http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/05/microsoft_update_quietly_insta.html

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When I first learned of this, three thoughts immediately flashed through my mind:

1) How the %#@! did I miss this?

2) The right way would have been to just publish the add-on at Mozilla’s Add Ons page.

3) This kind of makes you wonder what else MS is installing without your knowledge.

Then I found that I wasn’t the only one who had these ideas. Microsoft has heard these criticisms from others who long ago commented on this unfortunate development (see the comments underneath this post).

Anyway, I’m sure it’s not the end of the world, but it’s probably infuriating to many readers nonetheless. Firstly — to my readers — I apologize for overlooking this…”feature” of the .NET Framework security update. Secondly — to Microsoft — this is a great example of how not to convince people to trust your security updates.

By Brian Krebs | May 29, 2009; 7:40 AM ET

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One reason that I have left the Microsoft “flock” is their continued insistence on “secret hidden updates”. It similar to the problem of “cloud computing” in that your “production quality” software changes under your very nose!

The other huge reason is WGA aka as “You Pirate; You Screwed”. (I’ve had more legitimate copies of XP “nuked” by WGA after all sorts of trivial events!)

Linux everywhere anyone?

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