Security or not?

Windows Vista was originally conceived to be extremely tight in the security area. Unfortunately, as has always been the case with Windows, the all important "ease of use" conflicted with those goals. They first backed down on outbound firewalling, explaining that it was too "technically tricky". But they still had Least-Privilege User Accounts (though apparently it's now called User Account Control or UAC) and some Windows folks bragged that it was better than Mac's sudo model.

Apparently not. ` InformationWeek now says at Review: Windows Vista Beta 2:

Unfortunately, Microsoft went wild with what standard users
were not allowed to do in earlier Vista builds. Want to set
your system clock? Before this beta, you'd get a notification
that you couldn't, and you had to log in as an administrator
just to set the system clock -- or the calendar for that
matter. The same held for changing power management settings,
changing your time zone, and plenty more.

Thankfully, Microsoft listened to its beta users, and toned
down UAC in Beta 2. There are far fewer times you'll get
notifications -- so you can now set your system clock and
calendar, change your time zone and power management settings,
set up a Virtual Private Network, and a lot more without
getting nagged. Microsoft says that it is going through the
entire operating system and will get rid of other notifications
as well before launch.
 

Yeah, I bet they will "get rid of other notifications as well before launch". By the time they get done, Windows security controls will be full of holes and exceptions. Ease of use trumps security every time in the halls of Microsoft.

This looks like great fun, doesn't it?

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