few things around… hey buddy, it’s your system, not mine. No software is secure, the only hope we have is keeping it up to date.
Typical MS bashing article formula:
– start with a quote, prefereably by Bill Gates
– make sure to take the quote’s meaning out of context
– make extreme generalizations of quote
– mention “desktop monopoly”
– under no circumstances at all should you ever back up your statements with facts (this is important)
– if you must reference other articles, make sure they come from your site since only your people know what is really happening and everyone else isn’t to be trusted
– make sure to present no new information at all in the article
Extra points for coming up with great statements such as “With Bill Gates firmly grasping the homeland-security steering wheel, you’re probably feeling better already.”
Perhaps it is because I don’t subscribe to sensationalist journalism, but picking on Microsoft just because it is Microsoft isn’t good journalistic integrity. Oh well.
“Seriously, the day I can run Photoshop on Linux is the day i’ll switch for good.”
I’m with you there, except in my case, replace Photoshop (I don’t use it) with about a dozen other apps that need to be ported, and I’ll be all set!
As for the forced updates, forget about it! If somebody doesn’t want to keep their system updated, they shouldn’t have to. Let them leave their system wide open, get hacked, and I’ll bet you they’ll be a little more careful next time
I’m not so sure that these Windows viruses/worms going full blast will last forever, as eventually a person is going to get nailed by one and just like getting your car stolen or your house broken into, it kind of makes you think ….
there are already photoshop clones available for linux, GIMP and Blender. Have a look at those, and then get linux
I don’t agree with you Adam.
– An upgrade of Apache would probably not break another app.
– If it would break another app, the developers of that app could change is so it is ‘unbroken’.
– If the app isn’t developed anymore you can unbreak it yourself or pay someone to fix it.
If proprietary software gets broken, you just can’t get it fixed.
I forced myself to an update and am now free from viruses more so than ever. I switched to linux!
I too don’t agree with you Adam. I think that would be the LAST thing a company would want to do. MS is talking about EVERY patch and update, which aren’t always going to be related to security. Plus a lot of the time some companies may NOT know about the patch until it hits and then find out from angry customers that they software doesn’t work with the new patch. Look at what happened to NT 4.0 SP5 (I think it was 5, it’s been a while): there were some serious flaws in it and they had to release a SP5″A” with the proper fixes.
I’m a very new Linux user. I haven’t taken the plunge but Windows has more of what I want at the moment (unless someone can point me to a relatively headache free multimedia installation that allows me to listen to Live365 and watch streaming video, then I’m switched). Though the more of this stuff I see, the less I am inclined to use Windows as my Primary OS. MS, you own the OS, but MY data is on MY hard drive and I should have the right to choose to download a patch or not that MAY damage the software I use that in turn MAY damage the data I own.
No. Microsoft / USA / FBI not is Trustworthy.
They wont force you to update your software. You’ve already given them permision to place any software on your system they want to. Don’t you read the licence when you installed/updated your system? Next time read the license before just clicking OK.
I’ll grant you that the article was cheap in how it bashed MS. I was hoping they’d reference more official sources.
On your upgrade comment though; I couldn’t disagree more. I’m responsible for a piece of software (amongst other things). If I were to upgrade it, I’d might have to upgrade tens of thousands of customers. Actually, multiple third party vendors would have to upgrade those customers. All this would require development and certification with even more third party vendors. What seems like a simple upgrade has the potential of taking months and costing millions of dollars. If we don’t take the time to do it right, multi-billion dollar businesses would come to a screeching halt.
We’re not talking about not being able to surf the web. We’re talking about serious impact the the well being of hundreds of thousands of people. Spend a few years in my shoes and you’d never say “big deal?” about an upgrade.