Before You Start Hammering Microsoft, Check the Mirror First!
The feckless pundits are intent on gleefully and repeatedly regurgitating every bad thing they hear about Microsoft Vista and Internet Explorer 7. That flaws exist in all operating systems and all web browsers is a thoroughly proven fact. That a million hackers, crackers and tech 'reporters' make a living out of gunning for Microsoft products is also a fact. Let those same gunners turn their sights to Mac OS X, Linux and Firefox to see how well those products hold up under the unrelenting attack of a million predators intent on rending the software into its component bits & bytes. The aftermath, I predict, would be a bloody mess.
As long as Apple remains a strong but nonetheless minority player in the operating system and software market, along with Firefox and Linux on the home and business desktop, fat and sassy Microsoft will remain safely at the top of the heap, its big ass presented for all and sundry to kick as hard as they can.
The media pundits and tech columnists don't give a sweet darn about over-the-top reportage. No matter how arcane and byzantine the steps needed to actually execute or take advantage of a flaw in Microsoft's products, they'll trumpet even theoretical hints of trouble to the heavens. Shame on all of them for their hyena-like howling and heedless predation. Few of them inform the public so much as they blithely ignore the fact that an uncomfortably large majority of so-called security flaws in Internet Explorer requires the active participation of a user who is visiting an illicit web site.
By all means listen to the tech writers and doom-saying podcasters predicitng dire problems if you even think about upgrading to Windows Vista or Internet Explorer 7. Instead, install Linux and Firefox, then hit the warez and porn sites with a will. Go ahead — enjoy if you can. I'll have a nice, soft crying towel ready when you show up at the repair counter in your local computer store.
It's not Microsoft. It's not Internet Explorer. It's not Mac OS X. It's not Firefox. It's not Linux.
It's you. It's us. Stop expecting Microsoft and a bunch of programmers you never met, working at a thousand different software companies, to protect you from yourself. When did we all become so stupid and irresponsible? When did we start believing that habituating porn sites or illegally downloading software or cracked serial numbers from warez sites or opening e-mail attachments from complete strangers or clicking on web popups offering free everything might not have hidden consequences? Good grief! Smarten up in 2007.
As long as Apple remains a strong but nonetheless minority player in the operating system and software market, along with Firefox and Linux on the home and business desktop, fat and sassy Microsoft will remain safely at the top of the heap, its big ass presented for all and sundry to kick as hard as they can.
The media pundits and tech columnists don't give a sweet darn about over-the-top reportage. No matter how arcane and byzantine the steps needed to actually execute or take advantage of a flaw in Microsoft's products, they'll trumpet even theoretical hints of trouble to the heavens. Shame on all of them for their hyena-like howling and heedless predation. Few of them inform the public so much as they blithely ignore the fact that an uncomfortably large majority of so-called security flaws in Internet Explorer requires the active participation of a user who is visiting an illicit web site.
By all means listen to the tech writers and doom-saying podcasters predicitng dire problems if you even think about upgrading to Windows Vista or Internet Explorer 7. Instead, install Linux and Firefox, then hit the warez and porn sites with a will. Go ahead — enjoy if you can. I'll have a nice, soft crying towel ready when you show up at the repair counter in your local computer store.
It's not Microsoft. It's not Internet Explorer. It's not Mac OS X. It's not Firefox. It's not Linux.
It's you. It's us. Stop expecting Microsoft and a bunch of programmers you never met, working at a thousand different software companies, to protect you from yourself. When did we all become so stupid and irresponsible? When did we start believing that habituating porn sites or illegally downloading software or cracked serial numbers from warez sites or opening e-mail attachments from complete strangers or clicking on web popups offering free everything might not have hidden consequences? Good grief! Smarten up in 2007.
posted by Howard Carson, Managing Editor @ 10:58 AM
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