Microsoft dominance poses security risk
A new report by the Computer and Communications Industry Association gives an ecological argument against Microsoft and for FOSS.
CNET covers the story:
The draft white paper argues that Microsoft's problems
in securing its products and the ubiquity of those
technologies result in a hazard for the U.S. economy
and industry, which increasingly relies on the
Internet and computers for critical functions..."The
focus on Microsoft is simply that the clear and
present danger can be ignored no longer."
As if purposefully timed to support these arguments, in today's headlines there is an article about how the the State Department's electronic system for checking every visa applicant for terrorist or criminal history failed worldwide for several hoursbecause of a computer virus. The scary part is the Department of Homeland Security wants to standardize on the Microsoft desktop.
The full report can be found here.
The CCIA website is also worth a visit.
Follow-up:
Dan Geer, one of the researchers on the report was fired by his company @Stake, whose biggest customer is - Microsoft.
Follow-up to Follow-up:
Dan Geer comments on his firing, which he says took him completely by surprise.:
Whether Microsoft had a hand in his demise
"will be forever impossible to ascertain," Geer
said. "One might say communication wasn't
necessary. There's a school of thought that
says that a phone call wasn't needed. The more
powerful you are, the less likely you are to
have to pick up the phone. At most, you could
call it plausible deniability."