[GoLUG] CrowdStrike and Windows? You're gonna need a bigger boat

[Syeed Ali]

On Sat, 20 Jul 2024 00:00:47 -0700
Kyle Terrien <kyleterrien at gmail.com> wrote:

> + Have you tried to install Windows lately?  Microsoft pressures you 
> very hard into creating a Microsoft account, just to use a PC which
> you own.  Most people do as they are told and create the account
> anyway.

Can confirm. You have to press a hidden key combination to pull up a
terminal, and then type in a special commandline you could never have
guessed.  That can be taken away at any time.


> + Every refrigerator, smart thermostat, smart TV, headphones, etc. 
> demands you setup an online account with its vendor before you can
> use it.  Of course, you and I know that this is boneheaded stupid,
> and most people on this list don't want to touch Internet of stings.
> However, most normies just pucker up to the kingpin and HIDTY.

I have an exercise bike with an app.

My washing machine also has bluetooth.  I don't know why.


> Overall, all of these things really bug me as a technologist because
> it means some things are objectively getting worse.  Software quality
> is getting worse, solutions to computer security involve outsourcing
> your critical thinking, and computer literacy is so low that most
> people don't care.  The next time someone argues that technology
> makes people more miserable, they are going to point to the events of
> today.

There was some discussion on another mailing list (CABAL) about how
programmers will need to self-regulate for quality control before
governments step in, because sooner or later a plane is going to fall
out of the sky from a missing semicolon.

The main problem is that pointy haired bosses see their technical staff
as employees and not as consultants, and use them as tools and not as
differently-specialized managers to be doled out power as trust
warrants it.

It's going to get a lot, lot, worse before it gets better.  I don't
care to wonder what "better" will look like.