[oclug] dhcp grief

[Adrian Irving-Beer]

On Mon, Mar 07, 2005 at 12:06:24PM -0500, Bill Strosberg wrote:

> Unlike others, I do not think Windows is "broken" in the sense it
> uses PPPoE.  I went to school at Waterloo with a lot of really
> bright folks who ended up in Redmond.  Just because something
> doesn't behave in a manner we are accustomed to doesn't mean it
> is broken.
[...]
> Let's not slam other ways of doing things without making sure we are
> 100% correct in our assumptions.

With regards to PPPoE, maybe.  It sounds like PPPoE is roughly the
same on either OS.

My objections to Windows networking (as they impact me in my daily
life, managing a network with several Windows clients) are

    * the rediculously low default TCP timeouts (configurable),

    * the assumption that unplugging a cable means all connections are
      dead and should be immediately terminated (not configurable
      without losing all media sensing whatsoever),

    * the constant prodding of my DNS server by default with dynamic
      update requests (configurable),

    * having to individually encrypt or sign my attachments rather
      than use PGP/MIME,

and various others from time to time.  That second one is particularly
annoying, because for whatever reason, I've heard reports of one
person turning off their computer and everyone else's connections
dropping simultaneously due to a tiny blip in the media link sensing.

Even outside my network, I'm plagued with 

    * thread-breaking e-mails from Microsoft Exchange servers who seem
      to figure, "Outlook can't do threading, so why should we bother
      sending In-Reply-To headers?"

    * Outlook Express users who whine at me to stop sending PGP/MIME
      mails like this one with the body as an 'attachment',

etc.  I may not use Windows whatsoever any more, but that doesn't mean
it can't still reach out and aggravate me.  The OS as a whole was
never originally meant to be networked, and it shows.

If going against the flow produces results that benefit everyone, I'm
all for it.  But breaking standards *and* performing undesirably,
whatever the motive, is definitely what I consider "broken".
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