Hey Hey,
Quote:
nihil
You have to remember that prices in Europe are much higher than the USA, and we have very strong consumer protection laws.
In a lot of places we don't have a "throwaway" society...................we make things last, and would not waste money on upgrading a perfectly functional operating system.
I find it hard to belive that prices are that much higher.. especially when you have the ability to buy from online stores at the same price that Americans and Canadians do... Many Canadians buy from Asia or the USA and pay shipping, customs fees, etc just because it works out cheaper... My ex-roommate's headlights were shipped from Hong Kong... As for a throw away society... that's fine.. you guys reuse.. but at the same time.. it's not ap erfectly functional operating system.. it's an outdated and antiquated operating system.. If you want to be involved with IT or even have technology in your home you have to accept that it's ever changing.. It's like people that bought LCDs in the last couple years.. only 12 of those models are HD-ready... even fewer video cards. you can't expect everything to be supported and work perfectly if you have something that's old.. It's like owning a 30 year old car and complaining that it doesn't have Power Windows, Power Locks, Power Steering, a CD Player and a built in alarm system... it's upgrades.. it happens... get used to it.. or keep living in the past.. Maybe that's why so much of Europe is considered to be the 'old world'.
Quote:
brokencrow
Ain't that the truth. Most home/soho users could care less about security.
How much do you care about security? You secure your computer... What about your home?? I can pick the lock on your door... I can smash a window or cut the glass.. Do you have metal bars up over all the glass and a 2-key locking system on your door where both keys must be turned at the same time and then you have to have a fingerprint scan to get in? Is your door reinforced steal with an alarm system inside the house.. Motion detectors, Video Cameras, etc.. do you have guard dogs patrolling the perimeter? It's the same thing... How about your car... have you ever ran in the convenience store and left a window down.. or the engine running... do you have an alarm.. Will it disable the igition if it's activated or removed? Do you care about security with everything... or only your computer because you know IT... How about banks.. did you investigate your bank.. ensure they were safe and secure.. in Canada I believe bank accounts are only ensured for $100,000 in loses.. do you keep more than that in your account.. Where's the security there..
Quote:
nihil
It is actually even worse than that, they don't even realise that it is an issue or a problem, and that is how it is sold to them. No checklists, no instructions, no advice sheet telling them about security issues at all.
If I buy an automobile I expect to be able to drive it straight out of the showroom, not have to krypton tune the damn engine first? That is how they look on a PC, and how they are encouraged to look on them
Basically, the industry has gotten it wrong. The corporates are going to wipe the crap they have preloaded so they really need not bother apart from testing (not that they seem to be doing much of that these days). Perhaps they should put more effort into what they sell through retail outlets, knowing the customer base they are selling into?
I am certainly too old and too tired to expect any significant change in customer awareness in my lifetime.
You're saying it's Microsofts fault that they run their PCs the way they do?? Microsoft doesn't encourage it.. they have plenty of videos available on proper use of a PC... they give the customer what they want.. it's up to the customer beyond that point. Microsoft has checklists and instructions available on their website and videos offering advice.. so I'm not sure where you found your information on that..
As for the car quote.. You expect to be able to drive it off the lot.. but you also had to pass a test first and study and prove you could drive that car... the car company doesn't do that.. The government does... so maybe the government should do the same with computers.. but again.. it's not Microsoft's fault... As for "krypton tuning the engine" I'd say that'd be like overclocking your computer... how about a more accurate response.. Do you expect your car to have an alarm system (security is what we're talking about)... Most low end cars still don't.. you want an alarm.. you pay extra for it... You want your computer secured properly.. you pay extra to have someone do that..
Again why put more effort into what they sell.. it just drives prices up... why Should i pay more because someone else doesn't know how to use their computer.. the same as why should I pay more for a car with an alarm when I don't want an alarm system... or I could install it myself.. Computers are no different than anything else.. people just hate Microsoft (without a really valid reason) and want to try and get them..
Quote:
brokencrow
I see it ALL the time, nihil. The SOHO client who uses Napster for some office muzac and ends up 0wn3d (that guy was getting 3000 emails every 45 minutes for his computer's part in a DoS attack). Another SOHO who ignores my advice to use Firefox, goes to a gaming site via IE for a little R&R only to get BADLY infected with spyware. Friends who spend hours cleaning up their multi-user Windows computers every month.
Then there's the Apple user. Nary a problem from them. No spyware, no virus infections. They just cruise.
Microsoft: they'll sell you the car, then when the wheels fall off, they'll sell you the lug nuts.
Uses napster and get's owned (btw muzac... come on.. are you 12?).. It's his own fault for trusting napster... it's like people that trust skype.. look at where the creators got their start... You can't blame the OS for that... blame the makers of that software... that's just a completely moot point.
Also what sort of gaming sites is your customer using that they get drive-by spyware installs from it.. and why are they stupid enough to frequent those types of sites... Besides with IE on XP SP2 I can go to astalavista.box.sk and crackz.ru and all the other sites and never have anything installed... That's user stupidity.. As for your friend cleaning their computer.. what do they do to cause these infections??
In my house we have 2 XP Desktops, 2 Ubuntu Laptops, a Ubuntu Desktop and an OS X machine.. the one XP Desktop is my girlfriends.. no spyware, no viruses, no need to spend time cleaning it.. and I never touch it... She's not a big fan of computers.. she uses it as a tool and as a toy.. and she never has a problem with it.. I switched her from norton to AVG but that was about it.. when she had Norton she was going online every year and buying a new subscription.. So what sort of idiot is your friend that they have to spend hours cleaning their computer? The OS is not the problem.. the user is..
Now do you have OS X? OS X has malware, has viruses and has been hacked... The difference is that it isn't a mainstream OS... it's user base is like the linux user base... small.. Everything exists for Windows because you have a better chance of infecting more users... That's the only reason.. I actually get more pop-ups on Safari than I do on IE or Firefox.
And the car/lug nuts point.. Would you care to equalize that.... to justify that comment.. Microsoft provides you with a product... a fairly decent one at that... They then provide you with upgrades and additions to that product free of charge.. You want to look at cars.. think back to the Corsica... a GM.. Look around.. if you see one still on the road.. It will prolly be missing it's gas cap.. or the cap will be open because the latch broke.. the paint will be peeling off or complely peeled off (if it was the blue model).. GM never did anything to fix those problems for their customer... So your car analogy completely sucks...
I'm really getting sick of people ragging on a decent product... Your attempts to insult the product tell me one of a couple things..
1) You're an idiot who can't use the product yourself so you take out your frustration with the product by insulting it.
2) You're surrounded by idiots (see #1) and you take everything you hear at face value and believe their comments.
3) You're a moron...
4) You really have no clue about IT or how the IT world works
5) You just want to be heard.
Peace,
HT