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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

#291

Post by pjmlp »

chickenbane wrote: post #260
_wmd wrote: post #25

I guess this means we can officially stop hating on Microsoft for having such a lax attitude towards security, considering their last OS to suffer from that attitude was released 16 years ago, and it accounts for less than 3% of present day traffic according to statcounter.com Meanwhile according to the same stats, Android sits around 37.9%, and I have to wonder just how many of those devices are still impacted by fo…

> you should have started on it years ago As somebody who has been following Android for a while, this statement is incredibly unfair. The Android ecosystem is huge and remarkably safe. For those actually interested in the details, the Android security team releases annual security reviews, and the report for 2016 was just released: https://security.googleblog.com/2017/03/diverse-protections-... The tldr: the number…

You mean the same report where they cleverly omit the actual situation about updates across Android devices, by only mentioning flagship devices sold in 2016?

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

#292

Post by bitmapbrother »

pjmlp wrote: post #176
bitmapbrother wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Isn't 36 months 2 + 1 years? He stated "+1 for some fixes" which is incorrect as it implies that you may not get all of the security fixes for that additional year and only "some" of them. >Also, the point is still valid that 36 months (or 3 years) is still rather short security lifetime for a device. At some point (presumably soon now that carriers are dropping most device subsidies) the 2 year replacement scheme o…

I stand by my remark, as I don't have a way to confirm what security updates Google bothers to release at all to "outdated" devices.

Of course there's a way to confirm what security updates Google releases. You just have to go to the Android Security Bulletin site [1]. You know this, but it would conflict with your agenda of spreading Google/Android FUD because of your perpetual grievances with Google surrounding the Google/Oracle trial.

[1]https://source.android.com/security/bulletin/

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

#293

Post by throw2016 »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #44
_wmd wrote: post #25

I guess this means we can officially stop hating on Microsoft for having such a lax attitude towards security, considering their last OS to suffer from that attitude was released 16 years ago, and it accounts for less than 3% of present day traffic according to statcounter.com Meanwhile according to the same stats, Android sits around 37.9%, and I have to wonder just how many of those devices are still impacted by fo…

The difference being that you can install or upgrade Windows on a system without buying a new laptop or requiring support from the vendor; the vendor doesn't lock down laptops to prevent upgrades and force people to buy a new device instead.

We can thank our lucky stars by design or accident of history the PC remains the only true open platform for end users.

Linux and its wide adoption, the ability of users to pick and choose hardware and software would simply not have been possible if Microsoft and Intel took the Google-ARM model to 'openness'.

Google and ARM pay lip sync to open source but users are locked tightly to their devices and OS. Users cannot even install updates let alone things like Linux which Android is based on.

The drivers work perfectly on Android yet users trying to install Linux on ARM socs cannot use these drivers? Open source developers struggle for years with ARM and Google with no results. How exactly did this come to pass without by design? There can always be myriad 'reasons' and excuses but the fact is ARM completely controls the hardware and Google completely controls the software and it's their design and decisions that drives net negative results for users and open source.

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

#294

Post by krisroadruck »

justinsaccount wrote: post #263
yokohummer7 wrote: post #249

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?

Some people are too lazy to individually forward ports (I am guilty of this in the past myself)

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

#295

Post by bitmapbrother »

WorldMaker wrote: post #187
bitmapbrother wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Isn't 36 months 2 + 1 years? He stated "+1 for some fixes" which is incorrect as it implies that you may not get all of the security fixes for that additional year and only "some" of them. >Also, the point is still valid that 36 months (or 3 years) is still rather short security lifetime for a device. At some point (presumably soon now that carriers are dropping most device subsidies) the 2 year replacement scheme o…

«He stated "+1 for some fixes" which is incorrect as it implies that you may not get all of the security fixes for that additional year and only "some" of them.» Interesting. The OP's statement was for "upgrades" not security fixes; I read it as 2 years upgrades and 1 for security fixes beyond feature upgrades. The choice of "some" was ambiguous, but "upgrades" is much less ambiguous to me than you seem to consider a…

The OP said "updates" not "upgrades". The use of the word "some" is not correct regardless of what context you try to paint it in.

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

#296

Post by ksk »

mattnewton wrote: post #277
ksk wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So apparently "phone manufacturer must preload all Google applications" and "phone manufacturer must set Google as default search engine", and "Google network service must be preloaded" made it in the contract, but "phone manufacturer must update the phone" didn't. Those sneaky phone manufacturers !!

Those things you listen actually make less work for the manufacturers, and speedy updates make more work - that solves the mystery for me at least.

Oh, its not a mystery at all. Its just odd to come across people (in general, not you) who still think an advertising company would care all that much about their users (who are not their customers anyway). But yes, they're quite far from being the worst in this aspect.

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

#297

Post by nkristoffersen »

ezoe wrote: 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…

Ironically the smartphone brings proper computing to everyone's fingertips. Hell I use my iPhone as a SSH terminal, or even a hotspot for my laptop when programming away from wifi.

The Information Age would be a dud without constant access to said information from anywhere for anyone.

The smartphone has also made it super easy for the average person to enjoy the fruits of programmers labor via app stores. Overall it has been a positive for the world.

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

#298

Post by sangnoir »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #44
_wmd wrote: post #25

I guess this means we can officially stop hating on Microsoft for having such a lax attitude towards security, considering their last OS to suffer from that attitude was released 16 years ago, and it accounts for less than 3% of present day traffic according to statcounter.com Meanwhile according to the same stats, Android sits around 37.9%, and I have to wonder just how many of those devices are still impacted by fo…

The difference being that you can install or upgrade Windows on a system without buying a new laptop or requiring support from the vendor; the vendor doesn't lock down laptops to prevent upgrades and force people to buy a new device instead.

> The difference being that you can install or upgrade Windows on a system without buying a new laptop or requiring support from the vendor

You are looking at the past with rose-tinted glasses, or you got very lucky with drivers. New drivers were required for every new Windows version from Win 2000 to Windows 7,even for the display (or if you are unlucky, Ethernet). The only way to get those drivers was via support from the vendor. I distinctly recall trawling dodgy 4th party driver aggregation websites, downloading and burning them to CDs in internet cafes multiple times.

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

#299

Post by kelnage »

narrator wrote: post #179
_wmd wrote: post #25

I guess this means we can officially stop hating on Microsoft for having such a lax attitude towards security, considering their last OS to suffer from that attitude was released 16 years ago, and it accounts for less than 3% of present day traffic according to statcounter.com Meanwhile according to the same stats, Android sits around 37.9%, and I have to wonder just how many of those devices are still impacted by fo…

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 think this is part of the problem. I see a lot of hate thrown at Windows 10 for the automatic shutdown to install updates - and some of that is due to bad design choices by MS - but many seem to hate the idea of updates being automatically installed at all. They say they'd prefer to be insecure rather than be inconvenienced.

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

#300

Post by enzanki_ars »

wutbrodo wrote: post #139
enzanki_ars wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It kind of is Google's fault. Most people associate any version of Android with Google. Manufactures that don't update their phones causes harm to both the manufacture's image and Google image. Personally, I place all the blame on Google for not making the upgrades possible from their side. It should be easy to upgrade the core operating system as easy as updating Windows, OSX, and Linux.

> It kind of is Google's fault. Most people associate any version of Android with Google. Manufactures that don't update their phones causes harm to both the manufacture's image and Google image. This makes no sense. "People associate X with Y" is not the same as "Y is responsible for X". If I associate Android with Linux, is Linus now culpable for Android's security problems? > Personally, I place all the blame on G…

> "People associate X with Y" is not the same as "Y is responsible for X".

I understand that, but many of the non-tech savvy people I know do not understand that Google is not responsible for most versions of Android that run on their phones.

> ...but mobile devices are not desktops and the challenges they face are entirely different.

I do not see how they are much different. To many people, their phone is just as important as their desktop/laptop. I do not see anything stopping updates to Android being invisible to the end use as most other updates. iOS is pretty good about updating in a way that is unobtrusive to the user and Windows 10 is getting closer.

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