18 Separate Security Updates !!!  Just Blame Dell

If you want to know another reason why we have such extreme security problems with MS Windows, here's one:  Blame Dell.   That's right Dell.  No I don't mean Dell the company but the PC manufacturer in general.  Here's what just happened to me:

1. Helped a friend buy a new computer.  Brand new.  From Dell.  Not surplus or pre-manufactured but NEW.
2. Set it up.
3. Went to Windows Update and found 18 Separate Security Updates. 

No this isn't a surprise to me.  What Microsoft does is release 1 operating system every few years and then multiple updates, service packs and fixes so that the customer has to do the update themselves.  As far as I am concerned, Dell just sold me an obsolete, buggy, insecure product.  Why did I have to update it?  Why didn't Dell take care of it for me?  I (my friend actually) just spent $1,400 for a new Latitude laptop and then I had to spend 2 + hours bringing it up to date.  That's just wrong. 

NOTE: And just to be clear, the oldest of these security updates was October, 2001.

Sidebar, Feel Free to Ignore: When is the high tech industry as a whole going to figure this stuff out and start realizing that computers and software are just products like any other and the time honored concepts like customer service, quality and warranties actually matter?  As I've said before it's going to take a class action lawsuit to bring companies into reality.  And it will happen within the next 3 years or so I suspect. 

Sure I'll admit that this is Microsoft's fault ultimately, for not rolling out new versions of the operating system with all patches integrated but the Dell and all the manufacturers could band together and say "We're not gonna take it !".

Sigh.  What else can I say but:

As Dumb as Dell.

(And don't even get me started on the fact that Dell True Mobile 1150 integrated WiFi cards won't connect to standard LinkSys WAP 11 access points.  And when I googled for it, I found that I am NOT the only one.  I strongly recommend that you skip Dell WiFi hardware and use LinkSys instead.  That was another 2 hours out of my life I'll never get back.  And it still doesn't work.  Anyone have any thoughts?)

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A Big Ball of Mud

Thanks Dave!  If you are a programmer then this is an interesting read. [ Go ]

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A Dirty, Sweaty and Probably Smelly -- But Really, Really Cool Vacation

How cool would this be:

Maybe it's just the inner dweeb in me but this is a vacation I could really enjoy.  Of course I could also just go to jail and work on a chain gang and pretend.  [ More ]

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Blogging Beats Slashdotting -- Again !

If you think that this is a case of a blogger congratulating another blogger and hurting his own arm with that "pat on the back" thing, that would be right !  Slashdot featured BurningBird's Parable of the Languages on Friday. Something that made the blogging community's rounds last week.  Given that Slashdot has long led the IT world with cool stuff, it's very nice to see blogging leapfrogging Slashdot.

[ Go Burning Bird ] [ Go Slashdot Discussion]

Oh and if you want the Slashdot discussion on what I posted about Fortune Magazine's "Generation Wrecked" article, here it is: [ Go ] (posted in blog land 2 days before Slashdot)

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