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The Dangers of Proprietary Software 02 June 2009 16:44
It's rare that the dangers of Proprietary Software can be so clearly
and plainly seen and understood by normal people. This is one very
clear, very undeniable example. Consider also that Microsoft can
uniquely identify every Windows install at the time it phones home
for updates. It would be trivial for Microsoft to serve out
malicious/espionage software at any time, and simply give it some
long boring name. How many of you Windows users doublecheck even the
names of your updates before applying them?
GNU+Linux users however don't have to worry about this. Our package
managers do not uniquely identify us during updates. Our updates are
signed by public keys, and the source code is open for anyone to see
malicious code if it ever existed. There is no place for tricks like
Microsoft's update abuse to hide in GNU+Linux.
If you know how to burn CDs and install an operating system, you can
download a Free (as in freedom) Software GNU+Linux distribution
without paying anything, and get all updates, newer versions, and
nearly all add on software gratis, for life. If you're just the
casual PC user, ask your IT department and retailer for a Linux PC
next time you see them.
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