Why Windows is More Vulnerable

I know that I pick on Windows a lot, but that's just because they get so much bad press that I find really interesting. An InfoWorld blogger, irritated by an attack on his Windows server that was previously an Xserve, compiled a whole list of reasons why Windows is more vulnerable to attack than Macs. This is not to say that Macs are bulletproof or don't have backdoors of their own, but rather that Windows just has many stupid things in place that leave it open to attack. You'd think that after all these years they'd stop launching applications from "system". By the way, why is it that no one really knows what the things in the System32 folder do unless they dig deep in Google for it, and yet it has system-critical files in it? If files start disappearing or appearing in it, how would you know? It also still boggles me how they keep making the Registry file more complicated and yet it hasn't gotten much more secure. I sincerely hope that they've taken these things under consideration with Vista, but I guess you're always open for attack when you're a corporate giant. Still, you'd think they'd have enough manpower to steer them clear of obvious mistakes like these. For all the intricate interviewing they do with stupid questions (I won't share them, but I've heard what they ask) to stimulate your brain, they sure haven't had enough bright people on the Windows security team. Or maybe it's just run by nimrods and the peons are just getting pushed around. Either way, as far as our general knowledge of the Windows and Mac kernels are concerned, Windows is definitely more vulnerable for attacks, and that post lists some solid reasons why.

Microsoft did get something right though: you can now report people you believe may be sex offenders on MSN Messenger with an easy button. I'm guessing that a lot of teenagers will use this to play tricks on the friends, but as long as someone monitors the report I think the benefits definitely outweigh the abuses from immature kids. More bad press for the IE7 team though: the Drupal.org webmaster was told that his site doesn't display right in IE7 because of the CSS hacks he used to get it to work with IE6, which is nonsense since if IE7 was really compatible the hacks would be ignored by the browser since they're just workarounds that are normally invalid. I'm taking the policy with the NSC site of it working on Firefox and everyone else can just switch to Firefox or live without the site because they're an IE sheep. One teenager has actually built a device that will no doubt become the bane of many other teenagers, but it'll end up benefiting them in the long run. The device can track when you're speeding and where you're at when it happens, and then record (or digitally transmit) that data for your parents to see. I think it's a pretty great idea, but I'm surprised that a teen was the one to make it. Lastly, if you have time management issues then you may get a lot out of this Firefox extension that integrates fairly well with your Gmail account to help you out.

I wanted to start off by posting that poster because that movie's trailer just rocks so hard and I love the way they're starting out their marketing campaign with posters like that. Oh, and if you care, we have some new pictures from Rocky 6. AICN got its hands on the refined poster for The Nightmare Before Christmas re-release in 3-D, and it looks a little sharper and informs us that we get free collectible 3-D glasses. It's the least they can do for a movie they'll be making nothing but profit off of. AICN's Massawyrm saw Idlewild and really didn't like it citing major script problems. He spends a long time ranting about it, and his complaints have really turned me off from seeing it. If you were wanting to check it out, maybe you shouldn't read this review. All I have for you now are videos. IGN has the trailer for Haven, and it looks good but the marketing is just way too focused on the hardships of romance. They needed to let that speak for itself and expose the criminality of the movie more. Yahoo Movies got its hands on the trailer for Driving Lessons, which definitely seems laden with British comedy, but I think it'll be a relatively funny movie, just very dry. Apple finally has the trailer for All the King's Men, which has a stunning cast (including Sean Penn and Anthony Hopkins), and it's about politics rather than feudal Europe as the title might suggest. Not quite sure why they went with that title, but I'm sure that the movie will speak for itself when it comes out next month. Lastly, Apple also has the Quicktime version of the trailer for The Protector while Moviefone has a clip from the movie. I've been waiting for this movie since it was only known as Tom Yum Goong and so my hopes are high for it being a really fantastic martial arts action flick. Tony Jaa is just so awesome; he could be the next Jet Li.

Now for the Wednesday Mind Hump:

What I want you to do is go to someone's blog, website, myspace, etc. and leave them a hug! Instead of linking to your mind hump, you can leave a hug for me and our MIA mememistress Friday in the comment section.
That's easy! I went ahead and gave Liz's blog a hug ;)