Cancel or Allow?
I saw this for the first time over the weekend (I don’t watch much TV).
I had two thoughts.
1 – Didn’t Apple start the whole “cancel or allow” thing? OS X has always required major changes in the OS to be accompanied by not only a username, but also a password for an administrative user. Vista only requires the user to click “Allow”.
2 – Weren’t there more security problems with OS X last year than for XP? I watch SecurityFocus and Bugtraq for these things. OS X had more listings than XP in 2006.
At what point does this become false advertising?
April 9th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Now you know why Bill Gates was upset about this commercial! Also, Linux requires you to enter the root password when you install updates.
Microsoft could come out with their own ads. However, I have not seen a Microsoft commercial since the Vista launch. It makes you wonder what is going on there?
April 9th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
The only way Apple can compete, in my opinion, is to launch these commercials trying to tarnish Windows. I have had experience with both platforms and of course I am a Windows man. Microsoft should not waste the time or resources to even acknowledge these ads. It makes for good entertainment and a lot of it is true, but are people actually going to consider switching to Mac…- I seriously doubt it.
April 11th, 2007 at 10:42 am
I can’t comment on the allow/cancel stuff, since I’ve only played around with one of the Vista Release Candidates, but I am glad Microsoft has been finally trying to secure their OS. One of their worst blunders was running as administrator. That should’ve gone out the window when XP was introduced. There is no reason to run as administrator, but since Microsoft allowed it, spyware/malware/normal software requires the user to be an administrator.
My other complaint with Windows is that applications can store user settings in several different places. Under OS X, all of the user’s documents and settings are stored in their home directory. Need to move to a different machine? Just copy the home folder and all your stuff and settings are there. In fact, a lot of applications can be installed in an Applications folder in the user’s home directory. This makes it really nice for our teachers. Some of them need access to Filemaker Pro. By placing it in their Applications folder in their home folder, they have access to it from any machine they log into (everyone has a networked home directory).
This is getting better under Windows with more and more applications using the Application Data folder.
Under OS X, a person marked as administrator has to enter a password anytime a change to the system is required, and Vista has finally caught up with this.
On the other hand, why does Microsoft ship Vista and XP with services turned on that expose the machine on the Internet? An OS X machine runs with no services remotely accessible out of the box. I don’t think there has been a remote compromise on an OS X machine (maybe that wireless hack, but the details are pretty hazy).
Now that OS X runs on Intel, I do not hesitate when people ask me what to buy. In fact, I tell them if they run OS X I’ll come over and fix anything for free, but if they run Windows it will cost them $100 an hour. This is an easy offer because I know I’ll never have to fix anything under OS X.
August 7th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
[...] “User Access Control” isn’t nearly as bad as the Apple commercial would have you believe. I get beeped once a day at most. As I get my machine tweaked, I will [...]