Is it time for everyone to work together. | The Coffeehouse

Togora

Hi All It must be the festive season and the flow of dirnk, hic, that brought this to the fore. I was wondering whether or not it was time for every company in the computer industry should start working together to get rid of spyware, trojans, viruses and the likes for all time. This would, I know, take a mamoth effort from everyone but it must be possible to pull MS, Linux, Apple and all the various software companies and of course the end user together. This is one area that affects everyone and it should not matter whether you like your opposition you are all spending massive sums of money on the same thing. Pool your resources, save money and it just might work. Regards Togora

Togora

Mmm, "Only one of these companies actually has this problem". How many times have I heard this? Did we British not have a Prime Minister who believe that the Germans were no threat? Chamberlain was smart but he took his eye off the ball and didn't believe what he was being told. Or did the majority of Americans not believe they were never going to be a target for terrorism. Yes Microsoft and Windows is the main target "at the moment", but when will it change? Will terrorists always aim for a Windows machine? I doubt it. Will some hacker not want to get through an apple machine, linux server or site, etc. Open your eyes and look at what could happen and not at what will not happen. Implementing procedures now could save you a lot of heart ache in the future. Regards Togora

Kental

It's really not that difficult.

- Windows, and consequently Microsoft, currently dominate.
- People that write Viruses want them to be as widely distributed as possible, so they target Windows machines.
- Because Microsoft is "#1," they are the current target.
- If any flavor of Linux were to overthrow Windows or even represent a viable threat of doing such in the consumer marketplace, new viruses would come out that would easily trample over "Linux security."

In addition, and not suprising, because Microsoft is "#1," they're always targetted and shunned by tech geeks that want to act bad because they don't like the big dogs.

Granted, I'm in a family of sociologists and the pattern is NOT hard to see, but if anyone doubts that if Fedora Core became big and Windows was the little guy trying to fight back, Fedora Core would be shredded just as bad as Windows is, they're pretty sorely mistaken. It's the trend with just about everything in the capitalistic marketplace.

Bottom line: The "Big dog" will always be attacked simply because they're the big dog. Windows isn't the only one with this problem. I submit that Linux is far worse for 90% of the consumer population because 90% of the consumer population are too stupid to configure it correctly and would therefore present MORE of a security risk than if they stuck with Windows and AOL (sorry Cyber Tongue Out

).

Oh... right... so on topic... I think it's a utopian dream, unfortunately. No way in hell you'll get the companies to work together in the manner you're talking about, I think.

Detroit Muscle
Wii!

Togora wrote:
I was wondering whether or not it was time for every company in the computer industry should start working together to get rid of spyware, trojans, viruses and the likes for all time.

The computers my company makes never get spyware or viruses. I think you're overexagerating the problem.

BruceMorgan

When asked why he robbed banks, what did Willy Sutton answer?

"Because that's where the money is." Sure, that's an urban myth, but the principle applies to why Windows is the target of most malware.

Many companies are already working together in many of these areas. For example, there is a lot of industry collaboration in combating spam and phishing attacks.

My second point is that there is a lot of trickiness in the legal aspects. One person's spyware is another person's legitimate business model (ad supported software, anyone?). The laws of various countries need to change to make more of the things most people feel should be illegal actually illegal. That would make it easier to fight malware.

skkipper

good idea, but as you can see; as soon sombody goes on with an idea; people starts shooting each others OS; no use in this era! It's a hopeless case.

ahh, maybe it will happen after vista's launch, when hackers starts attacking Mac and Linux! Tongue Out

TimP

The user is usually the weakpoint on most computers. There's no measure of security that will stop users from running arbitrary malicious programs on Linux, OS X, etc. There may be less damage incurred if they're using a user account instead of root, but I'd be willing to bet if the virus asked for a superuser password, a lot of users would still type it in.

FXEF
I support Open_Source!

TimP wrote:
The user is usually the weakpoint on most computers. There's no measure of security that will stop users from running arbitrary malicious programs on Linux, OS X, etc. There may be less damage incurred if they're using a user account instead of root, but I'd be willing to bet if the virus asked for a superuser password, a lot of users would still type it in.

TimP you hit the nail square on the head. It's the users fault, but 90% of the users are Windows users and let's face it most Windows users are just not playing with a full deck when it comes to computers. Windows users know two things, hit the power button and forward some stupid joke in an email. So far Linux users are true computer enthusiast, not just mouse clickers. I fear this may change if Linux keeps getting easier. Just think what would happen if the general public was turn loose in aircraft. Microsoft has made it too easy for people to use a computer!

Rpgfreak
Pixel artist / C# Beginner

FXEF wrote:
TimP wrote:The user is usually the weakpoint on most computers. There's no measure of security that will stop users from running arbitrary malicious programs on Linux, OS X, etc. There may be less damage incurred if they're using a user account instead of root, but I'd be willing to bet if the virus asked for a superuser password, a lot of users would still type it in.

TimP you hit the nail square on the head. It's the users fault, but 90% of the users are Windows users and let's face it most Windows users are just not playing with a full deck when it comes to computers. Windows users know two things, hit the power button and forward some stupid joke in an email. So far Linux users are true computer enthusiast, not just mouse clickers. I fear this may change if Linux keeps getting easier. Just think what would happen if the general public was turn loose in aircraft. Microsoft has made it too easy for people to use a computer!

Well that's why Windows is so popular by so many peaople around the world I think! It's easy to learn by kids, the elderly, and people who don't have much time to waste on learning every bit about computers so they have a perfect configuration.

Windows also has the most software available..

But I do know what you're talking about, I know a lot of people that just use MSN Messenger, Hotmail and some internet games, and yesterday i told one of them I'm learning how to make software, do you know what he asked me? "What is software?" , I mean, that's not normal, that guy is 19 years old!:O

Togora

Hi All, Could it be that the great man himself, Mr Bill Gates, has been reading my rants! I have just been reading that "Microsoft is pushing companies in the industry to work together in establishing best practices for developing more-secure code". gates also states that "It is our responsibility as industry leaders to provide customers with the information and tools they need to live their personal and professional lives without fear of security or privacy breaches,".. and that "Every computer user should have the right to go online securely, and we are committed to turning this vision into reality." You can read the whole article here http://www.betanews.com/article/Gates_Issues_Call_to_Action_for_Security/1139947890 Let's hope this is the start of something great with the added benefits being felt by all operating system developers as they too raise their game. Regards Togora PS How do you get the formatting to work in this forum?