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BBC Writer Responds To Mac Security Critiques
minimunchkin writes "BBC Correspondent Bill Thompson responds to the flaming he received for an article on the vulnerabilities in Mac security. He knows that there are no Mac OS X viruses in the wild, and he doesn't believe there ever will be." From the article: "However the wider point, that there are exploitable vulnerabilities and sometimes Apple puts them there, remains. Even if I'm careful to apply updates when they are made available, some people might not and their systems could be compromised. And there is always a gap between the discovery of an issue and an available fix, a gap which could be exploited. "
Seriously, the argument that there are exploits is an important one to keep in mind. Nobody questions that Firefox is so far ahead of IE on security that the difference can be measured in red-shift. However, anybody who then concludes that Firefox users can afford to be complacent is completely outside the Universe entirely. The same is true of OS vulnerabilities. If a vulnerability is detected, it needs fixing. Ideally, you write the software correctly in the first place so that there are extremely few vulnerabilities that ever need to be fixed, but that doesn't generally happen.
Is Bill Thompson a troll? To a degree. He has absolutely zero diplomatic touch, which is presumably why the BBC put him on the technology desk and not in foreign affairs. If you're in a war-zone, tact is an important skill to have.
The part that concerns me most, which I'm not seeing enough commentary on, is the extremely serious allegation that Apple have deliberately installed backdoors into their systems. If this allegation has any foundation in fact, Apple should face intense questioning on their conduct. Cisco got burned when the backdoors they installed were discovered and although you can argue that an Apple is not quite as critical a part of the infrastructure, backdoors are certainly not ethical and possibly not legal.
I've heard people arguing that you can't prove a program bug-free (actually, the Halting Problem only proves you can't do so for the general case, it says nothing about specific cases), but the more I hear of people abusing trust (eg: Sony), wilfully releasing defective software with known and documented bugs on the grounds people will update eventually anyway (Microsoft) and incorporating deliberate backdoors (Cisco), the more I am convinced that there should be consumer protection legislation that forces software companies to maintain certain standards. These sorts of wilfull, knowledgable, abuse of consumers is simply not acceptable.
And, yes, I don't care if it takes a BBC hack journalist to point this out.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
As I'm sure most people have encountered in their lives, it's very easy for a very vocal minority to overwhelm a majority. Look at how many non-Americans believe that the United States is full of evangelical, "fire and brimstone" Christians. They're obviously a majority, but vocal and active enough as to appear to be a majority. They're not the only group in history who as acted as such, either.
But anyway, majorities are historically awarded rights before minorities, and, due to their majority status, are often reluctant to give up any priviledges which they perceive as rights. It can be rude and backwards, such as the perceived right of not having to hear other languages or introduced to other cultures, or it can be the idea that a company always run by black people should continue to be run by black people. True equality is exceedingly difficult to attain, as that majority you mention is usually the most reluctant to give up their priviledge.
It seems easy enough to piss of Apple/MAC fans: just say something slightly negative, no matter how grounded in fact, about Apple or Mac.
Only if you say it without knowing what you're talking about.
It reminds me a bit of the Linux zealots.
Only if you say it without knowing what you're talking about.
This guy did that, so he got flamed.
This guy didn't know what he was talking about and now is backpeddling. That's what the higher profile trolls do, they say "If you think you're safer on a Mac, you're completely mistaken!", and then "Of course I don't mean in reality, nobody who read my article could think I was talking about reality! I was talking about my own little fantasy world where you're less safe on a Mac!"
Of course, if he had said it that way, he probably would've at least gotten a laugh. Instead his retort was to play the semantics game, and no wonder lots of people got upset.
Here's a person who either doesn't know what he's talking about (that is, merely repeats stuff people tell him, or is making conclusions that he isn't knowledgeable enough to make) or he's a mean old troll trying to piss people off. Either way, he's to be detested.
I personally didn't know much about the Mac crowd until recently -- but they are very touchy.
Good for you! Bridge that race gap!
Meanwhile, I know many Mac users and many Windows users, and I'd agree that most Mac users are most certainly touchier than Windows users, but that most Windows users don't even know they're running users and in fact, the defenders of Windows can't ever seem to do it with something even resembling a trace of logic. These people are far more touchy than Mac users, and worse still, are morally reprehensible because they defend it at the expense to themselves and others!
Here's a clue: In the last 5 years, not a single exploit that has been deployed for Linux has affected me, and yet all those dasturdly Blasters and Code-Reds are still affecting me - despite the fact I don't run Windows.
I don't care if you patch your system, I care that all these other people don't.
I contend- and others often more so that everyone would be much happier if there were no Microsoft and no Windows. I most certainly would be: You wouldn't be talking to me, and I wouldn't need to buy more bandwidth right now.
Thompson has a track record of writing articles that are either ill-informed or technically incorrect and then defending himself with the lame excuse that his is an 'opinion piece'. I can never understand why Slashdot (or the BBC for that matter) give him the space he clearly doesn't deserve. He tries to present himself as something of a guru, but probably couldn't get a job as a junior IT helpdesk worker (apologies to all the highly competent helpdesk guys out there).
He's the poster-boy for the phrase "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing". If you look at his resume it's clear that he tried to make it as a techie, but didn't have what it takes, and so became a "commentator". It's funny - there used to be a feedback section on his BBC column, but it mysteriously disappeared a few months ago, shortly after he posted some badly researched drivel about problems copying his archived email from Windows to OS X and got shot down in flames by almost everyone who responded.