Post by @bontchev@infosec.exchange

2026-09-18 15:03 UTC

@pducklin@infosec.exchange Uhm, which mainstream *products* rely in curl | bash, as opposed to open source crap or weird scripts for nerds? There is a ton of products for which I wish their installer would let me choose (a) whether to install for me or for all users, (b) whether to create a desktop icon, (c) whether to create a Start menu item and where exactly - but nah, their producers think that they know better and have made an installer that does one thing only. And I respectfully disagree that it is the infosec people's fault that the computer does what it is told and the user hasn't bothered learning that their actions actually result in.

Replies (1)

@pducklin@infosec.exchange 2026-09-22 13:00

@bontchev@infosec.exchange “Open source crap”? Software for “nerds”? Guess you are so wedded to Windows that you’ve fallen into the “proprietary installers are sure to be secure” vibe… please try to back down from treating everyone who is not you or your colleagues as “idiots,” or the idea that everyone needs to be a technical expert and it’s always their fault if the software isn’t a beacon of clarity. Plenty of mainstream tools and even official Microsoft hotfixes involve tweaks or state changes that are presented as script one-liners to download or to copy-paste. Even many experts aren’t always expert enough to complete tasks without snippets or even fully-formed code that’s churned out by a machine and they are expected to trust - you yourself admit to using AI to generate Python code to sidestep your own deficiencies in the language, and if you couldn’t write the code yourself it is very unlikely you could properly review it and objectively test it. We all have shortcomings that we rely on websites, prompts, or popups to advise us how to get past. No need to be pompous about users who rely on a different set of crutches to the ones you use…

Open ##4905675