On 11/2/05, STYMA, ROBERT E (ROBERT) <stymar@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > > > Running a system where you need to pay "protection" in order > > to not have > > your shop destroyed or your hard drive broken sounds like a racket to > > me. Most the windows users that I know do not have antivirus > > or spyware > > software on there machines and they are rampant with malware of all > > sorts. There should be protection from these from Microsoft with no > > charge and using an automated new virus definition upgrade. > > I agree, however, it is what it is. People/companies which saw > the flaws in the Microsoft software decided that they could > make a business out of providing workarounds to these flaws. > Being Windows does not get the peer review that Linux does, > there are going to be more design and coding flaws that make it > to the customer. > > > > > For these users to come over to Linux would introduce a large > > number of > > users that run unpatched Linux boxes. There needs to be a system to > > upgrade these systems automatically by default. Linux has the > > possibility to run updating programs in the background and keep the > > common user for desktops unknowingly a reduced risk from > > having patched > > instead of unpatched systems. > > I think you are saying here that the automatic nightly run of yum > in the system-config-services tool should be on by default. That > would generate a lot of discussion on this list. On my machines > I run yum manually and regularly. For non-technical people I help, > I turn the automatic updates on. > > > > > Multimedia is somewhat of an issue for it to not work by > > default. With > > yum and multimedia oriented repositories available now, > > multimedia not > > installed by default is only an initial inconvenience that > > can be dealt > > with. > > > > Jim > > > I will say that multimedia support is getting better and > better. > > Bob Styma > The problem is not only that Windows does not get the same peer review as Linux. If people move to another OS, any other OS, MsAfree and Norton and hundreds of thousands of repair shops will lose business. There is a 'community' interest in having millions of computers run by technically-naive people who are willing to pay to have thier machines maintained. Viruses are not a flaw. Viruses keep the business in business. With the minds the Microsoft hires, they could certainly figure out a way to keep programs from self-installing. They deliberatly created a web browser that lets websites install software without the user knowing. Thats called a feature. As for multimedia support, it certainly is getting better and better. But the fact remains, that it must be installed seperatly from the OS. Dotan Cohen http://technology-sleuth.com/question/how_can_i_be_safe_online.html
