"Surferbar" virus>Outlook sucks>best browser/email client

[Captain Kwok]

This is more of just a random thought rather than support for MS.

Don't be fooled that other software doesn't have security holes and things of that sort, it's just that MS systems are so commonplace that they attract the work/attention of hackers and virus makers to a much higher degree than other software. I suppose if other operating systems/browsers/e-mail clients were more popular, they'd be just as vulnerable as what we have now.

Then again, most of those programs remain unfamiliar to most Users and should be virus and problem free for some time.

[ September 04, 2003, 15:07: Message edited by: Captain Kwok ]

[Alneyan]

Yes that is exactly the problem Kwok. At best, the alternative programs are slightly less vulnerable than MS ones, at worse they are equally vulnerable, but in both cases, it would be hard to make a program completely safe. [Cynical] And the companies developing anti-viruses software would hate that. [/Cynical] Their main protection is the fact that they are not very used unlike MS programs.

I am using myself Mozilla Firebird (standalone browser) and Thunderbird (standalone mail program), and these two are more than satisfying for me. (I have only experience problems with some sites using layers) And the tabs... This feature is quite hard to explain, but so useful when you have to browse ten or twenty windows at the same time. You could also download the whole Mozilla (the one Baron Munchausen mentioned), there are few differences between that suit and the standalone programs.

[Thermodyne]

Outlook is over kill if you only do email. But if you use the other features, then there is nothing else close to it. Same with IE6. It's overkill for surfing, but if you diliver apps from a web server or need to manage 100's of systems, it leaves the rest behind.

Also, the "holes" are not a MS exclusive. I run NIX on one system and I get several security fixes a week for it. Usually the NIX patches are more dificult to install.

[Suicide Junkie]

On the desktop end of things, that argument could work, but a large fraction of servers do not use windows.

There's also the fact that with open source stuff, you get your fixes promptly (if not included in the bug notification), since there are so many independent programmers available out there.

Now, I don't mind using windows myself; it works well enough for me, but I won't be paying microsoft every 2-3 years to get the same old software in a new package with menus rearranged, some bugs fixed and intrusive software added.
Today IMO, the only things worth upgrading are your monitor, harddrive, RAM and anything from shrapnel.

[ September 04, 2003, 21:05: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]