[WEB4LIB] IE 6.0 Problems & Product Lifecycle

[Daniel Messer]

Hey all!

    This is in reply to both Diane's post about IE 6.0 Problems and Mary's
post about Windows Desktop Product Life cycles:

    First off, playing devil's advocate here, from what the article on
C|NET says, Sun took MS to court to prevent them from including new
versions of Java in MSIE. To which MS dropped Java support all together.
My question is, what's the problem? If MS is not allowed to include Java
updates because Sun sued them, then all they could do is ship older
versions of Java support. From a business standpoint, that's not a very
good deal for any customer. As upgrades go, Microsoft's product would be
less compatible and less reliable and the market trudged onward and such
problems will easily ruin a product's reputation. It would be better to
just drop it all together. In a way Sun asked for it. They cried foul, and
MS responded in true, cold business style: "If we can't have it all, then
we don't want it, period."
    That said, my true opinion is that every time Microsoft updates IE for
"security reasons" I have a good chuckle and a Singapore Sling with the
knowledge they've done little to nothing to ever update the security on
their other products. Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express are just as
insecure as they always were and a good percentage of the viri out there
target flaws in Outlook. The Code Red virus targets a security flaw in
IIS. Sure MS released a patch for it ASAP, and then didn't even bother to
patch their own systems. Both the Windows Update page and Hotmail had to
be taken down for a while because of Code Red infiltrating their unpatched
systems. If a company designs a security patch and then doesn't even use
it on their own servers, I question not only the integrity of the patch,
but the overall competence of the company.
    But then again, what should one expect of a company that astroturfs
its "grassroots movement"? That's right, in true Huey Long style, the
Attorney General of Utah has been receiving letters from people who are
dead, fake signatures, and a few from cities that don't exist, like
Tucson, Utah. For more info, see:

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/08/23/127250&mode=thread
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/134332634_microlob23.html

    I'm not going to go into some big anti-Microsoft rant. Such a thing is
pointless because Bill Gates and his goons could care less what I have to
say about them. But if you're fed up with Microsoft's monopolistic
tactics, flagrant disrespect for the law, flagrant disrespect for ethics,
threats to end support on the most popular OSes it offers, and teaming up
with the BSA to sell licenses to people who don't need them: I offer a
free alternative.

www.debian.org
www.linux.org

    Microsoft offers you high expense, hassles, poor products, worse
security, and no stability. You feel good if your NT server is up for two
weeks straight without a crash. Or you can get something absolutely free,
secure, global support, and extremely stable. Notice I didn't say "hassle
free." Linux is NOT hassle free. But then again, you show me a hassle free
OS and I'll show you a salesman with a quota and commission to make.

Sorry for the rant,
Dan

--
Mondai wa
The subject in question...
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Daniel Messer, Technologies Instructor
Yakima Valley Regional Library
102 N 3rd St Yakima, WA 98901
(509) 452-8541 x712
dmesser at yvrls.lib.wa.us
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When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
                     -Hunter S. Thompson