Seriously, does anyone in business even care about what this wacky ol’ lady has to say about anything?
If Steve is to be believed, 95 percent of the world’s desktop computers run Windows. That, in biological terms, is what we call a “monoculture,” meaning that there is an overwhelming predominance of one particular species.
Pity this poor soul – I think she is beginning to confuse computers with living beings, or felines, in particular.
Linux, by contrast, offers considerable strength in its diversity.
Or in biological terms, “mutations”. I am sorry, but the same inconsistencies in “shells”, “packaging systems”, “mail clients” and “underlying architectures” that apparently repel malware are exactly what prevent Linux from mainstream adoption. Think of that as drug resistance – it’s incurable.
On Linux, that’s OK, because their computer accounts are looking out for them. Even if they slip and click on that malicious link, the most any malware can do is trash their individual computer and files.
As though that’s not bad enough by its own rights already? Could someone introduce her to a doctor or something? I think she needs help.
Windows? Well, the picture’s not so rosy. In fact, Windows users are pretty much given administrator access by default. So, a momentary human weakness can lead to widespread devastation starting with a single computer.
Limited user accounts are a lie. So are UAC and the Multics-like ACLs.
Wrong. It’s a proven fact that open code improves security by enabling the countless good guys around the globe to inspect it, test it, and fix it as necessary.
[citation needed]
There is no such thing as security by obscurity.
So, what are all those “multiple shells”, “packaging systems”, “mail clients” and “underlying architectures in use” supposed to be about then? Did you skip your meds again, Katherine?
How many weeks go by without any unplanned downtime, Windows user? None, you say? And how about you, Linux user: What’s unplanned downtime, you ask?
[citation needed]
None of this is to say that Linux, or any other operating system, is perfect. The difference, though, is that no other operating system has created a monoculture and then tried to lay the responsibility for security on the industry as a whole the way Windows has.
No, *nix security consultants are just a myth.
Comments
Katherine “Low signal to” Noyes again…
“Even if they slip and click on that malicious link, the most any malware can do is trash their individual computer and files.”
So the user loses all the files on the computer that are actually important to them, and not the easily replaced operating system? Yay Linux!
“In fact, Windows users are pretty much given administrator access by default. “
She’s spouting this again? It’s still not true. On Vista and 7, the first user on the system is an admin (funnily enough, in the same way the first user on a Linux system is root), all subsequent users are limited by default – you have to select the administrator account type. The only grain of truth is that on XP, the administrator account is the default option.
“And how about you, Linux user: What’s unplanned downtime, you ask?”
Installing Linux makes your hardware invulnerable to failure and your electricity supply inviolate too.
Funny thing is, Linux desktop users at this point are probably more prone to “unplanned downtime,” as in “machine up in smoke and need to buy a new one.” This is a direct consequence of the Loon claim that “it even runs on PIIIs,” which it (barely) does. One blown cap, and it’s time to make another visit to the dumpster…
And that’s without even considering BiannualForcedDeathMarch™.
Seriously, even if you restrict “Linux” to “servers,” where’s the evidence for this insane claim?
Note also the grotesque similarity (I pointed this out on LHB) between this post and her other post — I think a link would help — on OSX. I made my comparison with bricks in jest, but I’m worried that she’ll take it seriously.
Oh, and I hate to do a CNU/Linux sort of thing, but it’s multics. I stress this only because spelling it with an 'x’ will cause some idiot to believe that multics was derived from unix, and not the other way around…
“Oh, and I hate to do a CNU/Linux sort of thing, but it’s multics. I stress this only because spelling it with an 'x’ will cause some idiot to believe that multics was derived from unix, and not the other way around…”
Fixed.
“Note also the grotesque similarity “
Her articles are full of recycled talking points, most of them complete bollocks.
From the article;
“Microsoft’s proposal about isolating affected computers is like closing the barn door after the horses have escaped.”
I’ve seen many instances of loons advocating exactly the same thing, or even confiscating computers. Now MS are suggesting that quarantining infected computers may be a good thing, they inevitably get jumped upon.
DoubleStandards™ at work again.
One other thing about that administrator access thing. Most Windows users do not know about (and do not need to know about) the System level of access. System != Administrator.
root, on the other hand …
Well,
First of all, identity stealing malware or spambots do not require administrative access to the system.
Second, even being totally irrelevant Linux has pretty good track record of long standing EoP vulnerabilities.
Like this http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/linux-finally-fixes-six-year-old-critical-bug
or this http://www.binplay.com/2010/09/linux-community-response-to-exploit-is.html
Third, I have some strange feeling that we’re NOT talking about the OS, that requires to enter root password every 5 minutes and at the same time allows unprivileged programs to “sniff” all user input: http://i.imgur.com/WCvhn.png
It’s frightening how freetards can sneak into some of the most succesful tech organizations and start using them to promote their own agenda, while at the same time bringing said organizations down from the inside. Kinda like a virus, but with illusions of moral superiority as an added bonus.
First they got Sun, them they managed to convince Dell that an OS with a broken sound and graphics stack was fit for public consumption and a viable alternative to windows xp, and now this.
There was a time that, when it came to business, PC World’s word was gold. Now all you get are pom-poms for linux.
Of course, everybody sees the hidden agenda here: The freetards have realised that the consumer segment is pretty much lost, so lets try to pitch this thing to business, in the hope that the juicy support income will flow to both the client and server versions of linux, hopefully speeding up development. That way, we may finally get usable linux desktop distros.
Of course, when Catherine is done taking advantage of PC World’s name to propagate linux to innocent businesses, PC World will essentially be a dead horse and the butt joke of tech journalism, begging to die or be eaten up by someone bigger. The virus will have closed it’s cycle.
@KurkosDR
I have a slightly different view on this. Ignoring the genuine lunatics like Schestowitz (currently crowing about being 832nd on some list or other), and the pathetic no-hopers like Pogson, you’re left with people who can actually, in some sense, claim to be “journalists.”
We would, of course, demur, but then we still read them, and presumably thousands of others do, too.
The interesting thing about KrazyKatzatrix and SJVN is that they both started off as “editor in chief of…” something — were I still in academia, I’d check this up — which started off small and actually attracted an audience. And then they left. There are two reasons you leave this sort of organisation. (1) The boss sacks you, because the medium has outgrown your insane wittering or (2) There’s gold in them thar hills!
If you google the good Noyes or SJVN, you’ll discover that they’re posting tepid flavours of the same crap everywhere. In fact, SJVN in particular seems to re-post his own articles on his own pathetic site: http://practical-tech.com/.
Obviously this is not a recipe for a successful career; but if you’re delusional and ignorant, you won’t notice.
Therefore (oh look, I’ve got a conclusion) it’s not the tech press per se; it’s the detritus of what happens when ex-editors, with various contacts and even possibly contracts, get to strut their insanely stupid and repetitive stuff.
It will, therefore, die away. Let us look on and enjoy, whilst it still remains.
Sun, on the other hand; yes, that might be frightening. More desperate than anything else, however; and you have to remember McNealy’s billionaire obsessions (yes, you too can have obsessions if you’re a billionaire) about new paradigms and network-is-computer crap.
Which would, incidentally, have made much more sense if he were in charge of Cisco rather than Sun. I never really understood that bit.
To the rest of the world, picking Schwartz as a successor was insane. To McNealy, however, it was a continuation of an internal thought-process that had always worked.
In other words, comparing lunatic company owners who are accidentally phenomenally rich to small-time divots like Noyes and Nichols is hardly worth the candle.
I received my first credit loans when I was 32 and it supported my relatives a lot. However, I need the auto loan once more time.
LinuxIsPerfect™ goes with this.
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