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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.'"
Yes, there are security problems with windows, but no, you have to be a giant fucktard newbie to actually ever be affected by them.
So not installing a third party firewall, a third party antivirus scanner and third party spyware software makes one a "giant fucktard newbie"? Perhaps you should address why all these third party applications are needed just to give a Wintel box a basic level of security?
Trolling is a art,
IMHO, it will be impossible to kill Microsoft even if Windows is supplanted. Microsoft will instead move to being a premier software provider for another platform, and continue to hang around as IBM did after they lost the market.
That would be awesome. Microsoft is capable of writing good software, the problem is that protecting their monopoly is always getting in the way. If they lose Windows and have to reinvent themselves as a real software company... well, let's just say I might buy a Microsoft product again.
I HAVE actually managed a huge Windows-only network (50K Win2k machines, 100K users, 80 servers), and I tend to agree with the original poster.
I was at the "helm" as a consultant turned IT manager/overseer while a full nationwide exec search was conducted to permantely fill the position for just about 11 months. The previous exec literally dropped dead a few days before an entire network upgrade: all new workstations, servers, cabling, routing equipment, and software packages went into effect. Four full timers on IT, 5 half-timers (24 hrs a week) on help-desk, and me.
In my time, we never had (1) any problems with patching, (2) a single piece of spyware found on any machine, (3) a single virus or worm or other such outbreak of unauthorized software, (4) any data loss or corruption and (5) a single BSOD. I had a core group of 12 servers that were "mission critical", whose uptime from the day I started to the day my replacement came aboard was perfect.
The point being, that your mileage may vary. With everything in this industry, YMMV. It should be stamped. We did BIOS upgrades, we had hordes of clueless users, we had clueless employees - the same problems as anyone else had. But we never let MS or Dell or anyone be our scapegoats, and we ended up really really meeting our goals and exceeding what anyone thought was possible.
I've been pleased overall with my switch from Windows to OS X, but sometimes I miss the ease with which the "look" of Windows could be modified. Changing the scrollbar, the menu fonts, that sort of thing.
OS 10.3 (and I assume, 10.4) really limits the amount of customization that can be done to the interface. I know that the interface can be changed with a little work, but it's admittedly very low on my list of priorities. My point is that out of the box, Apple doesn't let you change the "look" of OS X to any major extent by just pointing and clicking, unlike Windows.
I get the impression that this was a deliberate choice by Apple, in order to maintain a uniform user interface. I can understand that decision, even if I don't fully agree with it.
Anakin Simpson: If you're not with me, then you're my enemy--ooh, donuts!
"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."
I think this is part of the point -- why on earth do we have to keep applying patches, running firewalls, and running anti-virus software just to keep our computers running?
If you have to install a patch every six months to a year because of something truly awful, that's not so bad. But to have the current patch-mill is just insane. Why do you have to have a firewall and an anti-virus to be safe? Why not just run safe software?
Likewise, the article wasn't just about security, it's also about quality. Are there decent PC's out there that don't start breaking within 9 months? If there are, they certainly aren't being sold to consumers. In our office, we have laptops from several vendors. Some of them have lost use of their ethernet ports, some have lost use of their PCMCIA slots, and some have lost use of their USB ports. But the Mac ones, even the older iBooks and Powerbooks, are still running fine. We have the same situation with our desktops, though not to the same degree.
The basic point is that, to use WinTel, you have to spend a LOT of time and effort just keeping the stupid thing alive. With Mac, you spend your time actually working.
Engineering and the Ultimate