Technical Tidbits™

Posts Tagged ‘ubuntu’

I’m having one of those kind of days today and I think I need to let off some steam!

Some of you may know by now, that all the bloggers and media has been reporting on the AMAZING disclosure from Microsoft’s (M$) paid research findings that: Microsoft Study Finds Consumers Want Control Over Data

Excuse me? But what the h*ll have I been preaching and teaching about for the past 11 years?  Well, here’s my b*tch session to Microsoft in the form of an open letter. By all means, feel free to comment too! Tell Microsoft how YOU really feel!

Dear Microsoft Corporation,

I could have saved you quite a bit of money on your research study, or better yet, you could support this blog by sponsoring it and still saved money!

For the past 11 years or more, our company has been online and I’ve been teaching your consumers how to deal with your poorly programmed, un-secured, piece-of-crap operating systems.  And, I’ve been reporting on what WE consumers have to deal with in using your software, along with posting content about how you can fix it!

And to be quite blunt, this website is NOT the only one doing so!

At first, I thought all the various websites and people complaining were falling on deaf ears.  Then I realized that it wasn’t about making the consumers satisfied or happy.  It wasn’t about making a software product that would do as it promised.

I finally got it! It’s about making Microsoft rich and their shareholders happy! Like any normal, blue-blooded, capitalist business in the U.S. today.

I finally understood that you pushed your crap to market ahead of everyone else so that you could be first and make the money first.  I saw that you didn’t care about the flaws, vulnerabilities, lack of compatibility, or any other discomfort the consumer may experience as long as you were profitable.

What happened Microsoft? Did you start losing too much market share because people finally wised up to your piece-of-sh*t, get-it-to-market-first software and are finally saying enough is enough?

Since your company’s inception, you have shoved flawed software down the consumers throats at a hefty price and expected us to just deal with it because you were the only commercial game in town. You saturated the market and forced people to use your flawed garbage because it was necessary to use you to be compatible with businesses – which also fell for you bullsh*t.

I remember, all too clearly having to deal with the previous operating systems crashes, the incompatiblity with software as we migrated upward from one OS to another.

And then we get VISTA forced down our throat. Despite the fact that millions of people signed a petition to keep XP, you turn a deaf ear once again.

Despite the fact that you believe you are helping the tech industry by forcing companies and consumers to upgrade hardware in order to accomodate VISTA and now Windows 7, the questions still remains, why?

I have dual core with over 2 GB of RAM and my VISTA has done nothing but degrade over time.  I stick with my XP partition and have shunned your SP3 which slowed my computer to a crawl.  And soon, I’ll be fully migrated to Ubuntu and will teach anyone willing how to move off the Microsoft dependency!

Unlike you Microsoft, I have to REALLY work for a living and my small business depends upon a fast and working PC.

I’m also beta testing your Windows 7 and as far as I’m concerned, you just redecorated Vista. OOOOOH! Nice graphics! If I wanted a Mac, I’d buy a Mac. All we ever wanted from you was an operating system that worked and was secured. And VISTA and Windows 7 is what we get for our loyalty?  FRACK YOU!

I want to put my fist through my monitor every time I get that message: Accept or Deny!

Then I read about how you sent the stock market into a nosedive when you prematurely announced your earning and layoffs.  How many of those laid off were your HB1 visa workers?  After all, we American’s have heard nothing but condemnation out of the mouths of Bill Gates and others at government hearings about how America ain’t got talent.

Why don’t you take your entire anti-American talent sentiment and join Dell overseas? But if they’re as smart as you claim they are, I don’t think they’ll buy into your crap as long as we have!

You didn’t need to pay a researcher money to find out what the consumers wanted. All you need to do is get your head out of your arrogant corporate a** and listen!

And if you think I’m bs’ing you about this and what we’ve all been saying, I have all our past newsletters stored here waiting for me to have the time to reformat them and make them public. You can feel free to read them here: http://mice.org/news/, that is if you REALLY want to know what the consumers think, that is!

In the Information Week article I cited above, your company made the following statement:

It is such incidents that worry Peter Cullen, Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)’s chief privacy strategist, because of the impact they can have on consumer trust. “Trust is becoming increasingly important,” he said.

No sh*t Sherlock! And do you think for one minute that we will trust you? Have you EARNED our trust? Have you given us any reason why we would think that you are concerned with our privacy and safety?

You will get my trust when you prove to me you know something about security, privacy, and trust!

That would mean you would need to create a secure operating system from DAY 1!

That would mean you would STOP spying on us, STOP sharing our data with all your partners, STOP stealth downloads, and sneaky other crap you’re famous (or is that notorious) for!

I’ve had enough of your hype.

I’ve had enough of your feigned concern for the consumer.

I’ve had enough of your stupidity, your ignorance of the truth about your software, and ENOUGH of your taking me for a sucker!

SHOW ME THE SOFTWARE THAT PROVES IT!

Until then, I’ll continue to try to destroy your market share with every ounce of breath I have left in me.

My students have heard me say repeatedly – and my twitter friends can also verify this – that I would love nothing more than to go down in the history books as being the sole person responsible for the demise of Microsoft!  It’s my mission in life.

And you know the quote, “Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned!”  Better read: “Hell hath no fury as a consumer scorned!”

And that my dear folks at Microsoft, you can take to the bank!

Sincerely,

Debbie Mahler, Owner/Founder
MICE Training, Technology, & Education™

I know, an odd title, isn’t it? But you’ll see why soon.

I must also add a caveat: This post does contain adult language!

Did you see the movie ‘Network‘? The one where the new anchor loses it on the air, throws his television out the window, and screams, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Yeah, THAT movie!

Well, I know how the Anchorman feels.

Yesterday, while researching this continuing Botnet issue, I came across a very interesting press release on DoubleClick’s web site. But before I share I that with you, let me digress for a moment.

Remember the big to-do about Google partnering with Yahoo? Remember Microsoft (M$) whinning and complaining about the ’supposed unfair advantage and monopoly’ a partnership between Google and Yahoo would create? Whaa, whaa, whaa! Poor Microsoft!

Then recently, the headlines hit the blogosphere that Google was hours away from being named a monopoly by the U.S. Department of Justice when Google backed off.

Now that I’ve refreshed your memory, fast forward to my noting a press release on DoubleClick’s web site yesterday.

Pop Quiz!

1. Who owns DoubleClick?
2. Who owns and created Silverlight?
3. Who is serving video ads to Silverlight?

Answer Key:

1. Who owns DoubleClick?  Google
2. Who owns and created Silverlight?  Microsoft
3. Who is serving video ads to Silverlight?  Google owned DoubleClick

Now, doesn’t that seem like someone is sleeping with the enemy?

Read it yourself here: http://www.doubleclick.com/about/news_details.aspx?id=1406&linkidentifier=id&itemid=1406

You see folks, what I’ve come to realize is that all this media spin and “woe is me” from Microsoft is nothing more than Microsoft crying wolf. And why? $$$MONEY$$$

What’s that saying? “Money talks, bulls#&t walks?”

It’s okay for Microsoft Silverlight to run Google-owned DoubleClick ads because Microsoft is making money!

It’s NOT okay for Google to partner with Yahoo because Microsoft ISN’T making money!

And why won’t Google, DoubleClick, Yahoo, Right Media, and all the rest of the online advertising companies do something about malware being pushed through their ads? Because they are COLLECTING  MONEY from the advertisers! And because to put a procedure in place to screen those ads and protect visitors, would COST  them MONEY!

Small companies like ours make nothing on the research we do, and practically nothing on the small amount of ads we do run on our site.

Hell, the top day of our Google adsense at the peak of this botnet issue earned us a whopping 27 cents! Whoo Hoo! I’ll take that to the bank as soon as Google decides it adds up to $100 in any given month – READ: I won’t hold my breath waiting.

The truth of the matter is my friends, that we are being fed a HUGE plate of Corporate BS with a side of lies.

Microsoft cares less about Google’s unfair competition with Yahoo. It wants Yahoo for the ad generating revenue it can earn under Yahoo’s name. And why? Because Microsoft’s name can’t earn it!

I could find better search results reading the sediment in my septic tank (like tea leaf reading only grosser) than find anything from Live or MSN Search.

Microsoft knows their search is useless! So they want Yahoo’s name to hide behind so they can rake in the advertising dough.

And if I’m right with my prediction about the upcoming botnet from hell, all the advertising companies will make a fortune from it!

Think about it!

They’ll collect revenue from the advertisers wanting to push the malware. (What better way to deliver an Internet Weapon of Mass Destruction (IWMD) then through ads that are on nearly every single web site!)

Then, they’ll collect a fortune off the adwords related to this new malware and the fix being searched for as millions of broken, infected PCs go online to search for help.

And the botnet creators will make a fortune off the information it gets from every single infected computer and compromised corporate network! (And if you have yet to read the report about this underground economy, please pick up the report here: The Online Shadow Economy.  My paranoia is based on real facts!)

The only people not getting rich off this whole scam are the poor shmucks at the bottom of this food chain. The small companies, small bloggers, and the average Internet users. The very same ones who have to pay for the damage because Corporate A**holes don’t give a s#&t about us!

It’s days like this that I wonder why the h@ll I even bother!

But then, I get an additional reader, or a new subscriber. Perhaps a few new comments posted, and I have hope again. I have hope that there are others like me still out there that are paying attention. Vigilantly watching to maintain the integrity of the Internet.

And YOU make it all worthwhile!

So, for those of you – like me – who want to prepare for what might be coming, I’m going to teach you over the next several posts how to prepare to protect yourself. I think we might be able to avoid the impending damage if we cover our assets, so to speak.

Tomorrow, we will learn how to block the ad servers. Yes, I know, I’m cutting off my 27 cents in revenue by teaching you how to do this. But you never know. If I’m correct in my line of thinking and research, we just might get a legitimate sponsor for this blog! Or maybe someone will donate or buy something from us! You never know! It could happen!

So tune in tomorrow! We’re going to play Medieval Europe and secure the castles!

It doesn’t matter what OS or what browser you’re using. We’ll cover them all!

Oh! I should note however, that so far, our research is showing the Ubuntu (Linux) has not been affected by any of this!

I was on the phone with my one of our instructors, Anthony Valente from Network Defense Solutions, discussing a problem with one of clients’ Debian servers. Eventually, the conversation led into Microsoft’s push into open source.

I made the comment to Anthony that I didn’t understand why Microsoft was pumping so much money into Novell’s SUSE Linux when I just read the about OSLO and Midori, two upcoming offerings from Microsoft. Couple those two with the Eclipse project and you’ve got Microsoft doing some pretty “open source” sounding activities.

I said, “If Microsoft is leaning more toward the open source, I don’t think they’re trying to push Novell’s Linux to compete with Ubuntu.”

Anthony brought up a very interesting point that I actually missed but makes sense!

He said, “Microsoft isn’t leveraging Novell because of their Linux! Think about it. Novell has their network security software in the enterprise for a long time – Netware. They’re pushing into Novell to compete with Cisco!”

I never really thought about that, but now that Anthony brought it up, it seems rather logical. I was thinking that Microsoft was pumping money into the Novell certificates for Linux so they can keep a strong market presence in the Linux and open source market. Everyone is so peeved with Microsoft and the failed Vista – that Ballmer is now claiming wasn’t really meant to be a new operating system in the first place – that many more users are going toward Ubuntu. (Me included!)

In an August 25, 2008 NetworkWorld.com article, John Fontana titled: Microsoft invests more in Novell, Fontana states:

The two vendors claim the $100 million investment is needed to meet customer demand to integrate Linux and Windows. However, Novell has only invoiced $156 million of Microsoft’s original $240 million certificate purchase, leaving 35% of the fund still unused.  (Source: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/082008-ms-novel.html?hpg1=bn)

Hmmm. It does seem a bit strange now that you mention it.

Only time will tell, but my bet is on Anthony’s call. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see Microsoft buddying themselves up with Novell to enable them to compete with Cisco.

But there’s one problem with the Microsoft strategy. A rotten fish by any other name still smells like a rotten fish. And we’re sorry Microsoft, but we don’t care who you align yourself with; we’ll never trust you with our security. NEVER.

What’s that saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” After the devastation and destruction Microsoft has caused me when I trusted them with my security? Well, enough said.

Hey Cisco! Watch your back in case we’re right!