Forum Moderators: phranque
nearly 70 percent of European companies think that the number of viruses and worms they'll face in 2014 will be double that of today. And almost 80 percent believe that the payloads carried by viruses will be even more destructive than they are now.The bleak outlook comes at a time when security is the hottest topic in IT, as Microsoft puts the brakes on Longhorn to devote time and money to cleaning up problems in Windows XP, and as one outbreak after another drives security managers up the wall.
[pcworld.com...]
The seemingly endless spate of worm infestations over the last year has left something even more troubling in its wake: armies of zombie PCs that can be used to send spam, attack Web sites, and generally wreak havoc over the Internet.Worms such as Sobig, MyDoom, and Bagle have been identified as containing malicious code (malware) that allows remote attackers to take over infected machines--while their victims are blithely oblivious.
I do agree though that having the browser as part of the OS is a majorly bad idea. But even in doing that people are still buying Windows and buying PC's with Windows every day - there are more people coming online with Windows every day than switching to Linux.
Linux will never be serious competition for Windows in the desktop market unless they do a complete image change. Any moron can install Windows from a CD and start using it immediately, even if they've never used a computer before in their life because Windows TELLS THEM WHAT TO DO. Most Windows users wouldn't even be able to get through a Linux installation without reading a dictionary of PC industry terms and acronyms first... they have no idea what a partition or mounting point or boot loader is. Even if they could get it installed using automatic partitioning how long would it take them to configure their wireless network card or download updates or any of that stuff? I bet they wouldn't even be able to install programs without reading the manuals.
Linux, even with a GUI, isn't user friendly and is confusing even to experienced Windows users. If they actually want to start pushing Windows out of the desktop market they need to make a lot of changes to the UI. Anyone who says it isn't needs to think back to when they first started using Linux compared to when they first started using Windows. It doesn't matter how much "better" the operating system is on points that the majority doesn't understand or doesn't care about, it all comes down three things:
(1) Can the novice user figure out how to do what they want without getting frustrated?
(2) Can we get this in their hands?
(3) Will they be able to run the programs they want?
Anyone remember BeOS? BeOS was a *GREAT* operating system - in my opinion it was far superior to Windows, Linux, and MacOS for the typical desktop user. Number one was covered - it was easy to set up, easy to use, more stable, just all around better. But they bombed on number two and 3 ... very few people even HEARD about BeOS, and those who did found it annoying that there was virtually NO third party support ... there was Opera. That's about it. If BeOS had the third party support that Linux has right now, it would have been serious competition for Windows. Linux isn't there and never will be unless they make the UI more idiot-friendly.
As an employer I don't have time to train my employees on how to use a new operating system, nor do I have any desire to re-write a ton of custom applications to work with Linux, so I'll continue to buy Windows. I haven't ever been hacked or had any security problems because, as I said before, security is a pro-active measure regardless of the operating system. In a properly secured network you would never even be able to FIGURE OUT what the OS is from the outside.
