Anti-virus software and software reliability

Last night I had to purchase and install Windows XP on a laptop that had Windows 2000 on it that had become corrupted with no media. I'm getting off on the cheap and yes I like to save money, even though I find it completely insane to buy a copy of xp only days before Vista ships, but that's me and that's a different story. After the install, I start the patch, reboot, patch, reboot, patch reboot, patch reboot cycle. I've only been through two so far, but it is SP2 out of the box so two is one too many for me.

Anyway, I keep getting the message pop up that says my machine may not be secure because there is no anti-virus software. I usually think nothing of it, but last night it sort of got to me. I've been paying $10 a year to Symantec forever because the software I use is insecure out of the box. Insecure out of the box!

I drove the car off the lot and I need to go to pep-boys to get an a key system for it.

I bought a brand new house, but I have to go to home depot to get door locks before my family moves in.

I bought an airline ticket, but I have to buy a seat belt in the terminal before getting on the plane.

I'm going on a cruise, but I have to bring my own life jacket.

I ate at Taco Bell, but I may get salmonella. Oh, I guess it is similar, in that one's a virus and one's a bacteria...

I know this isn't just a Windows problem. No OS is completely secure out of the box, they're all hard to use and highly insecure. It's a systemic problem with our industry. An interest in marketing features vs. marketing durability. If anyone finally figures out how to teach the public that features aren't as important as reliability then we'll finally be on the right track.
Maybe there is a lesson here from the car industry? Maybe the Japanese will come along and create Hondalinux or Toyatlux and finally show us that reliability and usability is 1000 times more important than a glossy paint job and slick sales rep.

There has to be a better way to program a computer than cryptic source code and that is another blog entry.