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[roseway]

I'm tempted to tell this guy not to mince his words, and to say what he really thinks.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/14510/its_time_to_get_rid_of_windows

[kitz]

 

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However if it was windows bots (DDoS) that took twitter down.. (I think I read somewhere it was probably 2004 exploit)
then can you imagine the users of whose infected machines which targeted twitter....  who obviously cant even be bothered to update their PCs with the latest patches..  or at least install a decent AV..  being able to get to grips with Linux?

The problem? with windows is that it made it easy for non-techies to get to grips with a PC...  and IMHO thats how & why windows captured the market share.   
I know these days there are more user friendly versions of Linux..  but roll back to my introduction to a PC..  I wouldnt have had a clue how to use Linux.
Even back in about 2002 when I first started dabbling with RH I got hugely deterred trying to get it successfully networked.. then mostly because there weren't any drivers for my sound card and I'd have to compile one myself 

We live in a society where people want it NOW and dont/cant be bothered to mess about and learn 

I recall when the bank installed Phillips machines and each person had their own machine...  and how much the bank had to spend on training courses shipping staff out on coaches over a period of months to learn a few CLI based commands for the *nix system.  Different courses were needed depending on what job you did and what you'd need to access. IIRC I had to go on 4 separate ones.

In fact my Manager even sent me on the Managerial one (even though it back then it wasnt my grade)  so that I'd be a backup for him.. because well... lets just say he'd not had much interaction with PCs - despite him being the fastest 2 finger typist Ive ever seen .. and he was quite ok with the old terminals.
If anything went wrong then it would have to be a call out for the Phillips engineer and the branch could be down until the engineer arrived.  In fact that was what sparked my introduction into computing, because I used to ask the engineer what he was doing, and I soon became known in the branch for being able to do some of the basic stuff that may otherwise need a callout. 

A few years later they got rid and installed a windows based environment.. no lengthy courses needed for the staff..  just familiarisation of what and where to click.
Windows marketed an idea well and got into that market just at the right time..  and hence why I feel it is so popular today... despite there now being alternatives.

[roseway]

That guy is a bit of a joke in the Linux world too, but in amongst the ranting there are sometimes a few bits of worthwhile insight. His point about Windows having traded security for ease of use is a fair one. But suggesting that web site designers should try to force better practice by rejecting clients which don't meet their high standards is, to say the least, a bit over the top.

[kitz]

>> in amongst the ranting there are sometimes a few bits of worthwhile insight.

Indeed there are..

>> That guy is a bit of a joke in the Linux world too

ahhh..  wondered why he didn't tell the full story.

Although windows has its flaws, blaming it all on windows is wrong really.  Afterall botnets can infect both Mac and Linux too.
IMO its the users of machines that dont keep their systems up to date, patched and AV'd.  

By tradition users of the other OS's are more tech savy and not likely to be such and easy target... and therefore likely to be more secure. As mentioned there are Linux botnets, theres also other hacks specifically designed to target Linux servers running php/sql etc... but Linux servers normally has a tech whose job it is to keep an eye on the system and  make sure its kept patched.

Windows is the choice of the masses and the home user, many of whom don't have any idea over security.. possibly not even knowing what the real definition of an operating system is and what it does.  Long ago I likened running a PC to like running a car.  You need insurance (an AV/malware protection), but a driving licence before going on to the internet should be mandatory.  

Its a while since I did my dissertation, and things may have changed a little since as website exploits (sitting on linux) and theres more exploitation via p2p.. but the majority of viruses were spread through either email or chat clients such as MSN where trojans had their own SMTP engines and silently in the background attempted to replicate itself to anyone else on your mail list/contact list/from email addresses stored on the PC.

Some pretty basic tutition about handling of mail, not opening unknown/unexpected attachments/executables would be a good start.  
Theres also another big bug bear of mine and thats the disclosure of 3rd party email addresses by using fwd fwds without cleaning up mail and not using BCCs properly.  Even if your careful about who you disclose your email address to, you could still find yourself the target of trojans or spam, just because you send a joke on to someone, who later fwd fwd it and your email address ends up somewhere in someones infected machine.

To a large extent the writers of bots and trojans and viruses specifically target windows.. because many windows users are such an easy target and their trojan stands a much better chance of finding a target where there it can lay undetected for many years.  If it was a trojan from 2004 that is behind this latest bot attack..  could you really imagine so many linux users falling for it and still having it on their PCs.

I'm not saying we are infallible either... In my 12 years on the net, Ive been infected twice.  Both of those were server related.  SQL slammer (not targeting home users and infected within minutes of it being released in the wild) and the other was my fault because I'd not patched my FTP server (no automated updates or notifications).  Both incidents were noticed within minutes of the attack and cleaned up pretty quick... but both of these attacks were specific targets at a higher level and neither were O/S related.

/rant