[NBLUG/talk] How to send a message to Mr. Gates

[Suzanne Aldrich]

This is an email I wrote to a journalist who got hit with the Blaster 
worm:

From: Suzanne Aldrich <aigeanta at sonic.net>
Date: Fri Aug 15, 2003  11:35:27  AM US/Pacific
To: walkerl at washpost.com
Subject: How to send a message to Mr. Gates

Dear Ms. Walker,

In response to your article "Worms Shouldn't Break Windows" 
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54937-2003Aug13.html):

I am a young female computer professional who works with Windows, 
MacOSX, and RedHat Linux on a daily basis. The easiest to use by far is 
MacOSX, and Apple hardware is also well-designed (disclosure: I own 
some Apple stock). If you're on a tight budget, RedHat Linux is a great 
choice. I have found that the funky old PC I put RedHat on runs faster, 
and the drivers support hardware better than Windows. The HP Deskjet 
output looks better, and my D-link network card actually works, which I 
couldn't get it to do with Windows. For years I have been hearing 
complaints that there isn't enough software available for Mac and 
Linux, yet I have never had an issue with finding tools or creating 
documents that could be shared with the entire world. Meanwhile, I see 
people using Word, a horribly monolithic and unusable excuse for a word 
processor, having trouble even sharing documents between different 
versions. In addition, I have never been infected with a virus, trojan, 
or worm and I generally don't use antivirus software. The fact is, 
Microsoft tends to leave a lot of ports open and services running, and 
they don't give you the ability to block pop-ups and third-party 
cookies with IE, but do let you download and execute all sorts of 
malicious code in email if you don't modify default settings in Outlook.

I think the reason Microsoft's software is so poor is because they have 
a development process not unlike an assembly line, they're trying to 
build too many pieces of software into an obsolete monolithic 
structure, and they're making a huge profit by not investing in 
security. Why do people take this? The herd mentality has forced many 
into the Microsoft corner, as everyone tends to use what they know from 
work or school environments. There is also not enough publicity for 
Linux as a desktop system. I think now is the time to spread the 
gospel, as people who are sick and tired of patching Windows every week 
look for an alternative.

Open-source software is "distributed in source under licenses 
guaranteeing anybody rights to freely use, modify, and redistribute, 
the code" (http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/). What this means is that I 
can download the source code that comprises an open-source software 
project, modify it to my heart's content, build an executable program, 
and re-distribute the changes I made to the source. The whole point of 
this is that programmers want tools that work, so they built them. With 
proprietary software, if there is a bug or security hole you have to 
wait around until the company fixes it, but if it's open source the 
community itself can address the problem immediately and without any 
obstruction. You can see how inherently democratic this process is. In 
addition, peer-review has led to almost bug-free pieces of software, 
like TeX (http://truetex.com/knuthchk.htm) and collaboration on a 
massive scale has led to viable competitors to Microsoft, like 
OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org) which rivals MS Office after 
only a few years of development.

The best part is that not only is open-source software more secure, 
it's also free! Take one! If you have a PC with a CD burner, go to 
http://www.redhat.com/download/howto_download.html and follow the 
directions. If that's too heavy-duty for you, there are numerous Linux 
User Groups (http://www.linux.org/groups/usa/) that hold installfests 
to put Linux on newbie's computers and seminars to teach them how to 
use it. If you have any extra time to fiddle around, I highly recommend 
trying out RedHat, which is only one of the many flavors of Linux. 
Another piece of open-source software I highly recommend is Mozilla 
(http://www.mozilla.org), which is an Internet browser that rose from 
the ashes of Netscape. It can easily be installed on Windows, Mac, or 
Linux. Mozilla lets you block pop-up ads and third-party cookies 
extremely easily, and it has a built-in mail client that isn't 
vulnerable to the kind of attacks that Outlook succumbs to.

The reason I've spent so long on this to convince you to try something 
new is not because I'm making any money on it, but because I believe in 
it and I think it makes the world a better place. The best way to send 
a message to Bill Gates is to stop buying his crappy software.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Aldrich
sjaconsulting.com