(criminals,malware) still don't feel like installing Linux?
Yes, gentle readers, we finally have a genuine swear word on this blog, not that namby-pamby "fsck" mis-spelling I trot out when I'm upset, so here goes...
The bastards at Microsoft have sunk to a new low.
If you're running Windows and have auto-update on, and you use firefox (because you know IE is full of holes), this is what you got some time ago:
- a firefox add-on you never asked for, from Microsoft, not from Mozilla
- which installs itself without asking, as part of Windows update
- and won't uninstall without forcing you to go into the registry editor
So -- if you installed firefox because it was more secure than IE -- MS has a plan to make sure FF is as fscked as IE is.
At least on Windows.
And please, for MS apologists: it doesn't matter *what* the fscking extension is actually doing. The fact that MS can
- install something onto a competing product
- without the user's permission, and
- (bonus) make it hard to uninstall without regedit
all adds up to an enormous amount of arrogance. You may have paid for your computer, but you don't actually own it -- they do.
Listen up guys, I've said this before and I'll say this again, loud and clear. AT LEAST ON YOUR HOME MACHINES, PLEASE INSTALL AND USE LINUX!! I'll help -- call me. I'll do anything to help people install and use it.
Some links:
- http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/01/2143218 [this has other links within]
- http://www.robertnyman.com/2009/01/26/microsoft-force-installs-firefox-extension/
- http://support.mozilla.com/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?locale=en-US&comments_parentId=265132&forumId=1
- http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1111907&cid=26690613
5 comments:
Hello Mr.Sitaram,
Nice to see a geek like u on the web with great passion for "Linux". Your articles show ur command & expertise on the topics.
I object your sentence "The bastards at Microsoft have sunk to a new low." No one is perfect in this world. Neither you, nor me, nor Linus Torvalds nor Bill Gates! All geeks have common goal. Competition should be healthy but not antagonistic. I am a beginner and would love to learn a lot from you (technically). Hope you understand my concern. Sorry otherwise.
Mr Anonymous,
I enable anonymous comments only because it's a bother to log in just to comment, but I do expect a name to be attached to a comment before I will respond.
Hello sir,
I am Krishna, a passionate but novice web developer. I am working on ASP.NET., but I also use open source libraries like jQuery., and open source CMS like Joomla, Drupal. I din't mean to exaggerate you., but as blogs are open to discuss, I just commented what I felt. Many of my friends also told abt u & ur contribution to open source. Infact, I would love to learn 4m geeks like u!
Good to hear from you; send me a private email if you want me to respond in more detail -- sitaramc@gmail.com
I suggest you read up on "anti-trust", "anti-competitive behavio(u)r", and related matters, to see why this is such a criminal act. In fact, as people have pointed out in the Sony rootkit case, if a hacker had done this, they would have put him in jail. But Sony and MS can get away with it.
I have friends and relations who have no choice but to use Windows, so they mitigate the problem by using FF for security while browsing. Now I can no longer believe that they will ever be safe, because MS can fiddle with their FF. Without their knowledge. At any time it chooses to. And they can't uninstall it.
If this does not leave you as angry as it leaves me, you're welcome to your misplaced nobility.
I think I was actually being very mild and restrained. My kids read my blog too, sometimes, so this is as far as I could go on my blog.
One final word: please don't use SMS language like "u", and "ur", and "4m". It makes you sound like a college kid. Maybe you *are* a college kid, but there's no need to *sound* like one... :-)
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