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1. Comment - Dell changes its Windows vs. Linux netbook strategy, plans new subsidized model

   (May 15, 2009 - 9:13 AM)

   Reading over the EULA that comes with Windows, there's no use "crying to Bill" for Windows users either. It explicitly holds Microsoft harmless for any damages caused directly or indirectly by their product.
   
   Linux is more secure, but this is hardly because of obscurity. The bulk of publicly-accessable webservers in use today are running Apache on Linux. Those are targets with public IP addresses and an always-on connection--prime targets for worms--yet they are the least commonly infected, with percentages well below those of IIS servers.
   
   Linux is more secure because of three primary things--a clear division between users and administrators (whereas Windows is built with the assumption that the user will be the administrator), it lacks hooks in kernelspace that Microsoft built in to give its additional products a performance edge over those of competitors (which make Windows as a whole vulnerable to a user's actions, even if the user doesn't have admin privileges), and finally because of code transparency--because code is published rather than hidden, it is publicly scrutinized and patched BEFORE it is released into production.
   
   So I'm sorry, Sturgess...I actually feel sorry for people that pay top dollar for a more vulnerable OS, especially when it's guaranteed that it will ultimately fail and have to be replaced by a more costly "new" version later on. Add the fact that you actually have to purchase antivirus and spyware removers--to buy software to keep using the software you already bought--and you've added insult to injury. You can get free antivirus software both free or from commercial sources (like Kasperski) for Linux, but truth be told it's not needed.
   
   So if you're, as you say, crying to Bill because your bank account has been emptied, I doubt he'll care--he has his cash out of the deal, and a nasty clause in the EULA that holds him harmless for the rest. He also won't care if you're infected (without a credit card number), if you can't use the documents you wrote because they made their formats incompatible with previous versions, or if Windows shuts down because it thinks it's a pirated copy (even though you installed it yourself and have the receipts, license, and box).
   
   Get the facts: Read the EULA.