Re: Windows 9x/98SE, Me Updates/Patches/Downloads
mm <NOPSAMmm2005@bigfoot.com> wrote in
news
t1qn3lt1ajtojrbr4q7j730kpji8ghqkk@4ax.com:
> On 02 Jan 2008 03:25:10 GMT, thanatoid
> <waiting@the.exit.invalid> wrote:
>
>>=?Utf-8?B?Qk1pbGxpa2Fu?=
>><BMillikan@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>>news:9B6AE063-85F6-4DC9-9634-F312C19EF193@microsoft.com:
>>
>>> I know Microsoft has removed the online support for
>>> Windows 95, 98, 98SE & ME. However, I have a ton of
>>> learning CDs for my 3-year-old and they are Windows 3.1
>>> or Windows 95 only (some of them). So, I need to be able
>>> to get the patches/updates for Win95-WinMe somehow. Can
>>> anyone point me in the right direction?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Brian
>>
>>You don't need any updates or patches for you kid(s) to use
>>some CD's.
>>
>>You only need them if you will be connecting to the
>>Internet and using MS Internet Explorer/Outlook Express.
>
> That's what I thought, but why is it that MS is always
> releasing "Security Updates" and Netscape, Firefox, Opera,
> etc. never do.
For the same reason that when you buy a well-written piece of
/specific/ software, like an image editing program, you don't
spend the next year having it crash all the time and having to
get fixes. The bigger the company, the more apt it is to release
crap just to get it out the door an make more money. That
statement probably applies more to MS than anyone else.
I have been using a Micrografx image editor (which had VERY
useful features several years before the industry standard - and
total overkill for everyone except serious professionals - Adobe
Photoshop) and they NEVER released any patches - why? Because
they wrote the software carefully and tested the hell out of it
before releasing it. The bad part is that they are dead. Corel
now sells what's left of their products. That's the sad fate of
people and companies who care more about quality than money.
Anyway, to make it shorter:
a) because MS is more concerned with money than with quality
b) because since it comes preinstalled and "free" on practically
every PC sold, most virus/malware writers target IE/OE as well
as Office.
> At most they release a "new version" every
> once in a while. Is that where they include security
> changes, or do they just have fewer vulnerabilities than MS
> products.
SOME people say that the "insecurities" are there because MS
works with the NSA and leaves them there intentionally,
therefore hackers etc. are doing people a favor by discovering
and exploiting those insecurities and forcing MS to make the
browser etc. more user-oriented than "otherwise". Think of that
what you will.
Others just say MS is simply terrible at writing software but
great at marketing, using /any/ tactics necessary. They have
thousands of pimply kids who have never talked to each other
coding their software and NO single person has ever gone through
every line of the code for Vista [and XP etc.] or Office because
it would take a lifetime.
So that's another reason why those programs are huge, buggy and
basically, CRAP. There are programs that fit on a floppy that do
everything an average user could ask for. Check out
www.tinyapps.org and be amazed.
>>Don't. It's asking for trouble. Use Opera 7.23 from
>>www.oldversion.com
>
> I have firefox 2, but I suppose you think I should try this
> too, right?
I have said it so often I should just make it my sig. By the
time you install all the ad-ons and plugins for Firefox, it's
almost as big, bloated, and vulnerable as IE/OE. I tried it and
found it EXTREMELY disappointing. I don't know WHY Opera isn't
more popular. It is so superior to ANY of the other full-
featured browsers and they are the quickest at fixing whatever
minor security problems arise (SOME of the web dangers affect
ALL internet programs, not just IE/OE).
--
Needless to say, I disdain such idiocies as Xmas and New Year's,
but I'd thought I'd play along just once...
thanatoid's New Year's Resolutions.
01. Stop posting good advice to help newsgroups.
02. Stop posting stupid advice to help newsgroups.
03. Drive to see the Grand Canyon and then to Las Vegas, buy a
gun.
04. Gamble a little in a desperate attempt to fit in for once.
05. Hire 5 of the best looking Las Vegas hookers and have a 3
hour orgy.
06. Have a king-size eggs and bacon and hashbrowns with onions
breakfast.
07. Return to hotel room, put gun in mouth and pull trigger.
