[TriLUG] Re: Re: Accountability and possible solutions

[James Manning]

> The email does not contain FUD. It contains credible evidence for FUD that 
> asks how much more productivity and money will be lost to worms and virii?  
> FUD that wonders if the cost of changing to safer and effective alternative 
> would be paid for by avoiding more of these episodes.  FUD that points out 
> that a couple of kids with a few hours of time on their hands are 
> interrupting business at a major institution (and the rest of the world to 
> boot).  FUD that suggests most of the world is fighting a losing battle.
> 
> Imagine a 2-page spread in USA Today with a collection of this sort of email 
> from recognizable organizations.  You could run the ad once for $50k.  That 
> would be 625 copies of an $80 Linux box-o-software.  You might easily sell 
> 1250 additional copies in the week that the ad ran.  Ad paid for. Profit 
> made. FUD created and distributed.

ahhhhh, gotcha.  I see now.

So, yeah, it does lean a little to the side of "Windows has holes,
Linux does, if only everyone stopped running Windows!"

I see your point now.

Yeah, there's a lot of that problem, and as many (most?) good admins
would agree (I hope, at least), good admins make for secure machines,
not good OS's - sure, you hope for more "secure by default" operating
systems like OpenBSD, but you have to balance that with utility, of
course.

Yes, Linux has to be kept up to date just like a Windows box.  That's
a very important point.  Yes, Jim Bruce's email did come off a tad on
the perspective of "only happens to Windows", but that's likely just a
measure of his frustration with having to deal with it specifically
twice in such a short time frame.

So, yes, Mike, I see your point.  I think the slant (which I'd agree
is there, albeit subtly IMHO) of the email can be construed as FUD,
but I'd likely give him the benefit of the doubt and consider it just
the result of frustration and emotions rather than cold, calculating
word/thought manipulation (I try to reserve the term "FUD" for things
I consider to be more in this category, such as a lot of SCO
rhetoric).

That's a subjective and opinionated view of the matter, though, and
it's definitely possible that Jim is trying to short MSFT in his
portfolio, so I can't say for sure.

In summary, I see what you're saying now, Mike.  Yes, anyone that
paints Windows as the sole problem OS on this front (although he
didn't do so explicitly IMHO, but I could see your interpretation of
it as valid) is fooling both themselves and anyone else who chooses to
believe them.

And, FWIW, I ran windows update to update 2 different Win2K machines
at my house last night, along with up2date'ing and apt-get'ing others
as well :)

I guess it'd be ideal for neither camp (Windows and Unix-or-whatever)
to really point at the other and laugh when holes arise, but take the
opportunitiy to help educate the public that all computer
administrators, whether home PC's or professionals or whatever, need
to keep their machines updated with security patches and configured to
be as secured as possible (and still get their work done, of course :)

Good point, Mike.  I hope my above interpretation of your thoughts was
correct, and if so, I definitely agree.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

James
-- 
James Manning <http://www.sublogic.com/james/>
GPG Key fingerprint = B913 2FBD 14A9 CE18 B2B7  9C8E A0BF B026 EEBB F6E4