iTunes scrollbars on Leopard? "OMG MAC R AWESOME"
Random number generator decoded in Windows 2000? "OMG M$ R DUM"

Seriously, Apple users are the only people I wouldn't have been surprised to see clambering over a hack to change the color of the scroll bars. If that makes Apple products all the more worth it for them, then more power to them! To me? Well... A scroll bar is a scroll bar.

As for the number generator loophole. Apparently, someone managed to reconstruct and therefore predict the random number generator in Windows 2000, used for encryption and various things like that. Passwords and stuff. They go on and on about how this is such a horrible, horrible security risk and it needs to be fixed. Then they go on to say how they only tested Windows 2000, not XP or Vista, but "assume that newer versions of Windows" are also affected by this problem.

What? You're not sure? You didn't bother testing the latest Windows? You decided to randomly pick... Windows 2000 to crack? The version of Windows no longer officially supported by Microsoft? I guess it's good in the sense that you're making people aware of the problem, but to assume that newer versions of Windows are also affected sounds more like an anti-Microsoft fanatic and less like a scientific paper.

I'm not saying that such a thing is hard to believe, but come on. Why don't you channel this research money into trying to crack the latest operating system instead of the one 8 years old. That way, all the money you spent on this research might actually mean something.

And the comments on these articles are, of course, in the vicinity of "Microsoft cant code security worth squat lol Apple so better". What if, say, Mac OS X 10.1 was brushed over with a fine-tooth comb and they found the algorithm used to encode passwords or something that allowed someone, with local access, the ability to get into your system with some difficult work. What would the reaction be? I'm going to bet it'll be something along the lngs of: "Are you kidding? Apple doesn't even update 10.1 anymore. If you upgraded like you should have, you wouldn't have this problem! Another lame attempt to say Macs are just as insecure."

Let's apply that to this scenario! "Are you kidding? Microsoft doesn't even support Windows 2000 anymore. If you upgraded like you should have, you wouldn't have this problem! Another lame attempt to say Windows is the worst OS there is."

Then, of course, there'll be the people quick to point out that lots of people still use Windows 2000, and then I'd be quick to point out that they've had plenty of time to upgrade to at least XP, even since 2000 support was dropped, and this security risk was only just discovered a few days ago? That's a pretty good track record for an 8 year old operating system.

I could go on with all the different types of responses people will give to somehow try to make this discovery significant in one way or the other, but that would take too long and be too boring. Come back when you learn, for sure, that Vista and XP have this problem, and then it might mean something.