Mac OS X safe after all May 3, 2006
Posted by rjdohnert in Opinions.1 comment so far
Well Stan Beer deserves an award. two of his articles have made it on Slashdot in one day. Congratulations Stan. This time his claim is that while yes a Mac can get a virus, that its not as big a deal as on the Windows platform. Oh and Mac and Linux users do not need Firewall or Anti-Virus.
My Take; I agree that Mac OS X and Linux are more secure out of the box than Windows. I also agree that those systems are much less of a target for those systems…for right now.
Telling users they do not need anti-virus or firewall enabled is irresponsible, thats like telling teenagers its okay to go out there and have unprotected sex. Its misinformation and this shows the incompetence and irresponsibility of the suggesting IT professional, in this case Stan Beer, to even suggest that users dont need anti-virus and or a firewall.
While the security model of Mac OS X and Linux would not prohibit a complete destruction of a system, a user level virus can be created to cause a hell of a headache, resulting in a loss of data and the harvesting of personal information and can be spread rather quickly. To think important data only exists to the root user is flawed thinking. Most of the time the secretary of a CEO or a CIO has more sensitive data on her hard drive than the executives do and she uses a user account. If a virus author can also find a flaw that will allow the execution of a virus to exploit a vulnerability to give him root access such as the recent X11 flaw, its payday.
I suggest all users to please use an anti-virus and a firewall. Even with systems that may seem like they are a low security risk are vulnerable to attack. If any IT professional ever tells you you dont need those protections. That is an IT professional I would never hire. nor would I be interested in anything he has to say.
Windows defense on IE7 search is no defense May 3, 2006
Posted by rjdohnert in Tech News.add a comment
Stan Beer over on IT Wire has written an article on the defense that Microsoft has made in regards to IE7. Where he claims that Microsoft has no defense on the IE7 search default.
My Take; Wrong on every count. He claims what Google does by paying Mozilla and Opera and Dell is OK and not anti-competitive. Its is anti-competitive becuase is Dell, Mozilla or Opera taking bids on which search engine to include in the search bars? No, they dont. In my opinion its more anti-competitive of Dell, Mozilla and Opera and their actions. Microsoft has said that machine manufacturers will be able to change the default for whichever provider they want. They have also said that administrators for organizations can change and use whatever search provider they want. Stan’s whole article comes across as being anti-Microsoft more than pro-competition.
My hope is that the court takes into consideration Google’s. Mozilla’s, Dell’s and Opera’s anti-competitive actions.
Eight Signs Microsoft is dead in the water May 3, 2006
Posted by rjdohnert in Tech News.add a comment
Over on Marketwatch they are highlighting a John C. Dvorak article, humorous in itself, and he gives eight reasons why Microsoft is dead in the water. I disagree and here is my opinions on Dvoraks article.
My take; Maybe Microsoft helped its eyes to the buffet before its stomach in regards to Vista, maybe it overshot. But I would rather have WinFS and other features cut and delivered later than have them ship a half baked piece of shit to which Dvorak and others would write an "Eight signs Microsoft is dead in the Water" article. Windows XP was a gussied up version of Windows 2000 but Windows Vista is a major leap ahead. Just take into account before you read the article its Dvorak. He has been full of it most of the time in the past and he is more full of it now.
Everything he brings up will help Microsoft build and grow itself in the future.
Microsoft + Yahoo May 3, 2006
Posted by rjdohnert in Tech News.add a comment
There has been some talk on Wall Street of a possible merger between Microsoft and Yahoo or an acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft.
My take; So far its just a rumor and wouldnt put any cash on it. Yang and Ballmer hate each other but I do expect a similar deal for cooperation similar to the IM interoperability deal. I dont think an acquisition will happen. Google will raise "anti-trust" issues even though right now they are the king of internet search. One to watch, nothing to get excited over yet.
