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News & ArtsWednesday, June 10, 2009
Tech / Teh Internets Today in Microsoft and Security
Posted by Grant Brissey on Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 2:15 PM
Microsoft has released a record number of patches addressing a total of 31 vulnerabilities, including one "critical hole" in IE 8, which a bunch of nerds reportedly hacked for sport here, and which basically allows "remote code execution if a user views a specifically crafted Web page."
Meanwhile, employees are testing a free anti-virus service (which sort of seems like putting a band-aid on an amputation) that will compete with companies like Symantec Corp and McAfee.
Here is the Microsoft Download Center.
10
It's more important to me that my computer work than that it look pretty. So go ahead and keep your Mac.
11
10: Uhhhh, i've had a mac for 4 years and never gotten any kind of virus or had any system "errors" or whatever bullshiz. Macs are more powerful, more intuitive, work better... and yeah, they're pretty. Win win.
12
11: Uhhhh, I've been using XP and Vista for seven or eight years and never gotten any kind of virus or had any system "errors" or whatever bulshiz.
The reason there aren't as many viruses for Macintosh is the same reason there isn't as much software for Macintosh: hardly anyone uses them, so the demand isn't there. If you're not retarded, it's pretty easy to not compromise your system. Stability-wise, I haven't had Vista or XP crash on me in as long as I can remember; programs may crash, but the OS keeps plugging away.
Macs are far less powerful for their cost, only more intuitive if they're what you're used to, don't really work any better... and yeah, I guess they're pretty, if you like the Mac aesthetic.
The reason there aren't as many viruses for Macintosh is the same reason there isn't as much software for Macintosh: hardly anyone uses them, so the demand isn't there. If you're not retarded, it's pretty easy to not compromise your system. Stability-wise, I haven't had Vista or XP crash on me in as long as I can remember; programs may crash, but the OS keeps plugging away.
Macs are far less powerful for their cost, only more intuitive if they're what you're used to, don't really work any better... and yeah, I guess they're pretty, if you like the Mac aesthetic.
13
I'd just like to point out, I really don't give a shit what kind of computer anyone else uses. Macs are great for people who like Macs. Linux is great for people who like Linux. Neither of them are for me, and I have my reasons.
But it's just annoying as all fuck when stuck-up elistist shitheads insist that [Macintosh|Linux|Whatever] is the best thing since anything and anyone who uses anything else is mentally deficient.
But it's just annoying as all fuck when stuck-up elistist shitheads insist that [Macintosh|Linux|Whatever] is the best thing since anything and anyone who uses anything else is mentally deficient.
14
No, Ben. I used to constantly have to answer the same damn questions about computer viruses and spyware and software updates for my in-laws and my mom. I used to have to fix their computers for them all the fucking time and I got sick of it. I bought them Macs and the problems stopped. Completely.
So no, that's not stuck up and elitist. One is a machine that you plug in and it does what it is supposed to and the other is a freaking Rube Goldberg contraption designed by a bickering committee like something out of Soviet Russia circa 1963 that has to be torn apart and rebuilt every six months.
What's elitist is to act like you have to be a trained IT monkey or have one working for you in order to use a computer.
So no, that's not stuck up and elitist. One is a machine that you plug in and it does what it is supposed to and the other is a freaking Rube Goldberg contraption designed by a bickering committee like something out of Soviet Russia circa 1963 that has to be torn apart and rebuilt every six months.
What's elitist is to act like you have to be a trained IT monkey or have one working for you in order to use a computer.
16
If I got a mac, I'd have to buy all new apple compatible stuff for it, some of which I'm not sure exists.
Sorry, but I'll take the one that 99% of the pop is using, POS or not.
Sorry, but I'll take the one that 99% of the pop is using, POS or not.
17
I really can't make heads or tails of that. You got Macs for your family because they're not techies, and it worked out great. Uh, awesome? "Macs are great for people who like Macs."
It's elitist to act like you have to be a trained IT money to use a computer. Also, you have to tear apart and rebuild a PC every six months (so implicitly you have to be a trained IT monkey to use a PC).
My point all along has been that Macs aren't for me, I don't like using them, I have my reasons, and so it's fucking obnoxious for people to pretend there's no reason to use anything else. Different people have different needs, and it's reasonable for them to use different types of computers.
My secondary point has been that Windows-based PCs get a bum rap for being unreliable when in reality, modern versions of Windows are at least as stable as modern Mac OS's. As I said, since moving to XP, and now in Vista, I literally cannot remember the last time I had the OS crash. I've had programs crash, but that no longer brings the OS down with it. I've had hardware failures crash the OS, but that's outside the OS's control.
This is not to say that it doesn't have its flaws, but in the words of Wes Borg, "every OS sucks." They all have their flaws. For me, Windows has the best strengths and the most easily-mitigated flaws.
(As for tearing apart and rebuilding, I bought a machine in 2001 in which, over the course of six or seven years, I ended up upgrading every component except the case and the floppy drive, and never once had to reinstall Windows.)
It's elitist to act like you have to be a trained IT money to use a computer. Also, you have to tear apart and rebuild a PC every six months (so implicitly you have to be a trained IT monkey to use a PC).
My point all along has been that Macs aren't for me, I don't like using them, I have my reasons, and so it's fucking obnoxious for people to pretend there's no reason to use anything else. Different people have different needs, and it's reasonable for them to use different types of computers.
My secondary point has been that Windows-based PCs get a bum rap for being unreliable when in reality, modern versions of Windows are at least as stable as modern Mac OS's. As I said, since moving to XP, and now in Vista, I literally cannot remember the last time I had the OS crash. I've had programs crash, but that no longer brings the OS down with it. I've had hardware failures crash the OS, but that's outside the OS's control.
This is not to say that it doesn't have its flaws, but in the words of Wes Borg, "every OS sucks." They all have their flaws. For me, Windows has the best strengths and the most easily-mitigated flaws.
(As for tearing apart and rebuilding, I bought a machine in 2001 in which, over the course of six or seven years, I ended up upgrading every component except the case and the floppy drive, and never once had to reinstall Windows.)
18
Mac or PC, nobody cares. But IE8? Not a fucking chance. Why would you want to? What can it possibly do that IE7 or Firefox can't do just as well? Don't answer that, I don't care.
20
I might use a PC if it ran anything (Skitch, Perian, Transmission, Boxee, Photo Booth, iMovie, iTunes native, Safari native). I guess PC's have Firefox and, um, Access? Have fun with that!
21
Look, if you're a techie, and you don't want your relatives making you fix their Win toasters every time you visit and calling you up at 3 am cause they broke em, you make em get a Mac.
And, after a brief couple of calls where they say "is that all?" they stop phoning you.
And, after a brief couple of calls where they say "is that all?" they stop phoning you.
22
people who are bad at computers will be bad at computers under any operating system
this works the other way around too
problems almost always exist between keyboard and chair
this works the other way around too
problems almost always exist between keyboard and chair
23
@20: Never heard of most of those, but from a quick googling, Snipping Tool; I don't know, WinAmp or MPC; uTorrent; Windows Media Center; any number of webcam apps; Windows Movie Maker; anything besides iTunes because iTunes is fucking awful; and Opera or Firefox or Chrome.
Now, let me know when GTA4 (just to pick the first example to come to mind) comes out for Mac. Or Half-Life 2. Or Burnout Paradise. Or Cyrsis. Or Left 4 Dead. Or Team Fortress 2. Hey, at least City of Heroes finally got ported over, that only took four and a half years!
Now, let me know when GTA4 (just to pick the first example to come to mind) comes out for Mac. Or Half-Life 2. Or Burnout Paradise. Or Cyrsis. Or Left 4 Dead. Or Team Fortress 2. Hey, at least City of Heroes finally got ported over, that only took four and a half years!
24
@16, you can get Bootcamp and run Vista (and PC apps) on your Mac. I'm doing that right now, on my Macbook Pro. That said, my Macbook does not like Firefox; the browser crashes all the time on my Vista partition, to the point that I gave up using it (I think it's some kind of weird conflict with the Macbook touchpad thing). Vista occasionally has a hard freeze, too, that I can't seem to track down -- the only solution is to reboot.
@23, City of Heroes runs really smoothly in OSX for me so far, much much better than it did on my home PC. Half-Life2 and Team Fortress run fine in my Vista partition.
I work at a game development studio, and even though we develop for PC and run all our tools and software in Vista, our IT department asks us to avoid using IE at all, due to security issues.
@23, City of Heroes runs really smoothly in OSX for me so far, much much better than it did on my home PC. Half-Life2 and Team Fortress run fine in my Vista partition.
I work at a game development studio, and even though we develop for PC and run all our tools and software in Vista, our IT department asks us to avoid using IE at all, due to security issues.
25
@16, you can get Bootcamp and run Vista (and PC apps) on your Mac. I'm doing that right now, on my Macbook Pro. That said, my Macbook does not like Firefox; the browser crashes all the time on my Vista partition, to the point that I gave up using it (I think it's some kind of weird conflict with the Macbook touchpad thing). Vista occasionally has a hard freeze, too, that I can't seem to track down -- the only solution is to reboot.
@23, City of Heroes runs really smoothly in OSX for me so far, much much better than it did on my home PC. Half-Life2 and Team Fortress run fine in my Vista partition.
I work at a game development studio, and even though we develop for PC and run all our tools and software in Vista, our IT department asks us to avoid using IE at all, due to security issues.
@23, City of Heroes runs really smoothly in OSX for me so far, much much better than it did on my home PC. Half-Life2 and Team Fortress run fine in my Vista partition.
I work at a game development studio, and even though we develop for PC and run all our tools and software in Vista, our IT department asks us to avoid using IE at all, due to security issues.
26
I rarely compare apple vs. non-apple stuff because I really don't give a shit most of the time, but I'll say this for sure, I can't fucking stand itunes. It loads about 8 extra, useless applications into startup. Itunes helper! It helps make itunes start faster! But at the expense of everything else running slower! Dumb! I don't know if apple does that with all their shit (I know adobe has a stupid adobe acrobat-helper too, which I alway disable because I use acrobat, what? once every 3 months?) but I do know that there are TONS of music players that stomp all over itunes, so fuck you apple-shitty-itunes.
And what's with the volume of all my itunes files (what format are they? MP? MPapplehascopyrightedthis.exe?) what's with the volume of all of them being drastically different from song to song.
Ok, rant done, carry on...
And what's with the volume of all my itunes files (what format are they? MP? MPapplehascopyrightedthis.exe?) what's with the volume of all of them being drastically different from song to song.
Ok, rant done, carry on...
27
Oh yippie, a Mac/PC flamewar.
Macs have only a fraction of the software available for the PC. My first computer was a Mac, and the biggest problem I had with it was finding compatible software for it. Stores have about 96% PC software and 4% Mac software. Sure, you can get an emulator I suppose, but what a buggy, complicated pain in the ass... and I assume you can download one for free and not have to pay out the nose for it.
Macs have only a fraction of the software available for the PC. My first computer was a Mac, and the biggest problem I had with it was finding compatible software for it. Stores have about 96% PC software and 4% Mac software. Sure, you can get an emulator I suppose, but what a buggy, complicated pain in the ass... and I assume you can download one for free and not have to pay out the nose for it.
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