April 21, 2008 1:14 PM PDT
About Microsoft
Yesterday I wrote that with the exception of Windows XP, I do my best to avoid Microsoft software. Today I ran across this article by Gregg Keizer in ComputerWorld, Microsoft rings alarm on Windows rights bug, that starts with:
"Microsoft Corp. yesterday issued a security alert to warn users of a bug in most versions of Windows, but didn't promise to fix the flaw or -- if it does patch the problem -- say when a fix would be released. A little more than three weeks ago, Microsoft had denied that the problem was a vulnerability."
Wow. Permit me to paraphrase:
It wasn't a bug until it got publicity. Now it is a bug, but maybe we'll fix it, maybe we won't.
Michael Horowitz is an independent computer consultant and the author of several classes on Defensive Computing. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
You immediately remove Norton Internet Security 2008, a PC Magazine Editor's Choice, from all of your client's computers, in spite of the fact that you have never tried it. How many years ago was it that you had problems with Symantec software?
As for avoiding Microsoft software, Office 2007 is the gold standard of office suites. The mediocre OpenOffice is free, but even at that price, almost nobody wants it.