I was certainly one of those in a loud chorus yelling and screaming about the interruptions that the User Account Control (UAC) in Vista visited on my workflow in the early days. There were times when it just drove me nuts. I was happy to see that Microsoft made some improvements on the interruption factor in the beta of Windows 7.
Now, according to Long Zheng of istartedsomething, these improvements may lead to a less secure system. He lays out the issue in a lengthy post and I’m in no position to do anything other than link to and report on what’s contained there.
It brings up serious issues obviously that I’m sure will be addressed somewhow, after all Windows 7 is still in beta. But, the larger issue of how we all deal with the malcontents and miscreants that love to prey on users who don’t pay attention to their systems still remain. Some are even saying that this bad problem will only get worse in a darkening economy as folks with the bad guys preying even more on the uneducated and even the bad guy population growing as the economy worsens. Of course some say just get a Mac, but that old saw is already starting to rust a bit these days and will continue to weaken as Apple’s market share continues to increase.
I don’t think there is any way out of the ongoing race with the malcontents and miscreants as anything man can make, man can unmake or destroy. There are days I’d advocate public flogging, or at least making the bad guys watch endless hours of home movies on YouTube. I just wish that the creative and innovative energy that is spent finding ways to be malicous could be put to use to make a better world.
Yeah, I know, sometimes optimism pops up in the oddest places.
Well, the option isn’t between having the more secure UAC and the less secure UAC really… its more like the less secure UAC vs no UAC. Because the really annoying more secure one bothers people so much that almost everyone turns it off. Therefore the less annoying one is a step up from that.
One of the things I like about Long’s post is that he provides a completely viable, workable solution to the issue that Microsoft can develop in quick turn around time.