[Wftl-lug] Vista

[Michael Rudas (computer)]

--- Michael Willems <Michael.Willems at digitalview.com>
wrote:

> So - my brand-new laptop now runs Vista. Why not
> Linux?  It would be helpful for you to give me any
> feedback you have.
...
> So how can I fight this without getting fired?
> Examples would help (not "a library in Utah is using
> Linux", but "GE has switched to Linux" - THT would
> be good. Pointing out the cost would help (Vista is
> buggy, expensive, etc).

There are a couple of VERY good articles pointing out
in excellent and (to my mind) irrefutable detail why
"Windows Vista" is, quite possibly, the worst thing
ever to happen to the modern computing world.  The
first article listed (Gutman) was so damaging that MS
responded to it point-by-point with the worst
legalese-FUD that I have ever seen, which Mr. Gutman
then turned around and deconstructed in such a way as
to show the Microsoft PR-spinners to be
self-contradicting fools (a term I do not use
lightly!).

<http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html>

The second article is by someone who I have had the
pleasure to have encountered several times over the
last several years-- he has been a Guest of Honor at
one of the science fiction conventions I attend, and
has come back regularly ever since: Bruce Schneier. 
To say that Bruce has an excellent reputation as a
computer-security expert is actually to understate the
case-- just Google him, you'll see...

<http://www.forbes.com/security/2007/02/10/microsoft-vista-drm-tech-security-cz_bs_0212vista.html>

It's interesting to note that while both these guys
have excellent security backgrounds, the two articles
approach the subject in slightly different, but
complementary ways-- in that Peter Gutman is an
academic, whereas Bruce is an in-the-trenches security
fighter-- taken together, it's very easy to see why
Vista is so bad.

A "Mac-vs-Windows" advertisement that encapsulates one
aspect of the Vista problem so well has the "User
Access Control" function (UAC) embodied as a Secret
Service-type guard who is constantly asking "Accept or
deny?" to every niggling thing that the user wants to
do.  What good is a feature that every reasonable user
is likely to turn off almost immediately, or worse, is
subject to social engineering attacks (Google "Kevin
Mitnick" especially for more on this type of attack).

This missive wound up being a bit more than I intended
to say about this subject, but ANYTHING I can do to
slow the spread of this worthless heap of "creeping
featurism" and bloatware-- especially those "features"
inserted to the detriment of users (noting that on
comparable hardware, Vista runs 25% slower, on average
than XP)-- is one service I can provide to as many
people as have ears to hear (or eyes to read, I
suppose).

-- Mikey