I'm guessing you've not used Visual Studio, SQL Server Management Studio, MS Office, Windows 8 or any other MS product. When you install an app that has ties to the "Customer Experience Improvement" stuff, there is a handy balloon at the bottom of your taskbar which invites you to click to opt out. If you dismiss the balloon, the icon in your systray stays there showing that you're collecting data.

I'm not sure how much more upfront you can get. Honestly. (And I opt out immediately for anything I use.)

No evidence they weighed as much as a duck....

Your analysis is like an analogy of an airline passenger. You can choose to be a consumer and fly one of the major airlines. You get the seats the give you and the snacks they serve. You don't get to pick the flight path to your destination, and you don't get to pick your own schedule. To "best the system", you went to get your own pilot's license. You can fly where you want, when you want and choose the path. You're part of an elite bunch alright.

From up that high, you might not be able to see it, but not everyone has the ability/time/desire to be a pilot. An overwhelming majority of the people who use planes to get from A to B are content with that choice. And frankly, I don't really hear a lot of private pilots droning on about how much better they are that they can fly themselves to somewhere when they want to.

And btw, nobody is free. Don't pretend to be free just because you're a computer enthusiast. You're still a slave to the farmers, the electric company, the sanitation and water sources that feed your house and every other item in your world that you pay for. For you, this may be about freedom and choice and all that other jazz that 90% of the world doesn't care about when it comes to an operating system. If you sleep better at night, then cookie for you. The "Aura of Rightness" that you're projecting just comes off as a bit juvenile, though.

Look people, let's all step back and look at what's going on here. /. is an anti-MS site. From the Bill Gates Cyborg, to the inherent bias of the articles published, it's not a fanboi of MS. Let's get over that.

Linux/OSS Fans: Take the feather out of your cap, it doesn't mean anything. It's probably not even valid (just like it is invalid here).

Windows Fans: Stop getting butthurt about these types of articles. The OS market share is there, and that's the revenue generator.

/. would be a lot more fun to read if everyone would just get off their high horse already. Goddamn.

FTFA

"Attention, busy middle-aged folks. You may be healthy and thin, but if you habitually sleep less than six hours a night, you still could be boosting your risk of a stroke."

That sure grabs a headline, but seriously. What proof do you have that that is the cause? What if there's something broken elsewhere, that we don't know about? That's not nearly as sensational enough for Mainstream Media, though. :(

I was also keying off the fact the parent wanted to a reality-based situation. There's relatively little change involved.

From a purely "secure from brute force attacks"... yeah, I do think it's a lot different. The main point is to make the length greater than 16. You're never going to fix the social engineering aspect of it, like leaving it on a sticky note on your monitor.

I'm simply addressing the issue from the article - Five Character Passwords Suck.

Do you really need three?

Um, how about a simple rewording of "Password" to "Passphrase" and make the minimum required length 20 characters.

If you take the utterly easy passphrase of "My favorite password is the word password.", you're talking about 7.1 x 10^61 years to crack it. A measly 20 character phrase would take 1 sextillion years.

And really, from a development side of the coin, implementation doesn't get much simpler. You should already be storing hashes of the passwords, not the passwords themselves. Don't over-think this. Nobody else will.

First step would be to evaluate everything as posted above.

Then build a Action Priority Matrix. It'll help you fit together an action plan and block out time for what appears to be major projects. It also allows you to get some Quickies done to show management you're the right guy to keep doing the job.

http://www.showingnaturally.com/ActionPriorityMatrix.png

No Bing Bar on Win 7.....

Come for the tech, stay for the fiscal policy lectures.

Your voices may be heard, provided you write your own drivers for the sound card.

Why do we still put a mandate of "liquid water" in the hospitable zone requirement? Are we really naive enough to think that life out there CAN'T POSSIBLY FORM without water?

Am I just totally nuts here?