full-disclosure - Re: windows future

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Message-ID: <A00FCFFDEE0FC47E1EF1E5CB@utd65257.utdallas.edu>
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:45:39 +0000
From: Paul Schmehl <pschmehl_lists@...rr.com>
To: full-disclosure@...ts.grok.org.uk
Subject: Re: windows future

--On Friday, August 28, 2009 09:32:45 -0500 lsi <stuart@...erdelix.net> wrote:
>
> The world will awaken from the 20+ year nightmare that was Windows,
> made possible only by manipulative market practices, driven by greed,
> and discover the only reason it was wracked with malware, was because
> it had all its eggs in one basket.
>

That's crazy talk.  I hate Windows as much as the next guy, but there's a 
reason they have such a large market share and it's not *just* manipulative 
market practices.  Most people outside the insular geek world use computers to 
perform tasks for them.  They think of the computer as a tool, and they expect 
it to do the job they want without getting in the way or requiring them to 
learn to count in hex.

When someone else comes up with a system that has excellent graphics, runs 
Flash and other things without complaint, and "just works" without expecting 
them to lift the hood and diagnose problems, doesn't require them to install 
all sorts of "extras" to have a working system *and* is priced competitively 
with Windows, they will buy it.

Macs are competitive with Windows in every category except one; price.  And by 
price I mean the cost of walking into a store and walking out with a working 
system.  Apple's biggest mistake has always been trying to "hoard" the hardware 
market for their OS - the same mistake Sun makes - which drives up the price 
and makes them less competitive.  Unix (really Linux mostly) is getting there 
but still has a ways to go.

I say these things as a hard core Unix user who loves FreeBSD.  There are many 
reasons that I love FreeBSD and use it exclusively when I can, but things like 
making Flash work are not for the faint of heart.

It won't be the malware that will drive people *away* from Windows (if it was 
they would have been driven away long ago), it will be the (dare I say it?) 
user friendliness of a system *and* price competitiveness that will *attract* 
buyers to it.

BTW, your comments about crackers and ecosystems are several years behind.  The 
current "technology" crackers are using to great success is social engineering. 
Actually breaking into systems is almost passe these days.

-- 
Paul Schmehl, Senior Infosec Analyst
As if it wasn't already obvious, my opinions
are my own and not those of my employer.
*******************************************
"It is as useless to argue with those who have
renounced the use of reason as to administer
medication to the dead." Thomas Jefferson

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