[66922] in North American Network Operators' Group
RE: MS is vulnerable
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vivien M.)
Thu Jan 29 12:19:20 2004
From: "Vivien M." <vivienm@dyndns.org>
To: "'Jason Lixfeld'" <jason@lixfeld.ca>
Cc: <doug@nanog.con.com>, <nanog@merit.edu>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 12:14:17 -0500
In-Reply-To: <DE52D5E8-527B-11D8-901A-000A95989E4A@lixfeld.ca>
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On=20
> Behalf Of Jason Lixfeld
> Sent: January 29, 2004 11:55 AM
> To: Vivien M.
> Cc: doug@nanog.con.com; nanog@merit.edu
> Subject: Re: MS is vulnerable
>=20
> Agreed. That's where you educate your mom on why Macs are godly, PCs=20
> running windows are evil and Linux is a little to complex still for=20
> the end user, and bluntly doesn't look as pretty out of the box.
And when she asks why it can't be as simple as buying a microwave or a
washing machine, what do I do?
=20
> If she squaks at the price, you tell her that you get what=20
> you pay for.=20
> How many times has her printer stopped working or she's=20
> been unable to=20
> download her pics or watch some video or a dvd or something else that=20
> XP touts as super easy, and integrated?
My mom still uses Windows Me (yes, I know... I wouldn't recommend
95/98/98SE/Me to anyone, but good luck convincing her to upgrade), and =
it
works fine for her. She even manages to make it stay up for more than a =
few
days, which is more than what I've ever managed to do with the 9X =
family.=20
You're making the assumption here that there are real non-security,
usability benefits to switching to a Mac/OS X. That's not what we're
discussing here, we're talking about security. How can I argue to my mom
that getting a Mac (which would prevent her from running the =
Windoze-only
software she needs for work, FWIW) would let her printer keep working =
when
the only printing problem she's had was caused by clogged print heads? =
You
know, I don't want her to commit me to a mental hospital...=20
> Actually, since I got my first Mac last year, I've been=20
> barking up and=20
> down about how amazing it is. I told everyone I sold every PC I ever=20
> owned because I could do it all on my powerbook. They are=20
> all jealous.=20
> I had XP for my email, visio and word, *nix for my geek=20
> router & perl=20
> stuff, another PC for my audio production stuff. All gone. =20
> All I have=20
> now is a 17" Powerbook. It's all I'll ever need. Well, no -- it's=20
> not. When I need something for music, I'll get a G5. Plain and=20
> simple, I will never own a PC again.
Great. I'm glad that you have the ca$h to make the switch. Some of us,
though, have too much $$$$ invested in a platform to write it off and =
start
over with another platform... especially when the current one meets our
needs.
> It's funny, I went out of town for thanksgiving with my family. When=20
> we got to where we were going, my mom was complaining that=20
> her digital=20
> camera flash was full and she didn't have another one. I=20
> told her that=20
> I could download the pictures to my powerbook and email them to her=20
> later. As I was connecting the camera, she asked "Well,=20
> don't you need=20
> to download and install the softw...." she stopped=20
> mid-sentence as the=20
> Mac found the PowerShot, opened iphoto and proceeded to download the=20
> pictures -- no software needed. She looked Jealous.
WinXP will download pictures from cameras without the software, too. =
Most
camera manufacturers downplay that ability to push their own software,
though.
> When the last big MS virus/worm caused it's major shitstorm, my mom=20
> asked me if I ever get infected with viruses. I said no, I=20
> run a Mac. =20
> They are immune to these viruses. She looked jealous.
Remember, Apple only has 3% market share. If that goes up to 20%, we'll =
see
what happens to their 'secure' reputation...
> It's all about educating the less fortunate :) There is a very fine=20
> line between pay now, save later and save now, pay later. The latter=20
> almost always works out to cost a hell of a lot more than the former=20
> ever would have.
>=20
> (hypothetical) Buy the $12,000.00 (CDN) KIA with no snow=20
> tires, no ABS,=20
> no nothing. Drive somewhere in a snow storm, get stuck going up a=20
> hill, try to back down the hill, get sideswiped by the guy in the=20
> Touareg because he can't see your tiny little $12,000.00 KIA=20
> soap box,=20
> get flung over the guardrail, down the hill and into the valley. Pay=20
> the tow truck to come bail your ass out, pay your insurance=20
> deductible=20
> and the extra rates you are going to ensue because you just wrote off=20
> your car. Add all that up and compare that to the price of a=20
> brand new=20
> Touareg over 10 years. Guess what, your analogy just lost ground :)
And guess what, many people can't afford Touaregs.=20
You came up with an extreme example... And the fact that KIA dealers =
aren't
out of business suggests that real life isn't that extreme. For many =
people
who need a car to go to work and shop for groceries (which the $12K KIA =
will
do just as well as a $170K Mercedes S class), they won't see what the
advantage of a more expensive car is. I don't APPROVE of such attitude,
believe me, and I think anyone who sees a KIA Rio as functionally =
equivalent
to a Mercedes S class ought to go to a mental hospital, but it is a =
COMMON
attitude among people lacking an interest in cars. And, honestly, if the
purpose of a car is to go to work and shop for groceries, isn't the KIA =
Rio
enough, assuming the weather doesn't suck too badly, and a drunk with a
Hummer H2 doesn't decide it'd be fun to crash into you?
Same deal with computers. You, the enlightened, may argue that the $2000 =
Mac
is better in many ways that the $500 eMachines. Your arguments may be
utterly true... But when your mom (if she was like mine) comes back with =
the
"but the $500 computer does everything I want" argument and starts =
saying
that she doesn't need a "luxury" computer, you'll end up in a tight =
spot.
The $2000 Mac may do everything BETTER than the $500 eMachines, just =
like
any [new] car will go to work and shop for groceries BETTER than a Kia =
Rio,
but that "betterness" is unappreciated by the masses. And if you want to
ruin your relationship with your mom over her choice of an OS, well, go
right ahead ;-)
Vivien
--=20
Vivien M.
vivienm@dyndns.org
Assistant System Administrator
Dynamic Network Services, Inc.
http://www.dyndns.org/=20
