Why most run Microsoft, not RedHat

[Claude Jones]

On Wed April 18 2007, Robin Laing wrote:
> You are a lucky person.  In my limited experience with Windows, a
> re-install has happened more than that.  I did try the re-install but
> that was useless due to all the secondary applications.
>
> Heck, even Steve Ballmer, CEO for Microsoft needs to re-install Windows
> when it gets to rough.
>
> My biggest headache has always been registry problems.
>
> But that is my experience.

You speak of "limited experience" - I deal with many Windows machines, all day 
long, day in and day out, in a business environment. Maybe that's the 
difference. We have an enterprise grade firewall behind the router. Each 
Windows box runs its own personal firewall. Each machine also runs anti-virus 
and anti-spyware. That's the price you have to pay - it costs money, and it 
takes time - it stinks. But, safe practices over many years, and that's been 
my experience. The only virus that ever got detected inside my company was 
ironically caught by one of my machines - but I caught it right away, and it 
hadn't activated itself. We've got one gal who just can't resist clicking 
indiscriminately, and I've set up a vm for her on her box using the free 
vmplayer and a vm built on our vmware workstation, and she's under strict 
orders to do all her internet stuff from the virtual machine - ironically, 
once we implemented that policy, she stopped having problems. 

I prefer Linux but you can't tell me that Windows can't be run reliably - it's 
just not my experience over many, many years. I don't think it has anything 
to do with luck. The main problems I encounter again and again are with 
clueless operators who've ignored repeated instructions about dangerous 
surfing practices and clicking on attachments - those are the two most common 
causes of problems - are they caused by the operating system? - one can argue 
that it's the defective design of the system that allows clueless operators 
to damage their system and I will agree. There are many things that can be 
done cluelessly in life and will result in mayhem - 

Speaking to the question about the problems encountered in recent weeks 
regarding drivers and endless boot cycles, I would try a Windows repair; boot 
from the installation CD, click past the first repair options and let it 
continue past the checking the drives for previous installations of Windows 
section, and after that check, it should find your damaged installation and 
offer the option to repair the existing installation - if it doesn't, you're 
borked. If it does, just let it do its thing - once completed, you'll have to 
patch your system back up to current security patches and service packs, but 
you'll have preserved all your settings and data. Make sure you have your CD 
key because it will ask for it. If you've just had a bad event but your box 
is stil able to boot you also have system restore function that  often 
works - if yo poke around the help files you can   find a  system restore 
list that lets you roll back a system to a previous state - just had to do it 
today when a Windows Media update failed in a state where I couldn't roll it 
back - I picked a restore from last Sunday  and afer a few moments, I has 
restored the system to its sate 4 days earlier, and Windows Media worked just 
fine. 

Personally, I like playing with all operating systems - they nearly have 
unique capabilities and features that are very good for doing certain things. 
I still interact with a early nineties-vintage Dec-Alpha running VMS - it 
does one task very well and requires little maintenance, running a 
daybook/document management system for a publishing company that's never gone 
down more than a half day - it's a terminal client system with all programs 
being fun from the central processor. It's a bit weak in its word processing 
feature set, but it chugs along, day in and day out. I've got an old Amiga 
500 that still runs video titling software and lets us dedicate a work 
station where we can produce custom titling for shows going out to specific   
stations, destinations that require non-standard program ID's and such to be  
overlaid on the video stream; we've got a Mac guy here who's into all the 
whiz bang features of the Mac for his multimedia operations, and runs servers 
out of his house via FIOS connection which are located miles away from his 
home, and in some cases across the country. 



Then there's me, the Linux guy - they like me because I can ask for an ip 
outside the firewall using one of our assined ip addresses in our top range 
and run my box completely outside the Symantec Enterprise Firewall - I'vd got 
ssh runninng on that box and a second nic connected to a hub so people can 
avoid the whole company network when they suspect theyr'e dealing with a 
threat - I have an entierely independent lan behind that Linux box and I use 
it for all sorts of stuff.. We can bring up a virus infected machine behind 
my Linux firewalled box, and we know we don't have to worry about its getting 
control over any other machines - we download pathes and utilities to clean 
up the offending machine without having to worry about letting vermin in 
behind our Windows Lan - since there is no direct connection between the two. 
I even run a wireless access point for people who need to connect the net via 
wireless connections - our lan is just of   the picture and therefore remains 
protected. 

-- 
Claude Jones
Brunswick, MD, USA