Mad as Hell, Switching to Mac

justAMan writes "Security dude, Winn Schwartau, has posted an article on Network World about switching his company to Macs because he's fed up with the security issues plaguing Windows-based systems. He also offers his view on why Windows is inherently flawed and why it will eventually fail because of those reasons. From the article, 'This is my first column written on a Mac - ever. Maybe I should have done it a long time ago, but I never said I was smart, just obstinate. I was a PC bigot. But now, I've had it. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.'"

Comments

A testament to OS X's stable nature

[blakespot]

I've run OS X ony my home Macs for nearly 5 years now. (It was my great experience with NeXTSTEP back in '94 that let me know OS X is the only place I needed to be.) My XP box at work crashes hard or needs to be reset by me several times a month. Leaving it on at a stretch, I sometimes see unexplainable lags in responsiveness. It's a painful contrast.

Something that amuses me is the fact that OS X crashes out so infrequently (about once every 18 months) that when it does happen, I immediately assume I must have a hardware problem. That really is a testament to the solidity of an operating systemthat you might expect the hardware to go before the software crashes. And that's not to say I've had any hardware issues to speak of (outside of dropping an iBook onto a tile floor...)

Windows (and Linux) folks are really missing out, in my somewhat humble opinion. I'm most content with my G5, iBook, and new Mac mini.

blakespot

Flame on...

[Axe]

It is not funny. It is true. Every time I have mentioned that Windows OS is actually quite functional and stable nowdays that post was moderated down.

I do use a 2003 Server at home and at work and I have yet to have a single virus or malware infection. I do apply patches, run a firewall etc.

Yes, it is possible to set it up such that you can execute remote content automatically and get infected. But it is also trivial, and now it is a default setting to configure it NOT to execute remote content. Since Mac can not run that content anyway - that will not be a loss of functionality compared to a Mac.

P.S. I do like Macs, especially their laptops. If I was back at university doing physics data analysis that would be my platform of choice nowdays instead of Linux. But I definitely do not feel a pressing need to switch from 2003.

Re:Flame on...

[I'm Don Giovanni]

I can't remember the last time I heard of an IIS hack.

Here are the latest security reports regarding IIS 6 and Apache 2, since Jan 2003 (which is when IIS 6 was released):

Since Jan 2003: 1 of 3 advisories unpatched for IIS6:
http://secunia.com/product/1438/

Since Jan 2003: 2.5 of 24 unpatched for Apache 2 (2 unpatched and 1 partially patched):
http://secunia.com/product/73/