Heratbleed, Java exploits, end of life for XP and now another longstanding issue with IE that has everyone running about in a panic.
I feel like a cow in the presence of a cattle prod- even though nobody has actually been shocked.
Lets start with XP and see if you don't get my point.
EOL operating systems are nothing new, but all you seem to hear about now is how stupid people are for staying with XP in any shape or form. Why did this not happen with 2000, 98, 95 and DOS? Granted, things are more complicated now, but our migration from these systems looked more like an old dog leaving a porch than a mad rush.
That's because we knew that these new and supposedly secure systems were the opposite of our old ones. The old ones were the devils we knew. The new ones were the devils we did not. We put trust in our old and proven comrades. I mean think about it, it's been less than 30 days- and the consensus seems to be, that anyone with any system still on XP is an idiot. That never happen before with EOL. (Do you really think some sort of huge problem will be discovered with XP that will allow the very essence of evil to invade without some sort notice? Can that really happen? Even with this new IE vulnerability, people still have to go to a fake website. That narrows the field right there.)
Yet somehow its different this time.... Why?
Could it be that we are being manipulated? Have we become so use to reading ad copy as if it were gospel truth, that we can't see the vested interests from the very people writing that ad copy that will make billions if we upgrade in a hurry?
I mean who's putting out all this hype? How many people do you KNOW, I mean actually KNOW that have been exposed to all these bad McNasties that we keep hearing about? I am not talking about this guy you heard about, who knew this guy, who knew this guy's brother that had his whole network destroyed. How many friends or workers do you know that have been destroyed?
Why is it that all these laughable hackers who can't keep a day job and work out of the "Bat Cave" in mom's basement, suddenly threaten our very IT lives? Remember Rainbow tables and how no one was safe? Well how is it we are still in business then? Why were we not wiped out and constantly compromised by every 13 year old kid with a computer?
That was the prediction, right?
I think instead, it's just another day in paradise where we must deal with intrusions, compromises and all the stuff of daily life.
I think instead that the guys who wrote all the Y2K books joined the marketing world and have been looking for ways to manufacture crisis after crisis ever since that show fizzled.
I would even go so far as to ask, "How is it that a bug that suddenly makes XP need replacing, yet has been around since the dawn of XP, is discovered NOW?"
One wonders, truly wonders if the hundred of billions of dollars at risk over the EOL of XP is not making somebody somewhere begin to wag the dog?
Now don't misunderstand, these are real issues. But let's put them in perspective.
Your thoughts?