Re: Internet gateway
From: ge0rge (ge0rge_at_privacy.net)
Date: 11/15/05
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Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 20:55:25 +0100
James Knott wrote:
> ge0rge wrote:
>
>
>>hmm... I am not surprised. But such potential threats are not going to
>>deter big enterprises or, for that matter, ordinary end users off windows.
>>
>
> Well, if crappy performance won't make users think again, I suppose security
> risks won't either. I've just started supporting a large customer that's
> running Windows. One of the things that the help desk people have to do,
> is determine how long a computer has been up, when a user calls with a
> problem. If it's been running a week, the first thing they're expected to
> do, is reboot. I have never heard of that being a fix in Linux, Unix,
> Netware or OS/2. My firewall never gets rebooted, unless I'm doing
> something that requires rebooting. The only software change that requires
> that, is replacing the kernel. My previous firewall ran continuously for
> over two years, before I shut it down, when I replaced it with my current
> FW.
>
>
>
>>At the end of the day, I think economics will be the determining factor
>>- enduser/enterprise licences or ever-increasing maintenance costs - not
>>weaknesses in the software.
>
>
> Maintenance costs are much higher for Windows, particularly when you factor
> in lost productivity. Yet people are so used to the problems it brings,
> that they have no concept of reliable computing. I have worked with
> minicomputers, Netware, OS/2 and Linux, in addition to most versions of
> Windows. I can tell you from plenty of experience that Windows is not a
> stable or reliable OS. I can tell you from that experience that Windows
> will often get so fscked up through usage, that a reinstall is necessary.
> I have never seen that with any other OS I've worked with.
>
I think the discussion has moved away from my initial query which was
... what is the benefit of running a firewall on 'most windows machines
where there is no servers and the machine is probably not connected to
any network except for the connection to the ISP'? My point (if I was
even trying to make one) was that a good anti-virus and
antispam/anti-adware are just as effective and adequate for ordinary users.
My challenge (more of a query really) was for a cogent and well argued
explanation - What is the need for a firewall? as I don't think it adds
any extra security to such 'commonly configured' machines except to give
a false sense of security and a feel-good factor to be able to say when
the OS fails '...fancy that! This virus was really powerful. It broke
my machine even when it was protetcted by a firewall'.
As an aside, I feel I am being put/pushed in a position to defend MS ...
as if I had said what a wonderful OS it was. I don't think my saying I
trust MS should be taken out of context. What I meant by that is I trust
MS to take measures insofar that it will try to remedy the defects in
its products when bad publicity is causing harm to its reputation (OK
below zero in some circles!) and affecting its sales figures. Whether
such measure includes the proverbial solution - upgrade to the latest
and greatest version - is irrelevant. I hear this from other companies
as well ... IBM, Novell, Sun including RedHat, SuSE and Mandriva. So I
will share my sceptical laugh equally amongst all vendors.
-- The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. -- William Shakespeare, "The Merchant of Venice"
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