Windows Updates for Legal Users Only

[mrdinkel]

As Joe Dirt said,"Its not what you want, its the consumer."

I think that is the way it goes. A lot of microsoft products are used in the corporate discipline, and therefore the end user's needs, level of expertise, and desire to learn a computer are overlooked in order to sell their product to the average Joe out there. Take the "eXPerience" operating System: what do flashy color schemes and a dog that helps you search a file-system do for corporate America?

They also have two seperate editions for this lastest "eXPerience" operating system : Pro and Home. Nuff said

With the way broadband has taken off, the home user that just wants on the Internet, maybe a little (but not advanced, solitaire and SMB clones) gaming, and for all practical purposes, not having to update the computer, I'd say give them a Linux box that does exactly that.

Not many viri are written nor can annihalate a Linux box as can a Windows box. That all leads back to market share, but the point still is valid.

These are my opinions, which are based on my knowledge. Anybody that is willing to provide proof of the negative, I'll listen to and may change my opinion.

 

[Qiranworms]

You're kinda hitting onto my point.

ActiveX is IE's security hole, and it can be easily closed. No other browser has ActiveX, and so this becomes a unique scenario that can easily be dealt with. On top of which, once ActiveX is turned off, IE is very secure...so all these claims that IE is so unsecure, really should be pointed at ActiveX and not IE. The security argument is moot.

While it's the main security hole, it's not the ONLY security hole.
Eliminating it MOSTLY fixes the problem, but not completely. Nothing is 100% secure, and judging by all the patches there are (not all of them ActiveX related), there are plenty of other exploits to be had.

Well, for one, their ignorance isn't effecting you.

Yes it is . I actually make money off fixing the computers of some of those who suffer this ignorance. Not that this affects me negatively...and that is a bit selfish in a way, but hey...I'm still much cheaper than MOST people who offer similar computer services. Besides, making a statement like that is rather self-centered; it's basically saying "it's not my problem, so I don't care. Let them suffer."

Am I making sense? I hope so...I should probably give up for today...I'm tired...

Aren't we all having that problem? :laughing:

But to sort of sum up, when I use Windows, I still choose Firefox over IE. Security aside (even though it isn't an issue to be put aside), I like the browser better. I find it renders faster, it's got a much better plugin system, extensions make it very customisable and as featureful as you want or need it to be, tabbed browsing is one of the most addictive features of a non-IE browser, themes are nice, and pop-up blocking has existed (and works flawlessly) LONG before it was introduced in IE and is offered to users who aren't on XP SP2 for whatever reasons.

 

[OCC Fan]

ahaha, i got a corporate edition microsoft windows xp pro frm singapour last year i don't know if that means its pirated or if it really is a corporate edition. but judging it was from a shack on the side of the street, i dn't think it was bought from microsoft. they took me into the back of the shack and i bought microsoft office with frontpage, and winxp pro for only 10 dollas. i felt like they were gunna hit me across my FACE with a lead pipe or sumtin, those guys were scary. but wtvr i gotta good deal aha.

 

[CyToToXiC]

yea i don't think its real

 

[ShoobieRat]

ahaha, i got a corporate edition microsoft windows xp pro frm singapour last year i don't know if that means its pirated or if it really is a corporate edition. but judging it was from a shack on the side of the street, i dn't think it was bought from microsoft. they took me into the back of the shack and i bought microsoft office with frontpage, and winxp pro for only 10 dollas. i felt like they were gunna hit me across my FACE with a lead pipe or sumtin, those guys were scary. but wtvr i gotta good deal aha.

Ditch it before you get ditched.

Originally posted by qiranworms
While it's the main security hole, it's not the ONLY security hole.
Eliminating it MOSTLY fixes the problem, but not completely. Nothing is 100% secure, and judging by all the patches there are (not all of them ActiveX related), there are plenty of other exploits to be had.

Yeah, that's true...But taking into account the security holes in IE (with ActiveX turned OFF), and comparing them to the security holes in other major browsers, IE ain't so bad. It's the biggest browser out there, so sure it's going to have more things gunning for it, but turn off ActiveX and yer no less secure than the next guy.

So why not say "ActiveX sucks" instead of "IE sucks"? I think it's unfair criticism, personally.

Originally posted by mrdinkel
...maybe a little (but not advanced, solitaire and SMB clones) gaming, and for all practical purposes, not having to update the computer, I'd say give them a Linux box...

Well, for one, the average user is more likely to use Windows because they don't have to know anything really to use it. You ain't gonna really sell any average users on open-source, since most average users don't have a clue about what that even is, and you are going to have a hard time explaining to them why they should upgrade to a platform that makes them wait several months longer for games to come out to them.

Why not just teach people basic computer knowledge, and give them the Windows OS where that's all they need to do everything the average user wants? No one from the statistical majority (average users) is going to want (or know what to do with) open source or the workings of a mechanical OS.

And that's another thing...Users want that nice graphical, smooth interface that Windows (and MacOSX) offers. When is Linux going to come out with its own slick GUI to compete with Windows and stop just emulating everyone else? It's clear Linux knows what people want in a GUI (due to the very-present emulators for the Windows/Mac environment), so when are they going to make their own? The last time I saw a true Linux GUI (about 2 years ago) it was so much like dealing with Windows 3.x I screamed and ran to a Windows machine with an evolved interface.

I think Linux spends too much time dwelling in the dawn of computers, bashing MS, and soap-boxing people away from the future and back to the steam age. Linux is a good product, I'll give it that, but it has a lot of areas to grow into.

Okay, I have to go to bed...*yawn* ^..^

 

[horndude]

http://www.kde.org

you single user OS folks are still missing the point with security, IE is a file manager and a shell even with activeX turned off, which makes it dangerous when hijacked, it also doesnt even confrom to the RFC's LOL, WTFG microsoft...........leave it to a software giant that cant even follow the industry standards

 

[mrdinkel]

www.fluxbox.org also has the windowmanager that came with my build of linux.

 

[Qiranworms]

Why not just teach people basic computer knowledge, and give them the Windows OS where that's all they need to do everything the average user wants? No one from the statistical majority (average users) is going to want (or know what to do with) open source or the workings of a mechanical OS.

I think a better choice would be Mac OS X...you can still teach people basic computer knowledge, and it'll do everything the average user wants. And they won't need to worry about updating their virus scanners and running spyware checks.

The last time I saw a true Linux GUI (about 2 years ago) it was so much like dealing with Windows 3.x I screamed and ran to a Windows machine with an evolved interface.

I think Linux spends too much time dwelling in the dawn of computers, bashing MS, and soap-boxing people away from the future and back to the steam age. Linux is a good product, I'll give it that, but it has a lot of areas to grow into.

First thing, I find my Linux desktop to be far sleeker than Windows is by default...it's true that you have to configure it a bit more to get it that way, but my fonts in Linux are smoother than Windows, my window borders are cleaner and (in my opinion) nicer.

Definitely NOTHING anywhere near Windows 3.x...I don't know what you tried there...


Secondly, there is no one group that controls 'Linux', so who are you referring to that 'spends too much time dwelling in the dawn of computers, etc etc etc'?

How is Linux bringing people "back to the steam age"? Why is it that the top modern supercomputer clusters (which are DEFINITELY not the dawn of computers) almost always run UNIX-based operating systems, often Linux? Why is Windows Server 2003 struggling to retain its market?