At 4:19 PM -0500 5/4/04, Laurence F. Sheldon, Jr. wrote:
chuck goolsbee wrote:
However, up to 90% of the users *are* stupid:
I didn't say that, I only quoted (Valdis Kletnieks) it... to which I replied that compensating for stupidity is a zero-sum game.
Seriosuly though, the Internet might be a better place for it. After all, 90% of those "stupid" people just want email and HTTP.
Do we have a pointer to a rigorous study that indicates either assertion?
First of all, I was disagreeing with Valdis' assessment of "stupidity"... a more accurate term would be "non-technical." I have no rigorous study to point to sorry. But I will say virtually all the "home users" I have encountered are running Windows for the purpose of getting email and using "the Web". That machine is usually in some unprotected, or already compromised state. I make similar/same suggestions to them that have already been stated here: Nuke/pave, enable what security features are available in the OS, get a firewall, NAT, etc etc. The prescription seems to be viewed to be as difficult as the disease it cures. Zero-sum. So maybe they WOULD be better with a "WebTV" model. Or a Macintosh.
Or is it possible there are other explanations?
Perhaps. I'm just reporting what I am seeing.
What will be do when they figure out that paying us to let them hurt themselves is a sub-optimal use of their money?
How is WebTV doing these days? Since it is now Microsoft can their boxen get rooted/zombied/botted now too? I'll admit I never paid too much attention to WebTV. Perhaps there is a market for "safe Internet access"... I don't know. But I suspect the barrier to entry is either making it work with the dominant platform, or asking the market take the leap to another platform. Both are unlikely. What I do know is that the dominant platform is inherently insecure, and many of its users, those "non-technical" folks I referred to... they seem to be mostly unaware of the danger they pose to themselves and everyone else on the Network. --chuck