Reading notes

I’m glad to see Apple moving to compete better in the corporate space.

I am a Mac-head, but not annoyingly so, I think; I’m nearly as happy with Debian/Gentoo/NetBSD/FreeBSD on PC hardware. It’s Windows I don’t like.

When I became a Unix-oriented (Linux/*BSD/OSX) enthusiast starting in 1998, I was sure that 7 years later various desktop Unixes would be in widespread use in my corporate environment, to everyone’s economic and security advantage. Nope.

It’s nearly unbelievable to me that any multinational corporation whose data are its lifeblood would mandate Windows on every desktop, but there you go.

To me, making a big show of “we’re commited to network- and computing security” but then mandating Microsoft products is like saying “we’re committed to containing the spread of HIV” but then forbidding safe-sex education and the use of condoms.

No one would do the latter, so … no, wait.

In either case, you can fscking kiss your credibility bye-bye all wind is lost from one’s credibility sails.

I like what commenter Spencerian writes:

Die-hard views in IT about Apple products may change, as did many ways we do things post-September 11, when (not if) a major computer security catastrophe occurs which could render many Windows operating systems inoperable. …

IT hasn’t had that wake-up call yet. History has shown that lack of diversification leads to fatal results. …

They may be a time where one of the many serious vulnerabilties found in Windows is fully and dangerously exploited, leading to failures of various sorts throughout the country and the world. Data is lost. Networks paralyzed. And all through such a time, computers running operating systems that are much more resistant or immune to these issues will aid in keeping our businesses working despite ourselves and our industry’s lack of vision.

The light will dawn, but I’d hoped it’d be before I retire.