rizxt wrote:
And I don't know how US Congress hasn't put Microsoft on the burner the same way they have with Facebook/Twitter.
Well, they sort of have:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_St ... osoft_Corp.
rizxt wrote:
Not only does EFI use the PE executable format that Microsoft created
As far as I know, there is no patent on the PE format, so I don't see much wrong with this. Would it be any different if they used ELF? Either way you could probably make a PE that loads an ELF.
rizxt wrote:
Secure Boot... I could count on one hand how many OSes boot with Secure Boot enabled.
As far as I know, most of the major OSes (every modern Linux kernel too) are signed. Also, you can load your own certificates if you wanted, or disable it entirely in many cases. I've never seen a computer so far that has secure boot forced with no way to load custom certificates.
However, I agree that the AARD was stupid. They often take other people's paid software, remake it, and package it with their OS to put other companies out of business.
However, Microsoft isn't the only company doing these kinds of practices.
My old Samsung phone for instance would not let you load any OS besides its "signed" versions. Even to root it, I had to load a signed old (vulnerable) version of the OS just to gain root access. I still can't go back to the newest version without losing root privelages.
Apple won't let you put pretty much anything non-Apple branded on your Apple devices. It's a closed ecosystem.
rizxt wrote:
Windows is the most vulnerable operating system due to its popularity and everyone is at risk.
Any "most popular" operating system will be attacked by malware. Android for instance constantly is dealing with new threats. The smaller the marketshare, the less profitable your attack will be.
Windows in particular is vulnerable because it is A) so old and B) must support old software, so they can't just change everything and start anew lest they risk losing customers.
Its gigantic software library is really what makes it the most popular OS, since their favorite game, program, etc. will be guaranteed to run on Windows. Manufacturers of devices and chips will of course test it with Windows to see if it works, and will leave communities like the Linux community to figure it out themselves.
What I really don't like is how they've gone down the data/advertisement route. Notice that there are advertisements on the Windows lock screen? You HAVE to have a Microsoft account to use Windows now. You can't even stop them from sending "basic" diagnostic data to MS. THIS is outrageous and really capitalizing on their monopoly. Also, their attempts to retake the browser marketshare are stupid as well. Granted, new Edge is much better than old Edge which was much better than IE, but still. I think the real reason they try to get you to use Edge is that data/advertisement thing. Edge -> Bing -> "Promoted" searches -> $
Those were just some thoughts I had on the subject.