The Governments Worldwide (Not Just B.R.I.C.S.) Need to Break Up With Microsoft If They Value Computer Security and National Security
THE other day we wrote about security and Microsoft. The punchline: "Way to distract from the Microsoft breaches (Microsoft cannot even secure its own systems)..."
A lot has happened since then (just 3 days ago). Intel is being sued and somewhere buried in the Daily Links from a past year are some links to an article from the 1980s and discussions of said article showing that speculative execution was warned against even back then, but that the warnings were ignored by Intel and whole class of hardware vulnerabilities was created as direct fallout.
That's about x86, not just Microsoft/Windows, being a giant hole. No wonder the BRICS pact (especially RIC) keeps trying to move away from that architecture. Some make their own, based on free designs such as RISC-V.
What bothers us somewhat is that the other day "I" (India) had this truly terrible article, which misrepresents Microsoft as an authority on technology, bolstered perhaps by American outlets. This one misrepresents Microsoft as an authority on instead of cause of disinformation ("Microsoft Chief Says Russia Is Spreading Middle East Disinformation"). According to a Microsoft whistleblower, he's the 'handler' of Nadella, aside from Bill Gates.
So what we have is a bunch of fraudsters and criminals lecturing us on "disinformation":
Russia has been spreading "disinformation" about the situation in the Middle East, the president of [Abusive Monopolist] Microsoft said on November 11, as tensions soar in the region.
Russia also takes advantage of Microsoft Windows to take over computer systems, but they left out that part. So what we have here is a lying company that routinely breaks all the laws lecturing us on "disinformation". Later they moan about people not trusting news outlets anymore. Many perceive such outlets as corporate propaganda and spin, rightly or wrongly...
Speaking of which, there is a national crisis in Australia and an associate blames it on Windows TCO ("total cost of ownership" - a term Microsoft likes to weaponise against rivals). Well, ransomware almost always means Windows and DDoS attacks are often facilitated by Windows botnets. Of course the corporate media will carry on with its own campaign of disinformation, not explaining any of the root causes for ports being at a standstill.
This is a national disaster.
Sometimes the corporate (or national or mainstream) media, parroting those seeking to dodge accountability, say that targets like freight giants merely have an event (a cyber event or "crypto event") instead of them being totally cracked, i.e. data breach and loss of control over their own machines.
As an associate has put it: "Security is being increasingly misrepresented as a separate industry instead of an essential part of planning and development. Thus we have the terrible mess that Microsoft has put the world into."
Well, there is an actual incentive to make things not work, then sell "fixes" (that also fail later).
There is a perverse incentive on several levels, the associate has added. "And the "fixes" don't work, so buy the "next version"..."
We're meanwhile saying several press reports about "security skills shortage" echoed even in sites that should know better. More frauds, poseurs, and charlatans are not needed, the associate has said, as the skills shortage is of a different nature. Too many people are trained to push proprietary brand names, rather than exercise Computer Science.
What the politicians call for is simply more "jobs" for certificates and diploma mills.
It is the same old lie from the usual crowd, the associate has said, as "what is really happening is that there are no new skilled IT people being educated anywhere. That's creating gaps and vulnerabilities. Certification, at least in the context of IT, is only a scam nothing more."
Free software is not perfect at security, but at least it does not hide holes and it does patch them as soon as they're known. Unlike Microsoft. █