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Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

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Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#261
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to play devil's advocate: Windows became the dominant platform when it had terrible security. Android became the dominant platform when it had terrible security. Maybe people don't care that much about security vs other features. At it's low point, Windows security was a lot worse than Android security. At one point, a fresh Windows XP machine plugged into the Internet would be compromised within a couple of min…

I don't really understand this metric at all. I've heard it colloquially, but I highly doubt anyone was scanning IP address ranges so often that you could be passively attacked on the internet without any interaction by two minutes in. Even more so, people are often behind NAT, which acts as a good firewall on its own. Maybe it's related to browsing habits? IE? I mean, you aren't going to get hit by a drive-by attack…

Because it was real? It was infected computers scanning, not people. Once infected you joined the group scanning random ips and it grew like you would expect it to.

At the peak it got so bad that IPSs were blocking affected ports on all consumer connections just to save bandwidth.

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#262
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting perspective. Where is this coming from, geographically? It doesn't match my experience here in North America.

Yeah I recently learned from a Candadian friend that people in the US and Canada still text a lot? Outside of the US & Canada my estimate would be that 99% of people has switched to WeChat, Whatsapp and FB Messenger. The only texts I ever recieve nowadays are automated (2FA etc...). Even though unlimited texts come with every SIM.

I am a rarity here in the U.K. as I still text, having got fed up of constantly switching IM apps. I mean, I remember when MSN Messenger was all the rage. Then Yahoo, ICQ, GTalk, Hangouts, various Jabber protocols, FaceAche, errr I mean FaceTime and Messenger, WhatsApp etc etc ad nauseum, Skype

SMS has remained the great constant throughout all these games. Turns out people don't get in touch if you don't use WhatsApp but shows how much they care eh!

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#263
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really understand this metric at all. I've heard it colloquially, but I highly doubt anyone was scanning IP address ranges so often that you could be passively attacked on the internet without any interaction by two minutes in. Even more so, people are often behind NAT, which acts as a good firewall on its own. Maybe it's related to browsing habits? IE? I mean, you aren't going to get hit by a drive-by attack…

It may sound crazy, but I did suffer from it myself. My Windows XP installation was guaranteed to be infected by the worm, because like you said, without any interaction (I didn't even open up the browser, to make sure I was not crazy), the Blaster worm was often sent from somewhere in the Internet during the installation procedure . Even if it wasn't, there was not enough time for me to run Windows Update before my…

> So back in the days, I always made sure to turn off the DMZ before reinstalling Windows XP.

Why did you turn it on in the first place?

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#264
post #220

When I was a kid, I was frustrated for most of the adults can't use the computer so our society is very inefficient at daily life. I was thinking, since our generation has affordable personal computers, when our generation become adults, the world will finally embrace the efficiency of computer where everything is computer-friendly and everyone can write code. I was wrong. The birth of so called "smartphone" made eve…

I do have a smartphone but oddly he is mildly correct that they really aren't smart. You have to spend ages on them to do anything.

It is odd that computers are meant to work for us but we spend such a long time using them and working on them, in a huge perpetual cycle of production and consumption cantered around the computer itself, particularly in the software industry.

Odd.

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#265
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to play devil's advocate: Windows became the dominant platform when it had terrible security. Android became the dominant platform when it had terrible security. Maybe people don't care that much about security vs other features. At it's low point, Windows security was a lot worse than Android security. At one point, a fresh Windows XP machine plugged into the Internet would be compromised within a couple of min…

I don't really understand this metric at all. I've heard it colloquially, but I highly doubt anyone was scanning IP address ranges so often that you could be passively attacked on the internet without any interaction by two minutes in. Even more so, people are often behind NAT, which acts as a good firewall on its own. Maybe it's related to browsing habits? IE? I mean, you aren't going to get hit by a drive-by attack…

This happened to me. I left a new XP pluggged in, behind a nat, and first thing in the morning I had a virus.

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#266

Wow, after all these years let the record state that 2017 was finally the year of the Linux desktop.

Ok, check this out - Linux at 2.15% on the desktop vs. other services that have it lower:

https://truemarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share?op...

I have a theory: - Bots don't show up as Linux, they spoof Chrome, iOS, etc. - Since this service filters out bot traffic, it is removing non-Linux traffic. - Hence, Linux share is actually much higher than is generally reported.

It IS the year of Linux!!

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#267
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes it useless?

Look at the efforts that Amazon continues to invest in Fire, and CyanogenMod (the Company that Went Bankrupt as opposed to the jailbreak mod that still mostly exists) tried to invest in a Play Store/Play Services competitor, and Samsung is trying to invest in its efforts while also trying to be stealthy about it in its current Cold War with Google... Android (AOSP) forks are numerous, yet competing with Play Store/Pl…

AOSP forks seem alive and well in China.

But yes, in rest of the world non-Google Android is struggling.

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may sound crazy, but I did suffer from it myself. My Windows XP installation was guaranteed to be infected by the worm, because like you said, without any interaction (I didn't even open up the browser, to make sure I was not crazy), the Blaster worm was often sent from somewhere in the Internet during the installation procedure . Even if it wasn't, there was not enough time for me to run Windows Update before my…

> So back in the days, I always made sure to turn off the DMZ before reinstalling Windows XP. Why did you turn it on in the first place?

[deleted]

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does your OEM create their version of Windows? No, they ship the binaries they receive from Microsoft. As long as Android OEM's are allowed to build their own version of Android this problem will always be in the hands of the OEM.

Well they sort of do, by adding pre-installed bloat. But it's still Windows. I just wonder why that is. Maybe Microsoft has stricter licensing?

There's a pretty huge difference between modifying the os and its desktop environment compared to just adding a few extra bloated apps and some wallpapers...

Re: Android overtakes Windows as the internet’s most used operating system

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems to me that Android had better security from the outset than (consumer) Windows had. It was not until XP that most home computers even had a notion of multiple users in any real sense, thanks to the NT core. And i don't think the problem is so much that people do not value security, but that they approach a computer like it is an appliance. Meaning that they do not internalize that it can do things without them…

> i find it unnerving that Windows 10 can apparently bring a laptop out of shutdown to do updates in the middle of the night Heh, I remember when Apple used that as a feature. Instead of updates, it downloaded your email and other things you'd want to have already available when you open your laptop.

Power Nap works when your Mac is put to sleep. I don't think it would turn on your Mac if you powered it off.

Also, macOS does not force a system update schedule on you, unlike Windows 10 Home.

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