Comparing Windows and Macintosh Applications

Posted by Cassius
Jan 9, 2008 at 12:48 AM

Chris Thompson wrote:
>I’ve got to say, I’m a little skeptical of Microsoft conspiracy theories. I don’t think they add anything valuable.
> >Macs stand on their own now, on the comparative merits of the platform, without having to resort to allegations of improprieties.

Well, maybe not conspiracy, but what about ethics? Here’s an example I didn’t mention:

Microsoft, in Win XP, gives the user a choice of downloading and installing updates in the background, or automatically downloading updates and chosing to install them manually or not, or downloading updates only when one wants to. A couple/few months ago, “PC World” reported that MS did a stealth download and install of some updates, even to computers that had been set to the manual install option. At first MS denied doing this, but then confessed. It pretty much had to, as one of the updates played havoc with the operation of some corporate systems.

So, at a minimum, MS can, at will, override some (possibly all?) of the settings you make on your PC. At maximum, MS may have included a “back door” in WinXP. Wanna bet hackers are busy finding MS’s stealth entrances to your PC?

Also, MS often has bugs in its updates, causing other programs to cease working. It’s happened to me. I no longer download MS updates. A major laptop company also told me not to install MS updates because some play havoc with special software the laptop company installs.

-c