" Security consulting company @Stake has drawn further attention to an unfavourable study on Microsoft's impact on global computer security by firing one of the authors. Dan Geer was CTO of @Stake until the publication of "CyberInsecurity: the Cost of Monopoly" then, pow, he wasn't.
@Stake said that Geer hadn't had permission for his involvment in the study, and that the views expressed in the document were not in line with the views of the company. @Stake does do consultancy for Microsoft, but Microsoft protests that it was in no way involved in Geer's sudden, unfortunate encounter with the precipice. And we believe them - The Beast is no stranger to baby-knifing, but surely even the merest imbecile in there must understand the horrendous consequences that would ensue from picking up the phone and suggesting the continued presence of a particular employee might be contract-threatening.
If we at The Register have faults, then we accept they may include an over-readiness to assign high IQs to industry participants. But we don't think we're wrong this time. So why did @Stake do it? The company would surely have understood the conclusions people would leap to, and the effect close identification with Microsoft in the rumour-mill might have on its business. Here we go recklessly assigning high IQs again, but think about it - if your company does not agree that the Microsoft monoculture is a "clear and present danger" to global computer security (we know, but just pretend for a second, OK?), then would it not be an inconvenience to employ a high-level exec who did? It's perfectly possible the company went ahead and did it, knowing the consequences, because it felt it was the right thing to do.
Whatever, Dan Geer's pay-check is no doubt important to Dan Geer, but of less consequence to the world in general; what about the study itself?
We have trouble with the headline thesis that monoculture is of itself bad for security, and also - particularly - with the pitch that the security problems of Microsoft software largely stem from illegal but successful attempts to monopolise, e.g. (from the intro):
"Microsoft's efforts to design its software in evermore complex ways so as to illegally shut out efforts by others to interoperate or compete with their products has succeeded. The monopoly product we all now rely on is thus both used by nearly everyone and riddled with flaws. ... a software monoculture that each day becomes more susceptible to computer viruses, Trojan Horses and other digital pathogens." "
-- William T Goodall Mail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/
A computer without a Microsoft operating system is like a dog without bricks tied to its head.
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