Zombie attack: University Network Collapsed!

I survived my first week of this new semester at the university! However, the network during this first week went from slow and unstable to totally useless. It seems it didn't survive the first week of classes!

What happened? Nobody quite knew until Mechatotoro told me. A zombie computer started sending spam and caused a networking collapse.

Now, let me correct my words. It was not a zombie computer. It was a zombie WINDOWS XP computer. Why do I make the distinction? Because in the same office, there was a computer running Mandriva Linux and it was the only one that was clean.

At this point some might be thinking "But XP is an old OS! That's what you get when you rely on old technology!"

Is that so? There was a Windows 7 computer in that office, too. Was it any better than XP? Not quite. You can read Mechatotoro's account here.

Again, we are talking about Windows flaws, not about computer problems. The computers were in perfect shape.

So, could we say that Windows 7 is actually a more secure system than XP? The case in this office clearly shows what system is superior (and it does not come from Microsoft.)

Also, where was the "great support" from Microsoft? As far as I know, the university had to solve the problem on its own even if the computers had original copies of Windows.

Maybe it's about time users got smart and instead of sheepishly accepting Windows security flaws as "computer problems", started nagging Microsoft until this company actually released some secure OS version or at least took full responsibility for the flawed systems they ask so much money for.