Yeah, yeah, yeah. Poor Microsoft. Just because the company they designed a web browser with more holes than a sieve, refused to fix the problems, and even claimed that the problems were features, well it isn't their fault if some hacker took advantage, right?

Just like it wouldn't be your fault, if you left your house unlocked, put up a sign on your front lawn telling everyone this, and your house got cleaned out. Not your fault at all.

And of course someone at this point always mentions numbers, there's a lot of Microsoft software out there to take advantage of, and at this point they miss out on one vital fact, and that is that no one else designs software like Microsoft! No one takes as long to patch as Microsoft. No one claims bugs are features except Microsoft. Add this all together and that's why no one else has the continual security problems that Microsoft has.

At this point it gets pointed out that there's software you can't live with, that is only available for Microsoft Operating systems, and websites that only work with Microsoft browsers. While certain specific applications may not be available for other operating systems, there's always a replacement program out there (and with Ubuntu you don't even have to go to the shop to look if you have an internet connection). Any site that won't work on Safari, Sea Monkey, Opera, Konqueror, or Fire Ferret doesn't deserve your business. If they won't cater to their customers, they loose business, and go bankrupt. The smart companies will learn.

I used to make all of those arguments myself about why I couldn't switch. I was wrong. Totally wrong. Since I switched our Acer, Gateway, Emachine, HP, and white box laptops and desktops to linux (we have 15 computers up and running in this house) a year back, we've saved about $2000.00 in costs. This includes not paying for Anti-virus and other security software, and my time for fixing messed up Windows installations (charged at $50.00 per hour - of course your time probably isn't worth that much if you are arguing that the problem isn't Microsoft's fault - you can't be smart enough to hold down a high paying job).


the poorly written code? Is that not to blame?!

Some people feel great by criticizing MS as if they and all others are perfect..

How old was the IE vulnerability used?

...you've managed to blame the newspaper and Microsoft for this. I guess there's no point in blaming either the hacker for doing the hacking, or yourself for not installing security updates promptly?

If you left your house unlocked one day and it got robbed, would you blame the home builder and the lock maker?

Another reason to keep using ad-blocking software!