Windows vs Mac Security

sdhorne writes "There is a good technical discussion over at InfoWorld on the merits of launchd and what is lacking in a comparable Windows secure solution. It is a throw back to the UNIX vs Windows security discussion that has been hashed out for many years." From the article: "it always traces back to Microsoft's untenable policy of maintaining gaps in Windows security to avoid competing with 3rd party vendors and certified partners. Apple's taking a different approach: What users need is in the box: Anti-virus, anti-spam, encryption, image backup and restore, offsite safe storage through .Mac, and launchd. Pretty soon any debate with Microsoft over security can be ended in one round when Apple stands up, says 'launchd', and sits back down."

Comments

What would have happened?

[Anonymous Coward]

Read the following article and then answer the question at the end:

From CNN.com:

  Boy Scouts rescue toddler in river

Wednesday, August 23, 2006; Posted: 12:40 p.m. EDT (16:40 GMT)

OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) -- A troop of Boy Scouts on a camping trip saved an 18-month-old girl who had fallen in a river upstream from them and was floating face down, officials said.

The boys were swimming in the Platte River at Two Rivers State Recreation Area, about 20 miles west of Omaha, on Saturday when 11-year-old Christian Nanson spotted something floating in the water. It turned out to be a young girl.

Nanson and John Fitzgerald, 9, both members of an Omaha Scout troop, reached the girl and brought her to shore, while others called for help on a cell phone, assistant scoutmaster Matt Fitzgerald told the Omaha World-Herald. (Watch them describe seeing the girl in the water -- 1:31)

Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy David Brock said the little girl, Stephanie Pacheco, was treated for hypothermia and released from a hospital Monday. The child had slipped away from her mother upstream, said Duane Arp, a conservation officer with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

What would have happened if that little girl was a lesbian? Hint: She would not be alive right now.

Linux drivers? How about open specs/complete docs

[TheWoozle]

I see a whole bunch of people whining about lack of Linux drivers. Is ATI worried about losing money from such a small merket segment? Obviously not. Face facts: graphics card manufacturers are never going to give you the level of support for Linux you want until Linux has a *much* bigger share of the market. They are busy enough churning out new hardware every six months; hell, they can't even write good drivers for Windows at the current pace, let alone Linux.

You're bright, talented, resourceful guys/gals right? Instead of whining on Slashdot about closed-source drivers for a proprietary GPU architecture, why don't you design, manufacture, and sell "open" GPUs, CPUs, and systems? With complete documentation? So that I can write drivers that will let me take advantage of *all* the features the hardware has to offer? Bonus points if I don't have to sign abusive NDA's or fork over huge sums of money on licenses/royalties for access to the docs.

Open-source software is neat and all, but if I don't have complete documentation of every bit of circuitry/firmware/embedded software, etc. in the system, then running an open-source OS just means I won't be able to use all the features of the hardware that I paid for.

The software can only be as free (as in speech) as the hardware it runs on.