One of the main reasons I’m not running Windows
At work I received an email similar to this:
Subject: Client patching time
Apple Quicktime: (link)
Macromedia Flash: (link)
RealNetworks Real Player: (link)
As well as these, the Microsoft Internet Explorer vulnerability has not been fixed, and there is exploit code out there:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/22/ie_exploit/
Let’s be careful out there, now…
This is a wonderful example of just how broken the Windows platform is when it comes to security updates. Am I, as a regular user, really supposed to monitor the site of every application I’ve installed for security updates? I simply don’t have the time! I’ve decided to say “thanks, but no thanks”, instead I avoid proprietary applications and run apt-get update; apt-get upgrade to keep up-to-date on security.
[...] Triggered by the email I wrote about yesterday (One of the main reasons I’m not running Windows) I went to Micro$oft’s update site to see if there were any non-essential updates for my windows system. Given the name of the service—”Microsoft Update”—I assumed what I’d be presented with would be updates of components I already had installed. I didn’t bother reading all the text, I just chose all the available updates. What a giant mistake! [...]
[...] Eric is grumbling about installing software on Windows. Well, he didn’t hit the real point of pain with Windows yet: upgrading applications. As I’ve mentioned before Window’s package management is broken. Yes, it’s that simple, and the worst thing is that there seems to be no solution in sight. At least not unless every Windows software provider agrees to chip in and create a central repository for upgrades… I don’t see that happening any time soon though. [...]