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See? Bill's not so dumb!

Damn! Was that the crack of a whip or just a rush of fresh air I just heard after reading that MDN Take?

(My MDN Magic Word: "church." Draw your own inferences.)

I dont know about anyone else but as the owner of a PC repair shop here in Portland, I can say that I'll never buy that crap from MS. They've had what? Over a decade to make a STABLE SECURE OS? They cant do it in a decade what makes anyone think that they'll make a spyware protection tool that will work?

And pay for it? Please. I use Spywareblaster/ Spybot S&D;and Adaware. They give about 99% coverage and protection, and they're all FREE!

I just finished watching IRobot, and in the words of Will "Get Jiggy Wit' it" Smith

"You so need to die."

Microsoft does sound like the BORG of the computer world. They do have most users assimilated and resistance is futile.

microsoft would have some nerve charging extra for a program to get the junk off a users system. Maybe the programs would get Microsoft to remove itself since it is the root cause of the infestation. I have more sympathy for those stuck with WIndoze though. I've managed to get two people here to buy Macs - two down 95% of the world to go!

I TOTALY AGREE WITH MDN!!!

You gotta be realy slow to pay to protect the pruduct you just bought. This isn't the same as and ext. waranty, an os should work when you purchase it. (for at least 12-24 months)

Buy something that practically causes spyware, then pay them more to plug up their own holes. How stupid.

To Microsoft's credit, it's good business practice. They aim to make a lot of money off of a product they really need. But the real issue is that they need to deal with spyware makers. If Microsoft has a way to find spyware on their operating system, they can certainly build it in, fix up the security of the platform, and that would really be a threat to Apple.

I think Microsoft is sitting on a huge opportunity that we're lucky they're not taking. Imagine if they did plug the spyware fixes and made a secure OS...

-Russ

Look at it this way, if they are successful selling it, they will have reasons not to improve their OS and that will be the root of increased competitivity for Apple.

If they do give it away for free and improve their lame OS people will have less incentives to switch.

I say, sell it!!!

In related news, Microsoft recently filed for a patent on something called "air". The patent application was submitted shortly after they filed for a patent on "water".

Microsoft plans on charging licensing fees to anyone who wants to "breathe" or "drink".

A$$holes.

merry christmas suckas

"Microsof (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced that it will beef up Windows security after buying Giant Company Software, a developer of anti-spyware and Internet security offerings." - http://www.technewsworld.com/story/news/39052.html

They gotta make their money back some how...

Most con artist go to jail for this kind of scam. I agree, anybody stupid enough to use MS gets what they deserve.

but still.. Windows is cheaper than a Mac, right..?

*gets pelted with fresh produce

Its another thing that Best buy can sell to poor saps who come in to buy a computer. Im so glad I got out when I did.

This will sell like crazy. Hundreds of millions flying out the door. It will make the iPod freenzy look pale. Buy Microsoft stock now, which is low, and make a million off these suckers.

for the rest of your life?

Man, that sent chills down my spine!

Hey, he's nudging into MY racket! Wait 'til da boss hears about this!

Ha ha ha, Fat Tony's right! It's a protection scam! Bill Gates is charging people to protect them from... Bill Gates!

Too bad he also has the Feds in his back pocket.

People,someone IS NOT slow if they pay M$.Maybe you just don't FEEL like busting out 400 or more for a withstandable slow mac or pay 800 or more for a reasonable mac.MDN,you should really think about circumstances when you judge something you know nothing about.

Aux contraire 'unknown' nobody is saying anything about anyone without knowledge. I defy you to find one person posting on this site who hasn't had to deal with windoze before. Hell i'm on a PC right now, and for some unknown reason when i booted up i got a blue screen stack message warning. *wtf* Let me make it simple, mac is NOT slower, go ahead and put them up to the test. A g5 will render any programs at least 1/3 faster than any windows box. I'm sorry, but MAC is slowly taking the market by being what people want. RELIABLE! Something MS never really thought of being for their consumers. GO STEVE JOBS!

unknown, don't know what we're talking about?!? That must be why I keep a cd with Adaware and Spybot in my disk holder. Obviously I, like most people who deal with windoze, have not set up our computers as well as you have. Hey, you should go advise Mr. Gates, it sounds like you've got it figured out better than he does.

i didn't think ms could sink any lower but i was wrong, charging for software to protect their own shody programming is just plain wrong, it's just one massive money making machine and more people need to realise this when the say "but windows is cheaper"

who's to say this program is going to be any better (on a programming level) than windows itself?

Let's make'm pay big for our stupidity! That's Microsoft for you. Any chance to make a buck. Boy that should win some customers over to buying a Mac!

"To Microsoft's credit, it's good business practice."

No, not the case and this attitude should be strongly condemned. Good business practice is where everybody wins, the customer gets a good product for their money, the reseller makes a reasonable profit, the manufacturer makes a reasonable profit and all workers throughout the chain earn a fair days pay for a fair days work.

It is quite possible to achieve this, even when there are problems during the process.

It is not acceptable to a) knowingly sell defective products and b) put the onus and cost on the customer for repairing the manufacturing defects in the product.

Microsoft cannot even make a secure operating system, and has never done so. How in the world would one expect them to make something now if over the entire company's history, this feat has yet to be accomplished?

It wouldn't be me.

"initially will be free but the company isn't ruling out charging for future versions"

Good post Gandalf. But has anyone here really read this? I too have to suffer through Windoze at work on a daily basis, but can also read the word "free". They aren't charging for this and I hope it does help some of the folks out there... after all; MS didn't write it, so it may work.

OK, MDN, I see your point. But calling anybody a "sucker" won't persuade them from getting a Mac. True, most computer users are clueless. But if you're a Mac enthusiast who love to share with people how insanely great the Mac is, then calling anyone names and putting them down for something they don't know any better will make them resent not only you, but the Mac, as well.

The Mac community could show a bit more compassion for our windoze-suffering friends. Persuasion is most effective through understanding and kindness, not through humiliation and insults to their intelligence.

The only ones who deserve to use windoze for the rest of their lives is Gates and Ballmer! Let them suffer!! Burn, burn, burn!!!

Talk about a conflict of interest. Microsoft sells an OS full of security holes they can't or won't fix. Then they buy security companies to get product to sell to protect the OS they can't or won't fix.

Does anyone believe that the security software they want to sell will be any good once they start working on it?

unknown - there are very few persons here that know nothing about using windows. although i do not agree that windows users are automatically stupid, your operating system is poop (just a fact) and you get what you pay for when it comes to computer hardware (a fact that can be applied to all purchases).

The Apple equivalent is the $129 annual OS upgrade.

But at least we don't have to deal with viruses and spyware - yet.

Gambit,

MDN didn't call everybody "suckers," they specifically defined "suckers" as "people that will pay Microsoft for Windows and then pay them extra for some promise of protection."

I agree with MDN, those people are suckers and they do deserve to use Windows, and only Windows, for the rest of their miserable lives.

It was a general response to name calling and in the context of this discussion, I meant specifically those who may be ignorant to buy the ms crapware.

Yes, some people could get suckered into buying it, but I wouldn't be too harsh on them. Rather, I'd focus the blame on microsucks and them spreading FUD through their marketing.

You guys could lighten up on the condemnation on innocent, don't-know-any-better users. If you truly want windoze people to switch, your attitude isn't helping.

Let's clarify a few things. MS Windows/DOS has always been a single user system. Once you get in the front door you have the run of the house with admin level access. That's a fact that MS has willfully ignored. This attitude has enabled a totally debilitating level of security breaches in MS machines.

Apple OSX *is* Berkeley Unix (BSD). Lump all the POSIX compliant versions of Unix together with Linux and you get a market share quite a bit bigger than 3% of the world's operating systems. What's more, those industrial strength systems contain some of the most sensitive and valuable information on earth, not just Joe Schmoe's checking account balance. The reason these Unix/Linux systems aren't compromised (except very rarely) is that each file has its own permissions for read, write, and execute operations, with each user compartmentalized from every other user and from the OS and able to modify only those files he/she owns or controls. In these systems most users do not have compile or install privileges either (in OSX installation requires a user entered password). The point is that if you could break into a Unix system on a user account you still couldn't take control of the machine or the system. You'd be limited to a very small sandbox in which to play.

So yes, Apple has a very small share of installed machines and OS's, but that is most definitely NOT the reason Macs don't get attacked much. The reason is there's just not much point in it.