[TAG] FW: Customer Focus: Comparing Windows with Linux and UNIX

[Ben Okopnik]

On Fri, Nov 05, 2004 at 12:52:18PM -0500, John Karns wrote:
> 
> That letter has generated a lot discourse, and not limited to the OSS
> community.  Some relative quotes and links follow.
> 
> It's an absolute joke and amazing that they have the chutzpah to speak of 
> security at all, much less to compare it to any *nix-like platform, and 
> assert that the MS products compare favorably.  I loved what Groklaw had to 
> say about it:
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 
> >From the main article at
> 
>   http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=2004102717385992
> 
> If I got that email, I believe I'd ask Microsoft for indemnification for
> viruses and malware. No? They don't offer that? Zounds. That seems like a
> more common threat than patent infringement, don't you think? I believe
> they should offer that right away. Yes, definitely. I suggest you all ask
> for that, those of you stuck in the Windows world, right away. Virus
> indemnification. That's the ticket. After all, such troubles do affect
> your total cost of ownership to a significant degree, don't they? Then
> there's the worry that you might get sued after one of your employees
> unwittingly sends a virus to another company. For sure, we need some
> studies on the true total cost of using Windows.
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------
 
>From the RISKS list:

   Date: Mon, 01 Nov 2004 10:08:46 -0700
   From: "NewsScan" <newsscan at newsscan.com>
   Subject: Spyware epidemic threatens to stall computer industry
   
   Computer makers say that their technical support lines are lit up by
   consumers frustrated over sluggish performance and increasingly they're
   tracing the problems back to one culprit: spyware. Companies are concerned
   about the cost of the calls, but they're even more worried that that
   customers will wrongly blame them for performance deficiencies. Russ Cooper,
   senior scientist with TruSecure Corp., says now that spyware has become
   epidemic, it's time for Micr0s0ft and other technology companies to launch a
   public education campaign along the lines of the old "Only *you* can prevent
   forest fires" concept. The industry's incentive is pure survival, says
   Cooper. Micr0s0ft officials blame rogue software for up to a third of
   applications crashes on Wind0ws XP computers and AOL estimates that just
   three such programs together cause about 300,000 Internet disconnections per
   day. Forrester Research analyst Jonathan Penn says spyware-related customer
   support can cost $15 to $45 per phone call, but it's worth it. "Security is
   a component of loyalty. People, they want all these various services, but
   they expect security to come with it."  [AP, 31 Oct 2004; NewsScan Daily, 1
   Nov 2004]
     <http://apnews.excite.com/article/20041031/D862JARG0.html>

What was that quoted cost of ownership for Wind0ws, again?


* Ben Okopnik * okopnik.freeshell.org * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette *
-*- See the Linux Gazette in its new home: <http://linuxgazette.net> -*-