Re: SF Gate Article on Macs/PC's

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

Greg Andrzejewski wrote:
> "John Van Winkle" <john-vw@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message 
> news:hucNd.19626$2e7.5591@newssvr12.news.prodigy.com...
>
> > "Greg Andrzejewski" <pressyourluck85@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> > news:IgaNd.1041$UN1.181@news.itd.umich.edu...
> >
> > > "Donald C. Lee" <coach41@pacbell.net> wrote in message
> > > news:7EYMd.1931$aW6.794@newssvr22.news.prodigy.net...
> > >
> > > > http://sfgate.com/columnists/morford/
> > >
> > > I completely agree, and I'm typing this from a Wintel PC. The Mac, IMHO,
> >
> > is
> >
> > > now the best choice for someone's first computer. There is just too much
> > > maintainance involved with Windows for new user to deal with.
> > >
> > > However, the software that I use is mostly Windows-specific. Also, the PC
> > > I'm using right now I built myself. I put in it exactly what I want and
> > > nothing else. Can I do that with a Mac? Nope. Ready-made systems off the
> > > shelf, only.
> >
> > I agree too.  I am getting more anti-micro$haft because of the lousy OS 
> > they
> > write that I am moving to Linux.  When I can do all the things in Linux 
> > that
> > I do in Windoze, we will not run Windows.  I would like to play with a 
> > Mac,
> > but the nearest place to try one is at least 150 miles away.  But I own 2
> > older ones and I like playing with them.  Yes, I would miss building my 
> > own
> > system, but not a problem.  I would rather it run for years without a 6
> > month reload schedule.
>
>
> I'm not sure the blame falls entire on M$. Similar holes may exist in Mac OS 
> X, but no one is going to exploit them because Macs have, what, a 3% (??) 
> market share. But there are still those who argue that OS X is one of the 
> most secure operating systems around. Well, good for it. Microsoft has to 
> make a product that will run on a seeming infinite combination of hardware 
> configurations. It's easy to make a secure operating system when you 
> manufacture and know exactly what the hardware is on every machine that is 
> running it.

Exactly right.  Standardizing the environment exponentially simplifies
the problem of testing and certification.

Every system written in C is plagued with delimited string copies with
no length check, and thus potential buffer overrun problems.  All
string copies must be length-limited for security, and every OS has had
to scramble to fix the tens of thousands of places where they are not.

Certainly there are other types of security holes, but buffer overrun
is #1 by a large margin, and Microsoft has no monopoly on them.  ;-)

> I've used Linux and I don't think it's ready for mainstream. Too much 
> configuring.

..as you would expect for a system created by continual
re-configurers.  ;-)

> Basically, if you are using a PC, keep windows update turned ON, use IE 
> sparingly, keep you AV software up to date, monitor your firewall, run 
> anti-spyware apps, don't so much as breathe on strange email....

Again, I agree.  I have run Windows systems since Windows 3.1, and have
never had a virus, never reformatted a hard disk, and never re-installed
Windows.  Every time I upgrade a system, I copy my previous system's
hard drive over to a directory of the new system--and it has never been
more than 10% of the new drive's capacity.  And I have never brought an
infection of any type.  I don't run anti-virus software because I have
found _it_ to be a meddling, unwarranted nuisance.  I _do_ use a
hardware router with NAT, etc.

I can only conclude that careless opening & surfing is the primary cause
of infected systems.  (Of course, I don't use Outlook, either.)

-michael

New Applesoft BASIC interface for NadaNet networking!
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/