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OT but I have to say that the amount of Apple apologists in these comments is mind blowing. HN reader of all people should be the ones urging Apple to issue a f

by po1nter 12y ago

OT but I have to say that the amount of Apple apologists in these comments is mind blowing. HN reader of all people should be the ones urging Apple to issue a fix for a very serious bug such as this one. Yet many comments here are saying that people should just upgrade while it might solve the problem for some, there are ones who can't upgrade machines at will.

thebouv 12y ago
Same devs who just say "users should just upgrade their browsers" perhaps? If only it were that easy. Yosemite just seems to "break" some things and I've still been waiting it out.
bougiefever 12y ago
Hey, at least there weren't any of the 'Well, I don't care if anyone sees all my boring details anyway' variety. At least people are beginning to understand the most basic implications of loss of privacy.
rdudek 12y ago
I have to agree. I have an older macbook that if I upgrade to another above Snow Leopard, it runs pretty slow. But I do understand that support for older devices has to stop at some point.
graeme 12y ago
Yeah, this is scandalous. I've heard enough things about Yosemite bugs that I held off upgrading, especially as I want to avoid software compatibility issues. I hate Apple's new yearly release cycle. There's not enough time to stabilize and improve OS's. This update just rolled out, but it indicates the admin fixes are only for Yosemite: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204659 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204659 How worried should I be about not having updated? There's still a risk I may lose some program compatibility by updating.
- kentonv 12y ago
  Is your mac a server or a multi-user desktop where some users intentionally don't have admin access? If so, you're in trouble. If not, this bug probably doesn't really matter to you. For a single-user desktop machine, realistically, user/root privilege separation doesn't matter, because all your important data is in your home directory and not protected by root privileges anyhow. The root-protected stuff is actually the stuff that's easiest to replace, because it's just a bunch of software that you can re-install. Viruses don't need to infect your software to stay resident; they can just as easily register a login hook without root permissions. (That said, some people will violently disagree with me on this.)
evilduck 12y ago
What apologists? Were the comments deleted or something, because I really don't see anyone defending Apple in this thread.
- baldfat 12y ago
  > Apple's model customer is one who upgrades often. If you want solid support for old products, stick with Microsoft, and accept that their products can be clunkier because of deliberate choices to maintain backwards-compatibility. > To be fair, OS X updates are free and usually run well even on 5+ years old hardware. OS X has kinda gone the way of Chrome, with most users on the newest version. > While this is a significant vulnerability, I don't think the article is correct when it calls it a 'backdoor.' The term backdoor typically implies something that was intentionally left to allow illicit access, and while this is a significant bug, I don't see anything to indicate that's the case here. > Title is a little generous about "hidden", the exploit revolves around API & Framework used to power the parts of the control panel, and its authorization scheme being broken. > Smells like an oversight to me. Some new developer got assigned to implement or tweak the SSH enabling switch (or whatever), and this was their solution, which never got reviewed. > Referring to Snow Leopard now not secure > Still pretty much the best OSX. > Among other things upgrading (to 10.10.3) will do, it'll fix the issue in the article.
  - jotux 12y ago
    Do you legitimately see these comments are being apologetic towards apple?
    - baldfat 12y ago
      > To be fair, OS X updates are free and usually run well even on 5+ years old hardware. OS X has kinda gone the way of Chrome, with most users on the newest version.
      - jotux 12y ago
        Which was a response to: >Apple's model customer is one who upgrades often. If you want solid support for old products, stick with Microsoft, and accept that their products can be clunkier because of deliberate choices to maintain backwards-compatibility. He was rebutting that regular upgrades are somehow a type of revenue to apple since they are free and work on some previous generation hardware. How is that apologetic?
jotux 12y ago
>many comments here are saying that people should just upgrade I don't see a single comment in this thread that says that.
bdcravens 12y ago
Yeah, imagine if the same was true of say, Rails 4.0.
borgia 12y ago
>Yet many comments here are saying that people should just upgrade while it might solve the problem for some, there are ones who can't upgrade machines at will. It's dumbfounding how people here are simply shrugging this off and posting "So what? Just upgrade. Simples" type comments. This isn't acceptable. I know many people in creative industries alone who can't just upgrade immediately any time something comes out as they've to wait for their products to support the newer version. Similarly there are many who are using Macs in work whose corporate policies won't let them simply update immediately. Then there's many who don't immediately upgrade versions as a point while bugs/other issues in that new version are found and resolved. It's not an acceptable answer whatsoever.
- jotux 12y ago
  >It's dumbfounding how people here are simply shrugging this off and posting "So what? Just upgrade. Simples" type comments. Zero people is dumbfounding to you? Because that's how many people are saying that.
  - pXMzR2A 12y ago
    > Zero people Reread the comments.
    - jotux 12y ago
      Please link to a comment that says something remotely close to, "So what? Just upgrade. Simples"
      - pXMzR2A 12y ago
        https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9348257 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9348257 The second comment from the top when you go to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9347669 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9347669
        jotux 12y ago
rewqfdsa 12y ago
po1nter, We do not allow developers to criticize our revolutionary and beautiful platform. Good luck ever getting an app featured again. - Apple
- 72deluxe 12y ago
  Haha reminds me of the article from the other week: http://www.elischiff.com/blog/2015/3/24/fear-of-apple http://www.elischiff.com/blog/2015/3/24/fear-of-apple

by po1nter 12y ago

thebouv 12y ago

Same devs who just say "users should just upgrade their browsers" perhaps? If only it were that easy. Yosemite just seems to "break" some things and I've still been waiting it out.

bougiefever 12y ago

Hey, at least there weren't any of the 'Well, I don't care if anyone sees all my boring details anyway' variety. At least people are beginning to understand the most basic implications of loss of privacy.

rdudek 12y ago

I have to agree. I have an older macbook that if I upgrade to another above Snow Leopard, it runs pretty slow. But I do understand that support for older devices has to stop at some point.

graeme 12y ago

Yeah, this is scandalous. I've heard enough things about Yosemite bugs that I held off upgrading, especially as I want to avoid software compatibility issues. I hate Apple's new yearly release cycle. There's not enough time to stabilize and improve OS's. This update just rolled out, but it indicates the admin fixes are only for Yosemite: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204659 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204659 How worried should I be about not having updated? There's still a risk I may lose some program compatibility by updating.

kentonv 12y ago
Is your mac a server or a multi-user desktop where some users intentionally don't have admin access? If so, you're in trouble. If not, this bug probably doesn't really matter to you. For a single-user desktop machine, realistically, user/root privilege separation doesn't matter, because all your important data is in your home directory and not protected by root privileges anyhow. The root-protected stuff is actually the stuff that's easiest to replace, because it's just a bunch of software that you can re-install. Viruses don't need to infect your software to stay resident; they can just as easily register a login hook without root permissions. (That said, some people will violently disagree with me on this.)

evilduck 12y ago

What apologists? Were the comments deleted or something, because I really don't see anyone defending Apple in this thread.

baldfat 12y ago
> Apple's model customer is one who upgrades often. If you want solid support for old products, stick with Microsoft, and accept that their products can be clunkier because of deliberate choices to maintain backwards-compatibility. > To be fair, OS X updates are free and usually run well even on 5+ years old hardware. OS X has kinda gone the way of Chrome, with most users on the newest version. > While this is a significant vulnerability, I don't think the article is correct when it calls it a 'backdoor.' The term backdoor typically implies something that was intentionally left to allow illicit access, and while this is a significant bug, I don't see anything to indicate that's the case here. > Title is a little generous about "hidden", the exploit revolves around API & Framework used to power the parts of the control panel, and its authorization scheme being broken. > Smells like an oversight to me. Some new developer got assigned to implement or tweak the SSH enabling switch (or whatever), and this was their solution, which never got reviewed. > Referring to Snow Leopard now not secure > Still pretty much the best OSX. > Among other things upgrading (to 10.10.3) will do, it'll fix the issue in the article.
- jotux 12y ago
  Do you legitimately see these comments are being apologetic towards apple?
  - baldfat 12y ago
    > To be fair, OS X updates are free and usually run well even on 5+ years old hardware. OS X has kinda gone the way of Chrome, with most users on the newest version.
    - jotux 12y ago
      Which was a response to: >Apple's model customer is one who upgrades often. If you want solid support for old products, stick with Microsoft, and accept that their products can be clunkier because of deliberate choices to maintain backwards-compatibility. He was rebutting that regular upgrades are somehow a type of revenue to apple since they are free and work on some previous generation hardware. How is that apologetic?

jotux 12y ago

>many comments here are saying that people should just upgrade I don't see a single comment in this thread that says that.

bdcravens 12y ago

Yeah, imagine if the same was true of say, Rails 4.0.

borgia 12y ago

>Yet many comments here are saying that people should just upgrade while it might solve the problem for some, there are ones who can't upgrade machines at will. It's dumbfounding how people here are simply shrugging this off and posting "So what? Just upgrade. Simples" type comments. This isn't acceptable. I know many people in creative industries alone who can't just upgrade immediately any time something comes out as they've to wait for their products to support the newer version. Similarly there are many who are using Macs in work whose corporate policies won't let them simply update immediately. Then there's many who don't immediately upgrade versions as a point while bugs/other issues in that new version are found and resolved. It's not an acceptable answer whatsoever.

jotux 12y ago
>It's dumbfounding how people here are simply shrugging this off and posting "So what? Just upgrade. Simples" type comments. Zero people is dumbfounding to you? Because that's how many people are saying that.
- pXMzR2A 12y ago
  > Zero people Reread the comments.
  - jotux 12y ago
    Please link to a comment that says something remotely close to, "So what? Just upgrade. Simples"
    - pXMzR2A 12y ago
      https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9348257 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9348257 The second comment from the top when you go to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9347669 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9347669
      - jotux 12y ago

rewqfdsa 12y ago

po1nter, We do not allow developers to criticize our revolutionary and beautiful platform. Good luck ever getting an app featured again. - Apple

72deluxe 12y ago
Haha reminds me of the article from the other week: http://www.elischiff.com/blog/2015/3/24/fear-of-apple http://www.elischiff.com/blog/2015/3/24/fear-of-apple