6 ms·

It's a flaw. A bad one. But things like this get patched every day. Only an idiot would believe there aren't plenty of other undiscovered security flaws in w

It's a flaw. A bad one. But things like this get patched every day. Only an idiot would believe there aren't plenty of other undiscovered security flaws in windows, or any other OS. What matters is whether this flaw was ever exploited, whether it was ever spotted in the wild, before it was patched. I am more than happy to criticize microsoft. I truly hate windows and everything it represents. But the system seems to have worked here. The bug was reported and patched before it became a widespread issue. I'll save my venom for those all-to-common days where Microsoft fails to address a problem in a timely manner. (or also Apple, plenty of venom for them too.)

sillysaurus3 12y ago
I am more than happy to criticize microsoft. I truly hate windows and everything it represents. Why's that? I'm hoping for an in-depth substantive analysis of the factors leading you to come to such a conclusion, but I don't want to take up a bunch of your time or make it seem like I'm asking you to justify anything.
- sandworm 12y ago
  Windows is a proprietary ecosystem where choices are made for the benefit of microsoft's shareholders and nobody else. It is full of compromise. From DRM to hamstrung "student" versions, Windows is not your friend. Microsoft's business practices, specifically the way they market windows on oem machines, are also downright deceptive. I never use windows at home but, because I buy laptops, I actually own many windows licenses. Those "sales" are part of Microsoft's bottom line and are pitched to shareholders as if I am actually using microsoft products. I have never met anyone who truly likes windows. They tolerate it. They are used to it. But they never say "Yes, I am happy with this new version. The upgrade sure made my life easier!" I'd rather have my wisdom teeth re-installed and re-pulled than be part of another office transitioning from one version of windows to another. I gave up on windows when, after buying a little netbook, I decided to give it a chance. I plugged in an MS-brand optical mouse and was told that windows needed to connect to the internet to download the driver to run the mouse. That was windows's last breath on any of my personal machines. And death to docx.
  - robin_reala 12y ago
    It’s easy enough to buy laptops without Windows licences https://system76.com/ https://system76.com/ https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/ https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/ https://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m3800-workstation/pd https://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m3800-workstati...
  - ux-app 12y ago
    > I have never met anyone who truly likes windows. I like windows.
    - 3D4y0 12y ago
      I'm not sure you qualify, except (of course) he has met you...
      - hyperliner 12y ago
        He should have started with "Nice to meet you."
        sandworm 12y ago
        I'm old enough to believe that meeting on an online forum doesn't qualify 'met'. "I met the President on twitter" doesn't count.
  - 72deluxe 12y ago
    To offer an alternative: I used to have the same "that upgrade DIDN'T make my life easier" with every new version of Fedora that I installed, until GNOME3, which completely removed any trace of productivity that I had. I then ditched desktop Linux. I don't think people enjoy new versions of anything (look at the backlash to Lion since Snow Leopard), there are still vocal complaints about Yosemite in OSX land. My parents like Windows. My brother likes Windows. I use it daily and find it tolerable, like you. But I think it would be naive to say that nobody likes Windows, don't you? Try giving any of my family or my wife my MacBook and see how angry they get in a short space of time.
- spacemanmatt 12y ago
  You don't have to justify that comment to me. I used used Windows since it was a 286-PM DOS program serving as a proof-of-concept, through present. I am so unimpressed with their technical management of a product that should have been mature more than a decade ago.
- realo 12y ago
  Well... CP/M (circa 1974) had a command line prompt like this: "C>" Windows (circa 2014) has a command line prompt like this: "C:>" Basically the same after 40 years. Forty ... years. Same old totally obsolete "drive letter" file system architecture. Although the comparison is to be obviously taken with a grain of salt, it is clear to old-timers like me that Windows has been ultra-conservative with advanced software technologies (modular filesystems, ZFS, etc...) and this has hurt tremendously the evolution of OS software "for the masses". It does not require a big leap of faith to believe that we could have had a far more advanced <consumer> OS if Windows had not existed. Quite a pity.
  - pjc50 12y ago
    Don't get too hung up on the drive letter. It's a bit like saying UNIX is out of date because everything starts as '/'. Besides, the Windows filesystem is actually modular under the covers. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn641617%28v=vs.85%29.aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn... And Windows CE is (mostly) source-compatible and has no drive letters. You can have filesystem drivers, filesystem filter drivers, and pseudo-filesystems. It's just that the documentation is buried in the DDK. And there isn't a "community" of users for Windows in the way there is for Open Source.
    - zaroth 12y ago
      To the extent Microsoft keeps giving us fun things to play with, we will see more and more hackers doing fun things with Microsoft. That's the cool thing, we don't really have a huge attachment or loyalty over any reasonable time frame. We use the best tools for the job. There's plenty of room for Microsoft to start providing incredible value to its developers. I'm looking forward to containers on Windows. I'm looking forward to faster upgrades and better package management. I'm looking forward to seeing the best they can do. There's a lot of talent in there somewhere, I hope they let us see it.
    - rhengles 12y ago
      This is my biggest difficulty with * nix. With drive letters, I know for a fact that Windows is installed on C: and I can format all the other volumes. But in what volume is the system installed on a * nix?
SixSigma 12y ago
Your invective dismisses your analysis as always subjective.
higherpurpose 12y ago
Considering Microsoft doesn't seem to fix some bugs even within 3 months of finding out about them (see the Project Zero vs Microsoft case), and that Microsoft's policy is to first announce the NSA and other government agencies about bugs in Windows before it gets a chance to fix them, then hell yes it's being exploited. http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/06/nsa-gets-early-access-to-zero-day-data-from-microsoft-others/ http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/06/nsa-gets-early-acces...
- spacemanmatt 12y ago
  They love the taste of boot leather. What can I say.

sillysaurus3 12y ago

I am more than happy to criticize microsoft. I truly hate windows and everything it represents. Why's that? I'm hoping for an in-depth substantive analysis of the factors leading you to come to such a conclusion, but I don't want to take up a bunch of your time or make it seem like I'm asking you to justify anything.

sandworm 12y ago
Windows is a proprietary ecosystem where choices are made for the benefit of microsoft's shareholders and nobody else. It is full of compromise. From DRM to hamstrung "student" versions, Windows is not your friend. Microsoft's business practices, specifically the way they market windows on oem machines, are also downright deceptive. I never use windows at home but, because I buy laptops, I actually own many windows licenses. Those "sales" are part of Microsoft's bottom line and are pitched to shareholders as if I am actually using microsoft products. I have never met anyone who truly likes windows. They tolerate it. They are used to it. But they never say "Yes, I am happy with this new version. The upgrade sure made my life easier!" I'd rather have my wisdom teeth re-installed and re-pulled than be part of another office transitioning from one version of windows to another. I gave up on windows when, after buying a little netbook, I decided to give it a chance. I plugged in an MS-brand optical mouse and was told that windows needed to connect to the internet to download the driver to run the mouse. That was windows's last breath on any of my personal machines. And death to docx.
- robin_reala 12y ago
  It’s easy enough to buy laptops without Windows licences https://system76.com/ https://system76.com/ https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/ https://www.apple.com/macbook-air/ https://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m3800-workstation/pd https://www.dell.com/us/business/p/precision-m3800-workstati...
- ux-app 12y ago
  > I have never met anyone who truly likes windows. I like windows.
  - 3D4y0 12y ago
    I'm not sure you qualify, except (of course) he has met you...
    - hyperliner 12y ago
      He should have started with "Nice to meet you."
      - sandworm 12y ago
        I'm old enough to believe that meeting on an online forum doesn't qualify 'met'. "I met the President on twitter" doesn't count.
- 72deluxe 12y ago
  To offer an alternative: I used to have the same "that upgrade DIDN'T make my life easier" with every new version of Fedora that I installed, until GNOME3, which completely removed any trace of productivity that I had. I then ditched desktop Linux. I don't think people enjoy new versions of anything (look at the backlash to Lion since Snow Leopard), there are still vocal complaints about Yosemite in OSX land. My parents like Windows. My brother likes Windows. I use it daily and find it tolerable, like you. But I think it would be naive to say that nobody likes Windows, don't you? Try giving any of my family or my wife my MacBook and see how angry they get in a short space of time.
spacemanmatt 12y ago
You don't have to justify that comment to me. I used used Windows since it was a 286-PM DOS program serving as a proof-of-concept, through present. I am so unimpressed with their technical management of a product that should have been mature more than a decade ago.
realo 12y ago
Well... CP/M (circa 1974) had a command line prompt like this: "C>" Windows (circa 2014) has a command line prompt like this: "C:>" Basically the same after 40 years. Forty ... years. Same old totally obsolete "drive letter" file system architecture. Although the comparison is to be obviously taken with a grain of salt, it is clear to old-timers like me that Windows has been ultra-conservative with advanced software technologies (modular filesystems, ZFS, etc...) and this has hurt tremendously the evolution of OS software "for the masses". It does not require a big leap of faith to believe that we could have had a far more advanced <consumer> OS if Windows had not existed. Quite a pity.
- pjc50 12y ago
  Don't get too hung up on the drive letter. It's a bit like saying UNIX is out of date because everything starts as '/'. Besides, the Windows filesystem is actually modular under the covers. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn641617%28v=vs.85%29.aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn... And Windows CE is (mostly) source-compatible and has no drive letters. You can have filesystem drivers, filesystem filter drivers, and pseudo-filesystems. It's just that the documentation is buried in the DDK. And there isn't a "community" of users for Windows in the way there is for Open Source.
  - zaroth 12y ago
    To the extent Microsoft keeps giving us fun things to play with, we will see more and more hackers doing fun things with Microsoft. That's the cool thing, we don't really have a huge attachment or loyalty over any reasonable time frame. We use the best tools for the job. There's plenty of room for Microsoft to start providing incredible value to its developers. I'm looking forward to containers on Windows. I'm looking forward to faster upgrades and better package management. I'm looking forward to seeing the best they can do. There's a lot of talent in there somewhere, I hope they let us see it.
  - rhengles 12y ago
    This is my biggest difficulty with * nix. With drive letters, I know for a fact that Windows is installed on C: and I can format all the other volumes. But in what volume is the system installed on a * nix?

SixSigma 12y ago

Your invective dismisses your analysis as always subjective.

higherpurpose 12y ago

Considering Microsoft doesn't seem to fix some bugs even within 3 months of finding out about them (see the Project Zero vs Microsoft case), and that Microsoft's policy is to first announce the NSA and other government agencies about bugs in Windows before it gets a chance to fix them, then hell yes it's being exploited. http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/06/nsa-gets-early-access-to-zero-day-data-from-microsoft-others/ http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/06/nsa-gets-early-acces...

spacemanmatt 12y ago
They love the taste of boot leather. What can I say.