Full Disclosure mailing list archives
RE: CyberInsecurity: The cost of Monopoly
From: David Vincent <david.vincent () mightyoaks com>
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003 14:56:51 -0700
I can't recall ever speaking to someone who actually bought a new application from a vendor simply because their old version of the application from the vendor was insecure or buggy. In fact, that would tend to push them to look elsewhere.Well Microsoft expects you to buy it for those reasons:From http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/windowsnetsupport.asp"Customers running applications with SQL Server version 7.0 and MSDE 1.0 should consider evaluating and upgrading to SQL Server 2000 and MSDE 2000 respectively with SP3 on Windows Server 2003 to achieve a more secure operating environment." From http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/professional/evaluation/w hyupgrade/default.asp "Top 10 Reasons to Move to Windows 2000" "#2: Reliability. An essential requirement for business users is a personal computer they can count on."From http://www.bcentral.co.uk/drive/default.asp"Compare Windows XP with Windows 98" Windows XP and Windows 98 compared Find out for yourself just why Windows XP Professional proved to be more reliable than Windows 98 in independent tests." Security Windows XP Professional and Office XP Professional are our most secure ways of safeguarding your most confidential data from unauthorised use, viruses and hackers. And my personal favorite:From http://www.microsoft.com/resources/desktop/smallbiz.asp"Windows XP Professional is at least 10 times more reliable than Windows 98." I can also recall several of the Windows upgrade pictures claiming "More Reliable" and "More Secure". So apparently to Microsoft, their software being reliable and secure is something they expect you to upgrade for. Also Microsoft passes their "bugfixes" off as enhancements. I'm sure you've seen "Better ..." or "Faster ..." when in reality they just fixed problems with the old versions.Microsoft in particular is huge for adding new features.There were just soooo many features from 95 to 98 to ME. None of these constituted a new product.
...unless you've signed up for their Software Assurance program where you get the license to install any new version of their software when it becomes available without paying any additional fees. this all says, to me, "hey, if you've already bought the license and have been thinking about upgrading, why the heck are you waiting?" -d _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
Current thread:
- Re: More on Dan Geer, (continued)
- Re: More on Dan Geer Keith W. McCammon (Sep 30)
- Re: More on Dan Geer madsaxon (Sep 30)
- Re: More on Dan Geer Nexus (Sep 30)
- Re: More on Dan Geer Stormwalker (Sep 30)
- Re: More on Dan Geer Ron DuFresne (Sep 30)
- RE: CyberInsecurity: The cost of Monopoly Joe (Sep 27)
- RE: CyberInsecurity: The cost of Monopoly Jonathan A. Zdziarski (Sep 27)
- RE: CyberInsecurity: The cost of Monopoly Jonathan A. Zdziarski (Sep 27)
- RE: CyberInsecurity: The cost of Monopoly Cedric Blancher (Sep 27)
- New article describing Intel's "LaGrande" Jeremiah Cornelius (Sep 30)
- Re: New article describing Intel's "LaGrande" Gregory A. Gilliss (Sep 30)