I dunno about you... but in my server room, we don't trust Microsoft for operating systems, either. Or anything at all. If you're running Windows servers in the enterprise, I'd hope your expertise and security policies are such that you don't need to run any AV software at all. Otherwise, you've got bigger problems than you might imagine.

Me, I'm just talking about the occasional desktop user. I do treat business clients different than Aunt Millie. Business clients get solid backup plans. Aunt Millie doesn't. Aunt Millie isn't paying for my expertise, so I don't care if she loses some cat pictures. In the "friends & family" domain, I prefer that those with the money buy Apple, those without get converted to some noob-friendly (currently Mint) Linux. I don't care to support people for free, just as I don't give away my other skills, like carpentry and auto repair, for free. At least, not just because of the F&F thing.

How could they be aware? I mean, it's only been widespread news for the last year or so!

Their statement is 100% lawyer-drafted weasel language crafted to tell enough truth that they don't get in trouble, while still lying about whatever it is they're lying about. Next it'll be something like "We're really sorry you think there are security flaws in our product, and we're working hard to change that perception."

Amen, brother, preach on!

It's not like I'm Miss Manners or some socialite from finishing school, but that really chaps my hide. It is perhaps the rudest behavior I can think of.

I was at a party a while ago when half the room was busy on their phones... I loudly said, "hey, I'm at this party with people I know... but I'm busy sharing it with my REAL friends on Facebook!"

The phones stayed put away at the next party. :) I think people just don't realize how rude it is until you point it out.

Says the AC... *smirk*

C'mon, tell the "keyboard warriors" where you go for your morning coffee!

That's funny. Not long ago I did a fresh install of Win 7 on a fairly new laptop. There was no driver for the ethernet card. Had to download that on a Linux box and install from a flash drive.

How is it that in 2013, there are ethernet cards unsupported by Windows? Not to mention numerous other pieces of hardware... ALL of which magically work under any newer Linux distro. Dinosaurs still roamed the earth the last time I had to manually install an ethernet driver on Linux.

That would be the last time I ask your advice... ...hey! Maybe you're smarter than we thought!

Truth is, people who are not computer whizzes always end up with malware, whether you install an AV or not. It really doesn't matter. I have discovered that setting up anything more than a firewall on such a person's computer is a complete waste of time.

If you want one, okay, I'll install MSE for you. It's going to do the same amount of good as any AV you pay hundreds of dollars for -- which is zero. None of them protect users from things (attack vectors & such) that they do not know or understand. You're doing good if they follow your advice to not open unknown email attachments.

Back in my day, the *Russian* spooks defected *to* the *USA*.

Now get off my lawn!

Except that's damnably creepy when you think about what a change that is.

Fat lot of good it does if you can't *grow* potatoes in 9x Earth gravity.

If they can grow potatoes in their centrifuge... then we have a useful study. :)

They don't hate it. They just haven't read it.

You must mean... the God-fearin' blue-collar union fellas, the illegal (Catholic) immigrants, and the Baptist welfare queens...

Yeah, I think there's a lot of Democrat sentiment there, for sure.

And yes, I know what you were *trying* to say. I'm just sick of hearing it. Neither of the two major parties has a monopoly on moron constituency.

I know, I know... you think that because you're smart enough to sign up for a /. account, and some of your smart friends think Ohbummer is the bee's knees... that every smart person must be a Democrat and that all Republicans must be stupid. This is called confirmation bias and is a sign that you live in a very small box with a very ideologically limited social circle.

"Creating twitter"?

That's about as much "creating" as is "creating" a turd from the contents of my colon.

Those tools often become crutches. I had a chemistry teacher who used videos so often I began to wonder if she knew the subject at all. I later figured out my suspicion was correct.

If you let me use recorded MIT lectures and some iPad software, I can teach a class on particle physics, or heck, any subject at all. Or, why have teachers at all? The iPads can do it all, so we'll just project a hologram in front of the class so all the kiddies will feel welcome... and discipline will be administered by a robot with a Taser.

Technology is grand, but people need to slow down and think a bit about how and where and why we embrace it. Do we really need this? We are already seeing a drop in the ability to read and write, because kids do not read and write to learn, but rather watch.

Precisely. These people who would have us believe that if we just give all the kiddies some toy computer-like thingies, they'll all learn so much more... are the same people constantly trying to raise taxes because the only thing holding the kids back is a lack of money in teacher union pension funds.

Well... in the USA, we spend more money per student than any other country on the planet. If money were the problem, we'd have solved it already, and would be enjoying the finest educations known to man. Hmm... not so much.

It's not money, and it's certainly not a lack of Apple toys. The whole system is broken, from top to bottom. We have whole generations of teachers who cannot spell or construct a sentence. How did it get this way?

The educational system is not designed to educate every child to his or her potential. It's there to create mostly compliant consumers and worker drones. That's its purpose.

Oddly enough, I suppose giving every kid an iPad might work toward that end.

In the end, it doesn't matter what school district you reside in, or how much money they can throw at each child... expectations of good education from public schools are misplaced.

I have seen articles by two different scientists in my local paper... one alleging that our recent floods were proof of global warming... the other claiming proof of global warming in the decade-long drought.

Rain, snow, ice, drought, wind, hurricanes, no hurricanes, tornadoes, no tornadoes, heat, cold, record highs, record lows -- ALL proof of global warming.

In fact, it doesn't matter what the weather does. Global Warming (TM) is real because it makes weather change, and the weather is changing, so Global Warming (TM) is real.

And remember, kids, God never lies, but he put dinosaur bones here to test your faith. He can't lie to you because He's God.

Just the other day, I heard an 18-year-old tell his mother that she spends too much time on Facebook.

I about fell off my chair. Maybe it gets better, after all! :)