"Teacherjh" wrote in message
...
People don't mind using mechanics or A&Ps because we're told it's
necessary.

The difference is, anybody with a nearby library can learn how to fix a
car or
an airplane. This is not true of Windows, or any closed source software.
The
innards of windows are a secret. You cannot be sure of what the operating
system (or any commercial program) is =really= doing.

There is no such thing as "closed source software", not as you describe it.

The operating system is only mysterious to people who don't take the time to
look at the software. 100% of the operating system is delivered to every
person who installs it, and it is right there for anyone to look at.
Deciphering what the operating system does is orders of magnitude harder
than reverse engineering an airplane engine (for example), but it is not
impossible by any means. How do you think independent third parties
discover vulnerabilities in any operating system?

You can be every bit as sure of what the operating system is really doing as
you like. You need only invest the time and effort to do so. Open source
is somewhat easier to review, but the truth is, if you aren't looking at the
compiled machine code that is actually running on your computer, you don't
really know what the software is doing. The high-level C/C++ (or whatever)
code is very useful for giving you a good idea, but only the actual compiled
result can be considered to be a 100% certain description of what the
computer is doing.

Pete