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Re: Misplaced flamewar... WAS: RE: in case nobody else noticed it, there was a mail worm released today
- From: Iljitsch van Beijnum
- Date: Fri Jan 30 04:14:06 2004
On 30-jan-04, at 7:20, Alexei Roudnev wrote:
Second problem is directory structure. In Unix, when I configure IDS
(osiris
or Tripwire or Intact), I can just be sure, that 'bin' and 'etc' and
'sbin'
and 'libexec' directories does not have any variable files - all
non-static
files are in /var (Solaris is an exception, they put some 'pid files
into
.etc, but even here, it is not a problem). But windose... you have not
any
directory which never changed, and I find few .dll files, changed
every few
days. Every application puts log and data files into it's own
directory
(with rare exception of applications, derived from Unix or written by
people
with Unix background). It makes terrible difficult to configure IDS,
and
makes system very vulnerable.
Actually IMO putting all their crap in their own dir is a feature
rather than a bug. I really hate the way unix apps just put their stuff
all over the place so it's an incredible pain to get rid of it again.
I think MacOS got it right: for most apps, installing just means
dumping the icon wherever you want it to be, deinstalling is done by
dropping it in the trash. The fact that the icon hides a directory with
a bunch of different files in it is transparent to the user.
And if an installer wants to mess with the system, a request to provide
the administrator password comes up, even for users with administrator
privilidges.
Of course, it is all trade-off for functionality, but people
overestimates
it - many MS benefits come from it's dominance , not from
functionality.
I think MS's tradeoffs are mainly time to market vs even faster time to
market. Hopefully they'll rip off Apple's ideas for their new stuff.
Then add some zone alarm like stuff so apps can't mess with the network
without the user's permission and we're in pretty good shape.
And it all makes it a very good target for the viruses / worms.
The fact that SMTP believes everything you tell it doesn't help either.
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