koaftder wrote:
In previous versions of windows, people {bleep}ed about the lack of security while they mindlessly droned on logged in under their administrator account. Microsoft comes up with a new security model in windows and guess what? People {bleep} about it.
Half the time when I have to install an app on my mac I get to type in a password. When i change prefs, password. On the CLI, I often have to run sudo, all the time. Nobody {bleep}es about that. Nobody {bleep}es about having to type in the password on Ubuntu.
Got an app on Vista that pops up the UAC and you are tired of that, just right click and select a checkbox, blam, no more having to put in that password.
Heh, so your app on Vista is just like the Keychain on OS X?
Look at the security model in relation to users. When you sudo at a linux command line, guess what, YOU ARE NOT AN AVERAGE USER. No, really, you aren't. If you're chmod'ing stuff and sudo'ing, casual security DOES NOT APPLY TO YOU. STOP HERE AND IGNORE THE CONVERSATION. Not being mean, but anyone using a CLI *nix already "gets it" in regard to security models for that type of operating system. And they have fewer trojans/malware to deal with than on Windows. Most exploits are people remotely breaking into things like a web server or php module, not from a *nix user running a program that's really a trojan.
Use both Vista and OS X for a week and you should find that you are prompted more for your password on Vista than on OS X. Some programs, when installing (or even LAUNCHING) will prompt you THREE TIMES for a UAC confirmation. On a Mac, once, if that? This isn't anecdotal on my part, either, a google search should show up the same comparisons and complaints.
It isn't the act of asking for user intervention that is bad, it is the act of desensitizing the user to the value of that information. If your computing experience is interrupted 3 to 5 times while trying to install or load programs, are you going to keep scrutinizing every UAC prompt? It's the OS who cried wolf. It trains people to "make the box go away" so they can use their computers.
You can say, "well too bad, they should know better, that's there for their protection" and you wouldn't be wrong. But that's the same thing for telling people to not run as Administrator and make separate accounts, to be careful what they download and open in email, etc.
If UAC provided simple-to-understand information and with less frequency, people (and IT security experts, if you read the IT press at all) would be more apt to care about the warnings. As it is now, it is pretty much worthless for security. But it's great at annoying the crap out of people.
OS X, in comparison, DOES ask for your password from time to time. But not ALL the time. And typically only when you're installing programs that access the nuts and bolts, like if you wanted to run iDefrag or Disk Utility, that kinda stuff. Not when you're installing a @#% shareware game.
Boo Vista! Yay beer!
